Vael
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Activities

Fishing

The reel game, rods, both fishmongers and all 30 fish: weights, values and habits.

Casting from the jetty on the forest lake
Casting from the jetty on the forest lake

Swap your weapon for a rod and fish the forest lake, or the Blood Mere once your Fishing skill is high enough. Every catch trains Fishing; rarer, heavier and perfect catches teach more.

How a catch goes

  1. Cast. Time the meter and throw up to about thirteen metres. The aim ring turns green over deep water.
  2. Wait. Nibbles come first and a fish's shadow circles in. Strike too soon and it's gone.
  3. Strike. A splash and a “!”: set the hook in under a second.
  4. Reel. Keep the fish inside your hold as it darts up and down the bar. Big fish fight longer; sometimes treasure appears to snatch.
  5. Land. It arcs into your hand: weight, records and perfect catches are noted in your angler's log.

Fishmongers

A skeleton fishmonger runs a shack on the forest lake, and another keeps the jetty on the Blood Mere. Both buy fish at full value and sell rods; the Bone Merchant pays less for fish.

The forest lake

FishRarityWeightFights likeBase value
Murk MinnowA grey sliver of a thing. There are always more.
Common0.08–0.35 kga drifter 4 g
Bog RoachTastes of mud. Fights like it's owed money.
Common0.2–0.8 kga darter 6 g
Gloomgill PerchIts gills glow faintly when it's frightened. They glow now.
Common0.3–1.3 kga drifter 8 g
Ashen CarpFat, slow and the colour of a cold hearth.
Common0.8–3.6 kga sinker 10 g
Lantern EelA light at its throat lures smaller fish in. You were lured too.
Uncommon0.6–2.2 kga smooth swimmer 18 g
Bonefin TroutIts fins are bare bone. It doesn't seem to mind.
Uncommon0.8–2.8 kga drifter 21 g
Pale PikeAll teeth and spite, white as a drowned man.
Uncommon1.5–5.5 kga darter 24 g
Widow CatfishBlack as mourning cloth. Its whiskers are longer than your arm.
Rare3–9.5 kga sinker 48 g
Moonscale SalmonEach scale holds a little moonlight. It leaps for the real one.
Rare2–6.5 kga darter 56 g
WraithfinYou can see its bones through it. It flickers in and out of the water.
Rare0.5–1.6 kgan erratic 64 g
Duskmaw GarA jaw like a bear trap on a body like a spear. It hunts at dusk. It is always dusk here.
Epic2.5–7.5 kga darter 135 g
Amethyst LurkerGrown fat on the river's glow until it glows itself.
Epic1.5–4.2 kgan erratic 150 g
Hexed SturgeonOlder than the forest. Someone carved runes in its armour plates, long ago.
Epic6–19 kga sinker 165 g
Crowned GrimfishA ring of bony spines grows round its head like a crown. It rules the lake, and knows it.
Legendary4–11 kgan erratic 380 g
The Drowned BishopA great red eel, its fins like vestments. The fishermen cross themselves when they say its name.
Legendary8–21 kga smooth swimmer 430 g
Heart-Koi of VaelIt shines with every colour at once. They say the lake's heart beats inside it, and the lake dies a little when one is taken.
Mythic1–3.2 kga thrashing mythic 1,800 g
Starspawn AnglerFell from the sky as a falling star, the fishmonger swears. Its lure is a tiny, burning constellation.
Mythic3–8.5 kga thrashing mythic 2,200 g
The Old One BelowToo many eyes, all of them open. It let you catch it. Remember that.
Mythic25–64 kga thrashing mythic 2,600 g

The Blood Mere

Needs Fishing 20. Every fish here beats its forest cousin, Epic-or-better bites come about twice as often, and each catch gives half as much XP again.

FishRarityWeightFights likeBase value
Clot MinnowLittle dark beads of a thing, thick in the red water. They taste of iron.
Common0.1–0.45 kga darter 16 g
Veinfin DaceIts fins are webbed with fine blue veins. They pulse.
Common0.3–1.1 kga drifter 22 g
Rustgill PerchIts gills have rusted shut. It breathes the blood anyway.
Uncommon0.5–1.8 kga drifter 54 g
Leechmouth EelA round mouth ringed with teeth. It will try to latch on to you. Let it go.
Uncommon0.8–3 kga smooth swimmer 62 g
Scabscale CarpFat and slow, crusted with dark scales that flake away like old wounds.
Rare1.5–6 kga sinker 150 g
Sanguine PikeBright as a fresh cut. It hunts by the smell of whatever you are bleeding.
Rare2–7 kga darter 175 g
Marrowjaw GarIts jaw is bare bone, and it uses it to crack the bones that sink into the mere.
Epic3–9 kga darter 390 g
Crimson LurkerGrown fat on what drains into the mere, until it glows with it.
Epic2–5.5 kgan erratic 440 g
Heartsblood SturgeonIts armour plates beat, faintly, like a heart. Older than the ruins above it.
Legendary8–26 kga sinker 980 g
The Red AbbessA long eel in a veil of red fins. The nuns who built the cloister drowned their sins in this water.
Legendary6–18 kga smooth swimmer 1,100 g
Ichor SeraphSix fins like wings, and it sings when it breaks the surface. No one who hears it sleeps well again.
Mythic2–6 kga thrashing mythic 4,600 g
The Bleeding LeviathanThe mere is not a spring. It is this, bleeding, for a thousand years.
Mythic40–96 kga thrashing mythic 5,200 g

Rods are listed on weapons.