Frostbound

We didn't spend much time in the city and were on the road again in a day. Tracy helped us get everything we needed and even some things we didn't know were available. It put a dent in our newly acquired coins but it was well worth it in my opinion.

It was mostly food but there were other things filtered in. Raw materials we weren't able to get a lot of from the dungeon or what the dungeon didn't give out. Cloth mostly, as the dungeon seemed to have an aversion to the stuff. Ripped clothes or new items needed it and picking some up now was helpful.

One thing that did surprise me that snuck in was a skill shard. Skill shards bought through the pylon before had to be learned by the person who bought them.

These were different. The little crystal shards could be used by anyone and there were no restrictions on who could use it. The skill we received wasn't very good, but just the appearance of it was nice to have. It was a generic bow skill called [Precision Shot] that I had no use for but someone else would. I thought of giving it to Sarah if she didn't already have the skill.

Another thing I asked Tracy before we left was if she knew where any beasts of burden were. Horses, donkeys, bulls, or something similar would work wonders for our traveling speed.

We weren't very fast on foot and I wanted to speed things up. Just traveling to the next city took over a month and at the rate we were going, the trip would take over a year.

Not every second was spent on travel and there were areas we could shave some time down, but I wanted to boost our base speed rather than feel rushed. While we weren't on a specific timeline to get there, neither did I want it to drag out.

She let me know of a few places where they were likely to be, but she didn't know for certain. She mostly pointed out where old ranches once stood that had horses or the animals I was looking for.

We hit a few of the spots on our way but sent out Austin and Hal for the ones that were too far out of the way. Evidence of the animals being there previously was clear but the beasts themselves were gone. Similar to the last ranch we came across, the surrounding area was searched but nothing was found. The tracks were too old for Hal to get anything from and too much had changed.

The disappointment grew the more we came across abandoned ranches but that all changed a few days out of the city. We were ambling along, pulling our carts when Austin came sprinting back to the caravan visibly excited. He came dashing up to me nearly vibrating before saying, "Horses! A herd of them out over the plains. At least 50 of them!"

His words quickly spread through the caravan and we all dropped what we were doing.

"Alright everyone, you know what to do. Brayden and the builders, get those posts in the ground. Everyone else, carry the planks in place and secure them tightly. They will be stronger than normal horses now that they have levels." I announced to everyone.