A few seconds passed, then a minute. Ed was still on high alert when Asteria hopped down from the top of the barrow. Ed could see a glimpse of the adult dire rat near the entrance before she scurried to him.
"Y-yeah. That-that be for th-the best." Ed was still shivering something fierce, but as soon as Asteria tried to calm him down. His body shivered less.
"Thanks...I needed that." The terror and dread of being near such a place still persisted in him, but was made more bearable with the presence of Astera and Mother Rat.
Finally dropping his fighting stance, he returned his trusty bludgeoning instrument back in its proper place on his vine belt. Turning his back to the barrow, he goes to the tall grass and makes another grass weave but smaller. Small enough that it won't consume much of the little sunlight they had left, but big enough for him to place some of the bug meat.
"Asteria, Can you do the offering? Honestly, the thought of entering the barrow is still very daunting to me.""Ah, it slipped my mind that you've packed the meat as well. Have you even eaten after the battle?" Asteria didn't remember him doing so, and as Mother Rat had been injured at the time, perhaps neither had she. Ripping the meat in half, she left a piece to Ed, and packed the other back into the small grass weave.
"I'm taking this over, then," she notified her companion. She grabbed the packet, and carefully made her way to the barrow's entrance, though she didn't stop this time, but entered. Cautiously, she looked around for a proper place to set down the meat. Deciding to burn them based on the plaque's message, Asteria sent a brief pulse of mana into the meat before throwing it into the fire - hey, maybe the mana worked as kind of a seasoning for the divine?
"Ah, Honourable spirits, this here is our offering to you and the Lords...May you rest in peace." There, that should be good enough, right? Just to make sure she hadn't incited anything malevolent, Asteria briefly activated Mana Sense again.
Then, she went back to Ed.
"Alright, offering made. Maybe I should go back to the altar and apologize for disturbing it, but it seems fine so far. Oh, oh, and before I forget! The altar had some exciting information. I saw these strange symbols on it, and they didn't make sense at all - unlike the plaque - but when I traced them all and concentrated on putting some Mana into the shapes...What it said was that it is currently 'Year 268 of 3.E. Last Week of Dragon's Season. 5th Day (Kimaday). 07:45 Evening.' It also mentioned that the ' Adalwulf's Lance' aka 'The General' is in alignment; I'm guessing that's the equivalent of our zodiac constellations. Moreover, the device was able to track time by the minute, last I checked it was 7:46 PM." Asteria huffed a breath after that explanation, letting Ed digest what she'd said.
"Not yet. Admittedly I only feel peckish right now, but I suppose I should eat." The young ratman said as he saw Asteria tear the meat in half and put one half out for him.
"Many thanks, Asteria." Ed replies gratefully as he gives her a smile in return. Just as he sat down on the grass beside his equipment burrito and Mother Rat, Asteria notified Ed that she was going to enter the barrow.
"Be careful." He gave a quick but concerned warning to her just as she entered the barrow. As she was doing the offering, he began eating the bug meat and savoured every bite. As is it already tasted like shrimp, albeit a little more greasy, but seafood was his favourite hands down and without a doubt. If only he had some seasonings, butter, and a fire ready, he could have shown off his two years of experience in culinary school. A tragedy of the ages.
Just as he finished up eating his meal for the day, Asteria came back and spoke with him.
"Huh, so like one magical calendar or something? That's a pretty nice find. Now we can keep track of time properly to the minute." Ed then let out a big yawn.
"Sorry. I must be more tired than normal." That was an understatement, Ed went far beyond his limits and nearly killed himself as a result. He then stood up from his sitting position and stretched away the tired feeling temporarily.
"Yeah...about that. We can get to a water source - a lake and a river - if we continue eastwards, but it won't be soon. Besides, it will soon be night-time. Perhaps this place wouldn't be such a bad place to camp at. The, er, spirits seem fine for now, so that's a low risk of Undead, and we haven't seen signs of human travellers nearby. Since I've invested points in Minor Heal, I can apply it to you, but I wouldn't expect it to do much since it's at level one." Nonetheless, Asteria put a paw on Ed, and applied both Mana Sense and Minor Heal at the same time. This was one of the perhaps two ways she could think of actually understanding how the healing magic worked.
A moment or two passed before she cut off the mana flow.
"Now...we best move our things to the back of the building so even if someone passes by, they won't see us from the road immediately. Then you best head to sleep if you can. I'll wake you up at 1 am, go to sleep till six, and then we can travel. If either of us needs it during the day, we can do some power napping. Ah, just one more thing before you pass out - we best go from plant to plant and drink some of the evening dew. That's about the only thing I can think of for hydration in our current situation," Asteria offered with a shrug. She proceeded to do exactly that; located the nearest plant, ambled over, and licked its leaves, drinking the few drops of water gathered on them.
