Chapter 32: Monster Hunting For Beginners (1/2)
An hour after they left the walled town, Rufus stopped. He took a piece of paper from his pocket, looked it over, then turned his gaze to the desert landscape around them.
“This is it,” he said and walked off, leaving the road behind.
“What’s going on?” Gary asked as they followed, and Rufus handed him the paper.
Gary glanced over it.
“Nice,” he said, handing the paper to Jason. It was a monster notification, with details and directions. Jason had seen something similar back in the waterfall village, but there was apparently a noticeboard for them in every town and village.
“Did you take this from the town we just went through?” Jason asked.
“That’s right,” Rufus said.
“Are you allowed to just take them?” Jason asked.
The location was listed by landmarks that Jason spotted by looking around their current location. A series of distinctively shaped rocky outcroppings.
“You can make copies,” Gary said. “When you kill the monster you mark the copy and it gets rid of the original. Then you just have to report next time you’re at an Adventure Society branch.”
“What if someone just makes a copy and destroys it without killing the monster?” Jason asked.
“Why would anyone do that?” Gary asked.
“Because people are terrible,” Jason said.
“Is that what you think?” Farrah asked. “I’m starting to worry about your world.”
“Really?” Jason asked. “Because when I came to your world people kept trying to eat and/or kill me.”
“He has a point,” Gary said.
“To make proper copies you need an Adventure Society badge,” Rufus said. “The Society can use that to track down who made the copy.”
“The badge also tracks the monsters you’ve killed,” Farrah said.
“And they can use it to find your body when you die,” Gary said.
“Very comforting,” Jason said. “So why are we going after this monster?”
“We’re not,” Rufus said. “You are.”
“I am?”
“You are,” Rufus said.
New Quest: [Adventure Notice: Giant Desert Maw Spider]
Local townsfolk have spotted a monster in the area that matches the description of a giant desert maw spider. Slay the creature before it becomes aggressive and starts attacking travellers.
Objective: Defeat [Giant Desert Maw Spider] 0/1.Reward: Quintessence.
Jason took another look at the sheet of paper, which named the same monster as the quest.
“Giant desert maw spider,” he read. “How giant are we talking?”
“About Gary’s size,” Rufus said. “The size isn’t what you need to watch out for, though.”
“They have a huge mouth full of the nastiest teeth you’ve ever seen,” Farrah said. “It has a barbed tongue that will whip out, grab your limbs and try to drag them into that mouth.”
“Sounds delightful, but why are we doing this?”
“I haven’t seen you fight yet,” Rufus said. “I need to see what kind of level you’re at.”
“I can save you some time there,” Jason said. “My level is low. Very, very low.”
“You say that,” Rufus said, “but it could just be modesty.”
Jason cast his blood harvest spell and the remnant life force of the dead monster flowed into him, healing his wounds. The spell was strong, but not enough to completely recover his injuries. His wounds had closed but he felt carved up like a smallgoods platter. He tapped a finger on the remains.
Would you like to loot [Giant Desert Maw Spider]?
He limped in the direction of the adventurers as the monster dissolved into rainbow smoke behind him.
10 [Spider Quintessence Gems] have been added to your inventory.
The others had been watching Jason’s fight from a distance. His clothes were in bloody tatters, his body painted red.
“So,” Rufus said as Jason drew close. “Not being modest, then.”
Quest: [Monster Notice: Giant Desert Maw Spider]
Objective complete: Defeat [Giant Desert Maw Spider] 1/1.10 [Earth Quintessence Gems] have been added to your inventory.
Quest complete.
100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
“I’m running out of intact clothes,” Jason said.
“You do seem to go through them,” Gary said.
Farrah drew her stone chest from the ground and took out a bottle of clear liquid with a glass stopper.
“It’s called crystal wash,” Farrah said, pushing the bottle into Jason’s hands. “Strip down and then pour this over your head. I don’t have a lot, so be appreciative.”
Jason stripped down to his underwear.
“All the way,” Farrah said.
Jason pulled off the silk boxer shorts he had taken from the Vane manor. Past caring, he didn’t even glance over to see if the others were looking at his naked body. There was enough blood on him anyway that it was effectively body paint. He pulled out the stopper and tipped it over his head. A clear, viscous liquid poured out and rapidly started spreading itself over him, thinning as it worked its way down. It excised the blood and filth from his body, cleaning it with an intimate thoroughness. An odd expression crossed his face as it cleared out the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies. He could smell a fresh fragrance coming off his body as the liquid evaporated into nothingness, its job done. He felt cleaner than he ever had in his life.
“It’s perfumed?” he asked.
“No, crystal wash is completely odourless and clears off everything,” Farrah said. “If there’s any stink left behind, that’s just you.”
Gary walked over and sniffed at Jason.
“Why do you smell like flowers?”
The other two crowded around Jason and started smelling him.
“Still naked,” Jason said, boxed in by the trio.
“We’ve seen Rufus naked,” Farrah said. “No one cares about your scrawny body.”
“Hey…” Rufus and Jason said together.
“You do smell like flowers,” Farrah said. “What’s up with that?”
“I think it might be an outworlder thing,” Rufus said. “I knew an outworlder who smelled quite similar.”
“Did you now?” Gary asked.
“Did someone have a little outworlder fling?” Farrah asked.
“Still naked,” Jason said.
“It wasn’t like that,” Rufus said. “I was young and she barely even looked at me.”
“WILL EVERYONE BACK OFF SO I CAN PUT ON SOME CLOTHES?”
“We’re right here,” Gary said. “You don’t have to shout.”