"Yeah," says Sir Bevier, "got many more of those things? And why eight? He killed all the cockatrice..."

"Loses two points for collateral damage," replies Sir Ulath, a man with a giant axe strapped to his back. "Don't have the tools to decapitate dead cockatrices here -" he easily carries both bodies - "we can take 'em back and decapitate them at camp if you like."

It's hard to tell whether any of the eggs are still viable or not - they're blackened, covered in soot, and probably flash-boiled. From the expression on Sir Bevier's face and the fact that he has just drawn his sword, they're probably going to suffer from the additional problem of being stabbed if someone doesn't say something quickly.

"On me? No, I figured I'd only get the one chance, so I only brought that one shaped charge," Felix replies to the Knight in his native tongue. Peering at the eggs as Bevier gears up to start smashing, he wipes the soot off the nearest one with his sleeve for a better look at the shell. "Fascinating. Something so innocuous could hatch and grow up into something so deadly. You said these things could hunt and kill a Manticore, huh?"

"The manticore was alone. There were two cockatrices. Pack hunters are already more dangerous, and that paralizing ability of theirs just makes them more so."

Nate picks up one of the eggs and has a look at it. Eggs have alot more uses then just for eating. They'd long been used to manufacture vaccines and counter agents for venoms, toxins, and other poisons. One has to wonder if the cockatrice would have a natural immunity to poison, given that it hunts manticores.

"Maybe we should take a few of these with us. They could be useful in making an anti-toxin."

Nate turns to Dr. Vanderbilt.

"What do you think Doc? They might have a few useful antibodies in them that we can harvest."

"Anything could have useful antibodies," claims the doctor. "We won't know until I can analyse it."

Sir Bevier leaves the egg that Felix is carrying - and any others he may hastily grab - but methodically smashes the remainder.

Felix will grab a few more for research purposes and let Sir Bevier smash the rest. Beyond that he's done with the nest.

"We'll crack these open and do some research on them back at the ship. See if the eggs and creatures inside possess any anomalous properties worth noting."

Placing the eggs snugly in his backpack, Felix goes around stomping out and kicking dirt on the various fires that are still going. Don't want the entire forest to go up in smoke. Once he's sure the fires are out and pose no danger he'll head back to the group.

"I don't think we have anything else to do here? This ended up being a great deal more simple than I thought it was going to be, unexpected complication aside. Should we start heading back?"

"I'm ready whenever everyone else is."

"Wild animals generally are simple to deal with, especially once you're properly prepared," says Sir Bevier. "The trouble comes in when you start having to deal with intelligent enemies."

The journey back to camp is largely uneventful (though Dr. Vanderbilt picks up a couple of new bruises and a black eye en route). There's probably still time to finish the smokehouse today... or Felix could start trying to get some transportation up and running for their tour of the nearby villages, perhaps?

Felix will work on getting the caravan set up for now. A smoke house is nice, but having nothing but meat isn't going to help them in the long term. Nathan can just preserve anything they catch anyway so long as he doesn't help with anything else, so Felix can simply finish the smoke house when they get back.

Which vehicle(s) is Felix planning on using for the caravan?

Felix will work on getting something simple for now. Beyond whatever meds they've managed to produce, if any, they'll only need space for the people they're bringing with them and a number of tools and misc supplies. They could probably make do with carts pulled by the horses for now. He'll do a head count of everyone coming and everything they need to bring to see if that's sufficient. If not he'll find the smallest, most innocuous vehicle to set up and a mobile power supply to keep it charged while on the go.

Nate spends his time packing up some gear for a few days out. He makes a point of bringing some mapping gear, as well as a few less harmless odds and ends.

He doesn't want a fight, but he intends to win if one finds him.

A horse-drawn cart will carry everyone and everything. It takes most of the rest of the day to pack; tools, miscellaneous supplies, medical supplies (they may be short on antiseptics and antibiotics, but there are plenty of bandages), mapping gear, and of course some weaponry. The knights consider this last addition to be perfectly reasonable; if nothing else, you've already run across a manticore and a cockatrice nest, and there's been rumours of outlaws and goblins near the village (according to Sir Bevier, if either the outlaws or the goblins had heard there was a manticore in the area, they would have cleared out by now). Nathan manages to preserve most of the cockatrice meat, and some brief experiment with one of the heads shows that a dead cockatrice head is quite unable to produce the paralysing effect of a live one.

Doctors Medea and Vanderbilt spend most of the rest of the day scanning plants from the swamp, trying to find something with antibiotic properties better than good old boiling water (which is very good for sterilising equipment but can cause severe burns on anything organic).

Dr Vanderbilt: Medicine +3 Roll -1 Aspect: Swamp +2 Aspect: Forest +2 Total +6

Given the vast natural resources of the nearby forest and the nearby swamp, the doctors are quite happy to luck into a plant with suitably antibiotic properties early in their scans; and there's quite a bunch of them, too. By the time the expedition is ready to leave, they'll have a fair load of antibiotics prepared.

The plan is to leave with sunrise the following day; and when people get up, everything is ready and waiting, the cart is packed, the weather is clear, Dr. Vanderbilt and the knights are ready to go.

And Piper has seated herself, quite firmly, in the cart and shows no sign of getting out.

Felix sits down in the cart with his notebooks and writing equipment. He plans on talking to everyone he can and gaining as much valuable intel as possible, taking extensive notes in the process. Until they get to the village, though, he'll be fiddling on the tablet. Reprogramming it and recording lines where possible so he can teach the colonists the local language. He brought a portable solar panel for handheld devices to keep it charged, as well. He'll put both things up long before reaching the village to reduce the risk of a villager seeing it.

"I'm ready to go when you guys are. Let me know when the village is just outside viewing distance."

Felix makes sure the noise cancelling software is working so the background noise doesn't filter in, then sets to work.

Piper plays a tune as they go, but she stops when Felix frowns at her (his noise cancelling software is good, but it's not going to cut out background music). Instead, then, she walks up behind him and peers over his shoulder at the tablet, trying to see what he's doing with it.

Nate ranges out, scouting and mapping ahead. He reports back anything of interest using his bullroarer and generally pokes about for things to report back on.