Aporeu chronicles Issue 51: Monster hunting for fun and profit 2: the quickening
Stories from the adventurers
This week
Some good olf fashioned monster hunting.Monster hunting for fun and profit 2: the quickening by Ulfgar
Together with Jade, Gerolt, Thamior, Kaaravic and Kalesh I signed up for another mission to go monster hunting on Jurassea, through the gate. I had been there once before which was great fun. This time we would be paid in gold, rather than in potions as Lornan told us. As the Gate opened I ran through, and the others followed with varying levels of enthusiasm. We arrived in a familiar campsite in the jungle, on a humid world. We met up with Felicia, the tiny tabaxi I had met before, who whistled summoning a huge flying wyvern with some wooden contraption beneath it on which we could travel. It was quite a squeeze to get all of us on board as Kaaravic had brought along a pair of Worgs, big ass wolves. However, we did manage it and soon made our way to the city of Astera. Astera turned out to be a massive sparkling city on different levels. There we were met by Phann, the half-elf who had such a bad mood last time but not this time! He led us around, we did some shopping for the hunting trip and ate a magnificent meal. Then we were again given tranquilizing knives and traps, more manageable traps then last time, and were sent on our way under another wyvern for a 40 minute flight to a hunting campsite. A pair of hunters were there but rather then waiting for us to get off they called smaller wing drakes to fly back to Astera. We made our way into the desert and soon came upon a cave where a big creature looking like a half-armored giant wolverine with spiked forearms came walking out. After a swift fight the creature tried to flee, but was taken down with one of the sleep knives and put into a trap. Then some form of fireball shooting device was used to call a cart with more little tabaxi (It seems they were called Palicos) who loaded the monster on the cart, recharged the fireball device and then left again. As we continued our trek we encountered 4 smaller creatures, who seemed to be aggravated by us and attacked. This became a fun fight, although one of them did take out one of the Worgs, which Kaaravic did not like. They looked like smaller beasties with heavy armor plating, especially on their head. They sure liked to rush at people giving them headbuts. One of them was revived and trapped, and we had it retrieved again. We then went on further to a watering hole we saw on the map. There we found a solitary monster caked in mud. The monster, walking on its hind legs and again with heavy scaly armor attacked us, and shook all the mud from his skin, causing us to get stuck. However, after we wrestled free from the mud we quite easily took care of him, and I ended up taking it down with one of those silly sleep knives. Silly but effective. After that creature was collected as well we went back to Astera, and after handling things with Phann and again handing in the traps and knives, went back through the gate and home.Monster hunting for fun and profit 2: the quickening by Jade
Monster hunting in the desert The adventures of The Catlady Both Gerolt and me had been at home for far too long, and we had been involved with weird stuff on the missions with Wentel, having to try to figure out what they were up to and all. This time we wanted to do something easy, so we picked the monster hunting mission that required us to go to the world Jurassea. We go see Lornan about this and we see that Ulfgar, Vicky (Kaaravic for the people who don’t know Vicky the Spidy) and Thamior are also interested. Thamior is looking moody but good wearing his new red scaled armor and holding a white moon sickle staff. I hadn’t had an option to see him yet since he rescued me, so I was glad to see him. We were also joined by Kalesh, a centaur! This is the first time I actually saw one, but obviously I have read about them in my time in the library at home. He is super nice and I could relate a lot to the comments about him being a horse, as people call me a cat even though we both clearly aren’t. Lornan explains that another expedition went out to Jurassea recently as well, and they returned the same day. From that mission both Viktor and Noaz got promoted to gold tier, which got Gerolt and me motivated to gain that as well after this. We would get rewarded in gold, which is not something I need, but I don’t mind it either. After all, I’m looking for a new teacher. Oh right! Spark! I finished learning