Hunter Pressure

**Hunter Pressure** is the 10th Oxventure episode of Season 2 and the 22nd episode overall, in which the Oxventure crew must escape a hunter group.

## Synopsis

It should have been a simple errand to the post office. Then the heroic instincts of (some of) Team Oxventure land them in a deadly trap. Who are these hunters? What do they want? Is it to hunt? It's probably to hunt.

## Summary

Some point after the adventure in Little Avery, the Guild receive a Blood Raven from Bismuth, telling Corazón that she has found an estate agent interested in selling Necropolis Manor, and he should head to Barrowmere to send a message letting her know where they are back to her so they can begin preparations. The Blood Raven then explodes, soiling Corazón's new hat. Once they arrive in town, they head to the post office to send a Blood Raven, and join a surprisingly long queue. While they wait, they suddenly hear a woman calling out for help. Corazón and Prudence aren't that bothered, but Dob, Merilwen and Egbert go investigate, but only after they get "cutsies", much to the annoyance of the other people in the queue. Corazón stays in the queue to make sure Prudence doesn't cancel the sale of the house.

Dob, Merilwen and Egbert arrive in a courtyard and see girl tied to a stake in a long flowing dress. Dob sees nothing wrong with this, and goes to rescue her, while Merilwen and Egbert wait to see what happens. Before Dob can save her, the girl yell "Now!" and the entire floor of the courtyard opens up, sending all three of them down into dungeon. Dob lands on Merilwen, knocking her out, and Egbert lands on Dob, knocking him out. Egbert is amazed he's alright, before being knocked out with a blowpipe.

Meanwhile, Corazón and Prudence have reached the front of the line. Corazón buys 600 lottery tickets and one of every post stamp, while also buying a Blood Vulture to send to Necropolis on Sea. At a cost of 1 silver per word and a 3 word minimum message, Corazón simply writes "I'm in Barrowmere" to save money. With the Blood Vulture sent off, Corazón considers this a successful venture. They soon hear the calls for help start up again, much to their annoyance. They decide to show-up Dob, Merilwen and Egbert by doing the task they failed. They arrive at the courtyard and are immediately suspicious of the whole thing. Prudence casts Detect Magic and spots a man up in the corner of the courtyard with magical abilities. Corazón checks for traps and realizes that the whole courtyard is one big trap.

Corazón shares his findings with Prudence, who points out the man in the corner. Corazón looks for the man with his spyglass, and sees the man signal the trap to be activated. The floor beneath them opens again. Corazón casts Feather Fall on him and Prudence and fires his crossbow at the man, but he misses. The two are then shot with sleeping darts as they fall until they resemble pin cushions and are asleep.

They all wake up in a large dungeon cell, and notice that a man is outside their cell, twirling in his hands the bolt Corazón shot at him. The man promises in a threatening way that Corazón will get his bolt back eventually. Corazón reaches for his crossbow to shoot him, but realizes that they are all unarmed. Then man introduces himself as Rodrigo Bellfort, before summoning a group of people into the dungeon. Rodrigo tell them that he is throwing a party, and Dob immediately agrees to burst out of a cake. Rodrigo is delighted by this request, and states that it will make an interesting start... to the startline. The people Rodrigo summoned soon arrive. They are a Tiefling Ranger named Niamh, a Goliath named Orbo, a Human Fighter named Furio, and a High Elf Barbarian named Aisling.

Orbo points to Corazón and comments on how scrawny he is, which causes Corazón to take his shirt off and start flexing out of fury, which gets the attention of Aisling. Dob introduces himself to the group, and Furio says he can't wait to hunt them. Egbert comments that he mentioned a situation like this in a previous adventure, to which everyone apologizes for not believing him. Corazón puts his shirt back on, trying to seem too weak to hunt, but Orbo has already claimed him, as has Aisling in a way.

Rodrigo then explains that tomorrow they will be released outside of Barrowmere with their gear, and once they spring from their cakes, they shall be hunted by the four people they see before them. Corazón asks what would happen if they won instead of his clients, and Rodrigo responds that he'd be angry, as then the Guild would owe him money. Rodrigo explains that he used to hire people to be hunted, he would then pay their relatives when they die. But this resulted in the hunted participants deliberately failing, so their families could be rich. As such, Rodrigo hired his niece, Marie, to act as a damsel in destress to find though who were willing to risk their lives to save someone.

