The Hunt

Story so far

The AI gives The Hunt its first scoreboard: the hunt is on, and Hunters have already claimed over five hundred crawlers. More interestingly, she says, the crawlers are showing serious spunk — there have already been a record number of hunters killed this season, over fifty so far, so many that their families are starting to complain. Now that, she says, is showing some initiative.

The Recap Episode shows what those five hundred deaths look like: Vrah and four other mantis creatures swooping out of the air onto a wooded trail, decapitating a cartload of crawlers, looting the bodies while the show runs a rapid-fire list of the loot, and mounting the human heads on their carapaces.

And then the rules move. Because of public concern and outcry, and a court injunction the production says it fully supports — Quasar's work — hunters may no longer communicate directly with anyone outside the dungeon. The advantage that made them so efficient is gone overnight, the production is delighted at how angry it made them, and Carl and Princess Donut bump fist to paw over a hunt that has suddenly become much closer to fair.

Appearance

Manifests as aerial ambushes on jungle trails, looted bodies, and trophy heads displayed on television.

Role

The season's open season on crawlers, now half a thousand kills deep and materially weakened by an outside court injunction.

Relationships