Me and Dragoon reached the gate of the outpost. The guard asked us for our hunters card. The hunters card is paperwork that's kind of like a license and it's also marked with your current rank. Your rank is determined on your current skill level, like what sort of monsters you've hunted or can hunt.
"Please show me your Hunter's Card, Sir." the Guard said in a almost routinely manner.
Dragoon handed the Guard his card first. "Here ya go."
Phoenix took a quick glance to see if Dragoon made any progress with his skills since he last saw him. "Still hunter rank three I see."
"I'm so sorry that I'm not a prodigy like yourself" Dragoon said in a heavily sarcastic voice.
"You keep calling me a prodigy and I'll test your armor's durability with my sword" as Phoenix reached for his sword.
The guard leaped for his weapon "There's no fighting permitted inside this outpost!"
Phoenix held his hands up as if he was under arrest. "Sorry to freak you out it was just a joke."
The guard glared at Phoenix's face. "Actions like that are hardly a joke. The real joke is you hunter's"
Dragoon snarled and gave a glare as though he wanted to kill the guard. "Son, if a mature Azure Rathalos couldn't take me down, you think you got a chance with that pig sticker you call a lance. Be my guest!"
Phoenix pushed Dragoon on the shoulders away from the guard. "Now now Dragoon there's no need to make a mess of this outpost as well. You've already gotten us kicked out of the last one we stayed at."
"I can't help that I can't control you, Phoenix!" growled Dragoon.
"My fault, don't put me in the middle of this again, Dragoon!" yelled Phoenix as he poked Dragoon in the chest.
The guard stood up straight and set his lance back against his chair. "Be silent the both of you, hand me your card and lets put this behind us!"
"Fine then." Phoenix handed the guard his card.
"What's a rank four hunter doing at our outpost?!" The guard seemed to be less aggressive after learning Phoenix's rank.
Dragoon clinched his fists in anger. "Rank four! Since when?!"
"Since I took down a Rathalos and a Rathian for the Elder back in Kokoto."
"You got too much luck." mumbled Dragoon as he walked ahead of Phoenix through the gate and into the outpost.
"It's not all luck my friend!" Phoenix yelled to Dragoon as he grabbed his card from the guard and jogged to catch up to him.
"So what will you do now, Phoenix?"
"First, I want to drop some of these materials off at the blacksmith and register them to my collection. Then I suppose I'll head over to the tavern to order up a meal and something to calm my nerves"
"I'll meet ya there then in about two hours. I've got something to do first!" yelled Dragoon as he ran off.
Phoenix walked slowly to the blacksmiths shop thinking to himself. "I wonder how much I can get off this haul?" Right as he opened the door to the blacksmith's workshop a nervous looking person ran into him and bounced off his armor falling to the ground.
"You alright there?" Said Phoenix as he stretched out his arm to help the stranger to his feet.
"Y... yes. I was just stopping in to see if my new armor was done yet."
"Oh so your a hunter then?" Phoenix looked the man over. "You're a bit weak looking to be a hunter, what weapon do you use?"
"I... I like to use Dual Swords and a bow" The hunter seemed to be very nervous if not scared at the sight of Phoenix.
Phoenix removed his helm and tucked it under arm. "Sorry, if I scared you."
"I'm not scared!" He said trembling a little bit.
"Heh suite yourself then." Phoenix hauled the man to his feet. "Will you be busy later?"
"Not that I know of."
"Then meet me at the local tavern in a few hours and I'll buy you a drink." Phoenix grinned trying to look less menacing. "You must be pretty brave to run into combat with only weapons designed to kill and not to protect."
"I like to wound my prey with my bow before I charge in. I'm not that reckless!" said the hunter trying to dust himself off and compose himself.
Phoenix lightly punched the man on his shoulder. "Good hunting."
"Same to you sir." The hunter rubbed his shoulder trying to not show any pain.
"Bless me heart, it's Phoenix! I thought something might of gotten our hunter this time around. You look awful what happened to you?" Said the Blacksmith.
