Clara rolled her shoulders and hugged her other before heading out into town, she waved to her Uncle who was working on a damaged rooftop who polity returned the wave. She was headed to the main hall at the center of town so she could apply for the hunter's position. She cracked her fingers and walked up to the door of the hall and knocked on the door firmly. "It's Clara, I've come to apply for the hunter's position." She said proudly. A healthy laugh came from behind the door.

"Then come in, we've been waiting for some applicants!" The voice was far too young sounding to be the chief so Clara was puzzled, but when she opened the door to find the veteran hunter Cyrus crouched next to the fireplace she was shocked.

The trek would have taken Armend around the base of the volcano to around to its side that faced the ocean, the village was nicely perched in and oasis that had fertile volcanic soil and easy access to the ocean's water via a stream that ran past the town. Once Armend entered the town he would have been greeted with a few looks, tho these looks were not hostile in any way. They were more amused seeing yet another traveller getting worn down by the trek to the town.

A spry little boy came running towards Armend then skidded to a halt in front of him. "You're here for the hunters job ain't ya!" The kid said with complete confidence. Armend was a new face in town, those were rare enough but the fact that he came alone was a dead giveaway of his intentions, even to the young boy. "Well don't just stand there! This way!" The kid then tried to lead Armend towards the hall.

-----

Clara was so taken back by being in the presence of Cyrus she forced herself to give a fairly clumsy bow. Cyrus chuckled, "Take a seat kid I'll go get the chief and we'll discuss your initiation." Clara watched Cyrus walk off and then heard a knock on the door. She didn't move, then it was knocked on again and she sighed walking over to the door and opened it. She then looked down on the boy who was practically vibrating with joy. "New hunter come to town! He looks kinda grumpy! But that's not bad! Look here he comes!" The kid was rattling out words far to quickly but Clara was able to understand and shooed him off the looked at the new hunter. He doesn't look that impressive. she thought to herself.

Clara watches Armend pass with a look of slight distaste. She closed the door behind him and watched him put his clothes back on, then she frowned at his disrespectful words about her village. "You would do well to watch that tongue." She hissed at him, she was about to say more but then she heard the sound of a walking stick on the stone floor of the hut. She instantly bowed her head to show respect to the chief.

-----

A soft and crocked voice came from the now open side room door. "I'm sorry but you're going to have to repeat that son. My hearing isn't what it used to be." the voice belonged to a very small old lady. She was easily only a meter tall and her face looked like it had been left out to dry for far to long. Cyrus chuckled "Don't worry about it Chief, he just said he wanted to be our new hunter as well." the old lady bounced up and down a little "Oh how exciting! I guess we would need more than one hunter if we are to replace you no?" Cyrus nodded with a modest look on his face "You are to kind. But I do agree, more hunters sooner would mean we are far better defended." the chief nodded.

"So! You two fancy yourselves as hunter material ayy?" The chief said with a slightly mocking tone. "Well you can't be a proper hunter without a weapon!" She snapped then hobbled over to a closed door and slowly pushed it open. Behind it was an assortment of weapons Ranging from bow's and bowguns to hammers and lances. "Take yeer pic! If ya tough enough!"

The chief nodded to Armend, "If you can look after the town yeer bound to get more then just some dull old blades." She smiled then looked back at Clara. "So Clara, what are you going to pick?" The chief's tone made it sound as if she already knew the answer. Cyrus was more focused on the lack of skill that Armend had just shown with the dual blades, those being on of his favoured weapons. He chuckled to himself They have a big journey ahead of them. Cyrus thought, unable to strike the grin from his face.

-----

Clara looked down at the chief then back up at the assortment of weapons. She reached in and pulled the massive Great sword from the wall. This seems to please the chief who then waddled over to Cyrus' side. "What's next?" Clara asked slightly unsure of what the response was going to be. Cyrus looked over at her with the grin still present on his face. "You two are going mushroom gathering!" Cyrus said with the amused grin still on his face making it seem as if he could be joking. Clara herself honestly couldn't tell if Cyrus was being serious, but either way she really wasn't sure how to react.

Cyrus nodded to Armend "Indeed it should. So I'll leave you two to it. Here's what you got to get." Cyrus handed Armend a parchment with a picture of a peculiar looking bright red mushroom Most people would be able to identify it as a Nitroshroom, it also had a little X10 on the side. Cyrus smiled, "When you get back I might have to show you a few tricks." He gestured to the dual blades.

The chief tapped the back of Clara's leg and nodded towards Armend. "You better get going you two. The faster you prove yourselves the faster you can fight some real baddies!" She seemed overly excited for one so old.

-----

Clara nodded to the chief and bowed to her then turned and bowed to Cyrus as well. "I will see you when we get back." She said in her firm slightly commanding voice. She then looked over Armend's shoulder at the quest paper easy. She thought then started to head towards the hall doors. "Lets get going... Partner." She said the last word with an amount of apprehension.

Clara sighs and reaches into a small satchel on her hip and pulls out a nice cool drink. She then holds it out for Armend. God he really is new isn't he... She hadn't really interacted with many people from outside the village. Excluding traders but they knew how to survive everywhere. So someone not having a cool drink handy in her town was slightly baffling. "Just drink it quickly, we shouldn't waste time." She said and started off towards the village gates.

-----

The chief smiled as she watched the two walk off. "they'll be alright." She said with a slightly proud tone, "if you're say so." Cyrus replied as they watched the doors to the hall close.

