Guarding the team of harvesters proved to be fairly boring. Ryan remained vigilant nonetheless and assiduously covered the surrounding area, looking for threats. None appeared and the team was done taking the snake apart into its constituent parts about two hours after he had opened the Portal.
Opening another portal so that the mountain of meat and other various parts could be easily ferried to the lodge was the work of a moment and with Skimming replenishing his Energy at a constant albeit reduced rate his Energy level barely dipped before the material and the team had moved through.
One of the new people, Ryan didn’t remember or even know the guy’s name, asked him before passing through the Portal: ‘Why aren’t you wearing armour dude? You know it’s not that hard for us to make?” Ryan looked at his gear in consternation as soon as he dropped the portal. His hunting camos were, if one were being generous, well worn, if not, threadbare by now and didn’t present an impressive sight. His bow, powerful as it may have been, was a clunky, ugly, meshed together monster of a weapon.
Recalling the outfits of Mike, William and Miguel wasn’t too hard and Ryan had to admit to himself that he hadn’t actually noticed that all of the combat team members he could quickly picture were wearing some form of armour. Mike and William some kind of leather armour with banded metal strips and Miguel what looked like hardboiled leather. Ryan felt kind of left out for a moment before he remembered that he had barely spent a minute at the Guild’s base over the intervening few weeks and nobody could have taken the time to take his measurements. To wit, he hadn’t asked anyone to fashion him some armour either, always intending to start practicing his Leatherworker profession to make a set for himself. He liked being self-reliant that way.
Even so, once Miguel and he had ensured that the immediate neighbourhood was free of mayor threats he’d pester some people for training in both of his Professions and then upgrade his gear. Armour might not always protect him from wounds resulting from the truly massive threats he was facing these days, but protection against less massive monsters would always be welcome and Ryan remembered all too well how monsters he was hunting were often able to deflect or resist penetration by his arrows solely by relying on their home grown armour. In addition, he’d probably looks cool as hell clad in snake-skin armour.
“Before the members claim it all I want about a third of the skin from that snake. I need to level leatherworking and get me some armour.” he sent to Liz instead of their Quartermaster, who was probably the correct person to contact. Try as he might though, couldn’t remember who that was. He only knew that they had one. Ryan was also not ashamed to admit, even if only very quietly to himself, that he had no idea how loot allocation in the Guild worked. To be honest, beyond the watch rota and quest assignments issued by Liz he had no idea how the Guild managed any of their intra-Guild economy. It was probably time to rectify that he resolved and made a note to talk to Liz or Alexis about it, they seemed least likely to ridicule him for his cluelessness.
“I’ll let Susan know. She wanted to speak to you in any event since she wanted to discuss your embarrassing surplus of contribution points. She said, and I quote, you’re skewing her ledger.” Liz sent back a few moments later while Ryan was already on the way to catch up to Miguel and Fury who had covered a lot of ground in the past few hours. It was time to finish scouting the area and then have a sit-down with various people and get his shit together. Better gear, levels and hopefully a useful mutation or two before they had to face Ou Baas. Which Ryan assumed, judging from the dismayed expression John had worn when they received the system notification earlier today, the Guild would probably plan to do sooner rather than later now that they were under pressure to so before the first wave ascended.
Once Ryan had crossed the ridge the python had futilely tried to ascend a few hours earlier signs of larger life immediately became more prevalent. The thick bush retained its cathedralesque atmosphere but tracks were plentiful and the character of the surrounding noise changed. A subdued but vibrant note suffused the thick bush and even the smells were livelier. Still, by the time Ryan caught up to the Scout and his soulbond, he had yet to have a run-in with one of the plateaus larger denizens and regularly coming across Fury’s scent he was satisfied that the area had been properly scouted. As soon as he was within range to feel her mindstate he queried her on their progress.
The supressed sense of dissatisfaction the lioness radiated told him all he needed to know. His soulbond was bored and not happy with the fact that she hadn’t had opportunity to freely hunt the smaller or weaker denizens of the area to remain as safe as possible until her get-out-of-jail card arrived back at her side. So, as soon as they met up she asked whether it would be ok for her to start looking for lesser trouble instead of silently ghosting through the bush unobserved. Ryan told her that it would be fine as he dropped a Mark on her before heading to Miguel to do the same.
When he reached the Scout he quickly applied the Mark and as he headed away again he just asked Miguel for the latest update. The Scout had kept him advised of their progress while Ryan guarded the harvest team so just let him know: “I found the nest. It’s in the ficus tree below the summit of that rocky pillar close to the other lodge. Actually, its more like the ficus tree is the nest. I haven’t identified the two yet but from the description of your encounter close to the fortress these are significantly smaller than the one that nearly took you out. You think we might get me a chick if they are breeding?”
