The Awesome Random Adventure In A Cave Quest Plot

[Accalia]

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[atrb=background,http://i.imm.io/dmND.png] Lyta's paws were gentle on the rough earth as they carried the little red wolf up the path beside the stream. It was a path worn away by generations of prey and wolves, running, chasing, fleeing, walking, striding, bounding. Even before the Alliance had come to this place, there had been wolves, and animals. There had always been life, everywhere, all over the world. Even in the deserts, or the deepest depths of the ocean, or hidden secretly within a cave. There would always be. Lyta was proud to be alive, proud to burn with that fierce life that was the ability to breathe, and hunt, and smile, and love, and laugh. It was a quiet pride, but one that she was always aware of, in the back of her mind. It was what gave her her fierce charisma, the sense that she was slightly larger than life. Today she was musing on that, as she often did, as she walked up the path beside the stream. It was a beautiful place. Her territory was beautiful, and she was just happy to be in it, happy to be Majara of such a wonderful place. The water hissed along beside her, furiously fast, and she basked luxuriously in the cool spray. She was almost to the cliff, almost to the point at which she would have to stop, turn back from her snatched moment of peace walking beside the stream, head back into the hectic fury - as she saw it - of life. The territory was peaceful at the moment, but Lyta was constantly at work, patrolling, hunting, doing whatever else. It was a strain, but a source of pride too. Pride was what Lyta lived on, as others lived on food. Well, she needed food too. She stopped suddenly. There, in the cliff, was an opening. Lyta hurried to the entrance. It was an opening, a cave, with an odd scent coming from it. She sniffed. She didn't recognise it, didn't recognise it at all. But it called to her longing for mystery and adventure, an odd little cave with a strange scent. She took a few steps inside, and was surprised to find that the light from outdoors lit a very long way down the cave, if dimly. She could see tunnels, heading deep into the earth, deeper and deeper, until she could no longer see. They split regularly, a whole maze underground, and suddenly Lyta knew she had to explore. Her curiosity wouldn't be satisfied until she did. Besides - that scent - bears were known to dwell in caves... her pack might not be safe. This scent was the scent of danger, the scent of what the little pack would encounter down in the cave. But the young Majara had no way of knowing that. Lifting her head, Lyta howled for the rest of the pack. If she was to go in, she would need her friends beside her. It would be a good adventure, something to cement the loyalties and friendships in the little pack, make them into a community.

[Valitrix]

AZAZEL

The sun was high in the sky, bathing the steppe below in a warm light. Tall mountains cast long shadows on the fields of grass and flowers below. High above that, a lone wolf flew steadily through the sky. That's right, I said flew. You see, this particular wolf had wings, and his name was Azazel. Azazel, Aezel of the Aurora Caeli Allinace if you wanted to be technical.

Azi was flying back from a scouting mission, he was checking for any nearby packs, or threats. He hadn't seen any that day, but he would check again later. Now he was enjoying his time to simply be, and float on the currents of the wind. He was quite happy, until a a wolf howled, calling him down to her side. He would have to obey, as the wolf calling him was his Majara, and it would not do to ignore her. With an exasperated sigh, he darted down to her, and landed gracefully nearby.

After shaking once, to put his wind swept hair back into place, he walked up to the red she wolf in front of him. "You called Majara." He stated, bowing his head in respect. His look of respect soon changed, as he looked at her expectantly, waiting to be told what duty awaited him.

Well he waited for Lyta to get the hint, he surveyed his surroundings. A habit he had picked up after years of having to look out for himself and always know what was going on. He was a very smart wolf, and did his best to always have his bearings. Looking around he saw the steam that flowed through their land, a tall cliff with water falling off it into the stream, and after a second look around, a small cave entrance in the cliff face.

It was funny, he had never noticed the place before, and he was usually very aware of everything. It was almost as if it had appeared out of no where or something. That was ridiculous though, it was more likely that he hadn't been at that particular spot before, but he had, he knew he had. As Aezel he had surveyed the entire area that was to become the pack's territory, and he had not seen that cave before. Immediately a sense of foreboding over came him, and he continued to stare wearily at the cave. He did not want to go in there.

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words --- 408 , tagged --- all aca members
notes --- i have muse galore for azazel right now :), and i can't wait to get this thread going!

