NESCraft II Day Nine
We knew it would rain, for all the morn,
A spirit on slender ropes of mist
Was lowering its golden buckets down
Into the vapory amethyst
Of marshes and swamps and dismal fens—
Scooping the dew that lay in the flowers,
Dipping the jewels out of the sea,
To sprinkle them over the land in showers.
We knew it would rain, for the poplars showed
The white of their leaves, the amber grain
Shrunk in the wind— and the lightning now
Is tangled in tremulous skeins of rain!
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Daftpanzer
The clouds quickly turn to rain as you work to keep the fire alive, managing to grill (or is it steam?) some veggies to share with Decamper before you turn your attention to crafting a long throwing spear. Perhaps it is the rain or the slippery fingers but you never do manage to properly attach a head to the spear and finally, frustrated, you give up and head out to hunt.
Following the scuffling sounds of wild pigs in the rain, you finally fall upon a small herd and manage to skewer a mid-sized male cleanly, though you break your spear doing so. Returning to the camp, you cut the bristles, gristle, fat, and meat from the hide and using Decamper's rock-salt, the fire, and the plentiful rain water, manage to turn out a very nice supple leather hide you are quite satisfied with.
In the evening Decamper presents you with a linen sheet you throw around your shoulders. She explains that it is a reflection of the spirits of the land and as she does you see the colors of the land ripple and shift within its threads.
Pulling the sheet tightly around you and huddling by the fire to try to keep a little dry, you do not manage to sleep very well and in the morning you wake tired and cranky and very very wet.
Daftpanzer
Traits: Ranger
Status: Healthy. Well-fed (+1AP). Poorly rested (-1P). Warm. Smells normal.
Action Points: 3
Inventory: Whicker shield (poor quality, poor durability), Linen toga (minor enchant: "camouflage", medium quality, poor durability)
Stashed Nearby: Raw Pork (2). Thick leather (medium quality, medium durability)
Decamper
The clouds roll in and very soon you are struggling to throw enough wood on the fire to keep it roaring despite the deluge. Eventually the fire is high and bright enough that you can share a breakfast of grilled vegetables with Daftpanzer and can turn your attention to meditating with your totem, letting its mana fill you down to the bones, noting as you do that your wound feels much better today and you can move much more freely. You wonder if you were able to use the totem's mana to have accelerated your healing yesterday and suspect it is the case.
Wondering what else the mana of the totem might do you turn your attention to weaving the nearby reeds and grasses into a larger sheet. It takes you nearly all day and during this time Daftpanzer wanders off into the rain-wet wilds, returning much later dragging a wild pig that he has managed to kill. As he works on the hide of the beast, using some salt you offer him to help soften the hide, you work on and as night falls you finally complete your weaving, your fingers like prunes and not a bit of you dry. You observe the cloth and as you watch its colors shift and move under the raindrops and you feel that it is at one with the spirits of the wild plants and the land, that it will hide itself and those it covers amongst these natural forms. Quite satisfied, you present your enchanted linens to Daftpanzer who throw it around his shoulders.
You settle in to sleep but rest only fitfully, too wet and uncomfortable to sleep well. The morning comes and the storm has passed but the drizzle continues. You throw more sticks on the fire and are happy that you have not lost its heat as you try to dry your hands.
Decamper
Traits: Spiritual
Status: Healthy. Well-fed (+1P). Poorly rested (-1AP). Warm
Action Points: 3
Inventory: Stone Pickax (poor quality, poor durability)
Stashed Nearby: Rose Quartz Willow (basic totem: 1 mana). String (1)
Mana: 0
Karma: 1
Everblack
You begin the day with light meditation but as a light drizzle turns heavier, your mind wanders and you don't feel particularly attached to the wilds or anything else.
Giving up, and the rain falling heavier, you gather your tools, a nice piece of timber, and some nearby long grasses and move indoors to work on a new wooden case you can sling across your back to help carry spears. At first you have some trouble and you even have a very vivid image of yourself cracking the timber down the side but your actual work is much better than your imagined fears and in the end you have a lovely case you can use to carry spears while your hands are open to wield your atlatl or do other things.
Atlatl and twin spears at the ready, you head out to hunt the large horned beast that appear to enjoy the low-lying swampy lands to the west. Practiced in hunting and stalking your prey, and well-armed, you manage to drive one of your spears deep into the neck of a creature on your first throw, bringing it down cleanly. You field-dress your kill and return it to the tipi, blessed with enough food that you are likely to see some rot before you are finished all of it.
As you settle in for the evening, your stomach full of grilled beef, dry and warm by your indoor fire and wrapped in furs as the rain continues to fall in violent cascades outside.
Morning comes and the drizzle continues. You notice that all the rain has managed to loosen some of the efforts you put into the tipi and it will require maintenance if it is to last through another storm like yesterday's.
