Colossus By Choice: Book 1 Verse 18

3001 P.G.E. (Post-Godzilla Era)

[Universal Date: Day 119]
[Planet: Pyrestar]
[Capital: Silver Sun City]

[Location: Silver Sun City – eastern gate]

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After the most awkward and quiet few minutes on the passenger cart, the Catzfin carriage driver finally stops in front of the eastern gates leading out into the outer territory limits. Unlike the last time Taum and his 2 companions came through here, the gates have been sealed off and are now under heavy security; barely any goods or people are being allowed through beyond those under contract for essential city services.

The entire surrounding market district still bears the scars of the battles that raged in these wards just the other day. Many business owners have had their homes and livelihoods destroyed in the firefights, and others still that didn’t quite make it out during the evacuation lost their very lives. Despite this devastation, those that survived and haven’t moved their ventures elsewhere remain steadfast; individual business owners, the Defence Watch, construction enterprises, and charitable volunteers have all come together for various motivations to help rebuild what was lost.

Although the initial destruction instills some brief sadness in the young aspiring Draconi City Scout turned contracted mercenary at first, seeing people from all walks of life working together puts a small smile on his face; this good feeling is quickly shattered when the carriage driver starts yelling at him.


(Catzfin Cart Driver): Hey! Trumpet trio! This is your stop! Either way, get out.

(Taum): No need to get nasty about it. Here, have a tip—

(Catzfin Cart Driver): Save it, youngling. Just get outta here.


Taum looks on with a bit of disbelief at the rude demeanour of the driver, but he gets over this easily enough and climbs down from the passenger seating of the carriage. The Draconi youth offers his hand to Skrill, but the elderly Radent smuggler simply leaps down on his own and lands on all fours without any issue; he does the same for Yun-Tao, who takes his hand and allows him to help her down. Now that the 3 of them have gotten off, the Catzfin cart driver whips the reins and gets the Aptonoth to turn around and hightail it away in the direction he came.

The trio are stopped by the knights guarding the barricaded gateway.


(Defence Watch Knight): Hold it. Only essential contracts or emergency delegates may pass.

(Taum): I think you’ll find our paperwork is in order.


Taum hands the contract papers provided to him by Captain Gairi to the guard. The knight looks over the papers carefully and, upon looking over it all, nods and hands them back to the Draconi youngling.


(Defence Watch Knight): You’re all cleared to go. Wait here while we open up the passage.


The knight whistles through his Alloy helmet to his fellow Defence Watch members, prompting them to open up a section of the barricade. Taum, Skrill, and Yun-Tao pass through the barricade, after which it’s closed behind them; the trio now faces the open outer territories surrounding Silver Sun City that stretch far past the range of the naked eye before them.


(Yun-Tao): Alright, which direction do we need to go, Taum?

(Taum): Let’s see….


The ex-City Scout apprentice takes out a map of the area and the contract papers for cross reference. He dips his clawed finger into an ink jar strapped to his waist and starts to mark some circles on the map. The markings on the map that Taum makes suggest that the group’s objectives are somewhere to the northwest of their current location, further into the city’s contracted farmlands.


(Taum): I few follow this trail that branches off of the main road that goes directly towards the eastern gate, we’ll reach Silver Sun City’s farmlands where our quest giver is waiting.

(Yun-Tao): Guess we hoof it from here, then. Let’s go.


The boisterous bruiser of an Oxbul takes the lead as she walks down the dirt road cutting through one of the forested regions of the outer city territories; Taum and Skrill follow behind her closely. As they pass through what’s ordinarily considered relatively safe territory for civilian travel, the aftermath effects of the godly battle that transpired yesterday can be clearly seen out in these contested lands.

