Well done hunter, you've made the best purchase of your life. And if you're browsing through only the first few pages in a book shop wondering whether it's worth it trust that if you are given a choice between buying your first set of weapons and this book, take the book. It's got a durable cover, nice soft paper and is flammable to, as well as containing everything you could possibly need to know about the terrible dangers of the Lands of Vool.
Vool. Not the name of the place, just the name of the madman found within the algae stained walls of the building by Captain Halycon as he mapped the coast and waterways of Talioche. And his name was about all that the Captain got out of him. Halycon named the city after him, and that name spread to the lands around. An empty city on the edge of a salt-lake, surrounded by saltmarsh, then by miles of low plains. To the north, Mount Olvin, and to the south, white trees of Alderman's Forest. The border cliffs of the Sandwell to the west. It is a strange place for a hunter to travel, I'll tell you that much. Prey is scarce close to the lake, and those creatures that inhabit the surrounds are either mundane or unpleasantly dangerous. But you're headed there anyway, or at least curious about the life that inhabits that unhappy place, so here I write.
A few brief words of advice. For this guide I assume you are on foot, but if the conditions are right you might be able to get a long boat up the river that seperates the lake and the sea. If so you are likely in a better position, exactly until you are unable too get your boat back through. There are two settlements that may be able to support and guide you through your trip. The first is called "Moat" and it's a small village on northern shoreline close to the village. The villagers generally avoid the city, but can give excellent guidance on just about everything else, and will feed and ferry you for coin. The dwarvish village "Kaldunstein" on the high cliffs is a less obvious and less friendly community, but you may be able to buy and repair equipment there. They dislike strangers, but love gold and are eager to get their hands on workable metal and other useful resources.
I will be careful, in this guide, to ensure I make habitat clear. You will not find the areas famous Worgs within the ruins, nor will you find Ankheg within the unstable ground of the salt marshes. There are few creatures that live all through Vool, and fewer still that will find a den in them. There are three, perhaps four areas for a hunter. They are the plains, the marsh and the lake shore. I suppose the coast too, if you're so inclined. Travel Vool with care and planning. You will find little game close to the lake, and on the plains the scent of blood will attract more trouble than it is often worth. Supply well in the surrounding regions, strike in after your prey quickly, then retreat. There are no safe places to rest once you pass out of the Alderman's Forest. For the few predator and prey beasts of note, I will divide them by location rather than by name.
Prey Beasts
The Plains of Vool
Upon the Vool plains you will find little prey of interest to a discerning hunter, but perhaps enough to survive. The few historical records that survive say that the plains go through cycles of infertility and bounty depending on the extremes of the ocean. Bounty is a strong word, I think, or so I found in my travels to the region, during such a supposed time. There are indeed, enough herds of deer to provide prey for larger beasts, and for you to eat if you are desperate. They are not foul fleshed, nor toxic, it is simply in your best interests to avoid the scent of blood upon the plains. It will draw predators quickly. There are also rabbits, with shallow burrows, and are even more flighty than would be found elsewhere. They are your best bet for safe resupply, catch them with a snare as they go too drink at one of the few slightly briny brookes.
The Salt Marshes
The salt marshes are even less hospitable, but has a few creatures for a hunter. Most are closer to gathering or foraging than hunting, but to prevent your boredom I will list them the most notable here. First of course, are the mussels. They taste like salt, chewy mud, but some of their shells are prized. A few have an iridescent lining favoured as an alternative to mother of pearl, but it's impossible to tell which until you've opened them up and had a look. These mussels grow elsewhere, so if this is the reason you're headed to Vool you should probably turn around right now. You can find shiny shells elsewhere, and this is a book for gentleman hunters not fisherwives.
Otherwise keep an eye out for the Marsh Octopus, its ink is both a beautiful purple, toxic and used to make liquor. Other than that, there are no prey beasts worth your time.
The City
The city itself has a reasonably large population of herbivorous crabs and the lake octopus (found nowhere else) that hunts them. Both are prone to Gigantism, and these larger varieties tend to be strongly territorial. Don't underestimate a very big octopus. They will try to drown you, though rarely hunt you if you leave them be. They also are far too tough to be worth eating in anything other than a stew. Other than that, I suppose you'll find gulls and limpets and fish, and I doubt you need a guide to catch those.
