{Creature Hunt} The Pythago Pack

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan looked at everyone, before giving one last suggestion.

"Don't get too close to water, look everywhere- not just down, but up. We don't know how exactly these guys fight. We're bound to be in for a few surprises. And one more thing; keep in mind that they're going to be hostile. We're walking into their home, here, and especially if they're protecting their young. They might be more vicious than we think."

With that, Jordan began going a different way from the tracks, being light on his feet as he slid his bow away from his back, and placed an arrow at the ready. His eyes jolting up, down. Left, right center. He was not used to dealing with pack animals, not even wolves.

The elemental hoped that everyone had each others backs on this.

[Deleted]

Roland nodded and followed in after Jordan, keeping his distance a bit and scanning other areas while he followed behind. Taking his spear and placing it in his hands.

The Knight squished as quietly as he could through the mars as he watched and listened.

[Hector Olith]

Harul launched off after Jordan, being the lightest armed of the group he easily stayed within a defensible distance of the elemental. He stayed to the left of the him instead of directly behind, however, starting a staggering pattern he hoped the other two would follow. Hector reached behind and lifted his ax out of his custom strap he used to keep it from falling off his back and took off after Roland, staying to his left as well in an attempt to continue what Harul had started. "Well, I'll take rear I guess." he stated as he tried not to make too much noise fast walking through the swamp, if you can call a slightly faster slog a walk that is.

[Jordan Hielo]

The marsh was quiet- something that a hunter never wanted to hear. Not only did it mean that perhaps the prey was far away... it meant that perhaps they were the ones being hunted.

But Jordan discarded the thought as his eyes darted all around them. This was proving to be a tad bit more difficult than he had anticipated; but all the same, he knew it would be a thousand times more difficult than he had imagined. Probably, at least.

They walked alongside a shorter cliff of sorts, just covering a few feet above their heads. Jordan was about to turn the corner, when something caught his eye.

A cyclops, hand wrapped around what appeared to be a lizard-like wolf thing. A pythago, perhaps?
But Jordan realized that they might want to rethink just walking out from behind the cliff. He stopped, and motioned a hand out in front of Harul so that the other man would not move further.

"Cyclops. What's our plan of action?" he muttered with his head turned to Harul, eyes at Roland and Hector. He wanted the three mens opinion, not just his own.

[Deleted]

Roland looked around and saw nothing, heard nothing... it was actually way too quite, he thought so at least. But then again the marsh was never one of the noisiest of the wilderness. It had a sort of creepy quick to it almost all the time, at least every time he had been in it. Roland nearly ran into Harul as he hadn't been focusing on when they were stopping, and Harul was light on his feet too. Roland stopped in time, before even coming too awkwardly close to the man. He needed to snap out of it and focus up!

Roland looked at Jordan, cyclops huh, he had fought one once, it was a fairly easy kill, with two people. They had four now, but not all cyclops were the same.
"Well, what is it doing?" Roland asked in a hushed voice.

[Hector Olith]

Harul had come to a stop as soon as Jordan stuck his hand out. Looking towards where the elemental was, he saw what appeared to be a cyclops fighting or getting eaten, one of the two. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, waiting for the other two men to catch up a little before expressing his opinion. Hector had seen Roland almost smash into Harul and stepped to the side of Roland, flattening himself against the cliff as much as possible while squatting a bit. "Well, it can see me if I stand up and I don't really want to fight anything other than what we need to." Hector said, switching to wielding his ax with two hands.

"Unless it is a strangely vicious cyclops, then I see no reason to get involved. Especially if it's getting eaten by whatever the hell is on it." Harul said. He looked down in thought for a second or two before a very, very quiet sound reached his ears. He loved being half elvish at times. "However, there is something approaching from behind us if my hearing is correct." he whispered. For the first time since they started moving, Harul curled his fingers and thumb in so he was better positioned to defend against something.

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan cursed under his breath, as he heard the approaching noise. He turned his head, seeing a slight ruffle in the bush. Perhaps it was reinforcements for the pythago fighting the cyclops.

Quite frankly, he was a bit embarrassed that he had payed so much attention to the cyclops, that he hadn't heard anything fast approach them.

"It's being attacked, Harul. It's going to be a danger if it spots us- it's gonna think we're with the pythago."
He had to figure that it might think the pythago was an attack dog, and them its owners. It was not uncommon for men to go hunting with their pets, after all.