Orcish! Don’t you think that’s cool? So now I have time to learn another language, or maybe get more skilled with my whip or longbow. Ah so many choices! Well anyway, back to the monster hunting. After pushing Gerolt through the gate, we arrive at a location where we are welcomed by the tiniest Tabaxi I have ever seen. I swear Spark, they are probably not even half the size of Dew on the Grass! Crazy right?! Anyway, she was totally adorable but she wouldn’t let me hug her, but I did pet her head. Which was probably as soft as my own fur. She is called Felicia and I love her, no one can tell me anything else. So when she told us what the mission was about, and that we needed to go to Astera (apparently this was the big city they live in), I thought I couldn’t get more surprised after seeing her. But of course, I was wrong. They have big wyverns there, tamed, to bring them around in baskets. Can you imagine wyverns or even dragons flying around at home? Just to get you to some other city? Wouldn’t that have been way better than all those scouting expeditions we need to do before we leave? Ah, I need to find out how they do it. I’ll get back to you about it when I do. Also, Vicky got some new pets, but apparently they aren’t tamed. So I don’t know what to call them then,.. they listen but they don’t? So are they pets or not? I really don’t know. Anyway, those big ass wolves needed to fit in the basket too, and I really didn’t trust that, so I stayed as far away from them as possible. I did get to use some cool goggles from Vicky and a book, which allowed me to read suuuuper fast in this book about battlefield tactics. When we arrive in the city we have decided that we would go see the desert, as that is the same difficulty as the snowy mountains the previous expedition went to. I was not looking forward to the amount of sand I would be bringing home, but I wanted to gain my gold tier badge, so I swallowed my complaints. We hopped into a shop, while breakfast was prepared for us, and this apparently takes forever when you’re not called Gerolt or Jade. We both got ourselves a white cloak, so we wouldn’t dry out from the heat, while the others were debating for a good hour if they needed extra waterskins or more armor or more weapons. I’m glad Gerolt and I already sorted those things out before we left. Why would you leave home without enough weapons or armor? That sounds really dumb. I probably should’ve asked for Vicks book again at this point, but I forgot. During this ridiculous long shopping, we all also got traps and magical sleeping daggers. They explain the use of these daggers will put the monsters asleep when they are quite badly hurt, so that we can then use the traps to capture them. With a flare gun we are then supposed to call out for the transport carts, somehow driven by those same tiny Tabaxi kind as Felicia but these are apparently called Palicos. When we finally leave the shop and my stomach is hungry for some good breakfast, my wishes are heard by Lathander and these magical tiny kitty cats, serve us an amazing breakfast. I have never seen Gerolt so happy with food before, and I stuffed the leftovers in my bag of holding. That gave us another day on free food by the way. Thanks Felicia and kitten crew! After this amazing meal, we are taken away again by the wyvern express to the desert and we set out hunting. It doesn’t really matter what we capture, it has to be twice my size at least and that’s all that they care about. So after awhile of walking around, we find this cave that some weird fanged beast comes walking out of. There are some dangerous looking spikes on its legs and back but it doesn’t scare us. We see each other at the same time, so the fighting immediately starts. Without a second to wait, I aim and hit it hard with an arrow in his side. Kalesh follows up with a second arrow that on impact seems to be forming some vines at its feet. Thamior his hands swirl around, forming some whips with thorns from the ground and pulls it close to Vicky, who is riding one of his worgs. I had no clue what they were called, to me they are just big ugly looking wolves. Now the monster, later revealed to be called an Arzuros, attacks Vicky first, but then lashes out at the worg and Thamior too! But because of these attacks Gerolt sees an opening to hit him with a neatly aimed dart. Unfortunately Ulfgar doesn’t seem to be able to do that with his “bowgun”, some weird bow he got from here before. I try to get a better angle on the creature, without being too close, and I hit it again with