Belly of the beast
Continued from here >>
Spoiler
Thanks so much for reading my thread! 
There are a few mod notes from Pigs here that I have based the findings in this thread uppon.
Flight in general is being tracked under this tracker and is in general something he's been doing for a while.
This thread is based on the Pigasus event that has been announced for this cycle and is tracked here.
There are a few mod notes from Pigs here that I have based the findings in this thread uppon.
Flight in general is being tracked under this tracker and is in general something he's been doing for a while.
This thread is based on the Pigasus event that has been announced for this cycle and is tracked here.
"Well dat es gonna take mar effart dem me tought et would." He admitted to his
friend, that hovered just over his shoulder
. It wasn't that the flight suit didn't have the power to lift the pig. It had a class 4 well powering it, it could send the thing into the stars if Winston was not carful. The issue was control. Weightless flight was very simple, but taking any kind of weight meant that not only did you drop from the sky the second you stopped trusting, but your center of gravity was totally different.He continued to play with the process for a while before his arms gave out and he decided, despite improving considerably, what he needed if this was going to happen was some kind of harness. He wondered if the Webwells he had found could be used to create makeshift carriers... Shaking his head as he realised that now was not the time for prolonged thought, he summoned Chest to come find him as he left the pig and took back into the skies to save some pigs.
The Pigs hitting the Glass quarter did not seem to be doing so out of any concerted effort to do so. In fact, quite the opposite as the vast majority were still hanging around the Dust Quarter. What was attracting them there?
He spotted a few stragglers drifting towards the huntresses bellow and he decided to head them off before they fell foul to their arrows. He didn't mind a hunt, but a slaughter only served to iriadicate something, whihc as any Sweetsong'ian would tell you, is not a sustainable approach to survival.
To his surprise, as he shot over towards them, they didn't just bolt in the other direction. He considered that perhaps these things might put up a bit of a fight under the right conditions, but for now, he flew up beside one and let out some persuasive blasts of his Expel gauntlet and tried to simply corral them away from the ambush in waiting.
Not having a good reason to stay, they gave some disgruntled oinks and set off back towards their... "Joe? is that a herd? Or a flock..?" He asked as he continued to follow the pigs and offer them some encouragement to continue heading away from the Glass Quarter.
"I dunno, but I think you'll find that a group of pigs is called a drove."
The ferret considered this. "Sooooh, maybe a group af flying pigs es called a Flight?"
The Diri made the movement that suggested that, if he has shoulders, he'd have shrugged. As it was, his head merely tilted to one side slightly as he expressed his apathy toward the predicament.
Looking down at his Gauntlet he considered that it would be very affective against smaller creatures and creatures like these pigs that seemed to have little mass, but larger ones would require more power... He adjusted the designs in his head as he followed the pigs back to their Flight.
Happy that the pigs had been returned to where they seemed to belong for now, he set off back towards the pig he had purchased. He wanted to understand what made them fly, what they ate and thus, how he might bait them to travel to somewhere else.
With that and a few circles of the Dust Quarter to see what could be seen, he landed back down and met
Chest
in order to take a look at what the Pigs were about.Removing his armour, which by now was beginning to chafe a little, he set about getting the almost floaty-light pigasus carcass onto the butchery table. As
Smoky
sharpened up some knives, the ferret set about checking the pig for general anatomy. Asside from wings, the pig seemed to be, well, a pig."Oh-key. Lets see wat's inside..." He announced as he wrapped an apron around his waist and took up a knife alongside his Diri of Usefulness.
This was a unique opportunity and a rare... once rare beast. Also, he was not ruling out the chance that wells could be involved and so placed his
Refined Moonstone
into his pocket from Faith's supply, activating it to try and limit the chances of accidentally triggering anything by mistake.Butchering animals was a pretty trivial task for the Master of Chefs these days. Combined with his expertise in Hunting, he had a pretty good eye for the innards of the animal from the perspective of what was usual, unusual and useful for food, tracking or killing the creatures.
