Good Dire Wolf Will Hunting

So, Goldenblade has accepted a request from an Alliance-mate to help her hunt down a target. She was in the area when the request went out for an assist and she's always eager to the more junior players. It's her way of paying back the help she received when she was just starting out and needed help with everything. She still needs help with a few things, but she's got an inventory full of stuff, a solidly made suit of mail, and keen blades on each hip. She's pretty capable now. She will head over towards where the request said to meet, calln=ing out, "Hello!" as she approaches.

Lauren has about her the air of summon... getting their life together. A far cry from whens he first ran into Goldenblade all that time ago. She's dressed simply and cnsiderately-- not a warrior, but a very powerful enchanter and summoner in her own right (and maybe in a bit more time.) "How lovely to see you again! Very auspicious. Did you volunteer for this?"

Goldenblade has taken in Lauren's outfit, but as a caster, Goldenblade has no clue what's appropriate. But it looks more or less like what she expects from a caster. "It's nice to see you as well. It looks like you're getting into how things go," she observes. She nods about having volunteered, and says, "It should be fairly straightforward, from how it was described. No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, but we can probably wing it well enough."

    "I have confidence," Lauren slowly admits. "These past few weeks have been a nightmare cram sesh, but it worked in my favor. Now... how to get such a creature to bargain and parlay, no? Or to be one of my summons?"

Goldenblade ahhhhhhs, "Drinking from the firehose, as we used to say. That's starting out for you. So this isn't just a hunt-and-stab expedition. I'm assuming you've got the capturing skills. I'm definitely tank enough to fend it off while you work your taming skill, howevre that works, so we've probably got it covered." She chuckles, "So, if you know where to go, you can lead on."

Lauren pulls out her research information-- maps, known locales updated as recently as a month, and other notes. These, she shares with Goldenblade.

Goldenblade will look over the information presented, and she nods slowly. She's no tracker, but she can read, and she says, "So I guess we should head out to this area," she points at the map, "And start looking." She will get moving, no point in hanging around back in the city whgen there's things to do. "When it attacks, I'll hit it a couple times to pick up the aggro. Wait til I have the aggro, then start the tame."

Lauren is right beyond Goldenblade, already slotting the spells planned for use in the order they require activation for her plans. "Understood," She says.

It's not that long a walk out to the area where the creature is supposed to be, according to the reports Lauren has gathered. Goldenblade takes a look around, and says, "All right. I couldn't find my way out of the woods without a map, I think, so if you have some idea of where this thing will be lurking, let me know. I don't see any tracks, but maybe you can find something I've missed."

    "I need a bit of a moment to set up anyways," Lauren says. "I have two spells that need be cast, one a summons, the other a more basic enchantment imbuing one with greater... skills, in that area," she finishes.

Goldenblade will hang out, then, and let Lauren do her prep work. She doesn't even say anything unfavorable about magical prep work, though she thinks it pretty hard. Hopefully Lauren't not telepathic. She will scan the surroundings as Lauren does her thing, waiting for her to announce her readiness.

    "No, no," Lauren whispers, the summoner on the ground as she draws a circle in the dirt with her hands. "Please, go ahead-- it's in the clearing at this hour.
    "Like you said: You engage. I'll be right along almost immediately to handle the monster.

Goldenblade arches a brow, but will move forward to engage the creature. Sure enough, it's right where Lauren said it would be, striding along, looking for its own lunch, and when it spots Goldenblade, it rushes at her. Goldenblade adopts a defensive stance that is desighed to hold aggro, tagging the target with her sword if it seems to be paying attention to anyone but her. Luckily, her guard is rock solid, because the wolf has no qualms about making a meal out of her, and does not seem interested in other targets at all.

    At first, Lauren is suspiciously... absent.
    And yet... Goldenblade, preternaturally able to keep this direwolf at bay, has fundamentally caught its aggro.
    And that is when Goldenblade can see quite clearly what Lauren must have intended to do:
    Blood red roses, dark with full petals, are subsumed by thorns. They stay away from Goldenblade even as they creep along the ground-- finally presenting Goldenblade with the opportunity to swiftly drive it two or so feet back, into those welcoming thorns.
    But Lauren's plan extends beyond that. Positioning herself opposite Goldenblade, but unnoticed otherwise, she raises her hands-- they waver in the air like reversing sinusoidal waves, but suddenly strike forward-- the electricity crackles from thorn to thorn until it finally curls around the poor monster's legs and arms, immobilizing it and yet... Leaving Lauren with the ability to shock.
    "Safe to come out?" She calls.

Goldenblade keeps fending the monster off until it is well and truly hung up in the thorns. Watching Lauren control the magic, she narrows her eyes, but it looks like it's well and truly caught. "Safe? It seems safe enough. I don't think it's going anyplace in a hurry. Do you feed it now, or something, to change it's view of you, from 'lunch' to 'master'?"

    "I improvised," Lauren tells Goldenblade, getting the second object from her travel bag: a slim black collar. She approaches the beast, stands before it as it is rooted in place-- or maybe a bit more distance-- and with the electricity still pulsing, Lauren lowers her magic output to make it clear: accept the collar, accept summonses, and you will be free. Otherwise...
    It is a long moment between which Direwolf and Imp stare at one another, but finally, the direwolf lowers his head, and Lauren places the collar around its throat.

Goldenblade ahhhhhhhs, "So, that's how it works," she says. Goldenblade, clearly clueless on this matter as well as other matters relating to pets, as the game materials sometimes describe them, as well as magic. "That wasn't -too- onerous, then. And that's all you need to do?"

Lauren tilts her head in thought. "Not really," She says. "It does vary from one to the next. This was a bestial monster, and so... service is domesticity of a sort. It understood what the collar meant," she says. "Or maybe, I don't know, that's part of summoner magic too?"

Goldenblade chuckles, nods about the summoner magic. "You're off on something I definitely don't understand," she admits. "But it seems like you have a good handle on it, and that's the important thing." She nods, takes a look around the area, and then says, "We ought to get moving before any packmates show up." She suggests, "As soon as you're ready, let's head back?"

    "Righty-o," She says, immediately moving to follow Goldenblade. "Let's not wait around."