> Don't forget to feed Vesta! Get some firewood from some old, broken houses
You haven't forgotten to feed Vesta. In fact, you just did that. But you collect up the rest of the broken crate anyway, and put it in your Bag to give her later, when she gets hungry. Well, she's
always hungry, but... you know what I mean.
Othodox found some Splintery Planks! Othodox put the Splintery Planks in the Fuel Pocket.
>Check your inventory. Might find stuff you can combine.
Inventory:
Adamantine Spider Silk x7
Badly Cracked Dangerous Makeshift Knife x1
Beauteous Ring x1
Berry x1
Bloodstained Mail x1
Broken Knife x1
Bulging Wallet x1
Decayed Potion x1
Delicious Meat Bits x2
Elm's Key x1
Flowery Wreath x1
Glass Shards x5
Green Apricorn x1
Half a Cup of Cold Coffee x1
Half a Roll of Gaffer Tape x1
Hambone x1
Hyper Potion x2
Jar of Fish Eggs x1
Jar of Sentient Fire x1
Lava Cookie x7
Lithium Batteries x4
Long-Range Scanner Attachment x1
Machine for Predicting the Number of Pips in an Unopened Orange x1
Machine Pistol Magazine x6
Miracle Seed x1
My First Tri-Beam Laser GunTM x1
Mysterious Note x1
Novelty Giraffe Shoe x1
Poisonous Needle x1
Poké Ball x1
Portable Spratchery x1
Potion x2
Powerless Tablet Computer x1
Rare Bone x1
Rocks x12
Sealed Box of Dustox Powder x1
Shiny Stone x1
Splintery Planks x5
Stale Baguette x1
Stylish Dress x1
Togepi Egg Shard x3
Weird Shrivelled Thing x1
> Okay I sence the narrator us to examine the Portable Spratchery, from the subtle clues he gave and maybe that pip detector what if we need to detect pips later? also I think we should try combining the poison needle with the broken knife see if we could make some sort of weapon
The Portable Spratchery looks a bit like a blunderbuss revolver, if such a thing existed – it consists of a flared barrel as thick as your forearm, connected to a revolving six-chambered drum the size of a small cat. There's a stock and trigger, like your average everyday blunderbuss, but there are also a bewildering array of LEDs flashing intermittently on its flanks.
Thankfully, there are also instructions.
Hey! So you've purchased a Portable Spratchery. Congratulations! You've taken the first step on your way to total culinary independence.
Before we go any further, there is one thing you must absolutely take care to do before starting up your Spratchery for the first time, and that is
Here, unfortunately, the instructions appear to have become mired in blood, and you have to skip a few sentences.
at the first sign of sentience. Now, on to the actual operation!
The Spratchery can contain the full genetic code of any one species of fish at a time. By default, this is set to be that of the sprat, but you can purchase and download different species from our e-shop at www.fishspawn.jto/spratchery/buy. The other component it requires to function is ammunition, and for this any organic material will suffice, as long as you have enough of it. (Please note that vegetable material will be required in greater quantities to produce the same effects as animal.) Simply fill one or more of the barrels, take aim at a suitable spot (we suggest a pond, if only to prevent your fish being tenderised on impact) and fire!
The Portable Spratchery. Never be without fresh fish again!
Right. Why did Mr. Pokémon have this, exactly? And how on earth does it not constitute cruelty to animals? You can't answer either of these questions, but it seems like you'll be able to generate an almost endless quantity of food with this thing, provided you can find enough stuff to load it with.
The Machine for Predicting the Number of Pips in an Unopened Orange requires no explanation. A beautiful crystalline lens projects from its burnished bronze side on a little arm; you place an orange under that and a set of brass numerals revolve into place to tell you how many pips are in the subject under examination.
You weep for a little while over its exquisite beauty, then put it away and jam the Broken Knife into the base of the Poisonous Needle. It's a little wobbly, so you finish up the roll of Gaffer Tape in securing it further.
Othodox crafted one Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing! Othodox put the Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing in the Weapons Pocket.
Aw, yeah.
> Combining knife and needle sounds like an excellent idea. Definitely do that. Also, if there's nothing left to do in Ecruteak, I suggest we head off to Olivine quickly.
You leave Ecruteak with no small measure of relief; it's really not a nice place now that it's been filled with Ghosts and stuff. Just beyond the gatehouse to the west, you encounter the edge of the black dome, and emerge into a darkness scarcely less total: it seems to be quite late at night.
Huh. What Pokémon do you find on Route 38 at night?
Rattata. Meowth. Spinarak. Magnemite. Miltank. Tauros.
Tauros.
Tauros are mostly diurnal, you recall, but if you run into one, you really do want it to be in the light rather than the dark. And that rule, by the way, applies to regular Tauros.
An Eldritch Tauros is an entirely different matter.
You take the Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing out of your Bag and hold it at the ready. Eldritch or not, you're willing to bet that no Pokémon's going to enjoy an outsize Twineedle in the skull.
There are, as ever, three paths here. The high road, the low road, and the overgrown road.
You aren't, however, certain which one would be best to take.