ripperwing
The ripperwing circles. It has been circling since before I noticed it. That is the first thing to understand: by the time you see it, it has already been watching you for some time.
The wingspan sits around two metres — you clock it against the murk and your brain says corvid, something small and manageable. Then it drops fifty metres and you recalibrate. The ripperwing soars the thermals above the edges and moorland between Stanage and the Sheaf valley in long, unhurried arcs. Warden territory. It does not cross into the Wisewood. Whatever lives in the Wisewood, it has evidently decided is not worth testing. I have read, without finding a source worth citing, that the circling patterns are logged by the organic network — aerial coverage, the ripperwing compensated in scrufftails that find themselves above ground at the wrong moment. I cannot confirm this. The timing is often suggestive.
The primary feeding strategy is patience. The ripperwing identifies a target area and circles it. I timed one specimen over the same section of moorland for over two hours before it descended. It took a scrufftail and was back in the air in under a minute. The problem is that "target area" is not exclusive to small mammals. Anything that moves slowly and repeatedly qualifies.
The talons are long enough to grip a human wrist. I know this. The first pass is reconnaissance. The second is a test. The third is a commitment. You will not be aware of the third pass until it has already occurred. The beak, for reference, is capable of stripping a ripperthroat carcass to bone in under four minutes. It is not interested in your soft tissue. It is interested in the most accessible route through it.
Field note: if it circles twice, leave the area. It is not circling because it is lost.
| Type | Hunter |
| HP | 6 |
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