The Egg hunt

This is the journal of Javiden of Incaras, Knight of the Griffin Rider order of Incaras and registered Hunter of the Hunter's guild. These are my notes of the mystery region which the inhabitants call Hakat.

The Hakaskaziu young prove adulthood with a hunt for the giant eggs of the Rocs and Thunderbirds of the mountains, or venture into the Hakat to find and bring back an egg of the Sand Dragon.  This is not a solitary venture as it requires at least three to carry the eggs - even with the nets used in the hunt.  The test is one of courage,  skill, wits and judgement.  It is also essential to reaching the adult stage of life for nonbrooders.

I was an honored guest for one of these feasts. Most was not edible to human or most other kinds. Great care had to be taken in partaking and some things needed additional fire and cooking. They ate from my rations without concern or ill effect.

Execution

Execution is simple: teams of pre-adults set out to capture an egg from one of the giant birds, or Sand Dragons.  The nests are ferociously guarded with only limited times they are left un attended. Any way that a team can retrieve an egg counts.  Upon returning home with the prize there is a great feast and celebration.  Or mourning of losses.
The triumphant team will be carried to the nest center. The various colonies of the nest settlement prepare a great feast of cooked egg, or incubating Roc, Thunderbird or Sand Dragon, and other foods.  The Hakaskaziu are indiscriminate eaters of raw, cooked, fermented or even rotten meats and plant material. Their sense of "taste" and "smell" is via the antennae.  The meat or substance of the eggs, and the shell, seem to be needed to reach final adult stage. This occurs with a moulting  the next day after the celebratory feast.  Adults, brooder as well as males and females, are unaffected by the feast.