"You would not believe what happened on this trip Erald." Phoenix dropped his backpack onto the counter. The wood counter seemed to bend a little with the weight of the backpack. "I found a very rare item this time around." Gloating as he reached into his backpack for his Kirin hide.
"Doesn't bother me any, the rarer the stuff you bring in Phoenix means the more money I'll get for making something with it." He chuckled.
"Same old Erald, only about his money."
"It's not just about the money, it just so happens I make a lot doing work with you Phoenix!"
Phoenix pulled out the glowing hide. "I bet you know what this is then?" Phoenix handed the hide to Erald.
"I'd never thought I'd see one of these in my hands, the hide of a Kirin! How in the hells did you come across such a thing?!"
"I didn't kill one if that's what you're thinking! I found one dead in the canyons a week back."
"What are you going to do with such a fine material?"
"I trust you can make a fine cloak for me with that then?" As Phoenix raised an eyebrow.
"I don't want such a material to be ruined by my hands! You should take it to one of the Elder smiths I don't...know how to treat such material!"
"You're telling me that in your 20 years as a smith you never treated Kirin hide?"
"Never! A creature such as this doesn't wander into our lands."
Phoenix looked disappointed. "Well I guess I'll just hand over the rest of these materials and seek out someone who can treat this hide."
"You want to sell all of this then?"
"Yes, I have no need for these. Although I do need this done as quickly as possible. I'm meeting Dragoon down at the tavern in a while and I'll be paying for most of the bill most likely."
"Alright give me 10 minutes and I'll get this all calculated out for you. Have a look around if you want!"
Phoenix walked over to the wall of weapons and armor Erald has on display. When he heard the door open. He looked over to see who it was. A woman walked into the blacksmiths shop. "Who do we have here?" Phoenix mumbled to himself and walked over to Erald.
"Who's this beauty that just walked in?" Phoenix whispered quietly to Erald.
"That's our new hunter, she's an interesting one. I hear shes quite good but has a feisty attitude."
"Really now. I guess I'll go say hello then." Phoenix walked away from the counter and Erald rolled his eyes.
Phoenix started to walk over to the woman trying to think of what to say. He started to look at her as he got closer and noticed she had brilliant red hair and was wearing some sort of Blagonga armor. But it seemed too light to be a melee armor. "Hello, I'm Phoenix and what might your name be?"
She looked at him with a bored expression on her face. "Do we have business together?"
"Not that I know of?"
"Then get lost, I have no interest in talking with you!" She walked out of the blacksmiths shop.
Phoenix walked back over to the counter. "Well...that wasn't very polite."
"I told ya she was feisty." Erald said in a winded tone. "I thought you might have been able to talk to her, but I guess she isn't affected by your 'suave'."
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"Oh, most woman are all ga ga over your armor and your reputation as a hunter, but I guess it's different when the women is also a hunter."
"Oh shut up, Erald!"
Erald laughed quite loudly. "Your total comes to 120,368z."
"Not a bad haul! I guess I'll be heading over to the tavern now, talk to you later Erald."
"Until next time, Phoenix."
Phoenix headed over to the tavern. As he walked in he heard Dragoon yell his name. "Hey Phoenix over here!"
The tavern was quite packed with people. Some hunters, some civilians. The maids were running all over the place trying to fill out every order.
Phoenix walked over to where Dragoon reserved a table just for them. As he walked over to the table he walked past the woman he saw earlier, he just kept walking by her and didn't look at her. "Ugh turns out Erald can't make my cloak. He says he doesn't know how to treat Kirin hide."
"That's odd, I thought a man of his experience would."
"That's what I thought. Then he told me I would have to see one of the Elder smiths about my hide!" Phoenix waved over to a maid.
"Be with you in a minute!"
Right as Phoenix went to put his arm down the hunter from earlier came over. "Hey, mind if I join you?"
Dragoon snarled "Get lost kid!"
