Thieves on the Wing {Game}

[Moriel]

Oh no! A clumsy eagle lost her eggs. Or did she? Maybe they were STOLEN. Stuff has been coming up missing all over the Eagle Kingdom and someone is responsible. Can you help find the missing stuff and the thief?!

It's Thief Hunt with eagles, folks.


The Thief
The Goods
The Hiding Place

in your post, RP hunting for the stuff and choose one option from each list! The person who guesses the correct combination finds the thief and winds the round!

Golden Eagle - Harpy Eagle - Martial Eagle - Goshawk - Red Kite - Common Buzzard - Goose-eagle - @lokitheraven

Clumsy Eagle's eggs - Harpy's lunch - Buzzard's marrow bones - collection of squirrel tails - a bunch of eagle feathers - literally anything shiny - Thranduil's wine

Roäc's nest - Elvenking's cellar - top of Caradhras - under the Long Lake - Among the spiders - Over there


Trap

The thief really doesn't want to be caught as bird justice tends to be pretty vicious, so they have laid a trap along the way to try and trip you up. If you stumble upon the trap, you must respond to its prompt before continuing your hunt! The trap will not be in the correct location. What is the trap? You won't know until you hit it.


How it works
Every 24 hours (or sooner, if everyone currently playing has posted already) there will be an update, indicating whether anyone has solved the crime/if any of the three things have been guessed. When someone guesses the right combination, they win the round! In a departure from normal thief hunt, there won't be any ranks in this series, but merely a tally of who has won how many rounds. At the end of the game, the person who won the most rounds will be crowned champion! And possibly egged, who knows.


The Rules of The Game

1. Posts can be any length, but don't just post a list of three things
2. Bold and color code (as close as you can) your choices
3. You may post the same combination as another player
4. You may join the game at any time


THE TALLY
Goose: 2

[Galadrihell]

“Oh no oh heck,” mumbled Vanafantári as she rummaged about underneath her feathery bottom. “They were just here! I am sure of it.”

She got up and kicked around the nest. Sticks. Fluff. Bones. No eggs. NO EGGS. Nobody would ever trust her to eggsit again after this. This was dreadful. Where were the clumsy eagle’s eggs?!

“They’ve probably been stolen by Harpy Eagles and taken to the top of Caradhras by now,” she wailed mournfully

[Baphởmet]

Lusola was on a very important mission, the most important mission of his entire little birdy life! An eagle had talked to him! AN EAGLE! And that eagle hadn’t eaten him in a single bite (despite what Cika had always told him, stupid pigeon). No, this eagle needed help. An eagle needed help from a displaced desert cardinal. What was going on in the world!? No matter, Lusola was on the case! He was going to do his darndest to help this eagle find… what was he was supposed to help her find? She hadn’t been very clear about what it was that was missing, she mentioned eggs a lot but hadn’t specifically said it was her eggs that were missing, she mentioned all sorts of things that had been looted, gone missing, or misplaced over the past few weeks as well. It was time for Lusola to put on his detective hat (it was the perfect size for his tiny little bird head) and get to the bottom of this mystery. He promised himself he would not be distracted by Literally Anything Shiny the way his magpie companions often were in his southern homeland, no matter how shiny and bright, he had work to do! He was also told to avoid the Goose-Eagle. What the heck was that? It sounded utterly terrifying and Lusola wanted nothing to do with it, unless… What if the Goose-Eagle knew everyone was afraid of it and knew it had nothing to fear? Or what if someone was working with the Goose-Eagle and it was all an inside job? Being a detective was paranoid work! Lusola was going to need to find out once and for all if this Goose-Eagle was behind things, but how could he without giving himself away? He was going to start Over There, amongst the brambles and tumbleweeds. He was more at home there anyway; he could hide and watch to see if they tried anything funny. It was a proper stake out!

