01.20.3014: Saimhann-Peake Wedding Hunt
Summary: Jarek and Agnes are married, and a drake hunt for the guests occurs.
Date: 10 November 2013
Related: None
Anabethe Agnes Canis Jarek Victor 


The Drake Mountains
See Log
20 January 3014

The wedding of Young Lord Sir Jarek Saimhann and Lady Sir Agnes Peake was a beautiful, serene affair in the midst of the horrors of the Third System War. It was very reserved, as fitting for the very religious, often somber House, but still lovely. Lady Agnes wore a simple, elegant, tasteful white gown with a long train, and carried flowers the colors of Saimhann while her bridesmaids wore the shades of House Peake. Her brother, Lord Peake, walked her down the aisle, and her nieces and nephews were there attending, along with her Squires past and present.

Lord Jarek's family was in abundance, with his father, Lord Saimhann, watching over the proceedings with a keen eye. The rings were silver, gold, and diamond, with drakes flanking the stone.

The ceremony was held in the Saimhann Chantry, then a feast was had in Spikka at the Drakholt afterwards, with local dishes and those of Khar Mordune served side by side, finished with a lovely cake in Saimhann colors. After the final toasts, Lords Saimhann and Peake gave a blessing to the wedded couple and their friends and family, for safety and luck on the drake hunt to follow.

All guests were given rooms in which to change into appropriate attire for the hunt. While combatants were placed in the front of the hunting party, non-combatants were placed at the rear, with servants plying them with snacks and drinks while they enjoy one another's company in relative safety.

Lady Agnes Saimhann nee Peake is out of her wedding gown and back into her armor, probably a relief to those not used to seeing her looking so ladylike. She is beside her husband with her helmet visor raised, and a smile that refuses to dim whatsoever curving her lips. She seems so entirely happy. Her greatsword is strapped to her back, and there is a blaster at her hip as well.

Victor wouldn't miss the wedding of the Young Lord of a vassal house, not to mention that of a friend. He and Devon were present, Victor in his uncomfortable formal wear and Devon in one of her usual, elegant gowns of ephemeral material. Now, however, Devon is back with the non-combatants in deference for her current condition, and Victor is decked out in his lava-crust Aggressor armor. No blasters for him, however, just the bearded axe at his right hip. "So… it's good form to let the bride or the groom get in the killin' blow, right? So we let it chew on us so they can hack it up?" The smirking grin beneath his helmet is easily audible in the Khourni's gravelly voice.

Canis attended the wedding a family representative. He has changed from his formal attire to his defender armor and now carries his polearm in hand walking among the group of hunters he looks about as they walk it is perhaps his first hunt of this sort though he's hunted in the past. "I imagine it would be tradition yes, though the less chewing the better." he responds lightly though continuing on as he does so.

Jarek wore a finely polished tunic, trousers, coat, and boots. All in the colors of his house, his vows had been simple enough, to the point and slightly lacking in poetry. His former knight had congratulated him by punching him in the gut just before the ceremony, though it's also the reason he'd stood so tall and proud next to his still taller love and now wife.

Changed into his refurbished suit of aggressor armor, since his former one had become scrap after the Cape Amran incident. His drakeclaw hilted greatsword on his back and a blaster in hand. He looks clumsy with the weapon as he grins at Victor, "Well, it's good form yes. Remember to stay put so it can grab you, otherwise you're doing it wrong." he chuckles and looks to Agnes, "This drake has been getting close to one of the settlements in the cliffside of this valley. So this is a two part thing, one to protect our citizens and two to have some fun as our wedding treat."

"I would prefer none of our honored guests get chewed on Sir Victor," Agnes says with a chuckle to the other Knight. She has come a long way from her superior awkwardness when she met him long ago in Gregor's on the Ring. "So feel free to hack at it as well." She flips her visor down, her armor reminiscent of the tales of Old Earth, looking very retro despite all modern materials and construction. The Bear looks ready for this adventure. She unlimbers a polearm from a selection available to hunters on a small cart following them.

Victor shrugs at Canis, the broad pauldrons of his armor lifting and dropping, "Hey… it's not so bad. After a bit, the pain sorta fades behind the shit-tons of pain." The responses from Jarek and Agnes draw a low chuckle from the man, the Khourni reaching out — and up — to clap the bride on the shoulder, "Whatever you say. Your day and all. Least, that's what Dee said." Rolling his head a bit to limber up, he gestures up toward the rocky terrain ahead, "Then let's get to it, eh Jay? I mean, wouldn't do to risk any more Cits. Plus, I can't have a beer 'till we're done here."

