The Hunt (High Court, Final Beast)

[Guinivere Marcel]

The Hunt

The High Court is the lifeblood of faerie, but that does not mean it is safe. Marble pillars and curling flowers decorate every surface as the palace sprawls as far as the eyes can see, a labyrinthine structure. However, one creature has managed well enough to find its way through unscathed. Cracks in the marble may seem decorative, as filled as they are with flowers, but some of them are as fresh as the scents in the air. 


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


This creature has a health of 100. There will be 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 that you seek is a ghostly creature that glows during the day and seems nearly invisible at night. It stalks the outer branches of the High Court, picking off smaller fae who are alone. It has said to look nearly translucent, but its teeth and claws are very solid. To kill it, you have to touch it first.

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

[Gemini Enigma]

the hunt

[attr="class","box1"]The earth was uneasy.  That was the whole reason they were here, after all. Ancient magic had risen, as the hackles of tradition often did when stirred; like a mountain from a collision of lands, the dragons had sprung up from the border of the Faewild's magic with the hand of a mortal queen. From a fold, a rupture, they woke and took flight.  But perhaps this break with tradition only freed them from a status quo too ancient for the present's foes. The fae needed armor that could withstand iron, and if they could source it from a schism between mortal and magic, so be it.  Besides, Gemini was the embodiment of that very collision. He was a crossroads, a waypoint, a grayness. A son of the earth. He was already what the land was becoming: a fusion of mortal and fae, of magic and mundane. And he had long been despised for it. But now it was he that they needed, for as long as he was bound to the land through the birthright of the High Court, he could guide it through its growing pains and be the gateway, the conduit by which it accepted Guinivere as queen. He was uniquely necessary. And if he was a border, would he create a mountain, a monster, too? The sky seemed to answer these thoughts with a gray and indecisive twilight. Another borderland. Night was falling fast. This eve was predicted to bring a rain of comets. Would the dragon terrorizing the gentry become just another falling star? Would Gemini himself?  It would soon be much more difficult to kill, however. Though it was illuminated now, soon the dragon would become ghostly, a phantom with fangs and claws. Gemini wondered if it would bleed like the others. Then again, the fae stood as proof that what appeared to be ephemeral was not necessarily always so. It would take craft to catch the beast but skill with a blade to kill it.  For now, Gemini stood beside the High Queen as the hunting party gathered. "I would advise that we remain disparate rather than traveling as a group, Your Majesty," he said for only her to hear. The title wasn't entirely necessary for a crown prince, but Gemini didn't need her forming any parental ideas towards him. He didn't suspect her as the type to do so, but he preferred not to be proven wrong. "We can move as a unit without remaining close, and covering a larger area will be most efficient. It may even percieve us as alone and take the bait." As he spoke, he gestured, drawing out a collection of points in the air with one gauntleted hand. "In short, I am suggesting that we move like a constellation—separate but unified. An image formed from separate parts. The connections are perhaps imagined by the viewer's mind, but their impacts are very real."  If one of them came upon the creature, they could surround it. Then the picture would no longer be so imaginary.  Guinivere Marcel [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 511 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox

[Guinivere Marcel]

Gemini Enigma
Bran Viola

Guinivere had not attended a hunt before this. She had dispatched knights and sharpened knives and watched from her throne room. She was concerned to find how much of her time was spent simply watching. The map on her wall was speared through with pins and failed target practice. She loathed violence, but only senseless violence. She had found she was no better suited to peace.

The beasts had gone too far. They came to her palace. They threatened her home, her wards. She would defend it like any queen who had earned her throne through blood. Julius didn't approve and Guinivere didn't care. She braided her hair back and added no flowers. She brought extra knives. 

Perhaps she should have brought a broadsword or an axe, but the knives in her hands were her surest weapon. Her breastplate and collar was far more elaborate than she had ever been equipped with, and felt awfully mortal in nature. She would not complain. The fae liked those best who stripped themselves of masks. She could at least pretend at that.

Soon it would be dark and she would have to strain to see while those around her had no issue with it at all. Soon she would have to rely on the heartbeat of the land to help her. Soon she would lash the creature down with her vines and make it regret threatening her home. Or, at least, that was the idea. That was the expectation.

