Jelly and her brothers, Pop and Bean, are my Campaign wolves. Alongside their companions, they defend Loria against the onslaught of Consumed! ...But more often than not, they are simply running errands, protecting travelers, and training whelps. This thread will be Jelly's logbook of their adventures. Updated when I want!

✿ Jelly the Leader: A feisty Kit whose sharp claws are only matched by her wit. She battles with the help of Coco, her Lunaria companion. As the oldest sibling, she feels responsible for the safety of her brothers.

✿ Pop the Brute: If Jelly's plans fall through, Pop is there to force fate to cooperate. His Canictonis, Snap, often rides on his back. In battle, the pair are a deadly whirlwind of fangs and venom! Pop's tenacity is a great match for Jelly's smarts.

✿ Bean the Healer: The Jocol brother doesn't often travel with his Kit siblings. Most of the time, Bean is at home sending and receiving reports from his Mutterbird, Beeps. Bean offers his healing skills for difficult missions.

Field Report:
Western Barrens
Buck Moon - Waning Gibbous

Bean,

I hope this report finds you well. Beeps should have delivered this message with a friend in tow, Luana willing. The Consumed are thick at the savanna's edge. Goldsea is rife with chaos. Pop and I saved this young soul, Milan, from a pair of Echecara that had fallen victim to the evil.

She is quick and level-headed -- certainly there is space for wolves like her in the pack! Have her speak with Roslyn. I have an inkling Milan will be of use to her.

Pop and I will continue our patrols in Goldsea for the foreseeable future. Once the Consumed have been pushed back from Othenia's borders, we will return. Please thank Sunset again for supporting our mission. His financial support has been invaluable as we barter for supplies with the Goldsea dens around these parts. We are doing good work in Sunset's name. Pop has been generous with the rubies. It seems they don't see many of them in the desert.

I'll write again when necessary.

Best,
Jelly

Thanks for your support, Wolfster and Lunar Howlers!! ^^

Log #XX01
Buck - WnG
Sgt. Jelly

I sit to write this log more refreshed than I've felt in a fortnight. Two nights ago, Pop and I were intercepted by a local pack's scouts. They were initially suspicious of our mission, but once we offered two sapphires for a safe place to rest and dinner, we were quickly welcomed to the Gorge.

The Gorge is the name of their awe-inspiring home. An ancient river carved a deep, thin ravine through Goldsea that survives as a cool, shaded, nearly underground paradise. The harsh desert sun kisses the limestone floors of the Gorge for only an hour a day. The rest of the day, it's an alley of fresh breezes and blessed shade. The wolves have carved deep, communal dens into the rock and enjoy their time on the "porch" of raised stone that lines the narrow alley they call Main Street.

It's peaceful here. The Consumed rarely reach their territory boundaries. But things have been difficult.

Our stay is not without work. We've been speaking frequently with the pack leader Miriam. She's one of the biggest Volmyrs I've ever seen -- watching her traverse Main Street is a hoot. She barely fits under the various hanging flags, cloths, and chimes that decorate the porches.

She was surprised that two "little Kits" could make it this long in the desert. Pop was quick to defend his ego, ha! He was so successful that Miriam asked us to take her Lupin son, Vlad, back to Murkwood so he could study our tactics. I'll have to write a letter to Balka. She'll have to really impress him to make up for the tall tales Pop was feeding Miriam...

Could I have said no? The Gorge and its pack have been so generous to us, despite the hardships they face. We can't drain resources from them any longer. Not while the Consumed still prowl Goldsea. I've decided we leave in two days, once Vlad is ready to go.

Thank you so much GraveGuardian!! <3 I really love looking at them in the Campaign lol. Thanks for your support!

A Dustraven wearing a harness with a Elius' sigil arrived at the Grove's rookery at dawn. Olena removed a small, rolled scroll from the tubular pouch on the bird's shoulders. The wax seal on the scroll was enchanted with instructions for the bird's journey to the Grove. When Olena broke the seal, the bird's enchantment would fade and it would fly home.

As always, Olena fed and watered the bird before breaking the seal. It made her feel at ease when she knew the birds were ready for their journey.

The message was delivered to Balka within the hour.

Captain Balka --

Sgt. Jelly reporting. We've made contact with a friendly pack in the Goldsea desert. The leader, Miriam, has a son that wants to enter our ranks as a soldier. He wants to learn our tactics and prove his strength.

Please have a party meet at the usual crossing at the river. We will be there within days with Vlad and will leave him in your care. Pop and I have been doing good work in Goldsea and will continue our mission.

Thanks.

Log #XX02
Buck - WnC
Sgt. Jelly

Our journey to the river was dull. Vlad is a strong and capable wolf, but he isn't yet an adept adventurer. Balka and the other soldiers will whip him into shape; but until then, we kept off the primary Goldsea trails and avoided the monsters when possible. Coco's foresight was an incredible boon. We were able to elude over a dozen consumed Echecara and two oversized consumed Brochs -- all cursed quietly from a safe, hidden distance. Only one Echecara made it past her mind's defenses and caught us by surprise at a small watering hole. Pop was able to put the chaos beast down without any harm to our companion.

I won't share any written description of our meeting location or time there. But it was nice to hear familiar voices and embrace our friends. Vlad was successfully transferred to the caring paws of our packmates. Pop and I were resupplied. Graciously, Titania sent some gold chains from our craftsmen. Oats the Dog sent various seeds in little burlap bags, lovingly labeled with names and growing instructions. He also sent about 20 pounds of vegetables that we can hardly carry. As always.