Just a few hundred metres out from the eastern gate leading into the city, there are remnants and ruins of caravans littering the expanse lying before the group. The Monsters that invaded the city managed to make it quite far in, almost right up at the gate; only the diligence and hunting prowess of the Defence Watch has managed to keep the invasive species at bay. Even then, there have been many casualties on both sides; animals and people alike have lost their lives here, and countless amounts of lost resources and trading supplies that could’ve been used to help rebuilding efforts.

It’s a somber sight to be sure, but the trio presses on and goes down the branching path they need to traverse to get to the quest giver’s farm.

Along this rarely traveled trail, trees of various different varieties of fruit and bushes filled with many kinds of berries surround the entirety of the dirt path; this fact doesn’t go unnoticed by the elderly Radent as he goes to pick up some bits and pieces from the ground. This nets some dirty looks from Taum and Yun-Tao, though the old man pays them no mind as he happily consumes the fallen fruits and berries. Aside from these fruit-bearing trees and bushes, the trail seems rather devoid of other life; not even the flies are buzzing around all that frequently right now. Such quiet and calm atmosphere isn’t typical of these kinds of treaded paths; there should at least be some Small Monsters or Endemic Life going about their business here and there.

Instead, there’s nothing at all.

This unnatural quiet in these parts is enough to rattle Taum’s top horns and prompt him to put out his hands to stop his companions.


(Yun-Tao): What is it, youngling?


The young Draconi adult doesn’t immediately answer Yun-Tao’s question; instead, he looks around and focuses on the surroundings. He then narrows his eyes down a little to the west off their path; he dashes off in that direction, prompting the others to run after him.


(Skrill): Slow down, Taum! What is it?!


Once again, Taum doesn’t answer the Radent smuggler’s question. He continues running through the bushes and trees and is becoming increasingly hard to follow as the foliage becomes denser and more difficult to get through; eventually, he disappears into the brush entirely. Yun-Tao and Skrill end up in a small clearing after losing track of their companion, with no sign of him to be found at all.


(Yun-Tao): Okay, let’s split up and find him.


The Oxbul forge-widow rushes off into the brush eastward and leaves Skrill behind.


(Skrill): Freaking youngling. Alright, where the heck are you?


Unlike Yun-Tao, the old man takes it slow and sniffs the air intently to try and catch the scent of Taum. After a few seconds of smelling, something catches his attention from the direction northwest of his current position. Skrill begins following this strange yet also familiar scent through the foliage; he struggles to push his way through the dense brush, but he eventually makes it through. Upon coming out the other side, he finds himself in a small clearing that’s surrounded on all sides by the forest; it’s a perfectly isolated and hidden place to set up camp.

And indeed, a camp has been set up. Or rather, was set up.

As it turns out, this small clearing houses the remains of a campsite that was cleaned up very recently; the scent of the burnt ashes of the fire that once took up the centrepiece of this clearing remains strong several days after the fact. It is in this abandoned camp that Taum took off so abruptly towards, where he is now situated squatting over some small tracks left behind by the camp makers.  Skrill quietly walks up to his companion and squats down next to him; the 2 of them aren’t even phased when Yun-Tao comes rushing through the bushes and yelling like a berserker.

When she sees her allies carefully examining the campsite they’re situated within, she quiets down and squats across from them at the burnt-out fireplace.


(Yun-Tao): Oh, forensic analysis time, okay okay. What’s the mineral read?

(Taum): No minerals here, though impressions in the ground indicate extremely heavy equipment was being stored and carried here. See the drag marks over there, by the logs?


The Draconi youngling points to a pair of moderately sized logs close to the edges of the clearing. Sure enough, when the Oxbul forge-widow goes over to check, she finds large squarish scratches and impressions in the dirt that match up with most types of heavy payload crates having. The age of the different markings indicate the heavy equipment was sitting out for a long time before eventually being dragged away through the nearby foliage, as indicated by the parted leaves and branches in the area next to the drag marks.