+4 damage, High Queen of Faerie; Total of 9
Weapon & Armor Aesthetic

[Nyra Charlotte Enigma]

Bran Viola

Nyra preferred to be perched in the back of the group, as a rule. She was trained as an archer and she dressed like one. She couldn't imagine trying to move in heavy plate or even the Undersea's preferred chainmail. Her breastplate was largely pearl and heavy leather to protect the string from snapping across her skin. It was as comfortable as armor would be.

She had been gifted dragon skin by the High Queen herself. A quality pair of gloves, handed to her in a private meeting in the Queen's sunroom. Obviously, Nyra was not the only one. She found it ambitious for the Queen to take to handing out the dragon scales herself, but some of them belonged to her by right. The divine right of Queens. If divinity was real.

Nyra doubted it on principle. But she was not going to doubt the one who gave her the ability to do something she had been dreaming of since she was a child. The gloves fit her perfectly. She had a square of extra hide. Not even a half meter. She didn't need that. She would work it in somehow. She would create iron weapons or iron arrows or iron spikes. Or something. The possibility was the key. The possibility was everything.

+2 damage, school of forging; Total of 7
Weapon + Armor Aesthetics

[Hai Mei]

Killing a dragon is such a grim thing, Hai thought to herself. But she had to stop herself from beaming. She had somehow convinced her mother to allow her to attend the land fae's hunt. It was grim work, but she was so delighted to be allowed to do something new. She loved the Undersea, she truly did, but new experiences were wonderful. And very scary. But she chose to focus on the wonder of it. In the back of her mind, she wondered how long her delight would last when faced with the dying screams of the dragon. She pushed that thought from her mind. New experience. Enjoy it, even if it is very grim.

She was surprised her mother had allowed it. But, deep down, she knew why. It was a test, she was sure. A test to see if she had the killing resolve that made her mother such a successful queen. She was so scared of disappointing her mother. But she was even more scared of becoming like her. No matter how much she loved her mother, she couldn't ignore her cruelty. 

She wore the armor she'd brought from the Undersea. A beautiful work, even if it was meant for war. There could be beauty in the midst of war. Her mother had taught her that, albeit not verbally. But actions spoke louder than words. And her mother was at her most beautiful on the battlefield. Or so Hai had heard.

She hung on the outskirts of the crowd, gripping the spear she favored. She didn't know anyone. That, in of itself, was scary. 

+ 5

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Gemini Enigma
Hai Mei  

Jin-Hwa knew her younger sister was here, and it irked her.

She had never understood Hai; she had never understood most of her siblings. Hai took after their mother in nearly every appearance. Jin-Hwa looked like the father that wasn't supposed to exist. Hai was quiet and cheerful. Jin-Hwa was brooding and off-putting. Bewitching at best. Hai was just now attending a hunt. Jin-Hwa had cut a dragon's heart out of its chest.

She had done worse than that. She had nearly killed the Crown Prince of Faerie. She was waiting for her mother to find out. She was waiting for the statue to land upside her head again. She was wondering if her mother truly thought Jin-Hwa would simply take it.

Jin-Hwa herself didn't know.

The armor she was equipped with was spiraling and swirling, with a thin veil of sealskin beneath it to give it an iridescent shine. It was not particularly protective. She did not intend to get involved in this fight. It was not as though she didn't want to. But she could not embarrass the mortal High Queen. Not publicly.

Then again, she had never been one to pull back. Maybe that was why she had asked for the armor to be enchanted with protective spells. Maybe that was why she had sharpened her blade last night anyway. For better or for worse, she was always ready for a fight. 

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

[Hai Mei]

Out of the corner of her eye, Hai caught a flash of gold. Armor that was very clearly Undersea. Her sister. Hai couldn't stop herself from taking a step away. She genuinely believed, deep in the corners of her heart, that she loved Jin-hwa. But Jin-hwa scared her, and not for the reasons she scared most people. Hai feared Jin-hwa the way she feared their mother; she feared becoming them. Their mother was always harshest with Jin-hwa. But Hai believed that was because Kaimana saw herself in Jin-hwa. Jin-hwa was ruthless and bloodthirsty, just like Kaimana. Just like so many women in their family. A long line of cold-blooded killers. Bloodying your hands for your kingdom was no different than any other excuses. Your hands didn't get cleaner if it was a noble cause to you. It is blood all the same.

