Hunt of Vine and Scale.

How the season unfolds

Each beat scaffolds into a real scene + shot when you start the project. Edit, rearrange, or drop any of them as you write.

1. S0101
   The Rookery Before Dawn

   Ariya mucks out the nesting bowl at first light while Tanek watches. On the ridge above them, something bronze and crested stands between the trunks and does not run.

   Cliffhanger

   Tanek: 'Don't look at it.' Ariya: 'It's looking at me.'

   hvs loc rookery3 cast
2. S0202
   Nobody Rides the Alpha

   Ariya asks to stand for the alpha at the bonding circle. Raha refuses her and sends Mila onto the clay instead.

   Cliffhanger

   The alpha circles Mila twice, then puts her on her back. Blood on the swept clay.

   hvs loc bonding circle4 cast
3. S0303
   The Snare Line

   Scouting the game trail, Ariya finds poacher wire strung at knee height and a yearling raptor caught above the hock, half-dead from pulling.

   Cliffhanger

   She cuts it loose — and realises something has been standing behind her the whole time.

   hvs loc snare corridor2 cast
4. S0404
   What the Alpha Wants

   Alone in the understory, Ariya doesn't reach for the alpha and doesn't run. She turns her palm up and waits it out.

   Cliffhanger

   It lowers its head and puts the scarred side of its muzzle into her open hand.

   hvs loc understory thicket2 cast
5. S0505
   Proof

   Ariya rides the alpha into the longhouse clearing at dusk, bareback, one hand in its crest. The clan stops eating.

   Cliffhanger

   Nara: 'There was no rite. It is a favour, not a bond. Favours end.'

   hvs loc clan longhouse4 cast
6. S0606
   Smoke on the Ridge

   On the night walkways Ariya smells kerosene. Every animal in the rookery below lifts its head in the same direction at the same moment.

   Cliffhanger

   A spark runs up a vine like a fuse. The first tree goes up.

   hvs loc canopy walkways3 cast
7. S0707
   Run the Nests

   Fire in the crowns and smoke coming down instead of up. The clan empties the rookery by hand while Mila's mount panics and bolts.

   Cliffhanger

   Nine eggs in the far bowl, a wall of flame between. Raha calls it: 'It's gone.'

   hvs loc fire front4 cast
8. S0808
   Ride or Lose Them

   At dawn the alpha walks out of the burn with Ariya on its back and nine warm eggs slung across her chest.

   Cliffhanger

   Behind the clan, at the longhouse, Oren lifts a rifle. 'That animal is mine now.'

   hvs loc burn scar4 cast