[KingODuckingham]

Ducky was walking with his head down, staring into a palantir. He was reading the latest updates from @lokitheraven, over @lokitheraven's shoulder, but written on a piece of parchment. To be honest, it wasn't the most efficient method of communication, but it was better than walking all the way to the top of Caradhras. Ducky had been up there once or twice and neither time had it been a picnic. I mean, he hadn't gone up there intending to have a picnic, so that was no surprise, but still. The non-picnic-ness of the event was really quite astounding. Anyway, @lokitheraven was writing something in thin ink about a bunch of eagle feathers or something. Ducky was glancing up to look where he was going every so often, so he wasn't doing a very good job of either reading the update or of watching his surroundings.

Bonk! Yow! He dropped the palantir.

[Lady of Shadow]

Naelia was on a mission... there were rumors in the Dark Land of an Eagle Kingdom popping up out of nowhere! "Whose tomfoolery was this?" the minioness thought to herself as she explored the new kingdom, trying to find out its secrets in an effort to either shut it down or subvert its inhabitants (like any minion would do). Unlike the Thief Hunt she was used to in her native homeland, this particular thief made off with Eagle eggs instead of items that minions such as Naelia often put to good use. "How hard can tracking down a couple of fowl eggs be?" the minioness thought to herself as she came across a collection of squirrel tails. "Now this is one item I haven't come across in Mordor!" Naelia thought to herself, as she began to look for clues as to the thief's identity.

Continuing to search for the answer to how this kingdom popped up without her knowledge, the minioness saw none other than a Common Buzzard attempting to survey the area, when he or she saw that there was somebody in this new kingdom that didn't belong there (namely Naelia herself), and circled around the area a few times. Though he or she could have simply been protecting the item they stole, and the minioness' presense there may had nothing to do with it, but then she noticed exactly where he was heading, none other than that dratted Elvenking's cellar!. "More of those meddlesome Elves!" Naelia thought to herself as she continued to track the buzzard.

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The goods have NOT been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

[Baphởmet]

The Goose-Eagle wasn’t real was it? Lusola began to believe he was a victim of a practical joke. He had been sat in his bramble pile for a whole day and nothing even came close to resembling a goose-eagle. What did a goose-eagle look like though? Lusola was confused. He didn’t like being confused. It stressed him out and made him lose feathers. He had to give up on the stake out, which was probably for the best, he had not anticipated the need to go to the bathroom and he’d been holding it for several hours now. He squeezed out of the weeds and made his way to Roäc's Nest (not to go to the bathroom of course, he knew better than that, especially if there was a raccoon about). Here he hoped to gather some intel about eagle eggs. If he knew enough about them and their inherent values, he might be able to track them down directly rather than follow around a random bird until they happen to cross paths. He’d only been a detective for a day, but he was absolutely sure sitting in a tumbleweed wasn’t going to solve crimes. How was he going to show his worth to the eagles if he couldn’t save the crimes? He found some Buzzard’s Marrow Bones (they were goat bones, Lusola is not a cannibal thank you) and snacked on the remainder of the tasty marrow whilst formulating a clever plan. Where to next? He tweeped as an idea came into his head.

[Galadrihell]

I am the Goose-eagle, or Google for short, and I’m the terror of all who fly. Or walk. Or swim. I’m a general terror.

I am available, for extremely low prices, to disrupt the event of your choosing! Ruin an ex-girlfriend’s party by having me show up and blow out her birthday candles by a means you’ve never seen before! Use my services to have an enemy’s valued item hidden at the bottom of Long Lake! Ask me to drink all of Thranduil’s wine! You won’t even need to pay me for that last.

[Moriel]

The thief has NOT been found!
The goods HAVE been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

@Goosil, you have stumbled upon the trap!! As you make your way to Long Lake to search for the missing goods, you are set upon by a horde of screaming seagulls, bribed there by the thief, who seem quite certain that what you're after is, to quote them, "MINE!" They unleash upon you their most fearsome weapon, and with a splattersplatsplatSPLATTTT!! it rains down in olfactory gruesomeness upon you from all sides! You must RP your escape before hunting again!

