Oh god... awkward. Nell just stared at her for what felt like forever, then in measured words gave his reply. "Well, I'll have you know I was about to go to sleep." God that was dumb.
"Sleep? Like, right here?"
"Kind of the plan yeah" She stared at him, stock still in disbelief.
"You didn't get a room earlier. How dense are you?" She sighed and looked at the ground, cutting off his sputtering reply. "Come on, the Association has a room open." She said nothing further, walking into the nearly barren main street. Nell, seeing no other option, followed.
"Here you are. You can pay in the morning. I know you have the money, Prowlers aren't cheap." Ava turned and was gone before he could finish his thank you. It was Nell's turn to sigh, sitting on the soft small bed and looking at the ceiling. Thinking; great, perfect way to arrive. Bumming off a good friend, figures. He wasted no time passing out, sufficiently drained from the day's escapades, despite the embarrassment he felt. One moment he was lying down in the middle of the night, the next, he was greeted by the rising sun.
Suppose I should pay my 'rent' now huh? He swung his feet over the edge of the bedding, hoisting himself up and opening the door, finding himself back in the main room. Odd room placement, but hey, at least the place is warm. "Hey, money deposit coming in!" Looking towards the counter he found Ava already there. "Damn, early riser much or what?" She didn't respond for a minute.
"Well, since Tariah... left... I've had to do much of the early shifts, so until he gets back we're short-staffed." Despite the gnawing urge to ask where he went, Nell resisted, he knew how much the man meant, especially to Ava. There's absolutely no way he's gone gone, he'll be back eventually...
"Hah, excuses, anyways, here's the night's pay, and perhaps some in advance?" She sighed.
"How long are you staying around?"
"A couple of weeks, maybe forever, who knows?"
"it's 30 a day. Pay or don't, and you'll have the room accordingly." Nell produced the required strip combination to pay for a few nights in advance, before spinning around and starting towards the door, promptly bumping into a larger man, he felt familiar to Nell. He was about in his mid 20's by his guess, a good bit taller than Nell, and wearing an ashy grey jerkin. That's the same leather I use...
"Woah, sorry there, I wasn't looking, my bad!" Nell quickly apologized, stepping to the side and bowing his head slightly. The man looked at him, then offered a slight smile.
"Ah, no worries, I should've been a bit more attentive myself, you're all good man." He turned back to the counter, giving a quick hi to Ava before placing a large ivory spike, spattered with red and jagged on the base, on top of the counter, covering the neat wood surface with a dark blue cloth. "One Merdria thorn, as requested."
"Ah, good job, I'll update the board as soon as I can, do you want the pay added to your tab?"
"Yeah, that'd be good. if that's it then I'm off!" Ava nodded and the man left as quickly as he came, leaving the spike and cloth behind, which Ava was already working on getting stored.
"A Merdria thorn? Who the hell is that dude!" Nell was awestruck. The large bear-like beasts had tails covered in ivory spikes and were notoriously tough to dissuade from killing even experienced hunters, even the other Adventurers branches knew of their danger, yet he just brought in one of their tail thorns like it was no problem?
"He's been around for as long as I have, though he wasn't doing much with the Hunter's Association for quite a while, he's pretty strong, and nice, but likes to keep to himself." The girl subconsciously thumbed the pendant around her neck, then quickly returned to the task at hand.
"Well damn, I thought I'd be one of the better hunters here when I returned, how sad. Anything little ole me can handle?" Again Nell laced a fair bit of sarcasm and puppy dog eyes into his mock pity speech.
"Funny you should ask. The Explorers are in town, there is a group of them looking for a good old hunter."
"So, why didn't you tell mister bigshot?"
"Were you listening to a thing I said? He keeps to himself, dummy." Nell mouthed an oooohhhh and nodded.
"Explains that, sure, why not. Where are they holed up?" Ava looked around for something, grabbed a sheet of paper, and handed it to Nell.
"Should all be right on there."