Jin-hwa had bloodied her hands. Hai had heard of her tearing a dragon's heart from its chest. Of golden blood drenching her hands. Some part of Hai, deep down, craved that same strength. That was the part of her that loved Jin-hwa. She hid that part of her so deep within her soul, ignoring its existence.

Part of her wanted to turn on her heel and leave. To ignore the desire to kill the dragon, just as Jin-hwa had. Would Jin-hwa look at her with something other than ire, then? Whose approval was worth more? Their mother's? Jin-hwa's? Or her own? Who was worth her devotion?

She sighed. She shouldn't ignore her sister; that wouldn't be good of her. So she forced herself, step by step, to approach Jin-hwa. She gripped her spear, trying to calm her nerves. Did normal fae fear their sisters this much? Did normal fae fear becoming them? "I heard that you ripped a dragon's heart out in one of the previous hunts."


TAGGED: Jin-Hwa Mei

+5 points

[Julius Auyn]

the hunt

[attr="class","box1a"] Standing at the side of the High Queen, Julius was no longer a trapper, and instead a consort. For now. The first issue standing in his way: the child was giving orders again. Julius's lip curled. "Would you afford us a moment?" he said, and without waiting for an answer, he led Guinivere a few paces away.  He brushed a subtle hand across her lower back as they walked."You should wear your armor around our home," he murmured for her ears alone. Normally, he preferred her gentle, in soft colors and soft fabrics, doe-eyed as she looked up at him. But he'd made her a weapon. To see her as one brought with it a burst of triumph, success wearing a lovely face.  "Should I hold the others back?" he asked her, still soft enough to stay within her earshot. "Allow the young queen to establish herself with a victory?" He slit a sideways glance at her pet prince, who he expected to be glowering or sulking, but had instead apparently taken it upon himself to begin organizing the hunting party. His gaze slid over Julius, piercing for a moment, but the flash was so brief that Julius suspected he was imagining things. He needed no vendetta with a child. Even one who seemed determined to make himself Guin's advisor.  Guinivere Marcel [newclass=.box1a]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1a::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1a::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #804a00;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 224 Notes: 10 points

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem

[Gemini Enigma]

the hunt

[attr="class","box1"] Darkness was falling fast. They needed to act before the dragon became a true phantom.  It would be far from the only ghost roaming the High Court's paths and halls. High Kings and Queens past paced the pavilion and lurked at the arm of the throne. The flagstones were soaked in the remnants of names and empires long forgotten. Somewhere between the windows echoed the wails of his mother. Somewhere in the library crouched the wraith of a boy, starving for purpose, for affection, for outlet. Starving to death.  Memories were trapped here. The blackthorn throne should have been enough to cement a legacy, but with Faerie and its denizens being so unimaginably ancient, that was far from true. To be immortalized required something greater still. Gemini looked upwards, followed by the echo of his own words. A constellation. The greatest figures of mortal mythos were consigned to the stars to ward off oblivion. Perhaps he hadn't been looking high enough. It was not enough to be king. He needed to be legendary.  Princess Mei wanted to stop him. Gemini did not need to see the terror of oblivion in her face to know that it made her his echo. But if the stars had room for only one of them, he by name—given and true—had a head start. He allowed himself to imagine, for a moment, his victory—her seething, powerless. He would thank her for being a grindstone to sharpen himself against. He would thank her for being a stair beneath his feet.  Asterion. Child of the stars. He should have known. Jin-hwa could scar him, but she could not stop him.  Guinivere had Julius Auyn whispering in her ear now. Nothing could be done about that. She was too easily swayed by her consort's will, but that gave Gemini a foothold. He held up a hand to gain the attention of the hunting party. "We will disperse and slowly move inwards," he said. "By our observations, this dragon has not left the palace grounds, meaning that if we ring its borders and begin to tighten the circle, we will corner the beast at its center. Leave at least one hundred paces between yourself and the next hunter. Best of luck to us all." He drew his rapier and watched it flash as it moved. Legendary. He had only been looking beyond the walls of his cage when his eyes should have been on the heavens.  Guinivere Marcel , Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 412 Notes: +6

credit to Laura of Adox

[Guinivere Marcel]

Damage Report 63 Points of Damage have been done. 37 health points are left. 37/100

[Guinivere Marcel]

Gemini Enigma
Julius Auyn

Guinivere stared Julius down, trying to understand his angle. In all honesty, she couldn't always crack him. He liked to communicate in code. He liked to point her in a direction to send her spinning. She found it exciting. Now, though, she didn't know. Their home wasn't theirs and it wasn't a home. It was a palace that belonged more to ghosts than anyone living. "This armor is new. But if it survives this, maybe I will." She smiled slightly, watching Gemini. "Let him. Everyone is watching me. I want to surprise them." He would understand enough. He knew her well enough by now to know that she may have seemed cautious, but it was all a farce. Guinivere was most reckless when it came to her own safety.