Predator Beasts
The Plains
The plains don't have space for a mid-ranged predator. You're either extremely dangerous or you're Worg bait. A few packs of wolves hide in the lower slopes of Mount Ovlin, but they don't range far from their hidden dens, and rarely venture to the slow downward slopes of the plains.
Dune snake
From late spring till the summer solstice, Dune Snakes from the visit the area to mate and lay eggs, traveling through some unexplored underground caves, and hunt what they can while around, causing the local deer population to move closer to the salt marsh at this time. Young sand snakes (Hatching in early spring) are not particularly aggressive, but seem to require at least one large meal before making their silent journey to the Sand Well. Only fully mature Sand Snakes, the copperbacks have venom, though the rest can still crush you in their coils or grab and twist your chunks of flesh with their teeth. An adult and a fully mature snake are different, I believe copperbacks are at least 15 years old. Take my advice and avoid Vool while it is crawling with snakes. If you want to hunt Dune Snakes, I advise you do so when they are home and in solitude, raiding in from the border cliffs to the Sandwell, and look to my other book "A Hunter's Guide to the Sand Well," though the Sandwell is for experienced hunters only (even more so than Vool, but mostly for logistical reasons). Juveniles have a skin of dusty grey-green, and are between 4 and 10ft in length, as opposed to the sandy-skinned monsters of 30ft that are the adults. If size and colour does not distinguish, note their square snouted heads, and if you are particularly unlucky, their straighter, thicker fangs are excellent ways to tell them apart from other snakes. They're over 20ft long it shouldn't be hard to recognise that! but some people are fools. There are other snakes but they should be below your notice.
Bloodhawks
Blood hawks, of course, inhabit or at least hunt over the entirety of Vool, though the small cliff faces of the Toren's Gate mean the populations is low, about 3-4 flocks in total. They still may pose a threat to inexperienced hunters, at least those without mages to support them, it is difficult to shoot down enough arrows to discourage a flock, but a blast of flame will cause them to scatter. I will assume you can deal with these razor beaked pests if you can even make your way to Vool. Red, sharp beaked, atrophied claws and occur in flock. Novelty pens is all they're good for, though artisans seem to need feathers of all kinds.
Ankheg
Ankheg are uncommon in Vool, though before the Warstorm they were widespread in its southern parts. Ankheg's are omnivorous and I assume that they fed on flesh upon the Vool Plains and the fertile plants and soils of the Alderman's forest when prey was scarce. Now that southern forest has nought but Camphor trees and grass to eat, an important food source for the beasts is gone. You will still find them, especially along the south edge of the plains, and more along that corridor of grassland between the forest and the border cliffs. Those you find in Vool will be closer to the surface and much more aggressive, meat is all they have to eat, and you are slower, and likely less jumpy than deer. Learn to recognise the tell-tale lumps of soil, low bulges about three feet across, and the rhythmic pumping of their movement. Harvesting the acid sack of an Ankheg delicate work, and you will need specialised equipment to do so, but it works marvellously on most organic matter. Their claws too adapted for digging, they use their two sets of jaws when not spraying acid, the front, blunt pair used to catch prey, the back pair used to tear flesh directly into the mouth. If a particular prey is being trouble, it first bite on, then use it's acidic spit directly into the held creature. This is efficient. Ankhegs cannot burrow fast enough to escape holding moderately large prey, but if you are a hunter of small stature you may find yourself dragged below the surface.
I have heard rumours that the Ankheg's cousin, the Acid Lion, may occasionally be found to the western extreme, though this strikes me as quite unlikely. Ankheg chitin is much tougher on the top than on the bottom, knocking it over will make for an easier kill. Ankeg are not found once the ground begins to be waterlogged and unstable, they may be able to burrow but they cannot breathe mud.
Marsh Toads
With ankhegs restricted to more stable ground, the most dangerous mundane beast you will find in the salt flats are toads. Fat swollen toads the size of boulders, that bury themselves up to the nostrils in the silty mud. They are not fast, rather slow and waddling on foot, but they tend to propel themselves in great leaps, which serves them well in the marsh's treacherous terrain. Not particularly dangerous, but their venomous bite and habit of swallowing live prey means they can be quite a threat to hunter that wanders off alone. Fortunately, they are almost always solitary creatures, and unlikely to attack large, slow moving groups. Don't forget, as slow as they are on land they can certainly swim faster than you can, so swimming in the occasional ponds of water are not a good method to escape. Salt toads don't often find their way into the city.
