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“While there’s a certain appeal and merit to managing Midnite Crux, however, now and then it’s also quite refreshing to get the blood pumping again. And what better way to get the adrenaline running than a good old fashion hunt. Fortune was favorable enough to grant me that one day when a letter arrived addressed to me.

Written by an old acquaintance from a while back, it’s still amusing how time passes by quickly. He’d been but a wee lad then, now he’s one of his tribe's respected healers. The letter was a request for aid regarding a rather nasty case of hunters being found half-eaten and mutilated in the swamps of Oklahoma. Whatever had been responsible for the killings garnered quite the attention with all the body count it racked up. Local authorities were involved with some assistance from park rangers, but after two weeks of zero results and increasing casualties, my friend had decided to call upon me for aid.

The trip from New Luxerion to Oklahoma gave me enough time to read all the information gathered from the killings. Additional information was given to me by my old acquaintance once I met up with him.

Visiting the site of the first killings, I followed the track of the killer as it led deeper into the swamps. Even the most skilled of hunters wouldn’t have been able to follow the trail as well as I did. I say this not out of arrogance, but simply because when you’ve been hunting as long as I have, you tend to see details most people won’t. I followed its tracks for the entirety of the day, and by the time I confronted it, the sun was already out and the swamp was cast into shadows punctured by moon beams where the canopy wasn’t as thick.

It didn’t matter, though, because the killer had a way of sticking out even in the swamp’s gloom. It was a serpentine gargantuan, easily a tree trunk’s bulk, with an armored spine and scales that shone like coal being breathed upon. Two massive horns crowned its head, as well as what looked like a radiant gem rock upon the center of its head. The gem exuded a strange pull that seemingly drew me in, much like a siren’s song. Before it could dull my mind any further, however, I simply honed all my senses and leapt into the hunt.

Despite its gigantic size, the monster moved through the murk swamp with relative ease, weaving through cypress trees like fish in water. It managed to get a good few hits on me just as I dealt wounds to it. The fight itself was tricky, made all the more challenging by the terrain. Running through mud is quite an irritating experience, no matter how many times I’ve done it. Eventually, the fight concluded after I finally managed to land a direct strike to the gem in its forehead. Carving it out seemingly drained all its strength and left it in a vegetative state. I gutted the nasty critter for good measures, leaving the alligators to feast on its remains.

I would later on learn from my old acquaintance after I’d returned from the hunt that the thing was known as an Uktena, a Horned Serpent. Not the first time I’ve hunted horned serpents, considering I've hunted a fair number of Nagas and Cerastes in the past. The gem I extracted from its head was called Ulun'suti, a highly coveted and valued prize. Having no need for such things, even if perhaps it could be sold at a high price, I left it in my old friend’s care, sensing its importance to him and his tribe. As far as I was concerned, the old thrill of the hunt was more than enough payment for me.

Although, the mosquito bites were a pain in the ass for the next couple of days.”

-Taken from Calia’s journal

Description

“While there’s a certain appeal and merit to managing Midnite Crux, however, now and then it’s also quite refreshing to get the blood pumping again. And what better way to get the adrenaline running than a good old fashion hunt. Fortune was favorable enough to grant me that one day when a letter arrived addressed to me.

Written by an old acquaintance from a while back, it’s still amusing how time passes by quickly. He’d been but a wee lad then, now he’s one of his tribe's respected healers. The letter was a request for aid regarding a rather nasty case of hunters being found half-eaten and mutilated in the swamps of Oklahoma. Whatever had been responsible for the killings garnered quite the attention with all the body count it racked up. Local authorities were involved with some assistance from park rangers, but after two weeks of zero results and increasing casualties, my friend had decided to call upon me for aid.

The trip from New Luxerion to Oklahoma gave me enough time to read all the information gathered from the killings. Additional information was given to me by my old acquaintance once I met up with him.

Visiting the site of the first killings, I followed the track of the killer as it led deeper into the swamps. Even the most skilled of hunters wouldn’t have been able to follow the trail as well as I did. I say this not out of arrogance, but simply because when you’ve been hunting as long as I have, you tend to see details most people won’t. I followed its tracks for the entirety of the day, and by the time I confronted it, the sun was already out and the swamp was cast into shadows punctured by moon beams where the canopy wasn’t as thick.

It didn’t matter, though, because the killer had a way of sticking out even in the swamp’s gloom. It was a serpentine gargantuan, easily a tree trunk’s bulk, with an armored spine and scales that shone like coal being breathed upon. Two massive horns crowned its head, as well as what looked like a radiant gem rock upon the center of its head. The gem exuded a strange pull that seemingly drew me in, much like a siren’s song. Before it could dull my mind any further, however, I simply honed all my senses and leapt into the hunt.

Despite its gigantic size, the monster moved through the murk swamp with relative ease, weaving through cypress trees like fish in water. It managed to get a good few hits on me just as I dealt wounds to it. The fight itself was tricky, made all the more challenging by the terrain. Running through mud is quite an irritating experience, no matter how many times I’ve done it. Eventually, the fight concluded after I finally managed to land a direct strike to the gem in its forehead. Carving it out seemingly drained all its strength and left it in a vegetative state. I gutted the nasty critter for good measures, leaving the alligators to feast on its remains.

I would later on learn from my old acquaintance after I’d returned from the hunt that the thing was known as an Uktena, a Horned Serpent. Not the first time I’ve hunted horned serpents, considering I've hunted a fair number of Nagas and Cerastes in the past. The gem I extracted from its head was called Ulun'suti, a highly coveted and valued prize. Having no need for such things, even if perhaps it could be sold at a high price, I left it in my old friend’s care, sensing its importance to him and his tribe. As far as I was concerned, the old thrill of the hunt was more than enough payment for me.

Although, the mosquito bites were a pain in the ass for the next couple of days.”

-Taken from Calia’s journal