"A lake and a river to the East? That sounds great." No more worries about dehydration. Ed still remembers that the most important thing to take into consideration in a camp is how close is it to a clean body of water other than making sure that no nasty critters are near your expected camp. Though he still frowned slightly at the suggestion that they make this barrow into their temporary camp. He thought about it as the younger adult dire rat applied her healing magics on him and explain their next plan of action.
"Uhhh...about that sleeping inside the barrow. Can I not? I mean you and mother rat can sleep inside." Ed then realized how cowardly that sounded.
"You know...to keep guard of the stuff and make sure that it doesn't get stolen or anything." Ed feigned confidence. The thought of sleeping in a clearly haunted place meant for burying the dead terrified him. What if a restless spirit took possession of him while he was asleep? What if he turned into one of those deadites from the Evil Dead and hurt Asteria and Mother Rat?
Ed quickly perished the thought. He was with Asteria and Mother Rat, the only friends he had left in the world ever since Jason died and the cave exodus. Now was not the time to let his phobias get in the way.
"Uhh...scratch that. On second thought I'd better sleep inside...it is warmer inside." Ed swallowed the lump in his throat that he didn't even realize was there and his throat felt awfully dry as he kept gazing into the inky abyss of the barrow's entrance.
"Y-y-yeah some water sounds great right about now." The ratman then broke eye contact with the structure and let out a breath of relief. Ed then focused on licking up as much dew he could from the tall grass, once he had his fill. He psyched himself up to enter the barrow and sleep near the entrance, so just in case he would encounter anything supernatural, he had easy access to an escape route.
"I'll wake you up if something happens, don't worry. Think of it as exposure therapy, if nothing else," Asteria replied. She'd have suggested sleeping outside, but now that Ed finally gathered his courage to enter the potentially haunted building, she certainly wouldn't halt something that for him, was fantastic progress. After watching Ed set up near the entrance on the inside of the barrow, she made sure he couldn't be seen by a casual glance from the road. Still, if any humans happened to arrive even an hour or so later and decide to settle in for the night, it might result in a rather awkward situation. The dire rat also checked on mother rat, brushing against her companionably, and nudging her in Ed's direction. Perhaps she would feel like resting as well, though it was possible she wanted to find some water or even scavenge for more food. As long as she did not stray too far, Asteria would not worry about the experienced if non-human rodent.
Making use of her time on guard-duty, Asteria went about around the barrow, collecting any nearby plants, though never strayed very far from the building. She ensured to keep alert and her senses working overtime so that if there was a danger, she could notice it in time to react and warn her allies. When she gathered what plants she could, she returned to the entrance of the barrow, and crouched in front of it. She kept her gaze fixed to the road, though thankfully, she wasn't limited to one sense; she could really on her hearing as well. That would be enough. Focusing on her breathing, and centering her mind, Asteria practiced entering a relaxing yet alert meditative state while keeping her eyes open. It was rather challenging, and her attention wavered. However, she kept at it. At one point, she activated Mana Drain to replenish her mana from the surroundings. Then, she proceeded to try and finally learn meditation, varying her methods by occasionally closing her eyes and focusing on calming her mind and, but mostly keeping watch on the road and trying not to let her thoughts get fixated on any one specific thing. When she felt that it was time, she went over to Ed, shook him awake, and took his place, falling into a restful sleep.
The ratman awoke from his sleep, his body feeling the full brunt of the muscle fatigue from the physical exertion yesterday.
"Urgh." The ratman couldn't even formulate a proper sentence to describe how his body felt, it hurt to move but the rest had rejuvenated his body and mind. So instead, Ed let out a discontent 'urgh' to describe the feeling. None the less, he got up and switched roles with Asteria. Now it was his time to keep guard while she rests and recuperates her strength. The pale moonlight cast a dim light to the surroundings of the barrow. If Ed did not have his enhanced senses, it would have been very difficult for him to detect humans or monsters. But to be sure of things, he climbs atop the structure to get a better vantage point and ensuring that he would not do anything to disturb the altar or the obelisks present.
It was still rather chilly though.
"Jesus...what I wouldn't do for some clothing." he said to himself as he rubbed his hands on his shoulders to keep himself warm. He couldn't start a fire. It would likely attract unwanted visitors. So instead he applied some of his basic understanding of physics and thermodynamics. Focusing on his mana he encased himself in a layer of it and then conceptualized the mana layer as if it were something with high thermal conductivity. Then applying the idea that the mana layer creates an endothermic reaction, where the mana layer, in theory, will absorb the surrounding heat and warm him but would likely make his surroundings colder. If it would work like how he would have liked it, he would be able to keep warm while keeping an eye out for danger for the rest of his watch.
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