Hollow Footsteps [Closed]

Flintshard silently led Hollowpaw through the territory, letting a silence lay heavy in the air between them. He had thought about bringing Goldenpaw along with her, let the two sisters get to train together but had ended deciding against it - it would be easier to focus just on Hollowpaw when it came to teaching the new apprentice how to hunt. He came to a halt as they reached the Pine Grove, nose twitching at the heavy scents of monsters that seemed to always reek in this area. It was an annoyance, but to learn how to locate the different scents beneath such an overwhelming sound would be a valuable skill...And this place always seemed to be the idea place for hunting.

Hollowpaw padded along Flintshard, silently searching the world around her. She tried to ignore the stings of the cold, looking for distractions, like birds, or unusual plants, like a strange, white-spotted red mushroom peeking out from a tree trunk. She began to scent the same vile smell her mentor could, and screwed her nose up as they stopped.

"This here is the Pine Grove," the deputy explained as he glanced over his shoulder at his apprentice, using his tail to motion at the clearing around them. "The smell you've noticed is that of two-legs and monsters. Normally the scent is only on the Thunderpath, not sure why it always lingers around here..." Flintshard muttered, before he gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But prey tends to be plentiful in this area and learning how to pick up lighter scents that could easily be hidden is important - might save your pelt from being sneaked up on by something one day." He took a few steps forward, taking in a deep breath as he confirmed the rich scent of prey lingered beneath the more overwhelming scent that never seemed to fade.

"We'll be going over hunting today. Starting with your hunting crouch." As he spoke, he dropped into his crouch and slunk forward toward his apprentice, keeping his weight balanced and his pawsteps quiet in an example. "You want to keep your weight even - don't favorite one paw over another if you can help it. Mind where you step, try to avoid anything that could give your position away. Its...Harder in the snow and ice, but it still can be done," he explained before he pushed himself to his full height and motioned toward his apprentice with a nod of his head. "Give it a shot - see if you can catch something."

OOC: This is a new feature I feel like I should mention just in case - the Pine Grove actually gives a passive +2 to hunting which is why I've selected it (as ShadowClan has...Trouble hunting in Leaf-bare.) So if you try to catch a mouse, it is normally a 1-6 for SC in Leaf-bare but would actually be a 1-8 because of this location! Very handy.

OOC: MM, yeah, I noticed that, but thanks for pointing it out! Its pretty cool :>

Hollowpaw just nodded, taking in what her mentor had said. Despite the reek of twoleg activity, she managed to scent a squirrel poking around the forest floor. She crouched down low, taking in what her mentor said, straightening her tail and evening her paws. It was hard at first, but eventually she got it right, and started stalking the squirrel. As she crept closer, Hollowpaw took a wrong step onto a small leaf, which was enough to alert the prey. Luckily enough, she dashed forward in time, taking a killing bite and waiting for approval from her mentor, knowing she was successful despite her mistake.

+2 Chance due to location (Pine Grove.)
Hollowpaw attempted to catch a squirrel and was successful. -5 SP (Due to Leaf-Bare)

75/80 SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

Flintshard settled down to watch Hollowpaw, carefully wrapping his tail around his paws as he made sure not to make any noises as he waited to see how well his apprentice did. The hunting crouch was good, even if it took a while to properly fall into that but soon it would be second-nature of where to put ones paws so that wasn't an issue...His ear did flicker at the sound of the crunching leaf, watching as the squirrel darted away...But a huff of pride escaped him as Hollowpaw quickly sprung into action and caught it. "Hm, good job," he said as he got to his paws, padding over. It wasn't worth fretting over her slip-up, it was her first time hunting and he had made such mistakes before himself. But she had been able to catch the prey despite that, something that mattered more in the end. "Find a place to hide it and continue attempting your hunting. If you fail...Don't worry about it," he said turning to step away. "Hunting is at least one situation where failures are something you can learn from with ease. Do not wander far from the clearing, I don't want you getting lost."