[Galadrihell]

scrEEEEeeeeeEEEee

splat splat splat splat


Well, I guess this could happen to anyone. Accidents happen, and gulls (no such thing as seagulls of course) do eat a lot of stuff, bound to disagree with them sooner or later

zoooooOOOOOoooooOm

What’s that? They’re taking a second run at it? Now come on chaps, this is simply unreasonab-

SPLAT Ssplatter thud splat splat

Now, I say. I know vultures frequently do this to cool themselves, and the weather has been hot lately, but there’s a whole lake right there. Speaking of which, I might take a dip. This stuff is hardening.

creak creak waddle creak

Bleh

[Moriel]

@Goosil, you may now hunt again!

[Galadrihell]

Just a common buzzard, winging across the sky;
cutting a dark swathe across the clouds
I scuttle low, hunching amongst the spiders
Drinking some stolen Thranduil’s wine

[Baphởmet]

Harpies were terrifying. Eagles were terrifying. Following this logic, Harpy Eagles ought to be the most terrifying things on the planet (aside from humans who were just the worst). What had Lusola stumbled upon? He had followed the Goose-Eagle and found them dealing with the creepy demon birds from Planet X. What on earth was going on here? Lusola had clearly stumbled on the makings of a vast conspiracy. What was he going to do? How far did this thing go? Should he go to his superiors and report his findings? He was about to fly off when the thought struck him. What if his boss was in on it too? A cold feeling spread through Lusola’s limbs. Wait, no, that wasn’t a cold feeling, that was web! Before he could stop himself, he’d absentmindedly flown Amongst the Spiders!! Oh dear, oh gosh, oh jeez! What was little Lusula going to do now? He was trapped by eight-legged horrors, emmeshed in a web thick with spider silk and plots. Who could he trust? Who could he turn to for help? He should have foreseen this happening. As his mother used to say “nothing good comes from stealing Buzzard Marrow Bones.” Oh how Lusola wished he’d listened to his mother right now.

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The goods HAVE been found!
The hiding place HAS been found!

[Galadrihell]

Swigging more of Thranduil’s wine, I turn my neck to see
Lusola amongst the spiders, staring back at me;
He twists and turns - caught in a web! Alas, he cannot fly;
The fear of death, as cold as dread, creeping into his eye.
Not just of death, but Eagles. Harpy-Eagles to be precise.
But though they’re fierce, I’ve always thought that they looked rather nice?

[Baphởmet]

The spiders were not going to eat him after all. That alone terrified little Lusola. There must be something very wrong with the world if spiders did not eat what they caught. He was sure was doomed but when they cut him down and wrapped him up like a little bird burrito in their super sticky silk and started carrying him off to some unknown place deep in Mirkwood the tiny desert cardinal didn’t know what to think. The entire journey he tried to escape, but the spider burrito was too secure, it was hopeless. This is what he got for trying to sneak around and catch a meeting between the Goose-Eagle and the Harpy Eagles. He knew he should have just surveilled the Common Buzzards, it would have been safer and he wouldn’t have had to sneak to a meeting Amongst the Spiders. The spiders dumped the birdie burrito on the ground at the foot of a giant tree festooned with cobwebs and creepy branches that looked like finger bones.

Who was he going to meet here? Who was he being turned over to? Lusola was not having a good first day. Not at all. He tweeped his terror before he could stop himself. Something in the trees stirred. Buzzard Marrow Bones fell from somewhere near the peak. Lusola’s eyes widened as far as they could. Whatever was coming, it had turned the buzzards into a meal. Who was terrifying enough to do that?!

[Moriel]

@Goosil has caught the thief!! It was the Harpy Eagle indeed, perhaps wishing to party as hard as Bombycilla, having stolen Thranduil's Wine and hidden it Amongst the spiders.

But it seems that theft is rife in the Eagle Kingdom.... something else has gone missing! And another clever thief has laid a trap!

THE HUNT BEGINS ANEW!!