Sea Life
Swimming in the lake, or in a few of the flooded buildings you may come across some nasty biting fish that travel in swarms, quite palatable, and sharks, which are slightly less but certainly make better trophies. To avoid them, stay out of any water deeper than 3 feet, and avoid bleeding. Avoiding bleeding is an important skill to navigating all Vool actually. The fishing village on the north bank, just west of Toren's Gate are willing to act as guides if you are after more exciting fishing, and showed me how to make a very uncomfortable cloak from shark skin. Waterproof, tough but like wearing sandpaper. I did eventually find an alchemical solution that removed the worst of the chaffing, and it earned me some fair prestige amongst the merfolk around the Star's Archipelago, so much that it and I earned their blessing. But that's another story. There are a few species of shark that inhabit the lakes, the most populous around the 10ft range. There are larger ones, up to 20 foot or so, and apparently some of the local
Sahuagin occasionally manage to convince a huge specimen to make their way into the lake, upon which the biomass of the otherwise thriving environment drops rapidly.
Seals are the other predator creatures of the Lake, often resting on the tops of old buildings when the tide is low, sunning themselves. They are healthy, cheerful creatures with few natural predators, and useful and tasty as they are, hunting them is ill-advised. Among the population selkie, shape changing fey that take the form of both man and seal, and while not overly dangerous alone, they can and will repay any insult or injury. There are better places to hunt seals then this lake and stretch of coastline. My recommendation is the small rocky beaches east of
Niearamie's Arms, though you will probably need a boat.
Monsters
There are quite a few unpleasant creatures througout Vool, though the danger they pose is more in their prevalence and determination than their individual threat. A Worg pack of 30 is defintely dangerous enough to take down even the most experienced hunter, and having a griffin kill one's horse is a damned inconvenience. Monsters, as I will label this mix of creatures, are not an uncommon inhabitant here, not like a forest with the occasional owlbear. They are the main inhabitants, the most common apex predator and near the most common prey animal. Now I know there are other places on Talioche that could be described as such, but the sheer prevalence of the below must be emphasised. Rarely can their be a food chain made up near entirely of creatures the world would class as monster.
A cockatrice is only a little more a monster than an ankheg, but they are more dangerous to an inexperienced hunter. Cockatrice look halfway between a very unpleasant lizard and a chicken. A small scrawny body with feathered wings, and a line of feathers down the back with a crest on the small head. A hooked beak with jagged edges and beady little yellow eyes and a long, sinuous marred with occasional spines and clumps of feather. Males have a larger crimson crest during mating season, but there's otherwise little to tell the sexes are apart. They fly fairly well, and travel in flocks of a dozen or so. They attack and eat whatever they want, breed quickly and are among the most bizarrely aggressive creatures I have ever seen, worse even than owl bears. Apparently some fool in antiquity thought it would be a good idea to combine a basilisk with a chicken to make a more compact defensive beast. He was eaten by them within a week. Now an angry chicken with teeth is really just a goose, you might rightly point out. Well! a cockatrice has a few traits that make it a much more interesting hunt. They are remarkably hardy for their size, as tiny as they are, they are harder to put down than the average warhorse. And most importantly, their bites will turn you to stone. It isn't venom in the bite, as far as I can tell, more likely a magic field that only functions at extreme close, and focused range. It isn't particularly potent or difficult to shake off, but after being bitten a dozen or so times, most creatures eventually succumb. Once all the prey is stuck, a flock of cockatrice will start to knock the statues apart, and then bed down. After about a day, the magical stone wears off and the creatures reanimate, usually missing enough chunks to bleed to death immediately. But the observant hunter will note that this means once the pests are dead, one can simply camp and await any petrified companions to recover, unharmed. I merely hope you aren’t bleeding after the fight, or you will have more difficulty. Cockatrice make terrible pets, and the brief but tragic vogue when they were popular companion in the Kings courts are fortunately over. They are near untrainable, and you'd be better off making an omlette out of their eggs if you come across them. If you do really wish to tame one, first imagine owning a wilful cat, then imagine it can fly and kill you with one bite. Body sample, particularly the liver and crest feather are always in demand by alchemists, wizards and snake-oil salesmen, which can all be the same person on a bad day, so they can be a worthwile hunt, with a single creature netting perhaps 15 silver in parts overall, particularly if fresh. You'll want to move fast to sell them in good condition from Vool though.