[Forte]

The day was rather too hot for Yssu's liking. Having been born on the windy, snowy slopes of the tall mountains, she was used to a climate that was a little chillier, but she wasn't complaining. She had seen a few humid days since relocating to the valley, and the Heir was grateful that today was not one of them. Plus, the trees provided enough shade to keep the forest floor cool as she loped energetically through a rather boring stretch of forest.

Suddenly she stopped; her ears perked and turned south to catch Lyta's howled summons. There was something strange about her voice: there was the usual excitement in it, but also...nervousness perhaps? Now excruciatingly curious as to what her Majara had encountered, the little white wolf immediately bounded away, southwards.

With Yssu's vast endurance, conditioned by her need to travel long distances in pursuit of adventure and discovery, it took her only a few minutes to cross the couple of miles to where her energetic leader waited with a rather new addition to the pack, the strangely-spotted Aezel, Azazel. For the hundredth time Yssu chuckled at the similarity between his name and his rank. But the wolf himself did not amuse the Heir. He struck her as a bit too...sly for her to be able to trust him. The fact that his job was basically to manipulate the intentions of other packs did not help. In fact, the only thing about Azazel that Yssu really liked was his wings; they captivated her just as that loner Sky's had all those weeks ago.

She smiled and nodded once to both of the wolves. "Hey, guys." She turned to Lyta, her eyes questioning and her lungs taking in the air required to ask, but in her peripheral vision she caught sight of the dark hole in the cliffside. Shocked, Yssu only stared at it. How had she not noticed the cave before? Wasn't exploring her serious hobby? Didn't she see it as her job to map the pack's territory? She had done a lot of that since her friend Corin had joined the pack, so Yssu was simply dumbstruck that she could have missed something like this.

After the initial moments of incredulity, the Heir's curiosity took over and she stepped toward the cave, sniffing, as Lyta had done, to get a sense of what was in there. Her ears went back. The scent of hostility was very distinct. Posture submissive, she turned away from it and slunk closer to her pack and said nothing.

[myst]

Side by side Midnight and Myst wondered down the familair path they had heard there Alpha leaders howls to come, and they heard the call. The stream was unusually calm. Myst was glad to be with others of her kind, even if she did not knew them well, it was time to find out who her true friends were. Midnight wants to become a pack with the help of other wolves. And then Myst because of her being Ghostly, you could not tell if she was even there or not, but she desides that if she is to prove that they belong in the allience that her power should be used once inside the cave.

Once just outside the cave both Midnight and Myst meet a few of the others from the allience. They both bowed there heads in respect. "we heard our Alpha call." "We came as soon as we could", Midnight reliped as a true wolf lover would.

Midnight turned to his mate Myst "can you use those eyes of yours to see in this cave?" "yes of course," she smiled back at him. They waited until they were given the sign that they would be able to enter.

[m o n d a y]

S O U L

The tall trees sprung up from the ground like mountains, beautiful and emerald the only way the Alliance had them. A somewhat small green wolf dove through the spaces between the trees, his brightly colored wings flapped with ease as he gracefully flew. Somewhere to his right a blue feather bird chirped and flew along side him, twisting and turning it sometimes would go over him and underneath him, Soul found himself doing the same. It was a game of sorts, between those who ruled the skies. Although the winged wolf enjoyed open clear skies, he found tight spaces like these a fun challenge as well.
Seeing some vines draping down not to far from him, the young wolf flew toward them tangling his antlers with the vines. To an onlooker this would look like an accident, but to Soul it was no mistake. After flying around the bird some more a faraway but distinct howl rang through his ears. It was the Majara, no doubt, but the green wolf didn't worry, as he knew her howl was not one of pain or urgency. It was smooth and precise, she was calling them.
With a wide grin Soul bed farewell to his feathered friend and thrust himself in the direction the howl came from picking up some nice speed. After a few moments he found himself above the quickly disappearing tree's and into a nearby stream, well known among the pack. His curiosity was instantly piqued, why would Lyta call them here?
He spotted the group of wolves that had gathered so far and landed some distance away so he wouldn't disturb them with his wings, before walking into the group. Soul nodded toward them in greeting, his friendliness shinning through his yellow orbs. He looked upon the cave with curiosity. and an almost giddy excitement. What kind of mysterious would they unearth from deep within its walls?

