Some bounty hunters were not so appreciative of Ariksar taking all of the bounties and turning them in day after day, leaving them with very little keep. As much as he was appreciated by the general folk of kugane, the mercs were less than happy that a ‘hero’ was taking their coin.

Ariksar did so because he wanted to earn coin for the company, and for himself so that he may not burden his fellow.

The events of Ariksar accidentally spilling matcha on Tora along the streets of Kugane happens here. Ariksar thanks Tora for the treat at the holstery and they part for the night.

Tora was at the start of his journey to venture out and find a cure for his sister’s eyesight, and he’d intended to gather rare ingredients that involved hunting of certain creatures and obtaining rare material from them. He had not known of the bounties, but was aware that the creatures were causing a ruckus outside of kugane. Trained in the arts of a lancer, he figured he’d be able to take out one or two for his own to procure the materials he needed.

Ariksar had, as per usual, taken the bounties for the week and headed out at the crack of dawn to pursue the beasts. Little did he know that the other hunters/mercs were not so eager to let him take the prize. The hunters and mercs spotted Tora heading towards the area. one of the men recognised Tora and knew Tora’s family had a thing against xaelas, so what were the odds of that? they could put that to their favor.

They told him there was a troublemaker xaela in the area and they asked for help to subdue him and put him to sleep with a sleep dart while they distract the beasts and subdued them, in exchange, Tora would get the materials he needed while they took the bounty. Tora was fine with that, not particularly interested because it was a xaela, but as he rather not resort to fighting and risk injury. it was a sleep dart anyway, it wouldnt harm the xaela too much.

He treks with the hunters, and spots a figure that the men pointed out. It’s the troublemaker they were looking for, approaching the beast’s nest. He was hooded, not exactly visible in the darkness of dawn, but the faint glow of his greatsword confirmed his identity.

Tora approaches him ahead of the hunters, sneaks up behind him, and flings the dart with his lance precision aim. It hits the figure in the side of his waist, and he makes a growl in pain, alerting the beasts to his presence.

this attracts a big one, running right to him and headbutting him into a tree, hitting hard and slumping against the trunk.

Tora startles and realises the figure may be in actual danger, and also wonders why the men had not distracted the beasts themselves as planned. The hunters were lurking behind, hesitant about approaching the situation now that there were more and more beasts approaching.

Tora ran out from hiding, swinging his lance out and attracting attention away from the figure, yelling for the hunters to do their damn job.

They get to it, and they managed to fend off most of the beasts while Tora took out the biggest one.