Springtime Flight [closed]

Clovertwist spotted his apprentice as she swiftly approached, looking awed and excited. He dipped his head gratefully at her praise before looking at the for her question. "Hopefully soon, Eaglepaw! It's what training's for, after all," he answered. Clovertwist looked to his prey at her next question, sensing the reluctance in her tone. He smiled and shook his head. "No, not yet. For now we can just bury it or hide it under a bush and come back for it later when we'refinished training." With that he bent down and picked the creature up, waddling around it to drag it to a hole beneath a clump of grass.

Once he dropped it in, he turned to Eaglepaw once more. "Let's see if you can catch something. I can hear the prey's running well tell. I'll help us track something down, and you can give it a chase," he instructed. Clovertwist smiled and set off across the moor, his ears perked and twitching for each sound. He kept the wind to his face. Soon he scented a bird, and he tapped Eaglepaw's rear with his tail, gesturing to the creature the moment it came into view. Her turn now.

ooc; Go ahead and try using the hunting system! If you roll a 10, you'll miss your prey and trigger a predator encounter. If that happens, I'll control the predator to explain the Predator List and that part of the Battle System. :) Good luck!

OCC: I think that I have it???...

Eaglepaw nodded and opened her mouth to scent her prey. She scented a bird, this one younger and a male by the scent of it. She crouched low, as Clovertwist had done and slowly started to creep forward.

[b]Eaglepaw attempted to hunt a bird, costing 3 SP. [/b]

Eaglepaw:
20/20HP
77/80SP (-3)

[b]Eaglepaw caught the bird! (I because I rolled a 5) [/b]

Eaglepaw continued to stalk forward, until she stepped on a twig. The bird looked up and around trying to locate the cause of the noise. Eaglepaw went against her instincts and stood still, trusting that her dappled golden pelt would blend into the moor and allow her to catch the bird. He bird looked around once more and then went back to trying to get the grass out of the earth. She wiggled her hunches and pounced, landing squarely on the bird killing it with a swift bite to the back of the neck.

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

---

'Hunting Dice' : 5

ooc; You did it! That's all there is to the hunting system. It works the same way in every thread. There are territories (different sub-boards) in which you get a bonus for hunting, though! It usually says "+2 to all Hunting rolls". This means the possible range to succeed in a catch gets bigger! For example, the bird can be caught with a 1-5, but on one of the special hunting boards you can catch a bird with a 1-7 instead! Just read the board description; if it doesn't mention a bonus at the bottom then there isn't one. ^^ Your hunting requirement is done as soon as you roll the dice, whether you catch or miss. Everything after this is for fun, development, and roleplay!

ic;

Clovertwist stayed quiet and stepped back to let Eaglepaw do her work, watching as she focused in on the bird and began to stalk to a better position to pounce for it. He moved silently through the grasses a short distance behind her, making note of her form. All was going well so far; the bird bounced obliviously along as Eaglepaw closed the gap. Then she stepped on a twig. The bird immediately sat up, its tail flicking with alertness. Clovertwist grimaced on her behalf, certain that this would be the end of her first hunt. It seemed, however, that Eaglepaw was not so easy to dishearten. Clovertwist was surprised to see her freeze solid... wait... wait...

The moment the bird let down its guard again, Eaglepaw began to wriggle, and Clovertwist grinned despite himself. He watched his apprentice fly, pinning the bird and killing it swiftly. The warrior stood up from the grasses and mrrowed with delight, praising Eaglepaw, "Hey, you did it! Great job!" He trotted up to her to examine her bird. "That's going to make some cat very happy." His tail waved with pride.

Eaglepaw looked up from where her mentor had been watching her stalk the bird. "Thank you Clovertwist." she purred setting the bird on the ground. "I wish that I hadn't stepped on the stick though, I altered the bird with the sound and then it was on it's guard." she said with her tail down. She then perked up and looked at Clovertwist. "Can we hunt again? I want to make sure that the elder's are fed along with the nursery."

Despite her success, Eaglepaw seemed conscientious of how she'd stepped on the twig. Clovertwist nodded along with her assessment. "That's true, but the way you reacted to it was perfect! I probably would've darted out and scared it off before I could get there, but you waited it out. That was really clever," he praised her, trying not to discourage her too much. "But it's a lesson either way; you can watch out for twigs next time." Eaglepaw asked to hunt more, and the warrior nodded, grinning. "Yeah - sure thing, Eaglepaw. Why don't you try to find a rabbit or hare? If you can outrun one of those, you can catch just about anything."

Eaglepaw fidgeted. "Well, if it is alright with you Clovertwist, I want to learn how to hunt in a pair and drive the rabbit." she said quickly. "If that is alright with you of course. I have heard the older warriors boasting about it and how some cats make good pairs for hunting rabbits." she paused. "And that seems to hold true when they bring in lots of prey." she explained

Clovertwist's ears perked with surprise at his apprentice's answer, but his face split with a grin immediately upon hearing it. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you've heard about pair rabbit driving; it can be really exciting. I think it's a good suggestion! We should see if we're a good pair." His pale amber eyes shone with excitement. They glanced down to the bird. "Let's go put that with my hare first, and on the way I can explain how team driving works so you can get a feel for it." He waited for her to pick up her bird before turning to pad back the way they'd come to find the hare.

