A Stand of Silver Birches
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This pretty little copse is really nothing more than a cluster of silver birch trees. They grow straight and tall, their papery trunks rising up to crowns of bright green, fluttering leaves. Beneath them, the ground is covered with a veritable carpet of little yellow flowers.
The Swift River runs through the foothills just south of here. The little valley in which you stand curves around to the northwest.
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You can go: Follow the Valley, Toward the Swift River
Contents: A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes.
Caileana moves through the snow at a steady clip, dropping her nose occasionally to sniff at the small tracks she is following without slowing her pace.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes stands beside one of the tall birch trees, sniffing at something at the base of the tree. His red-brown fur is somewhat dirty and some of his ribs are lightly defined. He isn’t in the best of shape, but still seems curious enough.
Caileana’s head snaps up and she catches sight of the pup in question. She lopes towards him.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes pads slowly around the tree and raises a paw, poking at something and tilting his head. He is still preoccupied with something on the ground.
Caileana slows, looking around and scenting the air cautiously before she starts towards the pup again, at a walk this time. She kicks loudly at the snow and trods deliberately on a half-buried twig.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes glances to the other wolf before looking back to the tree base, but then his haunches raise. He backs up at the side of the tree and growls to the other wolf.
Caileana lays her ears back and then deliberately relaxes. She stops a couple of paces away from the tree and tilts her head. “I’ll not hurt you, little one,” she calls softly.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes stills and backs up with his haunches up. He is very, very low to the ground.
Caileana drops to her belly to put her more on a level with the pup and inches forward a bit. “Where’s your pack, hm?”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes moves back further and accidentally moves into a bush, which rustles and makes him jump and glance back to the bush.
Caileana wrinkles up her muzzle in an expression of sympathy, eyeing the prickly bush behind him with distaste. “You all right?” she asks, not getting up or moving closer just yet.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes turns back to her, snapping, his ears going back, but his eyes seem a bit confused now. He creeps forward but only as little as possible.
Caileana watches him carefully and then gives a long, slow blink and turns to the leather satchel she wears over her shoulder. “You hungry?” she asks, conversational. She noses the satchel open and looks pulls a dead fox out with her teeth. She gets up, drops the fox on the ground between them, and then retreats a couple of steps and lies down again.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes looks down at the fox and it is clear that he is hungry, but his eyes are full of confusion. He hesitates, a paw raised in the air, glancing from the fox to the other wolf.
You say, “It’s okay, you can have it. We’ve got a good supply at the den to last us through the cold months.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes paws forward carefully and drags the fox back toward the bush. He lies low to the ground and eats some, but his eyes are locked on her.
Caileana relaxes as he rips into the carcass. “Ah, good, you are big enough to eat whole meat. Gave me a pause for a second there. We don’t get too many young in Ulfden.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes moves back, leaving the carcass and watching her.
Caileana sets her head on her paws and continues. “Let’s see, Alphas’ pup must’ve been born 3, 4 years ago now, and she was the last born into the pack after me.” She chuckles. “Not going to tell you how long ago that was.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes turns and heads off towards the river again.
Caileana follows.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes continues moving upriver, only lapping up a few drops of water before moving on.
Caileana pads after him with an expression of infinite patience.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes trots southward, heading toward the Swift River.
At the river:
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes comes walking along the bank, but he seems to be tiring.
Caileana sidles close to him and sniffs him. “You doing all right?”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes nips at her as she clearly moves too close for his liking. He growls.
Caileana eyes him and doesn’t react other than to takes a step back to give him space again.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes seems more annoyed. He finds a flat-ish rock and lays down on top of it, resting his head on his forepaws.
Caileana sits down beside his rock and starts grooming her snow-coated paws.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes starts falling asleep, his eyes slowly closing.
Caileana glances over at him. She frowns, looking up at the sky and then back at the pup.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes’s eyes fall shut and he falls into a light sleep, the day being maybe a bit much for him.
Caileana hops up on the rock and lies down on the opposite edge of it, creating a wind break between the pup and the cold winter breeze.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes yawns and curls up for a while. His tail twitches as he dreams. But after a few hours he stretches, glances to his guardian, and tries to give her the slip, heading to the water’s edge.
Caileana opens one eye and then gets up and follows him again.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes shoulders slump when he notices her following him and he just flops back down to the ground.
Caileana laughs softly, not unkindly. She sits down a paw’s reach away from his shoulder.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes lays for a moment and then dashes off,. running with his paws on the ice at the edge of the river. He heads upstream and tries to build a gap.