"Why thank you, I'll be back in one piece if luck holds!" Nell waved and left, looking at the paper to see they would be staying at Tennan's for some time today, waiting for a hunter. Perfect, I don't have to struggle to get to them. He frowned ever so slightly, disapproving of the dingy descriptor of the cozy restaurant, Nell took his leave immediately, heading for the tucked-away abode at a brisk pace.
Stepping through the threshold into the cozy wooden room he saw a group of people, the only patrons within, seated in the far corner. That'd be them, only three, odd. "Hey Tennan, one water please, and thanks!" Nell stepped to the group's table, the one closest, a middle-aged woman donning a strange black overcoat of sorts, turned at the approaching footfalls.
"Ah hello there! I take it you are with the Hunters?" She smiled at Nell, yet he didn't disregard the fact that it wasn't genuine.
"Yeah, I am, I'll be working with you today, assuming you guys are fine with the Association's selection." Nell was cordial, keeping his response short and curt.
"Aren't you a bit young to be up to the task? Come on ma'am, 16-17 at most, we should wait some more." One of the lackeys further back spoke up, eying Nell's frame and equipment.
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"Now now, we aren't here to judge the Hunters, so long as he's qualified it's fine. What is your rank?" The woman lightly scolded the man who had raised a protest, returning her gaze to Nell at the end.
"I am a 3rd class, should be more than sufficient for this area, yes?" Nell put a slight edge into his words.
"Yes, more than enough, we'll be out of the walls in an hour or so, I suggest you get ready, I'll have the request updated and then we'll be out."
"Where exactly are you heading to, I'd like to know what I should prepare for."
"The northern plains, a structure popped up and we've been asked to check it out, shouldn't be any more than a few Prowlers out and about." She smiled that insincere grin once more, and Nell nodded, turning on his heels and heading for the door, leaving his water behind, untouched on the counter. "We'll meet you at the gate, hunter."
That about settles that... Nell tied the top strap on a burlap pack, swinging the strap around his shoulders and securing it in place. He once more stepped out into the center room of the Hunters Association branch, Glancing at the currently empty counter and sighing as he stepped out the central doors. "I'm off..." The chaos of the streets was welcoming, Nell bobbed between the many wandering bodies within and slowly but surely made his way towards the central arch, it'd only been about 45, yet being early certainly wouldn't hurt, right?
"Oh perfect, I assume you being here means we can leave?" The woman, obviously the group's leader by this point, pushed off of the wall, stepping slightly toward Nell, and graced him with that loathed grin.
God, This sucks already. "Yeah, let's get moving, lead the way." He grinned and suppressed the slight disgust, thinking of the money ahead. Maybe I'll get some new armor. Nell subconsciously glanced over his garb. Matching olive green shirt and pants, both nothing special, but quite durable and holding a slight benefit of camouflage, over top were decently thick ashen grey leather plates, covering his chest, forearms, and a good bit of his legs. This stuff is nice, but...
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> A stabbing pain erupted in his gut, he felt the skin around his gut tear open as the point of the Prowler's tusks easily craved a path, stopped only by his own blades edge. Nell was thrown backword, every movement, every breath sending waves of pain and overwhelming nausea through the boy's body...
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Nope, not again, once this job is done, I'm getting something really strong. Lost in thought at shiny new metal armor Nell followed the group of three, paying just enough attention to their path while missing most of their inner conversations, not that Nell wanted to be a part of them anyways. This continued for a few minutes, maybe even hours, before the small party stood among a vast clearing in the trees, coming abruptly into the edge of the trees with no warning.
"Alright, you two, check the altar and the ground around it, if you are empty after a few come back, we can't stay too long." The woman leaned against one of the trunks, and both of her lackeys headed towards the cracked and vine-coated marble monolith, scanning the ground around its base thoroughly.
The hell are we stopping here for? Nell sent a silent question to the leader, yet her eyes were closed as her head tilted up toward the sun. Left just to sigh to himself Nell stood in the trees, waiting for the slight detour to end. When at last it did even the three didn't speak much on that odd stop, simply returning to their eastward travels. Ugh, I hate damn Explorers like these. Nell gave an internal grumble at his grudges and kept on following behind, turning back to the thought of vast riches to keep motivated.
