[EVENT-ORP] Border Dispute

[SilverLutz]

More felines - and even a wild dog! - were starting to converge on the scene. Hila hadn't been around this diverse a group for a long time, and it was starting to excite him. It was like a big, joyful gathering! Kind of...the lions on the other side of the river were grumpy, the brown cheetah on the side with him was crazy, the leopard was kind of timid, and the rest were all just watching. Ugh.

But then, that dust cloud in the distance appeared. Hila's ears swiveled forward to pick up the huge herd coming in, sharp eyes spotting the majestic beast in the middle. Oh...now that was a sight to see. He'd never seen so many ibex in one place at one time. Nor had he seen one quite as large as the white one.

"Now that's a sight," he murmured, having no intent nor desire to try to attack them. He'd be ripped to shreds by the horns and the hooves, he knew. Perhaps the larger felines would want to give it a try, but not him.

"Looks like they're heading this way," he observed, glancing back at the few companions on this side, eyeing the brown cheetah in particular. "This your Ramadi herd?"  

[Andranis]

The white lion stopped his wading to gawk. It was open-mouthed gawking, even as his mane began to soak up the water. He'd never seen a herd of ibex so big... And some seemed to be big individually. The white one stood out, though, and he shifted, ears quivering. "Kiowaa... Is it bad to... To want that animal's pelt for myself...?" Not that it would really stand out on him... P'leimis wasn't the darkest lion. Maybe he'd use it to woo a lioness... If one would give him the time of day. Not that any really appealed to him, they were mostly related to him. Point in case, the only females he could stand so far were sisters, cousins, or some other close blood relation.

On the other side of the river, the red lioness watched with interest. After a moment, she looked over to the cheetah. "You want THAT one, I take it...?" She tilted her head. "You'd do better to take my own helmet than go after THAT thing! You'll never get past the other animals in the herd to just the one!" Still, his dedication impressed her... Still, she wasn't about to make it easy. Chanda bent to pick up her stick. "I hope you can outrun those lions, cheetah..." She then grabbed it and began to shake it, causing stones within the bird skull attached to it to rattle as she ran at the herd. A white ibex that others followed like that had to be off, something had to be wrong with the situation. A trick of a god, perhaps...?  

[Lithiasaur]

(lol whoops)

Iroh watched the herd with his usual calm, though his smile had faded a bit. He got up slowly, looking at the beasts and then glancing at the others who had gathered on both sides of the river.

He had never seen a herd this size before, and certainly not heading toward the pride at such a capacity. The fact that they were not deterred by the large presence of apex predators was interesting to him, but he knew that they should be cautious. He did not like the look of it, and got up to protectively prowl over to the younger lions present, as if he might get them out of the way.

It was probably a good idea to leave the area, just in case of a stampede, and even if they kept leisurely strolling it would be wise to get out of their path.  

[Mogami]

While the cheetah spouted some nonsense about becoming immortal – truth be told, Nkera wasn’t really paying that much attention to what he was saying as opposed to what he was actually doing – the Guard’s eyes travelled from its brown target, Iro and Kiowaa. He didn’t move until Iroh stepped forward and then he followed suit, walking all the way to the shore. He didn’t go in even if the water was warm by his standards. Nkera was a still a mountain lion at heart and swimming was one of his least favorite activities.

His head tilted at Morag’s warning and Nkera eyed the approaching herd with interest. So many of them. Unless something - or someone - spooked them, his pride was about to receive a rather precious gift.

-----------------------------

Baise was clearly excited as she finally left her spot at the tail of the Firekin group, bounded forward and joined the combatant lines.

“He’s already brown. Why is he bothering to clean up the mud?” she mused aloud not without a hint of contempt for the strange little feline. She didn’t much care for the bland color of the cheetah. Baise didn’t find his colors or markings to be a particularly attractive though she did keep an eye on his pretty trinkets. “If he drowns, I have dibs on those bracelets.” She said calmly and it was hard to tell if she was serious because she was silenced by the sight of the white Ibex that led the herd. A pelt as white as her own, the massive beast approached with a steady pace that showed no fear of all the predators in the area. As one who sometimes found herself as the target of a few unfriendly remarks regarding her coat’s “lack of fire”, Baise took in the white stag’s strength and fearless attitude, basked in the glorious sight and loved him for it.

