Welcome to Isla Sorna: Be the Raptor Quest

You pause for a moment, thinking on what you want to ask of Strong-Jaw next. Inspiration strikes suddenly, and you chirp to Strong-Jaw, "What about the other territories? Mother has mentioned the Southern Pack before, but I cannot seem to remember ever hearing what their territories are like."

Strong-Jaw gives you an intrigued look, before chittering, "The Southern packs are...different from ours. I do not know if it comes from having a distinct lack of visible territory marker such as the large beach that exists between my pack's territory and yours, if it comes from different upbringings, or if their difference comes from the near constant interaction with large Hunters that both of the packs to the South most contend with, but they are very much different than ours. Whereas the only difference between the way my pack operates from your pack is the fact that only one individual rather than a mated pair, one of the Southern packs does things...strangely," Strong-Jaw pauses, trying to find the right words to continue, "Pack TallGrass is functionally two packs. They are led by their First Female, and every female in the pack ranks higher than the First Male. The First Male leads the males of the pack and makes sure they are provided for, and kept safe. The pack itself only stays together when they rest, otherwise splitting into two smaller groups to avoid the attentions of the large Hunters that roam the plains."

"Pack TallTrees, however, runs much like our packs do. They have a First, Second, and so forth, but their mannerisms really differ from ours. They spoke strangely, coming up with words that described things that were not there, such as the word Immomoya or something like that. Their stories are a little odd, focusing on the world around them as if everything around them was alive," Strong-Jaw shook his head, as if to shake off some sort of irritant, "Still, they made for pleasant company despite of their strangeness."

"Pack TallGrass inhabit the meadows and plains that exist in-between the two Bays," Strong-Jaw twitters for a moment, before continuing, "They live in a plentiful land, filled with large Prey (herbivore dinosaurs) of all kinds. The grass there is either tall enough to hide in, or mowed short by constant movement of all sorts of Prey. Of course, with such a plentiful food source comes large Hunters. Two-Claws (Rexes) stalk the edge of the territory, looking for those foolish enough to come close to the forest's shadows. Long-Jaws (Baryonyx) hug the Bays, sinking their hooks into the aquatic prey as only they can do. Hidden Jaws (early gen Carnotaurs) lurk within the tall grass, seeking a moment to trip Prey and these are only some of the large Hunters that dwell in their territory. It is a beautiful trap, filled with so much food but hiding too much danger."

Strong-Jaw yawns, before continuing, "The Precise-Claws (raptors) of Pack TallTrees deal with a similar territorial trap. Within their borders lurk plenty of large Prey, the young of the Tree-Beasts (brachiosaurus), as well as the usual Striders (Gallimimus), Tree Hoppers (Othnielia), Green Grazers (hypsilophodont). However, within the shade of their trees lurk the Two-Claws, the Unseen Jaws (later gen Carnotaurs), Frilled Rattlers (movie JP Dilos), Two Crests (book JP Dilos), and other Hunters. In their territory, the trees grow so tall that not even the Tree-Beasts can reach the tops of them. Trunks of the trees there are thicker around than Precise-Claws are long. It is a place that makes one feel very much small indeed."

Sensing that Strong-Jaw has finished talking about this subject, you quickly jump on to another one. "What was the Strider hunting story you mentioned to Slack-Jaw earlier?"

Chuffing, Strong-Jaw gives you an amused glance, "So you heard that, did you?" He pauses, giving you a moment to chip in that you did indeed hear that, "Well, that story took place two years ago. It was as good a day as you can get on BigRock. The valley was stocked with a flock of Striders passing through to graze upon an unusually large brood of ground-dwelling insects that were inflicting the valley at the time. There was this one Strider though, it had a limp so I thought it would be easy Prey. Striders are only hard to catch so long as they can run. An injured Strider is a downed Strider." he snorts at himself, mockingly, "This Strider though, they were different. As I leapt off the crag I had hidden myself on to grab him, since they came close enough, they...leapt too. We collided midair, tangling and clashing. It was a mess, and somehow they managed to get me underfoot. If I had not managed to kick them off, they probably would have sliced me open."

