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This log covers 7-25 April, drawing from previous discoveries. Feel free to tag in here or make your own posts/logs!

Sign-ups for NPC threads remain open until 23:59 GMT on 9 April.

THE LION’S DEN

WEN QING’S RESCUE | THE HUNTRESS’ CURES | THE HUNT | THE OLD MOUNTAIN

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SWEET HISSED NOTHINGS

CONTENT WARNING: MENTIONS OF SNAKES, SERPENT CREATURES

Prior to the Huntress’ arrival, the group’s healer Wen Qing is captured by a feral half human, half serpent creature. Characters might overhear visiting woodsmen who say a woman was heaved into the woods at night by a large serpent.

After journeying through the illusion-casting forests of Ke-Waihu, prospective rescuers discover that traces of struggle lead them to a 20m-deep, wide pit on brittle pale soil, close to the Fortune fetters ruins:

■ If you cross the Fetters, local prophetesses cryptically advise you to shed torches or clothes and to run to cold streams, if you encounter danger. A distressed Hyang-Tai pleads kindness for ‘ancients’ and ‘children.’

■ The surroundings of the pit are eerily silent.

■ Rescuers can spot a sleeping Wen Qing at the bottom of the pit, patches of her bared skin covered in a slick shine and showing the start of growing scales. She is surrounded by dozens of dormant snakes and nagas, tightly and peacefully coiled around her.

■ Wooden stakes have been thrust into the pit walls — serving as challenging, but workable steps.

■ Some snakes are poisonous — with many cures available in the forest or back in Ke-Waihu — but most bite viciously without venom. Some nagas emit phlegm that briefly impairs the vision or blinds.

■ Watch your step! The creatures are drawn to warmth, fire magic and sound. They stir and climb the pit to attack if they feel threatened.
■ Rusted weapons and broken shields litter the bottom of the pit, dropped in by previous… visitors.

OBJECTIVES

■ Remove Wen Qing from her dire straits.

■ Wen Qing is left with serpentine sensitivities, instincts and scales. To cure her, healers advise a seven-day brew treatment of widow’s lace — an opiate plant found in large forest bushes.

■ Grab a few flowers at a time and store them well — collectors exposed extensively to widow’s lace experience four-six hours of light euphoria, paranoia or bizarre visions — swindling foxes and philosophical parrots are apparently commonly imagined.

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THE MAIDEN’S WATCH

The Huntress joins the group, deprived of her powers and absent her steed. She pointedly stares at the ground, but those who meet her gaze may revisit harrowing moments in their lives.

Following group conversations, her shelter is rotated between two locations: a shallow forest cave and the now deserted snake pit that previously hosted Wen Qing.

Take turns shielding her from the animals that seem drawn to besiege her. The Huntress spends her time in tears or penitence and speaks in a maddened tongue. Voice coarse and wet, she summons the composure to share her knowledge:

■ The Beastmaster and she both seek to witness the imminent eruption of the Ke-Sanwon volcano, expected within a month. The Beastmaster will become more human as that time draws.

■ Ravens excepted, local animals obey the Beastmaster and spy for him.

■ To avoid the pull of the Beastmaster and his Hunt, seek out:

THE SHRINE

Trek through Ke-Waihu’s haunted forests and find the village’s only shrine devoted to ravens, outside of the elusive House of Ravens.

■ Wear pebbles or wood splinters from the shrine to disrupt the Beastmaster’s thrall on you. These items must be replaced after three days.

■ Fox spirits have raised dozens of illusionary copies of the shrine. The stone of the original altar is marked for ravens in a small wooden carving, while copy shrines worship foxes.

■ Young fox spirits imitate ravens or play distant bells to distract travellers from finding the raven shrine.

■ Sometimes, fox spirits swarm, offering to show the way if visitors perform a small dare or tell them a meaningful secret.

■ If asked, Ke-Waihu locals share the shrine was raised by a wanderer, who spent a month in the village many years ago. He was disgusted with the arrogance of Ke-Waicai’s zealots, who insist ravens are sacred and can only be worshipped in the House of Ravens.