Gemini wanted something to marshal. He wanted something to command. She would not give it to him, not yet. Wanting something and being ready for it were not the same thing. So long as she could control him, she wanted him to succeed. But if he became another challenge?

"Gemini," she said, stepping away from Julius. She knew he would be unhappy. She had been given a task. She would see it through to the end. She held out a knife, the glittering bejeweled things she had commissioned herself. It was the first weapon that no one had given to her. "You will need something stronger than your rapier. It can only stab. Take this. It will do what you need it to." Special enchantments. Special poison. She had concocted it herself. She would make a poisoner's prince of him yet.

In all honesty, she didn't care about the throne. But she did care about the consequences. Julius said she was faerie's best bet and she believed him, not because it was her, but because it was him. If that was what needed to be done, she would find a way to do it. 

So what did that make her? A soldier or a queen?

"Think of your families, your homes, your courts," she said to the assembled crowd. "Kill it here and now and history will remember you. Fail and they will all pay the price."

Whichever it was, she was a fabulous liar. Especially when no one saw it coming.

+4 damage, High Queen of Faerie; Total of 9
Weapon & Armor Aesthetic

[Nyra Charlotte Enigma]

Bran Viola

Nyra was not, in all honesty, really listening. But she was always ready when she had a bow in her hand. She had been raised by a hunter. She was going to become one eventually. She drew back her bow against her shoulder. She watched the skyline. And she saw it.

Spectral and glittering, a creature made out of shimmering scales that seemed nearly translucent. She could use those. She could build fantastic armor for the next generation of knights or-- She cut her own thoughts off. She needed to focus to achieve her goal.

She let the arrow fly, and fly it did. It skimmed the creature's wing. She did not see blood. That did not mean she had missed. Maybe this type of dragon didn't bleed. Faeries had no iron in their blood. Oddities occurred everyday. Here they wre called magic.


She followed her cousins orders easily. Why would she fight him? If she killed it she got what she wanted. Even if she didn't kill it. If it was dead, she won. That was simple, and Nyra could not say she preferred simplicity, but she certainly preferred directness. Directness was easy.

+2 damage, school of forging; Total of 7
Weapon + Armor Aesthetics

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Gemini Enigma
Hai Mei  

Jin-Hwa rolled her eyes, glancing down at Hai beside her. Her questions were those of infants peering at storybooks. "It would do you good not to sound so surprised." she said dryly. "Do you doubt my ability to?"  

It was true, she enjoyed setting people off course. She was a storm. She was heavy rain and confusing winds. She would dash ships on rocks and flip them over. But Cassie had always been her favorite sister.

"Yes." she said finally. "I cut its heart out of its chest. I watched it stop beating. This is a clever blade, wouldn't you agree?" Now she met Hai's eyes like it mattered. She wanted to see fear, or envy, or anger, or pride. She wanted to crack the safe. She wanted to break the ship open. 

She held the blade out. Her grip was loose. "Take it." she said. Her smile was magnanimous and sharp-toothed. "The creature is there. It has been shot. Kill it in honor of our family." One of us has to. I kill it for no one's glory but my own. It was a layered gesture. Hai would not expect it. Her reaction would be telling. If Hai killed the creature, Gemini Enigma would not. If Hai became their mother's favorite, she would not see Jin-Hwa coming.

Besides. Jin-Hwa didn't think Hai could handle it. And there was nothing as telling as being broken open. 

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

[Hai Mei]

Hai was barely phased by Jin-hwa's evident ire at her approach. She was used to it at this point. It saddened her, she supposed. But it was normal. Just a part of her life. She tried to stand straighter, to look more... princess-like. She blinked. "I was not surprised; I was merely pointing it out."

