Welcome to the Usoregon Trail, Beware Dysentery:
Tomblyn and Scrabler clamber into the wagon, and a strange and aggravating series of events take place. Scrabler, seeking to ride shotgun proves nearly disastrous as his unnatural appearance spooked the horses, causing the team pulling the cart to bolt. Tomblyn, being once upon a time used to relatively primitive desert trappings and a simple lifestyle successfully gets the horses to stop without too much trouble; but the distraction proves to aggravate Flea, and leads to Scrabler sitting in the back of the wagon complaining about exactly how boring a long wagon ride through the wasteland really was.
And the robotic whining went on almost ceaselessly.
Heading east in general seemed to be about the most direction Flea seemed to ask for: The first leg of any trip in that direction led to crossing the mountains... Or, what was left of the mountains. Out of the desert it was a long and painstaking journey uphill. The trail would take Ace and his crew through what once was the Osman Hunting Reserve. Evergreen forests that clung to the rain shadow of the mountain, and one of the few places on the planet where green things could still grow.
But the winding path Flea takes draws Ace and company through the burnt out shell of the forest. Blackened trunks of trees scorched by heat of the explosion that leveled Mt. Gleipnir, and the occasional scorched husk of an abandoned hunting lodge which was lost in the forest fires. All the while, peeking through the trees was the magnificent view of the massive crater that was one the mountain where Cyrus would start his own base... Tiny figures in the distance shoveling through the wreckage, maybe workers sorting debris for Vier's refinery, or else Ragnarok scavengers looking for anything salvageable from the destroyed base.
Ultimately, following this trail would take the entire first day of the trip. Clearing the mountain would get them out through the pass by the next morning. But this expedition was still Ace's, to a degree. The first stop for a meal finds Ace and company stopping in a clearing of blackened earth surrounded by scorched pillars of trees turned charcoal, facing a meal of foul-tasting gritty algae rations.
Scrabler complains primarily of this trip being boring, and not likely profitable if they're just going to these ruins and back. He suggests that the group take the time to stop and loot some of the ruined hunting lodges where Osman nobility once had free roam.
Tomblyn is more pre-occupied with the rationing of food, expressing total dislike of the foul supplies the planet can offer. This place was once one of the rare viable hunting grounds on the planet, and Tomblyn suggests that it's plausible for them to stop and hunt for extra rations.
Flea spends the time eating her own packed supplies, and looking over the maps, navigating possible paths. She seems mostly on the side of keeping up the pace and reaching the ruins sooner, although doesn't seem to be that friendly and mostly keeps apart from the group.
Ace, being the nominal leader of the expedition gets to choose!
