Welcome to Isla Sorna: Be the Raptor Quest

[AnimalKrazed]

Chapter Four: Part Seven
Whelp, We Do Stealth...Kinda
​

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

 

[AnimalKrazed]

Chapter Four: Part Eight
Practice Makes Perfect
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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

 

[AnimalKrazed]

Chapter Four: Part Nine
Pose for Big Sis
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You feel put on the spot for all of a moment, being shown off to your Big Sister this way. That said, you automatically fall back on the thing you have done whenever confronted by someone knew. Try and be as impressive as you can be through the art of good posturing. You do not do the little goofy head bob, stretched arm thing that you did before. You do not feel like being picked up and examined all over again, that had not been a good feeling. Instead, you furl out your forelimbs to show that you can be threatening, as you show your gleaming whites. You have your Precise Claw (killing claw) nice and high, as it should be when not in use, and your back nice and straight. Out of the corners of your eyes, you can see quite a few of your siblings following your lead in this, each with a similar pose going on.

There are a few siblings, however, that do not follow your lead. One, Light Gray Brother, is hiding behind Mother in a moment of shyness. Another, Boulder Gray Sister, actually did follow your lead for a few moments before letting the moment go to try and help your youngest sibling get over their moment of shyness. The other two siblings, Silver Sister and Stone Sister, are not in your line of sight, so you are unable to tell what they are doing for this introduction.

Your large, stone-gray scaled sister examines your brood with a close eye, taking you all in. She takes a moment to compose herself, before leaning down and nuzzling the closest sibling to her, Dull, Dark Gray Brother. Your laziest sibling, of course, takes it all in stride and nuzzles back. Your large sister then takes a moment to nuzzle each and every one of you...whether you want that affection or not. Your feistiest siblings, such as Bright, Dark Gray Sister and Silver Sister attempt to resist Little Stone in her familial nuzzles, but are quickly rebuffed by your largest sister by being picked up in her jaws for a moment before being dropped. They quickly accept their nuzzlings then. When it comes to be your turn with the nuzzler, you accept it with what dignity you can.

When she finishes with her nuzzling, Big SIster turns to Mother and compliments her on managing to keep us all alive thus far. She comments on all the signs of good health we show; the sheen of our scales, the proper sharpness of our talons and fangs, and so on and so forth. You almost tire of listening to them when Second Male excitedly lopes up to Little Stone and they merrily greet one another. The rest of your pack gather around her and it is a very happy reunion.

After that is all said and done, your travelling group journeys the rest of the way to the BigRock Pack territory without too much trouble. Sure, there was the usual scares when the pack had to traverse across open meadows. The Grown made sure to keep a close eye on your brood when you had to cross, making sure that no Prey tried to take advantage of the situation to try and eliminate a future threat such as yourselves. Makes you feel pretty good about yourself to know that, from the look of the Prey you saw on the way, they did know that you would be a threat in the times to come. Something to preen yourself about, you guess. The only other thing worth noting on the way was an encounter with a tiny, feathered bird...thing. It was something that looked like a bird and acted like one. It could fly like a bird, but it had claws on the wrists of it's wings. It climbed trees like a newborn hatchling would and gave a call that sounded very much like a small Scaley Hunter ( Dinosaur Predator). It puzzled you and your brood very much, but apparently it was nothing unusual by how the Grown just ignored it.

Interlude Time!
[] The Watchers
[] The Stalkers
[] The Party
[] ??????

QM Note: I apologize for struggling to get this one out, and for it's short size. Long story short, wasn't feeling the best yesterday and I only managed to get this out now. Couldn't focus too well on anything and that is why everything is so short at the moment. Your small hunter encounter was Confuciusornis. I will have that InGen sheet up later today. It'll be the first InGen sheet that my co-QM, UnderSeaWings will have written that is going up on this Quest. Hope you all enjoy it. Again, apologies for the short size of today's chapter.

