The next morning, Jason shouldered the preservation box. “I hope they have someone who can handle this here. Though I wonder if it will cost us?”
Rosha glances up and down the street, “It’s the adventurers guild. They’ll have someone capable of handling things on hand. Besides! Courtney basically confirms this is a mythical type O’ critter and they’re always a popular subject of study.
“Besides dungeons, they’re about the only monsters that get spawned in regularly. What with how many of them tend to be loners and so not exactly the type to have a breeding population. This tailypo thing? Might be a null, not that we checked or what not. I’d compare it to how some monster tamer games would have the legendary monsters not have a gender so players can’t breed them.”
Jason raises an eyebrow, “So why would it matter to examine them so closely? I’d figure they’re either so rare as to not matter or so common as to have a lot of examples.”
Rosha shakes her head, “Nah! You got it wrong. They are rare, but that’s exactly why it is so important!”
Jason, “Not seeing it? Sure, finding out anything important for crafting is on the table, but if you aren’t going to run across them often, why be so interested in them?”
Rosha, “You’re not getting the full importance of them being spawned in. They’re all tricky in some manner or another. Monsters most likely to break the rules since they have abilities based on irl myths instead of developing within NeoRealm.”
Jason, “And that matters for them being spawned in? Like, we were just out in the Deep Wilds where you face what stuff as an afterthought! Our initiation to the place was basically days of those types being thrown at us.”
Rosha, “They spawn in, which means they don’t have a territory. Sure, the forests and mountains around here might be the primary place the System is dropping them off, but that doesn’t have to be the only place. In fact, the ever-popular ‘lake monster’ plesiosaur?
“Yeah, same way it seems every region of the world has their own version of it, the same is true in NeoRealm. But here? That’s because the System simply picks out random deep lakes and spawns in one. They’re actually quite a popular myth to have around since they are inherently restricted. Gets a place tourist money.
“Anyway, you might have noticed. The System can spawn them anywhere. And that holds true for ALL monsters like this. Though admittedly, not all mythical monsters are this sort of mythical. In particular, Dragons are more than capable of reproducing, and despite the earliest sources not supporting it, the modern view of there being an absolute ton of half-dragons kicking about holds true in NeoRealm.”
Jason, “Oh, yeah, I guess if a tailypo can pop up literally anywhere, they might want to know about them? But wouldn’t the System change things up to mess with people?”
Courtney speaks up, “Yes and no. The guild collects the information, but it doesn’t easily release said info. Well, they selectively hide it. That way they can shape things to a certain extent.
“Obviously werewolves aren’t a part of this, but they’re simple enough to use as an example. At their base, their bite turns you and silver is needed to properly kill them without using overwhelming power.
“The guild is going to spread the fact that their bite is infectious to anyone who will listen while keeping the silver weakness close to the chest. That first but is released because it is dangerous to keep secret and they would hope that it is changed. While the weakness to silver is hidden so if a pack of werewolves becomes a big enough problem, they have a solution in their back pocket.
“Also, they’ll hide nuggets of info like that in random ‘lore’ books. Rather, children’s stories, actual fantasy novels, and dubious journals. It’s to give scholarly players, or just those who enjoy reading, a chance to pull out a bit of critical info they happened to read and feel like heroes.
“My suspicion, and one that I’ve seen bandied about, is that the second thing is to appease the System. Because even if the guild isn’t handing out this critical information, they have it. So, in theory, if the System was to change certain details when it becomes known, well, the Guild knows it.”
Rosha shrugs, “And besides all that? They’re based on myths. Which provides some inherent limits. A tailypo is going to have a tail. So if the guild gathers enough variants of a specific mythical monster? Well, the System isn’t going to be able to make it a completely different monster. Sort of like how there are so many vampire variants.”
Jason shrugs, “Well, as long as me hauling this box around was for something, I don’t mind one way or another. Since they’re spawned in by the System, we won’t exactly face a ton of them when we go back into the Deep Wilds.”
Rosha nods, “Yeah, even if we do see one or two. Bigfoot-likes are everywhere, so a few will have wandered into the Deep Wilds. But we won’t be facing hordes of them.”
Jason sighs, “Bigfoot is real in here? Blarg, well, I wouldn’t be certain about not finding hordes of them in the Deep Wilds. They basically are the bread and butter of wilderness cryptids. Tons of them must stumble into the Deep Wilds all the time and even if they can’t reproduce? Hordes of them would be easy for the Deep Wilds to gather.”
Courtney, “Well, we’re almost at the guild, so we’ll know what there is to know soon enough. From how I understand it, surviving a fight with one of these types qualifies you to learn what the guild knows. That is, as long as you promise not to spread the info around unless absolutely necessary.
“I figure this is similar to how they put the information out there in ‘quality’ books. If you’ve killed one of these beasts, people will likely learn of this. So if someone has a problem with that specific critter? Well, they’ll come and ask you what you know, so the guild wants to make sure you do actually know something to help them.”