Right, now it was time to get to work. Food was down again so she sent the hunters to go hunt while the gatherers would need to grab more materials. She took note of Clod making himself leader of the hunting party even though she assigned Biggs. Orchid made a mental note to remember this. No doubt Biggs might come to her about this issue, though she figured if Biggs couldn’t prove himself a better warrior than he doesn’t deserve to be the Hunter Midboss. Even her kindness doesn’t get in the way of simple facts of competence. As Orchid went to handle the badger hide, Crispy spoke to her about something. Something for medicine, mixing an herb called Bugwad, Kilm, some mushrooms, and the berries they’ve been eating. Also something from a beetle that makes fire, so a fire beetle. Certainly, it’d be more effective medicine than just chewed up herbs, and the fact they don’t live in or near the cave anymore would mean they need to find new ways to heal themselves. [color=firebrick]”Alright then. When the hunters get back, and after we finish up things here, we’ll go looking for those herbs.”[/color] Eventually the gatherers would return. More of the antidote ferns, a few sticks, more rocks, fines, and more berries. Counting them out, Orchid separated four berries from the nineteen; they can eat these four, but others needed to be saved for the medicine. It was time to get to work. She left Crispy and Wej to their own devices as she worked on tanning the hides of the armored badger. This process she knew was going to take time, but she also knew that all she needed to do was help prevent it from rotting. Hardening it would require time and materials that Orchid didn’t have, so she’d have to make due with what she did. First Orchid needed to stretch the hide. She made a simple rack using two sticks and some vines, tightening the hide between the sticks, securing with the vines, and then doing that again on the opposite end. She hung the hide off a low branch as she grabbed one of the hard stones and used it to scour the badger’s hide of fat and other meaty bits. She could save it for later. Once she had scoured all of the fat off, she used a few more branches nearby to stretch out the hide. The next process Orchid knew usually took a few days. When her father hunted deer, she’d remember seeing their skins hung up inside the barn for a while. However she didn’t have days to wait, and at the risk of lower their quality, she needed to make these hides useful soon. So once she had the hides stretched out, she placed them near the campfire to dry. She fed a few fresh branches to the fire so that it smoked the hides, helping it dry even if it would also end up making it a bit brittle. Now she just needed to wait. Orchid did this same process to the other badger hides, using local branches and sticks instead of the ones the gatherers brought. Eventually the hunters would return with a dead hexcat. Orchid had a few ideas about how to work with that when suddenly there was an explosion. Orchid immediately reached for her club, and saw the mountains in the distance tumble and fall. What just happened? How did that occur? Immediately, Orchid assumed it had to be the work of those other monsters. Sure maybe they didn’t personally do it themselves, but there was no way that could’ve happened without them being too curious for their own good, and messing with something that could do that much damage. Orchid growled and looked to the others. [color=firebrick]”Fuckin hells, it’s not even noon yet. Whatever… Yous lot!”[/color] Orchid pointed towards the hunting crew. [color=firebrick]“You stay in camp for now, I’m going to go look for something. Don’t touch dat hex cat, I’ll butcher em up later. Wej, you stay ‘ere and make more rope, or weapons, or whatever. Gatherers, keep doing what you’re doing. Crispy,”[/color] Orchid looked to the older goblin. She still didn’t trust him. Frankly, this would be the perfect moment for him to betray her. Or for her to finish him off. [color=firebrick]”Let’s go find that stuff you were talking about.”[/color] [hider=Stats] Health: Full Stamina: Full Magicka: Full Inventory - Hex Fur Shirt (Good) (Equipped) Raw Dire Rat Hide (Equipped) Loincloth (Equipped) Sharp Stone Club (Well-Made) (Equipped) Vine Bracer (Above Average) (Equipped) Torch (Good) (Stored) Rawhide Bag (1/12) (Equipped) [list][*]Antidote Fern [*]Bloody Garrote [/list] Current Skills: Demon Affinity (0.666) Use Light Equipment (--) Pacify Animal I (1.3) Stronger II (2.025) Crafting V (MAX) Material Analysis II (2.1) Monster Analysis I (1.3) Smash I (1.6) Charisma II (2.0) Taboo (0.3) Faster I (1.0) Fireball I (1.3) Hellish Fiend's Protection (Petty) Warcry I (1.0) Fire Resistance I (1.0) Defender I (1.0) Muffle (0.9) Deception (0.7) Charm (0.3) Alert (0.6) Stone Shot (0.4) Throw Item (0.4) Slash (0.8) Pierce Resistance (0.7) Blunt Resistance (0.3) Slash Resistance (0.1) Blood Drain (0.4) Skewer (0.4) Mental Resistance (0.4) Mana Orb (0.2) Focus (0.2) Magic Analysis (0.2) Overwork (0.4) Intercept (0.3) Rabid Fit (0.5) First Aid (0.3) Intimidate (0.7) Counter (0.5) Shield Slam (0.6) Poison Resistance (0.1) Dust Blow (0.1) Magic Resistance (0.3) Spell Chant (0.3) Fire Fist (0.3) [/hider]