Letters exchanged between Aear Gwing aristocrat Dominique Saar and the Aear Gwing Portmaster Chiyo Igarashi
To Ms. Igarashi at the Aear Gwing Harbor,
It was brought to my attention by one of my dockhands that you have begun to slow the construction of the Sprouting Saar. The construction of this ship has cost me considerable funds and is seen as a valuable investment and I will not stand for my business ventures to be disrupted through superfluous methods.
Unmistakably Dominique SaarTo Dominique Saar at the Saar Manor
It has come to my own attention, an attention I may add is one of professional discernment in our beautiful harbor, that the Sprouting Saar is to be a Monster Fisher. Traditionally if such rumors superfluously found their way to my desk I would dismiss them, but in their arrival I discovered significant evidence to suggest their evolution into truth an imminent threat. This of course can be remedied most readily with a letter written in your own hand professing nothing but the simple fact that you do not currently intend and never intend for the Sprouting Saar to conduct Monster Fishing in Beleg gúl waters.
Remarkably Chiyo Igarashi, PortmasterTo Ms. Igarashi at the Aear Gwing Harbor,
I’m afraid such accusations will not be tolerated by a family as important as mine, I shall see to discussing this further in person with the city Ambar Representative.
Forever Dominique SaarTo Dominique Saar at the Saar Manor
Please do.
Shortly Chiyo Igarashi, Portmaster
Monster Fishers are boats which have been kitted out for the purpose of dredging up True Monsters, killing them en masse after which their Monster Stones can be safely harvested. Dense rope netting with iron weights on the outside, each connected to a long rope (called a cinch-rope) that sits on deck, are attached to the full circumference of the ships hull and supported every ten feet by a long, hinged, wooden beam. These skirted nets appear strange at first until one has observed their use. The Monster Fisher sails out into waters of a depth some 30 fathoms and waits. Generally a Monster Fisher hopes to primarily attract Goblins and often keeps a pen of Sika on board as bait. Just the presence of additional life attracts more Goblins but does not appear to attract other typical True Monsters at this depth. When the Goblins begin climbing the hull of the ship they come into contact with the net and will begin trying to cut through it or scale around it. When enough Goblins have scaled the vessel, or more than one has begun to break through, the supports are released and as the net falls a man on each of the cinch-ropes controls the arc of the iron weights so they fall against the lower portion of the hull just above the waterline. The entire net and its contents are then cinched up into a cylinder like shape by pulling the cinch-ropes in unison until the monsters held in the nets line up with a number of slits in the ships side where members of the crew below decks can kill anything that moves through them indiscriminately.
Every decade or so a new attempt at this very old idea is made and each ends the same: Utter failure. That is to say, many a successful mission has been accomplished and abundant Chips are harvested, but the hubris of deeper waters finds its teeth in every captain or benefactor and the Monster Fisher is lost in totality leaving behind one wealthy man and dozens of weeping widows.