[Baphởmet]

The creature stepped down from the trees, still half robed in shadows. Lusola could barely make out the shape of a sharp, crooked beak and red glowing eyes. Whatever it was, it was big too, bigger than any Martial Eagle Lusola had ever laid eyes on. When it spoke, the little desert cardinal felt certain the earth was going to crack open underneath him and swallow him up. Still wrapped in the spider silk burrito, Lusola was thought he was looking at a walking mountain. Which of course, looking back, was ridiculous. How could a mountain climb down from a tree? He was too distracted by Literally Anything Shiny. The creature, whatever it was, wore a necklace of baubles and trinkets that would look silly on any other creature, but under the current circumstances, Lusola could not imagine anything more terrifying, and he lived in the desert. The thing shambled down the tree, hooked feet like those of a bird of prey grabbing onto the bark of the tree, gripping and twisting as if to tear it off as it made it’s way down. Even the spiders were afraid of it, they chittered, raised their front legs then turned and dashed away into the dark eaves of the forest, leaving Lusola alone with the creature. He looked in all directions: up, down, Over There, over here, that way, or the other way. There was nowhere for him to run. He was surely doomed!

[Moriel]

The thief has NOT been found!
The goods HAVE been found!
The hiding place HAS been found!

[Galadrihell]

Who’s that hiding out over there?
It was @lokitheraven all along!
What’s he got hidden up in his hair?
It was shiny things all along!
Literally anything shiny
Be it big or be it tiny
If he sees a sign, he
Will steal those things all day long!

[Baphởmet]

Over There! Go Over There! Something in the back of Lusola’s mind urged him to ran and flap like a pigeon in a random direction before the creature could get any closer. Whatever the thing was, it smelled worse than a Goshawk and Lusola thought he was going to throw up. Did birds have senses of smell? They must, he’d Menolly (as person he definitely knew without breaking any fourth or fifth walls) about that. One might think as a bird, he ought to know, but does a colorblind person know what blue looks like? That’s an Odyssey for a different time though, right now he needed escape this thing. It was covered in Literally Anything Shiny it had been able to get its hands (or paws or claws or hooves or whatever) on and that made it bulky and somewhat uncoordinated. He just had to get around the thing and into the clearing behind the tree, that would be all the space he needed to… oh wait… he was still wrapped in the little birdie burrito the spiders wrapped him up in. How had he not realized this before? It seems like something someone would realize before they tried to fly away. Perhaps whoever is writing this is just an absent minded doof. Whatever the reason, this was serious stuff! Stop screwing around! Ahhhhhh! It’s coming!

[Moriel]

Once again, the crafty @Goosil has caught the thief!! It was @lokitheraven true to form, having stolen Literally anything shiny and hidden it Over There.

But loki isn't the only thief around here.... something else has gone missing! And another clever thief has laid a trap!

THE HUNT BEGINS ANEW!!

[Baphởmet]

Lusola was doomed. He was so doomed that even Túrin Turambar felt bad for him (the mental gymnastics surrounded how either of these two legendary figures knew each other is not something this narrator cares to bring up). The little desert cardinal had accepted a stiff Victorian upper lip. If he was going to be eaten by whatever this thing was, he was not going to go out shouting and crying and screaming. Still… he closed his eyes and waited for the moment the great thing opened its distended jaws to swallow him live and whole and… nothing happened. Suddenly he was up the air and bouncing around like a hot potato. He opened his eyes. He was far above the ground, soaring in the direction of the Top of Caradhras. How had… what was going on? Lusola was still in his little burrito of spider silk but he was able to look up. He saw a bird butt (what else did he expect?). But he was certain he recognized that bird butt. Was it the Goose-eagle ? Oh great eagles of the sky be praised! He would never suspect this angry and majestic creature of treachery ever again. Unless they were about to feed him to their young. Then he might. Maybe. It’s difficult to really tell at this point. They’d saved him and ignominious death at the hands of a demon bird thing, but who knew what it was for. Maybe it was because they wanted Lusola to pilfer the Clumsy Eagle's eggs and make eggs benedict with them. That might put him in a bit of a moral quandary. Never get mixed up in eagle business, his mother had said. He should have listened, he should have listened!