Spoiler: Interlude Hints

The Watchers are silent, eternally gazing. Never do they blink.
The Stalkers are quiet, trying to recover. Castaways from a world not so different from our own.
The Party are thieves, looking to plunder. Envious of everything in their gaze.
The Unknown are coming, silently stalking. They marvel at all they see.

Vote Ends Friday

 

[AnimalKrazed]

InGen File: AF.03​

Among the proof concepts of the de-extinction process, Project BabyBird is a two part operation of great success within InGen. While originally just a one part operation, a lucky find directly resulting from the extensive fossil funding of InGen turned it into an extensive two part operation.

Codenamed AF.03.01: The first part of the operation was to genetically modify the Hoatzin genetic code to produce a bird that kept it's youthful claws throughout it's entire lifespan. This was easily done by InGen's scientists and has produced one of the major seed dispersing species of the various Projects of InGen. They are a surprisingly beautiful bird that is well appreciated by the park rangers of [REDACTED] due to how they help reduce the damage of the grazing DF lines to the forest through their active participation in the flora lifecycle. Most predatory species on [REDACTED] leave the bird alone due to the hefty smell it gives off turning off their appetite. Only the most hungry of DF predators will take one of these birds, so they have become an indicator species for how the ecosystem of the island is faring.

Codenamed AF.03.02: The second part of the AF.03 Project was started because of a Find within a farm region of China by one of the cold-weather dig teams funded by InGen. The first true bird fossil known to the fossil record was named Confuciusornis by the discovery team led by Zhang Li in the year 1984. Many more fossils of this species have been found since, enough so that the DNA fragments found within the fragmentary ones allowed a better understanding of the creature than most of the projects undertaken since. It is the vast amount of fossils found that have allowed for the restoration project of this animal to be undertaken in the way it was, and is what led to the hiring of Doctor [REDACTED].

At the time in which it was first presented to investors, the animal was primarily a dark black or blue colour, with white primary feathers. Upon coming into maturity after two rapid growth spurts the animals grew two, long tail feathers which were believed to be a way to indicate good health and genes. Since that point, multiple strains seem to have been developed, with some having coloration akin to the Zebra Finch of the modern day and varying behavioural traits and others retaining the original animal's coloration and behaviours. There is speculation that not all of the AF.03 fossils belonged to the same species, that perhaps there were multiple subspecies found that closely resemble one another (to the untrained or unaware eye) in a skeletal manner but had vastly different coloration and behaviour as is common among today's animals. Expert examination of ALL fossil specimens found thus far, photographic or real in nature, is currently being conducted to find the truth in this.

Behaviour of both subspecies of the Confuciosornis on [REDACTED] is extremely similar to one another, so much so that both subspecies commonly flock with one another. They are a primarily piscivorous species, feeding on the small fish fauna native to the waters around [REDACTED]. One of the subspecies, the zebra finch variant, has been observed to more commonly settle for insectile prey. The wings of both subspecies are noted to have song-bird type adaptations for forest life, though a lack of certain adaptations common in birds today makes long term flight an impossibility. Attempts at predation by InGen's released DF lines on [REDACTED] show that the long tail feathers in mature specimens play a similar role to the removable tail of the gecko. The claws that the Confuciusornis aid in the climbing of trees, when these specimens take to foraging for prey items on the forest floor. It has been noted that these specimens have some trouble with ground take-offs, a problem unanticipated by everyone though obvious in retrospect. It has been found that the root of this problem is due to a lack of some of the adaptations found in birds of the modern day.

QM Note (UnderSeaWings): I got bored so I wrote this in some of my spare time. Let me know what you guys think of it. I'm pretty proud of what I got here, given I actually found a reason for InGen to have hired Doctor Sorkin in the first place.
QM Note (AnimalKrazed): So yeah, Red is for UnderSeaWings and Orange is for me. Just letting you guys know that now. Hope you guys enjoy this.