And as always, we made our way along the river's edge for some miles until we came across the Shanty and its marketplace. This is no pack, no territory -- just a muddy of mess of rough-dug dens filled with bachelors with no pack to call their own. Pop and I have been visiting here for years. It's a hive of activity, secrets, and riches. For every five bachelor wolves on the move between packs or desperate to make their fortune, there is a merchant or huckster or alchemist begging for attention. After inquiring at several meal stalls, we traded the vegetables for three hares to split between the four of us. There were words on the wind about the dwindling number of consumed in the area, I noticed. It seems there are many adventurers among the Shanty's residents tonight. It warms my heart to know that Loria can unite to face this peril. We will fight and we will win!

Now we're settling in for the evening. The Shanty has a large bonfire near the shore every night, which Pop is attending. He's always has his nose on the ground sniffing out problems. The lack of consumed won't be good news to him. I'll join him. Tomorrow we will assess the options and head out.

"P-!"

The plosive was barely past Jelly's lips before she heard the crunch! of steel and Pop's staggered gasp. He collapsed to the ground, his front right leg completely disabled. The consumed canictonis whipped it's stinger around again, this time aiming to envenom a wolf instead of a spaulder. Jelly could barely think due to the overwhelming scent of chaos and sound of skittering legs, cackling pincers, and avian-like squawks.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

The canictonis before them was huge -- the largest they'd ever seen.

She had been resting at the edge of the oasis, camouflaged at the edge of the reeds. From a distance, Jelly and Pop could only see a bustling group of young canictonis consumed with chaos. The young seemed to have only gone through an instar or two. Pop knew from raising his own canictonis that the feathers didn't come in until after the second molt.

Clearing them out would be easy. At this age, canictonis could barely aim their stingers. It had been days since the adventurers had seen a consumed monster. This seemed to be a good sign: perhaps this would be their final battle before they could return home to rest.

The Kits approached quietly but with excitement. Hiding in the reeds, Pop growled and snapped to scare the mimics. The young canictonis rustled their feathers and honked nervously, but they wouldn't flee. Jelly tilted her head in concern. Interesting. Canictonis rarely stuck around for a fight. It would be easier and safer to pick them off as they scattered. She lifted a paw to signal Pop to wait, but it was too late. Rising to the challenge of these brave mimics, Pop burst out of the reeds with a howl.

Raucous honks and flapping faux-wings greeted him, but the consumed beasts still did not flee.

Instead, their consumed mother began to quake and rise from the ground, her dozens of canictonis babies clinging to her back. She was so massive that curled and napping beneath her children, she looked like a pile of filthy feathers. It was already too late for Pop. As she rose, her vicious swan-like stinger lunged at the threat to her offspring. Neither of the Kits could react in time.

Jelly was frozen, watching with wide eyes and a slack mouth as the mother turned her stinger towards her. The giant beast took a step towards Jelly, lifting and opening its faux-wings. She hissed angrily, chaotic ooze bubbling at jaws.

Coco cried and bit Jelly hard on the leg, having foresaw what came next. Jelly gasped and shook out of her stupor, leaping away moments before the great stinger came down in the reeds.

Breathing hard, Jelly weighed her options. The mother was righting her stinger and shuffling around on her eight legs to relocate Jelly. Pop was alive, but that sound... the way his armor was bent... broken leg? Not a great sign. Snap was perched on Pop's back, pincers up and stinger waving threateningly around. At least Pop would be defended while Jelly dealt with... this. Coco ran, yowling angrily to attract the mother's attention. The canictonis continued to spin on her lumbering legs, chasing the sound of Coco.

The answer came to her suddenly. The poison. At their recent resupply at the river crossing, Oats the Dog had sent many gifts from his garden. One was a poison he had developed at Sunset's behest. Sunset requested that Jelly and Pop try it out on one of the consumed beasts in Goldsea and see if worked.

Jelly grit her teeth and wrinkled her nose: "Well it better, Oats!" She used her mouth to reach into the fur mantle around her shoulders. In her left armpit, hidden in the furs, she kept a small pouch. The poison had been stored there since it was picked up a week ago. The pouch contained a dagger with a deep blue blade -- the wolfsbane poison concoction. She was careful, gingerly holding the handle in her teeth.

Coco was still yowling and running. The mother was spinning and hissing. The babies were flapping and honking and clattering their carapaces together. Jelly caught Coco's eye and saw the flash of understanding. Coco's foresight did the speaking for them.

The Lunaria spun on her heels, darting back the other way. The mother canictonis lunged, slamming her stinger into the earth where Coco had been a second earlier. Jelly raced forward. The mother's chitinous underbelly was revealed when the stinger lifted. She aimed for the separation between the plates and stabbed the dagger deeply, not slowing her stride at all as she crumpled against the canictonis' massive body. Jelly let go of the dagger and rolled away.

The mother spasmed and roared. She struggled to turn towards her attacker, but the poison worked swiftly. There was a gurgling from the mother, then twitching in her legs. The beast fell to a knee, then two. She could barely keep her pincers up. The consumed babies on her back honked fearfully. The mother whipped her stinger around, thrashing the reeds in her death throes.

Jelly and Pop looked at each other with wide eyes. It was over as soon as it began.