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Bodie fought the urge to start stroking his beard again as they were asigned into groups, and mentally ticked down his chances of survival a few notches. Let's see then: Ariadne... the one who always looked angry... probably figured being a sword would let her 'prove' something? He was never sure exactly what those types were out to prove, specifically, but generally it seemed to be that everyone else was inferior to them. That already made him nervous. So did the fact that the only other other man in the group was slight enough Bodie kind of wondered if he could pick the slight, blond man up and toss him like a spear. Otherwise it was all women, two of whom just looked a little... odd... especially the one who looked like a corpse someone had pulled out of a snow bank, with the white hair and the nearly blue skin. He liked to think he was pretty open to the appearance of most women, but she almost literally gave him chills, and he made a mental note that he'd prefer not to have her touch him, in case the way she looked proved true and she actually sucked the precious warmth out of everyone she and those bright green eyes got near. The curves were easy enough on the eyes but she was just... that just wasn't right.

Hoping to make conversation with a fellow sword at least, even an terminally angry one, he lightly nudged Ariadne and noted: "Well this'll be as much fun as a frostbitten a**...."

Lovely, Ariadne had enough time to think, bitterly. She was the shortest one in her group. This wasn't an unusual occurrence for her, obviously, but it just seemed like an unnecessary insult on fate's part when she was already feeling well out of her depth.

A nudge drew her out of her thoughts, and she glanced at the man beside her. One of the other Swords; the other Sword in her group. Her expression didn't appear to change, but she gave a nod. "If that's the greatest misfortune we face on this venture, I'll count myself among the luckiest women alive." Ariadne started moving toward the other members of their team, turning to Bodie as she did. "These civilians look no younger than me. Might be older. And I'm aware that I don't have a very commanding presence," her brow drew together again, "I don't know that they'll listen to me. You, however, are the eldest among us: I think that alone ought to get them to respect you.

"I won't ask you to take the reigns, and I swear I have no interest in shirking any leadership responsibilities, but it may be best if it appears that you are in charge?"

Madelgarde came to attention and nodded once at her assignment, speaking a curt, "Sir," in acknowledgement even though she had her doubts that Thomas would be able to hear her. She felt better being paired with a Silver Cloak, not because she lacked trust in her own abilities, but because there would be no question as to who would be leading. Second in command was a comfortable spot for the firefighter.

The two civilians, Ritmos and Skyla, were both hunters, as well. Others who had spent time outside the walls. She wondered at the wrappings of the woman in white, but was not about to question - Madelgarde felt no particular need to pry. Perhaps better to know why she claimed not to be afraid of the woods, as the Sword believed a healthy amount of reasonable fear was best for survival. But as long as everyone acted according to their proper place, then she figured the group would work well.

When the call came for questions, Madelgarde took a deep breath and spoke out to inquire, "Do we know the exact number of missing hunters, sir? How many people are we looking for?"

“We’re looking for roughly a Dozen Hunters forest willing.” Nodded Locke, his shoulders straitened and he drew himself up to full height to address the crowd once more. He rather suited the tree motif stitched in silver thread over the back of the soft grey cloak he wore. “We do hope to find all of them alive being as they are, of all of us, some of the most familiar with the many dangers of the Black Wood, but that failing we hope to find their bodies so that we can report to their families that they are beyond the Black Wood’s reach.”


----



Ever earned himself a scowl for his remark. Zac of course did not feel he was a ‘useless’ addition to the party, though he would have had to admit he was more than a little leery about it nonetheless. Still, it wasn’t strictly his idea, his father had a great many things to say about the ‘value’ of contributing to the City this way despite being ‘strangely’ unwilling to participate himself. He’d sighted the ‘sickness’ that had Zachariah out visiting the local herbalists as a fine reason why he simply couldn’t go and that his son would have to uphold the family honor instead.

“No, I’m not trying to get killed, hopefully NONE of us will be killed no mater how poorly ‘some’ of us happen to ride.” He tried to sound lofty and dignified but it just came out as a bit petulant, even in his own opinion.

“I’m not trying to get either of us killed and it wasn’t as though I knew I’d be assigned to a party with you.” He hissed after a moment.

So be it, then -- separated into groups and all questions apparently asked, Rosalie nodded her approval and raised her voice so the rest of them could hear. This was, in fact, important, so she also twisted in place, making sure she could see everyone's faces as she spoke.

"Yes! We're looking for about a dozen missing hunters; I think the number is fourteen, to give you an idea of how serious this is." She raised her eyebrows at the bold sword for a moment, taking two steps farther back so they could all see her.

"It's time for you all to get supplied; the Swords know their way to their packages, their maps, and can take you with them. I expect everyone on the road and well into the forest within an hour's time."

With this she clapped, the noise ringing out in obvious dismissal, and from here things will progress exactly as she suggested -- hopefully. Perhaps a bit less orderly than she would have liked, the new recruits leading their civilian counter parts to the supply tent to pick up packages.

Each one contains a map of the woods deemed 'safe', rough, with their portion marked out, as well as a backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint & steel, hooded lantern with three pints of Oil, trail rations for seven days, waterskin, whetstone, 10 feet of rope, a bundle of bandages and a small copper pot. Each group will also get one horn amongst the four or five of them to signal should they find the missing hunters.

Anything else they'd like to take with them, whether it be more medicine or weaponry, hunting supplies or anything else, will be on their heads and out of their pockets.

No time to dally. From here, it is away into the woods.

______________

OOC:

And this ends the 'big group' portion of our Meta! You will now be trickling down into your smaller groups for some free RP on your way into the woods! Prompts and threads can be found in The Blackwood subforum, which is now open for posting for Meta RPs.

Group Threads:

Group One - Bodie, Ariadne, Kita, Kodi, Tristan
Group Two - Florian, Mechthild, Ever, Zac
Group Three - Widburg, Saxan, Ayle, Aoife, Solveig
Group Four - Locke, Madelgarde, Skyla, Ritmos
Group Five - Rosalie, Devlin, Lytka, Ulrich

And a final mention -- whatever you RP, please RP! The more active your group is, the more likely something interesting and exciting will happen in your thread...