He stepped behind Hector and Roland, bow facing the bush.

"You guys lead the way... if anything comes for us I'll alert you and shoot. It might just be trying to help its pack-mate, if it's a pythago."
He tried to speak as quietly as possible as he stared at the bush. It had stopped ruffling; but that did not mean nothing was there.

[Deleted]

As long as they staid out of the view of the cyclops, not becoming a threat, and here with whatever was with them, the group had a high percentage of success. At least Roland figured. If the creature thought to be in the bush was a pythago, getting one right now without dealing with the others would be ideal, and if the pack was on its way, they would no doubt have sacrificed needed energy taking down the cyclops, giving the group the edge.
Roland bent down and picked up a rock.
"Look alive." he stated in a normal voice as he threw it into the air and it landed in the bush, shaking them and no doubt startling whatever was in them. "If we catch one alone now it will be a whole lot easier then the pack later."

[Hector Olith]

"Oh yeah... catch." Hector said after he found himself readying his ax for a lethal downswing. With a bit of hesitation, Hector let one hand go off of his ax and prepared to counter whatever the hell was in the bushes. "I hope it is one; I don't really wanna be here, after all." he took a step forward, cautiously at the now ruffling bush. Harul stepped up behind Hector and Roland.

"If you two can distract it long enough, I may be able to wrestle it to the ground long enough for us all to subdue it at once." he whispered. He hoped it was true, because he didn't have the armor to survive an assault by what is described as a near perfect pack predator. Poisonous, claws, fangs, big, and in a pack. Yep, near perfect. The bush ruffled again, causing Harul to squat down in preparation.

"Wait a second, I never-" Hector started, but suddenly something jumped out of the bush. Harul stepped forward and stopped, as a very thin rabbit scurried out of the bush, chattering its displeasure. Hector stared after it, dumbfounded. They had gotten worked up over that? "Well, that was scary." he said sarcastically.

[Jordan Hielo]

Out of instinct, Jordan had pulled on his arrow and released it. Thinking it was going to be hitting the leg of a pythago, he overshot it, and it went fluttering by the irritated bunny.

He was rather relieved it did not hit. He liked bunnies.

Jordan smiled, breathing out a small sigh. "Could have been worse. We don't want to be cornered between a pythago and a Cyclopes fighting one- even if it would be the quickest way to find the damn things."

He sighed, looking back at the men.

"We could try getting the one at the Cyclopes. Or keep going, see if we hit eggs."

[Deleted]

Roland chuckled at the sight of the bunny and got up from the position he had been in, becoming slightly straighter, he did not however get completely relaxed. Out here in the dark marsh, anything could happen. And a bunny, all the way out here? That in itself was rather strange, perhaps a good omen. To see such a small and weak thing surviving in one of the most dangerous of places.

"If we go now, we must hurry. No doubt the Pythago will come to the aid of this one, unless it is a loner, and if they come to its aid, the nest will lack sufficient protection." He said, putting his two cents in.

[Hector Olith]

"Well, whatever works." Hector said, honestly having no input on the matter. He didn't care what they did as long as they got this over with. When he had first heard about the hunt, he had wanted to kill one of these things just to say he had killed one. But, it turned out to be a capture mission in its simplest form, turning away some of his enthusiasm.

"The only problem I see is that if we do happen to find their nest, what are we going to do if the entire pack is there resting? By the time we snag an egg, our presence will be well known to them and it will be a bloodbath at best. There are just too many uncertainties in this situation." Harul said, putting his two cents in.

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan stared at his feet for a moment, before turning to the men again and speaking.
"Well... if we find the nest, I could always go in alone. I mean, I could change into my elemental form. That'll keep most of the bites off of me, if I'm concentrating hard enough. That's to be more safe than sorry, though."

He scratched at his beard. There was no guarantee that would work, though.

"Roland, you're certainly better than me at strategic, group plans. Can you think of anything?" he laughed. And it was true- Jordan was used to hunting alone. But with this many people, he was really only thinking as one. Not as a group.

[Deleted]

"...." Roland thought for a moment and then it all seemed to come to him. He had figured out a plan that at least at the moment, seemed to be their best option by a long-shot.

