Some actions are performed automatically. Think: breathing, swallowing, blinking.

Ava performs more complicated actions without an ounce of effort, as well. Once she's through replicating reeds and trees—which identify as [Medium Log(s)]—Bach tells her how to construct a crude cart and the instructions appear in her mind:

And then she sets to work building it while Bach observes. She mostly just watches, too, a passenger in her own person. Her hands become a blur, using the reeds to wrap and tie the logs together.

The construction is much more complicated than the stretcher she built for Uri and she's watching herself work for far longer. But suddenly the bed of the cart is complete – side-rails and a tail-gate included. Then she watches as she utilizes the [Omega Key] to whittle the components for a simple suspension and then an axle and a pair of round wheels which even have spokes.

And all at once it is done and her automatic carpentry concludes. What she has built is essentially an over-sized wheelbarrow with a yoke instead of simple handles.

Bach seems downright giddy. He inspects the cart and looks satisfied. He stoops to slide under the yoke and braces it against his shoulders, lifting with his legs, and he pulls it forward a few steps. It rolls straight and easy. He smiles at her.

He says, “after we kick Horst's ass, maybe you should set up shop as a carpenter.”

Time Remaining: 39 hours 17 minutes

“I'd guess we have maybe four hours of daylight left.” Bach inspects the position of the sun, shielding the glare from his eyes. “So we'd better start looking for nettles.”

“We don't want to be in the woods after sunset,” Ava agrees, “believe me.”

“We should search for signs of standing water. A pond or a pool or a bog, even.”

The thought of trudging through the forest aimlessly with just a few hours until dark makes Ava shiver. Seems like a recipe for disaster. But perhaps there's another way? She has an idea.

“Hold on a sec.” She turns and makes her way down to the river's edge. Right away she finds what she's after – a bank-adjacent pool where the water eddies gently. She lowers herself to her knees to look more closely. She can see her reflection. She can allow her vision to lose focus and:

The information she can glean from zone-data is always some of the most fascinating. What are these other quests? Ostby's Revenge? That doesn't sound great. Can she somehow acquire these quests in Cripple Creek?

Also: what the heck is a Forest Hag? She hopes they don't find out today. But ignoring those details for a moment, what she primarily desired was a map – and now she has it.

The forest is unimaginably immense. It might cover a million acres or more. But Ava sees where she and Bach currently stand—indicated by a red dot labeled, “You are Here”—and she also sees a beaver pond not terribly far into the forest. She smiles. It feels like cheating, and it turns out cheating feels pretty good.

Time Remaining: 38 hours 39 minutes

They stow the cart by the river. It's simply too bulky to be towing through the forest. And it's not as though they'll need it. All they need to find is a single nettle and Ava can multiply it as many times as is required.

“So why'd we build the cart?” Ava wonders, “when I could have just summoned the materials in town?”

“Some of them already have their suspicions about you,” Bach explains, “what would they think if you manifested a trove of crafting materials right before their eyes?”

He has a point.

Now Ava leads them back into the woods with the map in her mind. Bach follows close behind. She is surprised to find the wild things keeping their distance. Perhaps there were never actually as many creeps and fiends lurking in the woods as she believed.

Or it could be that they're afraid of Bach. Despite the ways in which he's been diminished he is still a large and imposing man. When she thinks about it she realizes that on her previous trips through the forest she's always been alone or with some combination of Uri and Darby and Javors – none of whom possess the size to frighten off predators. It's possible the wildlife have been fooled into believing Bach is a bear.

But it's also likely that this trip simply feels less dangerous because it is daytime. Ava looks up at the sun, sinking toward the horizon. They have two or three hours of daylight remaining, at most.

While they hike in to the beaver pond, Bach conducts a walking tour. He shows Ava leaves which can be steeped in hot water and applied as a compress to help wounds heal. He shows her roots which can be eaten to counteract snake venom.

Some mushrooms are safe to eat, these others will kill you, and avoid these, too – they'll give you diarrhea. Finally, he teaches her that a certain tree-bark can be pulverized into a power and placed under the tongue to cure diarrhea, in case there's no option but to eat the less desirable mushrooms:

Suddenly when she looks around the forest certain vegetation casts a subtle golden glow. She knows that if she were to study any of these plants up close she would be able to accurately identify each by their luminescent labels. And somehow this newfound understanding renders the woods less threatening overall. There's simply less of the unknown to fear.

The beaver pond is very near now. Ava leads them the last stretch and when they arrive the water is clear and still. The far bank glows intensely.

“Jackpot,” says Bach.

What they've found is a nettles bonanza. It's almost too good to be true. It's almost as if locating this beaver pond was an inevitable objective which had to be completed in order for her quest to be fulfilled.

But if that's the case, then what does it mean for her seemingly unique abilities? Not everyone can identify items and entire geographical regions simply by observing them in odd ways.

Throughout her journey it has seemed as though she exists in some ways outside the rules of this world—this game-world—but now she has to wonder: are her powers simply part of the game? And has the content therefore been balanced with her abilities in mind? Maybe she isn't cheating, after all.