an arrow. Again Kalesh follows up with a second arrow, perfectly hitting him too. Thamiors features seem to transform in less then a second into those of a bear. It still looks really painful and not easy to do, but he doesn’t seem bothered by it at all. In his bear form he claws at the spiked monster, but he misses. Because I took a new position, the creature now has a clear sight at me and charges at me. While he charges at me, Thamior tries to strike again but fails. When the Arzuros gets close, he suddenly runs sideways as he notices an escape route. This gives me an opportunity and in reflex my claws reveal and slash at his back. In his run he also passes Kalesh, who kicks him hard with his hind legs. With him now being far away, Vicky casts something on a stone, making it very shiny and the rock hits the creature hard on its back. Gerolt yells out we should start using the sleep daggers now and I agree. He perfectly hits his dagger, Ulfgar seem to be out of luck and misses his. Then my sleep dagger flies right at its neck, putting it sound asleep. This didn’t seem too much of a trouble, and I actually enjoyed it a lot. So without a second to waste, the rest of the group puts a trap over him while I use the flare gun to summon the kitty cats on carts. After this creature, we decided we should probably have a better frontline and have me stay closer to Gerolt. When we were moving around as a unit we spot 4 rock like creatures. They aren’t that big, not as big as the last one, but they seem very sturdy and fast. Really it feels very,… primal I want to say. Like you would add rocks on plates and put those on a bull that is charging at you. They react really fast, and one charges up at the worg Vicky is riding. With one bash of its rocky spiked face in the soft side belly of the worg, it falls dead to the ground. I can see the pain and hurt on Vick’s face, but he also worriedly looks over at the other worg, who seems to be restless. Even though this is a rough start, I don’t hesitate and glare at the creature, trying to figure out if there is any weak spots he reveals in his movement. But the death of the worg caught me too much off guard, so I send my arrow flying without finding a weak spot. It does hit, but not as hard as I want it to. Ulfgar doesn’t hesitate either and runs up to the one next to the worg, and hits it hard with his Warhammer.
Gerolt unfortunately misses, and Thamior becomes a bear again and runs up to the other 3 at the back but misses as well. The horrible rock monsters immediately starts headbutting Thamior and he gets hurt badly. They seem to do some sort of charging attack which makes it hurt a lot more than normal. Kalesh also seems upset by the start of this fight, and misses his arrow. I can’t really blame anyone, this is such a tough start. I especially feel bad for Vick. Although I do think you shouldn’t bring pets on a mission. Wait,… was it a pet or wasn’t it a pet? I don’t know…
If this wasn’t bad enough already, the second worg now charges at Vicky and attacks him! Vicky gets hurt and then in anger transforms into an octopus?! I have no clue why, but where Thamior always seems to be a bear, Vicky can be all these fancy other creatures too.
My attention goes back to Thamior, who now got hurt again and transforms back into his normal elven form. Which seems really dangerous for him. I try to help out by shooting at one of those three, but I miss. Ulfgar is standing next to Gerolt in front of me, and a second one comes charging up to Ulfgar. I still don’t know what exactly happens when Ulfgar hits them, but the tattoos from his arms seem to light up and form ghost like spirits around himself and the enemy that is attacking him. It looks really cool, I just have no idea why it happens or what it does. Both Ulfgar and Gerolt hit the first one that had ran up to them, and it’s not looking happy. Gerolt seems to be very concerned about Thamior, just like me, and yells out to him. “Thamior why are you up there alone?!” While most are probably paying attention to Thamior, I notice some sunlight reflecting off the shield Gerolt is holding and striking Thamior. Quickly Thamior becomes a bear for a second time and manages to bite and claw at one really hard. I don’t know what Gerolt did, but it must have helped.
Now Kalesh is picking up as well and rapid fires two arrows at the ones harassing Thamior, hitting only one but hard. The tentacles from Vicky the octopus wrap themselves over Gerolt to hit the one that had killed his beloved pet, and he whacks it to its death.