"Calm down Dragoon, I bumped into him at the blacksmith's shop and he fell down. I told him I'd buy him a drink to make up for it."
Dragoon snorted. "Fine by me as long as your paying and only for one drink though, then hes gotta go!"
"Fine fine, sit down. I didn't catch your name earlier" Phoenix looked at the man as he sat down.
"The names Orpheus."
"You been a hunter long?"
"Not for that long I'm still only rank 1. I'm having problems since I can't find anyone to go on a hunt with." Orpheus looked down at the table and began to look sad.
"Oh boy here we go!" moaned Dragoon. "Were hunters, were not suppose to get all sad!"
"Oh take it easy on the newbie." Phoenix replied quite quickly.
"Bah!"
"So Orpheus, what have hunted lately?" Phoenix said happily trying to change the topic.
"I was able to kill a Shogun Ceanataur a few days back. I was at the blacksmith's seeing if my equipment was done yet."
"Quite a feat there newbie!" Dragoon said as he reached over and punched him on the shoulder.
"Thanks!" He flinched rubbing his shoulder not yet used to the rough nature of Phoenix and Dragoon's favored punch.
"I was able to trap one side of it's legs in a pitfall and down it with a lucky shot with my bow through the eye."
"Must of been a nice shot then!" Patting Orpheus on the shoulder.
"Nah, it was just a lucky shot is all." Orpheus began to get embarrassed.
A maid walked up to them with a pad of paper and pen in hand. "So what will you gentlemen have tonight?"
Phoenix started the order first. "I'll have a Apcynoth Steak and a pint of mead."
Dragoon and Orpheus said at the same time. "Just a pint please." They looked at each other and Phoenix and the maid chuckled.
"Very well, sirs." The maid walked away.
Phoenix kept laughing and looked back. The woman from earlier was watching him but when he looked at her she quickly looked away. Phoenix just turned back around. "I won't be able to stay too late tonight. I have to head over to the guild office tomorrow."
"As diligent as ever." Dragoon chuckled.
Orpheus finished his drink. "I'm gonna head out guys."
"Alright, if I got time I'll help you with a hunt sometime." Phoenix replied.
"I might take you up on that offer, see you guys later!"
"I hope not." Dragoon snarled. "That woman over there keeps looking at you Phoenix. You hit on her and fail?" He laughed.
"I ran into her at the smith's earlier, all I said was hello and she walked off on me."
"I guess your charm doesn't work on everyone then!"
"I can't help it, I was just curious was all and she seemed to get all mad."
"Bah don't get us kicked out of the outpost for hitting on someones daughter again!"
"Oh shut it, Dragoon!" Phoenix chugged the last bit of his drink down. "I'm heading out."
"Alright talk to you tomorrow, Phoenix!" Dragoon tapped his drink into Phoenix's.
Phoenix stumbled to the Inn and booked a room for one night. As he headed up stairs he heard someone following him, he just kept walking and went into his room. He layed down onto the bed and began to fall asleep.
He heard the floorboard creak and looked over. Someone was trying to steal his Kirin hide. He jumped out of bed and jumped over and pinned both arms of the thief onto the wall with one hand.
"Who are you and why are you trying to steal from me?!" It was dark and he couldn't see who it was.
"Let go of me!"
"I'll let go of you as soon as you drop my hide!"
The thief dropped the hide to the floor. "There now will you let go of me?!"
Phoenix let him go and he dropped to the floor. "This belongs to me and it's quite rare."
"Why do you think I tried to steal it?!"
"You're pretty gutsy trying to steal from a hunter."
He remained silent.
"Fine if you don't want to talk to me I'll just take you to the constables office and let you talk to him!"
"No!" He quickly replied.
"You think your gonna get away with this sort of thing?"
"I didn't steal anything!"
"You tried to steal something, you think that isn't bad?!" Right as he finished his sentence a brilliant flash went off. He stumbled a bit then regained his sight. "He's gone!"