Worgs
And the reason for my preoccupation with blood is simple. Worgs. Known as "The Vagr" to the barbarians of north Salken were they supposedly originate, worgs look like a horse sized wolf with a squarer, hairless snout and a much crueller disposition. The top of the snout and head are have a heavy bony plate just beneath the skin, affording the beast some additional protection and greater force into their bite, that can comfortably crush skulls. Their preferred fighting method is for each pack member to knock a single target onto its back and go for the kill. Though they do hunt in packs, and their methods of killing prey are similar to that of dire wolves, they lack the close quarters coordination of similar creatures, selfish as they are. Worgs have their own language, and a hunter who expects to fight them regularly would be wise to familiarise themselves with (see my new bestselling book:
The Language of The Beasts, for a quick guide to hunting cries of all such animals, available at all good book stores), and they use this coordinate their attacks well. Ambush, upon groups that have a similar number to their own is their favourite method of hunting.
If they cannot wipe out a group, they will snatch up the weakest. They have fairly spectacular hearing and sense of smell, and any creature bleeding anywhere in the lands will likely be scented by one pack or another. Worgs of Vool do not have the same advanced hunting techniques that they do nearer to civilised land, though their frequent exchange of pack members mean they are certainly aware of them. They hunt every other creature and race in Vool, including hill giants and Griffins, using both their cunning and considerable numbers. It is possible, if you have killed an enormous amount of prey, to convince them to take it rather than try and fight you for it. Worgs in Vool rarely lair, but when they do they favour dryer ruins around the edges of the city, preferably one with stairs to a second floor so that they may escape the mud. They have a wide diet and a surprising cuisine, often using another animal to flavour or season a blander catch, and move amongst the flooded ruins in attempts to catch fish. There are no goblinoids in Vool that claim to be allied with these worgs, and the only places they consider off limits is the area immediately around the Dwarfish Stronghold on the cliffs of Magpied Bay, and the larger buildings, no matter how suitable a lair they might seem. Worg skulls look impressive mounted over the fireplace, and their fur is quite well received once cleaned and tanned. I must make it clear that this is the place it is easier to
find worgs, and not the easiest place to hunt them. If you do end up fighting them and come out impressively on top, know that word will get around with the other packs, and with some luck you'll be left alone for the rest of the trip.
Illustration: Worg Print
Griffins
For you, hunter, griffins are perhaps your next greatest threat, or perhaps threat to your mount. A griffin is part lion and part eagle, a proud, powerful and somewhat reckless hunter. The for legs are an eagles talons, the back a lions paw, and the head usually an eagles. I have seen some variety in the exact eagle or great cat that is combined, but the most common variety is a lion and a white-headed eagle. Note well that a griffin has the shining eyes of a lion as well as the sharp sight of an eagle. They are diurnal, with an eagles ability to spot prey from impressive distance, and drop on prey from above. If their initial drop does not kill their prey, then they will fly off and swoop again, repeating against the same target until that creature is dead. Arrows can spook them, but they'll be back within the hour. Only inflicting heavy damage on one will drive it off for good, though they can be vengeful creatures. Griffins don't often bother hunting humanoids, unless they look small and weak enough to snatch up, but they have a great fondness for horseflesh. Do not leave mounts unattended, even the best mounts won't be able to survive a griffins attacks, or that of their flock mates. The largest flocks can be excess of 7 or so, but that is dependent on availability of prey. In Vool, 4 is the most I spotted in my visits. Griffins eat what they want, and will hunt worg if it's available. A combination of lion and eagle makes for a vain beast, so they will avoid fighting you on foot in the salt marsh. Griffin can be tamed if raised from an egg, and make a loyal, if prideful companion, though unless you are particularly talented or trained with beasts yourself, I would advise against it. It cost me rather a large amount of blood (my own and horses) to tame mine, though Audax has been the finest mount I have ever owned. If you wish to follow in my footsteps, Griffins can only lay once every 4 years, a single egg around the onset of winter, and hatching at the beginning of summer. In Vool, most nest to the north in the foothills of Mt Olvin, or on the taller ruins of the lakeside city.