With that, he continued his trek, only pausing at the edge of the clearing to take in a deep breath. He knew there was prey hiding beneath all the stink of the area...The real test was locating them underneath it all. Finally, one such scent reached him as he turned and stalked carefully toward the lizard. It didn't take long to see it, scurrying across the ground and blissfully unaware of the cats who stalked the clearing. The deputy dropped into a crouch, working his way forward on careful paws until he felt close enough to pounce. He shifted his weight carefully, but suddenly was reward with a sudden flash of pain in his leg. He winced, weight quickly shifting to his other side to relieve his injured leg but it was all the lizard needed to take notice and scurry off.

With slight concern, he glanced at the ugly scar that curled its way down his leg, relieved to see that it hadn't reopened or anything. He...He forgot about the strange pains he would have sometimes, feeling like how it had when he had gotten the injury. He wasn't sure what caused it, it felt...Random at times, sometimes when he put weight on his leg...Sometimes when he didn't. He had slowly gotten the idea that the pain itself wasn't real but...He supposed it was just another thing wrong with him. It was getting better and less frequent as his leg healed but he wondered if it would ever go away...He huffed, shaking his head as he turned to try to locate something else to catch.

(+2 bonus is cancelled out due to Flintshard being disabled and having a -2 to his hunting)
Flintshard failed to catch a lizard, costing 5 stamina.

Flintshard:
95/95 HP
245/250 (-5)

The member 'Honey Badger' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 7

Hollowpaw nodded to her mentor and searched for a place to bury her prey. She depicted it would be hard to relocate prey with this smell, so she searched for something that stuck out. She spotted a pine sapling next to a large, dark-green bush and buried her prey there, then gathering sticks and tried burying them upwards, to make it more obvious. She was returning when she heard a large wince from her mentor. She dashed over to sheck Flintshard.

Thankfully he was okay, she hadn't spotted him, the reason why he walked off, but she stared sympathetically at the poor cats leg. As she trotted on, she spotted another lizard, one slightly bigger and more colourful than the other. She dropped into a low crouch, stalking the lizard. She placed each paw carefully in-front of each other, making sure not to step on anything again. Hollowpaw's plet blended strangely with the snow, it was a light colour, yet was dark at some points, she assumed she looked like small rocks to the prey. The lizard moved away from her, spotting an insect, but despite then, she crept forward and leapt onto the lizard, finishing it off with a bite. She found a place close to her squirrel and buried the lizard.

(+2 Chance from location.)
Hollowpaw attempted to catch a lizard and was successful. (-5 SP due to Leafbare)

70/80 SP

OOC: Quick question, how do you regenerate speed (or health?) I actually don't know and can't find the answer, and thought you'd know it (unless I suck at looking...)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 3

Flintshard paced around the edge of the clearing, gaze flickering over to see that Hollowpaw had apparently caught something else. Well, at least his apprentice was having luck. There was a faint surge of annoyance in his body as he glared down at his scarred leg. It was almost healed, he barely limped anymore and he was almost back to old skill level - if not actually better. So why was it still holding him back? Why did he still suffer from the strange random bursts of pain? ...Why did he have to fret that somehow he would do something that would destroy his nearly healed leg for good. He shook his head, tail swishing in the only show of his inner annoyance as he tried to focus on the area around him...Only to spot a mouse a few tail-lengths in front of him. He barely had time to even think of a course of action before its ears twitched and it glanced at him...Before scurrying away into the safety of a root. The deputy watched it go with a huff.

...At least with Hollowpaw doing well, they wouldn't be going back to the camp empty pawed. But apparently his injury had robbed him of any chances of being a good hunter. ...Hm, at least he was a suitable fighter.

(+2 bonus is cancelled out due to Flintshard being disabled and having a -2 to his hunting)
Flintshard failed to catch a mouse, costing 5 stamina.

Flintshard:
95/95 HP
240/250 (-5)

OOC: The 'S' in SP actually stands for stamina, not speed. But to answer your question, the only way to have your HP healed in a topic is to have a medicine cat with you (SP cannot be healed) - however, missing HP or SP are automatically refilled in a sense after each topic - they do not carry over unless you make that choice yourself or in the rare case of a plot event that staff decides that some damage may remain from a previous topic. The stamina depletion for hunting is only to make it more dangerous as time goes on if you end up rolling a predator and give a 'cap' of sorts of how much somebody can hunt.

