The Hunt (West, Beast #1)

[Gemini Enigma]

The Hunt

Heavy boughs whisper with the same wind that stirs the dark water beyond. The moonlight, fickle as the fae it shines on, is the only illumination. With these ancient creatures, here is no promise of a footstep or a roar; with bows drawn and blades in hand, the hunters can only lie in wait. 

This is the scene of the hunt, as the fae wait for near-forgotten monsters to emerge from their hibernation. Something has stirred them awake, and now they're prey for those who need precious dragon scales to protect themselves from iron. 

The hunt will proceed as follows. 

Posting deals damage. Each post deals a base damage of 5 to the current beast. This damage can be increased by characters with a combat-related learned skill; otherwise, bonuses are based on the school that the character is or was part of. 

+1 damage: school of theory
+2 damage: school of tailoring/craftmanship/foraging
+3 damage: school of herbalism
+4 damage: school of magic
+5 damage: school of war

Each creature has a health of 100, with a new creature arising to be hunted each week. This is with the exception of the last week, which will have two. 

Happy hunting!

The dragon you are hunting is in the West Court, a massive green creature that leaves no footfalls but cracks branches and shakes free leaves wherever it goes. To kill it, you must find it first.

Gemini Enigma  Jin-Hwa Mei Adem Agni Yadav Bran Viola Calanthe Willowlace Marcellus Yong @cheshire Sutton Elizabeth Bane

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Gemini Enigma
Nikolai Hugh-Sokolov

Jin-Hwa could feel that they were getting closer. She could see it in the bend of the trees and the tilt of their branches. Should she be sorry that they were hunting down the same beast she was meant to be descended from? She wasn't.

Killing a dragon used to be a mark of honor. She had never ever asked the palace librarian about it, but she had seen the star on his left wrist, the tattoo that was meant to signify one who had killed a dragon. He wasn't old enough to have done it. All the dragons were supposed to be gone.

But there was one here, wasn't there? It was here, and it was before her, or very nearly. No footsteps to work with. Her class had been warned it would be difficult. But her professor, the one she was following now, had chosen five of them. Five. One of them was Jin-Hwa. It was an honor, and she wouldn't show how pleased she was. 

The Crown Prince was spoiling her mood. He continued to ascend up every echelon and she was stuck fighting for her life. It would have been easy for him to kill his father. His only fortune was that someone else beat him to it. But of course, Jin-Hwa couldn't wait for someone to save her. They never would. So, it was the goal before her: find the dragon, kill the dragon, get a matching tattoo to that scholar and never tell him why. Or never ask him about it. Do nothing that would make the final kill harder. Killing a dragon was easy. They were already monsters. But killing a person-- didn't that make her one? 

Would she be the thing they were hunting someday? 

+5 damage, school of war; Total of 10
Weapon

Amaris Silvershade

Chao Li had spent his whole life hunting, his whole life searching for something. The thing had changed-- it had been his purpose at first to find his mother, and then when he realized she couldn't be found, he decided to find who took her in the first place-- but he was used to it. So they were getting close, and he could tell. He saw a long neck through the trees. The creature was almost the same color as the leaves, but leaves didn't move like that.

If he hadn't known what they were hunting, it would have taken his breath away. As it was, he was stunned. A massive creature, with a snakelike neck and glowing eyes. It hadn't noticed them yet. He held up his hand, and the party stopped. He nocked an arrow.

Once he shot it, the creature would notice. It had already killed one person. If they did not end this quickly, the number would mount. Everyone here knew it.

What else was there to do? Arrows needed aim, just like him, but they were both deadly weapons. He pulled back his bow. He aimed for the neck.

He let the arrow fly.

+5 damage, school of war; Total of 10
Weapon

[Quinn Allegra Stone]

Let's clarify, when the parents of the Stones siblings request their children to join in on the hunt. It wasn't an option, if the children were to refuse they could but there would be dire consequences later on. Them 'requestong' was a simple manipulative tactic so they would look like they understand their children and that they were an united front. Nyx dwelled on the opportunity to show her parents that she was the strongest and the rightful heir. She did like any reason that allowed her to kill something for no reason. Isaac wanted to protect Quinn as well as the people of his court. Quinn wanted to make sure there was some kind of peace.

Isaac carried a large broad sword that had the family crest on the hilt. Two snake intertwining with one another almost lookimg like they were trying to eat each other. Nyx carried two katana swords in her hands. She twirled them around as she waited for her turn of the attack. Then their was Quinn who carried a sett of throwing knives. She was looking around and looking for betrothed, Albert. She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings.

Albert Alder Coult

Damage Report 28 Points of Damage have been done. 72 health points are left. 72/100

[Cassie Eloise Enigma]

    They said all of the Undersea fae were descended from dragons. Cassie didn’t want to kill one of her kinsmen, and she wasn’t planning on it. She was nothing like the creature. She didn’t want death or torture, she wanted beauty and peace. She was out of place in this group of bloodthirsty fae, but how could she pretend she was better than them? It would have to die, or more would have to die—one sacrifice to prevent another. Someone else could take the creature’s life, someone else could maim it. Cassie could watch, she could do what she’d been called there to do.