The young knight chuckles a bit hearing over the com. "Ah, yes well one must have something to look forward to after all." Canis says about going from pain to more pain though his helmeted head shakes a bit at the thought he moves along getting a better idea at the surroundings he's in. "Yes My Lady will try my best." he adds after a moment of silence.

Drake hunting! One of the things Anabethe does best. Or at least that she's spent a good deal of time at over the last six years, while strategically dodging responsibility. So with the excuse of celebrating a vassal's wedding, she's suited up and joined the front of the party, a massive drake spear leaning against her shoulder as she goes.

"Who made that rule?" Jarek asks of Victor after the restriction on beer is mentioned. "And yes, all of you please fire, hack, and stab away. Drake's aren't sheep, so this isn't going to be easy." He looks over the heir of his paramount and nods to her before looking back to Agnes, "I think I'll work on my aim with this thing… and if that fails then lets not be afraid to call a retreat. No need to get us in the hospital for our wedding night." he chuckles, exuberantly happy despite the chatter about pain and more pain.

"Agreed," Agnes murmurs to Jarek, at the hospitalization talk.

The party heads onward, now that everyone is armed and armored and the spectators are a safe distance behind the hunters. It's not terribly hard to track a drake. Just enter its territory, and make yourself known, and it will find you. Passing through small towns, they party is met with cheers, congratulations, and piles of polished stones and bowls of milk and honey dotting the way, offerings to the Mother and the Father to wish the newlyweds well in their marriage.

Soon, though, the villages are left behind, and replaced by the strange, long cold, lava flows of past volcanic eruptions. This is drake territory, where the creatures choose to nest, taking advantage of the geothermic heat. It's clear they've entered dangerous territory when there ceases to be any more birdsong, or the rustling of small animals.

Agnes pauses and looks around. There is a narrow canyon ahead of them, with high, slick walls of volcanic glass preventing any means to climb out. "Box canyon," she says over the comm. "Dangerous for us, but sure to keep it from getting past us to the guests," she points out.

Victor snorts at Jarek, "Even I'm not stupid enough to drink beer before I go lookin' for a drake." His helmet turns over toward Anabethe, and the grin behind it can easily be heard in his voice, "That's why I bring my own brewskis along." He pats the bulge in the left hip of his armor lightly, where his cousin knows he keeps a bottle of beer, matched by the cigars stored in a compartment on his right hip. As they ascend to the mouth of the canyon, he gathers the heavy axe fro his hip, pushing a button to send the haft expanding out into something suitable for two hands. "Hey, anything that keeps the big beastie down where I can reach it — I'm all in favor."

"Right, beer comes after the drake," Anabethe agrees with Victor, grin flashing as she starts through the narrow gorge. "You remember the last one of these we were on? We chased that damned thing so far into the mountains it took three days for someone to get in range to tell the Hostiles had been sighted and another week to get to a Waygate."

Canis looks back to his getting to now the land as he moves the final check up from his HUD comes back clean and he holds his polearm in his hands now. He's still listening to the voices of the others but for now remains quiet while they move.

"Alright, your call Agnes. I say into the canyon, keep it from pushing beyond us. Also gives us narrower attacking range, and depending on the size of the drake it could limit it's range of motion some." Jarek turns to look from her to the others and their party of non-combatants far enough behind them. He turns back, "Anyone have eyes good enough to see any signs of it?"

<FS3> Agnes rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Victor rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Canis rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Anabethe rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Jarek rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Jarek rolls 7: Good Success.

Agnes' head lifts as she hears a sound. "Into the canyon then," she notes, eyes warily sweeping the area behind her visor. She levels her polearm, her stance ready and careful as she begins picking her way over the rocky terrain.

Victor snorts at Anabethe's words, "Shit Bethe… you must've packed too much beer and not enough water on that trip. I skipped that trip to go on down to Landing with Michram and the Wall." As they enter the canyon, Victor sobers, his steps forward into the canyon quick and direct. He keeps his axe down and to his right side, his left hand crossing his body to grasp the base of the haft, his right up close under the bearded head. The skull-faced helmet twitches back and forth, "Here comes the boom…" The words are a low, rumbling mutter, more meant for himself than anything else, but still carried faithfully by his comm system.

"Oh, right. That. Yeah. We, uh. Might've had some fun." Anabethe clears her throat, quieting to focus on the hunt itself instead. She steps as quietly as one can in armor, scanning the area and lowering the pole arm from her shoulder. "In there somewhere," she says with a nod toward the walls.