[myst]

What was this place, Midnight could hardly see his paws in frount of him, and Myst was helping as best as she could. The the different smells in this cave where not like anything either smelled before. What could be in here they wondered. Further and further Midnight and Myst went into the cave, unfamilair sounds and what they could see was unusal as well. When all of a sudden Myst cought the sight of something ahead. She could hear the sound of what seemed like wings. She let out a howl so anything that was close or far could hear her. "Howl" anyone their? she glupped. Shaking in fear. Midnight I hear it too my dear -he stood his ground. Teeth beared just in case it was unfriendly.

[Accalia]

OOC: I cannot say how sorry I am for the late reply, I have been absolutely swamped just lately, hopefully I am making a recovery now, as some of the worst stuff is finished with.
As I'm not sure if we're still waiting on some people or whether they aren't replying, I'll reply with Corin now and do Lyta ASAP, after some other replies, to give those people a chance to reply.
meh his table is still unusable...

C O R I N

The little cub whooped in sheer delight at his flight, soaring through the air and dancing among the clouds. He snapped idly at a stupid pigeon, missing it by several metres but not particularly caring. His flight had been coming along well recently; with a stable life in a pack, he had nothing much to do except practise it.
Corin heard the howl as soon as it was sounded, clear upon the sweet breeze. He groaned a little, full of a cub's disappointment at the interruption of his play. But, always the extrovert, he figured that this would at least allow him to get together with some other wolves and socialize.
He painted an odd picture, a little winged green-and-blue cub dropping from the sky and tumbling into the grass. Ouch. He would have to work on his landing.
He stared. The whole pack seemed to be there, Azazel and Yssu and Midnight and Myst and Soul. There were some wolves missing, but here were a good number of wolves. It struck him that the pack was growing fast, and, with the simple cheerfulness of cubhood, he was pleased, since it meant more friends to play with.
"Heya!" he greeted everybody, bounding up. He hoped they hadn't noticed his landing. It had been a bit awful. Somewhat embarrassed by this, he refrained from his usual tirade of boisterous chatter and hung around the edge of the group, smiling like an idiot. He wondered why his Majara had called; and of course, now that the thought had struck him, he was filled with a burning curiosity. He stared at her for a bit, willing her to get the hint, then noticed the cave.
Somewhat dumbstruck, he crept closer to it, then backed away from it. He didn't like that scent. He didn't like that scent at all. He sniffed. He hoped nobody expected him to go down there. Corin didn't like caves. He wouldn't be able to fly in there.

[ivyandtheghost]

((Oh. My. Gods. I'm lateee!))
Chrones had been following the whole time. With his dark coat, the pup had been able to follow along without being noticed. He stalked along with the rest of the pack, way in the back as he scanned the area. He never told anyone, but Chones came across this cave a few weeks ago. He was too scared to go in, and instead ran back to the pack, practicing magic whenever he could. He was pretty decent at it now, and was prepared to fight for his pack.
The little pup bounded along, a grim look on his face as they approached the cave. It smelled funny; almost like it was...wet. He let out a whimper, then winced. He knew the whimper was gonna make someone notice him.

[Accalia]

(OOC: Okay, Lyta reply now... if anybody else wants to join in, they can just say their wolf was a long way away when they heard the howl, and turned up late. I would think the territory is wider than five minutes' walk. )

