The head of a bull hits the ground with a bit of a thud as the body follows shortly after. Both pieces start to spill out the red upon the ground as Gales takes a second to swing his blade and get rid of the blood that was gathering on his weapon. "And that makes fifteen." The Hunter mutters, taking a breath as he puts his blade on his back and starts to wipe the sweat off his brow. "You know, out of all the Bulls we've dealt with since we started months ago, this is the first time we've ran into so many in such a short amount of time." Garm made a noise in agreement. "I mean, I heard that these guys can multiply like crazy, but still…" Gales mutters as puts a hand on his hip and sighs. "We've run into fifteen in what, an hour?" Garm made a noise. "Correction we've found 24. We hunted 15." He muttered, thinking to the nine others that had already been reduced to carasses by the time the pair had found them. Their wounds showed that they had meddled with some breed of predators.
Even if he decided to not get involved, Nature seemed to be finding a way to deal with the bulls without him.
That was a lesson he and others needed to remember; nature always found a way to correct itself.
"Either way…" Gales muttered as he turned to the bull. "We're running into a lot of these guys, but no herbs yet." Garm made a noise as gales scratched his head. "Yeah, you're probably right, we're probably looking in the wrong parts." He muttered as he put his hands on his hips. "These parts are no doubt overrun with the Bulls, they should be heading somewhere. If we could find the direction they're going and beat them there we should be able to gather the herbs we need for this job without issue." Gales noted as he looked at Garm. "But even if we do that, the bulls are still gonna ruin that part of the land sooner or later which will only make finding herbs harder later on." He grumbled, raising an arm to scratch his head. "And as much as I want to finish this quest on a good note, I think we'll be stuck focusing more on hunting the Bulls than anything." He grumbled as he dropped to the ground and closed his eyes in thought. "Should we forfeit this mission? I feel like doing that would leave a bad taste in my mouth." Garm made a noise in agreement as the two fell silent. After a moment Gales raised his hands and roughly scratched his head with them. "Ugh~ This sucks, I really wanted to end our first real job on a good note!" He grumbled as Garm barked before looking elsewhere and started to growl. "Hm?" Glass stopped scratching his head as he looked at his Canyne. "Garm, what's -" An instant later he was on his feet, his sword in hand as he looked towards the woods.
When nothing happened he frowned, glancing around as he slowly released one of his arms from his weapon and touched his neck.
The hairs on it were standing straight up.
"What was that?" Gales grumbled as he looked around, trying to get a look at whatever had sent his instincts into overdrive. He noticed that a shadow went flying overhead, but beyond that he didn't see or hear anything that was worth any attention. Well, nothing except a few dozen smaller shadows flying off as well. "Strange…" Gales muttered as he heard Garm make a noise and made a face. He put his blade back on his back as he started walking towards a tree. "Hang on a minute, ok." Without another word he crouched before jumping upward.
Grabbing hold of a branch that was probably twice the size of his arm, Gales hoisted himself up and started climbing a bit higher before reaching the treeline. From where he was he saw the forest for what it was. A massive labyrinthine ecosystem full of tangled groves, tower -like trees and uneven hills that stretched as far as the eye could see. He barely acknowledged Garm having already climbed up to see what was going on, and instead focused his attention on the world that was ahead of him.
The wilds were pretty quiet; he noted. The only thing that was really making noise had to be those flock of birds scattering across the four winds. "Looks like something scared them…" Gales muttered as he returned his hand to his neck. "Whatever it was…" He muttered as found Garm pawing at his leg. Looking at him Gales made a face. "You wanna check it out?" Garm's response was to jump down as they waited for their human to follow. Gales hopped down a moment later and started heading off with his partner.
Thorn couldn't help making a face as she crouched down to see the dead jaggi that was laid out on the ground. "This one too huh?" The huntress muttered as she looked the beast over. "This is getting out of hand…" She grumbled before getting to her feet. She looked at the dead for a moment longer before walking forward. She stopped a few moments later, her attention being drawn to the sound of ruffled leaves not too far from her. "Hm?"
A bark caught her attention as the bushes parted to reveal that a canyne and their Hunter making themselves known. "Hm, what's up Garm?" The Hunter with the eyes of a wyvern looked ahead as he met Thorn's eyes.
"You."
Neither were really sure who said it first, but at the end of the day that didn't really matter. Staring at each other for a moment longer Gales coughed into his palm before slowly raising his hand in greeting. "Hey there."
"Hey." Thorn replied as she looked him over, noticing the small bits of dirt on his boots and the blood on his great sword. You're the boy from the guild hall, the one with wyvern eyes."
