spooky spooky
Adelaron stables and kennels owns quite a bit of property, nestled near a state park in the Uinta Mountain area, and on their western most edge has been a riparian marsh that, while a neat rest stop to bird watch, has mostly been off limits to anyone but staff due to the unpredictable weather in the area that often occurs, therefore causing risk for becoming lost in the area with limited cover to protect oneself from a storm. Winter is a very dangerous time here, as the wet area freezes over only so much, and falling into a deeper pool can lead to dangerous situations.
But recently there have been some odd reports from the area; fencing that has been completely sunk around a deeper portion of one of the large rivers, the wire snapped when pulled free of debris and flora. The local ranger station wasn't sure what happened, either, as the snipping of the wire wasn't made by any tools. Staff repaired any damage found, but when they returned to repair a different portion, they spotted a rather disturbing image in the river.
A horse's ears and upper portion of the head was floating at the surface, much like an alligator, eyes aglow and watching the small group. The gaze was intense, mesmerizing even, and the property owner, Serris, had to snatch one of her stable hands back before he went for a dive into the cold water! The horse, or whatever it had been, rose further out of the water, startling the group. But, scared that it would be aggressive, it instead reached out and began sniffing at the pockets of the four people, finally nosing harshly at Serris' brothers jacket, knocking a bit of jerky out. And the jerky was quickly snatched up, the creature's sharp teeth making quick work of the snack.
And it only wanted more!
After consideration on the creature after returning from their unfinished project, they headed back the following weekend to do some field research and studying from afar. Serris was in awe to find that there was an entire herd of these half horse, half fish in the marsh! And they were neither afraid of humans, or aggressive towards Serris and her group.
But they were, however, rather aggressive with each other. This was quickly learned when Sam tossed some jerky into the murky water, only for two of them to attempt to snatch it, opening a rather frightening display of aggression and nasty strikes with tail, sharp hooves, and their wide, sharp teeth. It was over quickly, but not without injury to the loser of the fight; clearly, however, the injured wasn't bothered much as it returned for more attention and possible snacks shortly after.
They also found, however, that these creatures were stuck in the marsh. The river was large in the area, but petered out exponentially both down and upstream, leaving them little option to travel back or away from where they must have come from. Winter would freeze the river over, making it impossible for them to survive in the area for very long, with fish being scarce during the cold months. If they weren't already competing over food, it would begin soon and Serris nor the area rangers wanted to discover any of them dead in the coming weeks.
So now the decision made, these creatures, dubbed Hippocampus due to the obvious similarities to the mythical creature, would be moved from the area and given to people who could care for their notably carnivorous appetites. (Fish, it seemed, but other meat did them just fine Serris noted in her journal.)
That's where the Range Trotter community comes in, coming in to adopt one of these spooky, but curious hippocampus!
