Wisp Hunts for Fizzgrpyon: Chapter 3

Auburn, Cheeky, Skydancer and Raelith were checking their wisp hunting gear was all in order. While Eluvien their handler was busy checking their glowing gem lamps were working. Using the glowing gem lamps, rather than oil lamps or burning torches was almost required when wisp hunting. The smell of burning and smoke was frequently said to scare the wisps away, so Eluvien had spared no expense buying these lamps. If all five of them were going to be traipsing through cold woods in the dark, it was the least she could do to make their chances of success higher, as the legwork was going to be done primarily by Auburn, Cheeky, Skydancer and Raelith. 

 

Auburn;being a Tyto, had the best eyesight in the rapidly diminishing light, and thus their main task in the wisp hunt was to scout ahead and try and spot a wisp for the group to focus on catching. 

 

And so Auburn with their silent wings geared for night hunting set off into the forest to scout for wisps, nimbly dodging and weaving through branches with half-fallen leaves in search of the elusive and hard to spot wisps. The wisp luring lamps the group was holding would bring wisps closer, but it was still up to Auburn to spot them. After landing on a thick branch Auburn set their keen eyes to work, after a few seconds of scouting they could spot no wisps, and so took of silently once more to the left, making no noise even with the crunchy leaves on the floor and on the trees. Fortunately for Auburn this next area bore fruit, they saw in the distance the distinct blue glow of a wisp, some sort of squirrel-wisp by the looks of it. Knowing that they would have no luck catching it without spirit nets and crystal jars, Auburn went back to the group to report their finding, happy that their task in this wisp hunt was successful.

 

Raelith being a gryph could use her size advantage to have the net spread much further and fly farther than the two hawks could manage. Eluvien also took over the main goal of holding the wisp luring lanterns, nimbly jumping onto a tree branch just above where Raelith was hiding in a bush, so that the wisp would have something to go towards, and be more likely to fall into their trap.

 

After being given the rough location of the wisp, Auburn had spotted Skydancer and Cheeky set off toward it, while Raelith and Eluvien finished setting up their trap for the wisp. The next part of the hunt was now up to Skydancer and Cheeky. The two hawks would need to to corral the wisp toward Raelith. It took the two smaller stryx only a minute or two to spot the wisp Auburn had scouted for them, it was much smaller than they had seen before, and both were confident they would not have spotted it, and were thankful for Auburn's keen eyesight. 

 

Cheeky split off to the left, while Skydancer went right. The two birds took long wide circles to get around the back of the wisp, so as to not startle it. Trying to avoid crunching leaves when you were a large avian was a difficult task, but after a few tense minutes, both Skydancer and Cheeky were in position. 

 

With a quick glance at each other and a nod from both so the other knew they were ready, Skydancer and Cheeky charged forward from their positions slightly to the left and right of the wisp. The wisp, very predictably panicked and descended from the tree, running directly away from the large, noisy birds behind it, right into where Raelith and Eluvien were lying in wait. 

 

Raelith saw the approaching wisp, and hidden in the bush, she repositioned the spirit net to rest on her wings, while gripping it tightly in her beak. Above Eluvien bobbed the spirit luring lantern in a precise pattern, mimicking another wisp signaling ‘this is safe’. The wisp approached speedily on the ground, panicked and corralled precisely by Cheeky and Skydancer. Raelith  flexed her legs and claws into the loamy earth, ready to spring as the wisp came ever closer. A few seconds passed and the wisp, following the lantern was now close enough.

 

Raelith sprung! The massive size of the net and Raelith being able to spread and throw it very quickly meant that by the time the wisp thought to veer off to the left, or try and stop to go backwards the net was already upon them! The net landed on the squirrel wisp, quickly entangling the small spirit and making escape very unlikely. Nevertheless Raelith swiftly gathered up the net at the edges where the wisp might have been able to escape from and completely trapped the creature. After the wisp was utterly entangled and exhausted Raelith grabbed the crystal jar from the harness at her side and with precision born from doing it many times, deposited the wisp in the inescapable container with ease. 

 

Cheeky and Skydancer were approaching from where they had been chasing the spirit, while Eluvien jumped down from the branch and Auburn emerged from where they had been a bit further back with a net, just incase Raelith had missed their net. 

 

The group all gathered, and wisp captured they started to relax.

 

“It’s a bit small.”, Cheeky noted, peering into the crystal glass.

 

“It’s a squirrel, i’m not sure what you expected.”, Came Skydancers swift reply.

 

“Well, that’s fine of course, but if we want enough wisps for our plans, we’ll need a few of them this size, or a much larger one.”, Came the ever wise words from Auburn.

 

“The night is still young, how about we try capture another?”, suggested Eluvien.

 

“Or even more than just one more, the stars have only just come out, we can hunt all night!” Raelith suggested, excitedly.

 

“Easy for you to say, you are not doing all the running!”, Came Skydancers grumble.

 

“Exactly!”, Cheeky agreed.

 

“And scouting is no walk in the park either”, Auburn added.

 

“Alright, alright! Maybe not all night, I do have the less physically exhausting role after all.”, Raelith backpedaled. 

 

“All agreed to try and catch at least one more wisp?”, Eluvien asked the stryx.

 

A chorus of agreements, some more enthusiastic than others greeted her.

 

“Lets continue the hunt then!”, Eluvien said. 

 

And so Raelith and Eluvien started gathering up their equipment, folding nets and dimming the spirit luring lanterns, while Cheeky, Skydancer and Auburn took the moment to rest and fill their bellies with a little bit of water and food they’d brought along, ready for another hunt!