While we all feel powerless, Thamior is still keeping two of these horrible monsters busy and gets hurt so badly that his bear form drops again. With no second to lose, I shoot another arrow at the one next to him, hitting hit hard. One of the monsters in front of Ulfgar turns around and wants to charge at Thamior, but with an amazing strike from Ulfgar it gets locked in place. When the monster wants to attack Ulfgar in its anger, Gerolt quickly places his shield in between and prevents Ulfgar from getting hurt. When the attack gets blocked, Gerolt creates an opening for himself and runs up to Thamior to defend him from the two monsters charging at him. Gerolt quickly hits one, but it still refuses to go down. It turns around, running away to charge, and then something seems to have hurt him from the inside as it drops dead to the floor.
Kalesh seems to be grinning at this view, and moves around to line up another shot. Unfortunately he misses the shot at the charging creatures.
Vicky is still getting bashed by his own worg, and is knocked down on the floor as an octopus. Would you call it an octo-push then? Oh, right, we decided to call him Squishy Vicky when he is in his octopus form.
The last one that is next to Thamior runs away, creating a nice opening for Thamior to strike at it with his staff, before it charges back at him. Gerolt jumps in between and a huge dent is created in the shield by the monster, he is groaning in pain. I desperately try to help, but now also my aim is off and I miss my arrow. The one next to Ulfgar sees an opening again at Thamior and tries to run away, but Ulfgar his reflexes are fast and with a firm attack he keeps it in place. Quickly following up with a second attack it goes down to the floor. Gerolt and Thamior are both trying to kill the last one standing, but Thamior misses. Luckily Kalesh sees how badly Thamior is doing, and with one precise shot he takes down the last one.
Squishy Vicky is getting hit by his other worg still, and has to use one of his sleeping daggers to put it down as well. When he then drops his form, he also stabilizes the one monster that murdered his worg.
I really didn’t like these monsters, called Rhenoplos, at all. Vicky is obviously moody and wants the carts to bring his worgs back too, but they normally don’t do such a thing. We decide to chop up two of the creatures and put them into my bag so we can have some craftsman at Arnheim work on shields and armor from them. Then after that I use the flare gun, and when the tiny Tabaxi appear I walk up to them. With an unapproving glare from Gerolt, I convince them with a little extra money and beauty that they should take the worgs with them, and that we want them back later on. I think I did a really nice thing here for Vicky to be honest. He doesn’t even realize the headache that comes after these type of conversations! Ah well, he is a friend, friends help each other.
We are debating if we should continue or not, but because we were told that the previous mission returned with three creatures, Gerolt and I don’t really want to perform less than they do. Of course I try to convince the rest that it’s so we keep the reputation from the guild high, but deep in my heart I know better. I wasn’t going to lose to that lying piece of… You know who Spark. You know.
We decide to take a short rest, so people can heal up, and it also affects the animal forms from Thamior and Vicky apparently. When we are all ready, we leave again, determined to catch another.
So we head deeper into the desert, and just when I was about to point out that there might be some creature next to water, a muddy pile starts moving in a nearby pond. We are still all closely grouped together, not wanting to get picked off like last time. This creature barely seem to have any eyes, and has a similar skin as the Rhenoplos. Later on we were told this creature was called a Barroth. I don’t like ‘em alright? Not one bit. I thought the sand was going to be bad, but this guy made it ten times worse! It took me about 3 hrs at home to get it all off me, and another 2 hrs to get my clothes and gear cleaned! No dessert for me for awhile.
Anyway! The fight starts with the Barroth attacking Ulfgar, but Gerolt manages to push his shield in between again, like a true hero never failing to save his friends. With a second attack from his tail, the Barroth attacks Gerolt now. It hits and then when it wants to turn away Ulfgar keeps it in place with a good timed attack at his legs. The burning sun is already warm and heating up each battle, but the sun seems to reflect extra from Gerolts shield as his eyes are locked on the enemy. I don’t know what he asked Lathander to do this time for him, but I am sure that Lathander is watching over us. We are going to make it through. I’m trying to figure out how this specific creature is attacking, but I can’t seem to figure it out, and when I try my new magical whip out on this guy, it also fails. Okay I also almost hit Gerolt with it instead, but I managed to prevent that! Don’t tell him, he doesn’t need to know okay? Shush!