Canis is distracted it would seem though he moves forward pausing only as he sees movement of a rodent, which as it turns out is nothing. He pushes forward though he holds his weapon at the ready watching around them as the group moves into the canyon.

"We say mind your step for many reasons." Jarek comments softly as he readies his blaster slightly better thought by the hold he has he's probably had only a handful of 'being told how to use it's. At least it's turned on correctly, and charged to fire too. "May They guide us." he comments, also softly, and heads with Agnes towards the entrance to the canyon.

Squirrels there may be in the canyon, but those creatures are not alone. It may be amazing to those who do not often hunt the mighty drakes of the northern Crescent just how well they fade into the ruined landscape. One moment, the right-hand side of the canyon wall is a shattered spine of rocky crags, and the next it is a miniature landslide in progress, fist- and head-sized rocks tumbling down amidst gravel and dust as a grey-green shape launches itself into the air. The drake is somewhere between forty and fifty feet from its bared teeth to the tip of its long tail, and its wings snap out to a width of at least as broad as its length as it half-glides, half drops down on the interlopers on its territory. That, however, is not the most terrifying thing about it. No, that would be the bone-shaking roar it lets out from between dagger-sharp teeth as it pounces on the Havenites, front claws outstretched.

<COMBAT> Mediumdrake attacks Jarek with Bludgeon - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Canis passes.
<COMBAT> Anabethe attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm but Mediumdrake DODGES!
<COMBAT> Victor attacks Mediumdrake with Great Bludgeon - Critical wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Jarek attacks Mediumdrake with Blaster - Light wound to Abdomen (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Agnes attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Jarek has started a new turn. Pose and choose your action.

That sound sets Agnes' teeth on edge but it also makes something primal stir in her depth, that survival instinct every human is born with. She moves to one of the walls, placing her back to it she lunges at the drake with her spear.

Anabethe laughs at the roar, grinning broadly behind her helmet. This is the sort of thing she does for fun. Though that doesn't mean there isn't at least a little bit of hysteria in the laughter. As the drake swoops in, she ducks down and to the side, thrusting her spear up toward its wings only to miss as it catches more air.

The consequence of seeing the wrong movement, is that when the drake moves the young knight Canis is not in a place in which he can attack. He does turn the right direction now as the drake attacks it's his first drake viewing, but it only gives him a moments pause before he steps into a position where he can attack and does so with his polearm.

Jarek isn't lucky, he reacts by firing his blaster at the beast then takes its claw to the chest. While his newish armor stops the talon from rending him open, it does knock him back a step. He shakes his head, checks the blaster, then takes a more aggressive stance to fire at it again. "Nice hit Vic." he says over the comms.

Victor was evidently born — or bred — with very different instincts from most people. The Khourni launches himself forward, zigging out to his left as Anabethe moves to the other side. Planting his left boot against a rock outcropping, he sends himself back in toward the drake, the axe swooping up and over his head as he changes direction. It comes hewing downward, aimed for the front of the drake's wing-root as Victor does his best drake impression and flies at the giant lizard, "AAAAAAAAahhhhhhh!" It's not quite as impressive a roar as the drake's, but that's what happens when you're lungs are several sizes smaller.

The drake — not a huge one by the standards of the mountains, but certainly not small — takes a glancing hit to the underbelly from the blaster, sending a scorching line of black across its scales. It lands, raking out with the claws of its right foreleg at the source of the blazing blaster-fire and sending a huge gust of air slamming out from the downbeat of its wings. Pebbles, dust, and plant debris goes flying about in the rush of air, and the drake screams as it takes an axe-blade to its right shoulder, turning its head to snap at the offending creature.

<COMBAT> Jarek attacks Mediumdrake with Blaster - Serious wound to Abdomen (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Canis attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Anabethe attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Victor attacks Mediumdrake with Great Bludgeon - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Mediumdrake attacks Victor with Bludgeon - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Agnes attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm - Serious wound to Neck (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Jarek has started a new turn. Pose and choose your action.
<COMBAT> Mediumdrake has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Mediumdrake is not out of the fight yet! (Jarek)

Agnes' first attack did nothing but scrape against the drake's armored hide. Then Jarek is attacked and that sends her into Bear mode. She lets out a roar, amplified by her helmet system, that sounds like a grizzly in a rage. The giant of a woman two hands the spear and strikes upwards at the drake, aiming right for its throat. Gods help any Hostile who hurts her husband.

