Another time displaced post.

A continuation of the previous post.

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While I'm certain other people have gotten a chance to examine a lifealope up close I may be one of the first to actually do so with it alive and with the creature calm and somewhat relaxed.  I was able to actually coaxe the wolf close in after a few hours of patiently sitting by my campfire, after I'd set my rifle down outside of my reach anyway.

I sat there quietly with a handful of juniper berries in my hand waiting, finally it approached and after a short, and tense standoff it laid down in front of me and allowed me to come close. So after offering it the juniper berries I examined its wound, and the creature before me. As I'd guessed before it appeared to have been shot in the shoulder with no exit wound. I carefully examined the wound, I confirmed there was a bullet in there with a device that had been fashioned using a studfinder and a metal detector. (sold for five bullets of any pistol caliber, only available, as far as I know, at Fry's Silicon Republic in Seattle) I then used a small dab of numbing poultice (mint, mutated nettle and some wet clay to hold it all together), and waiting a bit before attempting to fish the bullet out with a set of medical tweezers sterilized in the fire.

Yes I was successful in pulling the bullet, and yes I got bit for my trouble, but that was more of a reaction it seems rather than intent because once I had pulled the bullet it began to wag its tail and it released my shoulder, and healed the bite.

Once I'd cleaned off the bullet and examined it I found it was rather corroded and was disintegrating in the air rapidly. There were runes carved into it but it crumbled too fast for me to make sense of it, but my guess is that it was designed to inhibit the healing energies that are naturally present in lifealopes, because a few minutes later you couldn't tell the lifealope had been shot. It also seems to have decided to follow me for the time being.


I wonder... if it knew I was hiking into the hellish landscape of the ashlands would it be so willing to travel with me? Then again this is probably a fools errand trying to find an old world tech cache, though the pay is good, since I'm getting a can of 5.45 in advance and a can of 5.45 on confirmation of the location or extend of damage to, according to this military map the "Granite inn" vehicle and equipment storage facility. My guess, if I had to wager on it, is that all the gear was deployed during the Chinese invasion and is lost to the ash of yellowstone. Though if it is intact, I get a finders fee of as much as I can carry myself, and regardless I'm making a total of 880 military grade rifle rounds for the work, so I can't complain too much, even if it is wandering around the ashlands trying to find landmarks in its shattered landscape.