Her ruminations are cut short by a rustling in the patch of nettles.

“Wait,” Bach says – but it's too late.

Suddenly a weird porcine creature emerges. It bears long tusks and a plated mohawk running from its crown to the end of its reptilian tail like a stegosaurus – some sort of hybrid between a mountain boar and a monitor lizard. A mutant whose coat is brown and gray tufts, a thin layer of moss-like fur over dusty scales.

“A rock boar,” Ava mutters, recalling the list of enemy types associated with the zone.

The creature is quick and strikes first, charging directly at the smaller target – Ava. She is taken by surprise and caught flat-footed and she braces for the impact—anticipating the sharp bone tusks tearing into her side—but at the last moment Bach slides between them and:

>>>>UNABLE to slot new ability(Maximum Active Abilities reached; Active Abilities can only be changed once during the first hour after waking each day; Increasing your MIND attribute will unlock additional Maximum Active Abilities.)

'Maximum Active Abilities?'

Well that's a new one. And not something she had ever considered – a fresh strategic layer to cope with. She's not even sure how many abilities she's learned up to this point but she's also not willing to split her concentration just now to view her character sheet. For the moment this will just have to wait, perhaps until the next time she sleeps. And on account of the momentary distraction she nearly misses the result of Bach's [Taunt].

“Here piggy piggy,” he jeers. The rock boar obliges, lunging to impale the larger foe who is suddenly demanding its attention – but Bach blocks the attack with his stump. The tusk tears a gory dimple in the already gnarled flesh and Ava catches Bach smiling. Does he like it? Is he gratified by the abuse?

Ava draws the [Omega Key] and wheels around so that the broadside of the boar's torso is exposed and she strikes. She brings the stiletto down hard as she can with both hands, thrusting it between the beast's ribs but:

It appears that unless Bach is able to weaken their opponent's armor any further attacks with the stiletto will be futile.

Ava's seen this before, during the combat against Horst's dwarves. Javors couldn't scratch their armor, either. Is the [Omega Key] even a proper weapon?

She still has one remaining action point so she activates [Vigilance] and waits to see if Bach can do any damage to the pig-lizard's armor. If he can't, then Ava maybe forced to use [Overload] – but she'd rather avoid it if possible. There's no telling what challenges they'll face before they're able to sleep again and she'd prefer to keep her full allotment of Action Points.

But Bach doesn't seem equipped to weaken the rock boar's armor at all – if he even wants to. Instead he grapples with it, ringing its neck with a headlock, and they both tumble to the forest floor. The boar slips halfway loose of the headlock but Bach counters, wrapping his legs around its torso and squeezing. The beast struggles but Bach holds on tight and they remain in a clench on the ground.

He has effectively suppressed the pig-lizard's next turn, as it twists and tries to strike but lacks any attacks at such close range. In the course of the grapple Bach ends up on his back beneath the boar and he holds them like that – with the boar's softer underbelly exposed. And suddenly Ava's limbs tingle – it's her turn.

She thrusts the [Omega Key] into its gut with all her might and finds it completely vulnerable:

The question isn't as articulate as: what?

It's more like: huh?

But while she doesn't understand what it means that her “will is insufficient” and that the [Omega Key] is evidently “intelligent,” what is readily observable is the blood spurting from the injury she's inflicted upon the boar's tender belly.

Encouraged, she stabs it once more and the beast shrieks and snorts, thrashing to get free of Bach's grip. With her leftover action Ava activates [Vigilance] and waits to see what Bach will do next.

And what he does next is he becomes feral. He opens his jaw as wide as he can and chomps down on the boar's throat. He's still got his bullet teeth – guess Mom didn't have time to extract them. The pig-lizard goes tense. Bach isn't breaking the flesh—the armored scales seem to be holding firm on the boar's throat—but perhaps he's constricting its airway? She's not sure, but then:

The freaky mutant pig-lizard with the impenetrable scales and the soft tummy goes stiff. Its eyes roll back in its head and it sprays urine into the air. The pungent stench is God awful and Ava's eyes water.

But Bach doesn't let go, and Ava recalls the last part of [Intimidation]'s description: If escape is not possible, target suffers -2AP and Mind but gains +1 Strength and Quickness.

The boost to its Strength seems to be all the rock boar requires to free itself. It thrashes and rolls like a crocodile and Bach can't keep his grip. And the moment he lets go the boar finds its feet and flees into the forest.

Encounter Defeated!

Experience Gained: 150

*****

He bursts out laughing as the boar careens into the woods but right away Bach regains his composure:

“Gather up as many as you can.” He climbs to his feet and starts ripping the nettles up with his one hand, roots and all. “Hurry! That thing won't stay scared forever.”

Ava tears the stinging plants out of the moist earth with wild abandon and before long her arms are full – and they are itchy, too. Bach nods to her and she understands it's time to leave. She turns back in the direction of the cart and takes off at a sprint, pushing her aching legs to the brink of utter exhaustion.

Time Remaining: 36 hours 19 minutes