[PQ] Mistaken-ish Identity

yet my blood renders me a King

There had been reports coming in about a manticore sighting in Halo and Sah had had a flashback to his first meeting with Remi. A random manticore appearing made the hunter wonder if this very manticore might be the demigod. As such, instead of gathering a hunting party, he'd instead recruited people to scout the situation. If it was a wild manticore, they could then deal with it. Just in case. But if it was Remi, he could take charge and stop anyone from attacking.

Sending out a notice out for volunteers, Sah then headed to the start of the Hollow Forest where the sightings had been most prevalent. As people arrived, Sah started giving out orders.

"There are reports of a manticore in the area and today we'll be scouting." Meeting everyone's eyes he added, "I cannot stress enough that this is a scouting mission. Do not attack unprovoked if you spot it. We'll start by looking for tracks." Spotting Remi, Sah raised a brow, trying to get confirmation or denial over the creature's identity.

Open scouting PQ! Have your character arrive and start looking for tracks. No post order.
1. Sah
2. Remi
3. Talyson

Sah

the lullaby

Gosh, was it Remi leaving all of those prints and manticore feathers everywhere?

Offering Sah a rather vague smile as the Wild Thunder's eyes sought out his own, the Lullaby merely shrugged as if he couldn't quite read the question in the other man's eyes. He absolutely could of course, but given that this was more of a training opportunity for anyone who had decided to take up Sah's call for aid, the Lullaby wasn't going to ruin it by outing himself.

Kneeling down next to a set of prints, Remi splayed one of his hands overtop to indicate just how large the manticore was. "You can see that it was walking slowly, based on how neat and even the tracks are." He murmured, before pointing at the trail in general. "And that its tail was lifted, which probably means it was either intentionally keeping it out of the way, or aiming at something."

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

The last time Tal had seen manticore tracks in Halo they'd been beside the body of a former Warden. The results hadn't been particularly pretty and the implications had been potentially dire from a political standpoint. Of course, the deception had been revealed - more or less - and it was all water under the bridge now, but the news of more manticore tracks in the snow had certainly piqued Tal's curiosity.

And his skepticism.

How many manticores were there on Caido, after all?

Still, he'd ended up tagging along because he figured he was one of the few with personal experience in the matter. Color him surprised when Remi himself had been waiting for the new arrivals. "Hey," he offered cautiously, not quite sure what had happened the night of the Hanged Man's opening, but figuring politeness never hurt.

He ambled over to see the tracks had indicated, leaning down to get a better look at the prints and telltales that were being explained before looking nearby for more.

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah gave Remi a mildly exasperated work but let out a low chuckle as he shook his head. Seemed like he'd have to work with the assumption that this manticore wasn't the demigod. Just to be on the safe side. Thanks Remi.

Nodding at Talyson when the courier arrived, the Abandoned quickly turned his attention to the Demi-god's observations. With Remi's expertise, the trio was able to pick up the manticore's trail with ease. Talyson and Sah quickly grasped what identified a manticore's tracks and how to read them.

Gesturing towards the direction of the path, Sah started walking along, "Let's go."

Round 2! No post order. Time to follow the trail and keep an eye out for more clues!

Sah

the lullaby

Glancing toward Talyson, the Lullaby raises his eyebrows in a bob of greeting before nodding. "Hey." For Remi's part, the opening of the Hanged Man was a blur of alcohol and sexcapades outside of the tavern that had resulted in a stern lecture from his daughter the next morning (and a bit of repair work to the exterior where certain claws had been thrashed against the wood); if there was something he was meant to feel uncomfortable about or recall, the vacant expression on his face should have more than suggested he had failed in that regard.

Rising at Sah's indication, the Lullaby pressed his hands into his pockets and walked next to the manticore's trail. "Ningo's are likely too small and annoying to really grab a manticore's attention." He murmured knowledgable. "But ursur? Or a dragon?" Pressing his lips together, Remi raises his eyebrows thoughtfully to suggest that, were he this particular manticore, those are the sorts of prey he'd be after.

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Luckily for Remi, Tal could always find a reason to be uncomfortable in any social situation! It was his special talent, and as he shuffled over to read the tracks beside the Lullaby, it was with a lot more caution than the current situation called for. Sure, they were tracking a manticore... but on the other hand, it wasn't like they were going to run into anything Remi couldn't handle.

Right?

He fell in on the other side of Sah, looking from the tracks to the metallic trunks around them and trying to get a sense for what could have drawn the big beastie's attention in the Hollow Forest. Something that size might have left some signs on the trees and underbrush, too, maybe? "What about luxere?" he asked Remi, trying very hard not to think about the possibility of running into a white dragon out here.

yet my blood renders me a King

The trek along the trail began. And quickly ended as Remi lost it just a few minutes in. Somehow. How one hypothetically loses their own hypothetical trail was unknown. Slightly impressive though.

Sah tried to help but was also unable to pick up the lost trail. Thankfully Talyson spotted two trails heading in the same direction. One was clearly that of an ursur and the other matched the prints that Remi had pointed out earlier. The trio continued on and eventually came to the remains of an ursur corpse. It seemed like the manticore had had a snack as it made its way through the forest.

However, a new set of prints emerged along the body of the bear. Smaller, lighter ones. But they circled around a pile of feathers. Manticore feathers.

~
Round 3! The remains of a meal have been found but something else appears to be going on. Do you look for the next part of the manticore's trail or inspect the feather pile? No post order.

