HATARI HUNT

"The hunters say Hatari means 'danger' in some forgotten tongue. I've led twelve expeditions into those verdant depths, and each time we return with fewer souls. You can measure our journeys in blood, friend. Last season, we tracked a large Umbosu for three days, a magnificent beast, twice the size of any recorded specimen. Its bioluminescent hide painted the jungle in violet shadows as it moved. When we finally cornered it, the creature killed four of my best hunters and dozens of beaters before we brought it down. The venom sacs alone fetched enough to feed a settlement for months. But the true price? The nightmares that never fade. In Eden's jungles, you're never truly the hunter. The moment you step beneath that living canopy, you become prey in a game whose rules were written in the twisted strands of creation itself. Yet we return, again and again, drawn by the promise of one glorious hunt that might finally satisfy the hunger in our souls."

Marah the Scarred, Zul'khan of the Eastern Hatari,
Day 7 of The Green Fever, 124 AP

A Shikali, an apprentice hunter, has been sent out to recruit new beaters for a great Hatari Hunt.

The taverns of the countless fishing towns up and down them coast provide a near infinite pool of potential recruits, mostly fishers lured by the promise of making more Sukh on a single hunt than during months of fishing!

After only a few days of recruiting, a large army of beaters has been assembled, ready to embark on great hunt.

The hunt is organised and financed by a Zul'khan, a hardened, scarred master hunter. The Zul'khans are ambitious, fearless individuals who live to hunt. While many of them have accumulated great riches, most of them are driven by the thrill of the hunt and are unlikely to ever settle down.

The hunt begins!

Reborn hunters - known as Ba'athari - spread out to control and direct the packs of beaters and trackers.

Apprentice hunters, the Shikali, are deployed on the flanks of the hunt and near the centre, assisting the Zul'khan.

Beaters, known as the Shaytari, are sent into the jungle, using thin bamboo sticks to stir up the animals of the jungle. Most of them don't realise that they won't drive the beasts of the jungle in front of them - they are in fact merely the bait to draw the beasts out into the open .

Among the beaters are more experienced trackers, the Shadari. Armed with machetes, they can move quicker through the thick undergrowth and defend themselves should they run into any trouble.

Many beaters are lost to the dangers of the living jungle, falling prey to killer wasps...

...being eaten by giant flesh-eating plants...

...or hunted and taken away by hybrid creatures who themselves were once human.

The Zul'khan can sense that a beast is near and gets herself into an advantageous position.

A reborn hunter drives forward the freightened Shaytari beaters - some of them begin to suspect that they are not here to drive out a beast, but to lure one in...

Finally, the hunt stirs up a mighty Umbosu, the "Unseen Beast"!

The beater that has discovered the creature freezes with fear.

The Umbosu has detected her. From this moment, the unfortunate beater has moments left to live.

The Umbosu pounces on one beater after another, killing scores of them. But while the beast is distracted with its killing frenzy, it is encircled by hunters.