Did you see the partial Solar Eclipse?
It wasn't visible here

 

I gues Alice will eat the leftovers but Cat should eat dinner with the others while Alice cleans the kitchen.

No way, the epicenter in central Myanmar was about 2500 km away!
Luckily.

I am still hoping to at least meet her in a dream one day - with Alice around. What would she do?

Hit her with a metal bar?

Haha, I don't think you can make Alice not question everything.

Patience my friend, we are thinking hard about what to do. Alice is right, the situation is unfavorable. The potential enemy knows the environment and with the cart Cat cannot move freely. I doubt anyone would straight on attack a huge Barbarian like Cat carrying a Greatsword but a distraction might be enough to steal something from the cart Or it may be someone without any hostile intentions at all. We are playing to have fun so I'm with Alice, a stink bomb is the best non-lethal option. We have not caused trouble for Freya today so go with it!

Is there a reason Ashley favors donkey over mules?
I admit we had no idea about any equines but as Cat has the Animal Handling skill she showed some rare interest and learned. Also talked to Alice and she's right, a mule is superior to a donkey in everything. Amazing hybrid animals actually! That's why modern armies still use them in rough terrain.

And we didn't get Ashley wants a real fancy carriage. This may be some problem with Cat, good luck convincing her to pilot or ride in something like the noble's carriage that Ashley fancied at the shop. But gameplay-wise, isn't a carriage for people and not cargo? What is the carrying capacity?

We could have easily afforded an 80 gp or even 100 gp carriage but it appears Ashley wants all or nothing? Cat says the hand cart is much better because she can pull it on her own. You can go shopping on any market without the need of an animal and it's easier to conceal. Together with 2 mules we should have enough carrying capacity.

Currently we have a max capacity of 370 lbs for the party.
With Cat being able to tow 1000 lbs, towing a 150 lbs cart leaves 850 lbs. And 2 mules with 420 lbs capacity each we have 2060 lbs total capacity for the party.
If one mule is able to pull 2100 lbs, a 2000 lbs capacity cart weighting 300 lbs leaves 1800 lbs. 420 lbs for the 2nd mule and 370 lbs for the party makes a whopping 2590  lbs! That's over 1t. Still Cat could pull 700 lbs with that cart.
It might be good to invest in a harness for one mule.

Or did I make an Alice-mistake?