2-14: To Be Whole Again

Morose as the gang is over losing Knife, the adventure continues. Pilaf the pack bull has joined the party; while the gang makes their long walk back, it's a good time to check out what she can do.

The most obvious benefit of a pack animal is that they can carry a ludicrous amount of stuff. Just look at the size of this inventory! Pack bulls can carry goods in stacks of up to 5 as well—not as much as the wooden backpack's stacks of 9, but the bull's backpack is several times the size of the wooden backpack so that's perfectly fine. You can see here that the gang was carrying a ludicrous amount of meat, which Pilaf handles with no problem at all.

Animals control mostly the same as humanoids in terms of running around and fighting. They can't talk to people or be given jobs, though, and there's a limit to how self-sufficient they can be. They can't pick items up themselves, so while they will automatically eat food out of their own inventories or nearby party members' backpacks just like humanoids will, they can't really feed themselves outside of that. At least they can eat all kinds of food items. You would think a herbivore like Pilaf wouldn't be able to eat meat but nope, she'll eat it just fine. She'll even eat the foul raw meat like Jam will. Thank goodness for that honestly because bulls eat a lot.

By the way, it's not a mistake that I'm referring to a bull as "she". Bull is the name of the species regardless of sex.

Despite her strong back, Pilaf is just a little pup. A little baby! She's not very strong yet. She for some reason has a few points in each type of melee weapon and in turrets and precision shooting, which is a little goofy since animals can't use any of those things. The only relevant stats for animals are Strength, Toughness, Dexterity, Martial Arts (since they're unarmed), and Stealth. Athletics influences how fast characters can run, which seems like something that would be relevant for animals, but animals don't use it. Instead, their speed is determined by their age.

Animals have four age categories: Pup, teen, adult, and elder. These categories apply modifiers to all their stats, with pups being quite weak and slow and elders being impressively hench. Pilaf won't be defeating anything much tougher than a fogman right now, but give her time.

Slow as Pilaf is right now, the gang reaches World's End eventually. The stretch of land between there and the ruined holy military outpost (now called Deadhive Overrun) is pretty safe. Last time they were here, I mentioned that the travel shop sells prosthetic limbs and that that may come in handy in the future. I wasn't expecting that future to come quite so soon but that's how life goes in Kenshi sometimes. It's time to get Horse a new leg.

The shop doesn't have great options for a left leg today but this standard-grade scout leg will do fine for now. It's more fragile than Horse's original leg but the important thing is it gets him up and walking. That athletics bonus will even make him speedier than before, which will be handy if the gang ever gets smart about cutting and running from bad fights before half of them are on the ground. He won't be sneaking for shit anytime soon but that can be remedied in the future when he finds a leg of higher quality or different model.

The gang also buys some sleeping bags (the item right below the scout leg in the shop's inventory). Sleeping in a sleeping bag makes characters heal four times faster than just standing around. That's half as good as sleeping in a proper bed but sometimes people need to heal in the middle of the wilderness where there are no proper beds. Limping all the way back to town won't always be an option.

In the wake of the disaster at the Deadhive Overrun, the gang has to discuss what to do next. They rent some beds at one of the bars and talk it over. Ultimately, they affirm that going south was the right choice—they'll just have to be a lot less cavalier about the fogmen. There's still a lot to see down that way; many lands to travel.

First, though, they make a quick stop at Flotsam Village. Outlaw Farmer rocks up to the village bar, half hoping to see Reva. Alas, she does not. There are still interesting people here, though.

Outlaw Farmer takes a minute to think about it. On the one hand, hiring another person from Flotsam Village so soon after Knife's death feels uncomfortably like replacing her. The gang could use more members, though, and Keys does have the right vibe. She comes to a decision and speaks to Keys again.

So far, the gang's humans have all been greenlanders, but Keys is the other type: A scorchlander! Scorchlanders have skin tones ranging from dark brown to charcoal grey, bright yellow eyes, and most commonly sport white hair. They enjoy xp gain bonuses to Dexterity, Athletics, Stealth, Dodge, Armour Smithing, and Weapon Smithing, and take penalties to Farming, Cooking, Labouring, and Strength. They make for great thiefy types but really, they're fine in any adventuring role. That Strength penalty is only 10%, not enough to dissuade anyone but the most dedicated minmaxer from putting them in melee combat.

What will Keys' role be? No idea! "Honest to a fault" is right in her case—true to her word, she doesn't have any skills at all. Every single one of her stats is a 1 or 0. The gang tosses her a chain shirt, leather boots and a straw hat so she's at least not half naked, but she'll have to learn what she can on the road.

Jam, Riddly, Ells, Outlaw Farmer, Horse, Burn, Keys, and Pilaf. The gang counts themselves eight members strong. Outlaw Farmer and Horse wield polearms, Jam and Keys sabres, Burn a hefty fragment axe, Ells a cannibal's flesh cleaver, and Riddly the still-half-decent blade she was carrying before she even met Jam. It's a thick-bladed, long-handled katana called a topper—reminiscent of a real-world nagamaki. The armaments range from more or less acceptable to high quality—a fine enough arsenal to let the gang punch a bit above their weight class. Their armour situation isn't bad either. They're still keeping a couple pairs of excellent samurai legplates in reserve for when they're strong enough to lug around heavier kits but the medium armour most of them are wearing will serve them well as long as they don't get in too over their heads.

To that end, they sit down and chart a course.

Southbound from Flotsam Village, they can skirt the Floodlands, keeping their feet dry by crossing a little spit just before the marsh empties into a river. From there, they can proceed directly west, keeping their distance from both the Holy Nation's slave quarry Rebirth and from the Deadhive Overrun. West of the Overrun, the pockets of light grey on the map denote the Fog Islands, perilous home of the fogmen. Burn helpfully points out that the larger circle of light grey at the north end of that region isn't part of the Fog Islands, though. If the gang wants to reach the southern half of the continent, they'll have the best luck travelling through that area then starting down the west coast rather than trying to brave the fogmen in their home or the Holy Nation in theirs.

The first leg of the journey is a tranquil one. There is little danger in the southern part of the Hidden Forest, as the rare cannibal bands that might venture that way rarely make it past Moll and the Flotsam Ninjas. It could hardly be said to be dull, though. Gazing out on the Floodlands, one is confronted by the land's great history, hollow remains of ancient empire industry thrusting into the sky as if to boast that they are superior still. Even the path 'round the edge of the Floodlands carries one through the shadow of a massive, inscrutable remnant.

The thing's original purpose is too far beyond the gang's ken to glean anything from it. It serves now as little other than a reminder of the vulgarity of their present. The only one who may know something about it is Burn, and they are currently opting to keep their peace, as skeletons often do. Alas, if any of the Floodlands' mysteries can be solved, they will have to wait another day. The gang has business elsewhere.

Late in the evening, they near the part of the map with that large light grey circle that's supposedly better to travel through than the foglands. Ahead appears to be some sort of deep canyon; the gang hauls themselves up to the cliff's edge to take a look.

Jam stares for several minutes before they finally believe their eyes. A forest of immense mechanical arms stretching from the mist, grasping for the sky. The safe path to the west coast is seriously supposed to be through here?