Garden Town and The Field of Bloody Flowers

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Bronson had little time to act; instinctively, he shielded his eyes from the acid attack using the same arm he used to hold his crossbow. He wore no armor, only thick clothing that was to resist physical attack. The acid soaked through the outer layer and he could feel it touch his skin. The sting made him grit his teeth.

He was no fool, however. Swiftly, he used his free arm to grab his Hunting Axe and swung it into the goblin's sternum while it was in midair. I could have taken this one easier if I had the chance to extend my weapon, he thought in annoyance.
 
The Goblin flung back and landed on the ground. It moved violently in pain; it grabbed the handle and pulled the axe out of its chest—it made it worse, instantly dying as blood poured out of its body. Yet the blood pouring out seems more than usual; it was not red, but a more orange colored.

Monster Hunter shook the blade one to get the blood of it. “You’re alright?” He asked Bronson.
 
"It's only a flesh wound. I've had worse." Bronson replied, prying his axe from the dead Goblin's hands and proceeding to extend it into its halberd-form. "The third one got away. But I think we're getting closer to the radiated area based on the blood color of this one." He pointed to the orange splattered on the blade. "That third one left something before running off." Bronson yanked down the sleeve to cover the mild chemical burn. "It was smart to run... probably warnin' its group about us by now. Still want to get those masks goin' before we go any further?"
 
“That’s a definitive possibility for the third one to warn the others. The fact that it was studying our movements is trying to take advantage.” Monster Hunter crouched down after pulling out a container out of his pocket. He took a lot of the blood into it and places in his pocket. 

“Yeah, it would be ideal to get those masks.” Monster Hunter answered his question. “Knowing them, they’re probably going to wait for us to come.” 

===========
After arriving at the town, both head to the clothing store where a man greeted both of them. 

“Monster Hunter, haven’t seen you around much. Looks like you brought in a friend too.” The man recognized Monster Hunter. “Guess I’m going to be real busy with a request, right?” 

“It’s something like that. We need masks, which protect us from radiation.” Monster Hunter asked.

“Radiation masks; does your mission requires that?” The man wondered.
 
"We've got a feeling your goblin problems are coming from a radioactive pond around here. Just took out a couple of them, but one had abnormal blood color." Bronson explained. "The masks could keep us from fallin' ill while we clear out the rest of the area so you can live without worry. And you'll know which places to avoid taking water from, for your health's sake. Radiation poisoning is mighty gastly to deal with."
 
“Goblins; those little bastards are always raiding our town with foods and resources. Sometimes, they tried to get our women, but they were unsuccessful so far, our ladies aren’t to be taken lightly.” The man nodded at Bronson’s explanation for the masks. “I’m not surprise, the goblins and plenty of other monsters, was affected by the nuclear wars just like humans and it changed their bodies, in many ways, more dangerous than what they were already.” He pulled out a shelf that contains leather. “We don’t have much in these parts, but I do get some fancy stuff time to time with a buddy of mines who likes to travel. Thankfully, he avoided being heckled by the Dalv Tribe. Give me one moment…” 

Monster Hunter nodded and took a seat on a table with few chairs. “He’s going to take a few moments, so let’s rest.”
 
"Good idea." Bronson sat down on a nearby stool and contemplated cleaning his axe of the blood before deciding to leave it as is for the moment. Instead he chose to attend to the mild burn he sustained from the acid attack, using a rag he had on him to absorb the rest of the moisture and cover that spot on his arm. "Good thing I wear thick clothing these days..."

"Either of you ever come across any mutated humans before? I come from the sides where most of the leftovers from the war are just junkyards for old artillery and destroyed statues." He asked them. "I wonder if that's the only thing that deters the Dalv Tribe from raiding towns around the nuclear waste pools..."
 
Monster Hunter tried to recall if he ever encountered any mutated humans, but nothing came up. “Not even once in my days of slaying monsters near this town that I came across a mutated human.”

“I personally never encountered them, but my buddy did in his travels.” The dressmaker took out several pieces of leather, placing under a sewing machine. “You’re right about the Dalv Tribe avoiding raiding towns that have nuclear waste; despite their huge numbers and hording of all the resources, Dalv isn’t an idiot… she wouldn’t risk sending her lackeys to steal towns that have a high concentration of mutants.”
 
"Sometimes I wonder if that Tribe's gone smuggling things from other continents with pirate ships..." Bronson wondered. "I hope they don't try to pay the guilds a visit anytime soon. The other towns that have avoided them are probably isolated ones that you can't find on a local cartographer's map."
 
“It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the case.” Monster Hunter added on Bronson’s assumption. “There’s nothing left in this dreaded continent they can take other than scraps and junk. Though, it does raise a question.” He looked over to the dressmaker, whom still is preparing the cloth, but nearly done, before returning to Bronson. 

“I have no knowledge of how guilds work nor function, but how come none of them in this continent did anything to the tribe?”
 
Bronson looked at a corner of the room absentmindedly before he spoke. "I can't speak for any guild other than my own, so my answer might not be satisfactory. For me an' Valerie, our great-grandparents formed one of the earliest guilds just to keep towns together. Keep what little order they could establish. But that was before monsters and mutants started poppin' up like no tomorrow. After that, everyone was more afraid of the monsters than bad people."