As they did so, he explained, "Team driving is especially useful in places with lots of rabbit holes, bushes, or other obstacles, but really you can do it anywhere. The driver gets into position to chase the rabbit towards its burrow or escape route, and the catcher will be waiting at the end of that escape route waiting to pounce on the prey and cut them off. Both cats needs to be really quick and reactive; if the prey realizes what's happening, it can dart to the side, and it's up to both cats to keep it between them and away from any openings." They had reached the hare's hole, and he nodded to drop the bird inside. Then he asked, "Would you like to drive or catch?"

Eaglepaw figited as she realized that Clovertwist was done explaining and was waiting for her to answer. "Um....well. I don't know." she mumbled and then realized that Clovertwist probably wanted an actual answer and not a mumbled or an indecisive answer. "I want to...um...." she did the quick calculations in her head, "I want to try driving." she said flicking her tail. (I just hope this is the right decision and that I don't make the clan miss a meal from this.)

When his apprentice didn't respond, Clovertwist worried for a moment that he'd overwhelmed her. He was even more sure of it when she finally muttered that she didn't know. A soft and friendly look washed over his face, sympathetic to her nervousness. He would've been happy to be the driver if she didn't answer, since he considered it the more difficult role of the two; however, Eaglepaw spoke up again and determined she wanted to drive. Clovertwist's kinked tail waved happily. "You've got it," the warrior told her brightly. He said, "Now, we'll stalk for what prey to drive together, but as the driver, you'll need to lead the hunt itself. You'll signal with your tail where I should wait, and then you'll get behind the rabbit or hare or whatever and scare it to chase it towards me. That means you'll need to be able to stalk into position."

Clovertwist nodded his head then and waved his tail, gesturing for Eaglepaw to lead them on. "Remember: rabbits and hares can hear really well, and they'll hear us before they ever see, smell, or feel us. We have to be quieter than a breeze."

ooc; As far as I know there's not really a Hunting System way to portray prey driving, so you could just roleplay chasing it towards Clover and I could roll the dice to represent successfully (or unsuccessfully) catching it, or you could roll the dice to represent successfully (or unsuccessfully) chasing it towards Clover, or we could both roll to check how well Eagle drives and how well Clover catches. Whatever you'd like!

Eaglepaw nodded and looked around to see a really fat rabbit nibbling on some grass about a quarter of a mile away from where they were. [i]That rabbit must be really dumb to have strayed by us![/i] she flicked her tail signaling that Clovertwist should go to the left while she went to the right. The plan was to startle the rabbit so that it would run straight into Clovertwist's paws while Eaglepaw scared it.

OCC: I will roll the dice! I need the practice. (you can roll as well if you want)

[b]Eaglepaw attemtped to drive the rabbit to Clovertwist, costing 8 SP[/b]
Eaglepaw:
20/20HP
69/80SP

[b]Eaglepaw successfully drove the rabbit towards Clovertwist. [/b]

Eaglepaw lunged towards the rabbit and let out a yowl to scare it. The rabbit took one looked at Eaglepaw's claws and turned around and ran. (Perfect, right where Clovertwist is!)

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

---

'Hunting Dice' : 8

ooc; Each hunting attempt only costs 3 SP, so you should be at 74 (77-3) right now. Otherwise it all looks awesome, you're doing great! I'm not going to roll the hunting dice because I don't want to accidentally trigger a predator encounter with a 10 when I don't need it for a requirement. ^^

ic;

Eaglepaw took the lead quickly, and Clovertwist followed dutifully, secretly buzzing with excitement to see how she would do. His first apprentice, Sunpaw, had been incredibly eager to get out onto the moors as well, but Eaglepaw's excitement seemed to go even beyond that. Clovertwist would need to figure out how to keep her busy and learning without overworking her - or himself, at the rate she wanted to learn! His apprentice found a rabbit in no time, and he watched for her signal. When it came he followed her instruction, watching the rabbit and Eaglepaw intermittently as the Clan cats got into their positions. Then Clovertwist saw her bunch up and lunge at the rabbit. It let out a startled squeal and bolted right towards him.

It didn't notice him until it was too late; Clovertwist rose up as he sprang forward, and it tried to skid to a halt. Unfortunately, the silver tabby was already upon him and crashed down to soundly snap its neck beneath his weight. It fell limp, and with his heart beating excitedly he stood to triumphantly yowl at Eaglepaw, "Great job! You really are a natural at this hunting thing." His pale amber eyes glimmered with pride.

OCC: oh, you only subtract 'that many' if you are doing the battle system?

Eaglepaw skidded to a stop as she heard that snap of the rabbit's neck and Clovertwist's triumphant yowl. She looked at her mentor, panting, who was standing over the dead rabbit's neck. "Good." she said simply looking at the dead rabbit with a gleam of pride in her eyes. She looked up at her mentor looking at her with a gleam of pride in his eyes. "Thank you Clovertwist. I had practice watching the warrior's on the moor when I was a kit." she said mildly.

ooc; Yep! That's exactly right. Hunting is just about whether you succeed or fail, whereas battling is about how much damage you do. ^^

ic;

Clovertwist purred at Eaglepaw while she approached, noting how quiet she was even in her pride and satisfaction. Gosh, I would've been whooping and hollering across the moor if that had been my first time driving, he thought with admiration and amusement. Eaglepaw rationalized that she must be good from watching the warriors when she was a kit. Clovertwist smiled and bumped Eaglepaw's shoulder with his muzzle, mrrowing happily, "Seeing and doing are totally different, but you were great at both. This has been a great first hunting trip. I did say I'd show you a bit of the territory too, though, so let's go drop this off with the other prey and then I'll walk you to the border near Fourtrees." He was sure Eaglepaw would be happy to hunt all day, but how could he call himself a mentor if his apprentice couldn't even tell her peers where the borders were?