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[img]https://i.imgur.com/C7nwoGY.png[/img]
[b]2,100[/b] 1425 (+3) (+3)
[b][color=ea590c]Edward Portsmith: Level 6 (16 cells)(1 upgrade stored)[/color] [/b][color=ea590c]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////// (54/70)
[b]Location[/b] Frozen highlands - The Midnight Walk 
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Upon being warned of the ice swamp, Edward parked them at its edge, giving Heismay time to do his scouting, allowing people to mount or un-mount as they pleased, and giving himself time to rearrange his forces a bit. The inferno hounds would simply be extinguished by the icy waters, and so he swapped them out for a pair of bronze golems. With reports of giant monsters on the prowl, they’d be far more suited for the threats they’d be facing regardless.

He still kept a scout squad on hand, having them skim a little ways ahead of the stagecoach as they began to move again, meaning it was the first thing to approach the strange lines of fire which Edward thought they could probably cross without harm. The scout seemed to indicate as much, as though the wall did surge up into a huge blaze of black and blue flame as it approached, the little fragile machines detected no heat, and promptly passed through the barrier without a scratch.

[color=ea590c]”A ruse, it seems, not a real hazard”[/color] Edward declared it, and so pressed on.

The bronze golems, sent ahead to doubly tested the barrier, also passed through unharmed, and technically so too did the stage coach. The same could not be said about their spirits, as the flames induced a deep feeling of discomfort, not to mention horror and anxiety.

As a result, the feeling was joined by a physical jolt as they practically burst out the other side, the Reindrix surging forwards in response to this feeling, unsurprisingly wanting to get out of it as soon as they could, and unable, due to their harnessing, to do this in any way but rushing forward. 

He managed to get control of them soon enough, but the man’s confidence certainly was shaken, even as he insisted that [color=ea590c]”All part of the illusion. Nothing more.”[/color] 

Despite this, he mentally decided to not pass through the other zone his scout drone had found on the other side of the ore, which meant they’d have to deal with the ambush sooner or later.

Past the barrier of loathing, they found the [url=https://i.imgur.com/dJOTwgr.png]ship[/url] Heismay had reported, which did indeed seem out of place when compared to the wooden vessels found up on the cliffs. It could have been a new addition, but given that it was stuck in the middle of a swamp rather than washed up on shore, Edward wasn’t so sure.

A small number of [url=https://i.imgur.com/HF3gW5w.png]Jellroys[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/r5USSW9.png]Jelliettes[/url] made the icy wreck their home, but the sight of the stagecoach made the weak pals seek shelter in the water or cliffs around it, rather than come to put up any sort of fight. 

[color=ea590c]”Would anyone be willing to try to get a sample of one of those creatures? They might have some features of merit”[/color] Edward asked as they ran. Cowardly though they might have been, he wasn’t going to dismiss their usefulness simply because they had the smarts not to pick a fight with an overwhelming force.

However, of possible higher value was the ship itself. Beached on a rocky outcrop, it looked relatively intact, and only slightly rusted, which Edward thought might mean its insides might contain salvage that hadn’t been taken by the elements yet.

Rust had sealed shut the ship’s hatch, but it was nothing a bit of leverage couldn’t solve. Said leverage was applied when Edward commanded one of the bronze golem squads to spike in their helbards and heave till the door cracked open with a crash of metal. 

Within the frost filled ship, there was no sign of any crew, living or dead. Edward did find a ship’s manifest while picking his way though the cabin however, indicating that the ship had been hauling supplies for a seafood restaurant. 

Hoping that the cold might have preserved those supplies, he headed down into the hold to see if the case. As he did, however, the air began to tingle with static electricity, prompting the Dreadnaught to draw his magelock pistol and warscyth as he carefully edged down the stairs.

Then he stopped, recalled his scout drone squad, and sent it in first. A fine plan, except for the fact that the drones were weak to electricity, and promptly shorted out moments after rounding the corner, though not before Edward got a fuzzy vision of dozens of eyes staring its way.

With there being nothing for it, the Dreadnaught put himself in the line of fire, sliding round the corner, magelock pistol raise, and found himself face to… eyeballs with a shoal of diminutive
[url=https://i.imgur.com/nA1wNd9.jpeg]Puyomon[/url] that looked at him with undiscernible expressions.

Small spiky clawed tentacles attached them to handles of various cooler boxes as they floated above them, static electricity humming between them. 

But just static electricity, nothing more nothing less.

A lack of sudden movements from the floating eyeballs made Edward lower his weapons, only to tense up again as one of the Puyomon detached and started to slowly float over, extending its grabber his way. 

Very slowly. 

So slowly that the warlord’s response was to wave the blunt end of the scythe at it and tell it to [color=ea590c]”Shoo”[/color]. This, however, did not work. Instead it grabbed onto and held onto the shaft of the war scythe, causing a slight tingly current to run through the weapon (but again nothing else) before making amused noises as he tried to lightly shake it off.

It kept holding on even as Edward backed out the cargo hold only to seemingly grow bored by the time he got outside, at which point it floated off to go grab onto someone or something else.

Edward watched it go with a hand on his hip, before sighing, mentally burying down the little bit of him that wanted to solve the static field problem by just shooting all the harmless things, and got to work ushering the rest of the Puyomon out of the cargohold as well. 

Hopefully with some help.

At least one was more than happy to get poked for samples during this process.

Once the room had been cleared, and the lingering static electricity removed from metal surfaces in a few biting shocks, Edward cracked open one of the frozen over coolers. Inside he found exactly what had been listed on the manifest: Varying amounts of black vinegar, curry blocks, eggs, garlic, kajime, miso sauce, olive oil, sea grapes, soy sauce, and turmeric.

All in all, quite the find, and all perfectly preserved too.

He hoped the Avengers kitchen had storage space for it all. That, and something to actually prepare using all the sides and seasoning they’d be getting, otherwise they’d be eating very flavorful garlic and seaweed omelets tonight 

One cooler was kept for the white team however, the contents of which would definitely liven up the next stew.

After everyone who’d helped out, or had gone squid hunting, was aboard (and also after Edward had given up trying to shoo off some lingering Puyomon who’d attached themselves to the stage coach) they got on their way again, heading for the fork in the road that would lead either to the the ore spotted outcrop or to the place where two big beasts were waiting in ambush.

There, he parked once again. Those that wanted to head off to do some mining were free to do so, while Edward suggested they form a party to trigger the ambush spotted up ahead while the stagecoach itself was safely out of range.

To get there, the man himself flapped his wings a few times and got himself up onto the shoulders of one of his Bronze golems. With one hand holding its weapon for support, and the other his magelock pistol, he had it trudge forwards through the icy waters.

Once the party got in range, the two Somnacanth lunged out of the water as predicted, but rather than lunge at someone, they instead kept their distance as they swept their necks in long sweeps, spraying sprayed sleeping powder over the party in the process. 

Edward’s golems were unaffected, naturally, but so too was the man himself, as a barrier with a mirror like sheen flared around him, reflecting the debuffs back at the two monsters. Said monsters promptly flopped to the ground, hoisted by their own petards. Odds were, it would not be a deep sleep, and so the seekers would need to tread carefully around them lest they wake them once more.

[color=ea590c]”I don’t expect we’ll be able to get the stage coach past even with them sleeping”[/color] Edward whispered (after having the other golem squad poke anyone who’d been knocked out back away) before asking [color=ea590c]”So, who wants to take point in waking them back up?”[/color]