 

[Mimsey]

The cheetah, apparently named Nadir, seemed awe struck as the giant herd approached. He could barely catch the words of the one next to him- and for a moment, one might have thought that he did not. Then, his head slowly nodded. "The Ramadi...I've heard some say he's like their god. Or that he's a powerful seer. Whoever fells him will surely be blessed...!"

By now, a few of the outriders of the herd had arrived. They approached with some slight caution, edging as far away from the collection of lions and canines as they could muster. The first, no small buck in his own right, took to the water and began wading across.

On the other side of the shore, Kiowaa watched in surprise as the group started across the water. "They...they're heading into the desert?" She said curiously. One came close enough to her that she could feel the splash from his wake. She didn't need to tell the others that this was good news for them. She was just about to suggest they alert the pride hunters when suddenly, something went wrong.

The Ramadi approached the group, and his eyes suddenly focused on Chanda. Maybe it was the stick in her mouth, or the rattling sound of the bones. Whatever it was, he suddenly stomped his foot onto the ground with a dusty puff of dry earth. It was like the cord of the group suddenly changed. One of the ones nearest began to bellow, and suddenly, the whole herd was stampeding towards the river!

arrow Oh dear! They've been spooked. The herd is charging to get across the river, plowing past both sides of the group.

Since rogue side spooked them, they'll have the brunt of the mob.

Rogues: Roll a dice 1-10. Anything below 5 causes a ibex to slam past you, with a 1 being a ram with the horns.

Firekin: Roll a dice 1-15. Anything below 5 causes an ibex to slam past you, with a 1 being a ram with the horns.  

[Andranis]

Around her stick, the lioness laughed almost maniacally, only driving the herd more. Was she having fun? You'd better bet your bottom she was. As an ibex swerved, almost like it was charging at her, the lioness dropped to her stomach and slid on the ground as the animal jumped over her, her blue eyes dancing with delight as she watched it fly by. She then realized how dangerous a spot she was in, as her expression changed from mirth and mischief-filled joy to horror at the true scale of the herd bearing down on her. She'd bitten off more than she could chew, and Chanda began to run for a whole other reason. Now it wasn't so much to chase as BEING chased.  

[Andranis]

What was that fool lioness up to...? P'leimis had stopped his movement into the water, watching in confusion... Before a horror dawned on his face when the animals spooked and began to stampede. "Oh... s**t!" The white lion scrambled, wading as fast as he could back to the shore. He could hear the animals hitting the water and charging through it, but he was having trouble telling what animals were close enough to actually HIT him. When his paws touched dry ground, he scrambled away, feeling his terror at the thought of being stampeded on justified. "EVERYBODY OUT OF THE WAY!"  

[Whimsical Blue]

The herd was quite a sight. Content to watch, the spymaster stood to the side and let them pass with no movement or word said. The white ibex was particularly interesting, but right now the last thing they needed was to spook the herd. If they continued on at this pace, hunters could be dispatched to intercept and then the pride would be eating well for a time.

Unfortunately for the black lioness, she was on the wrong side of the river when the beasts decided they'd had enough of the predators and made a run for it.

"Look out!" She shouted as she saw them surge forward, turning to get her tail out of the way... though not quite in time. Morag roared in anger as she was slammed into on her damaged side and sent sprawling, rolling right over in the dirt. Scrambling, she struggled to get up on her paws and out of the way of the stampede.

Crap... this could be bad.  

[SilverLutz]

Hila watched the huge herd approach, not finding anything wrong with the situation until a lioness charged and ran among the ibex, shaking a funny stick that made an awful noise. He grit his teeth against it and flattened his ears. They might not have been as sensitive as the canine's or even the lion's, but you didn't need to be a superb listener to know that noise was not something you wanted to make in a huge herd.

And suddenly, the world around him turned crazy. There were already a few ibex past him and even more approaching, but with one stamp of the white leader's hoof, they were charging. Golden eyes flew open and he jumped to his feet, dodging the first few animals that charged at him, tossing their heads and snorting angrily.

"Now you've done it!" he snapped, turning his head to shout at the lion that was similarly running for her life. That was a bad idea, though, as he ran head-long into a charging ibex. He was tossed to the ground, having slammed shoulders with the beast, but was back on his feet in an instant. He put on some speed and dodged the last of the group, only allowing himself to stop when he was out of the herd. He sat down and rolled his shoulder, trying to make the throbbing sensation stop.  

