Rain came down heavily as the gargwa wagon came to a halt after a long day of winding trails up the mountainside. To any other hunter, this foul weather would have been an ill omen, but for Sinika, it just meant greater clarity. Every rain drop registered in her ears, and she knew where each one landed. It painted an image clearer than she could have ever hoped for. When Noran had said the outskirts, though, she had no idea just how far out that meant. Gargwas are not notorious for their speed, but Sinika was a naturally patient woman. She soon heard the wagon pulling away till it was completely out of earshot. Wise decision. After the delay between the issues with the Jaggia and the moment she accepted the quest, it was quite likely a Great Jaggi had caught their scent, and she'd have more than territorial females to deal with. She was at least grateful that there would most likely be few to no jaggi in the mix. The rain would have been the only saving grace that might have stopped a Great Jaggi, but she didn't know how long it had been raining before she got there. It would have washed the scent from the air, much as it was doing now, but if there had been just one dry day, that's all it would take. Regardless, though, this rain also brought with her a perfect mask for her scent. They would have to hear her coming if they were to rally. She reached behind her back and carefully and quietly unstrapped the massive sword she had brought along for the purpose. A simple sword and shield would not have been a wise choice against a Great Jaggi, if one had appeared. Admittedly, even though the alpha male would be easy to take down, she wanted something that could deliver a quick kill. Her muscles from her former trade made a Greatsword the perfect solution.
She could hear the clatter of hanging pots on the porch of the humble farmhouse even from the scarcely cleared path she had been deposited on. She had been told that the Jaggia had taken up their residence in the farm out back which was built into terraces up the hillside. She understood the appeal. These hills were too uneven to build an effective nest on. This probably wouldn't be the last time this unfortunate farmer would deal with critters in his farm. She soon stood on the porch and heard the first sign of the nesting bird wyverns. And much to her dismay, it was the whooping call of the Great Jaggi. She steeled herself for the confrontation. Sure, Great Jaggi was a cakewalk for any seasoned hunter. They weren't as agile as the Gendrome she'd tangled with earlier, so it was easier to land a heavy blow on them, but there was the nuisance that came from their thicker muscles, which made them harder to slice through. This would not be a single-blow take-down by any stretch of the imagination. Not with a sawtoothed gendrome sword, anyways. She'd have to land that first blow fast, though, as it would be the only easy hit she'd get. She peered around the side of the farm to get a image of the area beyond better. There were several shifting shapes a few dozen yards off, and she saw several obstructions.. probably bundled hay stacked hither and thither around the field. She didn't hesitate a moment. She closed the gap to the first heap in seconds, and kept her ears attuned to the commotion of the Jaggi and Jaggia. If they went silent, she'd have to move in that much faster, but they were still socializing among themselves. She rolled out from the side of that heap and was soon making a fleet-footed dash towards the howling Great Jaggi. The creature was small as Great Jaggi went. Standing similar to a raptor with a distinctive neck frill that it constantly kept flared to assert its dominance, it was only slightly taller than she was at its hip. Once she reached the final heap of harvested hay before the gap to the Great Jaggi, she let the flat of her greatsword of her own making rest on her shoulder. Taking in a deep breath, she rolled around the side of the bale and ran silently at the larger creature. She soon picked up the silence as the pack became aware of her position. Even the Great Jaggi had gone silent, raising its head slightly and cocking it to the side in curiosity.
