Tamietta exited the changing armor only a minute or two after she went in. How exactly she did it as fast as she did, is a mystery. Decked in a set of Piscine Armor, she walked over to the group as she brushed a bit of dust off one of her shoulders. It seemed the entire group was ready for the quest and was already raring to go. She gave a quick bow. "Apologies about the wait." With her pack back on and hunting horn high, she walked towards the gate with the rest of them.

She still didn't know much of these "Ioprey" or "Iodromes" but the group in front of her could handle this. That much she was certain. "I'm ready. Let's get to hunting."

Clara went sheepish when they brought up the hunting rules, she had no idea that there were many rules to hunting. She knew you had to prepare yourself and respect nature but that was it. She quickly hid her expression making sure to keep a straight face. She nodded to Tami as she walked out of the changing room, she impressed by the armour. "Nice gear!" Clara said with a slight look of awe on her face. She then looked out towards the volcano and took a deep breath it was time to hunt her first monster "Let go hunt us some Ioprey." she said able to hide some of her excitement, she need to at least try and act professional.

The group would then head off towards the Magma highlands, the camp would be well supplied with several antidotes and extra cool drinks as well as some first aid meds, rations and maps. Tho ammo, paint balls and mini whetstones were not present the town wasn't that well stocked yet. After everyone was done getting stuff from camp they could start off towards Area one. (OOC note This is to again get us to the hunt faster but feel free to have your characters talk along the trip, just make sure it ends with them walking towards area 1. I've kept you all waiting long enough.)

Kazuki shrugged when the Hammerman protested, but let Edon's cheerful nature deflect what could have been the beginnings of an argument. He doubted the butcher was as well read as he believed, or at the least had honestly missed it. Kazuki didn't have any of the training manuals his master had made him study, but he was certain the man hadn't taught him incorrectly, and all of his Quest experience so far--limited as it might be at the two star rank--had borne out that knowledge.

Moments later Tamietta returned, and Clara was the first to complement the other girl's armor. Kazuki merely nodded, glad that they would now be on their way, but inwardly he reaffirmed that carving up these Ioprey for some proper armor was the top priority. The Piscine Armor was meant for watery environments like deserted islands or deeply flooded wetland forests. It likely didn't have much in the way of heat resistance, so in an environment like the Magma Highlands it was almost the exact opposite of what one might prefer. Still, no matter how much like a bikini parts of it looked, clothing made from monster parts would always be that much more durable than simple cloth, so at least she wasn't doing what Kazuki's master had called a "naked run."

---

Kazuki found the Base Camp suitable enough, given that the village was probably low on supplies and probably hadn't been able to maintain it for a while. He gave the rookies a short tour, although it was obvious enough what most things were.

"--and any supplies shipped here or dropped from airships by the Guild will be placed in this blue box, whereas the red one is meant to hold anything we're delivering. On such quests a guild transport will pick it up once they've received our completion report. That's about it." he finished. He opened up the big chest with one hand, and used the other to point out the different items and how many of them there were.

"This is another reason parties are normally in groups of four--that's the most efficient number for the Guild to provide with stock supplies. Anything more is too expensive and depletes too many of their resources. As it is I have my own Potions, Steaks, and Cool Drinks, so the rest of you should divide those and the Antidotes among you. Clara, you and I will have to share a Map, so you take it for now." Kazuki stepped back and let the rest grab what they wanted.

"Speaking of Maps, feel free to take your time learning them--but my Master told me that it's important to memorize every landmark you can, until you can navigate a Hunting Ground even without a visual aid. He said it's important for higher rank quests...or if you've just got to have a rare item but have no more room in your pack."

With that said, Kazuki approached the mouth of the cave leading further out into the highlands. He pulled one Cool Drink from his pack, downed it quickly to avoid the bitter aftertaste left by the Bitter Bug it was made from, and then braced himself for the Quest ahead. With a leap over the rocky threshold, he was off.

Kaze glanced at Tamietta and raised an eyebrow. He never fully understood some of the women's armors. How did covering your breasts and waits protect you from a Rathian's sweeping tail-swipe? I swear women infect everything they touch with 'fashion'. He thought, preferring practical clothing over what looked nice. Hell his own clothing had a wide belt of iron and it was just his cloths, not actual armor. Rolling his shoulder a little he went with the others to the base camp that was probably set up by Cyrus himself years upon years ago. He didn't really know the history of the village but if he asked around he'd probably learn.
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Kazuki was explaining stuff as they toured the Base Camp, the two differently colored chests and their purposes. Blue, held items for the group, red was the drop off point for collections. He and Clara would share a map it seemed. Before he could ask his question Kazuki leaped off the cliff. "Well...was gonna ask what to do if we encounter the iodrome before he does..." He muttered before getting a couple things out of the chest. A map, a first-aid med pack, and a pack of rations. It wasn't too hot around here and judging by the coloring of the map a few areas outside the base camp weren't overly hot.

Leaping off the cliff and landing heavily shortly afterwards Kaze got his first look of the area. It was pretty docile, nothing to fancy or dangerous. So shaking the tremor out of his legs he started to walk around, examining the local plants and area. No point just running through to some other area that had his targets.

Tamietta gave the area a quick look around as she stood there. Volcanoes, magma, and ash could most certainly be seen in the distance. The smell of fire was practically everywhere. Despite how different it was from her own usual living conditions, she still couldn't help but love it. It was a completely different change of pace then she was used to and she welcomed it with open arms.

Kazuki began explaining a few more bits of information. Considering they were on the actual hunt now, she decided it was best to listen up to his advice. There was doubt on if it was something she didn't know about already, but better safe than sorry. Mostly just went over how the boxes worked and the Guild supplies...Weird how he didn't mention the subquest supplies, though she doubted they'd need them. These were still low rank monsters after all and everyone there seemed to have a level head on their shoulders. She reached until the supplies box and took out a first aid med, some cool drinks and, most tellingly, an antidote. Can these Ioprey or this Iodrome poison? It would make sense.

Right as she got out of the box, there was a bit of kicked up dust where a cliff was and Kazuki was gone. "Seems he wanted to get a headstart on it." She said with a chuckle. As she shoved the rest of her extra supplies into her pack, Kaze noted, before leaping off a cliff to a separate area, that they weren't entirely sure what to do if the two of them encountered the Iodrome before the other two did. She let out a low giggle before meeting up with him in that same area. "That's simple. We kill it or try and lure it to their position. Whichever is easier." She gave the area a quick look around and nodded.

"Alright, which way do you think we should go first?"

Edon and the others arrived at the Magma Highlands. Edon would remember his first hunt, mounting an Aptonoth and gathering meat. Experience is a by far a good teacher.

Edon listened to Kazuki's 'teachings' explaining the two different boxes. Maybe in a few months those boxes would be filled by otherwise better supplies. Edon would grab a first aid med and a cool drink. He is content with these items as it is enough to make him comfortable enough that he can hunt lopreys.

He saw Kazuki already rushing towards his targets. A good point maybe if we rush we could do more quests. "That's simple. We kill it or try and lure it to their position. Whichever is easier." He was struck with remembrance. He would remember about the loprey eating the other Aptonoth and the loprey allowed him to leave, they were focused enough that they ignored Edon and he was able to flee safely. If they could bait the loprey the element of suprise would well suprise the monsters and they would not be able to fight. Perhaps they can even keep the body parts of the loprey intact enough that they can gather resources from the corpse.

"We lure them..Then strike with the element of suprise, a quick and clean kill."

Clara already knew most of the stuff Kazuki was talking about, his plan also seemed acceptable, having one of the locals on each team made sense. Clara and Edon would know what's up more then the others. And it would be rather difficult if all 5 of them were trying to smash one Iodrome. She rolled her shoulders nodding to Kazuki and following him into area one. Clara looked around area one she honestly didn't know where the Iodrome might hide, but she knew that she was going to have to find it with Kazuki or else this hunt might not run smoothly.



Area one was just as it normally is, Aptonoth drinking and grazing while also looking out for danger. Then area would be clear of any threats and the party would be clear to continue in whatever direction the saw fit.

Kazuki looked around the lush greenery at the base of the mountain, taking note of a few patches where Herbs or other useful plants might grow. The volcano's ashy soil made for fertile plantlife, but it could only survive in these small pockets where the heat and periodic lava flows could be avoided. As a consequence, however, it was a key point for all of the wildlife--all creatures would need water to survive, even if they were adapted to withstand the fiery warmth in other ways.

An Aptonoth lifted its head to stare at him as he approached the watering hole, but as he made no moves of aggression the herbivore mostly ignored him. They were drinking and grazing, and though they were keeping a lookout they didn't seem overly concerned about anything. Kazuki had found that, if a large or otherwise dangerous monster was nearby, herbivores like this would react in ways that a good Hunter could read--Aptonoth, specifically, would rise up on their hind legs and bellow loudly, as a way of making sure the rest of their herd saw and herd them before they began migrating to safer locales. So the Iodrome was likely not in any of the immediate areas--2, 3, and 4 if he remembered correctly, but he would have to get Clara to look at the map to be sure.

He knelt and began examining the area around the watering hole, specifically any areas where it looked like footprints had been left in the mud around the shallow edges. Sure enough, there were plenty of the birdlike tracks that meant Ioprey had been here recently...and there was the bigger set of the alpha monster. But the water made it too hard to tell how long it had been since they had come here.

When Clara and some of the others arrived, the Long Swordsman approached the Great Swordswoman as he used one hand to adjust his hat against the sunlight. He asked her to let him see the map for a moment, and gestured with a finger to plot their course.

"Let's temporarily split up here--you go to Area 2, I'll hit 3, and we'll rejoin in 5. It looks like 3 might be the shorter route, so if I get to 5 before you do I'll check 7 as well. Then we can head up to 11 through 8, and loop back through 9 and 10." Then he pointed to the pickaxes in their packs. "It looks like 2 is color coded as a rocky area, so if you see any Iron or Machalite ore deposits it won't hurt to pause and grab a few. Both are used to craft Ioprey Armor, if I remember correctly."

With that sorted out, he rolled his shoulder to adjust the weight of his sword across his back and started for the pathway leading to Area 3 at a brisk jog. He waved back to Clara while he was still in earshot.

"If you meet the Drome, hold out as best you can! If I've already checked 7 and you're still not in 5, I'll double back to find you!"