Before he leaves, Rodrigo asks two questions. The first is a two parter, why is their seal so angry and is do they want them to hold onto him for them, to which Egbert says he'll take him with him. The second is regarding a map, one that says "X marks the lake", which Corazón tries to pass off as a picnic blanket, despite Dob answering the question honestly. Prudence then offers to pay Rodrigo double what he has already been paid, but Rodrigo prefers the prospect of repeat business from the other four. Besides, Orbo has already claimed Corazón, so he would just hunt him forever if they left now, Corazón then grabs Rodrigo through the cell bars, considers biting his face, but lets him go when he realises he doesn't want to go down that path. Rodrigo isn't threatened by this, as he isn't wearing his fanciest jacket, and leaves with the others, with both Orbo and Aisling stating they'll see Corazón later.

The guild is then given a last meal request. Egbert orders some scotch eggs, as he heard that Seal was eating all of them, Prudence orders cigarettes, black coffee and hatred, Dob orders paella, Merilwen orders salmon in various forms, one for each of her animal forms, and Corazón orders a marlin, which Corazón plans to use the fish bones to make into a lockpick. As they watch Corazón dig through his fish, they hear catch another prisoner. Dob casts Message and talk to Marie, congratulating her performance. says that she doesn't get this kind of praise from Rodrigo, and that he calls her piglet, because she's hammy, and that she hasn't been paid for three summers. Dob then invites her to come down to the dungeon so they can talk about ways they can confront Rodrigo about her concerns with the operation, but doesn't know how much Dob can help her, considering he's going to die. Prudence then hijacks the call and warns Marie that she's going to die last.

After all that, and after spending most of the night awake, Corazón manages to pick the lock with the fish bones in the early hours of the morning. The Guild find a chest, which Corazón tells Egbert to open in case it's boobytrapped, and they find all their weapons and equipment in it, including Seal Gaiman. Egbert tells Seal that they're all going to die tomorrow, but Corazón points out that they don't need to die tomorrow, because they're escaping. After a surprisingly long time to convince Egbert and Dob to escape, Merilwen suggests that they kill their kidnappers in their sleep. The Guild then sneak through the dungeon, where Dob is grabbed by a man in one of the other cells. He is greeted by a haggard face, with a very unkempt beard, who Dob recognises as Robin, the owner of a tavern called the Red Breast he was friends with when he was a travelling Bard. Merilwen is horrified by Robin's appearance, as it must mean he was caught ages ago, but Robin says he was only caught last night.

Dob casts Heat Metal to melt the bars, during which Robin and Dob catch up, with Dob learning that Robin's daughter is getting married. Corazón gets bored and starts rattling his sword against the bars. Eventually, the boredom gets too much for Corazón, and he decides to scout ahead. He finds a parlour with breakfast being set, as well as the cakes that Dob inadvertently suggested. When Robin is finally freed, Dob gives Robin his own weapons, keeping his lute and his hammer, Egbert gives him a scotch egg, and Corazón before running up the stairs.

The group then walks past the chefs, with Corazón telling them not to alert anyone or they'll kill them. The head chef agrees, on the condition that they don't hurt his cakes. Prudence then punches one of the cakes, causing the head chef to order one of the other chefs to sound the alarm. Corazón tries to stop him, but Merilwen shoots him an arrow, much to Corazón's shock and Prudence's delight. Robin is shocked that Dob has surrounded himself with people like this, and Dob can't bare to look him in the eye. Despite his initial shock and disapproving lecture to Merilwen, Corazón uses the chef's death as a warning to the other chefs to not sound the alarm.

The group then comes to two grand staircases, which they all assume leads to the bedrooms, where the potential hunters and Rodrigo are sleeping. Corazón reminds the Guild that Orbo has claimed him and will hunt him forever, so he suggest that they kill Orbo in his sleep, to which Prudence suggests they add Niamh to the kill list. When the plan suddenly becomes killing all the would be hunters in their sleep, Corazón changes his mind about it, and Dob and Egbert interject. Robin is horrified by the people Dob has surrounded himself with, but admits that it makes the most sense to kill them when they're least expecting it, or set up some traps. With the group agreeing on a plan, Dob and Robin begin to set up some traps while the others go to kill the sleeping hunters.