She was quick to recover from Jin-hwa's words; words that were so laced with annoyance. She was a calm lake; one that recovered quickly when a pebble sent ripples through her waters. But Jin-hwa so loved to toss boulders. Her eyes flicked to Jin-hwa's blade. It was beautiful, no doubt. But one Hai did not think she could wield with any true skill. "That it is."

Hai's eyes widened slightly. She blinked. Jin-hwa was offering her that blade? The blade that helped her tear the beast's heart from its chest? Oh, how she wanted to take it. She wanted to kill the dragon. She wanted Jin-hwa to look at her with admiration. She wanted her mother to look at her with love. Would killing this make her the favorite daughter? Was that something she even wanted? She had always been so opposed to spilling blood. But the sword was so tempting; like forbidden fruit. Would this doom her as well?

"...I cannot." She let her hand fall. She hadn't even realized she had been reaching for it. She clenched her fingers into a fist. Not yet.

She would not gain her mother's affection by copying something Jin-hwa already did. No. She would find her own way to gain favor. She refused to be viewed as a copycat little sister. "I thank you for the gesture. But slaying dragons is for you. I will find my own way to favor." She smiled, as if she hadn't nearly grabbed the blade. As if she hadn't nearly proved her mother right.



TAGGED: Jin-Hwa Mei

+5 points

[Gemini Enigma]

the hunt

[attr="class","box1"] The archers were having little luck this time; the dragon was still skybound, if perhaps flying crooked. Gemini was relieved that he'd opted for a different plan with this dragon. It was always going to be less straightforward, if the magic of the Court that birthed it was anything to go by.  The circle was closing as the dragon swerved, but it had the entire heavens to escape. To fly was freedom. Envy burned Gemini's throat, smaragdine bile. But the dragon needed more than freedom to survive; it hungered. To reach its feast would be to soar into danger, but what other option was there? Gemini wondered if he would see its eyes when it dove.  "Thank you, Your Majesty," he said, taking the knife in hand and locking gazes with Guinivere for but a moment. Just as he did so, a roar rose from the voices of the crowd, and Gemini's dark curls were blown back from his brow in the dragon's wind-wake. It took a moment for his sight to lock onto it, for it was a shifting mass of glittering transparency, gleaming like glass. He knew, however, that it was not so fragile. And at this moment, its jaws were open, reaching for himself, the High Queen, and Julius Auyn. Gemini dropped his rapier, the knife in his left hand, and ran.  Towards the dragon, it ought to be noted.  Giddiness bloomed in his chest, seizing his ribcage, and he felt an exhale escape him that might have been a laugh as his feet struck the earth, again and again. Death may have been teeth and claws, but it was entirely transparent as well, and now it was his to grapple. His eyes burned with light. The dragon was tensing its glassy limbs, preparing to take off, but Gemini swerved and flung himself at its neck.  It was highly inelegant, and for a moment he scrabbled for purchase, his breath racheting in pitch as gravity reached for him, but then he was draped over its neck, then the musculature of its great shoulders was moving beneath him and the wind was rising and they were a comet, an ascending soul. Gemini's mouth flung wide and his lungs filled with sky. He was surrounded in nothing but darkening blue clarity. They could just keep rising, couldn't they? It could be endless. The air howled and screamed past him and Gemini counted it as yet another monster he'd faced. He felt legendary now. The wind whipped at his eyes, and he nearly shut them, turning his face to the side, but he didn't need to see. He dragged himself up to the crown of the dragon's head, squeezing with his legs for a life that was not dear but perhaps felt real for once, and drove Guinivere's knife into its reptilian, sunken ear.  The dragon squalled and flailed, and Gemini thought they might have been falling, but breath was escaping him in an avalanche of laughs and the world was a spiral of crystal and velvet and he'd lost all sense of direction. There was a hiss of corrosion. She poisoned the knife, his overrun mind managed to string together. If he hadn't been laughing before, he was now, like a madman, fruit of the only inheritance he had ever been given.  He was the poisoner's prince, and he was falling, but how could that matter when he had flown? Again. I want to do it again. Without the help of a monster.  Soon enough they would crash to the courtyard. Perhaps it would break him. Perhaps the mortal parts of him would shatter. Or perhaps they would be the only ones to remain whole.  Either way, even battered, even bruised, as long as he could still taste the sky in his lungs, Gemini would take this knife and saw the dragon's wings from its back. Even half-fae did not break their vows.  Guinivere Marcel , [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 655 Notes: +6

credit to Laura of Adox