In a quaint leatherworker's shop, Eli let out an awkward yelp as Iris appeared beside him.

"Blip," she said, stifling a giggle.

Eli sighed, "there you are, I've been looking for you."

"In a leather shop?" She asked incredulously, "if you can't tell, I'm not exactly the leather type." She held her arms out to display her new robe.

"I like it, you look like a real adventurer in that. Don't run off," he added quickly, "the shopkeeper here wants to buy some of the hides we've collected."

Eli led her to the counter, behind which a late middle-aged man in spectacles was perched atop a stool. "This is that friend I was telling you about," Eli said.

"Aye!" The man said, "the wizard with the bottomless bag! She doesn't look disheveled though."

Eli quickly glanced at Iris in horror, but she looked amused rather than offended, "no, he's right, I’m usually disheveled."

Iris pulled the bottomless bag from her waist, placed it on the counter, and reached in shoulder deep to start pulling out materials. There was snakeskin, panther hide, and the pelts of several woodland creatures they'd eaten for dinner.

The shopkeeper offered a pittance for the small pelts, a decent price for the panther hide, and an exorbitant price for the snakeskin, which accounted for the bulk of their takeaway. In all, he paid 150 gold. Eli had Iris show him the fangs of both the snake and the panthers, but wasn't satisfied with the price he offered, so they kept those to sell somewhere else.

Their next stop was a specialty weapon's shop. Rather than weapons forged of metal, everything here was crafted with strange and exotic parts. There was a whip lined with vertebrae, countless swords and clubs carved from gigantic bones, bows with spider silk strings and a few daggers with crystalline blades. The shop had no organizational structure, and amongst the items on display were baskets and shelves piled with equally odd and unique -- if less fantastic -- items.

It surprised neither of them to find Autumn there, gleefully digging through baskets in search of cool finds. She looked up long enough to nod at them before returning to her search. The shopkeeper was a thin elf with extra-large ears, white hair and midnight black skin. He eagerly purchased the fangs from them for 30 gold. Iris also offered several cool sticks she had found and picked up in the redwood forest, which she suggested would make fine handles for weapons. He bought them all for 15 gold, which she was more than happy with.

Autumn purchased a slingshot carved from rigid petrified wood and specially treated sinew that snapped back sharply after stretching, then followed Iris and Eli out of the shop. The sun was high in the sky, and it was time to meet the others in the park.

The main thoroughfare of the shopping district, which they had first stepped onto from the street when they'd arrived in the city, crossed the entire midsection of the city. It extended to both of the two broadways that ran the length of the city on either side, and in its center was a large open space that formed a sort of park.

The wooden platform that made up the ground gave the whole place a boardwalk feeling, though there were many large, old trees and thick bushes planted in large, half crescent-shaped planters that cradled the center of the park. In the open space between the greenery were countless circular tables where people sat and ate or conversed under the dappled shade of the trees. The park was a perfect circle, and the buildings around the rim curved to match it. They were almost all restaurants, and nearly any kind of food could be found. As the party gathered around a table, they each had different styles of food from different restaurants.

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"I love how much food this city has!" Autumn said, through half chewed shrimp and rice.

"I've missed having options," Victoria nodded, stirring a salad with what looked to be a dozen ingredients.

Titus ate a roasted Giant Rabbit drumstick, while Eli ate some sort of stir fry. Iris was mildly embarrassed when she appeared at the table with a plate of pastries, pie, and pudding. She had really, really missed sweets. It was a good thing she overestimated herself and got more than she could eat, because the others were quickly asking her to share after they finished their meals.

"Alright," Eli said, after they'd all stuffed themselves full, "let's talk business."

Autumn groaned, leaning back in her chair with droopy eyes, "Titus, fill me in later."

"No," Eli insisted, "everyone needs to listen. It's about our plan going forward."

Begrudgingly, Autumn sat up and opened her eyes. Iris was feeling equally as sluggish, and was more excited about getting back to the tavern and taking a nap than talking plans and business. Eli continued, however.

"The next orientation for the Grand Hunt is in three days. We all need to be registered before then, it's best we don't try to do it day-of so we don't end up waiting in line with everyone else who waited until the last minute. Each hunt is different so the literature can only prepare us so much, but the orientation will tell us most of what we need to know. After that, we'll have the following three days to collect our final supplies and accept quests before the Hunt begins in six days time.”

"I've managed to gather some information in advance," he continued, "it's not much and it's mostly rumors, but it might help us prepare. The Titans overseeing the Hunt are the Shark Titan -- as you might have guessed, the Dreamweaver, and an unknown Hunter titan."

"The Dreamweaver's here?" Victoria sat up in her chair, "she's a legend."

"I thought you might be excited about that," Eli said, "rumor is she'll be overseeing an extermination quest in the forest. Most people seem to think it'll be something called the Matriarch Spider."

"That makes sense," Victoria said, "I've seen warnings about spiders in the forest with hallucinogenic venom."

"What exactly does 'overseeing' mean here?" Iris asked.

"The exact format of the Hunt varies each time," Eli said, "but generally, the main events are a few primary targets that the city wants to take down. Usually they're Titan level threats. Typically, there's one Titan assigned to oversee the hunt of each target."

"If they're Titan level threats, why don't the Titan's just take them down?" Iris asked.

"It's not necessarily that easy," Victoria said, "even when it is, the titans themselves are in high demand and usually have their own goals to attend to. Giantrock would go broke if they hired as many titans as they needed to keep the region secure."

"Instead," Eli picked up, "they host the Grand Hunt. The titans show up of their own volition, not only to take down the targets, but to recruit apprentices and staff from the best of the best that show up for the hunt."

"So, they're just going to watch while a bunch of lower levels take down the big monsters?" Iris asked.

"Basically, yeah," Eli said.

"They do sometimes step in," Victoria added, "it depends on the Titan. It's also not uncommon for them to have some other interest in mind as well, which they'll take steps to protect."

"Like the Shark Titan," Eli said, "word on the docks is that he wants to capture the hydra. All the city cares about is getting rid of it, they could care less if it's dead or gone, so that works out."

"What do we know about the third guy?" Titus asked.

"Not a lot," Eli said, "but his target is something big. Way out of our league, whatever it is, so we won't have to concern ourselves with it."

"So what's the plan for the week?" Autumn asked, clearly ready to get the meeting over with.

"Consider the rest of today free time," Eli said, "tomorrow morning we go together to register for the Hunt, then I'll have an assignment for each of you. Just basic preparations to make, you'll have most of the day to yourself otherwise. The day after, we attend the orientation and then reconvene to plan the last days leading up to Hunt."