Idroa is a delightful planet with wonders and miracles around every corner. It’s just a pity it’s infested with creatures who think they can contest us. A true pity.

Lavanya Sanghvi - the Monster Bane - Adventurer’s Guide to Surviving the Idroan Wilderness

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Raven had hair as dark as wet slate, and it was mostly shoulder-length except for where it was randomly cut shorter. Her skin was deathly pale, her eyes lidded, and her lips the colour of freshly spilt blood. She wore a black plunge dress, flaunting her ample cleavage, and dark boots, providing contrast to the many silver earrings and piercings across her face. Most catching, however, was the strong arcane presence billowing out from her.

Behind her stood a woman with dark skin kitted in light armour, her eyes drained of life as she peered up at Silas. From the hunting bow on her back and the large blood-speckled machete by her hips, he figured this was Meera, the Huntress.

Reaching out, Raven said, “Silas, a pleasure to finally meet you.” She drawled the words, and as he shook her hand, he noticed how chilling her skin was. Meera nodded her greetings from the back.

“You too,” Silas replied, his eyes darting from the two as he wondered why they were here. Feeling out of his depth, he decided to call his cavalry. “You must be cold out here. I was just having tea with some friends; why don’t you come in and join us?”

She didn’t react at all to his words, instead staring up at him with glassy eyes. Just as he was about to snap a finger in front of her, she abruptly nodded. “Sounds lovely, doesn’t it, Meera?”

“Yes,” Meera answered curtly, lowering her head.

Feeling somewhat creeped out, he led them through the living room and introduced them. The Voidcaller took her offered seat while the Huntress moved to the corner of the room and remained there.

“Fuck,” Rolf muttered under his breath as he saw the two women. Raven must have heard as her eyes rolled over his plump figure, and a faint smile emerged on her face.

Coughing, Josh took charge, clearly understanding why Silas had brought them inside, “What brings you here?”

Alas, Raven ignored him, her attention now on Iris, her eyes boring into the short healer. It was interesting to see how different they looked despite their peculiar clothes sharing the same dark theme. Smirking, she must have concluded Iris was no threat as she finally answered the question. “I guess I can jump straight to the point. I’ve come with a venture that I believe will benefit both parties.” She leaned back and interlocked her fingers, lazily pushing out her bust until her nipples threatened to slip out from under the fabric.

“What would that be?” Silas asked, pointedly ignoring her actions.

“I heard on the grapevine that you were searching for trolls,” she replied. She must have known she had him as she simpered.

Raising his brow, Silas gave her his full attention. “You know where the Swamp Troll is?”

“We encountered a number of trolls while, indeed, crossing a swamp,” she replied.

“I see. And what do you want for this information?” he asked, figuring she was looking to squeeze some reward out of him.

“Nothing from you other than your aid,” she said, shrugging in a so-so manner. “They stole a precious pendant from me while I escaped their grasp. It was my mother’s keepsake. I simply want it back.”

Her explanation made sense to him: he, too, would be angry if someone stole something his siblings had given him. “Oh, right. When do you want to go?”

“Now, if possible. I cannot be certain if the trolls will keep to the position I encountered them at. Another interesting character will be joining us, so it should be an easy mission.” Noticing Silas’s hesitation, she continued. “It’s quite alright - I barely lost to the trolls last time, and it was just me and Meera then.”

Silas was still unsure. While he already had supplies packed and his armour runed up to leave at any time, four people to take on a monster on his quest list still sounded risky. “Any of you want to come?” he asked, noticing in the corner of his eye how Raven stiffened at his question.

Rolf grimaced and crossed his arms. “Not a chance - I’m just not cut out for fighting.”

“Sorry, man. I’m already going with Iris,” Josh replied, “Tomorrow, right?”

She nodded, although Silas didn’t know if it was just to back Josh up or whether they truly were going tomorrow.

Either way, he could tell everyone found the Voidcaller unsettling, and although he suspected there was something fishy about her proposed mission, he figured he could deal with her if it came to it. After all, while she seemed powerful, she was still a far cry away from Grace Volta. Although it was against his better sense, he wanted his second ability badly enough that he promptly agreed to Raven’s request, setting out in the following hour.

****

The Huntress vigilantly led the way, the other three following behind. The last member of their party was, surprisingly, Faris Jabbar, the Mounted Archer.

“What was your tutorial like?” Raven asked Silas, “Surely you must have a dozen stories from it.” She still wore her plunge dress with no additional armour on top, reminding him of Iris on their first outing. Not that the Voidcaller had any similarities with the short healer.

He noted how the other two also perked up at the question, not that he was too surprised. In the village, he was only known for his strength, so it made sense that people were curious how he had gotten so strong. Shrugging, he answered, “Probably the same stories as everyone else. I went into the extreme tutorial, so I was out of my depth throughout but—”

Meera momentarily stopped, Raven’s eyes widened, and Faris almost fell off his spectral horse. Thinking back, Silas realised he had only ever told Lazzaro about it, but then again, he had assumed it was easy for others to deduct if they took a moment to consider his strength.