    The Undersea’s Princess had summoned her, for reasons she would never figure out. Jin-hwa knew she wasn’t the kind of person to go on a hunt, but maybe it was just a practice for what would come in the future. She looked sideways at her friend, so much fiercer than she should have been at sixteen. If her blood had not been diluted with the warmth of the land, would Cassie have been the same as Jin-hwa was? So filled with rage at everything, always on guard against the world? She would never know. Something rustled in the branches above. Her eyes darted upwards, fingers curling around the hilt of a sword she hoped she wouldn’t have to use. The Hunt was on.

TAGS: Jin-Hwa Mei
WEAPON

★fai

+5 damage

[Albert Alder Coult]

Quinn Allegra Stone

Albert was here to support his family, to support Quinn. He was here to maintain an image. He did not expect to be the one to kill this dragon.

It wasn't as though he had any sympathy for the creature. This was his home it was rampaging in. These were his forests it was burning. He felt a sort of kinship with the land no one could explain, like they yearned for the same things. This dragon-- this monster-- was not like that. He didn't know what it wanted. He tightened his grip on his spear and studied the trees. He saw the stretch of a green neck, the glitter of an eye. He heard an arrow fly and saw what might have been gold blood. Who knew that dragons bled ichor too? Maybe that wasn't blood at all. Maybe it was fire. It was hard to tell the difference.

Even in the way the creature moved, whipping its neck around, roaring, it was fluid, otherworldly. This was no creature of the land, nothing born of rocks or grass or dirt. This was a creature from somewhere else-- the sea or the storms or the mortal world. He didn't know. He didn't want to know. 

It was on a rampage now. He hefted his spear, shielding Quinn with his arm. The creature snapped its jaws towards the party. He couldn't see much. The air was hot and the leaves were thick. If it could or did breathe fire, it would set this whole wood ablaze. 

+5 damage, school of war; Total of 10
Weapon

[Quinn Allegra Stone]

Quinn wasn't brave nor was she a killer. She had no interests in the politics or even the fights that went pj with court. She wanted to sing and be happy. Live her own life but with her type of family that was very unlikely to happen. Her brother was helping her be free and not only that but it seemed he had plans when he took over as heir. He hoped to changed the ways of the Stone family.

The dragon looked like it was going to attack her as she threw a throwing knife at it. She wasn't quite prepared as it came at her. Her eyes went wide as she expected it to hurt her but then put of nowhere, Albert shielded her. Her atte n tion was no longer on the beast but on him. He could have let her die. Why didn't he? If he allowed it then he wouldn't be obligated to marry her. She wasn't his responsibility after all.

"Th-thank you." She said. She could feel her cheeks getting hot as he was so close.

Albert Alder Coult,

[Vĩnh Lý]


A slender, cleanly pressed grey shadow stepped forth from behind the tree it had stopped at to clean its shoes, weaving between the various students that had joined the shadow’s current source on her excursion. Vĩnh hoped she wouldn’t exert herself. He expected he’d be disappointed with his charge, she had a troubling habit of overextending. Such was the result of talent, he supposed. Vĩnh continued to slide between Jin-Hwas classmates, casting light bows their way when appropriate.



“Princess Jin-Hwa Mei.”



Another light bow, followed by lighter words, nearly whispered, so as to only be heard by his charge.



“There is no need for you to expend undue energy on small game. I’m sure it is an easy matter for you to participate in such a hunt, but you seem troubled. Allow your classmates to bring the beast to a halt, and decapitate it then. Certainly this is a glorious honor, but there will be greater honors to come, and you must relegate your immense strength appropriately.”



Vĩnh gave a delicate smile. Her classmates were capable, some of them high-court royalty. They would have little difficulty with the dragon. The dragon would soon come to a halt where they could apprehend it in full force. Vĩnh imagined the rush of battle whirling about the head of each faerie would cause them to reason their initial damage had brought on such a change, if they chose to reason at all. It was unlikely anyone would notice a sudden temperature differential at this range. Perhaps if the scales were removed from the dragons ankle they would find decaying tissue, siezed up about the leg in the place that once held a major tendon. Perhaps if they took too long, this heat sink would expand outwards through the leg, and the dragon would begin to show local signs of skin necrosis. Perhaps Vĩnh would run a hot bath and prepare some tea before he was called away from the princess. She really did seem stressed.


tags-Jin-Hwa Mei ,

[Kallias Greyson]

Kallias could not say he was pleased with this turn of events. Hunting dragons? It seemed inhumane to him. He had a fondness for creatures, and to witness a dragon being hunted down and eventually killed? It sickened him. They were magnificent creatures: ones that did not deserve this sort of treatment. The last thing he wanted to do was aid in killing this creature. But he also knew there was nothing he could do to prevent it. All he could do was try and make sure the dragon did not suffer so much. The thought of it dying, as destructive as it could be, saddened him.