"Yeah…" Gales muttered as he reflexively raised a hand to scratch a spot near one of his eyes. "I'm Gales, Gales Ashechild."
"Thorn, just Thorn."
"Well it's nice to meet you, Just Thorn."
"That's not funny."
"Sorry." Gales muttered. "What are you doing out here?" Gales paused as he stated at the woman's longsword. "You know, besides fulfilling your quest contract."
"Nothing much…" Thorn shrugged. "Just getting some air, taking in the sights." She stated. "Nothing beats a walk in the wilds.
"Ah~" Gales made a noise as he looked at the dead jaggi. "Hm?" He walked over to the dead as he looked over the beast. "There's no wounds…" He muttered before resting a hand on the jaggi's throat and seemed to trail it over the form to search for something. "Poison?" He asked before checking its mouth. "Bad meat?"
"Your first guess was closer…" The huntress grumbled. "There's a vent nearby."
"A vent?" Gales muttered as he raised one of the Jaggi's limbs and felt for a pulse. He didn't find any. Getting to his feet, the young man scratched his head as he made a noise. "What do you mean?"
"Gas vents." Thorn stated. "They form when cracks in the bedrock allow the toxic gas trapped beneath the surface to leak out." She admits, putting her hand on her hip as she looks elsewhere. "The gas below is so concentrated that when it gets out it either knocks you out or kills you outright."
"I see…" Gales muttered, getting to his feet. "And you're looking for these vents?" He asked as Thorn seemed to turn her attention elsewhere and frown.
"Why are you out here?" Thorn grumbled as she looked at the Hunter for a moment as their eyes locked. "What contract are you trying to fulfill?"
'She's changing the subject…' Gales scratched his head as his free arm went to a pouch on his hip and pulled out the request form he had taken. "I'm looking for medical herbs." He stated.
"Ah~ that's a hard one to get done." Thorn admitted as Gales nodded his head. "The bulls have done a number on the soil in these parts, so they've eaten or destroyed most of the herbs you're looking for."
"Yeah, I've noticed." Gales agreed as he sighed in annoyance. "Where are all those bulls coming from anyway?" He asked as he returned the form to his pouch as he looked elsewhere. "Where do you think they're coming from?
"Hard to say." Thorn grumbled as she reached for something on her hip. "Here." Gales snapped back to attention as his hand caught hold of a small woven pouch. "You need herbs to fulfill the terms laid out by your quest giver, right? Those should do it for you." Gales blinked in confusion before looking through the pouch and saw that it was indeed full of the herbs he was looking for.
"Thanks but… I can't take these." Gales muttered as he closed the mouch and tossed it back to Thorn. "I haven't found these so I can't just take em."
"You have pride as a Hunter." The Huntress muttered as she released this small smile. "I'm glad to hear that, especially considering you would get in trouble if you turned in these herbs."
"Hm?" Thorn adjusted her bag as she revealed that there was an insignia etched on it.
"If you turned these in, the guild would know you didn't find these." She stated as Gales blinked in disbelief. Right after he pouted, annoyance on his face as he stared at the woman.
"Seriously? You were testing me?" Thorn shrugged as she looked elsewhere. "That's not fair."
"Life's not fair." Thorn stated as she put the pouch away. "Besides, if I don't know the kind of person I'm with I can't trust them." Gales continued to pout as he put his hands on his hips. "Anyway, head south-west, the bulls haven't made it that far down, so you should be able to find some wild herbs there that haven't been either crushed or eaten by the bulls." She stated as she continued walking off. "Anyway, I'll see you around."
"You're leaving just like that?"
"I've got my job to do and you got yours." Thorn stated as she glanced at him again. "No point in dragging out a job when you don't have to."
"I guess you have a point…" Gales muttered as he crossed his arms and watched Thorn walk off, while giving him a two fingered salute. "See you back at the guild."
"Maybe." Was all thorn said as she wandered off, leaving the young man alone. Gales just looked at Garm as he made a face. Garm in turn just raised a paw to his nose and patted it a few times. "Yeah, I know." Gales muttered. "I don't think there's anything we can do about it though…" He crossed his arms as he looked elsewhere and made a gesture with his hand. Either way, come on, we do have a job to finish, and if Thorn was right, we'll need to head this way."
"Ugh~" A Hunter can't help the half-whine / half-groan that leaves them as they settle down on a large rock and starts removing their helmet. "Finally, we get a minute to just sit down and relax." The hunter mutters as they throw their head back and let the forest air wash over them.
"I'll say." One of their companions, George mutters as they smile. "Been a long day."