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[atrb=background,http://i.imm.io/dmND.png] Lyta could not help feeling a small thrill as the pack began to gather. This was her pack; her life, now. There was very little that was more important to her, and it gave her a buzz to see the wolves coming at her command. This was what power felt like. It felt great. First to arrive was Azazel. Her new Aezel. She greeted him with a smile and a nod as he landed gracefully nearby. She couldn't stop herself staring for almost a full second, longing for that same freedom he had to soar through the sky and drop back down to earth with that exasperated sigh. He could save his sighs. This was interesting. "You called Majara," he stated, bowing his head in respect. "Hello," she replied simply. Lyta thought she could live on respect, and power. Did that make her a bad person? She hoped not. She hoped she wouldn't abuse that power. But still, it gave her that brilliant, fiery little thrill. She noticed him noticing the cave entrance and watched his reaction closely. She needed to know if others were as unnerved by the scent as she was. He was perhaps one to watch; he was new to the pack, and to her, and she needed to know that he would be a good Aezel. Though if his name was anything to judge by... she held back a chuckle. "Wait for the others. Then I'll explain," she smiled at him. She smiled as Yssu arrived. Her Heir was a solid, reliable wolf. "Hey, guys." "Hey," Lyta replied with an easy smile. She watched Yssu, and before long she was staring at the cliff, too, and the hole in it. She watched her step closer to the cave, and furrowed her brow slightly as her posture turned submissive. She hoped the pack would be brave enough to go inside. "We heard our Alpha call." "We came as soon as we could." She turned and spotted Myst and Midnight. "Hi there," she greeted them, slightly more formally. They too were newer to the pack. She ignored the spoken words between Midnight and Myst, they were not for her. Besides, now Soul had arrived. She caught his nod and responded in kind. She whipped around to face the cave again as she caught Myst's howl. "Get out of there!" she snapped. "We're going in together." She turned back to the pack, and grinned as Corin arrived. His landing was rather clumsy, and she suppressed another chuckle. Her smile faded slightly as he failed to amuse her with his usual tirade of chatter. Well, at least everybody seemed suitably impressed by her find. She heard a whimper and frowned, noticing Chrones. "You can come out, little cub," she said gently. Stepping back, she surveyed her pack. Not the full pack, but it would do. Yssu, Azazel, Midnight, Myst, Chrones, Soul, Corin... certainly an impressive number. She was pleased with herself. She had grown up among packs much bigger than this, of forty or fifty wolves at least. But this small achievement was a warmth in her heart. Not, she supposed, that she could take all the credit. The members themselves were rather important too. "I called you here," she announced, loudly enough for all the gathered wolves to hear, "because I have found what you can all see and smell for yourselves. Now, I don't recognise this scent. If anybody does, step forwards. But my intention is that we should go inside the cave, explore, and search out any threat. Even if we don't find anything, the cave could be a useful place of refuge in bad weather, or suchlike." Lyta looked around at all the assembled wolves. "I won't force any wolf to go down if he or she doesn't want to. This place is scary-looking, and anybody who remains behind can guard the territory." She was confident nobody would choose that. These wolves had all shown their courage by choosing to throw their loyalties in with the little pack on the steppes. Some places in this territory, a single misstep could end your life as you plummeted off a cliff or fell down a mountain. She turned, and faced the cave. Her movements were cautious, but her tone was confident. "Anything that's down there, I give you this notice in fair warning. You're in Aurora Caeli Alliance territory and we're going to chase you out." Stepping inside the cave, feeling cold rock under her paw, she turned back to face the others, and beckoned with her eyes and a smile. It was a reassuring smile, for the pack, but her eyes were fierce. She had a challenge between her teeth, a suitably scary place to explore, and a pack behind her. This was where she belonged.

[KaiNaium]

[bg=3d1170][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,399,table] The earth shook. Trees fell, sending clouds of birds into the sky to be swept up into swirling vortexes of spare leaves, branches, and dirt. Lightning struck; igniting dry oaks and sending fire through the forest. The skies were cloudy, but the rains would not come. Her eyes took in this all, a radiant violet through the forest of burning reds and oranges. A burning tree fell, and she swerved to avoid it, rolling over and rising back onto her feet once she had avoided the burning projectile. A few lit branches felt just to her right, spreading embers around in the dry grass. The grass ignited, quickly burning its way toward her. She growled, unwilling to run from something as mortal as fire, but gave in because of one simple fact: SHE WAS MORTAL. She fled through the maze of burning branches; leaping and bounding through open passages in the flames. She heard a loud creak, and looked up just in time to see a giagantic tree falling in slow-motion. She leapt, hoping, and landed in time to feel the massive shake the tree caused. She looked back; her only way out was blocked. No... A firey creature, a wolf, stepped from the flames just in front of her. She stood, backing up as far as she could go without getting singed. The wolf's eyes were red, like fury, anger, and the very definition of sin. He cracked a macabre smile, the kind of smile that made her regret having one as well, one just like his. He spoke, his voice deep and gravelly, speaking of death, destruction, and salvation all at once. "I've been looking for you, darling." No... no, no... He spoke again, eyes twinkling with the joy of torture. "Come," he gestured toward a burning patch of embers just to the side, where lay the body of a muscular, brown wolf, "join your brother." NO! "SHAIRRON!" ----- She jerked awake, eyes wide and Shairron's name still echoing through her head like a stray thought, one she could not stop no matter how much she wanted to just forget. She closed her eyes and shook her head, attempting in vain to rid her mind of such thoughts worthy of being forgotten. She re-opened her eyes, scanning the not-burning forest. But, this was a different forest altogether. This was her new home;the Aurora Caeli Alliance her new family. I just wish I could forget my old one. Just as that thought crossed her mind, Lyta's distinguishable howl made its way on the wind to her ear. Her ears drooped. And there's my new leader. Yes, it was an improvement on her old one, but it was moments like these when she questioned her logic of not striking out on her own, like Shai- No. Nope. Not going there. She stood, shaking off stray leaves and dirt from her gray coat and beginning to trot toward the howl's direction. It took awhile for her to realize that the situation may be dire, for she hadn't thought anything could be more dire than her dream, but as it hit her, she took off. She was close enough to hear Lyta's challenge of some unknown creature and entered their sight just as they were beggining to enter the cave. She looked around at her pack-mates. "Sorry I wasn't here earlier," she began. She finished with a easy, vague lie, "got caught up." She glanced inside the cave, at the black depths within, and the vision of the burning forest flashed before her eyes again in spite of the darkness. What was happening?

