[i]Hunt for Answers[/i] 

They found their prey a little way out into the snowy plains where it had hunkered down in the snow, presumably to digest the tree it had devoured earlier. Its camouflage made it look like a small snowed over mound, or perhaps a large rock but this did not help it hide from the hunting party thanks to Kaldora’s aerial reconnaissance and the hunter’s own ranger and beast hunting skills. The party road in a wide disparate line as they approached, with Kaldorna and Zouyu able to be found off to the right while Arthanar rode in the center and leveled his musket at the monster.

[color=Crimson]”Even if it is as high level as Rodias it shouldn’t be too much trouble.”[/color]  Kaldora replied confidently to Zouyu’s concerns as Arthanar’s shot rang out and the beast rose from its resting spot to charge the hunting party with an impressive degree of speed. [color=Crimson]”This is our specialty after all.”[/color]

“[Evasive Action]!” Arthanar called out as the beast began to charge him and the center of the hunter’s line. He pointed down at the ground as he yelled, causing a faint pulse of green energy burst along the ground around him in a circle, buffing the Hunt’s captain and those around him with increased movement speed and agility. The loose formation the Hunters had adopted immediately came into play as those on the side of the formation spurred their dark unicorn mounts into a flanking action, circling to either side of the beast as it powered its way towards the scattering center. As the wings of the battle line fanned out dozens of oversized muskets were raised and aimed at the beast before crack of gunpowder and calls of “[Crippling shot]” rang out, causing hot lead to stab into the joints of the monster’s hind limbs.

Though the damage was minimal the shots sapped the strength of the beast temporarily, making its charge falter. As it did the hunters it had been careening towards dissipated, hunters dashing away and to the sides of its path of destruction, Arthanar’s skill letting them evade the monster with ease for a short while.

[color=Crimson]”Let’s go! We’re harassing it first.”[/color] Kaldora instructed Zouyu before spurring her own mount to race along after the right flank and calling out [color=Crimson]”[Drive Beasts]!”[/color] to buff the speed of the hunting hounds and the hulking Smogticore in a larger and more manner than Arthanar had the mounted hunters. The hunting pack followed after the mounted Vampires, the Skinkhounds for the moment doing little else but barking at the great beast to intimidate it while the tamers leading them bided their time. 

The House sized beast, still utterly enraged, charged the closest group of hunters as soon as they opened fire on it with standard shots from their muskets, their shots hammered into the monsters thick hide, leaving a dozen small bleeding wounds. It seemed like paltry damage compared to what would be inflicted upon them should the beast’s rampaging charge reach them. But reach them the beast did not. Once again green energy pulsed among those imperiled, boosting their speed and evasion, as Arthanar pointed at them and [Evasive Action]. Simultaneously a volley of [crippling shot]s from the other hunters once again slowed the beast to aid in their fellow’s escape.

This cycle would repeat several times over, with a clump of hunters forming and shooting to draw the beast in, only for them to scatter as Arthanar buffed them and the hunters behind the beast targeted its legs to stop it from catching them. This tactic gave Kaldora plenty of time to talk to Zouyu about Rodius’s battle back at the Beast Pens as the pair rode/ran around the outskirts of the hunters’ circular skirmishing formation.

[color=Crimson]”To reply to your previous question, Yes, I did indeed watch our young master’s battle in my arena, where he fought every Level 70 beast we had all at once!”[/color] she told him, before giving a quick recounting of how the match had gone. [color=Crimson]”Quite the breathtaking style of combat, even if it was a tad slow to get the job done. I could feel my heart in my mouth every time he gracefully avoided death, and I could feel it break every time he acted in sync with comrades who are no longer with us.”[/color] she said before pausing as she recalled how Rodius’s fighting style had repeatedly left openings for his absent allies to exploit. The purpose he had given them had let her avoid thinking about how the other lords were gone but now that that fact had reared its ugly head again in her mind she could not help but see the gap in their own fighting style clear as day, the place where their sire should have been leading the charge.

She was broken out of her mournful reprieve by Arthanar‘s shouting “Kaldora. I’m runnin low!” from somewhere down the line. She knew instantly what he meant. The tactic they had been using had been slowly chipping away at the constitution of the beast, which  now had dozens of minor wounds perforating its body, but it was reliant on Arthanar’s skill to keep the hunters out of its grasp. Now however he was running out of mana and so it was time to engage the second part of the plan.

[color=Crimson]”Ah, it seems we’re up. Thank you for your patience Darling. Go as wild as you wish, just be sure not to break it completely, as we do need it in one piece in order to capture it in the end.”[/color] she told the weretiger, before also unleashing her [url=https://i.imgur.com/kkXFNSE.png]Smogticore[/url] on the beast with a cry of [color=Crimson]”Nightshade, [Attack]!”[/color]

Though it was only a fifth of the size of the mighty tusked monster Nightshade the Smogticore charged it fearlessly with a roar at the behest of Kaldora’s skill, clouds of thick purple smoke streaming behind its head and neck like a lion's mane as it ran. The pachyderm, finally presented with a target for its ire that was doing the exact opposite of running away, counter charged, its hooves thundering across the plains as it bore down on the predator. Right as the two where about to clash Kaldora cried out [color=Crimson]”[Dodge],”[/color] causing Nightshade to lunge to the side at the last moment with supernatural speed and narrowly avoid being trampled. The thick plumes of gas streaking after it collided with the pachyderm instead, stinging its eyes and choking its lungs while the Smogticore‘s tail lunged out, the toxic green stinger on the end raking the herbivore's side as the two passed one another.

As the Smogticore skidded to a halt behind the best and roared a taunt the pachyderm, bleeding, poisoned and temporarily blind, charged on heedless if the predator's challenge. Right towards Kaldora and Zouyu.

[color=Crimson]”Oh dear.”[/color] Kaldora commented as she urged her mount to evade the beast bore down on them [color=Crimson]”This isn’t quite what was supposed to happen”[/color]