Hunt - Paolumu¶

The Paolumu is a strange bat-like beast which dwells in the middle elevations of the Coral Highlands, most often appearing in AREA 5, but it’ll also move between AREAS 4, 8 and 9, the latter of which is its lair. Like the Rathian, the Paolumu is a Flying Wyvern, and actually keeps to the air more than the aforementioned monster, making it the first foe where using a ranged weapon (or at least a melee weapon with good reach) will make the fight notably easier.

While on the ground the Paolumu isn’t too dangerous, being mostly limited to the always obnoxious “pace back and forth” attack that far too many Flying Wyverns have, tail sweeps and bites. The Paolumu also has a curious ability to inflate itself by sucking in a great deal of air, which allows it to remain flying for extended periods of time and gives at a lofty vantage from which to attack from.

While inflated, the Paolumu is much harder to hit for ground-based characters, as it has the advantage of height, and tends to keep its distance as well… save for when it decided to fly over and pancake a character. While easily dodged, if the Paolumu catches you in a vortex ahead of time, it can hold you in place just long enough to smash you. As this is its most damaging attack, it’s worth being extra wary when it’s aloft to avoid such trouble. On top of that, the Paolumu gains a ranged attack of sorts while in the air, being able to spit blasts of wind at targets, dealing considerable damage. Of course, for ranged character, a balloon-like Paolumu is a fine target… Just aim for the inflated sac and shoot it out of the sky.

The Paolumu has two weak points - the head, and its inflatable throat-sac, with the latter being the more receptive target. Its next, wings, body and tail are all breakable, although nothing is severable. It’s weak to fire, resistant to water, and while it’s not particularly resistant to any ailment, it’s especially susceptible to Blast and Stun.

Defeat the Paolumu, carve it if you killed it, and when the quest ends you’ll report to the Third Fleet Master automatically. You did their part, and they did theirs, and now the rigged airship is ready to go. There is a catch, however… they haven’t tested this out yet, but it’s not like these people have a history of crashing airships or anything, right?

The Shortcut to Happiness¶

Before you leave, there are other things you can do, so take some time to go extinguish exclamation points. Talk to the Airship Engineer and he’ll mention installing a ropelift in the Coral Highlands. You know, to assist in getting around. While he put in a formal request, it’d go a lot faster if you gathered the materials yourself. This starts the delivery request The Shortcut to Happiness.

To satisfy the objectives for this delivery request, you need to bring back five Shamos Hides and one Sturdy Bone. The former, of course, can be obtained by killing and carving Shamos enemies (pick up the quest It’s a Crying Shamos to get extra rewards for gathering these, if you need to make another trip.) The latter can be found by looting bonepiles.

Paolumu Capture Quest¶

Return to Astera now, where you’ll find more exclamation points. Joy. Talk to the Smart Biologist along the northwestern end of Astera and he’ll predictably have another request for you. This time he wants you to capture a Paolumu, which shouldn’t be so hard, considering you just fought one. This posts the optional quest White Monster for a White Coat.

Sprouting an Ancient Tree¶

Make your way to the Tradeyard, where you’ll find a new quest-giver for a change, a “Forceful Fiver” walking around. Talk to her and she’ll decide to pass on some extra work to you, which seems to be all your fellow Fivers are good for. Anyways, seems the old lady at the Botanical Research station is trying to make some superior fertilizer, which may benefit your cultivation efforts. This starts the delivery request Sprouting an Ancient Tree.

This is a fairly easy request to fulfill, and doesn’t warrant too much explanation. In addition to Research Points, you’ll need one Coral Bone, which can be found easily enough by looting bone piles in the Coral Highlands. Complete the delivery at the Resource Center when you have the materials required. Turn this in and a Catalyst will be added to your Fertilizer menu at the Botanical Research Center. For 300 Research Points you can dispense this fertilizer to speed up the rate of cultivation by another tab.

Tiers of Joy¶

Last but not least, return to the Smithy and talk to the Second Fleet Master, who has some really good news for you. Seems that the breach created by Zorah Magdaros has given them access to more materials, and this newfound abundance has allowed them to improve the facilities. This, in turn, will allow them to upgrade your weapons further… at least, when you find the new materials required. Go give you weapon’s upgrade tree a gander now and gawk and all the new weapons you can’t yet create. Soon. Soon. Maybe this Rotten Vale has some of the materials you need?