⇨ THE HUNT

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 173, the Afternoon
Where: Heartstone Manor Courtyard
What: Everyone goes into the forest with arrows, swords, and horses and is told to hunt and the kill the biggest beast they can find. Best kills win a prize! Or, if you'd rather not, you can wander around the forest and pretend to hunt instead.
Warnings: Violence and ethical quandaries.

BEASTS OF BURDEN↴ Come the day of the Hunt, everyone will be brought to the courtyard forest and provided with arrows, bows, and blades as requested. Magic and other weaponry can be used to hunt, but it is suggested by the Prince that the best kill is the one done in a gentlemanly manner, which probably means he will be most impressed by those using the tools provided. The "Best Kill" will be determined from a mixture or whatever beast the Prince decides is best, and the method in which it was killed. The less damage done to the body the better - tearing the body apart will receive poor grades. The corpses are not yours to eat or keep, and all must be returned to the Prince at the end of the day for judgment. The servants are especially nervous, tense, and solemn today, and unless they have no choice, most of them will be trying to give the courtyard a wide berth. Those that have to serve will have stony expressions, or at best will be trying to put on a cheerful face. If casually asked why they are upset, most of them will say something vague about the Hunt making them nervous, and how dangerous it is to participate. OOC: Those who make top levels will have a chance to be randomly selected for a couple particular plot events, so be prepared for that.

Comments

[ringleaders]

1) The bicorn woman will manage to faintly reply with "I don't know..." before passing out completely.

2) It seems that she passed out mostly from the shock/exhaustion of the hunt, and then her transformation. She's unconscious for now, but it's reasonable to expect she will wake up in the foreseeable future.

3) The red phoenix vial will wake her up! She is disorientated and confused, but it will definitely get her conscious, and she doesn't seem to have any major cognitive or physical dysfunction beyond being super physically tired. She seems shocked by the fact that these people are apparently trying to help her.

[whattaprick]

With the bicorn woman awake, it’s time for some questions! Lambert will cut off anything he doesn’t deem immediately useful/relevant to the situation, because he’s an asshole, but … as soon as she’s conscious and can support herself, he’ll stand and direct his attention outward, warily watching for any sign of interruption (and hopefully, Childermass and 9S reappearing).

Syrlya is going to crouch to horselady’s level and speak softly because someone needs to be like, soothing here. He got this. But if no one else has any questions before he reassures her “we’re friends, and we want to help you”, he’ll get to the most important: Was it the Prince who did this to her, and why?

“Do you even know where you are?” Lambert will add to that, frowning.

[ringleaders]

She's disorientated enough that it takes a bit for her to explain anything, and requires some coaxing, but she will say that she does know where she is, and she remembers what was going on during the hunt. The Prince had transformed her previously as a punishment.

"It was a punishment. I... I ran from him. He was displeased."

She'd been changed a while ago, and had been a bicorn for some time already before the hunt. She's not sure how long. Maybe weeks or months.

[whattaprick]

Rita, who very nearly shot an arrow into the bicorn earlier, is seething, fists clenched at her sides. "That bastard..." she hisses, but manages to compose herself enough to ask some questions of her own. "Are all the animals out here like that? Wait... where were you before the hunt began?" This big forest wasn’t here before, or at least it didn’t seem that way.

This poor bicorn’s just getting question after question as Strange quickly pipes up, “You ran from him? Were you planning on going somewhere specific?”

Scout goes pale. “These poor people,” she says to herself, horrified. Not wanting to crowd the bicorn she removes the soft outer cloaklike part of her hunting-habit to pass to Syr to give to her. She’s got Strange’s jacket, but this could go over it, she thinks.

Lambert doesn't crowd the bicorn either, but he's thinking. The Ringmaster had mentioned concubines, and despite her currently inhuman features, the bicorn woman looks like she would have been quite the beauty as a human. Could she be one of those?

[atouts]

That 'hopefully reappearing with Childermass' takes some time. Not terribly much, but the fact that the man chose to ride back to where they are rather than taking himself, an Arcanine, 9S, and a Mudbray through the shadows does drag that time out some. Even so their arrival isn't hard to spot thanks to the massive fire dog trotting on up alongside the little orange donkey 9S is riding. The massive fire dog who also can't see there's an illusion ahead, though familiar scents do cause him to slow to a stop. Considering Childermass is on his back, that probably makes sliding down off of him all the easier.

The Arcanine will start snuffling around the edges of the illusion just, but Childermass, unlike Baker, looks directly through the illusion. Well then. That's all something. The magician grabs the Arcanine by his ruff, pulling him into the illusion with them.

"What do you think you're doing? You broke one of the Prince's spells?!"

Yeah, rather than being helpful, he's here to tell them their utter morons.