A new dawn, a new base

Ed stayed awake throughout the night and was lucky enough to avoid any roaming wild creatures, when dawn came he marvelled as the sun rose over the canyon and chased the shadows away as sun conquered night in their eternal struggle. The view in the ravine perhaps didn't have the majesty of the wide expanse of noob river but its relatively hidden location made him feel safer and abundant resources optimistic.

In truth he did find that life at the new location was easier... provided he avoided the crocodiles but he soon learned where they tended to lie in wait. As he explored the immediate vicinity and stripped it of all useful resources then over the next couple of days Ed built a new shelter larger than before with a furnace to melt the iron ore into useful iron bars and various benches to craft tools, armour and weapons. It was a remarkable turn of events given that in the real world he'd struggle to do DIY yet here within the Exiled Lands he was able to create a functioning blacksmiths bench to forge weapons.

Staying close to the river provided continuous fresh water and the abundant gazelles which he learned to hunt gave easy access to food. As his dwelling grew the safer he felt, soon he was able to upgrade his equipment from basic stone to being made of iron which quickened his ability to gather resources. One of his breakthroughs was figuring out how to craft armour from the gazelle hides he'd gathered. Success bred more success in the Exiled Lands and as his confidence grew he even created an animal pen to raise his pet hyena which he'd named Stripy due to the markings on its fur.

He had located a camp close to his shelter but the people there didn't patrol the area and just seemed to hang around where they were with no interest of what was outside of their line of sight. They got aggressive whenever he approached them and attacked him regardless of whether he was armed or not, they even attacked when he offered gifts despite his pleas for a truce but he'd managed to escape their attacks each time with only minor injuries.

On one particular occasion an aggressive warrior had chased him back to his camp and then wondered off again when Ed managed to find sanctuary inside his dwelling. The warrior seemed satisfied that he'd chased Ed away and didn't seem to have the inclination to follow him inside or organise an attack to overrun his home.

Ed could have stayed there living off gazelle in his new life but the days were long and hard despite his successes. He formulated a plan, it was **** in many ways but Ed felt he had **** if he were to discover more about how, why and what he was doing in this place.

He hoped to capture someone from the nearby camp and if needs be **** them to talk to him. He fashioned a sturdy truncheon to knock them out, some bindings to incapacitate them and the most **** device, a lesser wheel of pain which was a device based on something he'd seen in the Conan film where a captive pushed a wheel round and round until their will was broken.

Ed knew it was radical but the alternative seemed to be stagnation and a solitary existence until he was driven further mad from loneliness, he truly believed that since the friendly approach had not worked then he would have to **** the issue. Happy with his justification for the kidnap and subjugation of what he believed was another human being he approached the nearby camp then scouted the area and waited until one of the warriors was alone.