The training is weird. Little can withstand the force of this combination of hammer and stake, so the target is something easily repairable, a mound of dirt and straw. I am paired up with Asger, who gets the stake and I have the hammer. It is very heavy and difficult to wield. And so, I stand at various different places, trying do a running approach, and strike the small mound with all my force.

Meanwhile, Asger is beside me with the stake. It is more than a foot tall, and the surface area at the top is about 8 inches in diameter. He has a spot marked, and so our goal is to get the timing down, before attempting to do it together. The reason for this, is obviously injury the stake holder could sustain, were we to attempt doing this together. It is almost insanity, like shifting a nail in place while you swing the hammer, but the process has to occur fast.

Gradually all of us improve in this bizarre technique. Caper and Toben have paired together, as has Bern and Larn. The last three participants have argued who should sit out of the pair training, and in the end, Bosir does. I am once again impressed with the sheer strength Mynie has, every time she swings the hammer, I feel all in its path will be obliterated. She has a strength-boosting gift after all.

Days pass and we eventually end up with a much larger "hill" of dirt and straw we try our craft on. I am exceedingly nervous, as I feel a small mistake will easily crush Asger's hand, but I trust in the training. I have synced my speed to Asger's and watch him, and the moment he starts dashing, I follow at the same speed, giving him the same moment to put the stake in place, which I strike with all my might. The hill is soft and it easily pierces deep, I am getting kind of excited to try this on the living tank known as a dragon now.

When the day comes and the party from the capital is arriving, some 40 hunters are ready to join them. There should be a few hundred association hunters in the city, so I had expected much more, but seems our clan is just extraordinarily suicidal. The leader of the profession is riding a monster, what look to be giant, almost ostrich-like bird. This must be one of the tamed monster, that are so rare that I have heard about.

In addition, the man himself is covered in a yellow-golden armor, the trademark of pure flavite. My sword was called flavite, but that is an alloy, mostly a dull grey metal color with streaks of yellow in it. I am told that most flavite equipment takes this shape, though pure flavite is the best quality, it is prohibitively expensive, and the alloy apparently comes pretty close for a fraction of the cost. My sword has also been estimated by Bosir to be worth around one yellow coin, so I can barely even imagine how expensive the full, pure armor must be.

He is currently idling slightly out of town, and the leader of the procession is riding the bird-monster closer to us, before starting a small speech.

"Brave hunters of Brahms, it pleases me to see such a turn-out! Are you ready to risk your life for fame and fortune? Are you ready to protect the land from an aggressor? Are you ready to SLAY A DRAGON?"

Each question is followed by a chant from our group, though I find it difficult to join in after noticing neither Bosir, nor Kamas do so. We then quickly join the end of the procession as it moves past us. These large parties never enter the cities, since it can't accommodate that many people. As it walks past I get the sense that there must be around 200 people.

Our group is led by three of the association's hunters. These apparently get a privilege during exactly this kind of request, though they are a little grumbling. The request is larger than the scope of just Brahms, and so they have been robbed of some of their power, having to answer to someone higher up. It is no doubt a little infuriating for them.

When we camp we unexpectedly do not mingle. We simply stay in our own small group. I wonder if we shouldn't clarify the plans and roles, etc. but Bosir says "There is only following orders when it comes to these large requests. If you want everybody to discuss and form up a plan together, there are too many people for such a task, and we would never get anything done. So we just have to obey the chain of command, which runs through the pompous fools to the association's guys to me to the rest of you, got it?"

And so, a few days later, we end up outside the dungeon that supposedly houses the dragon.