"Nice!" Anabethe grins to Victor, bracing herself against a rock fall and pushing off. Where Victor flies, she slides over the scree and directly under the drake's heavy form, dragging the head of her spear across the armored scales of its underside as she goes.

Canis gives a strong push to his weapon a grunt from inside his armor, though he strikes he doesn't break through the tough hide. The young knight isn't daunted though and braces himself again waiting for his chance and makes another attack towards the great beast.

"Good one Vic." Jarek calls out as he remembers there's such a thing as a targeting sight on the blaster and uses it. He crouches down and holds his breath before pulling the trigger and firing away at the drake. He looks to Agnes, "I'm fine, really I am. Just felt like getting hit by a crawler. Or Attop bucking me from the saddle again." he moves again to get another spot to shoot from, firing again when ready to.

Victor is blown down by that huge downdraft, clattering off the ground and rolling under the drake behind Anabethe instead of landing as lightly as he might have otherwise. As he goes, he swings his axe upward, aiming to cut across the scaly underbelly. He comes up on the other side — or at least he would have, if the drake's jaws hadn't clamped down around his torso, pinning him to the ground. "Mother fucker! I'm not a damned chew-toy!" Dagger-pointed teeth scrape across composite armor, peeling up paint and metal, but do not manage to penetrate.

The drake gets a mouth full of metal, and then drops its chew-toy in rage as the blaster scores at its stomach once more, screaming out its pain and anger as a spearpoint catches inside a scale of its underbelly, and another comes up against its serpentine neck, drawing forth a gout of bright blood that matches the ruby runnel pouring down its right shoulder. Screaming again, it flaps its wings, trying to draw back up and away from the Havenites, or at least to bowl them over with the hurricane-force wind from its wings. It's right wing isn't working all that well, however, and it seems somewhat dazed by pain.

<COMBAT> Victor attacks Mediumdrake with Great Bludgeon - Serious wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Canis attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Agnes attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm - Critical wound to Chest.
<COMBAT> Mediumdrake attacks Agnes with Bludgeon and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Jarek attacks Mediumdrake with Blaster - Critical wound to Left Arm.
<COMBAT> Anabethe attacks Mediumdrake with Polearm - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Jarek has started a new turn. Pose and choose your action.
<COMBAT> Mediumdrake has been KO'd!

Agnes turns her head aside as the winds from the mighty beast's wings buffet her armor. She plants her feet, however, and then pushes off the wall of the canyon, sending her polearm straight up into its chest from below, and then letting go, rolling out from beneath the creature before it can crush her.

Anabethe slips between the drake's right legs as more shots come in, all the better to not get squished when it goes down. Coming around to the front, she brings her spear to bear, driving the point up under a chest plate.

The young knight is a bit better off this time. He has a better angle and is able to get a stronger push of his polearm which he grips tightly in both hands. Canis strikes the drake as well when all the party move in to do so combining their efforts and all.

Jarek is learning! He aims, uses the sights, holds his breath, then fires. Once he's fired again, he gets up and starts to move towards the creature and where Agnes is/was. "Jarek to Extraction Unit, time to move in for body collection. This beast should be finished here any moment." the newly wed knight comms to the standby group with grav-beds and a crawler that will take the drake to be utilized in typical Saimhann fashion. That is, every single part of the drake's body will be put to some functional purpose or another.

"Copy that sir, moving in three." The Sergeant in charge of the Extraction team replies.

Victor rides out the second wash of air from the drake's beating wings, then pops back up to his feet, darting in at the creature once more. "That's right, lizard-brain. You're fuckin' dinner." He ducks under a sweep of its tail as it goes after Agnes, circling around to bring his axe down overhand, aiming to chop down just in front of its right hind leg and ending up standing a half-dozen feet away from Anabethe. Okay, so he wouldn't eat enough drake meat in a single sitting for dinner, because it tastes like alligator-ass, but he'll have a nibble off a fresh kill, and it makes good pet food. "Don't let it get away…" He needn't worry.

The drake turns to snap after Agnes, chasing after the newest Saimhann and bearing down on her from a half-raised stance. It's attack is thrown off by the impact of one drake-spear, one polearm, a blaster to its forelimb — and then it's too late, and it falls down on the raised spear, impaling itself just below the breastbone. He scrabbles at the rocks beneath it, trying to push itself off the offending weapon, hisses wetly, and then falls down, its limbs twitching as it expires slowly, the message taking some time to get to its various extremities.

