Training Time (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. Newleaf was definitely on the way... thank StarClan. It was time for her to train her fifth apprentice- StarClan, she was getting old!-and teach her 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 smallish russet form of Foxpaw, one of Nectarleap's newest litter . "Time to get up- training," she whispered before retreating out into the middle of camp. The sooner she began learning, the better she'd be- as good as Lionstorm, Fernfeather, Hollowbranch, and Dewtuft had become. But her younger brother Dewtuft had already retired, and poor young Fernfeather, murdered by Wolf.... Quailfeather's blue eyes narrowed. She really was getting old.

Foxpaw sat up instantly. Walking light-footed, as to not disturb the other aprentices, she padded up to Quailfeather. "What am I going to learn today? Hunting? Fighting?" she asked excitedly.

Excited, energetic.... just like Fernfeather. Quailfeather shook off the sudden shock of grief and guilt that nearly enveloped her and started to walk out of the camp, checking back periodically to make sure thet Foxpaw was following her. "I figure we'll start with hunting," the senior warrior responded, her light blue eyes glimmering with the light from the lightening sky as she looked behind her at her newest apprentice. As they walked, they soon reached a hilltop- a good place to start. The lithe she-cat stopped, looking around at the enviroment, then back at Foxpaw. "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. Hunting is what makes us a Clan of independent warriors, not soft kittypets relying on their Twolegs for food, or stinking rogues rummaging for Twolegs' leftover crowfood. 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. Rabbits were often awake at this hour. She gestured towards it with her tail, showing Foxpaw 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. Other Clans get to sneak up on their prey until they're moments away. We don't, so we have to use what we get." 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, along with years of practice, the senior warrior caught up to the furry creature and caught a hold of it in her jaws. Though it struggled weakly, she 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 Foxpaw 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 hares, though also the occasional bird) 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' : 2

"Ok!" Foxpaw meowed. She parted her jaws, scenting for some pray. She soon scented a hare. Serching with her ears and her eyes, she spoted it nibbling some grass near a gorse bush. "I found one!" she whispered excitedly to Quailfeather. She crept downwind of it. She ran as silently as possible towards it, claws unsheathed. It turned and spotted her, but all too late. She pounced on it, and sunk her claws into its neck. When it stopped jerking, she carried it back to Quailfeather. "I caught it!" she meowed happily.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Quailfeather smiled happily- her apprentice was a fast learner, just like Fernfeather and Lionstorm had been. She should have no problem learning to catch other prey, theoretically. "Good job," the lithe she-cat said with a nod, not showing quite all of her inner joy. She was a mentor, after all, and she had to be a little strict. "You can catch hares, then, but can you catch a bird?" She nodded over towards where a small, young chaffinch pecked around in the grass, on the slope of the hill they were on. It was time to raise the stakes a little. The senior warrior looked expectantly at Foxpaw, waiting for her to try to catch it.

Foxpaw crept up on the bird slowly. Than, before it could here her, she pounced at it. She almost landed on it, but her tail cot in the gorse bush she was hiding behind. The bird squaked loudly, than flew of. "Mouse dung!" Foxpaw hissed. "I almost got it."

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Quailfeather smiled at her apprentice's almost-success. It was good that she not only caught prey, but had the experience of losing it as well. Even she didn't always catch whatever she aimed at, but she did more often than not. "Very good, Foxpaw- I think you seem to have the hang of it now. Make sure to pay attention to your surroundings, and no bird will stand a chance. As important as hunting is, I think we ought to move on for now. A little bit more training today, then we'll take this fresh-kill back to camp and you can give it to Cedarfur and Dewtuft."

The senior warrior padded a few steps away from the rabbits, motioning with her tail for the apprentice to follow her, and then stopped. Her blue eyes grew serious as they looked into Foxpaw's. "All warriors fight," she informed the russet she-cat. "It is a part of our lives. Whether we are defending WindClan territory from those fish-faces on the other side of the border, or keeping rogues from hunting here, or just keeping justice in the forest, most disputes end up being solved with tooth and claw. Though Ashstar is a more peaceful leader than most, RiverClan, ShadowClan and SkyClan are allied against us and could attack at any moment. We need to be constantly prepared." To show her point, the lithe she-cat walked towards a nearby gorse bush, pawsteps silent, slinking through the long grass like a shadow... then, without warning, she transformed into a blur of gray fur and sharp claws and tore the brambles to shreds. Quailfeather turned back to Foxpaw. "Enemy cats could try to attack us at any time. You need to come to terms with that fact. Any questions before I teach you?"

"No," Foxpaw meowed, trying hard to control her excitement. She was going to learn to fight!

"All right, then." Foxpaw was certainly eager enough... like all her apprentices had been. It seemed to be one thing they all had in common. Hopefully, she'd be as good at learning as she was at wanting to learn. They'd see. Fighting came naturally to most cats, whether or not they were skilled at it. No apprentice she'd seen could hold a fight against a senior warrior for long, but she wasn't going to go too hard on her. "Most mentors teach the fighting moves gradually," Quailfeather informed the apprentice, moving a few pawsteps away nonchalantly. "That isn't how I teach. I believe in learning by doing!"

Without warning, the she-cat lunged at Foxpaw, tackling her to the ground with superior strength. However, she didn't do it as harshly as she would have on a real enemy. "Be prepared for anything, at any time. Enemies who attack you won't warn you before they do it! They'll show no mercy. Fight back!"

Quailfeather used Run-and-Tackle on Foxpaw, dealing 9 damage and costing 10 stamina (she's holding back).

Quailfeather:
100/100 HP
270/280 SP

Foxpaw:
11/20 HP
80/80 SP

OOC: Okay, battle system time. (Rules and moves found here!) When you post, you pick a battle move from the list (one that your rank has learned, i.e. you can do it if it says "apprentice" on the side) and post with your character doing it, keeping track of the stats, SP and HP, like I did above.

HP is your hit points. You defeat another cat by getting rid of their HP with attacks. The amount of HP damage an attack deals varies by rank, and can be seen in a separate table from the one listing all the moves (the second table on the post). The table of moves also has the move's name, its special effect, and its description. Make sure that whatever move you're doing makes sense for your character to do. Once your HP is gone, you are out of the battle and can no longer fight.

SP is your stamina points. That's how much energy you have left to battle. Every attack uses up SP (look for the section of the table marked Stamina Cost to see how much each attack uses). Once your SP is gone, you can no longer battle. This is the Rank System, which says how many HP and SP each rank has. Once you rank up, you gain SP and HP. The more you have, the more powerful you are.

Some moves have special effects, like stunning. Stunning is when you make the cat you are fighting unable to attack back for however many turns the move says, and enables you to either deal damage with the move twice or do another move while the cat is stunned. Many stunning moves, like Leap-and-Hold, require you to roll the "Effect Dice" (found in the same way as the Hunting Dice) that will give you a number that will tell you how many turns the opponent will be stunned.

Read up on it! If you have any questions, ask me!

Foxpaw was stuned for a moment. then she jumped to her paws and ran towards Quailfeather.
Foxpaw used Front paw strike, (claws shethed), doing 6 damage and costing 10 staima.

Quailfeather:
100/100 HP
264/280 SP

Foxpaw:
11/20 HP
70/80 SP