After a little bit of argument with Len (and maybe some kicking) both of us made our way to check on Rue. We removed some of his old armor and inspected his body to find if he was injured from the explosion. Oh and for you information Len was fine, just some buzz he said. While we tried to put his armor back we heard some rustling from a few meters away from us. Len immediately readied his bow while I grabbed another rock from my pocket (I honestly don’t remember putting this much rock in it but they just kept appearing). 

What appeared from behind the bush was 2 huge horns. Before I could shout ‘Minotaur’ however I saw that those horns were attached to a helmet. After the helmet appeared a face with a magnificent beard that seemed well groomed. Len then slowly pulled the string of his bow ready to attack any time.

BeardDude: “Wait! Wait! It’s me!”

Len: “Me who?”

BeardDude: “One of the guys that was hired to handle the monkeys.”

Observing the man for a few seconds Len slowly lowered his bow and nodded at me. The man proceeded to introduce himself. He was a dwarf that was part of the team that was supposed to take care of the monkeys. His name was Hethoir Jademaul by the way. He was wearing a really thick armor of unknown material and a big hammer with many spikes on it.

He said that when they (the hunters) were about to clear the monkey one by one suddenly he saw a large shadow looming over the other side. They swiftly regrouped and canceled their attack plan for the monkeys when they realized they were being sandwiched between the giant shadow and a lot of monkeys. They could go to the encounter the shadow but that would alert the monkeys (and remember that the monkeys would scream if they sense danger) or they could go and ignore the shadow for now and continue to first plan. Before they could even debate their choices the elf in the group suddenly stopped moving and told the other to do the same. When asked why he only answered ‘they know we’re here’. The last thing he recalled before passing out was monkeys appearing all around them.

Me: “That must be really scary.”

Hethoir: “Aye, it was weird that those things didn't even make any noise when they approached us. Blood Monkey is not known to be sneaky, they prefer to overwhelm their enemy and prey with numbers.”

Me: “Ah, about that giant shadow, is it that monster over there?”

Hethoir: “Which one? Oh that’s one big hedgewolf you have there. I say that the size matched the shadow but I can’t say for sure it was this thing.”

Len: “*sigh* what a pain, now I have to patrol the surrounding area just to make sure.”

Len and Hethoir moved closer to the wolf carcass. When I asked them what they wanted to do with it they said they had to dismantle it before the body rotted away (truly a hunter like mindset). Since I don’t think that I was needed for the dismantling I pulled Rue toward the crater then I searched around for the 3 other hunters that were kidnapped by monkeys. There was the elf from Hethoir’s story, the eaglewoman that came to the village, and another skywalker, this one a male though. From what I gathered from Hethoir's story it seemed that their plan was for the elf and two birdpeople to methodically kill the monkeys one by one using bows and arrows. The elf would snipe the monkeys while the skywalkers kept watch from the sky and took care of any monkeys that were about to scream. Hethoir you ask? He said he was hired for the muscle and for backup if something happens. I dragged every single one of them to the crater and laid them next to Rue. They looked like sunbathing people on the beach (with armors but still). Turning my head to side I saw Len and Hethoir already done with the skinning and pulling out of the quills, and was about to cut into the meat.

Me: “Wait!”

Len: “What?”

Me: “I used poison to weaken it. I don’t think the meat can be used for anything.”

Len: “What? Come on, I was looking forward to waiting for wolf meat after so long.”

Hethoir: “You’re a poison user?”

Len: “Oh yeah, never knew you brought some with you.”

Me: “Um… trade secret.”

The two hunters, especially Len, gave me a look but then just let it go (I think I heard from Rue that hunter having a secret weapon wasn’t that rare). The three of us decided that the safest thing to do with the meat and bone is to bury it deep in the ground so that other animals couldn’t get to it. The burial was also done because I couldn’t tell them the kind and severity of the poison. We ( I helped this time! ) dug a few meters into the ground and threw the carcass in and covered it back with soil. I looked at the pile of dismantled material, there were fangs, claws, some bones, skins, quills, and some other stuff.

Me: “So, what will we do with those things?”

Len: “They’re yours.”

Me: “Huh? Really?”

Len: “Yup. Sure I was the one who delivered the final blow but you were the one who did the bulk of the job. This is just me though, some other hunter may have a different opinion.”

Me: “Hmmm… I see.”

Hethoir: “Can I buy the quills from you? I might be able to make some weapons with them.”

Me: “You’re a blacksmith?”

Hethoir: “Well yeah, being dwarf and all. Young elf will go and play those little flutes from their parents, but us? Oho no my friend, young dwarf will go to the furnace and make our own toys.”

Me: “Sure then. I don’t know the market price though.”

Len: “We can talk about this back at the village. The chief usually knows the value of this items.”

Hethoir: “Yeah, I think that’s for the best.”

Me: “Sure.”

With everything done and taken care of we carried all the loot and people back to the village. Len carried Rue, I carried the elf (+my loots), and Hethoir carried the skywalkers one on his left shoulder and one on the other. And with that we made our way back to the village. Which was much harder for me since now I have more weight and I have to walk instead of the tarzan way.