Arc:The White Hunt
OOC Note: This is a completed arc.
Introduction
Rumours abound Frostmaw of a strange and mysterious beast, something so large that the very earth trembles with every step it takes yet it is so rarely seen. In response to these rumours, Steward Hildegarde the Silver has made it known that she seeks hunters of skill and bravery to go forth and identify what the beast is before any action is taken. Orikahn, the hunter, boasted of his skill and prowess to the Steward and vowed to find the beast in the Western Wilds of Frostmaw.
Chapter One: And So The Hunt Begins
Summary: After overhearing Hildegarde's concerns regarding a destructive, presumably large creature in western Frostmaw, Orikahn (a feline and a savage) volunteers himself to track the beast. The Silver steward makes it clear the beast is to be identified, but she further specifies that it should be left alive until she says otherwise. Orikahn agrees.
Shortly after he begins tracking, the jungle-savvy cat falls victim to his ignorance of the arctic and loses his eyesight to snowblindness. His blindness is eventually cured through the intervention of angry ghosts who direct Orikahn to slay the creature (now identified as an Auroch) as retribution for it having demolished some of the ghosts' native ruins.
Orikahn returns to Hildegarde and gives his report, whereupon (much to the hunter's eagerness and satisfaction) Hildegarde concludes the situation in the west warrants the Auroch's destruction. Orikahn befriends Ivorile, and the two together embark on a long hunt. The two are assaulted by the malicious ghost of a frost giant, which they dispatch with some difficulty. They end up spending many days camping in a wildlife blind before they finally locate and gruesomely kill the Auroch; after having decapitated it, a disturbing development comes to light. An undead calf approaches Ivorile and Orikahn, and the former kills it in disgust.
Triumphant, the two return to Hildegarde to report their success, though they hesitate to mention the calf. Hildegarde, having patiently listened to their recounting of the adventure, senses their hesitation and demands a full explanation, which Orikahn and Ivorile reluctantly offer, alerting the steward to the presence of undeath in Frostmaw's wilds.
- Putting The Hunter To Work
- Spotting the Beast
- Hunt The Beast, Not The Pixie!
- Fresh Meat
- Planning (Or Lack Thereof)
- The Frost on Fire
- At the Wood's Edge
- The Bleeding and the Bleating
- What The Cat Dragged In
Chapter Two: Something Foul
- Ghosts!
- Pack Some Iron
- The Devils In Our Midst
- First Flight, Freefall
- Heir of Blood and Ruin
- Dubious Business
- An Official Report
Chapter Three: Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Hunter Hunts Hunter
- Afterlife In Crisis
- An Elf on the Payroll
- Blue Blazes on the Northern Traces
- Foreboding Tidings
- The Herd is on the Move - Part 1
- The Herd is on the Move - Part 2
- The Herd is on the Move - Part 3
- Ode to a Shadow Girl
- Dragging the Cat Back In
- Engineers, Adventurers and Cats
- The Warrior's Witness
- Bad Bites and Bright Lights
- Through the Fire and the Flames
Chapter Four
| Summary: During an interrogation in Frostmaw, Quave reveals that The Savage Queen's phylactery is the garland of sculls worn by none other than Orikahn, presumed ally of Frostmaw (and Xalious by association). The garland is destroyed, and so too is the lich presumed dead, but Orikahn escaped. Then, at the yule ball, Orikahn returns with The Savage Queen and it is revealed that there is one more phylactery: Hildegarde's heart. Leone stabs Hildegarde through the heart to kill the lich once and for all. |