Oh, V-Kornerupine-One, we need you to go a patrol. Oh, we need you to go hunting. Oh, you need to spar with the rest of the Forge. They're always being asked things by Vargas and all the other members of the Chaos Forge. Why can't they just do their own thing for once?

So here they are, stalking along the banks of Pegasus's river for prey. Tasked with finding some snack for the others, Rue stares downstream at a herd of meadow deer. Their green eyes glare daggers into them, as they hunker down, crouching and preparing to sneak closer.

As they approach, one turns and stares straight at them. They stop, holding their breath, but the deer decides they aren't anything important and turns away again.

@Callum

Callum had been taking a nap in the winding river, his size raising the water level considerably. It was a relaxing sensation feeling the water run over his scales, while his tail swayed side to side in rhythm with the flow of the tide. But to anyone who saw him, he did look a bit silly. His vibrant orange coloring made him stand out considerably compared to the rest of the surroundings, and the only reason that the prey in the area had not stayed far away from his sleeping form was because he had been laying there so long they figured he was probably a rock. A really weird looking rock. He isn't lazy okay! he would insist, he just really likes sleeping. Okay yeah, he was lazy. But only sometimes!

A single cat-like ear slowly turned towards a sound, the sound of another gembound. One blue eye opened, then the other. Callum had caught sight of Rue, and followed their gaze to the herd of meadow deer downstream. He watched as they stalk closer, successful in not scaring away the deer. His stomach grumbled. The weird deer wolf thing seemed to be trying to ambush them, perhaps in an attempt to catch one. He decided to help, as he was hungry, but ambush was definitely not his style. Slowly standing up and waiting a few moments for the water to flow off his scales, he took off into the air, flying about eight feet off the ground. "This is how a PRO does it!" he called out to Rue as he flew as fast as he could towards the herd, intending to launch himself into the deer and hopefully crush a few with his sheer weight. That is, if his plan worked. He had a thing for underestimating his prey.

Callum would find, as he drew closer, that he had indeed perhaps... understimated the Meadow Deer.

At six to seven feet tall, they weighed around three thousand pounds apiece, if not more. Careening into the lot of them would find Callum realizing maybe too late just how damn big the Meadow Deer were. More like massively oversized bison, they were hardly crushed; his collision would, at least, startle them. They snorted and bellowed, a cloud of dust pouring up around them as they spun wildly and kicked blindly at this new menace.

Huge, palmate antlers and jagged nose-horns were swung into the dust, but nothing would connect; as the first of the dust cleared, Callum would see that he had managed to knock one calf off its feet. Smaller hooves flailed in the air, but the herd was pressing close, bellowing threats, rushing to surround the calf.

Element of surprise now lost, he would need to choose his next step wisely.

At the very least, they seemed now to have forgotten Rue's presence entirely.

@Rue

It had been calm. There had been the bubbling of the stream and the snorting of the deer. Atleast, until a orange bolt of flesh went barreling straight into the middle of them, letting out a warcry as it did.

Well, so much for the sneaky approach.

Leaping up, they howl in anger, "YOU IDIOT!", even if they didn't know if the offender had seen them before charging in. Probably. "Not like that!"

Now suddenly responsible for... a bright orange... thing, Rue charges at the deer, calling forth their magic. Burn! Burn now!, the think, trying to immolate the meadow deer approaching dangerously close.

@Callum

It was only once he had come within a few feet of the meadow deer that he realized he had messed up. Big time. However this thought only entered his mind when it was too late to stop himself, momentum carrying him straight into their midst. Coughing as dust filled the air, he was surprised that the deer were too dumb to land anything on him. Just as he had figured, his prey may be big, but they were stupid.
"It's all part of the plan!" Callum shot back at Rue, getting back onto his feet. Though he had not managed to overpower the deer in sheer weight, he noticed that he had knocked over one of the calves. At least he had partially succeeded. And why was the deer-wolf-thing running in? He could handle this perfectly fine by himself! Yeah that was a lie. The thought did cross his mind to try and pick up the calf, but his claws were not built for that. They were like those of a cat, and could not lift that amount of weight.
Then he remembered a crucial thing. He was a dragon. Well, part dragon anyhow. He had fire! And what better fuel for a fire than the deers' wool? Hoping whatever Rue was attempting would cause enough chaos to distract the deer, Callum decided to act offensively instead of defending himself. And only cowards ran upon first sign of things going wrong. This was a spell he had not used before, because he was too good to need practice at all! He was sure this would work. Very sure...
And of course it backfired. Badly. Instead of spitting it at the deer, he started to choke on it. It felt like his throat was on fire as he tried his best to cough it out. Callum had been taught a lesson in not practicing his spells, although he would probably forget it in a day or two. Either way, he was unable to continue with the attack on the meadow deer, leaving it up to Rue until he stopped choking.