Team "kill them in their sleep" sneak up the stairs, with Prudence nearly waking up Orbo by singing about how she's sneaking, which tips them off on which room Orbo is in. They spot a pair of grand doors, which they assume leads to Rodrigo's room. Prudence asks if they should kill Rodrigo first, but Merilwen says she wants him to see his world collapse, which prompts Prudence to give her a hug. Meanwhile, Dob and Robin are setting up traps. Dob suggest Robin hides in a corner and stab whoever comes passed, but Robin isn't okay with that, which prompts Dob to ask for his weapons back. The two then split up, with Dob hanging from the room's chandelier, ready to cut it and send it crashing down, and Robin holding up a giant elastic harp from behind a statue, ready to drop it on someone.

Egbert sneaks into Orbo's room, and finds that the floor is covered with beer bottles, except for the area where the door swings open. Egbert, not wanting to actually kill him, decides to tie Orbo to the bed and chuck his warhammer out the window. Unfortunately, he slips on one of the bottles and crashes to the floor, waking Orbo up. Egbert claims he is room service, but Orbo doesn't believe him, and prepares to smash him with his warhammer. Dob hears this and summersaults off the chandelier, into Orbo's room, and shoulder barges him out the window. Dob then glares at the others, only to have his rage be replaces by shame as he hears Orbo's body hit the courtyard's trapdoor, break through it, and then a wet impact noise. Dob then says that it's alright, as he could have theoretically defended himself. Corazón and the rest of the Guild enters the room and claims that they changed their minds and they weren't going to kill him, which makes Dob consider jumping out the window.

The noise wakes up the other hunters, and Merilwen pretends to be Orbo and says that he had a bad dream. Aisling and Furio go back to bed, but Rodrigo and Niamh go to investigate the noise. Corazón then gives Merilwen a bucket full of Orbo's pee and tells her to use Poison Spray on it, which turns the pee into acid. Merilwen then wipes her hand on Corazón's jacket and asks Dob to cast Prestidigitation on her hand. Corazón then cracks the door open and places the bucket on the door frame, uses his best Orbo impression to tell Niamh and Rodrigo to wait a moment. Everyone hides in the room. Corazón hides in the en suite, Prudence hides climbs on the wardrobe, Merilwen hides in the corner with her bow drawn, and Egbert pretends to be some taxidermy.

Corazón then orders them to come in, and the acid bucket dumps all over them. Dob then laughs at them in his best Orbo voice, which then tips them off that Orbo isn't there. Dob then casts Thunderwave out of frustration, which fries Niamh, but it also accidentally fries Egbert too. Rodrigo tries to fire Ice Dagger at Egbert, but he misses. Merilwen then make a pun on the phrase "grin and bear it", and casts Wild Shape to turn into a bear. Bearilwen then attacks Niamh, who then crumples to the floor. Corazón decides to try the one thing Dob didn't try to do: Reason with them.

Corazón argues that clearly things aren't going Rodrigo's way, and orders him to abandon this whole hunting organisation. Rodrigo agrees to Corazón's demands, but as soon as Corazón mentions that they destroyed the cakes, Niamh tries to use her Hellish Rebuke, which only manages to light a fire on Bearilwen's nose. Seeing this, Prudence decides to mercy kill Niamh by preforming an Agonizing Blast, using one beam on Niamh and the second one as a warning shot, to make sure Rodrigo doesn't go back on their deal. Niamh is blasted across the room, she tries to do another Hellish Rebuke, but as she dies she flips Prudence off instead. Egbert then eats two scotch eggs to heal his wounds, before preforming a suplex on Rodrigo, who emphasises the fact that he already surrendered.

Robin then comes to investigate the noises, and chokes on the smell of the acid urine. Furio and Aisling arrive, and immediately begin fighting over Corazón, albeit for different reasons, before they fall down the stairs. Merilwen then turns back into her Elf self and casts Moonbeam on the courtyard to make sure it can't be used again, which cremates Orbo. True to his word, Rodrigo agrees to stop hunting people and also frees Marie of her contract, who now ironically needs saving, due to the courtyard being destroyed. Dob then goes to rescue Marie, as Corazón gives Rodrigo his Raven number to pass on to Aisling. After Dob rescues Marie, Dob proclaims that she will sing at Robin's daughter's wedding, and they all rush off to amend it.

During the reception, Dob tells the story of their adventure, which causes the other guests to glare at the other Guild mates. Marie goes to sing, and she is so bad that she is run out of town. Due to this, the wedding atmosphere is ruined, and the Guild give the marriage about a year.

## Trivia

* The title "Hunter Pressure" is a pun on the song "Under Pressure" by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie.