s o u l society [ open ]

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Puzzled? A fair estimate.
Tucked underneath the fallen timber and overgrown gorse that shaped the den, a russet creature rotated between various storages of various leaves. That one day far off in his memory, the day he had encountered Cora and been invited to participate in Blood Mist life, had marked the introduction of a strange new world. Suddenly, the weight of an entire mass of wolves depending on him, although it was a strangely familiar feeling. He just couldn’t quite place why or how.
Ear twitching, Krueger turned to face the entrance of the den, a wide-eyed stare meeting the scuffling noise at the entrance. It was a confusing time, to be sure. All these wolves spoke of mythologies and tales that meant nothing to him—often, there was this Verlust, or this Lupus, or this Hellfire.
A peculiar bunch.
Noting an individual stem out of place of the others, he quickly fixed the issue before returning his gaze to the sound of wolves nearing the burrow.

[Sivoncé™]

Cora, carrying a healthy heap of freshly-gathered herbs in her jaws, led Gossip across the camp with her and dipped into the familiar burrow. She wasn't surprised to find Krueger in the den; his different background set him slightly apart from the vengeful wolves of Blood Mist, uttering the crimes of the past and of blood debts that dated back to the days of Golden Wolf. Cora laid her pile, consisting mostling of cobwebs to use as bandages and herbs to stop infection from seeping into open wounds, in a corner to be sorted later. Sighing heavily to herself, the pretty she-wolf turned to her mentor, assuming that Gossip hadn't dropped their discovery along the way.
"Krueger, Gossip and I found this weird rock when he was helping me gather herbs. It's not anything I've seen before, but I thought maybe you'd have come across something like it?"
Her winter-blue gaze flickered to Gossip, and the diamond they had recovered out on the Blood Mist turf.
How did it even get there in the first place, I wonder?

[MooniiKinz]

As Gossip padded through the camp after Cora, he could swear to himself he was being watched, not like he was, but didn't he always have that feeling? Without bothering to see if anyone WAS watching, he ducked into the burrow after Cora, never having seen the inside of the herb healer den before. He stood there as Cora spoke, letting his gaze travel inside the den, looking at each herb and leaf. As she finished speaking, he leaned forward, dropping the stone in front of Krueger's paws, before drawing back and sitting down, grateful for the rest on his injured shoulder. "On the way back it cast a rainbow on my paw when it hit the sunlight."

[.Rabid Lycan.]

There was a softening of his gaze at the sight of his young neophyte, the teacher catching the eye of the faithful student. There was always something about her that set her astray from the other ranks of the pack—a warmth, almost, not present in the others. Always so odd, but he couldn’t help but offer a shy smile of recognition.
Recognition… such a fickle thing.
His ears shot up, however, as a new wolf—a male, no less—followed quickly behind her. The curve on his lips all but vanished, his eyes trained intently on the newcomer. Something pricked at his spine, though he could not quite decipher its origin. But whatever it was, it would have to wait, for the duo had brought gifts for him to examine.
Slowly, Krueger nodded and pawed the diamond closer to his form. He then settled himself for a closer inspection, eyeing the treasure from various angles, squinting at points and widening his gaze at others. Finally, he began to move his head in a steady nod once more. He was in his element now, with learning at his grasp, and not even the presence of Gossip could deter his shift of mood. For the time being, anyhow.
“I have seen some before, in a mountain cave where I laid rest. This rainbow quality is interesting… it is called a diamond. They are incredibly hard—impossible to crack with your fangs. Might even break them, if you are not careful. But it is quite odd…” He frowned a little, puzzled. “They do not normally fall so far from the mountains. Either there is an unknown cavern of them in the territory, or there is a mountain wolf in our midst. Where did you say you found this?”

[MooniiKinz]

Gossip tilted his head as Krueger spoke, saying the strange stone was a diamond, a hard stone from what he said. "Indigo falls, a few yards from the water's edge." He bit his lip as the herb healer said there may be a mountain wolf in Blood Mist territory, and he couldn't quite tell himself wither or not it was a threat if there was a mountain wolf in the territory.

