[NR] Woven Birch - Chapter 694

Of course, having to stick to the shallows wasn’t the only hassle related to the hunting request. And honestly, for the trio, sticking to the shallows basically didn’t even register. At least not compared to what would be the other major hassle they were coming up on.

The hunting trip was going to be a group activity. They exit the town and have no trouble spotting said group. There are about thirty people all gathered together just to the right of the gate.

And being so close, both sides notice each other, especially when Jason and company turn towards them. A being with long legs and a particular tree-like appearance steps forward to greet them. “Hail! Would be my guess you three are sent by the lady provisioner?”

Courtney steps forward and curtseys, “Well met. Indeed, Provisioner Helina accepted our application to assist in this task. Though it seems most should be gathered already? I hope we have not held the group up.”

Jason gives her the side-eye for how she just spoke, but keeps his silence.

The being doesn’t pay attention to that though, and stays focused on Courtney. “Nay, neither late nor early. We venture forth in but an hour. I suspect we might end up with more within the time frame. It seems tasks such as this wind up assigned about forty folk.

“Either way, you may refer to me as Woven Birch. Whether hauler or hunter, I will be in charge and have final say. This especially counts for the decision on whether a particular beast is fit to return with.”

The hour passed and Woven Birch was proven mostly right. They ended up with 36 people in the group. So, with all their ducks in a row, the group sets out into the forest.

This is not a fast trip. Though most of that comes from the many wagons. Not like a merchant would use, but more like what a kid has. Of course, adult sized.

Well, bigger than adult size, which is the problem. They need to weave their way through the trees. On the upside, being such a large group and needing to bumble through the trees? That attracts the attention of the local wildlife. Which is exactly what the group wants.

Jason double chops a monster’s necks. Both of them. It drops easily enough and pauses to look around. There weren’t any other monsters at the moment and so he grabs the fallen beast to bring over to Woven Birch.

They take one look at the two-headed beast and frowns, “Harvest and toss. The bloodline is tainted.”

Jason shrugs, “I sort of expected it with the whole ‘two heads’ thing it had going on.”

Woven Birch, “The heads aren’t a problem. Snakes and a number of other creatures can be born with two heads. Rather, if you look closely, the fur is actually a form of feather and one of my skills is pinging me about something.”

Jason, “I’ll toss it with the others. I would have thought that this shallow there would be more.”

Woven Birch shrugs, “Oh, you could likely eat this beast just fine. You’re at a high enough level and the meat is fresh. The problem comes from preserving the stuff. Give it time and oddities can sneak up on you.

“Plus, we have to be careful about how it interacts with other supplies. I’d give that beast a less than one percent chance of causing some sort of negative reaction with some of our regular supplies. It isn’t much, but the bigger problem is we don’t know when that will happen.”

Jason nods, “I can see that.”

And he could, but over the last five days, they had only passed a handful of beasts. Only one wagon would have been filled, though they were spread out among all the haulers.

Jason meets back up with the others. “This is going to take a lot longer than we expected. Worse, we aren’t really getting anything out of this. I had plans for training and they aren’t panning out.”

Rosha sighs, “And we’re kind of stuck here. Well, we could leave, but we’d fail the task and leave these guys in a lurch.”

Courtney nods, “And it isn’t their fault. Not entirely.”

So, without any resolution, they continue the journey. Which gets even worse as they begin to double back on themselves. Zig zagging to cover as much area on the way out, all hoping to stir up something useful.

They don’t. Not that Woven Birch was expecting to. After all, despite the chaotic, ever shifting nature of the place, regions do end up attuned to whoever controls the place. So this close to the settlement? Not much has built up or been brought in to cause trouble.

And after a month out, the hunting party turns around to head back. Though this was the planned point to turn back and not because they gathered enough to merit doing so. Now, admittedly, part of why the wagons aren’t full is because it was being slowly processed the entire trip.

All it took was an enclosed wagon and a couple of people channeling cantrips. One to heat the enclosed space and the other to circulate the air. Oh, and every few hours one healer would throw a disinfectant spell into the space. That last one wouldn’t normally be required, but with the Deep Wilds involved you can’t be too careful.

Jason frowns as he watches another beast body be rejected. Now, he wouldn’t claim to be able to do it himself, but after so long Jason had developed an eye for what would be rejected. He turns back to the others, “It isn’t quite a one percent acceptance rate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was close.”

Courtney nods, “To think that for every hundred beasts, only one is acceptable for long-term preservation. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Deep Wilds keeps bringing in new beasts, the local area would be cleared out pretty quickly.”

Jason, “And they did a decent job of things, anyway. Compared to other places in here, this is a pretty barren stretch.”