Kalesh tries to shoot at it, but also that seems to just bounce off his natural armor. Thamior is again transforming into a bear in less then a second, but also his bite and claw attacks seem to be unable to penetrate this muddy thick armor. Just as I am about to wonder if the muddy layer on its back is affecting this, the creature starts shaking and the mud comes flying off its body onto us. It locks us all in place, covering our feet in hardening clay like mud. I start to panic, knowing my legs won’t be strong enough to pull me free. Next to me I already see Vicky and Ulfgar pulling themselves free, but Gerolt is struggling. I have no other idea then using my claws to slash away the mud, but I probably haven’t been keeping good care of them because it doesn’t seem to do much.
Kalesh was far away, so he isn’t bothered by the mud and shoots an arrow that hits quite hard this time. Kalesh doesn’t hesitate and lines up a quick second shot, and without the mud, pierces through the skin as well.
Thamior as a bear also pulls himself free, and Ulfgar hits the legs of the mud monster when it tries to get himself back to the pond. That was really needed because the mud monster was turning back to the pond as if it was going to roll into the mud again! No way I want more of this horrible stuff on me.
Gerolt again blocks the attack that was aimed at Ulfgar, which seems to be becoming the signature move of this duo. Ulfgar keeps it in place, Gerolt blocks it’s incoming attacks. Really Spark, it’s like an oiled machine how well they work together. I wish I could always fight behind these two, I will be safe for sure.
Now Squishy Vicky tries to hit him as well, but his tentacles can’t seem to hit hard enough on the tough skin on the top of this mud monster. Okay, it’s not a mud monster right now, but you know what I mean! Gerolt fights the mud and gets himself free by pulling hard enough. I am slightly starting to panic, because I am the only one that is still stuck. I really should have cured my legs before going on a mission again! So with some last hope I pull out Gared and slash at the mud again, now breaking it into pieces. I try to figure out the attacking pattern again, but I am too distracted and don’t have a proper view to find it out.
Kalesh unleashes another arrow onto the back of the monster, and Thamior gets some good claw attacks in too. The Barroth is still trying to go back to the pull, and for the first time I see Ulfgar miss the attack on it’s legs. Luckily Squishy Vicky has good reflexes and wraps his tentacles around him to keep him in place. After a short struggle, the Barroth pulls himself free and runs for the pool again. Thamior sees him dash past him, but it goes too fast for his claws to hit. The not very happy Squishy Vicky is now chasing the Barroth and wraps his tentacles around him again. I do have to say, a giant octopus in a desert is a weird sighting. Especially with all the drawings I have seen in the books, I am wondering how badly this sand is hurting the skin. I guess I have to ask afterwards.
While it’s restrained, Ulfgar runs up to him and uses his sleep dagger to put it down, and Kalesh sets up the trap around it so it can’t escape. I don’t need to wait any longer, and fire the flare gun again. The waiting for the tiny Tabaxi doesn’t take long, but Squishy Vicky dives into the pond anyway, and fishes up some shiny shell. I definitely want to call him Shiny Squishy now. Then when I thought it couldn’t be any cooler, he walks up to us, and when he transforms back to himself, he immediately continues his transformation to a hermit crab. He drops to the floor next to the shiny shell he found, and lives there. I hold him in the shell until he has to transform back on the ride back to Astera. So of course I don’t call him Shiny Squishy now, it’s Squishy Vicky, and Shiny Crab.
It takes Vicky some money and convincing, but I think in the end he got his worgs back, and then we got paid our fair share of gold for the capture of three creatures.
In the end, none of this really mattered, or actually all of it did. Because when we returned, both Gerolt and I were summoned to the office of Lornan and we were given our temporary Gold Tier badges! We immediately signed up for the Gold Tier Ceremony, as we weren’t going to be bested by our friends. Nothing is better than some friendly competition, right? Hey Spark, I haven’t forgotten. I will find a bigger tree, and I will climb it to win from you.
Much love from your sis,
Jade
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