Illustration: A variety of Griffin Claw shapes
Hippogriffs
Hippogriffs are mostly vegetarian, and they aren't the most aggressive or territorial of creatures, but nevertheless capable of inflicting serious harm. Hippogriffs are a mixture of horse and eagle, or perhaps a mixture of griffin and horse. I have assisted in researching the origins of such creatures, but this is not the place to discuss it. Hippogriffs are shy and flighty, only hunting small mammals and fish. The, front end hippogriffs here resemble sea eagles quite fittingly, as fishing does take up a large portion of their diet. Unlike hippogriffs in similar lands, they do not form nests and only settle in late Autumn in order to foal. They are diurnal, though in other lands you may find owl-headed subspecies that are nocturnal. They are hunted by worgs at night and by griffins during the day, and rather flighty. Young hippogriffs are extremely valuable, as they are relatively easy to train as flying mounts. Hippogriffs, like many of these combinations can take quite a hit, and survive injuries that would kill any one of their combined creatures. Though likely to run, a few stallions may fight you, and if you appear particularly weak, they may attack to kill and eat you. If you do wish to capture foals, there is a week or so before their wings work, but they are strong enough to travel, usually in the second week of Autumn. Ambush is your best bet to down a hippogriff before it flees. See the book of renowned writer, and dear friend of mine Darwill Morcine's
Of Feathers and Fur, for more information on their possible origins, along with those of Owlbears, Griffins, Foxhawks and Fellcrows.
Illustration: Hippogriff fore and rear prints
Elementals
We move onto less traditional threats, and a sort of creature that many hunters ignore. Elementals are common in areas suffused with natural magic, and even in places where that has long since vanished some mage or other will have made enough of a mistake to have one or two wandering around. Hunters tend to ignore them as potential prey, and for understandable reasons. They are hard to track, difficult to kill without magic weapons, and they have little to nothing in the way of trophies. It is difficult to brag about killing a swirling column of dust, or an angry rock. But the learned hunter knows better, and you are about to become he! Elementals are expression of the plane they emerge from, infinite planes that make up our own. Effectively they are a form of power given shape, and this energy can be harvested. There are a variety of ways to do it, more or less effective methods, and I trust that you will find the method that suits your own style. Simply collecting pieces of the slain creature is the simplest way to do so, if difficult in the case of fire and air elementals. Fortunately for you hunter, those around Vool are water elementals, so you can bottle their remains if you do not know another method. Other methods tend to be on the arcane side, and while I know a few, I am ill qualified to teach them or too compare them.
A few creatures of water and earth may pop up, muddy things that barely pose a threat and leave little behind worth salvaging. They have claws and can project parts of their form at you to encase you, but breaking out of it isn't a lot of trouble. Their walk or wade is clumsy, and they can flight or swim, but are equally poor at those. Killing one up close results in
Water elementals will try and drown you, to put is simply. They may attempt to crush or bludgeon you with waves, but mostly they will try to drown you. Smaller ones will attempt to drag you into larger patches of water, larger ones will engulf you. Some may find their way along the marshes, but its only around the edges of the lake that I would expect to see the larger ones. Remain out of reach if possible, otherwise switch to a close weapon and prepare to be snatched up. I hope you can hold your breath well. I have never seen more than 5 in one place, but being outnumbered can be a death sentence. Essence of elementals is used to create and power a variety of magical items so they are always in demand in such craftsmen's circles. As some advice to an upcoming hunter, offer your essence too shipwrights first and wizards second. A shipbuilder may not always be in the market, but they're much more likely to pay you reasonably for a legitimate product.
