“With so few of the island’s inhabitants daring to venture deep into the jungles, the local population of beasts and monsters naturally thrived. Many biologists had called the Greenmeadow Isle a treasure trove for their profession, as many of the indigenous creatures of the island were only found there and nowhere else, and many had even braved the island’s infamous jungles in their pursuit of knowledge.

Few returned.” - Alina Knizhnyycherv, Researcher of Therian Cultures at the Verozgrad University, circa 672 FP.

“Ooooh. A Golden-tipped Warbler, and a Crested Pinionhawk too…” muttered Tal in a voice full of wonderment. It was the next day, and the party had coincidentally reached a small elven village in the periphery of the jungle during their travels the day before, and accepted the offered hospitality of the locals.

They had not noticed it before since it was late and dark already when they accidentally stumbled upon the village, but when the sun rose the next morning, the sudden increase in activity and wildlife noise clued them in that the village had many people who kept animal companions with them.

Tal, as someone who had focused his studies on animal and monster biology, was immediately enthralled by the collection of rare, local beasts before him, many of which could not be encountered outside the island. After asking for permission from their keepers, he had pretty much spent the rest of the morning in a trance as he closely inspected the animals, most of which looked at him curiously.

Leila and Krystal had taken the chance to chat up with some of the older, more experienced tamers amongst the elves, more in an exchange of knowledge as they were tamers themselves, and some of the elders were also quite interested in Lumi. Ilena on the other hand played with the local kids, some of whom were also riding their respective animal companions.

None of the local kids had a companion as large as Ida though, with the largest of their animal companions being a juvenile black jaguar around a size smaller than the Reaper Serval. The smaller feline had immediately laid on its back and exposed its belly in a gesture of surrender when it met Ida, to its companions’ frustration and the laughter of the other kids.

The local elves were an old tribe, one that had mostly sought out a peaceful coexistence with nature and their neighbors. Their number never grew particularly large, but from them Cal learned that there were around a dozen such small tribes in Greenmeadow Isle, with some having moved to other neighboring islands as well.

Partly to humor Tal, and partly to gather more information, the party had stayed in the village for another day, and only departed the morning of the day after instead. The villagers were all too happy when Cal paid for their hospitality with some of the good meat and booze she had with her, and cheerfully saw them off as the party traveled further into the jungle.

The jungle itself was sparse at times, dense at times. Lumi usually took flight to traverse the denser parts where her large frame would have issues passing through with ease, but even then she kept her altitude low on Leila’s command. They had not wished to fly too high and potentially provoke any large flying monsters, as while the party had many skilled mages, they were rather ill-suited to deal with flying beasts.

Tal had been giddy like a toddler being brought to a zoo, as he observed and cataloged flora and fauna of all sorts during their travels. That same manic interest kept going, until an incident happened three days into the jungle.

At the time, the party was traveling through a rather sparse patch of terrain when Lumi seemed to have noticed something and sniffed curiously at a patch of brushes. Her actions naturally attracted the attention of the others, and they all saw it when a creature timidly came out from behind the brush, looking afraid of the eyes that peered into it.

The creature looked almost like a giant ball of fluff, easily as tall as Cal was, though much broader, with a barely noticeable beak and large eyes partly hidden by its thick fur. It had four stumpy legs that reminded them a bit of a bear’s paw and limbs, though it looked far shorter on the fluffy thing’s round body.

“Oh, now that’s a rare one,” commented Tal when she saw the creature.

“You know what that is?” asked Cal to the young man, who had already walked closer to the creature and was offering it some bits of dried and preserved meat.

“Only read about them in books. They’re called Grizowls, a local breed of monsters,” replied Tal who seemed not the least bit worried about the creature before him. As the beast was docile and timid, Leila and Ilena also approached closer, on the backs of their respective animal companions, which sniffed curiously at the creature, clearly making it somewhat nervous. “They’re omnivores, but mostly subsisted on fruits and nuts rather than meat, and rather timid things despite their size, to be honest.”

By then more of the party had gotten closer, with some of them curiously petting the docile Grizowl, which had become less nervous after several offerings of preserved meat and jerky. Cal had to admit that the creature was surprisingly fluffier than it looked, with her hand practically sinking inside its soft, warm, velvety layer of fur.

“This is odd, though,” mentioned Tal as he too petted the beast with one hand. “Grizowls were supposed to be communal creatures, and from this one’s size, it’s still a juvenile. They’re not known to leave their young unattended, unless… it’s been orphaned for some reason.”

“Heh, if you like it maybe you could take it along with you? I mean we already have a couple big fellows with us anyway. Another wouldn’t be much different,” said Cal with a slight chuckle, seeing how enamored the young man was with the juvenile beast. Suddenly, however, her expression changed into one of alarm and wariness.

“Look out!” Cal yelled as she forcefully yanked Tal back from the Grizowl. Almost at the same time, her students either reacted to her warning or had noticed it themselves and pulled the others back, while both Lumi and Ida leapt back reflexively.

They were not a moment too late, as the very next moment, something large and scaly swept past the area where they had just been petting the juvenile Grizowl, breaking several small trees, and snapped up the poor beast, which failed to react in time, into its slavering jaws.