Ed did as Asteria asked and kept an eye and ear open to any sounds of any foliage being disturbed by anyone or anything approaching. All of the alertness came to a full stop as he heard the sound of the goblin's body hitting the ground with a dull thud. What was Asteria doing? Ed thought they agreed to not kill the young goblin girl. As Ed moved out of his cover to stop the female dire rat from needlessly disemboweling the seemingly timid humanoid, he heard her speak to her and announce that they were kidnapping the goblin temporarily. Though his heart sank when she suggested that they...make her into supplies if they changed their minds. Ed's answer was quick, quiant, and eloquent as one could be as one can when someone suggests that. [color=chocolate]"Hahaha. Nope. Nope. Nope. No. We ain't eating her...Oh God, hahaha, why did you suggest eating her?"[/color] Ed said; his voice a mix of panic, humor, confusion, and apparent disgust. [color=chocolate]"Please, don't. I promise you that if we would ever get hungry or thirsty, I'll deal with it. Just...please don't resort to eating her."[/color] The young ratman squatted down and held his head in between his hands as he stared blankly to the grass as if it would give him answers to his moral dilemma while Asteria tied up their captive. As she finished tying up and securing the goblin, she asked him to get the elder dire rat to carry the stick bundle as they kept moving forward as quickly as possible and save the discussions for later. She was right and Ed could not refute that they needed to escape quickly before the goblin's friends noticed that she has been gone for too long. Ed then climbed up the tree where Mother Rat was and gently beckoned her to him, and once he had a good hold of her, climb down. Once successfully down, Ed then attempts to convey that she should carry the sticks with her tail. Ed was still no expert in manipulating the limb, but he was confident that she would understand rather quickly and carry the sticks with her tail. If she could not, Ed would just carry the sticks for her and try again later. The trek was awkward to say the least. But after a little while after they had started moving, Asteria spoke to him. Indeed it was a baffling yet admirable trait that Ed displayed. Of course the question caught him off guard and caused him to reflect on his actions. Why did he hesitate to kill the goblin when the previous confrontation with them, he had no issue in slaying them? He looks to Asteria and manages to get a glance at the panicked and terror filled eyes of the female goblin that stared back at him. He felt his heart sink even deeper, if it were even possible to it to do so, before breaking eye contact with it and looking anywhere else but at the goblin. [color=chocolate]"If you are angry at me, I understand completely. It was a lapse of logic and judgement and I'm sure it would have been safer, perhaps even better, if I hadn't displayed mercy and just took her life outright...but I just couldn't do it. No. I wouldn't do it."[/color] Ed lets out a sigh as he look up to the afternoon sky and observes a cloud drifting by lazily as they trekked through the woods. [color=chocolate]"Hell, I don't know why. I mean I've been killing out of necessity or self defense for the past few days, what's one more life taken to guarantee we make a safe escape? But When I looked at her, she seemed different from the other goblins we encountered in the cave. For what malicious cruelty you would see in a normally in a goblin's eyes, she only has a timid curiosity a child would."[/color] He lets out a short chuckle and forced an unhappy smile. [color=chocolate]"And I, for one, know that Edward Marsh is the kind of person that would never harm innocent people and even a lesser chance to harm children...but after recent events, I'm not too sure myself."[/color] They soon stopped as Asteria sat atop the goblin and asked if she was injured and offered healing by means of a herb, but she soon looked to Ed and explained what she saw atop the tree and voiced her suggestions where they should go. [color=chocolate]"I agree that we should definitely avoid the mountains and cave right now. We should check the hut out later, maybe in the middle of the night, but yeah. As of now, we ought to avoid people. I'm sure they won't take too kindly to our current forms. The plains is our best bet, but we can be easily seen there and there is no guarantee we can find a stable water and food source. But I will keep my promise and will find them as long as we still agree not to eat her. None the less you need to take a break from carrying her, just wait and rest here for a bit and I'll get us something to eat. Maybe even some spare herbs if I find some."[/color] Ed then focused all his attention to his sense of smell and sniffed out the berries while also taking note of the directions where he smelled the same scent the healing herbs in his belt produced. [hider=Stats] LVL: 5 HP: [color=Green]Healthy[/color] SP: [color=yellowGreen]Rested[/color] MP: [color=green]Full[/color] Effect/s: [b]SKILLS:[/b] Unspent Skill Points: [color=red]12[/color] Current Skills: Beast Sense II (1.4) Rabid Fit I (1.2) Stronger I (1.05) [color=green]ACTIVE[/color] Muffle I (1.0) [color=green]ACTIVE[/color] __________________________________ SKILL PROGRESS: Material Analysis (0.2) Magic Analysis (0.6) Monster Analysis (0.6) Faster (0.4) Warcry (0.1) Alert (0.3) Dexterous (0.8) Tremor Sense (0.025) Mental Resistance (0.9) Telepathy (0.075) Mana Shape (0.6) Focus (0.6) Shield (0.5) Mana Shell (0.3) Soil Manipulation (0.45) Overwork (0.5) Harder (0.2) Crafting (0.25) First Aid (0.1) Meditate (0.3) [b]Inventory:[/b] - Vine Belt (Shoddy Quality) - Healing Herbs x 5 - Flame touched crystals x 2 - Tainted Crystal x 1 - Gnarled Stick (Unknown Quality) [/hider] [hider=Action Summary] Said no to eating the goblin girl. Promised that if they do get hungry or thirsty, he would deal with it. Climbed the tree and got Mother Rat down. Tried to convey that she carry the sticks. (If failed, will carry sticks himself and will try teaching her later.) Answered Asteria's question regarding why he acted that way. Agreed to her suggestion of the plains and promised that he would deal with the food and water source problems. Told Asteria to rest while he goes looking for something to eat. Used [Beast Sense II] to amplify his ability to track and locate the berries. Passively took note of the directions where it smelled similarly to the healing herbs. [/hider]