THE WILD HUNT

CORNERED

Aiding the Huntsmen and Hounds none, yet
Aiding the Quarry none, yet
Observing none, yet

_____________

Orion went cold, dark, moments before they arrived. A sense of rustling leaves tumbling down abandoned roads, of the encroaching of late autumn frost and the scent of fall, filled the normally dim and quiet cave. Life filled it, thrumming and expectant, silent with tension.

The star-flecked violet of the Three Kings' wings gleamed as they swept overhead, and circled around Orion: they would watch, observing in silence the outcome--and the Gembounds' actions, and choices.

And then it happened: the swelling of fog at the Tunnel H entrance, that fog then bursting into sudden form, a ghostly giant fox streaking into Orion, its wisplight eyes wide and tail and head held low. It raced to the Throne, and beyond--it raced into the ruins of the buildings, where it went to ground once more, creeping and hiding with heaving flanks among the crumbling stone.

Behind it came a low vibration, a reveberating ghostly howl, more felt than heard; and then the baying Hounds, all clouds and tendrils of mist, swept into Orion and searched for the Quarry's scent. The Huntsmen were not far behind--they had been distracted, back in Cetus, by Gembound who had aided the Quarry. But others had aided them, and now a few ghastly faces looked for those who had provided them direction. Would they aid again-?

The Hunt was almost up.

_____________

Thus far, the Gembound-aided Huntsmen and the Observers have tied one round; the second round was won by Gembound-aided Quarry. This round will be the finale, and (perhaps) the tiebreaker. Gembound may choose to aid the Quarry in hiding and escaping, to aid the Huntsmen in tracking it down, or simply to Observe the hunt. This can be done in this thread, or in another thread, but if attempts are made in another thread their posts (with rolls or actions) must be linked back here (they can be edited into an IC departure post of this thread). (Any separate threads should be tagged [WH] and left AW.)

More information on the start of this event can be found here.

New characters may join at any time.

@Kitty (Talys, Tahi-shei) @James @Warrior (Khloros, Abaddon), @Aran @Sharp @Madhukar @Draconua @Comet

A headache was forming now. No, his brain wasn't melting from his ears, but he was a little afraid it would. He flew in from the tunnel and lost sight of the fox, flying in a circle high above, trying to regroup. They had to focus on distraction. It had worked last time, and it seemed they just had to outlast it.

Nevermind the kaiju that had surged into Pegasus and Cetus- although that was something to definitely worry about, for one had tried to set Cetus on fire, though with little success, thankfully. But... what would stop the hunters?

... What about his wisps? They could he used offensively, to cause a distraction, perhaps... or to dull the sights of a few hounds.

He swooped down and tried to summon one, to use as an attack the next time he could. If it worked, he could possibly give the quarry a bit of a fighting chance, and if it didn't? Well... he didn't want to think about that. And maybe he could throw a few at the opposing Gembound in spite, too-

One of his trusty wisps formed, a small flame of purple and blue, and he grinned. Now all he needed to do was to throw it.

James is helping the quarry

Aran had been following to observe everything that was going on with the hunt, even if his observing was solely listening and squinting to try to make out the shapes of everything out there. His trying to see them went futile, though, and Aran found himself wondering if it was worth it to watch. Except he wasn't going to be going anywhere. He had been there from the start, which meant he wouldn't be leaving. He was curious to see (hear) how this would end, and what would come of it after.

If anything did, anyway.

Aran is Observing.

Something clawing at her. Ripping and raging through her gut. Something eating her alive, from the inside out, like acid, like parasites, like entropy self-induced. Like chaos. Baying hounds could snarl and spit, and she could say she was on their side, but deep down... she was the one running from. Them. Who even were they?

'You let it go. I thought you wanted to test your strength. Isn't that why you decided to help the HUNTERS?' She did, and that was the reason, yes, but-- you don't understand, she-- really, she wanted to-- 'That's the answer then. That's your discovery.' What does that mean-- 'Who is out of control. You know who it is now, don't you?' What does that mean-- 'STOP. RUNNING--' She didn't understand, NO, she did not understand, and she wasn't going to understand, and it didn't matter because now she was going to look for the Quarry. She was going to find it. And then she was going to make up for her embarrassing mistake. Which is what it was. A mistake.

This time, she would be immodest and bold. Except for the fact that she wouldn't be because Madhukar suspected the opposing team would be waiting once again, with all sorts of unsavory tools at their disposal. Was bold stealth a thing? Like, hiding, but in an not-cowardly fashion? Because that's what Madhukar was going to be doing. Unless... unless those two things didn't actually get along. Which, they didn't seem to... Well, whatever! Who cares! It didn't matter! She was going to seek out the Quarry again in a surreptitious fashion, as to avoid... consequences.

Think "Speak"

Madhukar is attempting to aid the Huntsmen by finding the Quarry.

The Sleepless Chaos would never admit to her own exhaustion, but the heaving of her flanks was sign enough that she was nearly at her limits. A rattling breath would draw in, then she'd stifle it until it came back out in steps. These other creatures were panting and wheezing—that pitiful furball wearing a false crown had a tongue lolling out the side of her mouth, and she was still limping along. Draconua felt a distant thrum of validation at the sight. One foolish thing down.

Now, for the rest.