Everblack
Traits: Ranger, Stalker
Status: Healthy. Well-nourished (+1 AP). Well-Rested (+1 AP)
Action Points: 5
Inventory: Atlatl (poor quality, poor durability). Spear (Poor quality, Poor durability). Spear (Poor quality, Poor durability). Cured Deer Hide (moderate quality, poor durability). Spear-case (carries two spears).
Stashed Nearby: Wooden Carving (Poor quality, Medium durability). Tipi (good quality, very poor durability). Fishing net (poor quality, poor durability). Stone tools (Poor quality. Poor durability), Stone Axe (Medium quality, poor durability). Timber (1). Beef (2). Sinew (1). Raw water buffalo hide (v. poor quality, v poor durability).
Mana: 0
Karma: 0
J.K. Stockholme
You spend the morning carving out a dug-out canoe from a large tree you fell with your ax, but when the crabs return, curious, you hastily eat your fish and light another torch to keep them at bay.
You complete the canoe and head out into the sea, putting everything you own in it and propping your torch in the prow to bring fire with you. You make your way to the island to the south-east, this time without major upsets, though you do burn through the torch you had lit on the island as you do and have to light another.
As you go, you manage to successfully catch a fish by slowly drifting near it in your canoe before skewering it with your spear. You feel you have learned much about fishing from all the fishing you have done and will be much better at it going forward.
The island you arrive at is a small one but curiously appears to have been the site of a major strike by some celestial object as a big crater lies on its southern shores and in it lies a hard metallic ball of red and ochre, half fallen apart.
You use your torch to relight your fire using nearby sticks and using the canoe for shelter, sleep for the night. The sun rises and you can hear the familiar eerie echo of orcas at play nearby.
J.K. Stockholme
Traits: Waterborne, Fishy, Crafty
Status: Healthy. Well-fed (+1AP). Rested
Action Points: 4
Inventory: Spear (poor quality, poor durability), Stone ax (moderate quality, very poor durability)
Stashed Nearby: Dugout canoe (medium quality, medium durability). Fish (1). Fish bones (2).
Karma: 0
Kyzarc Fotjage
Continuing your eastward journey, you come to a river and finding it teaming with loons and frogs, and other small animals, set to hunting in the area, quickly trapping some frogs and even a large male bird which you eat raw.
Finding the area suitable to your needs for now, you gather grasses and weave them into string before settling in for the evening sleeping on the branch of a low tree but awakening on the ground, suddenly and violently as the wind howls dangerously through the night. As the windstorm rages, you pull your furs close and huddle on the ground, alert for predators and despite hearing some howling during the night, awaken rested and safe in the morning.
The morning sun reveals a region rich in wildlife with various herd animals and both wild dogs and wolves in the vicinity as well as multiple species of bird.
Kyzarc Fotjage
Traits: Explorer
Status: Healthy. Fed. Rested.
Action Points: 3
Inventory: Bone spear (poor quality, poor durability), Stone tools (moderate quality, poor durability), Cured wooly sheep hide (poor quality, poor durability)
Stashed Nearby: String (1). Feathers. Bird bones.
Karma: 0
LordArgon
You wake with Lord_Herobrine and you share a breakfast of grilled beef before setting to building some stone tool, which despite your crafty nature, you are not terribly satisfied with. None-the-less, you use these and your axe, as to begin turning your timber into a small timber cabin. You work on this all day but as the sun sets, settle in for the night, handing off your efforts to Lord_Herobrine who continues through the night while you sleep.
In the morning you awaken and find the cabin is completed, the craftsmanship quite good and built to last.
LordArgon
Traits: Crafty, Leafy
Status: Healthy. Rested. Well-fed (+1AP). Warm.
Action Points: 4
Inventory: Stone axe (poor quality, poor durability), Sling (moderate quality, very poor durability), Lizard skin satchel (+2 inventory, moderate quality, moderate durability), Stone tools (poor quality, poor durability).
Stashed Nearby: Small timber cabin (moderate quality, good durability). String (1). Lizard skin
Lord_Herobrine
Watching the circling birds, you watch them swoop down and lift struggling mice or lizards back into the sky, flying off to presumably feed their young at their nest. You look around for sharp rocks and find some.
You then set to your auroch hide, scraping off the fat and gristle then shaping it with repeated rinsing and drying by the fire. You might be able to do a better job with some salt or other materials, but with what you have, you manage a very fine job indeed and you feel you have learned much about working with leathers, skills you bring to bear as you work the auroch hide into a fine soft bedroll.
You then begin a collaborative project with LordArgon, taking up where he left off as he settles in for the night and the sun begins to set, working on the hut using the timber provided. The work is long but as the sun rises, you have a nice small timber cabin in which you and LordArgon can hide from predators and the heat of the day and in which you can hide your goods. Examining the cabin in the morning light, you are satisfied that it will last.
