War for the Crown Gameplay Part 2

After wearily suffering through the extravagance that was breakfast, this latest display of thoughtless abuse from Bartelby only elicits a sigh out of Josie. She blearily blinks through most of the conversation happening around her until Purple Finch's rumors of the beast catch her ear. Hopping into the conversation a beat late, she hastily adds, "I also think it would be a good idea to look for the beast. Though if you're worried about not catching anything, maybe we should split up? One or two of us try to subdue one of the prisoners while the rest go for the beast?"

"Yes, my magic could certainly be used as a gentler way to subdue prisoners," Sarina agrees. "Though, I would worry about splitting ourselves up in the event that the beast does prove to be dangerous."

”Yeah, I’m with Sarina on this one. I really don’t want to be caught unawares by some sort of vicious forest monster, and with my eyesight it’s really hard to see sneaky monsters,” Momo grumbles.

Josie nods. "Ok, we'll stay together then. How should we try to make sure we can catch at least one of the two then?"

"Perhaps we ought to follow the bloodhound as it tracks down the prisoner, and keep an eye out for anything that could be used to give the bloodhound the scent of whatever beast might be in the forest?" Sarina suggests.

After an hour of searching through the woods, the party's hound suddenly becomes very excited, and begins sniffing at a bloodstained scrap of clothing hanging from a tree branch. At the same time, Corey hears the crashing of branches and muffled cries coming from the north. "That sounds like trouble," he says, gripping his glaive and running after the source of the commotion.

A man, the bedraggled-looking black haired human from the opening of the hunt, is bleeding badly and dodging through the trees. Immediately behind him chases a massive lion-like creature with a viciously spiked tail with a metallic sheen, bat wings, and a human-like bearded face with huge fangs filed to points.

Before the beast can react to their presence, Sarina attempts to charm the creature into inaction, Josie fires an arrow into its thick hide, and Momo attempts to trip it with magical chains, but only the arrow finds its mark. Spinning around and hissing in fury, the creature launches a series of four metal spikes at her by spinning its tail. The first flies wide, embedding deep into a nearby tree, but the next three strike her in each shoulder and a thigh, bringing her to the ground instantly and making her begin to bleed out into the dirt. "I don't like it when prey fights back," the monster growls, its voice sounding like the scraping of steel against bone.

Corey leaps forward to challenge the beast while Purple Finch and Adelaide work on healing Momo's wounds, informing the others of the manticore's abilities all the while. Sarina chants a subtle spell, oppressing the fierce magical beast's ability to fight. Another strike from Corey and Josie and the manticore is clearly on its last legs, panting heavily as it bleeds onto the forest floor. This time, Momo's chains strike true, lashing the monster clean in the face. With a frightened yelp, the manticore collapses.

Wiping her brow, Josie shouts to the man fleeing the scene. "Hey! You! We've just slain the beast! If you want your wounds healed, I'd suggest turning around!"

The bedraggled, wounded man turns around, wide-eyed and panting and then slumps down onto the ground, his back against a tree. "Thank ye, m'lords and ladies. It caught me with a spike," he reveals a wicked gash on his leg, "And if I ran too hard I worried I'd bleed out 'n die."

"Worry not. We'll have you right in no time," Momo says, pulsing healing through herself first as she first hobbles towards the man, then moves to a purposeful gait. She channels that same light through her hands once more and applies it to the wound, which knits itself together.

Moffis lets out a relieved sigh as all his wounds close, some metal barbs that were still embedded in his flesh pushing out. "Suppose you were the ones sent t'catch me? Not gonna try to run now, ye slew the Iron Lash and saved more than just meself."

"Mm. Yes. Consider yourself very caught," Momo responds drily.

Adelaide, who threw a tanglefoot bag at the manticore before it was immediately taken down, smiles slightly and goes to examine the kill. ”I believe the parts resembling a lion should be edible, though I’m unfamiliar with how appetizing lion meat would be,” she comments. ”I’m sure there’s someone better versed on the matter. Purple Finch, would you feel comfortable going back to request backup to bring our kill back?”

"If you would like, Dame Morilla, I can do that. Though I would be remiss not to tell you that the kitchens have been preparing tonight's feast for days, so the manticore won't be eaten tonight at least," Purple Finch replies. "But I'm sure that the chefs at the Palace of Birdsong could preserve the meat and a trophy and have it sent to your estate in Stachys if it would please you."

”Oh, no, that’s much more trouble than anyone really needs to go through,” Adelaide answers immediately. ”Perhaps bringing just the head back would be fine, and if something beats us to the rest of the body, it’s no matter? Mr. Crawford, are you comfortable carrying a head back?”

Clearing her throat a bit, Josie interjects, "Actually, I think having the meat on hand would be a good idea. We could hand it out in some of the less fortunate areas."

”Oh, good idea,” Adelaide agrees. ”In that case, would you mind running ahead for backup to take this back after all?” she asks again of Purple Finch. ”If you find a chance to tell a good tale of the battle, that would be appreciated as well.”

”Please make me sound like a thousand times more heroic in whatever recounting, though,” Momo grumbles.

”Yes ma’am,” Purple Finch nods to Adelaide. ”Telling tales is something of a talent of mine,” she adds with a grin, then takes off towards the palace at a full sprint.

With Finch on her way, all that’s left to do is wait. Momo’s response to the idea of telling a tale draws Adelaide’s attention, and she notices Momo seems visibly shaken. Adelaide moves to stand next to her. ”You doing okay?” she asks quietly.

”Feeling a little fallible. It’s really annoying, more than anything else,” Momo admits, leaning against the nearest tree.

”If it’s any consolation, I think that attack would have taken out most of us in one go,” Adelaide notes with a rueful smile. ”So really, it was more a reflection of the manticore’s capabilities than yours.”

A sigh. ”Yes, but it’s really hard to put in words why this is so frustrating. I just... didn’t think my gifts were so limited, is what I guess I feel. I thought that if I needed to be, I would be protected by Irori or whatever.”

Adelaide mulls on this, considering. ”Is Irori the sort of god to give his followers learning opportunities?” she asks after a moment. ”After all, you ultimately were protected. Luckily I had a potion with me, and Purple Finch could heal, and Mr. Crawford was distracting the beast with his own fight. But would it make sense for this to just be a moment to learn more about yourself, something to reflect on?”

Momo snorts. ”Being hit with iron spikes hurts. Great learning experience,” she snarks, before shaking her head. ”I don’t mean to be snide. Sorry. In the sense of some sort of cosmic lesson, I just don’t know what this would mean. If we’re just looking for a practical one, yeah, definitely got one of those. Don’t try to trip things with four legs. Slot that one away for the next time this comes up,” she rambles. ”I’m sorry, I’m still sort of processing the whole almost died thing. I’ll probably have some sort of epiphany that we can talk about later?” she offers.