The member 'Honey Badger' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Hollowpaw kept searching through the forest, trying to locate more prey. She watched as her shivering paws made small holes in the snow, then taking consideration that the tracks could help her locate other prey, though most tracks led to emptiness, or a hole. It took her a bit of sniffing and searching until she came across a small, but rather healthy looking crow. She immediately crouched down, stalking it. It was rather easy to follow through the snow because of its appearance, but still blended in with some of the dark trees.

Eventually, she got close enough and attempted to pounce on the prey. As she leapt, she missed the crow, noticing she landed in other paw-steps, not like a felines, then realising an orange fox was staring at her in an aggressive stance. Her eyes widened as the fox leapt at her, trying to duck away but being scratched ever so slightly on her side. She yowled for Flintshard, hoping they could come to her aid as quick as she could. She hadn't been in a battle before, but her instincts told her to do something, to fight it.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

OOC: Well, I was about to force an encounter anyways for your battle requirement so. I'll take control of the fox for this topic so you can get an idea of how it works and I'll explain the battle system at the end of my post.

IC: Flintshard had been stalking, hoping to find something when the sound of Hollowpaw's yowl caught his ear. His head snapped up, breaking into a sprint as he headed toward his apprentice and spotted what had caused the moment of panic - a fox. With a soft huff of annoyance, Flintshard pushed off of the ground and tackled the fox, claws hooking into its side as he steadied himself on its back and started to bat at its head - drawing its attention away from the apprentice and onto him. The beast growled and snapped but he drew back to avoid its bites, simply glaring at it as he raked his claws down its side.

Flintshard used Leap-and-Hold on the wild fox, dealing 14 damage and costing 10 stamina. Lasts for 2 turns.

Wild Fox is stunned for 1 more turn.

Flintshard:
95/95 HP
230/250 SP (-10)

Hollowpaw:
20/20 HP
65/80 SP

Wild Fox:
76/90 HP (-14)
280/280 SP

OOC2: Much like for hunting, we have our own battle system here on WCC and it can certainly seem like a lot before you get used to it. There are two important 'rules sets' to keep in mind when battling using the system the Rank system, which elects how much health/stamina your character has depending on their rank, and then the Battle System of course.

Every character has a rank - of course you are already aware of your health and stamina from the stamina depletion from hunting. While kit, apprentice, deputy, leader have a single rank under their 'title'...Warriors and medicine cats have their own tiers - which you have to fill out requirements to go up on. You can use the Ranking System to figure out how much health/stamina you are suppose to have and also see what you have to do to climb the next rank.

Then we have the Battle System. Each rank has a list of moves that are open to them - as you climb up the ranks, the more moves are unlocked to be used by your character, with the damage of each move climbing as well as your skill in battle increases. There are three different types of moves - normal, Special Effect and Clan Moves. Normal are your standard moves and can be used as much as you want in battle. Special Effect moves, those with a special use in battle can only be used once in battle and cannot be done in succession (You must break them up with a normal attack.) And then there are the Clan Moves, a list of two special moves/abilities that each Clan have, often being only able to be used in territories that they are familiar with or have an advantage in. Thus, they are rarely used but very helpful.

There is a dice roll that is used for the battle system - the Effect dice. Certain moves require it to be rolled to decide your luck on how long your opponent is pinned/stunned for or if you managed to get an attack off if you dodge. Using the battle system is not that hard - you simply have to be mindful of your health and stamina. When using the battle system, you want to clearly state what move you are using and keep track of the stamina lost of those 'engaged' with you - allies and enemies....Well, tracking your allies isn't required but it deemed polite as a clear reminder that you are battle alongside them.

You can see an example of how people tend to 'track' this with my post. I hope this is helpful. We do also have a tutorial that you can look at if any part of this was confusing - it can be a bit hard to figure out exactly is needed to explain the battle system in full...Mostly when I've been on WCC so long that its just become second nature to understand how it works and thus fails to know where people can get lost/stuck on.

The member 'Honey Badger' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 6