The dragon creature just beside the herd was regarded with deep aggression, a fury that bloomed in the eyes of a dozen parent beasts. The flailing calf was up, scrambling into the safety of the closing ranks of furry bodies--and now hooves pawed the ground, a series of bellows rising.

The herd began to charge, first one or two and then as a whole, their immense bodies rushing to trample Callum.

Black flame--burning like ice--roared out, snagging at over-eager snouts and catching on shaggy fur--cutting between the herd and their target. The charge changed into a confused retreat, the bellows becoming loud cries of alarm, the Meadow Deer milling uncertainly as several of them (the flames coursing up along their hides) broke into a rush in the opposite direction.

Thus kept at bay by Callum's savior, the herd began to move slowly and unsteadily away, Chaos magic breeding chaos within their ranks.

@Rue

Plan? What plan? is Rue's hurried thought as the dragon sauntered around in the midst of the herd. They'd hunted these deer before -- they are far to strong to dawdle around.

In the chaos, they fail to notice Callum's choking and hacking immediately. They're too busy saving his sorry butt. As their flames cause the herd to scatter into chaos, they turn to the reeling calf in front of the two of them. Smaller than what Rue wanted, but they're getting something out of this escapade.

Magic is called forth again, Rue calls forth the darkness. An inky tendril sprouts forth, coiling around the calf as it rights itself and dragging it back down to the ground.

@Callum

His coughing subsided as he got the last of the pyrogel out of his throat, and he saw that the herd which had been intent on trampling him the moment before had dissolved into chaos by Rue's spell. Callum grudgingly admitted to himself that the weird hybrid had actually saved him. Not that he couldn't have saved himself, he was perfectly capable of that. It just would've taken a bit of effort was all. "Thanks." he muttered.

The deer were much more formidable than expected, but the calf had not yet escaped attack. Following up on Rue's offensive, Callum attempted to pin the calf onto the ground to make sure it had no chance of escape, and for a killing blow to be delivered. His sharp claws found purchase in the calf's thick coat, but it was hard to keep it pinned considering its weight. "Hurry and bite it!" Callum was too preoccupied with keeping it down to kill it himself.

They had to get this over quickly, hopefully before the deer reorganized themselves into another coordinated attack. He glanced up for a second to check the status of the herd.

The calf was partway to its feet, the adults closing ranks around it, when it was hauled down by a thrashing black tendril. Its alarmed bleat was filled with fear, and the roaring bellows of the adults shook the ground as they (at least, those not burned by flame) moved to surround it.

Callum leapt, claws striking thick wool; he would feel the squirm and thrash of the child scrambling to get back to its feet.

As it proved, however, jumping back on the calf as the adults moved in to guard it was perhaps unwise: the dust plumed up, blinding and choking, as a dozen multi-ton animals swarmed for him. They did not trample him at once--he was standing, after all, atop their calf--but their jostling bodies and impaling horns, goring antlers, swept and gouged for him in a multitude of attempts to drive him off. The lowing beasts and their attacks pressed from all sides.

The question was, would he value the tang of blood rising from beneath his claws, or escaping safely with his life before the herd closed in? And they were closing in; he had mere seconds to act, now, before his body was torn to pieces.

For Rue, the scene at the center would be like a maelstrom: a whirl of moving bodies and clinging dust, difficult to see through. But those few deer that had already been seared by Cursed Flame had continued to move off--and while an adult would be harder prey to physically tackle, magic might very well take one down.

@Rue

The raging whirlpool of fur, bone, and mud is too daunting to take on with claws and teeth. Callum is lost to Rue among the turmoil -- all they can see is the dust and the pelt.

It's all gone to high hell. And nothing suits hell more than more fire. Again, magic is summoned from their depths of their stone, in an attempt to send the trampling stampede scattering.

Pillars of flame erupt from the dusty earth, whirling around the frenzied Meadow Deer.

@Callum