Completed [Job Thread] The Hunting of Dogs

[Rinya]

Day 67, Season Fall, 513 AV

They were never informed over the intruders. The ones that had slid into the Warren, knocked out several of their guards while obviously looking for something. While they may have been the ones that technically caught them, they were still just guards. Or at least that is what she was told. And in some ways Rinya figured she probably didn’t want to know what they were looking for. The attackers had been humans, more trained in stealth than actual combat. The secrets they were looking for were meant to be secrets and Rinya had no intention of sticking her nose into that sort of business. She barely got away with just bruises after all.

The Warren itself had been quiet since then. Raistren had put her back on normal duty and for the most part Rinya’s life had slowly come back together. In more ways than one. Despite the fact that Beautyfest was the next day and she was stuck with a date that was not her mate, Rinya couldn’t actually complain about her life. Rhys was still gloating however that he managed to land her on his arm for the night, though he had at least toned it down. She had quite the talk with him after the whole debacle on beach that had nearly caused a long lasting fight between her and Jorin. It was lucky for her that Jorin was more understanding than most men; otherwise it would have looked terribly bad on her part.

Today however was an unusual day at the Warren. With the season cooling fairly quickly, the wild dog pack that was known for causing trouble here and there seemed to be drawing closer to the Warren. No one had been hurt as of yet, but Rinya was fairly certain it might not be long before guards could be attacked between Riverfall and the Warren. Most of them never traveled alone anyway, and the dogs themselves rarely caused trouble, but it was better to drive them off before anything happened. Rinya had left the condo even before Jorin was up—a feat all in itself. Rhys had met her to help her through the darkness, because the small band of guards in charge of this ‘assault’ were to leave the moment Syna breached the horizon.

Oddly enough, Rinya was very key to the entire operation. Never before had Raistren considered her hawk from to be useful. Then again deep inside the Warren it really wasn’t useful. There may have been plenty of room for her wings, but the low light and many levels just didn’t make her hawk form viable. But since this little excursion wasn’t indoors but outside, Rinya could very well make all the difference. And she wasn’t bound to complain. She was going to spend much of her time in the air rather than on the ground with the rest of them. She had dressed light, bringing nothing with her but her quiver, bow, and dagger. Rhys had promised to bring some smoked fish for her to eat. But he was responsible for carrying her things, so Rinya did not want to burden him further than what she really needed.

As Syna came into view, Rinya watched Rhys tie a deer hide arm guard across his forearm. There hadn’t been time to pick up a proper falconry glove for him, but Rinya would also be far more conscious than a general bird. She didn’t actually need to fly right off the bat, but it would be easier for her to shift now and stick to Rhys’ arm, then try and shift the moment they thought they had tracks of the dogs. Several of the guards chosen for this adventure were trained in tracking, but Rinya was the only one that would be able to spot the dogs before the dogs caught wind of them.

At least that was going to be the theory. Seeing as this had never been attempted before, Rinya wasn’t sure just how well this would go. In the back of her mind she realized in order to shoot at the dogs, she would probably have to be naked. There wouldn’t be time to actually dress beforehand. Rhys had seen her naked before—unfortunately—but he knew better than to tease her too much about it. The rest of them however… Rinya wasn’t looking forward to it honestly. The only perk was she pretty much worked with Rhys exclusively. The teasing would be kept to minimum thanks to him… just something else she could potentially owe him for.

[Rinya]

Day 67, Season Fall, 513 AV

”The tracks have led off into the Sea of Grass. No one has tracked them further than that as of yet. But since the dogs have been appearing so random, we are not sure where exactly they may be now.” Rinya was tempted to roll her eyes. Patterns were a fickle thing to figure out with predators, especially ones that traveled in packs. So many variables—perhaps it was something Jorin would have an easier time with. Then again, trying to drag her mate into the Sea of Grass with barely any kind of archery training… she wasn’t even entirely sure of his skill in quarterstaff. It most certainly was not a good idea.

”Rinya has agreed to help with her eyesight. We may actually be able to get the upper hand on the dogs and diminish their numbers before they attempt an actual attack.” Rinya wasn’t quite sure what to make of Raistren’s mention of her skills. Most of the guardsmen knew who she was now, and a good number of them had come to accept her—or rather the fact that she wasn’t entirely useless. But their staring eyes caused her face to flush from the attention. Thankfully there wasn’t much time for being a permanent attraction.