[Galadrihell]

Vanafantári was sort of pleased. She had retrieved two missing objects. She had caught two thieves. But she had still not found her eggs!! Where were the poor Clumsy Eagle’s Eggs?!

Tragically, she flew over to Roac’s nest to see if he or the Red Kite had seen anything.

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The goods have NOT been found!
The hiding place HAS been found!

@Goosil, you have stumbled upon the trap!! Clearly seeking vengeance for having his goods stolen last round, someone (coughlokicough) must have persuaded Roäc's kin to act on their behalf, and you are set upon by giant ravens!! You must RP your escape before hunting again

[Baphởmet]

Okay. Okay. Okay. There was not going to be any eagle eggs benedict this morning, nor was Lusola going to be fed to the Goose-eagle’s young. That was the good news. The bad news? Well Lusola was more lost than he could have ever imagined. The tops of mountains were no place for tiny little desert cardinals such as himself. The Top of Caradhras was the most terrifying place he’d ever been, and he’d just been in the clutches of a demon spider bird! He shivered and peeped and shivered, huddling down into himself to conserve as much warmth as he could. Whatever the Goose-eagle wanted from him, it had better be worth nearly dying of exposure! He did not mean to sound ungrateful. Even in the throes of hypothermia, Lusola was well aware of his surroundings. He was at the mercy of this dastardly bird, any wrong step (literally and figuratively) could result in his demise: a long walk off a short cliff with a Bunch of Eagle Feathers stuffed in his mouth. So, now what did the Goose-eagle want from Lusola?

[Galadrihell]

Vanafantári was innocently just poking about when she heard the rushing of many wings. And then felt the flapping of many wings. And the stabbing of many beaks.

Her thick feathers protected her from most of the onslaught. She twisted in mid air, flailing with her talons and flapping her huge wings furiously. Some of the ravens were caught in the draught and pushed away but the others just kept coming.

“What is it?” she shrieked furiously. “Have I gone bald? Does my head resemble a shiny bauble?” No, wait, that was crows, right? “Perhaps I remind you of delicious carrion?”

Realising this was just turning into a self-roast, Vanafantári sadly flapped away.

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The goods have NOT been found!
The hiding place HAS been found!

@Goosil, you may now hunt again!

[Galadrihell]

What even was a goose-eagle, Vanafantári wondered? Some creation of Yavanna and Manwë? A hybrid created by forbidden love? Or a terrible Franken-accident? At any rate, it definitely had thieving proclivities. Her stomach rumbled as she flapped up to the Top of Caradhras to get a better view. Time for lunch. she was even hungry enough to eat a Harpy’s Lunch, should that be on offer.

[Baphởmet]

Lusola was starting to get stressed out. He molted when he stressed. He hated that. He loved each and every one of his feathers, losing even just one of them would be a horrible disaster. Once, back home, he’d been stressed out about asking a girl bird to a dance (yes birds to have dances thank you very much) and he lost a portion of his plumage. Foolishly, he thought he could hide that fact with a Collection of Squirrel Tails. To make an embarrassing story short: no. And there were no squirrel tails around here, none that weren’t still partially attached to a squirrel in some way. Goose-Eagle, as payment for saving him from the eagle from hell (or whatever it was, Lusola’s memory of that time wasn’t great), required that he go pick up a package for them. That was all. Just a package. He was told not to open, look directly at, think about, nor touch the package which made it difficult, and suspicious, but what was the little desert cardinal going to do? The alternative was much worse. Be fed to the Goose-eagle’s children (they looked kind of like goblins but Lusola not an expert in goslings, or eaglets) or be sent back to the demon bird thing spider evil (seriously what was that is the narrator ever going to say?). Well it was off to the Top of Caradhras, where he’d have to figure out how to deliver a package without thinking about it, looking at it, or touching it. This was weird man.