The rag-tag team hiked for nearly 8 hours, only stopping for the occasional drink and nature breaks, the explorers occasionally joking and carrying on conversations, while Nell kept in the back, it seemed that their camp plan wanted to get them as far as possible, which made sense to Nell, if he had planned it, it would've liked been the same. So when the woman finally turned and said "Here we are!" Nell was decently happy, his feet were killing him, but he didn't speak up for fear of docked rates. He tugged at the knot by his neck, the burlap bag slipping to the ground immediately, he spun around and grabbed out the canvas-like material from within, its unfolded size seeming at odds with the space it took up within the pack.
"I assume we are packing the night here?" Producing some twine and looping it through holes on either corner of the cover Nell glanced at the group, all three were doing something to set up what looked to be a sizable base camp, their bags hadn't even seemed that large when he was traveling, crazy what you miss when you space out, I need to be more attentive for now on...
"Yes, we are on the edge, the plains are another five minutes' walk, the structure twenty beyond that." Their leader unfolded a few portable beds, one for each of her posse.
Suppose it makes sense. Looking to the east once more Nell saw nothing but trees, without dwelling on it he returned to the string, he looped it through a few more holes and notches on both corners, then tied the opposing ends to decently space trees. Perfect. He smiled to himself, Nell always felt he was a woodsman at heart, preferring to sleep in the open air than in any sort of tent when out and about. And now he had the perfect hammock. "You all good over there?"
"We're fine, boy." One of the men spoke up, whether from the exertion of moving some heavy logs to clear space, or from hate for the much younger hunter, Nell didn't know, but honestly, he didn't care.
"Suit yourself." He leaned into the hammock and it held. Perfect. He fully laid down, closing his eyes while staring up into the slowly darkening sky. I guess the canopy is much clearer here. The sound of the slight rustling was soothing to say the least, even with the injections of dull thumps as hide covers were set up. Nell popped an eye open and looked over, it had already taken shape, unsurprising given there were three of them. The base camp was now the proud home to one tanned hide cover, for the sleeping area, a stone-ringed firepit, and the excess gear of the organized team, including the party's water and food. Ah, what a day...
His thoughts were pierced by a sharp crack. Nell didn't move, he didn't open his eyes, Everything about his exterior remained the same. I take it they didn't hear it... Nope, typical explorers. And yet his mind was thrown into overdrive. Hard to tell how much it weighed, if only those dumbasses would shut up. Again, a sharp crack, even though Nell knew it should've been inaudible, even without the cacophony around, it sounded as loud as thunder. There, maybe a Pixon? Too big to be a Prowler, but not a Merdria or Rencet. Number three, then four, and so on. Around twenty or so footfalls echoed through Nell's ears, quite rapidly, then ceased. A Pixon, thank the gods. Despite having the size advantage to Prowlers, not to mention two more legs, Pixon's were much easier to deal with. They rarely attacked without provocation, and even if this one did, Nell was more than confident that he could push it away, their only form of offense was their teeth and two short, straight horns. His blade was perfect.
Nell stayed stationary, waiting to hear another step, waiting to see if the beast thought them worth the fight. Honestly, all that noise is pretty helpful to keep it up, gang! Even with the added sarcasm in his mind, the words weren't far off, so why wasn't it moving, not even forward? There were minutes of nothing, the three had seemingly settled down for a short break, and it finally came. With a rush of air, on pure instinct Nell's head shifted right, a blazing line becoming temporarily all-encompassing on his cheek. No more waiting around. This wasn't a Pixon. Nell's body was already practically in the explorers' camp when his mind caught up.
"Get your weapons, somethings attacking!" The size-changing blade was in Nell's right hand, and on his left was a green cloth, he swiped at his face then dropped it, spinning around and slicing at an incoming projectile, he wasn't quick enough. not even close. What the hell is it with my damn midsection!