Sah

Tal was absolutely smug that he was able to find a trail when Sah couldn't, but Remi's presence - and his desire to impress the older, scarier man - kept his smirk to a wicked grin flashed at his frenemy when he thought the demigod wasn't looking.

Following along the little trail, the courier grew more cautious. He felt more than confident in the ability of their current team to handle a single ursur, but that didn't mean he wanted to be in front if they stumbled over it! It was almost a relief to find its corpse farther on and realize it was no longer a threat, but Tal scowled as he tip-toed out towards the corpse, glancing up into the branches high above them before circling around and looking for more manticore prints leading away...

Or evidence that it had taken to its wings, like deeper paw prints in the snow where it might have pushed itself skyward, just like Boreal left behind her. Only, y'know, bigger.

---

Tal looks for the next part of the trail!

the lullaby

"You know, I have heard that manticore feathers are rather good items for trading." Remi says conversationally as he looks down at the smattering of tawny plumage scattered in the snow. 'Quite durable too for fletching.' He adds with a shrug.

As for what or where to look next, the Lullaby merely folds his arms across his chest and looks perplexed. Really, he's reaching inward to pull a particular thread of magic that he rarely, if ever, used. Given who and what he was there weren't many situations where he needed to rely on external abilities to appear more scary, but this seemed a rather novel situation.

Ahead, shimmering between bits of tree and reflecting the light as if it might simply be some sort of snowy-optical illusion, a manticore could vaguely be seen. True, it was rather ethereal looking, but that might just be the lighting.

Who knows.

---

Remi uses

Magic: Ghost Shape | Can summon the ghostly echoes of his former shifts (lion, raccoon, octopus), non-mythical creatures in his current biome, and a manticore. These will last for 3 post per thread, cause fear and cold damage; the manticore ghost can also cause poison damage.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah childishly stuck his tongue out Tal in response, not caring if Remi saw or not. Lilly sent clear amusement through the bond, endeared by the two human's playful banter. Pad meanwhile grumbled in annoyance on behalf of their bonded's pride.

Talyson was quickly able to find the next part of the trail and sure enough it headed in the direction of Remi's ghost. And what a ghost it was! There's a scared bark and the small fox kit that had been buried in the feathers around them burst from the pile where it had been playing and sprinted away in terror. Way to go Remi. You scared a baby. The little thing was going to have nightmares for days now.

It hardly mattered that Sah had been unable to pick up the trail again. Not with the appearance of the manticore. He shot an incredulous look at Remi. Surely the demigod could have confirmed that it wasn't him earlier?! Pad growled lowly, stopping once Lilly nudged his shoulder to silence him.

"Ok. Let's mark the trees here to let others know where the manticore is. Then we'll double back to the Citadel and mark the trees as we go." The words were barely a whisper as Sah tried not to alert the beast.

~
Round 4! Mark the trees around you so that others know not to come near here. Oh. And don't alert the manticore.

Sah

"Ooooh, could y'save some for me?" Tal called back hopefully to Remi as the local manticore expert examined the pile of feathers.

And then it all went to hail in a handbasket. Tal might have found the trail again, but before he could rub Sah's nose in it the maker of the trail came into view and Tal clapped a hand over his mouth to keep his yelp on the inside as he froze.

And he was suddenly very, very glad that he hadn't brought Boreal along.

Maybe if he'd been wearing his Goggles - and been willing to get close enough - he might have sensed something funny about the ethereal manticore in the distance, but he wasn't and he didn't. Instead he started backing away with glacial slowness, careful not to make any fast movements. And though he didn't exactly hide behind Remi, he moved back far enough that the manticore would have to get past the demigod first.

"Uh, Sah? What good's markin' th'trees gonna do if it just flies off t'hunt elsewhere?" he hissed at their leader, but since he didn't have any better ideas he pulled a hunk of charcoal out of his bag to start marking trees anyways.

---

Tal sneaks back to the other side of Remi and starts marking the metal trees with charcoal!

the lullaby

Remi, continuing to look entirely ignorant of the manticore ahead, glances at Sah with a boyishly blank expression. If he feels any guilt for scaring the fox kit, one need only look back in the Lullaby's long and sordid history with Ludo to know that he very likely did not.

'Well, manticores do tend to move around.' Remi notes helpfully, before inclining his head toward Tal who just said precisely the same thing. Thinking that perhaps the manticore ought to give some sort of lasting impression, the Lullaby has the creature snap its teeth, sending a spray of poison against one of the nearby trees that could be verified as being quite properly real later on, should the physicality of the creature be called into question.

Reaching for some charcoal, the Lullaby turns and slashes a few haphazard X's on the nearby trees.

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah eyed the other two men for a moment. Surely, they knew that simply marking trees wasn't his whole plan? He was a little offended.

Whispering, he elaborated, "Well obviously. But if we mark the areas where it's spotted, we may be able to keep track of where in Halo it goes. And if we're lucky, possibly distinguish if there's a pattern. We can take that information and let people know what areas to keep an eye out in and possibly even when to do so. It'll likely take multiple scouting missions to do so but this is a decent start." Maybe the Wild Thunder's plan wasn't the best, but apart from trying to kill or chase out the creature, they didn't have too many options.

Remi, Talyson, and Sah all successfully marked their trees without further alerting the manticore. Thankfully it didn't seem to be spraying poison at them. The trio marked their way back to the Citadel where Sah addressed them.

"Thank you both. I'll keep working with scouts to try and keep an eye on where the manticore goes but this was a great start."

~
This completes the PQ! Thank you both!

-{FIN}

Sah