Rift Plate 029 · Blue Smoke Country
Hainttrail Hound
A ghost-struck hound follows abandoned trails through fog, waiting until one traveler falls outside the comfort of another's voice.
- Plate group
- Blue Smoke Country
- Classification
- Spectral Bestial
- Field account
- Recovered
Recovered natural history
Field record
Rear of the pack train
The prints changed from wet paws to cold spots on stone without breaking stride. Beneath a laurel arch we found the hound, rain-colored hide drawn over translucent ribs. Copper tags hung from the ribbon in its teeth.
It let the scout pass. When the pack train turned the bend, it came out of the fog beside the last mule. The first bite drew no blood. It made the road behind feel safer.
Our porter ran into the thicket.
Isolation hunt
Half the Hound seems to remember flesh, the rest only pursuit. It follows from the rear, testing the group with borrowed footfalls and familiar whistles. A snapped branch may be another test. It strikes when fog or terrain breaks sight and help cannot reach the target at once. The first impact drives someone away. The second comes from the direction that person thinks is safe.
Bright trail charms make it cautious. Calling companions by name helps resist the separation. Deny it a lone target and it fades uphill, following until fatigue offers another chance.
Read the environment
Signs of its presence
Wet paw prints turn to rime along an unbroken stride.
Trail ribbons are tied around laurel roots with their copper tags missing.
A familiar whistle answers from behind just after its owner speaks ahead.
Survival doctrine
Field precautions
01
Name-Kept Company
Keep close enough to answer. Frequent call-and-response with true familiar names prevents the Hound from making a companion feel abandoned.
02
Copper Tag Recall
Ring a trail tag taken from its den. The solid head turns toward it before the spectral body can follow.
Continue through the folio
029 of 100 recovered plates