"From that point on, the hunt was a lost cause, he had the head start over me and could get back into the midst of his flock," Strong-Jaw snorted in irritation, "Without the support of my pack with me at that time, I would be unable to panic the flock into seperating. The Strider knew that, and deliberately taunted me by slowly walking back into the their flock's midst. That is not to say that I didn't leave it some scares for it to remember me by, when I kicked it off me I managed to dig in my Precise Claws just enough to leave a matching set of weeping wounds on it's chest." Strong-Jaw stopped their reminiscing, sighed, and wandered off to talk with another Grown.

What Now?
[] Play
-[] Who with
--[] What game
[] Talk
-[] Who with and what about
[] Write-In

Vote Ends Wednesday

Getting the dismissal for what it is, you fall back into the midst of the pack to rejoin your siblings. Silver Sister is the first you encounter upon your return, and immediately asks about what you conversed with Strong-Jaw about. She is joined swiftly by Bright, Dark Gray Sister, Stone Brother, Light Gray Brother, and the rest of your siblings. You only ever manage to get out a few words before being interrupted, which gets annoying really quickly. Finally after being forced to stop as yet another question bubbles up from the crowd of siblings swarming you, you bark out in frustration, "If you are so curious, why not just go ask for yourself!"

Panting, you almost regret the outburst as the crowd halves, with half thanking you for advice before heading off to list off their question to their Grown of choice as the other half, the half you are closest to, just give you a look. Snuffling your forearm in semi-shame, you almost chitter an apology before Light Blue Gray Brother restates his question about what the other packs are like to you again. Feeling your mood lift, you happily answer his, and your remaining siblings' questions.

---

The questioning finally over, you get down to have some fun. You and your four closest siblings, Light Blue Gray Brother, Stone Sister, Pebble Sister, and Gray Sister, decide that playing a game that had the potential to get loud while on the move like this would probably be a bad idea. Gray Sister is the one that comes up with a new game that you all can play, since not many of the games your brood play actually fit into this category. The game Gray Sister came up with, called Shadow Fern, involves moving through every bush, fern, grass patch, and any other mass of vegetation in their way without making a sound and with minimal movement from the vegetation. While the idea sounds pretty simple, the practice portion of this game is a lot harder than you thought it would be.

A half hour into the game, going at the slow loping pace of the pack, takes you most of the way to the Bay Pack and in that time you...have utterly failed at the game. Whenever you attempt to gently part the grass blades, you end up poking through it too quickly and end up making a near tsunami in the grass. In the ferns, you end up accidentally shredding the leaves, leaving too obvious a trace of your presence. The bushes, you do NOT want to even think about the bush incident. You needed a Grown's help to undo what you did there.

Your siblings, while doing better than you, are not doing that much better. While they have not parted the grass patches like you have, they still are tearing out blades of grass as they move through them. Bushes, they also manage to do better than you...a lot better. That is all you are going to even think on the matter. Ferns though, ferns they do about as well as you do. For such a common plant, you are surprised by just how fragile the leaves are to your talons and claws. It has been near impossible for anyone of your siblings thus far to actually manage to get through them without even nicking the leaves.

Scar-Snout has been watching your game the entire time you all have been playing. She is the one that...helped you in your bush incident. Finally having had enough of the sheer shenanigans that your group has been committing in your attempts to be stealthy, she interrupts with an impromptu lesson in stealth, stalking, and all things Solo Hunting. There is none better in the pack for this lesson, given that Scar-Snout is the best there is when it comes to hunting on her own and stealth hunting in general.

In Scar-Snout's impromptu lesson, she explains that the very first things that need to be considering in stealth hunting is your terrain and your footing. She explains that terrain is considered because, for example, if the ground consists of loose soil, then your footing needs to be extremely light so as to not disturb the dirt and draw attention to yourself through the sound of falling soil. Footing, in turn, is important because it is what allows one to get close to the prey unnoticed. One's footsteps need to always be soft, causing as little noise as possible and sure so as to prevent slipping and falling...you are pretty sure she is referring to the your unfortunate sidekicks in tracking Strong-Jaw's arrival in this. She demonstrates a few postures and movements for better movement through thick vegetation, and explains that while a Hunter will never be able to eliminate the effect their presence and movement causes to their surroundings that there are things they can do to minimize it. Slow movement, gentle manipulation of with arms and hand-talons to gradually move it away from you, and other such things really aid in minimizing a Hunter's effect on the thick vegetation around them while avoiding Prey attention.

Before she can too much more in depth with her lesson, your pack arrives to the Bay Pack territory boundary.