[Mimsey]

Kiowaa was mystified as the herd splashed past them. Those large curved horns seemed such a crude accent to an otherwise graceful creature. Despite their appearance, it hadn't really seemed possible that they could have turned against them. But at the white stag's calling, suddenly the herd turned vicious. She caught the tail end of Morag's warning- realizing with dread she was right in the middle of their crossing.

For a moment she floundered in the water, unsure of what side of the bank she should return to. Go forward, and try to dodge the oncoming beasts? Or try and beat them back to the firekin side, where her comrades were? She wasn't sure what to do- and that indecision cost her precious time to decide.

By the time she started towards the rogue shore, the ibex were leaping into the water in torrents. One of the outrunners struck her in the flank, and she wheezed in surprise as the water turned to murk around her. She did her best to swim out of her way- but one of the larger ibex singled her out, and rammed her with the full brunt of his horns.

Kiowaa gave a gasp of surprise as the wind was knocked out of her- and for a moment, sunk underneath the murky water.  

[Kimaria]

Uh oh. This wasn't good. Wasn't good at all.

He felt the ground tremble as the herd began their stampede, momentarily frozen to the spot as he watched them shift down towards them. Some were struck and he was still frozen - in fear - when Kiowaa was struck. A paw lifted as if to carry him forwards towards her and then he was amongst the herds, being driven away.

"Kiowaa!" he called, hoping his voice might carry above the sound of the hooves. "Someone help her."

Leaping to the side to avoid the thrashing head of one of the beasts as it passed by, he tried to see past all the choking dust and sand. But in the confusion he'd been turned around perhaps two or three times and it was all he good do to avoid being struck himself.  

[Lithiasaur]

For all his caution, Iroh found himself in the direct path of one of the rampaging breasts, blinking at it. He managed to move himself out of the way in time, swishing his tail behind him. He was fast enough for it, and he moved to stop one of the creatures from running over another of his pride mates.

He swiped at its legs and brought it crashing to the ground, kicking up a flurry of dust and sand, which caused him to cough. He didn't see the next ibex before it was slamming into him, hitting him in the side with enough force to send him skidding across the ground.

He came to a stop not too far off, dazed and aching, his side not bleeding but most certainly bruised. It took him a moment to get his feet under him, and he pushed himself up slowly, painfully, wobbling a bit.

Ow.  

[Depawsit]

Soleil groaned in displeasure at the idea of being at the borders. She honestly hated it, she was much more comfortable doing her job from well within the pride's borders. Helping those who had been injured out here on the borders! See this was why she was such a grump! She never got to do what she wanted, it was always "Soleil do this, Soleil do that." UGH! She hated it.

So lost in her own thoughts, it took but a moment for the ibex to charge at her. But it took only a hair of a second for her to snap into action. The one great thing about being a medic? You could think at the snap of a paw.

Quickly she dodged the Ibex' attack, relocating he body to a more stance ready position. She quickly prepared herself for another attack, silently hoping the creature would just be on its way. But also prepared for what could become, a bad situation.

 

[Split Personality]

Uxe had been walking and getting a bit more familiar to his new home. So far everything here was pretty tolerable and the female Zii'moto was more than willing to show him around. He often felt pity for her; as she was handicapped and unable to do some things. But he had never really paid attention to those with things wrong wit them... it was sort of changing his outlook on them.

He hadn't really been paying attention to anything until a sound startled him back into reality. A herd of Ibex. Stampeding! He quickly threw himself out of the way of them; when he realized other lions were there as well.

He spotted the female Soleil first. He made his way over too her; looking a bit surprised.

"That was odd..." He said to her simply.

depawsit

 

[Mogami]

(To the rescue!)

Nkera’s eyes widened at the stampede, briefly trying and failing to locate what had caused the beasts’ reaction. His upper lip rose instinctively in a silent snarl as Morag was hit but he was too far to help her. Lions and others alike were being sent flying but none was hit quite as badly as Kiowaa who had suffered a painful-looking blow from the deadly horns of an ibex and had disappeared under water. As he was one of the closest to the shore, Nkera immediately jumped forward and dodging the beasts that ran past him – some that even tried to hit him – the Guard dived in search of the lioness in the low visibility water. He very much hated to submerge his head but this was no time to hesitate. He just prayed that that he wouldn’t get stepped on by one of the fleeing ibex as it would be a terribly stupid way to die.