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[Forte]

Yssu sat still as she watched everyone arrive. The inseparable Myst and Midnight; the fun-loving Soul; her hyper pal Corin; the pup Chrones; and the cold-eyed hunter Narra. Lyta's pack had grown very quickly since Yssu had joined it, and while it was nice to have a camaraderie with all these wolves, she didn't know many of them well and sometimes felt like she was at a party where she didn't know anyone. Yssu was a rather introverted wolf; she preferred to be approached rather than do the approaching. That was why she had become friends with Corin: he was so outgoing and easy to have fun with. She smiled at him when he showed up.

Yssu was a little surprised when Lyta said that everyone present could enter the cave with her. She looked over at Chrones, who was clearly frightened of the cave. He was still a pup; would the Majara really let him accompany the pack? She hesitated as Lyta headed into the cave, then heaved a frustrated sigh. It was her pack, not the Heir's. And anyway, how likely was it that there was actually something dangerous in the cave...?

The white wolf got to her paws and bounded after Lyta, asserting herself over the other wolves. She may be an introvert, but she also had an aggressive side. Yssu had been in the pack for longer than most of the wolves here, and she had a better position than them, too. She would lead the pack one day. She kept near Lyta as the wolves ventured further into the increasingly-dim cavern.

[Valitrix]

AZAZEL

The Majara greeted him with a simple, "Hello." Before telling him to wait for the rest of the pack before gaining an explanation. So he waited rather impatiently for the rest of the pack. The heir, Yssu was the first to arrive. Azazel greeted her with a nod and a welcoming smile. As the other pack members started arriving, he did the same for each of them.

Soon there was quite a group gathered, not huge, but large enough. He was sure Lyta must have been proud of her accomplishment. Azazel was also happy with the group, but for a different reason. Being Aezel he had to keep track of all the other packs, and from doing this he knew the Aurora Caeli Alliance was the largest pack around. This reassured him, and he felt safe from attack. After all, no one would be able to beat a group three times the size of them in battle.

Finally, Lyta explained what was going on. She wanted them all to venture into the cave to explore it, and find and eliminate any threats within. Simple enough. Azazel thought. He didn't enjoy the idea of entering a cave. The entrance looked small, and just the thought of walking around in there gave his wings cramps. He hoped the cavern would get larger once they were inside.

As Lyta began to enter the cave, the heir Yssu ran up beside her, taking her rightful place as heir. Azazel followed right behind. After all, he didn't want to appear a weakling among his new pack. Entering the cave, he was almost immediately hit with a wave of darkness, the only light came from the small entrance, and that combined with the fact the only sounds in the cave were breathing and clicking of claws coming from the other wolves, gave it an eerie feel. None the less, Azazel forged on, trying to keep track of where the others were.

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words --- 325 , tagged --- all aca members
notes --- yeah, we're finally in the cave!

[m o n d a y]

S O U L

While Soul wasn't one to jump head first into mysteries he couldn't say he wasn't somewhat curious and wary about the cave. His initial thoughts were good, they could find treasures or even a hidden land, but now, as darkness began to sweep the wolves as they walked in, something in Soul's gut couldn't help but twist.

The wolf was confident in his healing powers however, and if it came to that, he wouldn't let any wolf down. Scanning in front of him he carefully watched as the wolves went ahead of him, Lyta in the front, where she belonged, and Yssu, the heir, bounded next to her. His eyes might of lingered on her longer than necessary. Azazel, a fellow winged wolf was also in his line of sight. Soul sped up his pace slightly until he was walking next to him, he gave the Aezel a respectful dip of his head and couldn't help but let his wariness of the cave slip into his expression.