”Five chimes and we move out.” Rinya blinked before glancing upwards over her shoulder at Rhys. ”Raistren is coming with us?” She knew that he was a skilled fighter, but up until now Raistren generally handed out the orders. Rhys simply shrugged and shot her a lop sided grin. ”Could you stand to be penned up in the Warren nearly every day?” Rinya couldn’t help but wince. She would have gone stir crazy trying to be in charge of these guards… much less Rhys. He was known for being the prankster among the guards, though he was most certainly smart enough to leave her out of them.

”Let’s get this over with.” Rinya grumbled under her breath and made her way down the steps of the Warren entrance until she was decently out of sight of the rest of the guards. For now she really wished to preserve her modesty for the sake of never hearing the end of it. Rhys was bad enough with his constant nagging about being his Nakivak. She could only imagine how much worse it would get if the rest of the guards saw her naked. Of course, if she went home and told Jorin nearly half the guardsmen saw her naked—she doubted he would be very happy about that fact.

Rinya pointedly ignored Rhys staring at her as she pulled her clothing off and stuffed it into her backpack. If she could avoid having to stop by the Warren after this little adventure then she was going to go straight home. Rhys didn’t seem to mind, keeping quiet as he took the pack from her, as well as weapons. With a flash of light and smoke, Rinya found herself feeling much smaller in the halls than normal. It was almost uncomfortable considering that she had never been in the Warren as a hawk. Her eyes may have been the same, but the slight breeze ruffled feathers instead of brushing against skin. And with the fall coming to an end, that breeze was much cooler than she liked.

Streching out her wings, she tested the change in muscles before she crouched low and pushed off the stone floor. Carefully she tried not to smack Rhys in the face with her wings as she lit on the leather armguard. Her talons nearly slid, and Rinya regretted not finding the time for proper equipment. But even as she applied more pressure to cling to his arm Rhys remained still. After a chime she was confident she wasn’t going to just break through the leather and let herself hold firmly, folding her wings until the rested at her sides. Rhys gave his arm a gentle shake, testing to see if the armguard was going to twist, but it too held and Rhys began to make his way up the steps.

”Off on another grand adventure where you’ll likely be the choice for dinner my pet.” Rhys joked half heartedly—Rinya knew to some extent it was possible. But she didn’t really want to think about it. Rhys had thrown her pack over his shoulder, her quiver and bow linked across his body. He reached up, stroking the feathers across her breast. ”And now I get to feel you up too.” Rinya inwardly groaned. Only Rhys…

She leaned down to bite his fingers.

[Rinya]

In the very least Rhys got the idea. No ‘petting’ the pretty bird—at least not with the highly inappropriate connotations behind his words. He knew well enough that she in the very least living with Jorin. Though Rinya never actually divulged just how deeply Jorin and her were together. Rinya had the feeling Rhys didn’t think Jorin was ‘man’ enough to push any further than kissing—and that he might actually have some sort of chance to continue his chase so to speak. Then again, Rinya had the feeling she could be married to Jorin and he would still chase after her. He loved the chase, and that was all he did with her.

But being perched upon his arm for a good part of the morning was comfortable in the very least. The chill in the morning air was fading and Rinya didn’t want to actually admit to drifting in and out of sleep while the Akalak walked. Normally she was very alert, but she also was not an early bird—so to speak. She had dug her talons deep into the leather, napping just light enough to use her tail for balance when she had to. So by the time mid day actually hit Rinya was well rested. Her eyes scanned the grassland much like it did the ocean, but she couldn’t see as far as she would have liked. That would require taking to the air.

Raistren held up his hand and their small group came to a stop. Several the guards ahead of them were crouched to the ground, pointing out things on the ground that didn’t look like much to her eyesight other than just ground slightly turned up. ”Alright, the tracks here have been washed out. From this point we’ll use Rinya’s eyes and hope she can make out something in the grass.” There were eyes on her again and she was so grateful no one could see her blushing. Rhys tapped her feet with his free hand and she worked her talons free from the leather.

Rinya carefully stretched her wings, flapping them gently to get the stiffness from them. Rhys held out his arm from his body and Rinya took off from his arm with a hard push from her wings. She wasn’t meant for sailing the currents like some other raptors, but she was determined to do the best she could. Her eyes were used to finding bright shiny objects from water, not for creature’s fur that would blend in perfectly with their surroundings. But in the long run it didn’t really matter, she would have the distance she needed to catch the movement and that was all that really mattered. So she let the wind carry her higher, her golden eyes scanning the area closest to the Warren guards and slowly circling out further outwards when they appeared to be in a safe zone. Rinya just hoped that this whole day would not turn out to be pointless.