Whatever fondness he lacked for most people, he had that empathy for animals. They were fascinating, and did not deceive or manipulate like people did. In the back of his mind, he wished he could have gotten a chance to study the dragon's natural behavior; to learn more about it and the rest of its kind. Nothing within the realm of animal behavior could be learned if said animal was dead.

He sighed, snapping himself out of his thoughts. He hung around the outskirts of the group of hunters. He didn't want to charge in without a plan, simply due to the fact that combat was not his forte. That, and it was hard to get a good look at the dragon if you got too close.

+ 5



 

Damage Report 37 Points of Damage have been done. 35 health points are left. 35/100

[Albert Alder Coult]

Quinn Allegra Stone

Albert saw a flash of green. He could feel the fire on his face. He couldn't see much more. Quinn was beside him, but he was still holding the spear. He got one throw out of it. You didn't pull bronze out of dragonhide-- even enchanted bronze. So combat it was.

But the creature moved too fast. Stumbling around on one foot, whipping back towards them. Albert didn't know why and didn't care. He moved to shove Quinn out of the way. He moved to throw his spear. He moved to-- to move. To do something. It was unclear as to what. It didn't matter. He was not one suited to stillness and everything had happened so quickly. One arrowed was fired, one sword slashed up, the creature whipped around towards them, and there was a blur. Something moving faster than Albert's mind. Something rivaling the dragon itself, moving in between Quinn and the creature. It was all a blur.

+5 damage, school of war; Total of 10
Weapon

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Gemini Enigma
Vĩnh Lý

Jin-Hwa's eyes slitted, and for a moment, the rumors of her family's line made sense. The fae couldn't lie, but they could tell stories. Still, it seemed like it might be true. There was nothing truly human in the look on her face. But no fae were human, were they? They were all in a class of their own.

Vinh was a fool. She sometimes wondered at how they could possibly be related. It made sense to her how easily his mother had been killed. How easily she had been dealt with. Her son cared about comfort over honor and seemed to lose sight of the fact that honor was in bloodshed. Or maybe he was trying to rob her of her glory. It didn't matter. She wouldn't listen to him. No one commanded her. Not now, not ever.

The dragon was stumbling about. Was that a rock thrown in its path, or a spear? The ground was shaking and Jin-Hwa wasn't sure what from. She knew its head whipped away from her, towards the girl who Gemini was with at the party. That disaster of a party-- she would try not to dwell on it. Cassie was here now. She didn't need to focus on the past. She ran towards the beast. She would deal with it. 

+5 damage, school of war; Total of 10
Weapon

Quinn Allegra Stone

Chao Li narrowed his eyes. The creature noticed, snapped its head back. The party scattered. The undersea "guest"-- the princess-- ran to the front. Her servant did not seem to move. The West Court delegation was being attacked. Neither girl seemed very concerned. One seemed too stunned to move. The other looked like she was expecting this. Her hand was extended as though she had thrown something. Chao Li nocked another arrow.

He shot it again, providing cover for the princess. This arrow bounced off its leg. He grit his teeth. Even iron couldn't cut through its skin. He had hit it near the ear last time. Now he would have to do something similar or no one would be able to kill it. Maybe undersea steel, but even that was hard to come by. The princess was slashing it with her sword. Not doing enough damage. He shot it once, twice in the maw. It roared. The thing was bleeding, hard. One foot looked injured. The boys behind him-- the ones with the West court-- they had good weapons. Not the bronze, but the enchantments. One of those landed in its throat? That could do it. He hoped they understood. He took a step back, then another. He shot again. This was the most important part. They killed it her or they all died.

He preferred it when things were simple.

+5 damage, school of war; Total of 10
Weapon

[Quinn Allegra Stone]

Quinn felt herself be shoved out of the way before she could even react about how close Albert was. Isaac saw the dragon coming and he felt like it was his duty to end this. Nyx, on the other hand, found a great opportunity. She couldn't help it, she was greedy and really all she cared about was power. It was always she wanted, have others fear her and do her bidding. She saw Isaac looking determined. She ran by him but before she could run completely past him, she had a small dagger in her hand and made a tiny swift motion that to others looked like nothing. The dagger stabbed him quickly in the side. It wouldn't kill him but it would make him bleed slowly out.

Isaac looked over and saw he was bleeding, he grabbed his side but when he turned his attention back at the dragon, a blaze of fire was right at him. Quinn looked over seeing her brother disappear the flames. His broad sword had dropped to the ground. While the fire slowly disappeared she ran over and grabbed the sword and plunged it into the the dragons neck before it could turn and aim for anyone else. She pulled back, the sword coming out of the dragon and turned to her brother's lifeless body. It didn't look like him anymore, his face unrecognizable.

"Isaac!" she screamed before dropping to her knees. She couldn't help but hyperventilate, "ISAAACCC!!!"


Albert Alder Coult,