Phoenix locked his door and shut his window. He put the hide in his backpack but this time he kept it with him in his bed. He slept through the rest of the night.
Phoenix woke up mid-morning. "Ugh, damn thief's can't make an honest living!" He sat up in bed and cracked his neck. "I guess I'd better get down to the guild office and report what happened."
He stood up and walked over to put him armor back on. Phoenix is a short man only about five feet seven inches tall, long wavy dark brown hair and sky blue eyes.
Most people underestimate him until they see how agile he is in combat. His sword is about three feet long and four inches wide. It's made out of Malachite and treated claws from the Rathalos he killed.
His bowgun is quite large. Unlike his other equipment this bowgun is made purely out of a metal alloy. It has been modified to use very high caliber rounds. It has a breach loading chamber unlike many bowguns which have clips.
His shield and Armor are made of durable Rathalos scales, but are reinforced with Dragonite to be much sturdier than normal. His armor has short flesh-like fins on his back that point out and some on his tasset that point down to offer some extra protection and streamline his movements.
He often doesn't wear his helm in towns and just lets it hang off a strap over his shoulder. Since he is permitted to wear his weapons in town he does so.
He put on all of his gear and set out to the guild office. When he got there he was greeted by a disturbingly cheerful secretary. "Greetings, how may I help you hunter?" She said with a very wide smile on her face.
"I'm here to report my recent trip to the canyons." Phoenix handed his card to her.
"Oh, the Region Representative has been awaiting your return."
"Really?"
"Yes, he has gotten word that the other hunters you went with have died. He wants to hear what happened. Wait here while I speak to him." She stood up and walked into the next room.
She returned a few moments later. "Please go inside, he will see you now."
"Thank you." Phoenix walked into the room and the secretary shut the door behind him.
"Hello, Phoenix! I'm glad someone survived that trip."
"Yes, we all had close calls, but I was able to get out of them unlike the others."
"So tell me, what happened?"
Phoenix began to tell him about what happened. They talk for over three hours.
The Representative takes a long winded sigh. "Well, that was quite the adventure. I'm sorry you had to see that happen to your fellow hunters."
"It's part of the job. When you fight monsters you shouldn't expect to come out unscathed."
"I've never liked that side though, I don't like to lose such fine hunters. I'm very sorry that I had to send you on that trip. When I got the letter that requested that you be sent to supervise I thought we would lose our best hunter."
Phoenix chuckles. "There are many hunters better than I, Sir."
"I don't know about that, Phoenix. There aren't that many hunters that can take on two wyverns and live to tell the tale."
"Thank you, Sir."
"Now I've got another assignment for you."
"What is it, Sir?"
"Are you sure you want to take this so quickly?"
"That's my job sir, actually I should say it's my life sir. This sort of thing shouldn't be taken lightly."
"I know that, well it's up to you." The representative reaches inside a drawer and takes out some paperwork. "This will be your next assignment." He hands the paperwork over to Phoenix.
Phoenix reads it over for a minute. "I'm quite certain I can handle this, Sir."
"Good a little training won't hurt you I guess." The representative laughs.
"So who will I be supervising this time, Sir?"
The representative turns his chair towards the door. "You may come in now."
The door opens. "Hello, Sir, so who will be..."
"Orpheus?!" Phoenix stands up in amazement.
"Oh hello Phoenix, what are you doing here?" Orpheus says with honest curiosity.
"I guess I'm going to supervise your next hunt!" Phoenix extends his hand waiting for a handshake.
Orpheus shakes Phoenix's hand and they both turn towards the representative. "When do we head out sir?"
"We've had reports of a population increase of Basarios in the volcanic region."
"Great more dull terrain." Phoenix mumbles.
"What was that Phoenix?" The representative raises an eyebrow.
"Nothing, Sir! Just saying to myself how it's been a while since I've been to the volcanic region and how I'd be more than happy to hunt something there."
"Good good, well you two will pick a third member for this hunt just to be safe. Who do you have in mind Phoenix?"