[Rinya]

Being in the air left Rinya feeling far more free than she usually did while working. There was no telling if it had been chimes, or bells that she had been in the air—really it was just the strain of muscles across her wingspan that told her she had been in the air far longer than she was usually used to. The Sea of Grass looked just like that to her—a sea that she wasn’t used to staring at and trying to pick out movement within it besides the gentle sway of wind. She felt a little lost at too.

There was nothing that stood out to her in particular. She could make out the form of what looked like a creature similar to a deer, in a herd far off in the distance. There were little rabbits that shifted between the grass that her eyes easily caught a glance of, but even if she wanted to hunt something other than than dogs—well Rinya didn’t actually know how to hunt anything other than fish. In fact she wasn’t entirely sure she was built to hunt anything on land—even as small as a rabbit. Though it was a curious thought… that perhaps someday she might try.

The guards had waited for the first couple of chimes where they were as she scanned the ground, waiting for her to whistle a warning of some kind if she spotted anything worthwhile, but it was actually quite still below her. So the trackers took their best guess as to which way the dogs might have gone, and Rinya simply followed overhead, circling above to watch all sides. It was almost instinctive out here, but she knew unconsciously she was watching for than just dogs—Rinya did not want to have another run in with a pack of Glassbeaks.

She had been tempted to take a break, as her wings were beginning to feel heavy. Rinya was hungry and the nap from before that had left her wide awake was wearing off quickly. But it was movement to the left of the group that caught her eye. Several dark spots weaving through the grass across a wide spread range that not only encompassed the front of the group, but all the way to the back. Rinya knew it was likely to be one of two things. Night lions—or the dog pack they had been looking for. It was hard to judge by the size of them hidden in the grass, even with her eyesight.

They were moving slowly, indicating to her that they were hunting, not just stalking. Regardless of what they were, Rinya beat her wings hard to sail over the widespread group of predators below her. Rinya let out a series of sharp whistles, that despite the wind, she knew the guardsmen would pick up. They had been listening for it for quite some time now, and it was almost odd to see them react so instantly to her warning. Weapons were drawn, and she could make out one Akalak—Rhys most likely—pointing out at her in the distance. But even with her warning she knew there was no way for them to know how many were coming for them—or from where. She got the feeling this was going to be bloody…

[Rinya]

The grass waved with the wind shadowing the moving forms in the grass, only to have them reappear ever closer to the group. It frustrated Rinya because she was used to clear water that made it easy to follow a target. It was impossible to tell which way the dogs might move, much less which one of them would probably attack first. The most she could do was fly above for the moment. If she landed now it was likely she wouldn’t get far after shifting. It was nerve wracking and irritating at the same time. It had been quite some time since she felt so useless.

The guards in the very least were ‘aware’, but Rinya knew that would only stave off the surprise element. She had no idea how vicious the dogs were—or hungry. Hungry animals were always more dangerous. Their bold moves over the past few weeks told Rinya that it could likely be the case. All of a sudden the movement in the grass stopped, and Rinya couldn’t make out a single form hiding out. They most certainly had not retreated, but she just couldn’t see them anymore. The most she got out was a piercing whistle before the first dog lunged.

It came from the right of the group, catching one of the younger Akalak off guard and quite literally knocking the male to the ground. Rinya considered it fortunate that the Akalak were so thoroughly trained. As the dog made to snap at his face, another guard came up beside him and ran the dog through with his sword. The dog could only let out a strangled yelp before falling off to the side, and all hai broke loose. Several more dogs snuck out of the grass and Rinya swore the only thing she could do was watch the two groups collide.

Many of the men did their best to group together into smaller teams, keeping their backs together as some of the dogs circled and others snapped their jaws. Others just leaped for faces or limbs—whatever they thought their teeth could get a hold of. There were more of them than Rinya originally anticipated and she had no idea that they had gained such numbers so quickly. The last time she had seen this pack there had only been a few—but then that was hard to judge as well. They had been hidden among the grass when she had her first encounter.

