Monster Hunter Depths Of Darkness

Introduction: Crystal Ridge Village

Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter.

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Crystal Ridge Village, a once rich and prosperous town located in the snowy depths of the mountainous terrain, was a heaven to foreign traders and destination of hunters worldwide. The town profited from its rich diversity of rare ores and wild spices and herbs. Trade routes leading through the town linked smaller towns and connected it to the mountain city of Teribera.

The main attraction of the town was the festival held every five years. In honour of the rich resources of the area, the town held the week long Festival of Light. Each of the building around the square held a crystal atop the room and on the eve of the last night when the moon was high, the village chief would bring out the cherished jewel. The stone was of a rare material that held within it, specks of dragonite ore and at its center, a red diamond.

Once the moon had reached its peak, the chief would ascend the stairs to the top of the pillar and place the stone atop it. The moon light lit up the stone in a luminous glow of green and red. Beams of the light spread out ward and illuminated the crystals atop the surrounding buildings. The light reflected into the sky and created an aurous like effect.

Then disaster struck, the stone was stolen from the village chief. The stone was never recovered and the thief never found. The stone never turned up in markets and finally, the authorities were forced to end the search. The following year, a herd of Popo fleeing an enraged Tigrex stampeded through the town and levelled most of the homes, leaving only a smouldering pile of rumble. The home owners, instead of rebuilding took what they had left and moved to the city to make a living.

Slowly over the course of several years the town fell into lower recognition as a destination of travelers. The new and safer routes around the mountains to the other major centers diverted people around the town. As the wagons and animals stopped traversing the roads to Crystal Ridge Village, they came under disrepair. Vegetation slowly crept back and reclaimed the roads until they became trails and then barely noticeable paths. Once the vegetation reclaimed the land so did the neighbouring wildlife.

The few people that did traverse the paths either wound up missing or when they reached the village told stories of horror. The travelers spoke of vicious velociprey led by a velocidrome that would chase them for miles almost non stop.

The farms in the surrounding area suffered severally. The early frost destroyed the crops and most of the town was forced to rationing the available food. With traders afraid to travel the paths to the town, the farms and herds became invaluable. The number of carnivorous creatures spiked because of the lack of qualified hunters to control the population of the surrounding wilderness and the herd animals began to disappear. During the nights, large carnivores carried livestock off into the wilderness or as in the case with most of the animals the shredded carcasses were found the morning after.

People braved the wilderness to escape the town and were not heard from, whether it was from unwillingness to send letters through the area or they never made it out was never found out. The population decreased from a few hundred to fifty in seven years and then to twenty five who were determined their fortune would pick up.

Currency was not made of gold or silver but instead, grain and meat. The town became so reclusive that it fell of the map and no one spoke of it except as a memory, forgot and rarely brought up. The once famous town fell into darkness…