“Wait, you passed the extreme tutorial?” Faris asked, regaining his balance. “I thought no one passed that shit!” His horse was unperturbed by his shuffling, its curious, translucent eyes glued to the detritus covering the ground.

“Well, I was very lucky to have talented teammates,” Silas clarified. “They got me through it.” Aengus and Mia had been his guardian angels then, saving his ass countless times.

The horseman raised a doubtful eyebrow and grunted. “Anyone we would know?”

“Aengus Abercrombie,” he said, not seeing any harm in doing so.

“Aengus Abercrombie?” Faris repeated while stroking his beard. He shook his head after a few seconds. “Doesn’t ring any bells, mate.”

Raven spoke before he could, staring into thin air, clearly reading from the System. “Number 26, Aengus Abercrombie? The Master of War?” Her usually drawling voice was shrill as if someone had injected it with a generous portion of energy.

Silas nodded, “Yeah, that’s him.”

Faris encompassed the group’s feelings concisely with a single word. “Shieeet!” His horse gave a jump at the sudden outburst and he mindlessly scratched its mane, calming it. “No wonder you passed the impossible tutorial - you were with a monster.” The Arabian suddenly broke into booming laughter and shook his head. “What am I saying? You’re also a monster, bloody monsters the lot of you!”

Not expecting the sudden compliment, Silas grinned. “How about yourself? How did you end up getting a class like Mounted Archer?”

“Bah!” Faris said, waving his hand. “I just did the normal tutorial, and one of the monsters looked like a horse. Don’t blame me, alright, it shouldn’t have let its guard down.” Likely recalling the memory, he chuckled and his horse whinnied grumpily. “But I reckon you have a more exciting story, Ms Voidcaller.”

With an arched eyebrow, Raven regarded the horseman’s expression. “Not really. There were a great number of curious beasts in the hard tutorial, and they must have influenced my mind as I dreamed of peculiar voices one night. I did not understand what they were saying, so I simply called back. That was all it took to become a Voidcaller.” Although they inquired for more, Raven was light on details.

The rest of the journey was filled with conversation and punctuated by periods of silence. Spending time with Faris, Silas learnt that the horseman was a bit of a mad commando: brave, charming, and easily distracted by the next interesting thing.

Raven was mostly an open book to read from her head to her toes, although Silas only grew further disquieted the more he learnt about the Voidcaller. She hummed creepily at times, at others glaring into empty space, and would occasionally grab a handful of long hair and cut it with a snip of her fingers. Still, she seemed aware, if unconcerned, of her unconventional actions and spoke freely about most matters.

Meera was the only one he failed to make any headway on despite the time they spent together as the Huntress rarely paid attention to their discussion and only spoke curtly when directly mentioned, by and large by Raven. When he learnt she could track down things, he was thrilled, but she extinguished his fire before it got out of control by explaining that she could only find people and monsters she had seen in the last week. Apparently, she had come by the trolls six days ago, which was why they were in such a rush now.

The two leading suns had already set in the sky and the third smaller and purple one was nearing the horizon when they reached the swamps. It stunk of mould and rot and death. Murky water came up to their shins with reeds and rotting leaves covering the water’s surface. Most of the monsters here avoided their group, but not the trolls who came running as if summoned, their footfalls audible from a good distance away.

Finding a relatively dry section of the swamp, the party waited patiently until the monsters charged into sight. Remembering his quest was to duel the Swamp Troll, Silas searched for the one. He didn’t have to wonder long as it wasn’t far behind its other two kin, lumbering and huge, lumbering and purple with warty skin, lumbering and downright frightening.

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Trolls, despite having several distinct subspecies, can all be identified by their giant humanoid builds, fiery red hair, bulbous noses, and their rapid rates of regeneration (they can regrow their limbs in a single day). Below, I’ve listed a few notable subspecies to look out for.

Swamp trolls have an extensive grasp of herbalism and, when near the right ingredients, can create potions magical in effect. They can also lie flat in murky water for days on end, going into stasis, only to pounce at prey that wanders by. While troll flesh is generally edible and in fact a great source of nutrition, I warn you against eating swamp troll as their flesh is toxic.

Magma trolls have tougher skin than the rest of their kin; this seems to have come about because of their ancestors’ habit of dousing themselves with lava, a practise the magma trolls religiously continue to the modern day. Besides this, they have a basic grasp of fire magic and are social creatures, usually living in large communities. Be warned that they’ll literally erupt into rage on seeing frost trolls.

Pygmy trolls are smaller and weaker than the rest of their kin, usually only coming up to seven-feet. Despite this, they’re amongst the most dangerous trolls you can encounter due to their near-human level of intelligence and natural arcane affinity. However, they can also be easily reasoned with to avoid combat, a trait that many of their kin unfortunately do not share.

Lavanya Sanghvi - the Monster Bane - Adventurer’s Guide to Surviving the Idroan Wilderness