What Now?
[] Join the Grown in calling for Big Sister and her mate
[] Practice your stealth skills
[] Play a game
-[] What game? With Who?
[] Write-In Option

Vote Ends Saturday

While brief thoughts of other things you could do, the rest of your mind is consumed by the thought of putting Scar-Snout's advice to action. Only two of your fellow students agree with you on this endeavour however, the others join the majority of the pack as both Mother, Father, and Strong-Jaw howl for your Big Sister and her mate to join them at the boundary.

Your trio ignore the haunting howls of the Grown and the less impressive attempts of your siblings to engage in more Shadow Fern gameplay. This time, your trio decide to have one person play the part of a sentry, with the other two having to attempt to sneak up on them while constantly being on the move. Unfortunately, while Scar-Snout's advice really improved your stealth skills, they did the same for your two siblings as well. You are not tripping up on ferns or getting...involved...with the bushes, but your siblings are doing really well with not leaving any traces of their presence.

Whenever you have to play the part of the sentry, the two are almost guaranteed a win. It was a lot of fun for everyone at first, because you have a genuine challenge and they get to enjoy winning but that sensation soon becomes rotten carrion as challenge becomes frustration and the thrill of winning dulls it's edge. After your fifth sentry duty in this variant of Shadow Fern everyone of your trio agrees to just not have you be the sentry anymore, at least not until we get some advice on how to detect the signs that one is being hunted or stalked.

The hunting portion of the game is much closer, with everyone being of equal status there. You put up a good effort in the stalking, but unfortunately your 'rival' in every round of the game is better at the stalking then you. This results in you winning less often than they do, but you don't mind that so much. You are doing much better than you were on the way to the Bay boundary and that is good enough to sooth your battered pride.

It is as you are slowly making your way through a tall patch of grass that something changes. Your target, Stone Sister, is lounging in a worm portion of the game trail. Your focus is entirely on her, watching her every move. You try to make every motion you make occur at the same time as the wind, as an attempt to mask said movement. Light Blue Gray Brother is also somewhere around here, but he is so good at masking his presence that you cannot see him anywhere. Squatting low to the ground, you slowly inch your way towards Stone Sister. You sure that you have her this time. Suddenly, Stone Sister pops her head up, and tilts her head as if she is hearing something. Distantly, you can see Light Blue Gray Brother doing the same from his revealed position over on the other side of the game trail.

Taking their lead, you also begin to search the wind for some scent or sound. You do not notice it at first, due to it's similarity to the Pack but you do notice it all the same. The faint crinkling of vegetation being subtly pushed out of the way of a traversing body as it makes it's way through the forest. You turn to find that the Grown are blocking the oncoming Precise Claws (raptors) from sight. Your trio break from the game trail you were playing in to join the scurrying bodies of your siblings around the legs of the Grown. It does not take you long to wriggle your way to seeing your Big Sister for the first time and her mate.

Big Sister has stone coloured skin, showing a sheen that speaks of the vitality of the prey in her territory. She is large too, almost as large as Mother is. She bears a few scars of her own, one particular strap of scar tissue winding down her chest in a way that makes you wonder what caused it. Her eyes are shining with warmth, seeing the majority of her birth-pack gathered to greet her. Mother, Father, and Second Male are cooing good blessings to her, conversing about her growth and strength to her.

Strong Jaw is quietly engaging with the other Precise Claw, whom you assume to be your Big Sister's mate. That is an odd contrast of colours, given that Strong Jaw is an incredibly dark red (turkey red) with deep black striping and Big Sister's mate is a much lighter colour. He is an odd colour for a male, an almost yellow brown colour (goldenrod yellow) for the most part, with a brown orange striping on his hide (rust/bronze mix). Big Sister's mate has the typical lime green pupils of a Precise Claw male, and seems to be more energetic than most Grown that you know of. They are constantly examining the environment around them, almost as if they expect something to go wrong at any moment. You realize, after a moment, that the two male Precise Claws seem to share a resemblance in build, if not color, in that both are stockily built. They seem to be built for powerful takedowns of large Prey, and making large leaps for the flighty bird prey.

Turning back to Mother and Big Sister, you just make out Mother revealing you and your siblings as this year's brood.

What Do?

[] Introduce Yourself
-[] Posture, Gotta Do Better than Before
-[] Politely
-[] Energetically
-[] Write-In
[] Hide Behind a Grown

Vote Ends: Tuesday