What’s most telling of all, however, are the faint footprints dotted around the weight and drag marks. They are undeniably primate footprints that are too small to belong to any large simian Fanged Beasts like Congalala or Kecha Wacha, and yet also too large to belong to smaller members of the former’s troop; Taum and Skrill stand up and walk over to Yun-Tao to look at these footprints.


(Taum): The Iwi-ki were here several days ago. No Fanged Beast I know this kind of locale could make these footprints.

(Yun-Tao): They must’ve set up camp here, then. Alright, so how do we track them from here?

(Skrill): I can follow the scent they left behind. It’s a faint and subtle smell, but it’s definitely present and unique to these apes.

(Yun-Tao): Alright, lead the way, old man.


The elderly Radent smuggler immediately starts following wherever his nose takes him. As he sniffs the air intently, his eyes open wide once he catches onto the strongest scent trail in the camp site; he begins following the trail out through the parted bushes where the drag marks were located, to which his companions follow closely behind him. It takes a little while, but the trio manages to come out to the other side of the foliage and back out into the main forest. From here, Skrill gets down to the ground on his hands and feet and starts smelling around deeply; he catches a strong whiff from a faint foot impression left behind by the ape soldiers.

He jumps back up on his feet and starts jogging through the forest, prompting Yun-Tao and Taum to take off after him.


(Taum): What have you got, Skrill?

(Skrill): I’m onto the big man’s trail himself!

(Yun-Tao): You are?! No time to waste, keep going then!


As the trio continues to run together through the thick forest, a light at the end of their path reveals itself through the thicket of trees and bushes.


(Skrill): There! Let’s head out there!

(Taum): Let’s go!

(Yun-Tao): Onwards!


The 3 companion mercenaries rush out through the opening and burst out into a wide-open expanse. The sunlight is intense enough after many minutes of shade-covered forest ground that it temporarily blinds them; once their eyes adjust, they can finally see what lies before them.

Taum, Yun-Tao, and Skrill bear witness to a vast expanse of farmlands stretching for many kilometres out with no end in sight; fields upon fields of crops of all different kinds being grown to feed into the city’s food stores. It would be a breathtaking sight ordinarily, save for the fact that many of these fields are either ruined or currently being ravaged; the scars of yesterday’s incident with Rodan and the Oozaru still dot the landscape, as does the resultant invasive species aftermath. Across ever few acres of land, there is either a massive footprint, leftover signs of turf wars between powerful Monsters, or active scavenging by smaller and much more immediately problematic creatures.

Taum in particular seems quite distressed to see what the lands from which he hails from have become. Yun-Tao, upon noticing his distress, quickly sets out to try and refocus him on their current missions.


(Yun-Tao): Taum, we have a few active quests at this moment. Our own personal quest, and a local mission from one of the farmers in the area. While we’re here, we might as well go take care of that small business, yeah?


It takes him a few moments, but the Draconi youth manages to calm himself down a bit after some breathing. He takes out his map and looks around at the landmarks and recognizable features that correspond to specific points on his map of the surrounding area. Taum looks down at the map where the side quest him and his companions have undertaken is supposed to take place at, then looks back up to compare the notes with what he’s seeing of the farmlands before him; he looks at the closest homestead less than a few hundred metres from their position and sees that it appears to be the exact location they’re supposed to head towards.

He points at the homestead flanking the nearby wheat fields. True to the quest’s details, the fields are currently being ravaged by a pack of raptorial Jaggi.


(Taum): There. That should be where our quest giver lives.

(Skrill): Looks like those damned Bird Wyverns are already raiding his fields.

(Taum): We gotta get over there and evict those raptors!

(Yun-Tao): What are we waiting for, then? Charge!!


The 3 questing companions run down the hill they’re standing on top of and down into the farmland valley below. Upon reaching the bottom, they find themselves standing among the tall wheat stalks swaying in the gentle breeze; ahead of them, they can see the rustling of the Jaggi pack members feasting on the wheat seeds before harvest time.

