ABRAXAS LOGS

Who: Goro and Free City residents, new arrivals or old
Where: Cadens Base, the neighbouring city, the surrounding desert
When: October Mid-October, to the beginning of November
What:Warnings: The monster fight prompt will have graphic violence; Goro is a Mortal Kombat character and used to casual brutality in fights.

Visit to Town

While waiting for his strength to return, Goro finally decides to head into this city to see it for himself. He cuts an imposing figure, towering over the crowds, who mostly part out of his way and stare, giant and obviously non-human as he is. Goro pays them no mind. He already received directions at the base, as he had a specific destination in mind.

There's a public library near the center of town, and that is where Goro heads, early in the morning. He requests books, anything they have on Thorne. They are the main obstacle, near as he can see, more fearsome than the farmers and woodsmen of Solvunn, who can be crushed at their leisure once Thorne is toppled. He will learn about Solvunn in time, but right now, his mind is focused on Thorne.

Whatever reason took you to this library, it's hard to miss Goro. No chair is big enough to support him, so he sits cross-legged on the floor (the staff clearly aren't going to tell him to move), with a small pile of books next to him. The tome is...comically small in his enormous, three-fingered hand, he has to be very careful when trying to turn the page. It's slow going, and Goro is displeased.

As you approach, he doesn't even look up. "There must be tools for turning pages in a more delicate fashion in this place. I will require one. Fetch it for me." He must have believed you were staff...or maybe he didn't and just doesn't care. Also...is he asking for tweezers, or something along those lines?

Monster hunting [cw violence]

After a few days of reading up as much as he can about Thorne, Solvunn, and the Free Cities, Goro begins to feel more like himself again; the heaviness he has felt weighing him down since he was pulled from the water is lessening every day, lifting away, his strength returning. But he must test himself. And so, he wanders into the desert to see what he can find. Not bandits, not yet. Mere humans will not do if he wishes to test himself fully. Most humans are simply too weak to provide the challenge he needs. He seeks something larger, more powerful...and there are many beasts in the deserts.

The heat does not overly bother him; Kuatan is swathed in jungles, after all, and after a few hours he finds something suitable for his needs; a large beetle-like creature, the size of a horse, rests on a sunny rock, it's pincers looking sharp. Perhaps you were also out hunting, looking for this particular kind of creature. Hired to recover some piece of its anatomy, and you were taking a moment to plan your attack. Or you're here for the same reason Goro is, looking for something big to fight.

Either way, you're going to be disappointed. Before you can approach, Goro crests the dune, sees the beetle, and grins. Crouching down, his legs tense, building power in an instant, and then...he leaps. High into the air, and as he comes down...he aims directly for the beetle's midsection. He need do nothing but bring his girth down on the creature. The result...is not pretty, to say the least. An explosion of gore and bits of endoskeleton rain down as the beetle is smashed apart, legs flailing wildly in its sudden death throes. Standing amidst its remains, Goro remains unsatisfied. A single long horn protuded from the beetle's head, and he grips it in his two right hands. With minimal effort, he rips the horn...and the head loose from what remains of the body, regarding his grisly trophy with satisfaction. Then, he simply tosses it away. The head goes sailing over the dune Goro had just leapt from, and vanishes.

He steps off the ruined monster, seemingly satisfied with the endeavour. But if you were looking for a fight, you're out one. And there's little chance of harvesting anything from the beetle, ruined as it is by Goro's Stomp.

Back at Base-Barracks

Later on, Goro takes his rest back in the shared barracks, once again sitting cross-legged on the two beds he ended up claiming as his own after Alice volunteered to give her own up. A large wooden board is stretched across his lap, and parchment he's procured on top of that. With a piece of coal, he appears to be sketching something on the parchment; some sort of gauntlet or bracelet design, by the looks of it. Though the fact that the design includes a blade of some sort suggests they might be weapons. A warrior must know his weapons, and while he never constructed his own set of Dragon Fang retractable blades—the finest Shokan weaponsmiths in Kuatan did that—he familiarized himself enough with the designs in order to effect small field-repairs if necessary. However, to construct them whole cloth, he will need someone more talented in the art of weapon-making. But he can at least provide the designs.