[For the first few days of the occupation, Liem spends his time cautiously: scouting during the day, when the danger from roving monsters is less; sticking close to Meridian outposts at night to keep watch and defend them alongside the others on guard there. The shadows seem to follow him wherever he goes, but even when cloaked in gloom, his pallor and general ill health are apparent.
Until, all at once, he recovers his vigour completely. At this point, he can finally go about the business a man like him is meant to be conducting. At this point, he can finally hunt.
It is wiser to go with a partner; it means better hunting in the best case, and someone to watch his back in the worst. All the better if his partner doesn’t need light to see in the forest depths, where the canopy overhead blocks out every last sliver of moonlight. Those with no need of light are in somewhat short supply among Meridian’s shard-bearers — but there is a new face in the ranks who fits the bill, and Liem is just as content to work with strangers as with those he’s come to know over his months-long stay in Kenos.
It does not take long, once they penetrate into the cover of the trees, to find signs of monster activity. The creatures in the wood seem drawn to shard-bearers somehow; until every one has been culled from this forest, he does not doubt that they’ll continue to emerge in search of people to hunt. After only an hour, the quiver of crossbow bolts at his hip is lighter, and the leather of his gloves is stained with the blood of unidentifiable creatures, each one different from the last.]
This infestation stinks of arcane tampering. [Liem wipes a slender, shadow-dark blade on a fallen beast’s mottled hide, then sheathes it as he regards the gutted corpse. Even the entrails of the creature are alien — and he has seen the insides of many creatures in his life.] I have never seen such a motley assortment of creatures dwelling in a single stretch of forest.
for Sasuke — monster investigations
Until, all at once, he recovers his vigour completely. At this point, he can finally go about the business a man like him is meant to be conducting. At this point, he can finally hunt.
It is wiser to go with a partner; it means better hunting in the best case, and someone to watch his back in the worst. All the better if his partner doesn’t need light to see in the forest depths, where the canopy overhead blocks out every last sliver of moonlight. Those with no need of light are in somewhat short supply among Meridian’s shard-bearers — but there is a new face in the ranks who fits the bill, and Liem is just as content to work with strangers as with those he’s come to know over his months-long stay in Kenos.
It does not take long, once they penetrate into the cover of the trees, to find signs of monster activity. The creatures in the wood seem drawn to shard-bearers somehow; until every one has been culled from this forest, he does not doubt that they’ll continue to emerge in search of people to hunt. After only an hour, the quiver of crossbow bolts at his hip is lighter, and the leather of his gloves is stained with the blood of unidentifiable creatures, each one different from the last.]
This infestation stinks of arcane tampering. [Liem wipes a slender, shadow-dark blade on a fallen beast’s mottled hide, then sheathes it as he regards the gutted corpse. Even the entrails of the creature are alien — and he has seen the insides of many creatures in his life.] I have never seen such a motley assortment of creatures dwelling in a single stretch of forest.