The Howling Hound Clan.
Population: 42 adults, 16 younglings.

The Rootpaw Clan
Population: 26 adults, 8 younglings.

Technological advancement.
Basic tools: 1 / 2

The era of flame, year four.

Northern den cluster (Former Rootpaw territory)

The male leading the group of three patrolling the borders of their territory while also scouting for tracks of prey stopped, the two females following him calmly sitting down behind him. He leaned his head back in a loud howl, the two females joining in. Shortly after several howls echoed back from the direction of the dens. What made them twitch was the fact that there was responding howls from a direction beyond their territory as well. But it did not sound like any howl they had heard before.

The male rose up on his hind legs and faced the direction the howling had come from, trying to spy what had done it, without luck. A short discussion broke out among the three about how to handle the situation.

They howled together for longer than usual, signifying that they had found something of interest, good or bad, then set out beyond their territory to see what had answered their howls.

With wide eyes and perked ears they slowly made their way across the unknown area, watchful of any plants or creatures they had not encountered in their own territory. They jumped in surprise and once more turned to face the direction of the howling, noticing the sound of different voices, possibly three. An unknown clan?

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Southern den cluster (Howling Hound clan home)

The Alpha overwatched as two of the young adults hammered sticks against the scales that had fallen off during the territorial battle a year ago in an attempt to reproduce the embedding that the first stick had shown. One of them came up with the idea of taking a rock and hammering it against the back of the stick while it was held against the scale. Both of the young adults gave up a cheerful barking sound as they had achieved what the Alpha had ordered of them. The young male that had first achieved results jabbed the tool down into the ground and dragged it around, forming the shape of a circle around him.

The Alpha nodded slowly, pleased with the progress. A faint howl was heard in the distance, and the entire cluster of dens responded by howling in unison. He held his paw out towards the young adult whom reluctantly gave away the newly crafted tool. The Alpha lumbered over to a nearby rock and tried his luck on it, only scratching the surface and chipping a small piece of it away. With a grunt he turned over to the nearest tree and used it as one would have done a claw against the bark, managing more precise and clean cuts into the bark.

His experiments were interrupted as a second howl was heard, and once more the cluster responded in unison, the larger and stronger members of the clan wasting no time, dashing off to possibly aid their patrol if necessary.