Let Me Teach You (Closed)

Quailfeather made her way out of the warriors' den, trying not to trip over her own feet in the chilly darkness of the early morning. The air was cold, but thankfully it was starting to warm up in the daytime. It was time for her to train her fourth apprentice, and teach him to hunt. The gray speckled warrior padded into the eerily quiet apprentices' den, maneuvering around nest upon nest full of sleeping cats until she saw the fairly large golden form of Lionpaw. "Time to get up- training," she whispered before retreating out into the middle of camp. The sooner he began learning, the better he'd be.

He felt his legs running powerfully across the open savannah plains, a large beast with spiralling horns ran ahead of him, its fear scent rushing through his scent glands. A powerful roar ripped through his throat, drowning out all sound in the area as he leapt onto the creatures back and sank his claws into its haunches. The large lion roared his victory to the sky in honour of the great ancestors of the past, as he dipped his head to end the prey’s life, its head turned, and the voice of a cat echoed forth, “Time to get up, training.” The dream shattered and faded, his gargantuan form and strength dissipating in the cold pre-dawn gloom as he returned to the Apprentices den and remembered his own name; Lionpaw.

Amber eyes sprung open at Quailfeather's words, the young golden tom pushed himself to his paws and shook the moss from his fur. Unused as he was to waking so early, the young cat shook away the sleep and dreams as quickly as he could and padded out of the den to meet his mentor at the camp entrance, a smile spreading quickly to his features, "It's time?" he asked eagerly, finally he'd learn to catch his own prey, just as he did in his dreams, as well as learn to fight so he could defend his clan and family.

Quailfeathe smiled at Lionpaw's eagerness, but was glad that he wasn't as irrepressibly energetic as Fernfeather had been. Thank StarClan. He also wasn't as formal as Hollowbranch or Dewtuft. She liked her newest apprentice already. "Yes, Lionpaw," she meowed,
beginning to walk out of camp across the territory. As they walked, they soon reached a hilltop- a good place to start. "Hunting is one of the most important things I can teach you, arguably even more important than fighting. Without food, the greatest warrior would starve to death, and we need to hunt even more to feed the queens and kits and elders. I'm going to show you how to catch a rabbit, and that means I need your full attention. Do what I do, after I finish. All right?"

Without waiting for an answer, the senior warrior began to search for prey, sniffing the air and scanning the moors. They were on an excellent high vantage point atop a hill, a great place to start hunting. "First, you have to actually find your prey. You'll learn to recognize the scent of rabbit soon." A few seconds later, she caught sight of a brown furry shape far off in the dawn's golden light, rustling among the long grass. She gestured towards it with her tail, showing Lionpaw where it was. Her voice dropped to a whisper so as not to scare it away. "Then, you position yourself. You have to be upwind of the animal- don't want it to catch your scent and run off. Those few moments of surprise are invaluable in the hunt." The gray speckled she-cat dropped into a hunting crouch, leg muscles tensed and ready to run, tail flat out behind her. "You want to crouch like this before you run. Put all the power in your front legs so you can start off as fast as possible, and stream your tail out flat so you don't fall. Got it?" Her blue eyes narrowed, locking the rabbit in her sights. "Then... you... run!"

Quailfeather was off like a flash, sprinting with characteristic WindClan speed towards her chosen prey, paws flying over the earth. Yet she was silent as she shot through the grass, making no sound. When the rabbit caught sight of her, it began to run as well, taking off through the long grass. But she knew she could catch up to it easily, and she did. The head-start and her superior speed combined, the senior warrior caught up to the furry creature and caught a hold of it in her jaws and sank her fangs through its neck, swiftly ending its life. She dropped it, and looked at it in satisfaction. "Thank you, StarClan, for giving us this prey." Then she buried it with a few quick swipes of her paws so no eagles would find it. Quailfeather trotted back up to the hilltop where Lionpaw stood watching. "Your turn to give it a shot," she meowed, sitting on her haunches to see how her apprentice did.

OOC: Right, time for you to learn the hunting system- aka what I just did. Here's the basics. You choose a type of prey to find (hint: WC generally eats rabbits) and then roll a dice (click "preview" on your post and open the options menu below it, select "hunting dice" and roll once). After rolling the dice and receiving the results, edit your previous post with either catching the prey, missing it, or (rarely) attracting a battle encounter. I think you can figure it out, you're pretty smart. If you need help, just ask or pm me, 'kay?

The member 'Ash' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Lionpaw looked at his mentor with awe as she streaked across the moors and slew her prize, the rabbit hadn’t had a chance, the young Tom grinned as he took everything in and awaited her return. Once she sat beside him once more and informed him it was now his turn the young cat opened his mouth to scent the air looking around as the scent of hare filled his nostrils and saliva began to wet his tongue at the intoxicating scent.

The golden apprentice dropped into the hunting crouch he’d been shown, making sure to put his weight forward and brace for the coming chase, it probably wasn’t perfect but it was his first attempt. After ensuring he was downwind of the hare and as silently as he could he crawled the first few steps before exploding off his haunches, tail streaming behind him as he pounced on the huge rabbit like creature sinking his teeth into its neck to kill in one swift bite. Remembering what he’d seen Quailfeather do he raised his head to the sky and called to his warrior ancestors to give thanks, “Thank you for this gift Starclan.” He picked the hare up and trotted back to Quailfeather, tail and head high with pride in his accomplishment, “How was that?” He mewed, suddenly nervous he’d made a mistake.

