[@Guardian Angel Haruki]
"Err, on it!" the green Ribbet said, and began calling to some of her comrades to back her up. Several other soldiers began making their way over, some backing the ribbet up as archers, while others were making their way to the ground to where Pepper was.

At Pepper's shout and the following commotion, the Auroch's eyes became slightly more focused, honing in on where Pepper was standing. It began slowly and awkwardly stumbling its way towards her. Each step looks incredibly labored, as if it's taking a great effort.

[hider=OOC]Small prompt: as the auroch gets closer, Pepper begins to notice a strong smell, one that reminds her of a time she was either in a state of strong grief (it doesn't have to necessarily be for a person, it can be a sense of loss for anything) or a time she was close to death. What does it smell like?[/hider]

[@rush99999]

At Dimple knowing her name, Feliana did a double take, then began scrutinizing the faeborg. "You... know Prino?" she said after a moment. Her face turned grim. "Honestly, I'm not certain. He was kind of in and out of consciousness, you know?" She folded her arms. "I'm... not exactly sure how much I should say at this moment." 

[@Randomguy]

At the mention of the rebellion, any desire the hunters may have had to Arnannel seemed to wither away. A couple had even started climbing up the ladder, clearly wanting to get away from this conversation as quickly as possible.

One of the other hunters, however, took a step forward. He leaned down to put his hand on the golden-brown ribbet's shoulder and made a nodding motion to tell him to follow the others up the tree. Once the ribbet had done so, this new hunter stood up and regarded Arnannel coolly. "I wouldn't go mentioning rebellion so quickly, lad," he said. He looked mostly human but some of his features implied some simiah heritage. "A lot of us have heard that rhetoric a lot recently. Usually from Havenites, and usually looking for another way to control us." He didn't sound nearly disdainful as the ribbet had been, but he did seem wary... and tired. Very, very tired. "And after what we just witnessed, I don't think anyone here is feeling positive about the folks at Haven right now." He glanced back towards where they had come just from... 

... only to lay eyes on where Pepper was, with the auroch slowly approaching her. 

"Oh, shit..." the hunter hissed, and began grabbing for his weapon.

[@Vertigo]

Mito patted Spix on the back. "Hear that, Spix?" they said. "Now you can't argue with that."

Spix gave another sigh. "Alright," he said. "So, we were attempting to hunt down the aurochs. Their numbers have become scarcer in the last couple of years, but we caught word they'd been grazing nearby. So we went to check it out, managed to catch a couple." He glanced over at Cappricio. "That 'mighty specimen' you saw us bringing in was one of them." There was the slightest hint of smile on his face, implying that despite the circumstances, Capriccio's flattery did hit its mark. However, it didn't last long before his face turned grim once more. "Unfortunately, transporting just one of those things is a pain, let alone two. So half of our group left to transport one, while the half stayed with the second. Make sure scavengers don't get to it, you know?" He sighed. "That was probably a mistake, but I'm not sure what else we could have done..." He shook his head. "So my lot get back, find that second carcass gone, and several of our hunters injured."

"So a scavenger got it anyway?" Mito said.

"That's what we thought..." Spix said. "The hunters watching it said they had been ambushed by [i]something[/i] that dragged the carcass away. Obviously, it left a big trail, so we tried to go after it." His shoulders tensed. "We probably shouldn't have done that."

There is a moment of silence before Greenbeard gently urges, "What did you see out there, Spix?"

"We didn't find whatever took the carcass," Spix said. "But we did find the auroch again..." He looks down into his drink. "That's what attacked us."

Mito frowned. "So wait... it was still alive?" they said.

"No!" Spix suddenly snapped. "I was the one who struck the killing blow, and I know what dead looks like!"

"Are you sure it was the same auroch?" Greenbeard asked as gently as he could manage.

"Like I said, I struck the killing blow," Spix said. "And it's wound was still there... still open, but filled with... something. It was sort of creeping, parasitic plant growing out of it. Like ivy, but a deep red. And it smelled like..." He stopped, shaking his head as if trying to shake loose the memory. "It was awful."