023

--The Enclave--

Guin had passed the Hunters’ Guild of Miala de Ri a number of times before , but she had never really looked too closely at it. Right up against the starter area, however, it was a place that had a plethora of quests for players of all levels — Guin just preferred to level by combat.

Nestled in the woods just outside the walls of the Western Gate, the guild was pronounced by a large sign that listed the services the complex provided. Just passed it, sounds of music and conversation and clinking glasses carried through the open, lattice-styled stained glass windows of large, two story stone tavern. A rusting iron signpost depicting an archer nocking his bow named the place ‘The Nocked Arrow’.

With a deep breath to start her day in TheirWorld, Guin pulled up her character sheet. Almost jumping out of her own skin, she jumped when she saw the large pair of fox ears twitching about on her head. Glancing around at passing players quickly, she noticed a few of them pointing in curiosity and immediately pulled her fox skin cloak over to hide them. I had almost forgotten… Anyone seeing them was bound to ask questions — for better or worse. Licking her lips and pulling the fur tighter at her neck, and looked around.

A small crowd of players was gathered off to one side of the building, where a set of three, large billboards were covered with flyers. Walking over, Guin saw that it was filled with wanted posters and hunting requests, filled with names and details, each with varying rewards posted upon completion. When she focused on one trying to make out the details, a screen came up in front of her:

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Several other papers on the boards were just like the one for Baron Eldrin. Hundreds of bounties looked to be listed — NPCs and criminal players alike. PKing, theft, trespassing; the list of crimes went on the more she read. These kinds of bounty quests didn’t seem to be worth much in the way of experience points, but bounty hunting was obviously quite a profitable trade — especially in the lower levels.

What took Guin’s interest, however, were the beast hunting quests. She spotted about half a dozen hunting quests that covered a level range of 1 through 10, and she quickly accepted them. Moarbits, Rat Weasels, Cat Foxes, and Rabid Wolves; these would be her prey for probably the rest of the day as she leveled her skinning skills — and most wouldn’t be worth much in the way of XP for her at level ten. She may as well reap the benefits of the quests to keep herself from falling behind too much.

Wandering around the complex a bit more, she quickly came across her target location: ‘Timmy’s Trappers and Tanners’.

The main building was a well constructed little store front, but it was obvious that most of the action was happening in a large shed attached to it. The doors of the shed were open, revealing what looked like hundreds of skins and furs being dried and prepared for tanning. About a dozen people were working out in the yard between the two buildings, skinning and tending animals and skins. Animals that resembled deer, fox, and wolves hung upside down on poles as Guin watched the skilled hunters make precise cuts along the legs and pull the furs down the bodies like socks — all while several of those animals’ ghost-like spirits, looked on, watching them carefully with both weariness and interest. Morbid…

“Hey, there! Need something?” one of the hunters asked as she wiped her bloody hands off with a rag. She had just finished pulling the skin down off the head of a now unidentifiable, scrawny creature. Guin’s eyes flickered to the wolf spirit that was now sitting next to her, it’s held held high and proud as if in approval of the woman’s work. “Miss?”

“M-Mmm,” Guin nodded, though her eyes stared at the small pool of blood that was around the base of the pole. “I’m looking to learn how to skin…”

“Well, then!” the woman said, clapping her hands together. “You’ve come to the right place! Got any experience?” Guin shook her head. “That’s fine! Plenty of people around here who can give you a hand. I’d offer you one myself, but I should wash up before I do anything. You should go talk to Master Hunter Lithe inside the Common House — she should be able to set you up with a good starting point before you try your first cut.” The hunter waved to the main building, then promptly turned back to her job.

Not wasting any more time, Guin nodded to her then headed into the Common House.

Like the tavern, the trapper’s house was two stories, and had the the same, pretty latticed windows. This place was relatively quiet, however.

And indeed, inside it was quite the proper manor. The down stairs had two rooms; a large, warm common area and a small kitchen that smelled of fresh baked breads and meats. A great fireplace was built at the opposite end of the building with the stuffed head of a massive, unknown creature with green fur, six eyes, and large, curled, ebony horns. A rich looking curved stair was up against one wall leading up to a loft that overlooked about half the common area. Lanterns and chandeliers made of various kinds of antlers and great tapestries telling tales of great hunts decorated throughout — but there was rather surprising absence of taxidermy.

“Is there something you need?” a tall grey garule asked, green eyes blazing as they looked Guin over.

“U-Uhm,” Guin clasped her hands together tightly, her sharp nails pricking her skin a little as she felt her heart beat faster than she liked. “I’m looking for the Master Hunter?”

“Which one?” The garule asked, its eyes rolling.

“There’s more than one?”

“You must be a small town girl,” the garule sighed. “And stop shrinking. Unless you magically sprout fur, there is no reason you need to act as prey.” The garule’s tongue whipped out as if to make a point, but Guin laughed nervously as its eyes turned uncertain. “... Must be the cloak. It isn’t one of ours, but it looks quite nice…,” the dinosaur man put its hand out to take closer look at Amikavi’s fur, but Guin ducked out of the way.

“Master Hunter Lithe,” she said, pulling the cloak of her hood tight around her head. “I was told to speak to Master Hunter Lithe.”

“Lithe?” The garule repeated. “I guess you are in the right place then.” Please, please don’t say that you are Lithe… Guin begged. The last thing that she needed was a Master Hunter garule who was already on to her more… animalistic qualities. They wouldn’t really skin me… would they? “Master Hunter Lithe is in the upstairs office. Just knock on the door and wait for her to have you called in.”

With a sigh of relief, Guin bowed with a quick, “Thanks!” and ran off up the stairs.

From the loft, there was a set of great oak doors, carved with various, magical-looking creatures. Two hunters stood outside on either side of the door, bows in hand. They were dressed mostly in simple brown and green clothes, save that each had a half cloak made of a lush, fluffy fur.

“Excuse me?” Guin went. “I’m here to speak with Master Hunter Lithe?”

The two guards exchanged glances, then nodded to one another and one pulled a string. From inside the room, she heard a small bell tinkle.

“Please wait a moment,” he other said. “The Master Hunter will ring when she is ready.”

Guin bowed and leaned over the railing with a sigh. This was far more complicated than it had been in White Fox Forest. I missed such an opportunity…

She pulled up a tell window with Drakov.

“Noona!” he exclaimed, looking a bit disheveled. “I’m still about twenty minutes out. We got attacked by a huge group of bandits! It was so exciting!”

Chuckling, Guin said, “Yeah? That’s good.” He nodded enthusiastically as she continued. “Listen, my errands are taking longer than I thought. I am currently on hold, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take for me to go through the initiation process here. If I’m not at the Western Gate, I’ll be at the Hunters’ Guild. There is a tavern right outside it that you can probably pick up a couple of quests and stuff from.”

“Okay!” Drakov nodded. “Any idea how long you’ll be?”

“Nope,” Guin shook her head. “Unfortunately, I thought this was gonna be a walk in, ask for training, and get the skill in like five minutes kind of thing. This is TheirWorld. I should have known better.”

Drakov laughed. “You’ll probably be done in like half an hour to an hour. I remember when I got my leather working skill, I was horrified because it took forever to get the skill because they had me go through a mini tutorial, and I thought I would never get to play the game, but it’s much simpler once you finish. The game is just cruel and unusual.”

“Isn’t it always?”

“Miss?” the hunter behind her that had spoken before went. Guin turned to see him nod at her.

“Okay, I have to go! See you soon!” she waved.

“Bye!”

As the screen zipped out, she fully turned, and the hunters opened the doors to the office of Master Hunter Lithe.