The member 'Lionguy' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Quailfeather watched with a grin as Lionpaw caught his first rabbit. He was a natural- showed even more talent than Hollowbranch had, and listened to her as well. He'd make a fine warrior if she trained him right. "Good job,"she purred as he came trotting back. "Very good for your first try. Now, see if you can use the same tactics on that bird over there?" A fat quail, the bird she was named after, sat on a nearby ridge. Hunting birds was different than hunting rabbits, and Lionpaw needed to extend his skills to other types of prey. She sat down to watch him try.

The golden apprentice glowed at her words, he quickly buried the hare and raised his shaggy head to scent the quail. The young tom breathed in deeply to familiarise himself with the new scent, he could see the bird; oddly plump for leaf bare, clearly this one spent time with two legs who left out food. Once more Lionpaw dropped into his hunting crouch, breathing slowly with a steady rhythm to slow his pulse and the hammering heartbeat which came from the nervous energy that coursed through his veins like lightning. Keeping his weight on his haunches he crept up on the bird slowly, making use of the heather to stay hidden from its sight and making as little noise as possible.

Once he was as close as he could get the apprentice pounced, soaring through the air from the propulsion of his strong hind legs to land on top of the bird, killing it swiftly and once more offering his thanks to Starclan, satisfied that he'd done what was asked the apprentice moved the bird to where he'd buried his first catch and added it to his stockpile. He gave Quailfeather a proud grin, "I did it!" He mewed enthusiastically, "What next?"

The member 'Lionguy' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Quailfeather's smile grew wider- Lionpaw really was a stellar apprentice. StarClan had blessed WindClan to have a talented future warrior. No wonder she'd been assigned to train him! But she couldn't lay off yet. He was a brand new apprentice, and needed a ton more practice. Now, what else should he hunt....? No, now it was his turn to decide. The senior warrior looked into her apprentice's eyes and blinked slowly. "All right. I'm not going to tell you what to hunt this time- I want you to find and catch the prey all on your own. Remember what I told you about scenting it out, and staying downwind."

Lionpaw nodded, at his mentor, this was the real test, he had to scent out his own prey track and kill it, he wouldn't disappoint, he couldn't let Quailfeather down so early in his training, he had to admit he'd been lucky so far, now was the time to shine and impress her. The golden apprentice dropped back into his hunting crouch and scented the air, opening his mouth to allow the scents of the moors flood over the glands in the roof of his jaws, pricking his ears to listen to the minute sounds of prey animals scuffling in the undergrowth and bracken bushes.

The young cat's eyes widened as he heard the muted scratching of a small rodent in a nearby gorse bush, the scent that hit his nostrils was an unfamiliar one, but all the same his mouth watered in anticipation of how delicious it must be from the heady aroma. Careful not to get too distracted by the intoxicating scent, Lionpaw checked the wind with his tail to ensure he was downwind of the creature and crept forward careful to keep his weight as light on the ground as possible before pouncing towards the small brown furred creature, his claws extended for the kill.

His claws gripped the small furry body and the Tom's teeth quickly finished the mouse with a swift bite, he looked down quizzically at the rodent before taking it in his teeth to return to Quailfeather, "I'm not sure what it is," he mumbled around a mouthful of tail, "but it smells delicious." He deposited it in front of his mentor with a grin, as much as he tried to hide it, the excitement of his early success in the field of hunting was a source of pride for the young tom.

[OOC: I'll be honest I chose mouse because I thought I'd fail so that Lionpaw wasn't too successful to start with, I may have to purposefully choose something harder next round.]

The member 'Lionguy' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

Ashstar nodded approvingly at the tom's work. The Clan would eat well today. She was very glad she had been chosen as his mentor- with his skills and her experience, he'd become the best warrior in WindClan. He was certainly WindClan, through and through. She'd bring the mouse to Ashstar- wasn't that her favorite prey?- and tell her about the apprentice's progress. "All right, Lionpaw, let's see if you can catch one more before we bring this back to camp. Then you should probably clean out Cedarfur's den- my uncle gets grumpy without fresh bedding."

Lionpaw nodded at the praise, his fur growing hot with embarrassment, he raised his head at Quailfeather's words and nodded once more, "Alright, one more." He acknowledged as he buried the mouse with the rest of his cache of kills. The young tom sank back onto his haunches as he sniffed the air, allowing the multitude of moor scents to run over the glands in his nostrils and the roof of his mouth. The cat's amber eyes lit up as the scent of chaffinch came to him from a patch of gorse several tail-lengths over. He dropped into the hunter's crouch and moved swiftly but silently in the direction of the bird, eyes narrowed to slits in his focused state.

As the golden apprentice leapt however his claws didn't meet the soft Chaffinch instead he was met by the screeching form of an Owl who had likewise sensed an easy meal in the bird and swooped first. The tawny creature's harsh note caused the apprentice to flinch at the pain in his ears, the young Tom slashed out angrily with his claws at the bird, instead bearing the brunt of its own talons along his yellow flank.

Owl strikes Lionpaw with Talon Strike for 10 HP Damage and -10 SP

Lionpaw:

10/20 HP
80/80 SP

Owl:

50/50 HP
110/120 SP


[OOC: I hope I did this right, can edit if needed.]

The member 'Lionguy' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 10