Yun-Tao keeps her Giant Jawblade holstered for the time being due to how large an unwieldy simply carrying the Greatsword around in her hands would be; Skrill pulls out his Dual blades, a pair of simple iron-forged Matched Slicers, and holds them in a reverse knife grip with the edge out; Taum unsheathes his Hammer, a simple Iron Hammer.

The 3 mercenaries quietly walk through the fields, being careful to make as little sound as possible while trekking through the wheat stalks in order to not alert their prey. Soon enough, the trio are only a dozen metres away from their targets who are in the middle of the acre they’re all situated within. Just as they prepare to crouch-walk closer to takedown the Jaggi, Taum inexplicably steps on a large stick; the sudden sharp sound instantly catches the attention of the Dog Wyverns.

The pink-scaled and large-frilled raptors all begin barking one by one, sounding the alarm that there are intruders on their overtaken turf.


(Yun-Tao): Cover’s blown, weapons out! Let’s bust some frill-heads!


The boisterous bruiser of a woman is the first to charge into battle, running towards the Jaggi on approach towards her. She quickly unsheathes her Greatsword and brings it down in front of her, but the tenacious little raptors are quick to evade out of the way and start surrounding her; 3 of them now stand around her, with one attempting to keep her attention at her front while the other 2 are jumping around behind her; all 3 of them leap up to pounce on her.

Before they can connect, Yun-Tao, with her giant blade’s edge still sitting on the ground, quickly spins around clockwise and uses the momentum to swing her Giant Jawblade around for a strong wide slash that hits the Jaggi in midair; the small Bird Wyverns are sent flying back several metres and land hard on the wheat stalks. However, even Small Monsters like them are quite strong, as they quickly get back up and shake off the brief daze of being knocked through the air by an Oxbul’s Greatsword swing.

The 3 Dog Wyverns start barking some more to call for backup, which ends up bringing in 3 more Jaggi to the party.

One of the party-crashers is still running in when he’s suddenly knocked away by Taum using a charged upswing of his Iron Hammer; the other 2 are tripped up by Skrill coming in with a demon flurry rush that takes out their footing. Meanwhile, one of the original 3 Jaggi tries to pounce on Yun-Tao once more, but he’s met with a rising slash that knocks him away even further than the first hit; however, this slow swing provides the perfect opportunity for the other 2 raptors to pounce on her back and knock her down to the ground. Before they can start to tear into her, Taum comes in and gives a swift charged side blow that knocks them away; he extends a hand to Yun-Tao, to which she obliges and takes it.

As Taum helps Yun-Tao up, Skrill joins them.

The trio stand together, back to back, as they stare down the Jaggi pack that has started to surround them once more; curiously, they leave a large opening in their circle. While the small Bird Wyverns size up their quarry and wait for them to make the first move, the trio plans out their next move.


(Taum): See that opening in their circle?

(Skrill): Yeah. They’ve left it exposed. We use that as our opening, right?

(Taum): Right. On my mark, we rush it and split them up. Ready?

(Yun-Tao & Skrill): Ready.

(Taum): Okay, and…. Mark!


The 3 adventurers rush towards the exposed opening in the circle, prompting the raptors to converge on them; they aren’t fast enough to prevent the trio from breaking their line.

Just as they breach the kill zone, they’re suddenly sent flying away by a strong force hard enough that they end up plowing through some of the Dog Wyverns that were ganging up on their rear; they skid across the wheat stalks a fair distance.

As they start to get back up on their feet and shake off the brief daze, they look up and see that a particularly large figure is stepping out from the obscuring fields that they were attempting to head into. The large creature begins howling loudly in an almost simian manner, which ends up calling forth over a dozen more Jaggi to its position. A veritable mob of Bird Wyverns is now congregated in the clearing that Taum and his companions made in their battle against them.

On one side is the adventuring trio; on the other is nearly 20 small raptors led by the significantly larger alpha male, the Great Jaggi.