Caileana lopes after him, long legs covering the distance easily.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes stops running and sits down on the ice, skidding up the river, when he sees her catch up.
You say, “Do you have a destination in mind? It is cold out here, you know.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes ignores her comment and as he skids to a halt bounds for some shrubs, that are quite dense and clearly in his advantage.
Caileana skirts the worst of the brambles, her knowledge of the the territory allowing her to keep pace without losing him.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes heads for the denser shrub to try and lose her, getting lower to the ground to avoid the brambles and following tunnels made by smaller animals.
Caileana stays outside the brambles, but the noise he is making among the brambles and her knowledge of the area means she doesn’t lose him.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes notices that she has stopped moving so he lays down and tries to be as quiet as he can.
Caileana sits patiently just outside the section of brambles where he is hiding.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes tunnels his way out of the brambles and stumbles out onto a path at the opposite side disoriented he looks about.
Caileana circles around and appears not far from him again.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes glances to her and is more disappointed than anything else. He snaps at her in the annoyed manner of some pups, “What do you want…”
Caileana says, “To be sure I’m not leaving you to die of hunger or cold if I return to my other duties.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes turns away and pads towards the settlement. “I can take care of myself…”
You ask, “When was the last time you ate before today?”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes throws back a glance and mutters, “Two days ago.”
Caileana snorts. “Do you wanna try to run that first assertion by me again?”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes mmphs, in an annoyed manner, but keeps on walking.
You say, “I’m Caileana.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes glances to her. “And now?”
You ask, “Have you got any family at all?”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes looks away and keeps on walking, “None of your….” he falls silent and moves on.
Caileana makes a skeptical noise. “Reckon it ties into the reason I’m tailing you, so it is, actually.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes halts outside the town, “Leave me.” he says decisively before looking about.
You say, “Nope.”
Shudderwood Glade
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You find yourself standing in a perfectly charming little clearing surrounded on all sides by tall, whispery white pine trees and carpeted with the soft, red-brown needles. The glade apparently formed when a particularly large member of the evergreen titans fell, because the glade is bordered to the east by an impressively-sized log. It’s in an advanced state of decay, and judging from its size it provides a nice homeplace for some of the glade’s residents.
In fact, this glade appears to be quite well-populated. Judging from the rustling of the trees, the heavily-thicketed underbrush, and the trampled pine-needle floor, it would seem that many creatures make their home here.
The Swift River can be heard rushing by to the west. To the south, the forest appears to open out into the lowlands.
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You can go: Into the Thicket <E>, Enter the Log <N>, Toward the Open Country <S>
Contents: A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes follows a trail for a while, reaching an old log after a bit.
Caileana trails him quietly, her ears perked alertly.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes seems lost after a while. He looks about and sniffs at the trail pacing at the spot in a unsure manner.
Caileana watches him for a moment, then offers, “There’s an empty den not far from here. It’ll be warmer than sleeping out in the open.”
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes follows her but with a decent gap between them.
Open Woodland
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The landscape here is marked with thick grasses, brushwood and briers, with occasional trees scattered around. This area has not been well-travelled, and you can make out no paths in the ground. In fact, the area is strangely quiet aside from the gentle rustlings of creatures making their way through the underbrush. The sky above is blue and clear, and to the west you can see the Western Cliffs rising up against it, their tops so high they are obscured by clouds.
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You see no obvious way out.
Caileana weaves through the trees and snow and underbrush at a steady, but slower than usual pace, in deference to the pup. Eventually they arrive in a stretch of woodland that contains only a few sparse, leafless trees, and she stops before one of those and motions to a small hollow below its roots with her nose. “You’ll be safe here,” she says.
A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes glances to her for a moment before diving into the hole.
Caileana squeezes in after him.
You make your way down beneath the roots of a tree, until you reach a hollow area.
In the Root Shelter
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You find yourself in a dark, damp hollow, formed by tree-roots and dark brown earth. The floor is covered in dead leaves, filling the hollow with their distinctive odor. It is very quiet here, lending a sleepy quality to the darkness.
The hole above you seems to be within easy reach. It’s the only way out of the hollow that you can make out.
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A wolf with red brown fur and golden eyes cleans out a space in the hole far far away from her and curls up, falling asleep quickly.
Caileana settles closer to the exit, blocking some of the cold air from getting in to the hole with her body.
Later:
When Zulic wakes up, the smell of freshly killed meat fills the hollow, and it is significantly warmer than it was when he fell asleep. Caileana is still near the entrance, blocking out most of the light and cold, but against one wall is the partially eaten carcass of a small doe.
Caileana 