He skinned it, taking care to save everything he could, just in case it had some alchemical applications. He wanted to be entirely aware of the moment it lost it's floating properties, which many of the dead creatures had, long before he got to them.
Cutting flesh from bone and carefully removing the innards did nothing to the creatures until the moment he cut the stomach from the beast
. In fact, as he cut away at the flesh, he noticed a Windstar well. "Ha! Maybe dis es why dem fly?" He exclaimed as he began to extract the well. But as he cut away at the flesh holding it in place, it became apparent that the beast was far from immune to its affects and there was some Well poisoning going on. "Hmmm... Looks like de well es nat gud far dem..." It finally came out from the creature with a *SLOP* sound.Much to Winston's surprise, the creature didn't just fall to the table.
He considered this for a moment as he put the well aside, somewhere safe, before turning back to the carcase.He cut the belly from the creature and as soon as it was free, the body no longer floated, relaxing down onto his table as any other swine would have. "Soh, et's de buoyancy af de organs dat make dem fly?"
"De wings are jost far maneuvering and the lights es casing the wells, nat the wells causing de flight!" He said with some excitement. "Et's a shame we need tuh open et op tuh see what's inside doh."
"Yeah. A real shame. Cos it already smells so amazing around here." Replied the Diri.
"Wimp." Replied the ferret as he moved to a clear table dedicated to the process of studying the contents of the pigs belly.
Cutting the flesh open, the contents of it's last meal spilled out over the table.
Studying it with considerable care, he began to get a good picture of what they liked to eat...
"Slimes..? Dem eat slimes!
""Well that's handy. Those things are a right past." Interjected Joe, remembering the mess the Giant Slime had made in Rharne only a while back.
"Shhhhhhh... Vega an' Kisaik will 'ear yuh." Chastised the ferret, refering to the two tiny, stunted slimes he'd collected that trial and was now keeping as pets. "Bot still, we cun use dis... Lets see what else we cun find..."
With continued care, he cut away at the flesh of the pig, slowly coming to the conclusion that as far as swine went, the
cuts on this pigs were among the most 'choice cuts' he'd ever seen on a wild boar.
"Yuh know wat, Joe. Dis meat looks like et would cook up fantastically." He glanced over toward the kitchen... He could not resist trying a small sample of bacon...Cutting a slice from the body of the pig, he took it to the kitchen and began preparing it. Adding a little seasoning and cooking at just the right temperature... The smell was delectable and as he tasted a mouthful of the suculent meat, his eyes widened. "Joe, ef only yuh had a tongue... Dis tastes immaculate... Hmmmm... could use a little bit af Rhanian spices." He said as he quickly started preparing a second mouthful and enjoying it more than he'd enjoyed pig from any other source.
"Oh yeah, just rub it in why don't yuh." Replied the spirit playfully as his companion enjoyed his impromptu meal.
"Mun, ef people find out 'ow delectable dese tings are, dey will... Hehe... Fly off de shelves." He pulled a 'do you get it' face at the Diri, who simply ignored him. "Hm... Kelpie would 'ave loved dat one."
"OOOooor, people will slaughter them indiscriminately until there are none left and the flavour of flying pig is lost forever to the vaults of time."
Winston paused... Joe had a very good point and if the attitude of the Glass Quarter was anything to go by, that could very well be the outcome. But if they could be sold on the idea of making sure the pigs were cultivated... That could lead to a new farming industry surrounding the creatures... An industry the COULD by headed from the Dust Quarter... "Dis could be very gud, Joe. Bot we need tuh act fast."
Without further hesitation and with the help of Smoky, he set about moving the Pig meat to his cold room. As soon as the meat was sowed and he had cleaned himself of the gore of his trade, he put his armor back on and set off towards the Dust Quarter again. "First thing's first. We need tuh get de pigs somewhere safer den de Dust Quarter, befar dem all ded." Announced the ferret as he took off toward the sky, followed by
his mount
.QUACK
Continued here >>
Those poor pocket slimes! Hopefully none of the pigs find them.