Each ghastly figure had run to the broken buildings—what a familiar sight!—and stood akimbo. They'd not been corporeal before, nor had they stirred up any particular notes of chaos. Any attempt at stopping them or the quarry'd been poor and seemingly useless. Not that Draconua'd ever focused on them; no, the Hound was hellbent on seeing every cave go up in flame and oilslicked crystal.

Orion would be no exception. Its particular beauty would not spare it.

When the Quarry ran for cover, the monster followed it only until it vanished. Pinhole eyes flicked over her shoulders, then, at the others trying to keep after the Huntsmen or their target, and she grinned broadly. Her chest swelled with a deep breath, and she slammed both taloned hands on the ground. It would've been earthshattering, had her grasp on her magic not slipped from overexertion.

Manual, then.

Instead, she let out a frustrated bellow and barreled through the nearest, weakest wall.Draconua is attempting to "aid the Huntsmen" by busting up the ruins.

It seemed fitting that something would interrupt Attikias's walk with this fox friend. ... He still hadn't learned her name, now that he thought about it, but he wouldn't have the time to mull as a streak of light passed between the ruins in front of them.

Well. He did think it had been a rather calm day- might as well make it a bit more hectic. With a soft sigh, Attikias turned gently to Null, holding out a hand as he spoke. "Wait here. I thi-"

Cue some more spectral creatures, this time heralded by braying and barking and stampeding across the path in front of them. 'What the hell?' Attikias's head whipped around as he grabbed his spear, ready to hold it out in front of him as the commotion passed.

This was strange. He'd never heard of glowing, barking gembounds, but he hadn't been to Orion for some time- but, then again, when was a giant ass bird hanging around in Orion, and why was it so foggy? He needed answers- and, first, he probably needed to stop whatever chase was going on. He turned, quickly, on his heel, abandoning Null for the time being in investigation.

He needed to get in front of them. Stop them, for a moment, figure out the direction they were going. Even if he wasn't fully familiar with the territory, he could still somewhat try to guess their trajectory and plant himself in their way, catch at least one of these beings that could explain everything.

Whatever the spectral creatures were, he'd lost them- and now he was lost in Orion, hands on his knees as he caught his breath and looked at the surrounding maze. A cacophony of noise still continued on- he could follow them from there, but he needed a good moment before trying again.

attikias is (trying to start) helping the quarry

Tahi-shei trailed into Orion on the heels of the quarry and the hunters that followed it. He was glad that James was mostly okay, at least, especially as he followed the array of creatures further into his and James's home. Well, that was convenient -- and there was the Three Kings, the strange bird who spoke in many voices. He noticed that the creature was circling with James, and he took a moment to admire the variety of purples. James's was far more impressive, at least in Tahi-shei's eyes, and he returned his attention to observation of the Hunt. He had stayed steady, in this -- he had no intention of breaking from it now, not when it seemed as though the Huntsmen and the Quarry were currently at an impasse. It would be up to these Gembound, he realized, to break the tie.


(Tahi-shei is observing!)

Kitty had followed through the treetops of Cetus until she couldn't follow anymore, and then the flurry of excited paws and claws scraping stone had heralded her as she raced into Orion. She didn't think she'd ever been to Orion before, but the stars, well -- they were breathtaking. But no, wait, she had a job to do -- there wasn't much to climb on here, no trees for her to grab purchase on, and Kitty raced for the nearest elevated object. With Draconua around, she especially wanted to get off the ground. Her claws carried her up stone, and she barely maintained her balance as she swept the area for any sign of the quarry.

(Kitty is aiding the hunters!)

James had forgotten him in Cetus, but that was okay -- Talys didn't hold it against him, especially when the horse started flying. He was fine staying on the ground, thank you. Instead, he ran by the Observers on tiny baby legs and grabbed a rock, throwing it as far away as he could manage. "Look, bunny!" he cried, pointing in a random direction and hoping that it wasn't actually the direction the quarry had gone in. The Hunters were probably smart enough to not listen to the little child by now, but he was still trying to distract them as best he could.


(Talys is aiding the quarry by causing a diversion!)

Null stopped short as Attikias did, her ears flicking upwards and her trio of tails swaying gently. What was that? It piqued her interest, and she shuffled forward to peer around a corner- and subsequently get blasted by a chill as a hunter ran right through her.

She startled back, landing on her rump with wide eyes. A chill settled deep within her. Attikias was talking, but Null was only blinking, dumbfounded as she sat still.

She turned to regard him as he left. What did he think he was doing? Null's teeth ground as her eyes narrowed, lifting herself back up to stand. She didn't need to get involved- much less so if the elf was. Let him be foolhardy. The fox squinted before climbing up a set of ruins, struggling to get a good view of the cave.

Wait. She had magic she could use, and she buried deep into her gem, attempting to summon up the will to see. Pulses of red flashed up in her vision- though ones she didn't expect drew her eyes. In particular, that belonging to a large kaiju, smashing their way through walls and drawing closer to the direction Attikias had ran. No- That was the elf's, and he was going the wrong way now- Null shut her eyes in a small sigh.

She settled down as she continued to monitor the progress. She didn't know where Dip's forge was- she'd have to wait for this flight of fancy of Attikias's to get done with before having a chance of even meeting her.

null is observing.