'Souls RPG

Refer to the newspost for a bit more detail, but we are rallying up 6 sheep. No posting order.

She had visited Krokar in the midst of her pregnancy and nothing had given away the way the pack was going to end. It was a bittersweet trip to see what they could gather of the fallen pack, especially as they had been eager and keen to develop a trade deal with them. It felt so ironic that they were coming to collect what they could that would have been the backbone of a trade alliance of sorts. Kalypso knew it was hardly her fault, but it was hard to ignore the smell of scorched wood and earth.

Grimly, she separated from Paloma and her group of horse wranglers, taking the three who volunteered to gather sheep with their Queen. Home was well guarded by the old golden warrior and her fighter sister. They were not so weak, not anymore, and had no worry that such a large group of them were absent. The profits were far and beyond worth the chance they took.

The trio that came with her were not old blood Courtiers. They were all new, mostly. Tora was perhaps the most veteran of the three, but Kalypso knew that meant nothing.

We're looking for sheep, or any other valuable livestock. Let's be respectful of the people that used to live here, she added as a warning against looting, even if she would have done it to a pack she had not known well. Kalypso turned from the trio, and started heading in the direction of where she remembered the livestock had been held in her visit to the fishermen's domain.

It wasn't long, though, before the signs of damage and escaped animals was evident. Wool caught on branches, prints, scents. Kalypso jerked her chin and freed her Courtiers to start their searches.

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The others agreed in silence to respect her wishes. They had no choice but she also felt that they agreed with the sentiment she had laid out so solemnly. She had begun diplomatic talks with the pack whose land lay ruined and abandoned. The scent of fire and ash was thick in the air, though the heat and flame was long gone to the whims of wind and weather. Kalypso did not know what it was like to see her home burn, but she had seen enough storms go through the island to understand the devastation that the loss could cause.

Kalypso watched Tora sniff the air. She, too, raised her head to smell for that livestock scent, turning into the breeze. There, beneath the soot, was the smell of sheep. Faint but new and nearby. I think we smell them, she said, calling out to the rest. She turned in the direction of the smell, pausing only to secure the borrowed mount for a moment. It would not do to have to round up her own horse afterward.

Toward the sheep they went quietly. The air was stifling somehow, despite the late autumn chill in the air. It didn’t seem very fresh but horribly stale. The taste of ash lingered in her mouth as they progressed to where she remembered the animals being pastured. At least, she thought that was where they had been. It had been months since her previous visit and the ruins were difficult to navigate accurately.

A handful of sheep grazed in land not marked by soot, ripping up the last of the grass that survived the frosts that November had brought them. Their side-slant eyes looked up now and again, staring at the gaggle of canines that had come to collect them. They did not seem bothered by the presence but they were clearly used to their captors enough to return to grazing serenely.

Kalypso turned to the group, unsure. Who has experience with the sheep? What should we do? Corral them? Sheep wrangling was hardly her specialty.