Quoted By:
> Wait for it to settle into its den and try to harvest a meal from the deer corpse close to you.
Mel winced as the cracking of a bone filled the air. The centipede slithered the rest of the way back into its den. Mel exhaled, slowly and looked down at the still cooling corpse in front of her. She was no huntsman or butcher, but she had helped with kills from hunting before. Where was she going to find a knife though?
The tip of the blue spear tattooed on her arm bent slightly and Mel could imagine raised eyebrows.
"That's fair" She whispered. "I was going find a rock or something, but you'll do." She glanced at the den of the centipede, and dropped her voice as low as she could. "<span class="mu-b">Arx</span>."
Instead of the spear she was expecting from the ground a shorter almost hand spade like weapon of ice formed in her hands. The biting chill stabbed at her hand almost immediately. She padded the handle with a handful of forest undergrowth and set to work.
Several fresh ice blades and an unpleasant amount of messy work later she had a heap of raw venison, maybe three days worth? Halfway through the process the centipede had reemerged, smeared in blood and viscera, just long enough to pull a patch of underbrush back into place in front of its lair. Mel eyed the hidden lair and carved a prominent 'X' on the tree next to her. Best not to forget the beast.
The rest of the morning went fairly quietly. The meat was bound and wrapped in leaves and vines. A vain attempt to clean up was made, leaving her more blood smeared than blood stained. A patch of edible button mushrooms was collected, an armful of firewood, a handful of tough fruits that when busted open revealed a red fleshy interior more bitter than sweet. The entire process was a slow inefficient affair of trekking up and down the hill to her camp multiple times, a simple satchel of any kind would do wonders. Still, the boon of the deer would keep her alive for a few days yet.
The biggest accomplishment, other than not being eaten, was putting together a primitive smoker at the forest's edge using a small hollow in the ground and lashing together vines and sticks over it. With the meat hanging in a cloud of smoke and a few of the hard fruits in her stomach Mel turned her attention to the next task of the day.
