"How many?"
You gingerly curled the fingers of your left hand around your burning eyes, pink and weeping from the sting of smoke exposure, careful not to have your eyesight bested by the spines of your pale pink guards. The Yian Kut-Ku set, and all the glorious Fire Attack it had brought with it, that The Man had freshly crafted for you a week's prior had been vital to your most recent victory, but it left much to be desired when adopted as casual village wear. Its edges were so sharp that a simple scratch of the nose could leave one irrevocably scarred, and the cool mystique of its cap, which covered all but a rectangular perimeter around your eyes, was hardly worth the lack of protection it left your vision.
"Appurroximately three–or was it four?" You took a panoramic glance of the village before you, a sprawling collection of lively Troverians and Wyverians alike, seemingly reinvigorated by the vibrant lava that now coursed beneath their feet. This view was a far cry from the Harth village that you had resided in only a few days ago: barren, dismal, and distinctly lacking in warm colors. Your thoughts drifted from the current state of the village, to the old condition, to the royal purple corpse left in the wake of a sunken hollow. Had one monster really made all of the difference?
"Ace! I need you to be certain! She's not finished without her spikes…" Your focus narrowed on the shabby green tent from which the beginnings of a quarrel could be heard even over the harsh metallic clangs and bright chatter of the town. You could just make out the wisps of forest green and dust-tinged fur amidst the peppering of people and hazy coal smoke: a mousy woman whose verdant garb was nearly indistinguishable from her tent, frantically waving at an armored palico with the sort of fur that seemed eternally bristled from battle. You sighed wistfully at the comical display. Of course it would be those two. "I'm pawsitively certain it was five, ma'am."
As an exasperated groan erupted from the Guildmarm, you saw fit to finally intervene.
"Ace Palico, Guildmarm," You nodded to respectively to each as you drew nearer to the tent.
"Doodle," the Guildmarm began, her eyes sparkling with rekindled excitement. "I've been waiting all afternoon for you to wake up and tell me about that arachnid you squashed!"
Your partner Palico, with unlimited bravado, acknowledged you coolly. "Hey, Kid."
The both of them, though formerly arguing, sat hurdled together around a battered sketchbook like old friends. Upon further inspection, you could make out the details of an emerging Nerscylla on one page accompanied by the messy scrawlings of a finished Tetsucabra on another. All that seemed to be missing from the Nerscylla were the spikes of her back and the surrounding scribble of field notes that you were accustomed to accompanying one of the Guildmarm's monster sketches.
"Oh, you're nearly finished with this one, and I haven't even had to regale you with any stories of the hunt!" You commented with a tone of voice that surely expressed how impressed you were by her ability to perfectly capture the essence of each monster on hearsay alone.
The Guildmarm smiled bashfully as she twirled a worn-down pencil between her fingers. "I still need your input to verify Ace's details and conclude the entry, Doodle! For instance, how many spikes are on her back?"
"There are definitely five, right, Kid?" The Ace Palico queried, ears perked attentively.
You were silent for a moment as you considered the question, and then the frustration that it had led to. The Guildmarm was always conducting research this way. She would send you or another hunter out on a quest, and then immediately demand that you report back with details that seemed impossible to gather in the heat of one battle. It seemed that after your recent slaying of the Nerscylla, she had been so impatient to document the creature that she had stooped to interrogate your Palico whilst you and your Poogie graciously accepted the warm embrace of sleep back at your house. The Guildmarm and Ace Palico gazed at you in utter anticipation as you thought things through until an idea suddenly hit you. You shifted your hunting knapsack over your shoulder, listening closely for the clink of glass. That Nerscylla carcass was still there, wasn't it? And, it did sound as though you still had some Cold Drinks rolling around back there…
"Why don't you see for yourself, Guildmarm?" You questioned, flashing her a cheeky grin.
Her eyes grew wide as Gargwa eggs at your suggestion. "G-go with you? B-But I–DO YOU THINK THAT I COULD REALLY SEE IT IN PERSON?"
Your heart was warm at the sheer joy portrayed across her features. "Why not? Ace and I will protect you," you began as your left hand disappeared into the contents of your knapsack. "And we have plenty of cool drinks to go around in the Volcanic Hollow." You concluded as you extended a chilled beverage to her.
Despite any bit of indecision she may have had before, the Guildmarm appeared sold by the mention of the newly christened volcanic terrain. "VOLCANIC HOLLOW? OH, DOODLE! NO ONE'S EVER INVITED ME ON A QUEST BEFORE!"
The Guildmarm bounded out from behind her tent with the force of a sprightly Kelbi as she pounced on you in a hug. "Thank you, Thank you, Doodle! I promise I won't get in your way!"
Your cheeks tinted the color of the lava underfoot as you returned the embrace. "Don't sweat it, Guildmarm. If you stick with Ace and I, we can show you the world rather than simply tell you about it."