The sun rises and you feel tired but well-fed and healthy, eager to greet the day!
Lord_Herobrine
Traits: Ranger, Tanner
Status: Healthy. Tired (-1AP). Well-Fed (+1AP). Warm.
Action Points: 3
Inventory: Stone spear with prickly cactus spines (poor quality, very poor durability), Stone tools (poor quality, very poor durability), Cured Dear hide (poor quality, poor durability)
Stashed Nearby: Small timber cabin (moderate quality, good durability). Hide bedroll (good quality, medium durability). Beef (1). Zebra bones. Auroch bones.
Karma: 1
Marcher Jovian
The threatening clouds quickly mature into a significant downpour and as you go about retrieving your materials from your western camp and returning them to your cave you are thoroughly drenched. Some of your stashed materials are missing and you notice the tracks of wild fowl of some sort in the area and assume they have pilfered your lunch. None-the-less, you manage to get the majority of your gear back to your cave by early afternoon.
You forage around your new camp, finding enough food to feed yourself for today and tomorrow, as well as some brightly colored roots you realize can be be used to prepare a bright dye with a bit of grinding and boiling, then tired, settle in to sleep in the dry of the cave. You wake at dawn to the continued sound of the rain falling in torrential sheets lying on the half-eaten, still warm carcass of a gazelle you could have sworn wasn't there when you fell asleep. Your face and hands are bloody and there are bloody paw prints all around the cave. Your stomach is uncomfortably full and you remain tired and exhausted as if you hadn't slept at all.
Marcher Jovian
Traits: Leafy. Herby. Leopardy.
Status: Deep Exhaustion (small malus to all tasks). Well-fed (+1AP). Tired (-1AP). Warm.
Action Points: 3
Inventory: Stone ax (poor quality, very poor durability), Stone tools (poor quality, poor durability)
Stashed Nearby: Stone hoe (moderate quality, poor durability). Gazelle meat (1), Uncured Gazelle hide (very poor quality, very poor durability). Raw sinew (1). Raw Veggies (1). Medical herbs (1). Dye root (1). Gazelle bones (more than yesterday). Chicken bones.
Omega
You wake to racous cawing and peeking your head out of the cave notice a huge flock of ravens have descended on the forests to the south and west and appear to be systematically consuming all the fruit upon them. Their cawing is incessent and loud and appears to drive away the smaller rabbits but not to bother a curious fox who playfully chases and jumps after them, seemingly never catching any.
You turn to crafting yourself a spear, using local bones to assist and manage to build yourself a tool you feel is suitable for fishing. Using this you head down to the nearby stream and despite the pain in your gut, manage to catch a sparkling river trout you cook on your fire.
You spend the rest of the day napping and watching the clouds before heading in to rest properly for the night.
You awaken in the morning rested and healed and notice the ravens remain, though are quieter now. A small troupe of giant wooly albino orangutans have settled in the region, foraging nearby.
Omega
Traits: Warrior
Status: Healthy. Well fed (+1). Well-rested (+1 AP).
Action Points: 5
Inventory: Bone spear (medium quality, poor durability). Stone tools (poor quality, very poor durability). Cured Muskox pelt (poor quality, poor durability)
Stashed Nearby: Stone pickax (moderate quality, poor durability), Stone tools (poor quality, poor durability). Stone wall (poor quality, good durability). Rabbit bones. Tiger claws. Tiger teeth. Fish bones (2). Stone (1)
Karma: 0
Thomas.Berubug
Today you must reclaim your territory. First you must make the mark of man and nothing says human like the 'red flower'. You light your fire despite a small drizzle, taking most of the day to do so then set about after the hyenas, throwing javelins at them and waving a burning branch from the fire at them. Their stomachs full, and not really enjoying the javelins being thrown at them, the hyenas wander off, prancing southward without apparently really fearing you. In the process one of your javelins has broken.
The rain really begins to fall in the late afternoon and you spend some time gating more wood to throw on the fire and make sure it doesn't go out, while drinking as much rain water to provide you with the moisture to urinate all along the perimeter of your territory.
As evening falls you notice the return of the wild horses to the northern plains. You rest your head, happy to have reclaimed your land, the rains picking up and falling violently through the night. You wake up to continued drizzling and a low fire. Your are well-rested and thanks to your lean-to relatively dry, but hungry.
The wind and rain has damaged your lean-to and it will require some attention if it is to survive another storm. Your arch appears fine despite the winds.
Thomas.Berubug
Traits: Leafy, Builder
Status: Healthy. Hungry (-1AP). Well-Rested (+1AP).
Action Points: 3
Inventory: Wooden javelin (very poor quality, very poor durability).
Stashed Nearby: Stone arch (moderate quality, poor durability), Lean-to (moderate quality, very poor durability), Horse bones
Mana: 1
Karma: 0
