Strangers Among Us [O]

The member 'Lapis' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Effect Dice' : 2

Nightdancer's first scan of the area had revealed something suspicious but undefined, and her second had turned up nothing at all. So, heeding Darkspirit's orders that they weren't to split off on their own, she signaled to her fellow warriors with her tail that she intended to change paths. After ensuring that she wouldn't be caught alone, she veered away and into a different direction that had so far remained mostly untouched- something seemed off, though not in a way she could immediately place.

Her suspicions were swiftly proven right, as a clear trail of mysterious tracks was laid out before her. "Over here- we've found a trail!"

The member 'Holly' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Effect Dice' : 6

Darkspirit was getting frustrated and had been about to call it quits when Nightdancer spoke up. He went to her immediately... and sure enough there were deep, well-defined tracks. He beamed at her before turning his attention to the rest of his patrol. "Everyone together! We are going after these things!" He called to them excitedly. He felt at least somewhat confident with this many warriors with him. He lead the charge at an excited gallop, easily following the clear trail that Nightdancer found for them.

Once they were away from all of the carnage left behind, the scent became clear once more. These strangers had a strong, pungent odor left by the forepaws. He didn't even want to imagine what their dirt and water smelled like if the scent glands on their paw pads were so powerful. Once again his fur bristled as he ran, his instincts warning him of danger. The patrol ran a great distance through Thunderclan territory, far from the fox remains.

The distance was far enough that Darkspirit had to slow himself and the patrol to a trot, fearful that they may have no energy to fight once they found the intruders if he didn't pace them properly. The scent of these foreigners confused him greatly, as their scent was strong enough that it seemed like they should be just past the next bush or just beyond the next clump of trees, yet they never were. It was unlike any other cat Darkspirit had scented in his life.

A sudden low rumbling of feline voices had Darkspirit flick his tail to signal the patrol to slow down and be quiet. He dropped into a hunter's crouch and crept forward. There were three distinct voices, but they weren't speaking in any feline tongue that Darkspirit himself knew.

"E tu jo pauz op im kb kuiw" A deep tom's voice.

"Mof wtofbq. I u u boi op iy q bm z op fw." A she-cat...

"E tu jo qofli im ge pq fw ahifum. Ga u iuc iez sm." Another she-cat...

Darkspirit's fur refused to lie flat no matter how hard he tried to force it. He took one very slow step at a time, drawing closer and hoping to get a look at these individuals. Their language was so strange, guttural even. Their scent filled his nose to the point it was overwhelming. He crept slowly to look around a bush to see a single cat in a clearing. The other two cats were still hidden behind brush and a log out of his direct line of sight. What he did see stopped him in his tracks.

Great Stars... what is that??? He thought to himself. What sat in the clearing before him was a she-cat with golden fur covered in black spots. She nearly matched the description of one from the legendary Leopardclan from the tales of the elders. She was quite a bit smaller than how a leopard was described, however. She was about the size of a typical large warrior in the forest. Her head and facial structure were very different form other cats he was accustomed to seeing. She had a broad head for a she-cat, ears set far apart and slightly larger than he was used to.

He dared to lift his paw to take even one step closer... and she suddenly snapped her head in his direction.

The She-Cat growled, then spun on her heel to bolt away. The crashing of brush beside her told Darkspirit her companions were fleeing too.

"Foxdung! AFTER THEM!" He charged through the underbrush, his Thunderclan training easily forcing the shrubs to bend or break before his bulk. He'd be surprised if these foreigners could... could... Darkspirit's eyes widened as the she-cat ripped through the brush as easily as any Thunderclan warrior. Not only that, but she was fast... as fast as a Windclan cat. He pumped his legs harder, determined not to lose sight of her, but her black and gold spotted form was growing smaller quickly. The brush became harder and full of thorns with thick branches barring the way, yet the she-cat plowed through them and left only small tufts of fur behind to tell the tale of her barely noticeable struggle.

If that wasn't enough, the spotted she-cat suddenly leaped into the trees like a Skyclan cat and ran swiftly across the branches. He lost sight of her then. With a spit, Darkspirit leaped into the trees as well, determined to catch up... only to be knocked off of the branch by... something... and down the deputy went. He hit the ground with a thud and had the wind knocked out of him. He lie there and gasped for air, hoping nothing was broken. A heavy scent suddenly filled the air, one that was unmistakably feline urine. It was noxious enough that Darkspirit wished he hadn't sucked in a breath. He gagged, his nose going "blind" from the reek of it. It hadn't been from the she-cat he was just chasing. He could smell the testosterone in this one.

"Don't... Don't go after them!" He said, though his voice was weak and projecting it was hard after falling from the tree. These cats were as fast as Windclan cats, as strong as Thunderclan cats if not stronger, could jump like Skyclan cats and apparently hid in the shadows as well as Shadowclan cats. Could they swim like Riverclan cats too? "We need to tell Mottlestar what we found. She'll decide whether to engage them or not." He hoped he didn't sound cowardly, but he didn't feel ready to fight these intruders even with as many warriors as he had. If they were ordinary clan cats he wouldn't have minded, but these guys were not. He hoped they would just leave after this. He had a feeling that they wouldn't.

OOC: The sound clip will make you open your default MP4 player if you choose to play it. The intruders are no longer findable in this thread, but feel free to find evidence of them hanging around Thunderclan. Your characters are free to pursue, but they will not find anything now as the strangers are being more careful now that they know a patrol is looking for them. Also the tom sprayed to overwhelm your character's noses (this is an actual fact found in my research that their urine scent really reeks). Hope you enjoyed it, thank you for participating. See you for the next update!

Whitewhisker was behind by a long shot. When he finally did catch up and see his deputy sprawled out on the forest floor he went over worried and trying to help... until he got somewhat closer... eek well at least he could still smell in his old age. What in the world did they just do to Dark?

"whoo wheee dang gumm! You musta found a skunk Darkspirit. Those are not cats at all they is skunks and they just sprayed you somthin silly!"

The old tom hadnt even seen the three criminals but the way Dark smelled right now what else coulda it been?

"you need a good roll in every fragrant herb available and even after that we gonna have you sleep outside a camp for a bit!" he hollered from a distance away as he was making the distance between himself and mr stinky as large as possible now with each passing second.

"Good golly Dark if we wanted to drive out any rival clan we could just send you on over to their territory and clear em out if we needed. You probably drive off the craziest badger alive right now. I garuntee you not even a starving dog would wanna eat your smelly tail right now"

In the old age and between memory shortages the elder was beginning to get alot more lively

The smell of the intruders hadn’t been pleasant, but now it was truly unbearable. Trying not to gag, Blazefang stepped forward and gently brushed one of the tracks with her paw. “What… what was that?” she mewed. “I’ve never seen or smelled anything like those cats, not even in WindClan.”

Sagepaw wrinkled her nose in disgust. That was stinky! Still, not too bad. What was Whitewhisker going on about?

Unfamiliar, foreign voices could be heard in a language that was clearly not of the forest as the patrol came to a slow trot behind Darkspirit. A strange and eery growl erupted from the brush as a leopard printed she-cat took off at a speed that rivaled even WindClan.

The order to chase was given, and Firefly was off. Paws landing in the flattened plant life they cats left in their wake. But it was when Darkspirit scaled a tree that she had stopped, unable to follow. And then, the tom came crashing down in front of her: a strong, ungodly scent filling every scent gland available, making her gag. "StarClan, you reek!" Another order to not give chase made the russet warrior stumble backwards, breathing out frantically to try and attempt to rid the smell. "No worries on that... Whatever they did to you, I think we've all learned a lesson today."