She put an end to its wonderment in an instant as she lept with superhuman strength just a few feet from its face, and flexed her arm and shoulder to launch the sword from its resting position on her back in a high arc over her head, and brought it down with bone-crunching power on the frill of the creature. Howling in pain, it flailed helplessly with its diminutive front arms, as if trying to wipe off its face, and then it raised its head high and made its whooping summoning call. The pack was devoid of other males, but the Jaggia, the female of the species, soon rallied around it as Sinika landed with a heavy thud on the rain-soaked soil. She'd have to keep her momentum if she wanted to keep that heavy sword wieldable. If she slowed down even a moment, its weight would drag itself to the ground. Kicking heavily away from the direction of the sword's swing, it made a horizontal sweep behind her, giving her the forward momentum to sink the serrated edge of the massive sword into a leg of the Great Jaggi. It was then that the potent venom of the Gendrome teeth the blade was made of kicked in. Letting out a stiffled grunt, the Great Jaggi's legs froze up, and though it struggled to move, every muscle in its body was taut and twitchy. That put the male out of commission for the time being. Now she would have to deal with his harem. Even as the teeth of her blade sliced a jagged gash in the alpha's leg, it didn't slow down her momentum a bit. Kicking her heel into the dirt , she managed to follow through the swing to swing the blade in a perfect circle around her as she had to lean out opposite the blade to counterbalance it. She heard the satisfying crunch as her jagged sword tore through the jaw of a jaggia that had made a lunge for her, and felt its weight as the creature's head was nearly ripped out of place by the sawtooth grip. She couldn't stop there, as the circular path began to lose its momentum and dragged to a lower orbit, she jumped up again, regaining the momentum with a vertical cut. It landed perfectly across the shoulders of another jaggia, crushing it cleanly into the wet soil. This put a complete stop to her blade, but she still had her personal momentum to assist the process. As her path vaulted her over the fresh corpse, she yelled out as she used every ounce of strength in her arms to flip the blade from its mark and in a diagonal arc to the side where it met another Jaggia. There was only one left, but it was well out of her reach, so she used her momentum to launch herself at the Great Jaggi just as its temporary paralysis wore off. She mourned that her greatsword had so effectively wrecked her prey. There wouldn't be quite as good parts from this hunt. She'd mutlilated every inch of hide she'd touched with her blade, and broken more than a few good bones. Oh well. She would have shrugged if it hadn't been for the extreme exertion she was then applying to bring that blade around once more up at the underside of the Great Jaggi. The alpha male didn't get a single sound out after that as the blade crushed through and sunk between its ribs, not just piercing, but obliterating its heart and lungs. As it fell in a lifeless lump, she focused on the remaining jaggia. Her blade ground to a halt in the soil, and she panted heavily, waiting for it to approach her, but it never got a chance to. The next few instants were a confused blur for the hunter. One second there was a cowering jaggia, and the next... something else. She cursed under her breath that she had not heard it sooner, but the silent assassin before her wouldn't have been easy to pick up anyways.
Nargacuga was a rare sight in these parts. They tended to stick into the rainforests on the southern tip of the mountain range that marked the outskirts. This was was either a little lost, or had been run out by a bigger predator in its home. It was feared by even the most veteran of hunters, and now it stood before her, one clawed wingtip pinning down the quite dead jaggia, and its long whiplike tail swayed behind it, the long spines that lined it scraping the wet dirt. It stood easily a good four feet over her head, but was far longer, the low-profile flying wyvern giving it a sleek and compact front. She was way out of her depth in that instant. Calmly and coolly, she lifted her blood-stained and dirty greatsword to her back and strapped it in place. There was only one way out of this situation for her... and that was... quickly.
It hadn't taken her but an instant to turn her back on it and begun sprinting. She didn't stay a straight path. If it was going to pursue her, she would give it a hard time. She heard the ear-splitting shriek of the creature as it raised its head to the rain, but to her relief, it didn't start after her. She had left it more than its fair share of Jaggi and Jaggia meat. She made sure she was a good way out of the span of the farm before she pulled out a special felyne whistle to summon her ride out. It didn't take long before she heard the creaks and clunks of the gargwa wagon coming her way. Hopping in the back without a word, she huddled unstrapped her sword from her back and began to wipe clods of earth and chunks of hide and flesh from the sawtooth blade. She would get her pay, but it would be highly unlikely she'd get any decent parts from this hunt. Such is the life of a hunter.