Richter drew his moonstone dagger from his belt and got started. For the millionth time, he bemoaned how hard it was to get loot from monsters in The Land! Just having a window open up when you killed an enemy was so much easier! First, the chaos seed tried to wedge open the monster’s throat, but its jaw was locked tight in death. He considered breaking the jaw with the pommel of his weapon, but opted for a subtler approach.
Placing the koolari flat on its back, the chaos seed tilted the head back and started slicing vertically down its throat. The cartilage in the neck resisted him somewhat, but this blade was able to create a fairly neat incision. Thick black blood welled out of the wound, but the purple glow grew a bit brighter. After widening the cut a bit more, Richter laid his dagger to the side and reached two fingers from each hand into the hole he had made in its throat. After that, it was just a matter of tearing.
The flesh didn’t feel too different from uncooked goat. Ripping the meat of the koolari’s neck took him back to his tenth birthday, when his father had decided to ‘make him a man.’ Long story short, he had learned three things that day. One, if you were going to kill your dinner, it was much less traumatic to kill it with your first shot. Two, his mother did not find it amusing to see her son with dried blood splattered all over his face, hair and clothes; and three, cutting flesh was a good deal harder when it hadn’t been cooked yet.
Despite the meat being tough, it yielded quickly to Richter’s thirty-three points of Strength. He wiped some of the blood clean from his right hand, using the detritus of the forest floor as a gritty napkin. Then, pouring a bit of water into the hole, he was finally rewarded for his labors.
The inside of the koolari’s throat was grey flesh, wrinkled and spongy. Aside from the color, it didn’t look any different from the human throats Richter had cut into during Anatomy in med school. In addition to what he was expecting, though, there were three other structures that were most definitely a surprise. Three strings, about the thickness of cooked spaghetti, ran down the back of the monster’s throat. They were pure black and reflected the summoned light, giving them a slick appearance. Unable to help himself, Richter flicked one with his finger, and it vibrated like a violin string. Pling!
You have found:
Vocal Cords of the Winged Koolari.
Durability: 18/18
Item Class: Scarce.
Weight: 0.01 kg.
Traits: These cords can be woven together to make a strong string. The magical properties of songs could be augmented by an instrument strung with such a string. You feel the cords could also be used to make a potion to cloud men’s minds with madness for a short time. Alternatively, their shiny nature might be useful for making hooks to attract fish.
Richter’s brow furrowed. He was pretty damn sure that the scarce rarity wasn’t because it made the best fishing lures. The madness potion sounded promising, but it was the first quality that intrigued him. The chaos seed knew that there was power in music. Even on Earth, it could shape memory and create emotions. In The Land, the pixies used it to create tangible effects with their magic. The Playful Song of the Celestial Pixie he had heard prior to leaving the village had probably helped him resist the wail of the winged koolari. He hadn’t really thought about other uses of magical music, though.
Playing bard classes had never really been his thing. It had always seemed too passive for him. Having seen the power of the koolaris’ voices, though, Richter realized that he might need to rethink his previously dismissive stance. Staring at the shiny ebony cords, he decided that music would play a larger role in the Mist Village in the future. It was just too powerful of a tool to ignore.
Richter called over a few other guards and showed them what he was doing. There was not much time left before they started moving again, and he couldn’t harvest the vocal cords by himself. They lacked his skill in Herb Lore and so couldn’t harvest the vocal cords fully, but they could cut around the cords and hand him a large section of the monster’s flesh. After slowly cutting the vocal cords out and placing them in his bag, he had several guards watch while he repeated the process. Cautioning them not to damage the cords, he left his men to the harvest.
One of the guards asked if he could cut the wings free and keep them. Bemused, Richter looked at the wings, but they didn’t light up in his sight. Still, he said as long as it didn’t slow the warband down, he was fine with it. Part of him wanted to ask the man what he had in mind with the leathery membranes, but then again, part of him didn’t.
Hisako came up and examined the set of vocal cords he had harvested. Richter offered them all to her. He wanted to experiment with the dark strings, but there was no question that her spell had been the deciding factor in the battle. She smiled at him in appreciation and said that she would be happy to accept half of the harvested strings but no more. Richter nodded and told his guards to give the longest and thickest strings to the Hearth Mother. A few minutes later, all of the cords had been collected and distributed. Richter put the large chunks of koolari throat in his Bag. He would harvest the cords later.
Hisako cast a final Earth spell. It had a somewhat long casting time, and she had to continue pouring mana into it, but the bodies began to sprout plants and grass. It was slow at first, but rapidly picked up speed. After a minute, where the pile of bodies had been there was now a mound of new grass and small, blue flowers. The green light faded from her hands.
Hisako gave the contented sigh of a craftsman looking at a job well done and remounted her strike stag. The warband was back on its way.
CHAPTER 25 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
The mood was more somber as they all walked, and everyone was on high alert for another attack. They moved as quickly as they could, none of them feeling good about having to continue through the forest in the dead of night. They didn’t stop, though. Yoshi’s War Leader skill still kept the party’s Fighting Spirit up, and despite the losses, they had won the battle.
The spell Hisako had cast to ensure the torches weren’t seen from a distance had been a great idea, but it did nothing to hide the light of the sprites’ imbued arrows or the flashes of magic during the attack. Yoshi said there was nothing to be done about it. They were still ten miles from the entrance to the hidden valley, and they would just have to hope that no scouts had spotted them. The trees were still thick around them, which greatly reduced the chances that their battle with the winged koolari had been noticed, but it was still a risk. They continued on.