THE BRIDGE

Ke-Waihu has briefly reopened its gates to the nearby village of Ke-Waiar — to which it is connected by a fragile and narrow bridge high above a misted abyss.

■ Wind gusts shake the ropes of the rickety bridge, and several wooden steps are putrid, dangling or loose.

■ Ad you near the bridge’s end to Ke-Waiar, you may find a couple of fox spirits are purposefully rattling the ropes to unsaddle travellers. Plead or barter: you can offer anything from riddles to treats, a good performance, a poem, a favour, a shouted confession of true love…

■ The village gates open between sunrise and sunset. Characters who arrive early find many villagers sleep until late in the day. By sundown, some locals become frantic, alert, increasingly irritable.

■ Water can be freely taken from any of the wells within Ke-Waiar to satisfy the quest. Villagers offer it gladly — they too suffer from resurging drought and dark waters.

■ If you arrive at sunset or night, you can see villagers turning to werewolves in various stages of transformation, between humanoid and large wolf beast. They are lured out of Ke-Waiar, gates closing behind them, and released into the thick, vibrant woods — with you.

■ Take cover in the forest, to escape the pack of werewolves and wolves. Some might prove lenient if they catch you, while others feel compelled to draw blood.

■ To wait out the night: climb the forest’s sturdiest trees with help of the ropes purposefully bound from tall branches. Some trees even host rudimentary treehouses.

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THE HUNT

The Beastmaster, his xenomorphic creatures and mutated animals arrive in Ke-Waihu to behold the ‘imminent’ volcanic eruption.

The Beastmaster’s creatures possess sharpened senses and hearing, intense speed and hard carcasses that provide additional but imperfect protection from blows and missiles. They often hunt in packs, but behave themselves in Ke-Waihu during daytime.

The Beastmaster excuses himself from the underground Hok-Shinn clan’s attempts at a welcome celebration, taking residence with his beasts in his village hut. He may be encountered walking the village beside five or six of his creatures, inspecting the markets and even advising new huntsmen — his manner slow, speech rough in a way that suggests oral injury beneath his facial bandages.

THE TRIBUTES

The Hok-Shinn and an envoy of Ke-Waiar each present 10 distinguished but eerily listless youths of their village to the Beastmaster.

■ These tributes are then held in groups of five across four abandoned homes, each closely watched by six-seven men of the Hok-Shinn.

■ Team up, rescue some tributes — and get out alive.

■ For easier infiltration, try the forest-facing back of the houses, or the generously large, defective chimneys. Beware slippery or broken roof tiles

■ Hok-Shinn guards possess great brute force… and gratefully accept liquor.

■ Some tributes might fight their rescuers and attempt to alert the guards. Some claim it is their privilege to join the Beastmaster, while others say they should be sacrificed to the volcano Ke-Sanwon for their families.

■ You can hide the rescued tributes in the witches’ huts or the Fetters — gather them coin so they can book seats on the next ship out of Ke-Waihu.

THE HUNTING SEASON

The Beastmaster’s creatures are mannered during the day, but join the Hunting season that kicks off after the full moon:

■ Participation is (OOCly) optional.

■ For five nights, come moonrise, some characters feel compelled to flee into the forests and run, hide or avoid detection — alternatively, they join the Beastmaster’s creatures as hunters, chasing this quarry and forest animals.

■ You can chase each other or ‘pack’ up against a common target or enemy.

■ Anyone can ‘hunt’ or ‘be hunted.' Roles can swap across the five nights.

■ Characters can develop overnight instincts akin to an animal of hunt or prey of your choice, and they will be helped by these animals for the night. Snakes and ravens do not participate.

■ Hunting can be vicious (seeking to injure, kill or consume prey) or symbolic (just violently giving chase).

■ Certain characters feel especially compelled to join the hunt and to protect the Beastmaster outside of it. These include characters who are given to war, hunting, violence, wrath, gluttony or feral/animal characteristics. It also applies to those who previously turned xenomorphic during the Beastmaster's trip in Taravast, or whom he marked.

