Ogun

FLAMECATCHER

insp



You approach the Stone Throne, where a hulking yet self-effacing wolf lays, back hauches splayed and paws dangling off the smooth rock. You expected him to greet you, but it appears he's more focused on painstakingly weaving flayed strips of elk leather around a strange gauntlet.

> "Excuse me, but you must be the leader of Cragstalkers, yes?"

SpoilerThe wolf's ears seem to have picked up your greeting, and his eyes flash back to indicate he's acknowledged it; however, he takes a painfully awkward thirty seconds to finish his weaving before finally responding.

"So I am. King Ogun, pleased to meet you. Please surrender to our hospitality while you are here--it's no trouble at all. And if anyone gives you trouble, tell my wife, Oya. She's far more assertive than I. If you had asked her this question, she would've said yes, too!"

He seems refreshingly nice compared to some of the members of the pack you've met! No wonder he's in charge. You do concede his wife is far more assertive than him. Maybe opposites attract?

> "Your herbalist told me that I shouldn't bother the raccoons around here if I see any. Why?"

Spoiler"Oh, I see you've met Obaluaye, then. He's speaking of the coatis--he didn't want to confuse you since this land is quite different than the North. The Coatis are who showed us this place high in the mountains. They live in the treetops here and know much more about the land than we do, since they've been here for millenia. Without the Coatis, we would know nothing of the Ancients who built this place."

> "Wait, you can speak to raccoons?"

SpoilerOgun pauses and considers his words carefully. "Well, no, I can't. It's impossible to speak like a raccoon for anyone. But Obaluaye and Eshu still understand their language. Similarly, a few of the Coatis have committed to learning the sounds of our language."

> "Er, that's cool, but aren't you worried if you just tolerate them it'll become an issue? There's a whole lot, and besides, I saw them eating your pack's food!"

SpoilerOgun's ears flatten in disapproval, pointing his nose towards a nearby tree as if saying there was an audience for this conversation.

"The Coati risked much by showing us this place, but a puma was threatening their entire way of life here. When their scouts saw the collection of wolves from North far from home, they saw it as a miracle to their problem and brought us here, offering their entire home to us in exchange for merely safety. We let them eat our food because without their nimble paws, we would not have thatched ceilings and my crafts would not be worthy of my name." Ogun sighed and looked to his paws with a wry smile.

" I'd imagine I'd be twenty times the blacksmith if I were only a Coati."

> "What is it you're sitting on?"

Spoiler"The Stone Throne. The Coati tell us the Ancients used it to mark the longest day of the year--the shadow of it completely disappears. I can only imagine why they'd find the sun so important! The moon has watched all of my hunts. Then again, the sun brings warmth, and fire is warmth--fire makes coals, my greateset joy."

> What is he crafting?

SpoilerYou can't quite make sense of what exactly this "gauntlet" is, as you've never seen anything quite like it, but it looks bronze and appears to be fitted over one of Ogun's paws as he is weaving--there are four hollow nodules on one broader, rounder end, while two thinner segments of metal seem to form an arc curving backwards towards two more nodules. Each nodule has a deep dimple in it, with intricate threading worked inside. Presumably these would go over your paws--you wonder if some semblance of claws are supposed to go in the dimples? It makes sense that he would add them last.

The process seems to require a lot of patience as he often loses grasp of the strand he's working with and must begin again--his giant paws do him no service in dexterity, but it seems patience and focus is more his style, balancing the thin strips of leather on one side of his canines as he slowly weaves one end through what appears to be tiny holes in the plates of metal. You realize he's forming an intricate support, using his own paw as a mould--every so often Ogun will raise up his paw to make sure it's tightened to his likings. At some point, he seems to notice your interest and flashes you a toothy grin.

"I'm always looking for an apprentice, you know. But I hope you're okay with getting singed a lot."

You didn't notice it until he said that, but indeed, his fur is covered in soot and much of his muzzle fur has been burnt away to only dark skin. Maybe you'll pass on that offer... even if you are REALLY curious how the king's forge works.

MISC NOTES / INSP
Spoiler "Looking on the lines of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreeched, in my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled lest it should bite its master and so prove, as ornaments oft do, too dangerous."

<3 Ogun <3 https://www.wolvden.com/wolf/7290097 Gen 1, 744 stat Losna Base, All Duorum stud with NEW Biform Shaded marking, retires at 150 pups!