Oozes
I did consider not including these creatures, but they do live in Vool, and a hunter heading to the flooded city will likely come across them. A variety of piles acidic slime is all oozes are, of various compositions. Nearly all are so slow that they must rely on ambush, which they are quite good at, camouflaged well enough to be difficult to spot in plain sight. A fairly wide variety of the creatures live in the ruins Vool, but the essential behaviour is the same. An ooze has three basic methods of attacking. Dropping from the ceiling and trying to melt you. Emerging from below water and trying to melt you. And finally sliming out from narrow cracks and trying to melt you. When they attack, they must commit to battle, because they don't really have any chance of escaping, unless they can ooze back into a small hole. Slimes are resistant to a variety of damages, which vary between them. Acid is always a poor choice. There are two important parts about fighting oozes. The first is too avoid cutting them. It does not apply to all of them, but some will divide into two equally dangerous, if slightly smaller oozes. The other is that they are seriously damaging to your gear. Some will eat away at your metal armour and weapons. Others will eat away at your leather, timber and clothes. Either way, it will be most inconvenient. I wouldn't recommend gathering any of their remains to use yourself, you may simply be facilitating the rebirth of a little ooze. Ooze have limited but excellent senses. Smell, movement and heat are their sight, and within a short range there is no ambushing them. Some oozes are at least as intelligent as an ogre, if not smarter, but they are rare, and I have come across no such creatures in Vool. Oozes that don't disolve metals can often have quite impressive hoards, and if you can safely contain and transport and ooze, a live specimen will probably make the effort worth your while
Chuul
Lastly we come Chuul. They are the reason I came to Vool in the first place, and it is the safest place to hunt them. Chuul are horse sized crustaceans, a lobster-like tail and a set of four legs, each ending in a two clawed feet. A pair of large, but dexterous claws emerge from the shoulder, and a long, armoured neck emerging from the shoulders of the bulky body. It's topped with a helmet like head, with mass of pink tentacle emerges from the bottom. There are two compound eyes on either side of the head. They are generally darkly coloured, green, brown or black, with some variation of colours between each narrow armoured section. Chuul are a creature I will admit to a general lack of knowledge of origin and behaviour. They have some relationship with magic, with their an innate ability to sense its presence and a tendency to collect it, and it may be why they are in Vool at all. I'm not sure how smart these strange creatures are, but they seem to be aware that a moving magic is associated with a living creature, and prepare accordingly. This can make sneaking up on them, or hiding from them, quite difficult. And chuul is a threat a plenty. The tentacles deliver a paralysing strike, and their claws can easily crush a man in full plate. Their armour is thick, and they may attempt to drag away and drown prey, particularly if that prey is holding a magic item, or is some kind of mage itself. If you hunt them alone, consider leaving your magical gear behind or climb to a location they will have difficulty accessing. If you can, try casting a simple spell somewhere you wish to ambush them. If you are fighting in a group, stay together, protect your magic users because they will be the targets. Chuul are rarely fighting for food. They will focus on putting creatures out of the fight, using their venom, and will only finish paralysed creatures off if those creatures overcome that venom and keep fighting. I have heard that if they manage to take what magics a group has on them, they may simply withdraw once they have them, though I wouldn't test this. I do not know enough about chuul for me to be comfortable around them. I do not know what they want, and that is a very important part in choosing prey, but also what makes them exciting. Their venom spoils quickly but is easy to extract and you may be able to sell their chiton to the Dwarf town on the north eastern cliffs. They (the chuuls, not the dwarfs) lurk mostly in the city, in the waters close to the sure or the deep basements of the ruins. You likely won't fight one on favourable land.
Illustration: Chuul Head, in profile and portrait
A few final words.
Vool is an unpleasant place. A silent city on the edge of a deep lake, surrounded by miles of marsh, and beyond plains inhabited by dangerous creatures, waiting for the slightest bit of weakness. I hope you have specific prey or a specific goal in mind for visiting this place, because for me it walks the line between dangerous and dull. Do not shed unnecessary blood and leave swiftly. There is no shame in having to cancel an expedition. I do hope that a trip here will not put you off hunting, because you are on Talioche, a land of fantastic beasts. Just a short way to the north, Mt Olvin offers you a variety of wonderful creatures, and too the west, the Sandwell lies, hiding secrets and rare beasts! Oh and I won't be writing a book on Alderman's forest, there is nothing there worth hunting at all, hope you weren't holding your breath.
Good hunting, and return alive.
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