Beady, black eyes stared up at her expectantly. The faded orange and white, tiger-striped Moarbit spirit wiggled its nose at her as it started floating out from its stiffened, physical body. Gorseth was reiterating many of his earlier points and pointing out the knots he was using, but Guin couldn’t help but be slightly unsettled as she watched the spirit rub its antlers against the post its body was now hanging from.
“Well? What’re you waitin’ for?”
“Sorry, what?” Guin said, looking up.
Rolling his eyes, Gorseth growled, “One more time, then.” Pointing a the antlers, he said, “This kid here is male and still’s got his antlers, so the first thing that needs doin’ is we need to saw them off. So put that brush down and get it done!”
“A-Ahh...” Guin picked up the saw from the table and went to position herself.
“Get as close to the base of the things as yeh can without damagin’ anythin’ else now,” the man with the bushy beard pushed her saw down a little, and Guin sawed through the two relatively quickly. She then picked up the brush and brushed out the remaining dirt and grime from the fur. With that accomplished, she swallowed and looked at the Moarbit’s spirit, who was watching intently.
Gorseth chewed on a piece of dry bread as he pointed. “Start you cuttin’ then. We aren’t even at the tough parts, let alone the ones that yeh need a strong stomach for.”
Eyes locking with the spirit’s, Guin tilted her head, saying, “It’s not... that... per say....”
“Get on with it, then!”
“Sorry,” she whispered to the creatures as she picked up a brush from the tool table. Moarbits had very thick, wiry fur rather than the soft fur that she knew bunnies to have on Earth.
The process went smoother than she thought it would. Maybe it was because she had already grossed herself out so much when she had eaten the liver of the player in the dungeon. In contrast, skinning the creature was a relatively simple task once she got over the fact the spirit of the creature was watching her. She struggled a bit with the head, but Gorseth told her that she had done well, and that it would get easier in time. The lips were probably the worst part of it.
“You’ve got a stronger stomach than I’d given you credit for,” he said, actually looking a bit disappointed. “Normally, people have a reaction to the remaining blood, at least.” Normally, people don’t have the instinct to desecrate remains bare-handed and eat their livers, but here we are... Guin thought to herself as she brushed herself off. Blood had splashed on her shoes and clothes, but it faded away as she looked at it in mild disgust. A small bit of blood had gotten on her fur, but it beaded up, and brushed it off easily. She was a bit curious that she hadn’t felt like eating livers as of yet. Is there a set of requirements that need to be met? She wondered, looking at the now naked moarbit body, trying not to see the glassy eyes. It didn’t have much in the way of meat.
“Shall I take the pelt to the Master Hunter?” Guin asked.
He nodded and said, “Before you visit our Lady Lithe, give it a quick wash and dry. You don’t want to drip blood everywhere. While the pelt is drying enough to take it, you can clean up here...”
Finishing her cleaning, she fetched the pelt and wrapped it in a bit of cloth at the behest of Gorseth.
“This time ‘round, me an’ the others here will take care of the rest of carcass,” he told her as she placed the wrapped fur in her bag. “In the future, however, you’ll need to find your own ways to take care of the other parts. Back in the days, I was a driftin’ hunter, I had a lot ‘o luck in marketplaces and the like. You’ll not want to trade in the area of a town’s Hunters’ Guild. We supply most of em quite well.”
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“I’ll do that,” Guin told him, thinking of the list of people she was keeping and wondering if any of them would be willing to buy the spare parts of hers.
“So long as you behave and treat your kills right, you’ll have the benefit of being affiliated with Miala De Ri’s hunters,” he said, crossing his arms. “If yeh fail to follow those rules, then, well... you’ll end up on that there tavern board.” He nodded his head in the direction of the Nocked Arrow. With a huff, he looked her over. Pulling a leather kit from a satchel around his waist, he hesitated a moment and handed it to her with a grunt. “Ya did good, brat. Take this,” he said. Guin took it from him gingerly and opened it. It was a set of simple skinning tools. “This was mine, from back in those days. Not worth much, aside from sentimental value; you’ll wanna be replacing them when you can, but they should serve yeh well for a while.”
“Gorseth,” Guin started, looking up at him. “Thank you!”
Gorseth’s cheeks went a little pink as he sputtered, “It’s nothin’. Just make sure yeh take care of ‘em. Shall I show yeh how?”
They talked briefly, then Guin saw the time and forced herself to depart.
After thanking him again, Guin took the pelt and returned to the building.
Just as she was heading up the stairs, she received a party invite and text tell from Drakov, saying that he would be questing in the area until she was ready to meet up. Guin sent him a quick reply before the guards let her back into Lithe’s suite.
Sitting poised and proper in a large, leather-bound chair near the fire, the Master Hunter looked up at her with a thin smile. She placed a clunky metal mug that didn’t seem to match her easy grace on a coffee table next to her before leaning forward.
“You’ve skinned your first, then?” she asked, her eyes alight. Guin took out the pelt package from her inventory and handed it to her. Lithe looked it over with a rather stoic look on her face before nodding. “Not bad, for a first. Much better than I did; hesitation and fear left so many holes and scratches in my pelt that it was of rather awful quality. But this, this is not bad. You have earned your skill.”
<<>>
[Quest Completed: To Skin a Moarbit]
This quest is optional. It can be skipped. (Difficulty: C)>>
<<>>
<
<[Hunting - Skinning] Rank - Beginner>>
“Thank you, Master Hunter,” Guin bowed.
“For what? The effort was yours, not mine,” Lithe shrugged. “Allow me to give you a test. Go to the woods and bring me back the pelts of a dozen Moarbits, six Rat Weasels, three Cat Foxes, a Rabid Wolf, and a Blubear. You may do as you like with the rest of the parts of the animals, but remember, all parts are to be treated with dignity, do you understand?”
Guin nodded. “I do,” she said. Probably more than most...
<<>>
[Quest Offered: Skins of All Sorts]
This quest is optional. It can be skipped. (Difficulty: C)>>
<<>>
“I accept your quest, Master Hunter,” Guin said, bowing again. “On that note, I would also like to ask about learning how to tan the skins?”
Lithe nodded. “When you have come back with the skins from my quest, I will have you trained on the tanning process. Tanning is a time-consuming process that can only be done with the proper tools and setup, and it is advised that you have several pelts lined up before you begin those steps.”
“Then I will come back when I have finished gathering them!”
“Be careful out there,” Lithe called as Guin waved from the door.
Once the guards had closed the apartment door, Guin started heading out toward the Hunters’ Guild entrance and summoned up a window to see Drakov’s face light up when she told him to meet her in front of the Nocked Arrow.