While they were not exactly that well acquainted, something about them both being wolves of the sky made Soul trust him, but then again the green wolf did have a bad habit of trusting just about anyone. With a muted sigh, Soul followed the Majara's lead his paranoia about the cave creeping up with every paw step he took.

[Accalia]

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[atrb=background,http://i.imm.io/dmND.png] Lyta spun around as she heard a wolf coming through the bushes in some kind of hurry. She grinned, seeing Narra. "Sorry I wasn't here earlier, got caught up." "That's okay," Lyta smiled, then thought she should explain the situation. "We found this cave, and it doesn't smell great, so we're going in to check it out. You can come with us, or stay and guard the territory, I don't mind." Lyta glanced over the pack. She was torn between going in with only a few wolves, leaving the others behind, and bringing most of the pack. She would have liked to leave the younger wolves behind, but if the whole pack was in the cave, they were probably safer with the pack. But if Lyta took only a few wolves, she was worried that there wouldn't be enough to manage whatever challenge faced them down here. She and a few other strong wolves could simply disappear into the cave and leave the pack leaderless, wondering what had happened. And besides, the pack needed something - a challenge, a journey - to bring them together, cement bonds, make them feel like a pack rather than a group of strangers brought together by chance. Sighing, she turned back to the darkness and pushed ahead, smiling as she noticed Yssu by her side. She was several metres into the cave, and her eyes were adjusting. She could see the large bulge they were in, and how it narrowed into a tunnel with a high ceiling. The darkness was almost complete, except that the occasional break in the ceiling gave them light. Lyta frowned and picked up the pace slightly. At this rate it would take them days to find whatever it is they were looking for. - timeskip The first split came after a half hour of walking. Frowning at the tunnel ahead, Lyta paused for a second, then lowered her nose to the ground and sniffed hard. One tunnel led sharply to the left and downwards, while the other one went pretty much straight on, and seemed to lead vaguely upwards. The scent seemed to be coming from both directions. Unsure, she glanced at Yssu and Azazel, who she figured were her navigators. Yssu had her power, and Azazel was the Aezel. "Which way?" she murmured. Taking back a few steps, she glanced over her shoulder, checking the pack was all there. "You guys all okay in there?" she asked. Whichever way they went, they'd need to know the way back. Frowning in concentration, Lyta dredged up a symbol from the depths of her memory and traced it in the dust that lightly covered the floor; keyeleh, protection, and itaeri, light. The second symbol gave out a slight glow. Testing it, she scuffed the symbols with her paw, but keyeleh seemed to be doing its job; neither disappeared.

OOC: I'm going to timeskip a lot through this thread. None of us particularly want to RP wolves walking through endless tunnels - no? - so we'll just timeskip to interesting bits, such as big tunnel splits, getting lost, finding gems or the carcasses of the flood monster's prey, hearing the rain and realising they're going to be flooded in, etc etc. I'll just note where I've skipped, and if anybody else wants to skip a little that's fine too, so long as we don't skip past something fun and miss it.

[KaiNaium]

[bg=3d1170][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,399,table] Narra nodded at her leader's explanation. To her, though, it seemed an irrational adventure, but adventure nonetheless. Thus, logic and adventure tugged on the two ends of her consciousness. Logic promised safety and assurance, whilst adventure promised... well... Her mind drew a blank. Why would anyone want to risk their lives for such mission with such a bleak outlook? To prove yourself. A voice inside her head, ringing annoyingly, caught and held her attention. She flicked her tail, irritated by this inconstant subconscious being that spoke answers to her when she was doing just fine being logically-negative.The wolves around her moved in toward the cave. A large part of her, the part that mattered most days, insisted that she stay out here. She needed to protect the entrance and watch the territory while her leader and much of her pack were all occupied or distracted in this big black hole of death. But, who else would stay out? Her tail flicked again in annoyance, but she near-prayed nobody noticed because of their focus on the cave. This time it was the voice that was asking questions. Psh. Of course. But, as she considered it, she couldn't provide an answer. Awesome. She hated it when the voice was right. She then resumed the inner-war over going in or staying out, thinking all the while that if nobody stayed out, that she would. Yet, at the same time, she hoped someone trustworthy would stay out, that way she could be involved in the great tale that was unfolding. So, in murky conclusion, she stood watching as pack-members decided to enter the cave or stay behind. With every wolf that entered the cave, her dread grew. But, it was because she knew her duty was to stay behind should no one else choose to do so... right?

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