■ To avoid the hunt, stay out of the forest, apply the Huntress’ cures or lock yourself firmly indoors.

A couple of fun locations for hunt participants:

■ A tree enclosure where characters can hide for up to an hour, invisible to their pursuers. They can still be heard or scented.

■ A small lake, silvered at night, in whose waters you can breathe freely.

■ A fox spirit shrine, where a group of four-five vulpine friends defend you alongside their territory.

■ Abandoned wells and the forest streams previously touched by dark waters. The Beastmaster’s creatures seem very curious about the liquid, but ultimately pull back, as if obeying instructions.

■ Areas with strong fire or utter dark deter the Beastmaster's creatures.

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OLD MAN MOUNTAIN

Dormant volcano Ke-Sanwon shows signs of upcoming eruption: soil swells, increases in local temperature and small, low-grade earthquakes.

■ Characters with magical powers may find their strength sometimes fluctuates, suddenly swelling or briefly waning completely.

■ Dark waters fill out some of the ground cracks that follow earthquakes. The liquid is cold, settling as if it were iced. This dark water heals shallow wounds on any skin it touches, or gently revives vegetation over one-three days on any ground it is set on.

■ The strength of the dark water fades over a week’s time.

■ Digging through the ground cracks reveals thin rivulets of the dark water are present all around Ke-Sanwon.They are more numerous the closer you get to the volcano. Dark water also smears the mouths of hell.

THE JEWELLER

A few days after the earthquakes state (after 20 April, for network posts), characters wake to distant screams, as a group of 10 of Ke-Waihu's masked concerned citizens drag handsome young jeweller Dong-Yun out of Ke-Waihu.

■ The group is taking Dong-Yun through the predatory forests.

■ You can play out finding the captors’ convoy separately, or tag into the jeweller’s rescue here.

■ Bring the jeweller back to Ke-Waihu. Dong-Yun can share that his abductors intended to sacrifice him to the Ke-Sanwon volcano. One of the participants in the rescue: please share with the rest of the class!

”I’ve heard, but I’ve never — they used to, when my mother was young… she told, me even when she had me, all the mothers hid their young. She told me, they used to give them to Sanwon. The prettiest, the smartest, the most skilled. Give it all to Brother Sanwon, give it to… so it won’t take everything else. Give it our best, and it will leave us the rest. But this doesn’t happen anymore. The mountain doesn’t want it.”

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QUESTIONS

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When the Beastmaster hunts, prey all but swoons and wilts at his feet, and he returns with large bounty, enough to feed a village. It is known. It is expected. He and his creatures return with the spoils of the woods' war: pheasants, rabbits, a deer strapped over his back, for all he seems — beneath the covers of his bandages — to struggle with his bearings.

He is no hardy thing, this brother of death. But his animals — some of the forests themselves, grown to excess, many of nightmares — compensate his failings. They drag in the loot, and he doles it out as if it were a gentleman's favour, to beggars and paupers and madmen, to the rich and to officials, to merchants and passers by.

When he encounters Hendrik on the village road, it is to offer him a gift of rabbit, small but likely to serve a few days as stew.

"Take... it."

Hendrik had been keeping one eye open half of the time to make sure the Luminary was still alive and breathing. He didn't sleep much as of late, with all that had been going on.

So far the boy had been none the worse for wear and the knight kept an ever vigilant watch on the one who would deliver their world from evil. Today Eleven had gone to talk to someone and for a few moments it seemed, the boy's protector didn't have to worry about him.

But of course he did.

And as he walked along, he happened to catch sight of the Beastmaster and halted in his steps as he spotted the deer slung from the hunter's back. For a moment Hendrik wasn't quite sure what to make of him and looked at the rabbit offering hanging upside down. It was fresh, the knight could tell that much with his own experience of having hunted at times for game with his men back home on the fields.

His mind scrambled, trying to recall if he'd seen this..man before though if this visitor was a man or beast he couldn't really tell. And he wasn't too sure he wanted to know. But his gaze returned to the rabbit being held out.

