The Hunter's Tales Volume I

The Hunter's Tales Volume I is a book found in the Artifact Market's Old Library.

## Location

The book is found in the Old Library in the Artifact Market. The book can also be found in the Library, an upgradable library building that can be bought in the kingdom upgrades screen.

## Contents

The Hunters' Tales (Volume I)
by Eri Swallowpepper, human historian

We shall start our collection of legendary tales with, though
not the first, possibly the most hardworking bug hunter.

Legend even tells that he is still hunting to this day, even
whilst living in the Blackmarket slums!

This hunter, of course, is Niklas.

Our story starts while the world was bug ridden. Perhaps not
by anything 'drastic' in terms of what bugs can do, but filled
with smaller bugs nonetheless. People spoke out of term,
musicians would mince their words and even the road signs and
place names around the kingdom were skewed.

One by one Niklas defeated these bugs, whether they were hiding
in the tongues of merchants, climbing up the lutes of bards or
clinging to signposts at crossroads. All these bugs were crushed.
But one place remained bug ridden and it was possibly the most
important building in all Atravia (According to my own opinion,
and that of my esteemed colleagues.), the world-renowned guild
of historians.

Now Niklas is a mysterious fellow. With that thick, bushy beard
of his, and a blindfold wrapped around his head, he wonders the
roads, fields, and towns of Atravia, his ears pricked, listening,
Listening for bugs.

Niklas was wondering the Blackmarket one day as he often did.
After all, where are bugs more likely to hide then the crowded
world capital of filth itself? He decided to take the road to
Guildrow, the cleanest part of the Blackmarket. You might
think that bugs wouldn't hide in such an area, especially when
squalor was so freely available close by, but you'd be wrong!
Niklas could sense the bugs in THIS part of town...

You see, it just so happened that, by coincidence, the
historian's guild was making it's yearly in-take of students
that day. And, knowing it would be an excellent chance to go
on an undercover hunt, Niklas enrolled.

Seating himself in one of the lush leather seats of the
auditorium, he pricked up his ears. There wasn't anything.
Yet. Old Hermaeus stepped up to the podium, surveying the
year one historians and faculty sitting in. He adjusted his
hat and took a breath to begin. And it was then that Niklas
knew something was wrong, for he had glimpsed it, under the
hat... A bug!

Like all good hunters though, Niklas bided his time. Perhaps
he needed to know what he was up against, or maybe he wanted
confirmation something WAS wrong before he came running at a
respected professor. Either way, he waited, breath baited and
knuckles bared white against the wood of his squashing-club.

The professor started speaking, his words echoing around the
hall, reverberating to the keen-eyed students (and already
bored-stiff pretenders. Bah!). He weaved stories of the near
north and of the wild north, the savage wildermen and the
dripping glaciers. Time passed. He (again) weaved stories
of the near north and then of the wild north, the savage
wildermen and the dripping glaciers. Yet more time passed
and, as sun dripped itself sluggishly through the western
windows, he weaved the same stories; of the near north and
then of the wild north, the savage wildermen and the drippi...

Niklas had had it. To the surprise of the whole room's
occupants, of which most, admittedly, were starting to
fall asleep, he lept from his front-row seat.
The musty air itself stood still as students and fellow
lecturers alike looked on in awe, unsure of what was
happening, let alone what to do, as the club arched it's
way towards Hermaeus' head. Mouths stood agog and all
sets of eyes watched in horror and fear...

But Niklas knew what he was doing, this wasn't the first
bug he'd discovered, let alone the first time he'd swung
his club. It didn't hit Hermaeus' head -it hit his hat.

The small tower of fabric went flying through the lecture
hall, a blue-red blur of cloth, a micro-comet of satin.
It landed, with a small thud, just before the front-row
of dismayed students. Hermaeus looked a picture of utter
surprise and horror. The room, if it had been in awe and
shock before, was in some other state of emotion now. But
it wasn't the hat itself that had everyone so shook.

For there, perched like some fat bird of prey on Hermaeus'
head, squatted a huge tick-like creature. It had eyes of
fury and an abdomen so swollen you could have launched it
from a catapult! Worst of all though were it's fangs and
proboscis, not for their size or sharpness, but for the
fact they were dug deep into Hermaus' head. Niklas wasted
no more time, he'd done his waiting, and he grabbed the
beast, wrenching it upwards and ripping it away from it's
nest to its terrible rasping cry and a ribbon of red.

And there, with club and boot, Niklas slew that pest. It's
carapiece shattered under the trusty oak of his stick as
it let out a final wail, only succeeding in helping Niklas
aim for it's head, silencing the pathetic creature there
and then.

The end of our story isn't quite so exciting I'm afraid.
The members of the guild, myself included, were so impressed
with Niklas' skill that he was temporarily hired as a private
bug catcher, and immediately he found some two more squatting
in our hallowed halls. One particularly disgusting specimen
was even found trying to alter the tried-and-true testing
system.

But before lone though, he grew tired of our guild and it's
bugs, preferring the wandering way of life. And though many
if not all, of the creatures here were defeated, Niklas is
still dubious about entering the guild, even after we have
requested him for a guild luncheon.

Today, as mentioned, he lives in the blackmarket slums. He
has done our guild and, indeed, our world, a great service.
And perhaps one day he will return, with his club and his
blindfold, to hunt the last few stragglers left around the
guild. He is a true hunter to the last.

Editor's note;
Please be aware that despite Mr. Swallowpepper's reputation
as a historian, it is quite likely this story is embellished
slightly so as to increase either sales or general reader
interest (it may surprise some to learn that Atravia historians
are often reputed for their... potential... blandness.).
More of 'The Hunters' Tales' will be published shortly. It
should also be noted that the king's advisor himself says all
good citizens of Atravia have a duty to report any bugs they may
find, however small, to the proper authorities. Even if such
authority is a demon, drunk goblin or local lay-about guard.
Thank you.