"After old man Wolfred died, everyone else left because there wasn't a leader like he was. He had a larger group than we do now. Nobody around that area tried to re-establish a guild until Valerie decided to take up the torch again. We're still fairly new. Got two new ones not too long ago ourselves; a wee mage and a cowboy-mummy fellow." Bronson stuck some chewing tobacco in his mouth and pensively thought on things some more. "They're out right now on their first assignment, and the only other experienced adventurer we have hasn't come back from his own duties yet. To make matters worse, Wolfred's old weapons workshop is still in a pretty bad shape. If we get it fixed, we could easily make plenty of different weapons, not just repair whatever leftovers we find."  He sighed. "We... ain't in any shape to take on the tribe. Monsters are already a challenge for us; but if we don't take care of them, nobody will. I can't say much about the Clan of Swords though, Val probably knows more about them. Maybe if we can pull together... things might get better for everyone."
 
“I see…”

Monster Hunter hardly remembered any guild when he was young in this disheartening town; there were monsters, monsters killed people and you hope for chance for mercy to see tomorrow. Bronson’s explanation of why guilds simply cannot afford to go to war against the Dalv tribe because of limited resources drives his own viewpoint on the matter; guilds are only good for so long, until they ran out of members and/or resources due to the increasingly rate of dangerous monsters.

“You are right that people are more afraid of monsters than humans. Monsters killed without any form of mercy; they don’t even wish to exploit you unless they need to make a bargain.” said Monster Hunter. “I supposed the Dalv tribe isn’t that much of a threat right now; they’re just doing it for survival, I guess, but monsters do it for the sake of fun. They have no souls… and it’s honestly sad that guilds are struggling against the one thing people hated universally throughout.” 

The dressmaker approached the men, placing the leather cloth on the table. “It is done; it’s sturdy, durable and doesn’t wear easily. I added some special properties in there as a bonus that should protect you against radiation attacks.”
 
"It is what it is, I s'pose. But as long as we help people with staying safe and keeping their livelihood, that's more than enough motivation to keep going when the cards are stacked so toughly against us." Bronson stood up and reached into his pocket to pull out a small satchel. 

He grasped a handful of Coins and spread them on the counter for the seamster. "It was my idea to go into the radiated areas, so I don't mind paying. Thanks for yer hard work, sir. We'll be sure to clear out those little bastards for you all in no time. Keep the change too."
 
"Thanks! Kill those filthy little bastards and rid of them from our town." The dressmaker said, taking the money.

"Well, let's get going." Monster Hunter said. "It's going to be a tough one, considering we're dealing with mutants now." He bow to the dressmaker and left the premise. "They're probably waiting for us out there, so expect an ambush."
 
"Right." Bronson took his hunting axe off his back and released the latch that was on the handle. With a twist and a set of sparks flying, he extended the axe to about three times its length. "Now that we know what we're dealing with, I won't feel bad about extending my reach." He took his mask and put it on. "Let's hope we don't find any more surprises in that irradiated swamp."
 
"Agreed." 

Both of them set out towards the field of bloody flowers once again. Monster Hunter stop briefly, scanning the area for potential surprises. He checked out the directions of the wind, observed certain spots in the field, but found nothing. 

"Nothing here from what I seen." Monster Hunter concluded. "I'm guessing they're trying to lure us to their camp so they can get the jump on us." He told Bronson. When the man turned his back to face Bronson, behind him was a sudden flare of greenish mist appearing out of the flowers. It pierced the air with an disgusting scent, but thanks to the leather masks, it did not affect them as much.

Suddenly, the green mist harden like a diamond and came down like a rocket; it aims directly towards Monster Hunter's back.
 
Bronson's eyes widened at the sight and he immediately rotated his hunter's axe. With the blunt end of the top, he reeled back his arm and swung its long reach into Monster Hunter's side in a last-second bid to get him out of the way and avoid the sudden attack.

"Behind you!" He shouted, restraining his strength so that the other man wouldn't be harmed by the force of his action.
 
Monster Hunter grunted by the impact but managed to narrowly escape his instant death of the green diamond attack. He turned around, seeing the greenish object instantly evaporate onto the soil. “T-thanks…” Monster Hunter said. “That was too close of a call…” He stares at the degenerate mush before standing up again. 

In the earshot of Bronson, there were sounds of footsteps, grunts and shouting from afar. They are near the campsite of these creatures, but it can’t be seen from mere eyesight. It’s clear that they are close, but there aren’t on the surface.
 
"I take it nobody's gone weeding these parts in a while?" Bronson joked halfheartedly, though his voice trailed off once his hearing picked up on some distant noise. "They must use these flowers as their immediate line of defense, but something tells me they're ready for us to come over to them... should we lure a few out now?" He kept his voice low.
 
Monster Hunter nodded. “Luring them out is the safest way to do things. I don’t think we make it very far if it just the two of us against how many vile creatures they have hoard it up in their spot. Got a plan on how to go about it?”
 
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