A hand reached for the thing, but then Hendrik tried to get a good look at the mysterious benefactor and his hand lowered. "I do not recall having done anything to earn such a gift."

It was better than asking if it was poisoned.

For all the Beastmaster hardly anticipated the refusal, he does not seem to take insult from it. Only offers the rabbit again, swaying in his keep, and pointing with his other stunted hand to where fat's hidden, here and there, on the creature.

Not much meat on it, but it'll do. Watch, "Good for... long boil."

There is a hurt in his speech, a slow, measured rasping. "Bones... the bones break. And the marrow seasons."

He speaks, quite possibly, from decades of hunting experience. There is ever value in a carcass, even when the riches of meat elude. "You give the gristle... to... your dogs."

"A long boil you say?" Hendrik asked, finally reaching for the rabbit. He didn't attempt to take it away, but simply kept a hand on it to keep it from swaying. The knight's blue eyes took in the points that were being shown to him.

Of course having hunted the game he wasn't one of the cooks, and so while he provided the meat, he didn't stay around to watch it be prepared so the actual cooking part was beyond his grasp. And while he knew what bones and marrow were, he had no idea what the seasoning part was all about.

That last part plainly stumped him. "I do not possess a dog, especially one here in this world." He did have a charge though and that was important.

There was a pause, when it seems as if the Beastmaster's creatures, turned carefully alert and savage, might snap or assault, training their teeth on the long pastures of Hendrik's flesh. A moment when everything around them stills, and the village's bustle is eclipsed by pained, sharp, heavy breathes.

A moment that passes, the Beastmaster's arm withdrawing without the rabbit catch. He nods, and his bandages seem to wilt with the gesture, threatening to unravel.

"Find... one." Any huntsman has need of a hound. But then, the Beastmaster's purse of quarry is yet full, trotted around in the fanged mouth of a docile hybrid. He starts to search the pouch until he settles on picking out a fawn, glancing about for the next man in need of his strange benediction.

He had the sudden and uncomfortable feeling that these creatures surrounding this beast man were ready to tear him apart. But he would be ready if such an occurrence happened. Hendrik wasn't one to go looking for fights, but as a knight and as one protecting the Luminary he had to nearly constantly be ready for such a thing.

And it was odd to feel like the prey instead of the hunter.

He now held the rabbit and wasn't quite sure how that happened. But he wasn't without pity and he saw the bandages. "Are you in need of healing? If you are, I can be of assistance."

The knight had no idea, but a gift for a gift was a good idea in this strange place, even if he had no clue where to get a dog. They didn't just pop up.

There is in the wild white of his eyes, widening, the only signal that he has startled — that he has acknowledged the novelty of Hendrik's question. Half claw, bone peering from the side, and the rest of his fingers untarnished — his hand drifts to his face, where he peels away one bandage stretch tenderly to show beneath an ungainly, if settled patch of burn scars, the tissue yet raw.

"It... cannot. Heal." And his fingers drift down to his throat after, once more removing then returning bandage to its post, only easing it long enough so Hendrik might spot the burns that likely shattered his throat and speech thereafter. Dozens of other strips litter his body — the signs of long burn. "It... healed. Already."

This is as far as magic and healing craft and progress his recovery. So be it, then.

Hendrik had seen many wounds on the many battlefields he'd fought. And just when he was sure that he had seen every possible injury, the Beastmaster gave him one more such wound to consider. He had no idea what he would see under the bandage, but this confounded him.

"How is that even possible?" Hendrik asked and took a step back. "It looks as if it needs more time, and yet you say it has healed?" To his eyes it sure didn't look that way. He wasn't sure how something could look so bad and yet be told at the very same time that it healed.

Something was definitely off here and maybe he didn't understand how things worked, but he would bet his axe that something more could be done to assist. However, he wasn't going to try and push.

For all his ferocity and that of his creature, there appears to linger in the Beastmaster enough modesty to startle and still himself, staring emptily at the man whose revulsion is patently clear. He covers himself in haste, with a coarse hand, slapping the last of the bandages on more than affixing them.