"Hey it's not over yet." The third admits as they pull out a whetstone and starts sharpening their insect glaive. "We still got a lot to do before we head back to Harribel."
"I know, Anya, trust me I know." A male mutters as he sets his helmet on the ground next to him and takes a moment to rub his neck. "I just wish we didn't have so much to do today, ya know."
"What's the matter Andrew, you don't want to work that hard today."
"No, I'm just tired of getting distracted by those guys." He muttered as he gestured to the bull that George was carving open, getting access to a good few pounds of meat for everyone to eat. "Seriously, how many have we ran into today?"
"Hard to say." George muttered as he put the meat on a bed of leaves as the fourth member of their team finished setting up a firepit. "Thanks Luka."
"Don't mention it." Luka started a fire as he nodded his head. "All gotta do our part, right?"
"Very true." George stated as he grabbed a few sticks and stabbed the meat he had taken before putting them around the fire. "Anyway, we can't make any progress moving forward in these parts with all the bulls running around right now. They spot us and they charge without a second thought."
"Yeah it's annoying as all hell." Andrew grumbled. "Seriously, we're just going around minding our own business and these guys come running."
"Yeah." Anya agreed as she seemed to think, taking a moment to stop sharpening her glaive as she turned to her companions. "Speaking of bulls, did you hear about the announcement the Guild made?"
"What announcement?"
"You mean the one concerning a giant Bull?" Luka asked.
"No, not that one, about them organizing a massive bull hunt." Luka raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"About time." Andrew muttered. "With all the Bulls coming around they should have done this earlier."
"Yeah." George agreed as he turned the meat over. "So let me guess, for every bull we take out, we get paid for, right?"
"Yep." Anya stated as she returned to sharpening her glaive. "One coin per bull, and with all the bulls around, we can fill our pockets pretty quickly."
"Well, we can always use some extra coin." Luka stated. "Question is, should we take part in the bull hunts when they get started?"
"I don't think its a matter of should we, but rather we have too." Anya stated. "I'm not against it we've been dealing with bulls for weeks now, even when we don't want to deal with them, they're everywhere." She admitted. "Taking part in the localized hunt for these guys just means we're finally getting paid for dealing with them."
"Good point." Andrew muttered. "In that case I don't mind them charging me every time we run into them." He admitted. "So, when will they officially allow us to start getting paid to deal with these guys?"
"Three days."
"So Monday?" Luka made a noise. "Well, that gives me a reason to look forward to Mondays finally."
"Yeah." George stated as he stared at the meat for a bit longer before nodding his head. "All right everyone, foods done, grab a stick and chow down."
"Don't gotta tell me twice." Andrew was the first to grab a stick before he started biting into it. "Ah~ this is gonna hit the spot, I can already tell."
Abigail released one of her rehearsed smiles as she looked ahead, her attention focused on the hunter/hunting buddy and the bags that they were setting up on the table. "Thank you for your hard work today." The Receptonest stated as she started unpacking the bags at the table and checked their contents. "This will just take a moment ok."
"Take your time." Gales remarked as the woman went about counting everything in front of them. When she was done she made a physical note of everything before setting the bag behind the counter and started dividing up the pay she'd be giving out. And… here we are. You're payment, please spend it wisely."
"We will thank, thank you." Gales replied as he took the pay and smiled. "Honestly, I'm a bit surprised I actually got this today."
"Oh?"
"The bulls are doing a number on the soil out in the wilds, so the herbs were really hard to find." He admitted. "If not for Thorn pointing me in the right direction, I wouldn't be getting paid today."
"I see." Abigail continued to smile as she looked at the young man. "You'll have to remember to thank her then."
"I will." Gales stated, before looking around. "Speaking of which, have you seen her around?"
"Thorn came back earlier, before heading out on another job." Abigail stated. "I'm afraid you probably won't see her for a few more hours."
"Well, that's too bad." Gales muttered. "I guess I'll just have to wait till I can thank her."
"Try not to forget, ok."
"I won't." Gales smiled as he turned and started to think. "Oh, actually, while I have your attention, do you know where Calista is?"
"I'm afraid not." Abigail stated. "That woman can disappear for days at a time before we get any word from her."
"Ah~" Gales made a noise as he scratched his head. "Well if that's the case, I guess I'll see her when I see her." Gales muttered as Garm tugged on his pants with his teeth. "Right… right." He muttered as he rested a hand on the canyne's head as they turned to him. "Come on, lets go get some rest." He grumbled as he stared at the receptionist. "Have a good night."
"You as well, Hunter."
