Vhalar 91st, 717
The morning had been interesting, to say the least, mostly because the first thing Night needed to figure out was what was going to pull the cart on her and Noth's little trip. This was a challenge to overcome no doubt. Storm seemed to have no desire to be treated like a horse and hitched to the cart. If she couldn't manage to get Storm to behave and pull the cart that meant that Nightshade was going to have to buy a horse and that opened up a can of worms she didn't want to deal with. Buying a horse for the trip alone would be a waste of money, not to mention horses could be weak or skittish or even poorly trained. Trying to deal with an issue like that would either take time which was too precious to waste or more money which she generally just didn't want to waste. It wasn't like she needed the money for anything specific, but it was nice to have around and she generally just liked to hoard it.
After a lot of pleading and begging and trying to bribe with meat, she finally managed to settle Storm down enough to get him to resign himself to pulling the cart. It was a bit harder to hitch him up considering the fact he was massive compared to a horse. It took a little experimentation and ingenuity, but as luck would have it she had the rope to finally secure the Zelroux to the cart. Storm was not very pleased with the outcome, but at least he was pulling the cart and it seemed secure enough. Night had ridden in carts before, and thanks to Icarus she'd even drove them, but she was not prepared for the Zelroux to be at the helm of the cart. Storm was far stronger than a horse and faster than a horse. He was able to go at just the right speed to make sure the cart didn't tip or break while managing to scare the living daylights out of Night considering the speed the Zelroux was able to move at with seemingly minimal effort. Much faster and covering much more distance than a horse. Even so, they got to Etzos later than Night had planned since she'd done the planning accounting for the speed of her wings. It didn't matter. If they needed to they could work late into the night getting everything ready. She didn't tell Noth to meet her until midtrial of the 92nd after all. And that decision was made with just this kind of hiccup in mind.
When she entered town there were three major things on her list. First and foremost she needed a bedroll for Noth. She had one of her own, but she wasn't sharing and most certainly she wasn't going to make poor Noth (or herself) sleep on the cold ground all night. She'd sooner sleep on Storm and give Noth her bedroll than leaving him on the ground. And even if Storm was soft, he wasn't the most comfortable. She'd tried it before when she got caught out late and it wasn't the best sleep she ever had.
The second thing she needed was a four-person tent. She had a two-person tent already, but she had a feeling if she brought that along she was going to end up dying halfway through the Night out of sheer embarrassment. Sleeping that close to Noth? All night long? For an unknown amount of trails? It was by sheer luck there was no one around to see her cover her face with her hands and make a noise somewhere between a squeal, a scream, and a dying animal. No! She couldn't sleep in a tent that close to Noth! The large a tent she bought the better! After all, it could always come in useful later.
The final thing on her list of important items to get was a large waterproof tarp. This was important since they were going on this quest during Vhalar. There was no telling if some random rain storm might hit and it did Night wanted to be able to cover the tent with a tarp if nothing else. Storm and the cart would be fine, but there was the potential that they could freeze to death if they weren't careful. If the pair got too cold then they would need to figure out a way to stay warm, which might mean they would need to be closer, which would mean they might end up cuddling with Noth holding Night in his arms and- dear immortals how read was her face!?
After forcing away all thoughts of her and Noth sleeping in the same tent the poor woman was finally able to rush around the city and finish up her shopping without issue. It was painful thanks to the fact she had to run back to the cart and leave whatever she'd bought there every time, then run back into the city. She could have always brought Storm to carry the items, but unhitching and rehitching him would have been a pain. Not to mention she didn't trust the people of Etzos not to steal her cart. On her way back with the tarp neatly tucked under her arm she stalled as her attention was caught by none other than a blacksmith. She look at the building quietly before pushing open the door. "Excuse me, do you have arrows?" She asked without a moment of hesitation. The man looked at her quietly, a small flicker of recognition in his eyes.
"Yeah, we do. Adamantite. They were just made the other day, top quality. You want 'em?" The man behind the counter asked. Night nodded her head after a moment of hesitation. He came back with 40 which she saw no problem in buying. She'd recently bought some high-quality arrows but they were steel, the Adamantite judging by the way the Smith described them likely pierced as well as flew better. She could give 20 as a gift to Noth. She was about to leave when something on display caught her eye.
"What is that?" She asked, gazing at the odd whip. It brought back a mix of emotions and memories, both fearful and angry. Wouldn't it be funny if she mastered using a whip, just to spite the Master? At one point she'd contemplated tracking the man down to enact a form of revenge, but she couldn't find it in her heart to be so malicious even to someone who made her suffer so greatly.
"That's called an Urumi. It's a kind of whip that functions just like any normal whip, except instead of just cracking against the skin it slices right in. It doesn't really do much against heavy armor, but you wouldn't want to use a whip against someone with heavy armor unless it's to tangle up their wrists. If you're attacking someone with leather it's going to shred them like there's no tomorrow. We've had that for a while but like the arrows I assure you it's top quality," the man behind the counter said. The Urumi had to be at least double the price of the arrows, which made sense considering how hard he was trying to make the sell.
"You know what, yeah, sure, I'll take it," the woman said with a shrug. A smirk rested across her lips as she grabbed the whip. Even if it wasn't for the sake of irony, it would be good to learn about how to use a whip. The more weapon skills she had the better off she was. The more ways she could defend herself or someone else, the less helpless in a situation she was. Whips were useful because she already knew a little bit about them. Watching how The Master used his, and having it used on her so many time, had ironically enough had its perks. Whips were a good weapon because they could be used with either range or up close depending on the demands of the situation. A quick crack against the ground didn't make the typical sound a whip might make. The noise was metallic and sharp, proving the point of the blacksmith.
Slinging the quiver of arrows over her shoulder and trying to hold the whip and the tarp at the same time she finally flew back to Storm and loaded everything into the cart. She'd figure out what to do with the whip and what to name it later. "Alright Storm, we'll head back home and get everything ready. We'll do a quick sweep of the area to see if we can hunt anything good and then we can go to sleep for the night," she told the large beast as the pulled herself onto his back. It was easier to drive from there as he responded well to gentle tugs on his fur. Storm gave a deep rumble from inside his chest. The noise made it sound like he was just happy to have the harness off.
Upon getting home Night emptied out her old quiver, carefully placing the arrows in a safe place in the back of the shallow cave. She placed half of them into her own quiver and put the other 20 into the cart. After releasing Storm from his ropey prison the two managed to hunt down a deer. The two brought it back and salted most of the meat, all of the parts that would be best eaten by Night and Noth. Storm feasted upon the rest. Everything from organs to the bone to gristle. The beast didn't mind. One deer might not be enough to last them the whole time considering Storm, but at least it would last them a little while and Storm could hunt when the pair got too tired to continue, considering Storm had a lot more strength and endurance as a wild beast.
With everything they needed to finish completed the pair laid down to rest.
