Rabbits on Mars

"Excuse me, sir, have you heard the good news?"

Good news? What good news could you deliver? Everything's looking bleak.

Well, you suppose it's good news for the snake that three delicious rabbits have turned up right in front of it, but judging by the way it's salivating, you think it already knew that.

> Pretend to be a Martian mongoose.

> Pretend to be a jehova's witness

You have never heard of either a mongoose or a jehova. Are these more crazy ideas from that silly book you've completely forgotten about? Well, you're not going to impress Jack much if this is the best you can come up with.

Don't worry! Impress it with your knowledge of antivenins!

Ah, of course! You've read a number of treatments for this snake's venom, although really the poison isn't the part you're concerned about. Nevertheless, you begin explaining them in great detail. The most common remedy involves taking the bark of the Martian spruce and grinding it into powder, then mixing it into boiling Marsberry juice. However, if in the wild and unable to properly prepare that solution, the leaves of the common Marsroot bush are an effective remedy for most poisons, provided you can deal with the side effects of excessive vomiting...

POW!

"Thanks for the distraction, Lag. Can we get going now?"

Wait, what? Distraction? Oh, it looks like Cottontail punched the snake while it was listening to your explanation. It's out cold. Well, that wasn't terribly polite, but at least you're free to move on now.

Looking ahead, you could climb the sheer cliff face, as you did before. But there's also a narrow trail heading up the side; it would probably be easier to climb there, but you wouldn't have much room to maneuver if any more wildlife gets in the way.

Oh, and you can also see a cave entrance. But you have no idea if that would lead further on at all, and you happen to be well aware of the large variety of dangerous creatures that dwell in Martian caves.

So which path will you take?