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[img]https://i.imgur.com/C7nwoGY.png[/img]
[b]words[/b] 988 (+2)
[b][color=ea590c]Edward Portsmith: Level 8 (20 cells) (1 level up stored)[/color] [/b][color=ea590c]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////// (68/80)
[b]Time and place[/b] Frozen highlands - The Midnight Walk - Thursday Morning
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Well used to being on the road or shacked up in whatever lodgings were available, Edward went through his morning routine with regimented efficiency, having awoken at six without need for any sort of alarm. He washed, shaved, dressed, rearmed, and then got stuck right into the task at hand without much thought, mind instead focused on reviewing their surroundings once more with the scout swarm.

[color=ea590c]”Region still seems calm, no hostiles spotted”[/color] He would report upon joining the others, before also saying that [color=ea590c]”The Avenger seems to have passed by and dropped off a batch of those pal-spheres thanks to Ace’s efforts last night, though it seems that we’ll need metal and cement if we want superior versions”[/color]

Fortunately ‘capturing’ the already tame Snoruyo didn’t prove much of an issue, as he could simply order them to not resist. He considered capturing some of the others, but the traffikrab was entirely happy to perch on the coach, while the two Somnacanth derived impossible creatures were entirely capable of keeping up with the sheildrix drawn stagecoach.

Assuming they could be kept fed. Both were ravenous for protein due to their predatory components, and they weren't exactly swimming in provisions to feed them.

Fortunately, the road provided a solution, as, after they spotted (and spooked) the first wild sheep, Edward came up with a plan. He slowed their progress a little so that the two predators could slink into the woods and, within, get ahead of the coach. Then, once there, he used a drone to guide them to a spot behind some grazing sheep, where they lay in ambush. Finally, he moved them forwards, the thunder of hooves and rumble of wheels startling the herbivores, and sending them running right into a wave of sleep gas produced by the Chillanth.

With their prey out cold, it and then Somnadrix could then dig in, ripping hunks off of the prey species as they slayed them, leaving detaching mouthfuls of meat or gored out guts of the animals behind as the rest of them turned to ash.

Not exactly a very efficient way of eating prey, Edward thought, but then speculated that Galeem’s reality simply spawned in replacements to keep the population numbers up. Plus keeping the predators unsated made them more likely to attack people or places, which was a state of affairs he would not be surprised was an intention feature of this slaughterhouse of a reality.

Still, respawning prey or not, there were only so many wild sheep to be found along the road, and the ambushes were hardly perfect to boot. As such they ended up acquiring a scant nine spirits from this effort.

These were handed off to Sandalphon for processing. Initially they made use of the symbol of avarice, but when the first 4 spirits produced more worked goods than raw meat, they speculated that its upgrading of crushing results might have been getting in the way of their aim. Subsequent hatless testing proved this to indeed be the case, giving them a mix of the meat they desired, along with a few crafting components.

[hider=for Sandalphon]
[url=https://i.imgur.com/o3XMi4j.png]Raw Mutton[/url] (x4): Eating raw food will sate hunger, but is unhealthy for humans. This excellent cut spoils very quickly.
[url=https://i.imgur.com/LjhPfcN.png]Ovis wool[/url] (x2): Sheared from a sheep! 
[url=https://i.imgur.com/G71Hj5p.png]shag rug[/url]: A decorative, paintable rug with a shaggy appearance, which dulls the sound of footsteps.
[url=https://i.imgur.com/OKrXGfd.png]sheppered’s crook[/url]: The basic weapon of the battlefield shepered, a particularly solid hit can daze and knock back a foe.
[url=https://i.imgur.com/al6C5lD.png]Sheep Widow[/url]: an eccentric decoration that can be simply placed against an owned wall to install it. 
[/hider]

The ‘higher quality’ items weren't entirely useless at the very least. The rug provided a slightly softer surface for the stage coach riders to rest their feet on, while the window, weird as it was stylistically, let light and a view into the tomb of an interior for the first time during the journey.

The mutton, naturally, went into the stewpot, while the crook could at the very least be used as firewood, and perhaps someone could make use of the wool to craft some extra clothing if they wanted it. 

Or it could be used as a crude pillow.

Either way, that was going to be their lot, as the forests eventually petered out, and was soon replaced by a burnt out town which Samdalphon requested they take their time heading through town. 

Edward had zero problem with this, as he’d let the scout drones he’d not dismissed take a look at the unorthodox road ahead, and wanted to experiment before they gave it their own go. 

Thus, while the sheldrix trotted through town at a more leisurely pace, and the two sheep hunting creatures laid down to properly digest their meals, Edward created and sent forth a swarm of inferno puppies to see what the odd green arrows on the road ahead did. Which was how anyone looking got to watch a pile of pyro pups go tumbling through the air when they where launched at high speed by the boostpads

Edward considered this to be [color=ea590c]”Intresting”[/color] out loud, but internally wasn’t exactly looking forward to putting the stage coach through that. Hence, when he found out Tenna had set up traps for the (smaller) rabbits, he decided they should entirely stop for just a little bit to wait for them to sprung, allowing him time to seek out a slight solution to the problem of flying uncontrollably through the air.

Unfortunately, after setting up a creature chamber, and adding a stray snowy owl feather and a strand of ovis wool into the sample receiver, he came to an unfortunate discovery.

[color=ea590c]”I regret to report that we won’t be able to create flying creatures using the creature chamber. I am unsure why this restriction exists, perhaps it is due to the size changed, but its there”[/color]

Which meant that they were going to have to strap in and face the music head on without any shewls providing stabilizing flight when the stagecoach went the way of the inferno puppies.   

[color=ea590c]”Best strap in and hold on tight when we get moving, it is going to be something of a bumpy ride”[/color]