"And that, kids, is how it's done," Anabethe grins triumphantly as the drake goes down, jerking her spear out and leaning against the half with a satisfied expression. As the extraction team shows up, she reaches out to poke at a claw with one foot, sighing contentedly. "Now if we could just get the Hostiles to go down that easy."

Agnes gets to her feet from where she rolled to safety, the polearm still stuck in the chest of the downed drake. She doesn't look pleased at killing it, but she doesn't look sorry either. It needed doing. She moves to Jarek. "Are you all right?" she asks him quietly, flipping her visor up.

"I'm fine love, really I am. How about you?" He looks her up and down then smiles as his helmet folds away from his face. As the drake dies he nods, "It isn't very Saimhann, but each of you can pick a tooth to take and have etched to remember this day by." he looks over the rest of the group then nods to the team as it arrives and starts to work the grav-beds under the beast's body. It takes several of the men to lift-roll the dead weight onto the assortment of linked floating plates.

Canis is able to recover his weapon as the beast goes down under the onslaught of all of them attacking at once. He takes inventory of the others to make sure they are okay as it seems to be the case he is able to look back "Well done indeed everyone."

Victor hefts his axe again as the drake's tail twitches, but when it stills, he nods, lowering the bloodstained weapon. There are further spatters of blood across the front of his armor, and a neat arc of scraping lines of silver where the drake's teeth clamped down on his cuirass and skittered off again. "You get a single Hostie up against the five of us, I'm pretty sure it'd be on the scrap-heap even faster. Nice rush though." Digging into a compartment at his belt, he pulls out a cloth and begins to wipe his axe-blade down, "Way to stand in there, Sir Agnes. And watcha think of your first drake, Sir Canis?" At some point on the walk up to the canyon, he undoubtedly got the Ligonier's name.

"Is anyone hurt?" Agnes asks, looking around the mostly unscathed group in surprise. She points out her choice of tooth to the men loading the drake, and they note it to be cleaned and returned to her.

"Everyone's intact, looks like," Anabethe grins to Agnes, hitting the switch on her helmet to pull it back. "Good omen for a wedding hunt."

"Five on one is pretty favorable odds, but yes. It's a rather good sign I think, though I'm inclined to say it's more a sign of hope versus an omen of Their's." Jarek states, then smiles at everyone. "Well, lets get back and have those beers then." with a quick turn to Agnes, "And… before we leave the field, one thing you owe me from nine years ago." putting his hand to hers and stepping close, smiling.

He smiles within his helm as everyone seems in one piece even better. Canis turning to face the other as he's spoken to "It was an experience Sir Victor, I didn't expect the stealth I'll admit." he answers honestly "Congratulations once more My Lord and My Lady." he says over to the newly married couple.

"Yes, the rest of the mighty hunters should get back to the rest of the guests, and see about that beer," Agnes quips, linking her arm through Jarek's. "We have a wedding night ahead of us," she notes, arching a brow at her husband. At the note about being owed, she triggers her helmet to withdraw into her armor so she can kiss him thoroughly.

Victor tucks away the now-bloody cloth, then retracts the haft of his axe and clips it back to his belt. Reaching up, he removes his helmet and clips it to the back of his belt, responding to the inquiry with a simple, "I'm good." Popping the compartment at his thigh, he withdraws an unlabeled bottle of beer, "Oh, they're trickly fucks, Sir Canis. Predators through and through." He twists off the top of the bottle and immediately sucks down the foam as it starts to boil out of the neck. He gets most of it, releasing an 'aaaah' and then whistling sharply at the kiss.

"Get a room!" Anabethe calls laughingly at the kiss, heading toward Victor and holding out a hand for a beer. "Love," she sighs dramatically. "Gross."

Canis chuckles once more at the others words. "So I see, I believe i'll head back for a drink myself." he says smiling at the married couple though looks like they have things planned out. The young knight will turn back and begin the walk back.

After the kiss breaks off Jarek grins and blushes slightly, "Nine years waiting, well worth it." a chuckle before he tugs on her arm in the direction of the non-combatants group. He looks over the rest of them, "The Extraction team will take care of the rest, the settlement that's been nervous also needs most of what's provided by that drake, so they'll be getting first pick. Otherwise, we'll have some fresh slices to try if you'd like along with drinks and desserts."

Leading back to the group, Jarek hollers victoriously to the gathered and raises his hand in a sign of thanks to the Six before he turns to personally thank Anabethe, Victor, and Canis. After that, they're all set to travel back to the nearest settlement and then its a Waygate walk back to Spikka and the Drakholt.

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