"Alright, I do have an idea. If we can get them in the water, we will easily be able to not only subdue them, but from there we will have plenty of options." Roland rubbed the back of his head, "The question is, how do we lure them out into the water? Hmm... one of us could grab an egg and quickly run away, causing them to give chase, but it is risky. Not only that but we would need to find the nest first." Roland thought this through once again, and he decided, nothing could be decided until they actually found the nest, if it was empty, wonderful, if not, then they would need to use the plan.
"If we got them in the water, Jordan, you could freeze it, catching them and holding them long enough to do just about anything from that point on I would imagine." He stated the overall idea of his plan, just incase they hadn't realized it before.

[Hector Olith]

Hector was about to object to Jordan's idea when Roland spoke, and he found a smile come across his lips. Harul snickered behind him; a low, barely audible snicker, but a snicker nonetheless. Hector turned to Harul while Roland explained everything. "What's so funny?" he whispered, still listening to Roland. Harul held his hand to his chest.

"I'm fast enough to go grab the egg and I'm pretty sure I can dodge them." he whispered back. Hector thought on this, doubting the old man, but he looked dead serious when he boasted.

"You sure?" he asked. Harul nodded. Hector turned again right as Roland finished speaking. "Well, okay then. Me and Harul can do that part I guess. Harul and me can go in and see if any of them are there, and while he takes the egg I can distract them long enough for him and me to get out to the water." He pounded his chest plate in pride. "They aren't biting through this anytime soon and I heal... well, let's just say they can't hurt me fast enough to kill me." he said. Harul grunted in the back.

"I am still opposed to this plan, but it sounds better than trying to just capture an unhatched one while holding off or killing the others. However, the key in this plan would be Jordan himself, so he mustn't get injured or otherwise incapacitated. If it is Hector and I chosen, It would take one worry off our mind if a warrior were to be protecting the elemental from any outside threats or maybe a returning hunting party." he said, indicating Roland. He supposed Roland and Hector could trade places, but if Hector wasn't over exaggerating his abilities then Hector may be the most logical choice.

"We're alright with this if you two are. That is, if we elect to go to the nest." Hector finished.

[Deleted]

Roland nodded, "Alright then. I'll protect Jordan while you two get the job done. But first," he stated firmly before anyone got too out of control and excited, "first we need to find the nest and a proper source of water for the trap." He said.

Sure they had a plan that would work if executed correctly, they just needs to be sure they had all the steps of the plan actually there and not theoretical.

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan frowned for a moment as he thought, before smiling once more.
"Right. Sounds like a plan. Find the nest, make sure everything's there, execute the plan if everything works."

He thought everything over again, before nodding and looking at everyone.
"Okay. We should move out then, if we've got our plan."

[Hector Olith]

"Well, problem is that we don't know where to move to," Harul said. "We don't have any tracks to follow except the Pythago that's dismantling that cyclops, and if we actually follow it somewhere it's very likely that it'll alert the others somehow of our approach. That is, if it's in the pack. It may very well turn on us and try to kill us all for all we know." Harul was looking at the cyclops as he spoke his words, noticing that in had fallen to one knee. There were multiple gashes and bite marks, and its eye was gushing blood rendering it blind. The Pythago scrambled onto its back and bit down on its neck, making the cyclops scream in pain and fumble blindly for whatever the hell was killing it.

"Well, if it did that then we'd have our sample now wouldn't we," Hector asked. "To be honest, I was just going along with Harul's plan here because it seemed the most dangerous. However, we have a Pythago here. Right in front of us. All we need is a well placed arrow and a few guys willing to go contain it." Hector said with a slight shrug. He had hinted that at Jordan directly, as he was the only one with a bow on hand.

[Deleted]

It was the times like these when his magical capabilities really came in handy... At least they would if Roland had any. He knew about magic of course and also how to 'use' it but not at all how to do it. It was really a simple spell to follow the trail of the Pythago back to the den while it was preoccupied with its meal. Here was the problem though, he didn't figure any of these men to know any sort of spell like that and traditional tracking skills took time that they didn't have with a target as fast as the Pythago.

There was no good choice. The ideal hunt would be to catch as many as possible in order to assure the safety of the people but perhaps at this point, with so little information, one would have to do.
"Alright. We have one here and now. You're right, let's not push our luck. Jordan, ready when you are. I'll move over there a little ways to block off an exit incase it tries to flee. If you miss I'll be ready to throw my spear." He finished with a nod and moved quickly. He made sure to stay covered and hidden while he made his way to a good enough position.