[Seasonal Quest] Hunt of the Season (Open)

[Ronan]

And so it was, that they all came to meet again by the tent. Ronan, his cousin, Khasr, and the new addition to their lineup. Akilah turned up with a hound at her side - he recognised the dog from his visits to her Pavilion.

Her Pavilion. There was a definite emphasis in his mind, for it still truly wasn't his.

"Ready? Are we all ready?" he asked, checking his dagger was fixed firmly to his belt. Was he the only one here who could touch the Web? The skill would certainly help him track the Glassbeak, if only he had a little more control over it.

[Colt]

Khasr drew a javelin and began to sharpen it, both out of nervousness and out of a simple lack of anything else to do while he waited. The large man who’d stared him down made him a bit uneasy, but uneasiness was something he could handle, especially now that it seemed that he would be joining them. Akilah dashed off and seemed to be the only one to do so, eliciting an inward smirk. He himself seemed to be less prepared than he would have liked, but that wasn’t something he could help at the moment. He would make do with what he had. He and the other two men fell into silence, each thinking their own thoughts. She returned sooner than he had anticipated, mounted, provisioned, and with a dog at her side. Khasr stood. They were certainly an odd team, and everyone seemed mismatched. It was amusing. He nodded at Ronan’s question. “I believe so. Would you find us a direction, webber?”

[Skram Silverstrider]

The leader of the group seemed to be testing out his weapons and Skram did the same if only to give them a measure of what he could do. One thing for sure that unlike most of the drykas men, Skram had a cart hitched on his horse and he was a lot better at driving it compared to riding the horse on his own. Another thing was his weapon of choice. A shortbow that he fished out from that very same cart. Making sure that it was in good condition, Skram ran the string through his fingers which was nice and tight while there was not a crack in sight on his bow.

Everything seemed in good condition enough on inspection. However Skram decided to take a few test shots for the problems which could not be found with his eyes alone. Taking aim at a piece of wood on the ground, he pulled the string back finding the tense sensation that he was already used to after long term use. So far so good. Lining up the arrow at his eyes on the stick, he released for his shot and the arrow whizzed through the air and stuck itself in the ground beside the stick. Instead of being disappointed, Skram was happy to find that there was nothing wrong with his weapon and everyone knew that "if what they say about that glassbeak is true, it is going to be a target that is hard to miss."

What else could Skram do now? He never did tell anyone that he was a "webber?" which came as a surprise since he thought that the question might have been directed to him but "I can try" since it was the same method which was used to find out the existence of their quarry. Looking around with his mind fully on finding those lines, Skram tried to find a suitable web he could use from all those which were littered around the ground. There was the small ones, the not so small ones and there it was. The big one which should span a long distance away. "Give me some time with this" Skram said as he grabbed hold of it and sent himself in though the other webber might have a better chance than him since he was only a novice.

He was looking for information on the glassbeak. The thing of a nightmare for a drykas which was just made to kill but even stretching himself through the web as much as he could, Skram just could not find it even if its defining characteristic was just...big... There was too many other things about. The images all came before him as he moved from the rabbits to horses and the many hunters that wanted their shot at glory as well. That was when Skram got an idea. Instead of finding the glassbeak directly he would just have to follow the hunters who without a doubt would be better than he is at tracking or may have better webbers among them.

Skram went back to where he begun in the web and did his best to find out where most of the hunters today embarked from. Finding the location he traveled through the web again towards the direction they went towards to ascertain where they were going from. He passed through many teams of drykas, faces unknown to him except that they were excited and they were fully armed. He continued on team to team and nearly lost himself when more temptations than he was used to revealed themselves since this was probably the first time he tried to do more than just finding directions to a destination or a single person.

When he came back he told his team that "the glassbeak is that direction. If not then everyone else is going the wrong way too." Yes maybe they would waste the rest of their day too. No that was only an excuse for Skram because "maybe I should go back and look again just in case" and find more of those things that he already felt that he is missing. His desire was already visible in that empty look he had in his face. Then again they are in a race against time and they should not spare any for something which only benefited one man. He probably would not get the chance before they need to leave.

[Akilah Windsong]

She frowned when she saw that the three men were still there, exactly where she had left them. Was she really the only one who wasn't prepared? Cursing under her breath, she swung off her strider and landed with a soft thud on the ground.

The hunt was only beginning.

Looking in the direction the man pointed, she nodded. "They probably should have some reason to all head that way." Thinking about it, she gave a wry smile. "Unless, of course, that reason is that one team headed that way and everyone else just decided to follow."

"I think I should have something to help here," she murmured, opening the bags tied carefully to the yves. One by one, she peered inside, before closing them until on the second last one she found what she was looking for. With a triumphant cry, she pulled out several rolled up papers. Unrolling one, she glanced at its contents before turning it on its side so she could align it with her location.

It was a crude map, one of her earlier attempts, but she could read and remember the land in that direction well enough. It was a big glassbeak. Generally they were in packs and she doubted one this large would be alone. Maybe she should look for a water source?

[Ronan]

Ronan peered at the map with interest. He did not follow maps himself, but the paper construct would surely help.

"Well, Akilah. Should we head in a sensible direction. Once we get out onto the Grasses I can try track it on the Web - it won't work so well here with all these people."

He touched at his dagger again, whispering a prayer to Semele. The Earth Mother would surely aid them in this task, as they walked upon her land, her soil and her grasses.

Suddenly, the newest addition to their team returned. It seemed he had performed some Webbing of his own.

"Lead the way," Ronan said with a smile, "does it match the logic of your map, cousin?"

[Translucent]

Congratulations On Your Hard Work!

Ronan:
XP:+3 observation, +1 socialization
Lores: Need to be careful of strangers,

Akilah Windsong:
XP:+1 running, +2 observation, +1 socialization, +1 animal husbandry,
Lores: hard for Drykas to be pale exposed to sun so much.

Caoin:
XP:+1 planning, +1 animal husbandry, +3 observation, +2 socialization, +1 subterfuge
Lores: Injuries a part of life on the Sea of Grasses

Auldwin:+3 materialization
XP:
Lores:

Shahar Dawnwhisper:
XP:+3 leadership, +2 observation, +1 socialization, +1 planning
Lores: Strange man in Endrykas, Ronan: A Webber



Notes:If your character is retired in this thread and you bring it out of retirement please poke a ST for a grade.

As always PM me if you have issues.