"As... much as will do." There are limits to healing all bodies observe. Scarred skin will never be an untarnished canvas. "Cook your meal. Eat... carefully. Dry season. Not much meat on the bones."

Small, fickle and worthless findings. Waste of a huntsman's arrows.

Hendrik isn't used to things being exposed on people due to having healing magics. However, forcing them on someone isn't anything he would do and it irks him on some small level.

This world was indeed much different than what he was used to and it plainly showed. But finally he had the feeling he was being dismissed and to bother this..man creature and his ilk would be rather ill advised. So he had to step down of sorts.

And so the tall knight nodded in resignation that there was nothing more he could do. "I will do as you request and I thank you."

The easy, unassuming acceptance seems to please him, the Beastmaster's grip soft when it withdraws and leaves the meats behind. Frail hunting, but his creatures have toiled for the result, and they curl and ebb and flow beside him, satisfied.

"Dry season. But the village will feed. Too many young." And they all want their dinners, their bellies filled. "Huntsmen provide."

He speaks it almost as if it were a precept, a lesson more than learned — ingrained, and its fruit serving him for the duration of his maturity.

That answer caused him to wonder. And if Jasper were here, he'd more than likely simply laugh and call him some sort of derogatory name with an accompanying sneer or snicker. Still he had to ask.

"So you are a simple huntsman?"

Something about that didn't ring as correct in his own mind, so even if this person creature answered in the affirmative, Hendrik wasn't sure he would believe that. This one seemed far too skilled and had seen far too much in his lifespan.

As his servants that accompanied him did.

The growl that scratches its way out of the throats of his creatures may well be laughter. He quiets them, most with a glance, and a last lion-like beast with a hissed shush that comes wet for where his mouth seems to tear in uttering.

"I... was one." A good one, he needn't say, because he has once more today proved it. Even now, he chases more quarry in the fat purse carried by his creatures, picking out a pheasant with more meat on the sides.

"Honest trade. Simple." Predictable, if you have an appetite for killing. "Only you and the... woods."

This somehow had him feeling surrounded with the animals making odd sounds, even if he decidedly wasn't. And when their master hushed them, Hendrik still felt as if he should have some sort of weapon in hand.

However, all he had was a dead rabbit and that was all that would be appearing.

"Was." Hendrik echoed. What did that mean? He noted the word and how it was stated. So..

"But you still must be, if you are surrounded with other hunters." Meaning his animal 'friends'.

"When... there is time," he agrees testily, and seems to have found just such an opportunity in Ke-Waihu, if one is to look at the glory of his purse and what he conceals within it. His creatures and he have done well, these past few sessions. Bounty hs abounded or gone fruitfully discovered, whatever its quality.

And it appears his beasts have their appetite unsated — that enough of their natural, predatory hunger remains alive in their bones to pursue more.

Hendrik shifted his weight as he received his reply. He wasn't quite sure he believed the beast man's reply. That had a sort of sour taste to it and there wasn't any reason to continue to ask.

His blue eyes shifted to the beasts that stayed loyally around their master. And the knight was more than sure that they were of their lord's ilk.

So he then nodded. "I appreciate your time and patience. And I thank you for your gift."

And that those beasts weren't coming after him or those he cared for.

"It... is not enough," he grants, the movement of the bandages that cover his face suggesting an abrupt, hard shift of his jaws required to broker sound. Strain has not dissuaded him from the conversation — as if he has learned, over the years, to navigate his hurts.

"The hunger will grow." With the crops faltering, he need not say, with the heat sickness. "But... for now. Learn to hunt. Feed the weak."

A proud, strong man stands before the Beastmaster. Let him make himself of use.

Hendrik nodded, knowing the small rabbit wasn't going to go too far. But he would do as he was bidden, even if he was still suspicious of it.

And in the back of his mind he recalled the days of hunting the Luminary which were a mistake, but he was fortunate to have met the boy regardless. Feeding the boy and his friends were a thing he could do and he slightly bowed

"I will do as you say."

Of course the knight had every intention of making himself useful here.

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BEASTMASTER → HENDRIK

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feel free to ask him questions for info-getting purposes!

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