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Miguel was clearly very keen on the idea of having a martial eagle as a pet and Ryan considered, not for the first time, how well some aerial scouting capability would complement the teen’s kit. “I’ll talk to the guys but I definitely think it’s at least worth an attempt.” he reminded Miguel of their earlier conversation. “Once we’re a bit closer I’ll shift to the top of the pillar and see if I can have a look into the nest.” he reassured the teen.
With that as a parting he left Miguel to his duties on the escarpment and headed back into the thick bush plateau-side. Ryan had received an experience notification during his chat with Miguel and knew that Fury had found some prey. At level 12 the Plump Rock Hydrax she had found hadn’t been particular strong but Ryan looked in on her mindstate and found that she had enjoyed the stalk and was now tearing into the succulent raw meat with great relish.
Ryan didn’t find anything larger than a couple of cousins to Fury’s earlier prey over the next few hours besides spoor and scent of larger animals. Buffalo sign was prevalent and the occasional massive track of what Ryan assumed to be rhino meandered through the area. Sign of predators was scarce beyond the few indications Ryan could find of leopard and jackal. All in all, the scout could have been boring if not for the closely confining nature of the thick bush keeping the level of tension high.
So, by the time the trio had nearly come full circle and reached the jeep tracks heading to the lodge Ryan was exhausted from staying fully alert for so long. His Energy levels were also getting uncomfortably low even with the help of keeping the Skimming Skill during most of the scout. At least the Skill had improved in Rank during the day, allowing greater regeneration without losing more than a barely perceptible level of awareness.
So tired, but satisfied, the three of them trudged back down to the lodge lying shadowed in the valley. Even this far away of the ridge they intermittently caught the sounds of a content group of people getting ready for the evening and as they approached closer the appetizing smell of meat sizzling over the coals wafted in their direction. Ryan was daydreaming about the pleasantly surprised expressions his friends would make when he emerged from his dip in the natural pools with a crate and then another of beer when he got interrupted by a petite form that started addressing him in an uninterruptable waterfall of words after she rushed to close the intervening distance once she had spotted the trio.
“Hey Ryan. Liz let me know that you want some stuff from the snake. Mike also said that you need stuff from Mr. Grumpy. I’m so glad you’re finally taking some stuff and not just accumulating points. John said I’d probably need to tell you how the newish contribution point system works since you probably haven’t read the Guild charter recently. Also, could you let me know what kind of stuff you’d be most interested in getting for your points? You’ve got quite a few of those saved up, you know? Anyway, now would be a good time for me so let’s get started.”
The second Susan had to take a breath and before she could continue with her tirade Ryan managed to interrupt her, barely getting his statement in edgewise. “Woah, hold on. Let me go grab my welcoming gift and then a seat by the fire and then you can educate me?”
The truly diminutive Quartermaster didn’t appear entirely happy with his plan of action but huffed a snorted breath and left him again with a “Fine, I’ll wait by the tables. Don’t take too long.”
Miguel looked at him askance once she had rushed off. “Dude, you haven’t been using your contribution points?”
Shamefaced, Ryan replied. “No. I didn’t actually know those were a thing until earlier today. Remember, I’ve barely been involved in the day-to-day happenings of the Guild for months. Always rushing to get stuff done.”
“Makes sense. But seriously, you should be aware of stuff like that. We’ve been using that system since forever. Beats trying to keep the few crystals we have accumulated in circulation.”
“Probably true. But I wouldn’t know, been saving for some quantum lattices.” Ryan informed the teen.
“Ouch man, those are expensive as hell.” Miguel commiserated. “So, what welcoming gift were you alluding to earlier?” he continued.
“Oh, I stashed four crates of beer in the rock pool when I first scouted the lodge. To keep safe and cold. Was to be my welcoming gift if we decided we’d settle down here. Want to help me carry them?” Ryan asked the teen nonchalantly.
“Hell yeah. I’ll carry them all if I get an extra beer.” the Scout replied enthusiastically.
“Hey, are you actually legally allowed to drink?” Ryan teased.
“Don’t get started. I’m 18 and legal. Doubt anyone actually cares these days. And I doubt you didn’t start drinking beer before 18.” Miguel heatedly replied.
“Chill. Just kidding.” Ryan defused the situation quickly.
“You know.” Miguel was smirking. “You’re an easy mark. Right?” he paused. “And Susan will be ecstatic that she has to reward you with contribution points for alcohol salvage.”
“Wait. You get points for salvaging booze?” Ryan asked, floored.
“Yeah. About triple to quadruple the amount you have to pay to have some. Ensures that people actually do share if the find some.” Miguel let him know. “Booze and coffee have actually really been scarce lately. Toilet paper too, come to think of it. Lots of things actually.” Miguel continued dejectedly.
“I miss music. And movies.” Ryan confided.
“Well. It’s a bloody fucking apocalypse.” Miguel sneered. “What did we expect?”
The good mood that the promise of beer had caused was well and truly fucking ruined as the two retrieved the crates of beer and moved back to the lodge.