Clara shook her head and waved off Armend's hand. "Keep it. Heaven knows you're going to need it later." She didn't even bother to think that he might not have somewhere to put it. The giant sword sat on her back and she felt it's weight was quite welcome she could only imagine what it might like to also wear a heavy set or armor along with it. "I guess we're going to be working with each other for a while. Might as well get acquainted. I'm Clara, what was your name again? Almond?" She said with a straight face, she had legitimately not been paying attention when he talked.

-----

The two would trek for a around 20 minuets until they got to a secluded cave that housed a well crafted tent. The tent was home to a hard looking bed, a blue and red set of chests. The blue chest was full of supplies like more cool drinks some first aid equipment and some maps. The maps gave a fairly crude but still useful layout of a the volcano. There was a zone that was colored half blue and half green this was to indicate that it had a body of water and plant life, most likely where the herbivores would live this area was the only one connected to the camp by the map it was labeled area 1. Then 3 areas broke off from that one being a long dark grey area the was a dead end, most likely a cave some large monsters would retreat to once weakened, this was labeled area 4.

Area three was a bright red meaning that it would be intensely hot there and there would most likely be exposed lava, it was a fairly small round area. Area two was again dark grey but this one was by far the largest zone having at least 2 times the area of area 1, it was fairly formless but it looked fairly close to a deformed rectangle. Area 3 and 2 both linked up to area 5 which was again bright red, it was a y shape having two break off points leading to another set of red areas 6 and 7. 7 was a dead end that was possibly a cave that monsters who could take the heat would sleep in. Area 6 led to a very long red area labeled with a 8. area 8 had three branches one that went a tiny red ring that was possibly the top of the volcano, that was labeled area 11. Area 11 and 8 both led to area 9 which was again bright red but it had a dark red line in the middle possibly signifying a raise in terrain.

And finally area 9 led to area 10 which seemed to be a complex network of tunnels that no large monster could fit into, perfect for safe mining. Area 10 also had a pathway back to area 4 but it looked like it was a one way deal, only down from 10 to 4.

Clara shrugged "Sorry I must have misheard you the first time." She walked in silence thinking of just how easy it was to enrol. There had to be some kind of catch, some hidden detail to prove their worth. She raked her mind trying to think of what the chef and Cyrus' plan was sending them after mushrooms. Was it just to show the she could follow orders or that she could survive out in the field. She eventually decided that it didn't matter, she was on her way now. And she had a "companion". She briefly looked down at Armend and noticed he was deep in thought also, she didn't feel like saying anything. She'd only just met this guy and she really couldn't get a read on him.

When they got to the tent Clara had gone straight to the blue box to grab some supplies, she grabbed 2 cool drinks and some first aid meds. Then she looked back at Armend who had started talking. Her face turned to a slight frown upon hearing him cuss but immediately went back to its usual more stoic look upon him mentioning saving him. At this point she turned around fully to face him and had stepped out of the way of the chest. She sighed and shook her head. "Look you idiot. I'm new at this to alright, and I'm not going to just up and run if you get into trouble. Hell I'll drag your sorry butt out of there myself if I have to." She put a hand on his shoulder "I may have just met you, but I didn't sign up to be a hunter to watch others get hurt. You get me?" her tone had gone from a very stern one to a slightly softer one towards the end.

She then pat him on the back rather forcefully. "Let's get going you idiot. We don't want to keep them waiting." She said as she strode off looking at map, "Yeah I'm pretty sure it's this way." She was headed towards a clear pathway that could have possibly been carved from the rock to make it easier to get through. And surely enough it led to area one, at least it looked like area one.

Clara slid down a slight slope then folded up the map and looked around at what was area 1. There was a group of Aptonoth drinking from the small body of water. She looked around for some mushrooms then Armend asked his question, she was not fond of the nickname but let it slide because she called him almond. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I was a builder, lord knows we need them. But I never got a massive sense of enjoyment out of it. And I always admired Cyrus... So yeah, I think this is going to be more than just a job for me." Clara then found some mushrooms but they were all green and blue. She frowned but picked them anyway, she'd probably need them later. Clara absentmindedly put a hand on her eye patch and sigh quietly. "So what brings you to our fine village anyway? You catch news of us needing a hunter and decided to come and help us out?" Her voice displayed a distinct vibe of curiosity which Clara would not often show.



The group of Apatonoth was 6 strong with 1 child following close behind rather than drink from the water like the rest the baby decided it wanted to eat some shrubs, it chewed away happily making soft crunching noises. Area 1 seemed fairly tranquil, nothing really happening except for herbivores grazing.

Clara nodded to Armend, "Personal stuff. Got it. I'll not pry." she then plucked her first three Nitroshrooms then looked over at Armend. "Yeah. You're right it is kinda nice. But trust me, when we get into the gritty stuff. Any notion of this being easy is going to fall out of your head. Or be knocked out." She said this having seen Cyrus fight monsters that got to close to town. She then stood up and walked over to Armend. "Gotten any Nitroshrooms yet?" She said in a slightly more relaxed tone then what she'd be using previously. She rolled her shoulder and looked over at the Aptonoth with a slight smile.



The baby Aptonoth eventually joined its parents and started drinking it's tail wagging slightly. The larges male backed off from the water and then reared up on its hind legs, it looked all around making sure there was no sign of danger.

Edon walked to the town hall the veteran hunter retired and he is interested in perhaps killing monsters. He asked around on where he can apply to become an hunter. He then found the town hall where he think he can talk with the chief of the village.Edon opened the door. "Hello is anyone here?" Suddenly a man approached him.