[Sivoncé™]

Cora felt a strange shiver crawl down her spine as her mentor studied them with careful eyes. He seemed rather suspicious of Gossip, but the odd thought left her mind once she heard what he knew about the mysterious stone. Cora tilted her head at it in mild curiostiy. She blinked at Gossip and shrugged her shoulders.
"Right by the waterfall, wasn't it?" Turning to Krueger, she added, "Do you think there could be a cavern by the cliffs, maybe?"
What does this maen, I wonder? There are lots of tunnels in the smaller cliffs around camp, but what if there's lots of them in the territories, too? Best we know about them before our enemies do...though, there's not really any chance they could invesitagte them no that we've settled. But...what if they reach outside of our territory? Could that be possible?
Cora's mind was whirring with the possibilities.
"It might be a good place to move the wounded in the upcoming battle; Assyria plans to lead the Destinians into an ambush near the cliffs."

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Krueger continued to nod his knowing nod, delicately brushing a pad over the intriguing specimen. “That’s interesting—the falls plummet into the gorge. Along the walls on either side, there may be an entrance to a cave of some sort. Perhaps a tunnel system, though who knows how deep, or how far it may lead. In any case, a stone such as this did not crawl into your laps all on its lonesome—there are probably more to be found.”
He concluded his assessment with a fairly confident tone, and all at once his gaze was torn between the male, which he still regarded with certain suspicion, and Cora, to which he offered a simple smile.
“If there is to be a battle, these could be worth looking into. They could be retreats for wounded, as you suggested, or locations for ambushing—let’s just hope this stone didn’t come from a cavern behind the waterfall itself, which may also be possible. Far too dangerous to risk a venture.”

[MooniiKinz]

Gossip discarded the thoughts whirling through his head even though the looks Krueger gave him didn't quite suit up to him. As he listened to Cora and Krueger speak, he thought of what he had been told when it came to tunnel systems and caverns.
"I heard theres sometimes ledges and and trails that lead to a cavern behind waterfalls, and those caverns often lead into tunnels that snake through vast amounts of territory." He paused, trying to picture a tunnel system in his head.
"If there is a system of tunnels behind the waterfall, we got the home field advantage if it goes where we need to to, for both retreating and attacking." His eyes opened, unknowing he had them closed.
"One way to know if theres a cavern behind a waterfall is to listen for an echo from the water, if theres one, we either have tunnels or a cavern to our taking."

[Sivoncé™]

Cora's ears flicked in mild annoyance of the warrior, but shrugged her shoulders in grim agreement. "Well, whatever it is, it's worth checking out. Maybe we should head back there and take a look at it?" She turned to Gossip, a question mark in her eyes. It could be a great addition to the plan, but at the same time, the battle is days away. We were able to get a lot of herbs together today, but with winter coming up and so many fights to come, we'll need as much as we can find.
"We could stop and collect herbs, too," she offered as an appeal to her mentor. Come on, now he can't disapprove! Gossip was lucky he was a warrior; Cora wasn't much younger than him, but she had a long way to go before she could become a full healer.
Aw, crap, he's probably gonna suggest Gossip finds another warrior to go do it with. She looked hopefully up at Krueger.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

There was a quiet, absorbing nature to Krueger’s expression. He listened intently to Gossip’s knowledge of testing for falls, and suddenly his suspicions waned, if ever so slightly. A bit more respect was thrown the soldier’s way. “Use the echoes? Good idea.”
Cora’s turn to speak. Instantly, reluctance settled in his chest—to have a young wolf, his young wolf, frolicking around waterfalls and possible holes to the center of the earth was not in his interests. But her hopeful gaze, so stubbornly convincing in burning into his mind, destroyed his barricade of hesitation.
Mostly.
“I am rather interested as well… perhaps the three of us should investigate together. What say you both—lead the path?”