#this is where I switched the difficulty to ultra hard bc the redmaw fight was ridiculously easy with my frozen wilds gear.

[one-of-many-journeys]

Day 50

Lone Light

Since the silence of the village cut my evening short, I set out a few hours before sunrise, donning what I'm going to call my fancy armour.

Through the Gatelands camp, down to the edge of the Jewel and up the mountain pass to Meridian. 

I stopped to trade some of the ancient vessels and Banuk artefacts I’d picked up in the east. 

I asked around for Vilgund too. He was still there trying to convince other travellers to make the long hike east to check out the rumoured tame machines. He didn’t even recognise me at first. Wonder how many others he’s sent to scrounge around an unremarkable campsite. Guess those delvers of his went straight back to the Claim.

I talked Vilgund out of a shoddy deal, trying to pay me half of what he owed his delving crew. They weren’t coming back to claim it, and I more than earned their full reward. He capitulated. 

To the hunters lodge next to deliver my Thunderjaw and Stormbird trophies to Ahsis. Talanah wasn’t around, and though that wasn’t alarming on its face—she is a huntress after all—Ahsis was gone too.

I asked Ligan and he confirmed my fears. Ahsis had set out in the middle of the night to track down Redmaw after news of a sighting was brought back to the lodge. Talanah followed as soon as she found out, but Ligan also spotted a band of Carja hunters following her trail. He'd assumed they were looking to claim the kill for themselves, but I made a darker assumption: what if Ahsis hired assassins to keep Talanah from the kill, and therefore from taking his place as Sunhawk?

Even if I was wrong, Talanah could be out there facing Redmaw alone, about to meet the same fate as her mentor, Tarkas. I'm not eager to become a Hawk just yet.

When I last left Meridian, I worried that Talanah might take on Redmaw without me, yet after those weeks in the Cut, I arrived only a few hours too late to accompany her.

I raced to the elevator and through the village below, picking up a Strider on the other side of the river and riding hard into the Jewel. Ligan said that Redmaw was spotted by the Spearshafts.

Just as I feared, the hunters had cornered Talanah behind cover, pressed into a stony crevice, all of them trying to get an angle on her from the ground. I snuck in, picking off those in the rear before taking them head on, scaling the rocks where Talanah was hiding to take the high ground.

Once Ahsis' hired killers were dealt with, Talanah led the way to Redmaw, following its path of destruction through the palms.

When we found the beast, I could see it was no ordinary Thunderjaw. Extra armour plated its body, festooned with arrows and the red flags of Carja spears.

Ahsis was doing well—he'd already torn off one of Redmaw's cannons, now making close, daring shots at its guns and eyes. Then came the Thunderjaw's tail, swinging around to punt him into a rock face with a concerning crack. Classic mistake, and likely to be his last. He didn't seem to be getting up. It was time for Talanah and I to swoop in and finish the kill.

I made the first move by tearing off the second cannon, then froze Redmaw with my Icerail. Let loose with the disc launcher until it was spent, then finished it off with hardpoint arrows where Talanah tore off its armour plating with tearblast.

Talanah harvested the trophy to return to the lodge. With Redmaw defeated, her way to the title of Sunhawk is clear.

Ahsis was still alive, bones crushed and skin scratched raw by the impact. Talanah took the time to gloat a little, as was her right, especially since Ahsis tried to have her killed. Not just one assassin either, there were at least eight of them. Overkill, and it still didn't work. As for Ahsis' last words, he said he should have let Talanah take on Redmaw first and finished the job when she fell. Certainly would have been smarter, but I wouldn't have let that happen.

There Ahsis died, knowing that Talanah would succeed him and honour her family's names, along with all those who fell in the Sun Ring massacre. And that she'd start letting in all manner of outlanders too. Things are about to change in the Hunter's Lodge.

I parted ways with Talanah, agreeing to meet her back at the lodge for her ascension. Given the messy politics of the lodge, it was bound to take a few days, she said. They'd need to confirm the kill; both of Redmaw and Ahsis. I'm quite happy to skip the bickering of stuck-up Carja nobles. Plenty to explore out here in the meantime.

Back out into the Jewel, I returned to the trail of a Tallneck I'd passed on the way south. I overrode a Sawtooth to help me take out the Longlegs guarding the way up the Spearshafts, then climbed onto the Tallneck's head to gather data from the jungle terrain. There's a Cauldron down here—I'll have to check it out.

Across a nearby river I found a mess of Corrupted Stalkers. Lucky I spotted the shimmer of their shields before charging across on my mount. Could have ended badly.

I left my mount and descended on the site, tearing off one of the Stalkers' cannons before closing in to freeze and pierce them with hardpoints, downing them with my Ropecaster for spear strikes. Their tails are deadly—I had a couple of close calls. Similar strategy on the rest. Thankfully the beasts tend to spread out and attack at range, making them easy to pick off. I also harvested some blood for Brin, both corrupted and standard variety, in case he wants a choice.

The sun was getting low then, so I rode west to the jungle's edge to the final of the lodge's five Hunting Grounds.

The keeper was...interesting. Seemed to take his craft very seriously, that being the art of stealth. Not quite as thrilling as the Snowchant trials I left behind, but I'm eager to see the lodge's prize weapons for myself.

The first two trials were simple: take down Watchers, kill Stalkers. Plenty of practice at that today. Blazing suns on the first go.

The last trial, not so much. I had to loot Shellwalker crates, but the time was too short for stealth, and there was no tearing off their cargo frames without being spotted anyway. Shock wax potions, plenty of tear arrows, and a lot of running, especially from the Stalkers. I managed it after a few tries. I don't see how this trial shows my skills as a hunter, more like a willingness to jump through hoops for the promise of fancy weapons, but I took the top mark regardless. Scratched and bruised from it though.

Settled down to sleep a few hours after dusk.