Rhys had pulled her pack and weapons off his shoulders and they were lying several feet away from him. If she could get close enough to land, she could shift and be more of use. But that thought was delayed almost instantly when she spotted a dog approaching him from his left. His attention was purely focused to his right, where two more were antagonizing his little group. Even a warning call probably wouldn’t be enough to alert them fast enough. So Rinya did the only thing she could purely on instinct alone.

As a hawk she generally didn’t bully. Often times she was the one bullied by other bird in an attempt to get her to drop the fish she had caught. But defensively when it came down to it, Rinya didn’t have to think much. She dropped her wings close to her body and dived downwards in a familiar drop, much like she did when she fished. Instead of hitting water however, she opened her wings last moment to slow her moment just enough to land her talons in the back of the neck of the approaching dog.

[Rinya]

It was an awkward landing honestly. Completely out of her element and with all of her instincts screaming at her to take back to the air where it was much safer—a promise to a certain someone ringing in the back of her head—it took everything Rinya had to just focus on the beast beneath her. The dog itself was startled, obviously not expecting any sort of attack from behind having been so focused on the prey in front of him. The dog swung his neck to face her, snapping his jaws at her wings which were currently spread in order to help keep herself aligned on the dog’s back.

The snapping jaws just pressed her instincts further. In an attempt to keep the dog from grasping her wings between his jaws, Rinya lashed out with her beak. The softer flesh of the dogs nose pierced easily due to her sharp beak, and almost immediately Rinya found her mouth filled with blood. The dog yelped sharply, yanking its head to the side in order to dislodge her beak from him. The motion caused her to lose her balance across the dogs back and the only thing holding her to the dog was her beak. The momentum caused her to tumble across the ground as she finally released the dog’s nose and she skidded rather harshly into the grass. For the most part she was ruffled, but uninjured.

Rinya could hear Seymantis call out for her, and Rinya gathered herself up to find herself in the middle of the fray—only a few feet from her bow. Instead of letting out a whistle to let him know she was alright, Rinya simply focused on shifting. For Rinya it was easy, going from wing to hand as she reached out to snag her bow with her left hand and her quiver with her right. She wasn’t going to get this far only to be eaten by a dog of all things. Cats were bad enough, she didn’t need to add dogs to the list of animals she could barely stand to be around… though that was probably too late for that. Swining the quiver up and over her back, Rinya stood taking a deep breath and let her eyes scan across the field in a sweeping circle much as she had done as a bird, only on her heels.

The moving masses were hard to count, especially when it came down aim. Swords were being swung and dogs were leaping up to attack. It honestly would be very easy to release an arrow and accidently injury someone she wasn’t aiming for. Gritting her teeth slightly, Rinya turned to face Seymantis... only to find the dog she had attacked approaching her slowly. Its nose was bleeding profusely and honestly Rinya was surprised it had stuck around at all. Slowly she reached up behind her, pulling an arrow from her quiver and ran her finger over the notch instinctively. Rinya twisted it deftly between her fingers until she could feel the lead fletching along her index finger.

The whole moment took barely a tick, and Rinya lined up the arrow with her string, nocking it quickly and pulling the arrow taunt until the feathers of the fletchings touched her mouth. The face of the dog could potentially be a decent shot, but bone was nearly impossible to break through… at least the skull bone was. With the dog facing her she only really had one choice—the chest area just beneath the dogs neck. Just a little to the left or right of the breast bone would cause the damage she needed, but it was still a hard shot all things considered. The area was very small, and Rinya hadn’t been practicing as much as she would have liked since her injury.

Drawing a deep breath, Rinya glared at the dog. It was growling, all teeth and sound. So she didn’t hesitate locking her eyes from the dogs face to its chest and released the arrow just as the dog lunged for her.

[Rinya]

Everything happened in a flash-- the arrow hitting its mark in the dog’s chest causing it to yipe sharply. However the arrow alone wasn’t going to stop the dog from colliding into her. Rinya found herself being thrown onto her back with a large heavly bleeding dog across her. The arrow had not killed the mutt instantly, but it wasn’t making any attempt to get off her either. She wasn’t even sure if the lack of air making trying to make its way into her lungs was the pure weight of the animal, or if it had just knocked the wind out of her completely.

Rinya counted herself lucky that there was so much adrenaline running through her veins. She couldn’t just remain under the dog--another one was bound to come along and she was in trouble if she allowed that to happen. Grunting, she worked her arms out from beneath the dog slowly and managed to hitch her shoulder under the dog’s hips and barely managed to get herself out from under the beast as it was still kicking and whining. Snatching her bow back up, Rinya once again took surveillance of the area around her. By the looks of it she was under the dog longer than she originally thought.