"Well, I heard my old friend, Maccabeus, was in that territory. I might try and meet with him and see if he wants to join us."
"Very well, I'll send news to the local outpost, hopefully he's there. When will you head off?"
"If Orpheus's equipment is done we'll head out right away."
"Alright you two are dismissed."
Phoenix and Orpheus say at nearly the same time. "Yes, Sir!"
"So, Orpheus, shall we head over to the blacksmith's and see if your armor is done?"
"Sure thing, I've been waiting nearly a week for it!"
Phoenix and Orpheus head over to the blacksmith's when they run into Dragoon. "Hey buddy, what's the newbie with ya for?"
"I've been assigned to supervise his hunt for a Basarios."
Dragoon chuckles. "Ha! Stuck on newb duty again eh? That's the price you pay for being such a..."
"If you say prodigy I'm gonna punch you in the face" Phoenix raises an arm readying a punch.
"I was gonna say, such a great hunter ya putz!" Dragoon grabs Phoenix's hand and pulls it down. "You need another hunter?"
"Well the assignment calls for three hunters, but I'll go back and ask the representative to adjust the paperwork for me." Phoenix winks.
"Ah the mighty hunter pulling strings." Dragoon laughs.
"Yes, what of it? Anyway I'll get him to raise it to four hunters and we'll meet up with Maccabeus."
Dragoon says loudly. "I haven't seen that him in a while, it'll be good to go on a hunt with him. See if his luck has improved at all!"
"Yea, he has always had some rotten luck, but also enough good luck to make it out. Which reminds me mind, can you see Orpheus to the blacksmith? His equipment should be done by now."
"Sure thing. Lets go, newbie." Dragoon grabs Orpheus by the shoulder and hauls him off.
"Hey, Erald!" Dragoon yells as he enters the shop.
"Oh hey, Dragoon, do I have an order for you?"
"Nah it's the newbie here."
"My names Orpheus! My order is that set made of Ceanataur materials."
"Ah yes, I just got done today!" Erald goes over to a manikin. "Here it is."
Dragoon looks impressed. "Looks damn good, but it looks a little sharp."
"Literally, it is." Erald takes a piece of paper and lets it fall onto the shoulder plate. The paper splits right in two.
Dragoon whistles. "Damn, that's sharp! Gotta be careful putting it on, eh?"
"Yes, very! It should give you adequate defenses and should go nicely with the Dual Swords I made."
"What about my bow?" Orpheus asks nervously.
"Ah yes, I ran out of Ceanataur materials so I had to use the parts that Phoenix brought in." He goes to the back room and brings out a bow that is a strange green wood. "I made a bow out of some Dragonwood. The sap from Dragonwood acts as a paralytic poison. Not as potent as Genprey venom but works just fine to slow the movement of your prey."
Orpheus gets a large smile on his face. "Sweet!"
"Sorry to break up this joyful scene, but let's get you geared up so we can meet Phoenix and see if all four of us can go."
"Yea, good idea." Orpheus takes his time putting on his armor. "Alright lets meet up with Phoenix!"
Dragoon and Orpheus meet Phoenix on their way out of the blacksmith's shop. "Hey nice, armor Orpheus!"
"Thanks Phoenix!" Stops to think. "So can we have four people on this trip?"
"Took some convincing but yes. We'll head out in a little bit after we get supplies. Meet at the gate in one hour and we'll head out." The party splits up and heads to the local shops for food and other supplies.
Roughly one hour later. "Alright so you guys ready?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Yep... Orpheus..." Dragoon chuckles. "He's not an officer, you don't need to call him Sir."
"Oh... right. Well, then let's head out, Phoenix."
Phoenix tries to stop laughing. "Alright lets head out for the Volcanic Outpost. We'll have to cross part of the desert. Hopefully we can do so without incident."
Dragoon cynically replies. "Yea, I hear their having a bit of a population problem with Diablos there." Dragoon let's out a diabolical laughter.