Several bodies laid across the grass--luckily none of the guards were among them. But there was blood everywhere, and Rinya had to blink several times to make her vision focus. The lack of air was beginning to make her head spin a little. She could hear her name being shouted in the background, but she tuned it out as she continued to sweep the grassland with foggy eyes. A few of the dogs were still trying to press the attack, but most of them were either injured or already dead. Several dogs were already backing up into the grass behind them.

As air began to finally leak back into her lungs, Rinya drew another arrow. She counted herself lucky that they had not spilled everywhere like they had when the Glassbeak had attacked. Rinya picked out one circling dog left in particular. With barely a glance down to make sure the arrow would nock correctly, Rinya lifted the bow and drew the arrow back in one smooth motion. Even with her vision slightly fuzzy, she could make out the ribs of the animal well enough. With the animal on the move it would be nearly impossible to land the arrow between the ribs, but it was worth a try anyways.

Releasing the arrow, it flew straight as she knew it would. And it also missed the target, snagging in the dog’s skin over a rib. If nothing else it certainly startled the animal and it let out a growled bark of surprise before skittering off into the bush as well. "Petch..." Rinya growled. The rest of the pack dwindled down before they too disappeared among the grass. Rinya stayed taunt for several chimes before finally dropping her bow carefully to the ground and leaned forward to put her hands on her knees--trying to catch the breath that had evaded her.

”Are you alright?” Rinya glanced up slightly to find Rhys staring down at her, a worried look across his face. Rinya had the feeling she didn’t look alright, but other than a few sore ribs from the dog landing on her, she felt perfectly fine. Probably was more dirty than anything else. Before she could answer him however, she noticed his eyes wandering across her own body and Rinya felt her face flash red. "Eyes to yourself!" Rinya snarled breathlessly and Rhys shot her an innocent grin.

”Well… I think you best shift back then pet--seeing as I’m not the only one looking…” Rhys shot back, but turned away from her in the very least. Rinya didn’t even want her eyes to wander at the moment… Sliding the quiver off her back, she placed it gently on the ground next to her bow and focused instead of shifting back into her bird form before the blush on her face could take over. In general she didn’t have a problem with nudity anymore--but these were guards she worked with. It wasn’t likely they would ever let her live this down. Rhys turned back to face her, offering her the deer hide armguard. Whistling low to herself, Rinya pushed off the ground with her wings with just enough force to get her to his arm, scrambling slightly to get a hold of the leather beneath her talons.

Raistren must have been gathering the rest of the guards up, because by the time she settled down without fear of losing her balance he had approached the small group Rhys had been fighting in. Rhys himself had bent forward to gather her bow and quiver before spying out her backpack as well. ”Well done… let’s go home.” Part of Rinya was a little surprised. She had thought with all the work they had done to draw out the dogs, that they might at least attempt to follow them. But then it was likely to take them the rest of the day just get back to Riverfall. She really didn’t want to find herself stuck out in the night again--the fear of Glassbeaks was nearly enough to drive her to the air as it was.

Rhys attempted to reach forward to ruffle her feathers again, and Rinya whistled sharply in his ear as warning. ”Fine fine… just don’t forget your my date for tomorrow night!” Rhys was entirely too enthusiastic about it in her opinion, despite the fact that it was utterly true. For the moment however she could ignore him. Tomorrow was a whole new issue altogether, for now she just wanted to go home… curl up into her bed with her mate and just simply forget.

[Gossamer]

The Fates Have Spoken.

Player: Favchean
XP: Observation + 5 , Planning + 2, Investigation + 3, Organization +2, Flying +4, Hunting +2, Unarmed Combat +1, Longbow: +3, Brawling: 2
Lores: Using a Kelvic Form For Guard Duty, Hunting Wild Dogs, Fighting Wild Dogs, Dealing With Being A Kelvic Among Co-Workers, Working as a Team

Notes: I really enjoyed this thread. Thanks for writing it. Everything looks great. And I gave you hunting for well looking for the dog pack. I gave you extra extra credit for fighting dogs as a falcon. I’m also giving you brawling for the scuffle, some unarmed for fighting as a bird, etc. This thread had a lot going on.

As always PM me if you have issues.