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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ptolemy" data-source="post: 9262174" data-attributes="member: 1412">The story starts out a simple diary and gets more detailed as I found myself taking more notes...Stranded Start date: 180-1079Day 1Due to a miss-jump we ended up having to do an emergency landing on Gunn in an escape pod. Landed on the glacier on the East of the Island. Met up with Helena, Peter and Vasquez. Also with Noreena Sampson (F, 14, daughter of Lord Evan Sampson, Baron of Caladbolg)  and her tutor/chaperon Miss Lucy (f, 62). Miss Lucy thought we were a threat to Noreena and I needed to use Telepathy to disarm her after she started brandishing one of the snub pistols she had recovered from a pod. We got along after she saw how we are looking after her princess. She is very deferent to “Sir” Helena.Day 2Having made sledges from parts of the wrecked pods we pulled them across the glacier towards the west where the electronic map indicated Settlement is. Made Camp.Day 3Carried on across the glacier. Camp.Day 4Reached the edge of the glacier. Found a cave which a weird dog-lizard lived in. Killed and ate the beast although it bit me and I needed to use awareness to heal and avoid potential infection.Day 5Stayed in cave while P and V and scouted ahead.Day 6Stayed at cave using clairvoyance to see ahead.Day 7Headed out to the west. Came across another "razormouth" as Noreena has labelled them. We tried to sneak past but Miss Lucy and Noreena were a little clumsy. When it came to investigate we shot it. They don’t taste very nice.Day 8Hard going in the marshes. V found some quicksand in ankle deep water. Only managed half a dozen kilometres today.Day 9We are in the central uplands. We are keeping to the higher ground to avoid the marshes. Sick of the wet! Noreena is starting to enjoy the adventure after days of moaning. On the other hand Miss Lucy is starting to struggle. She is trying to hide it but it is clear now.Day 10We decided to make a raft. Spent all day on it and but it will be difficult with the tools at our disposal. I spoke to P about it and then worked out a rota and we are making progress. We have found a deep cave with fissures running deeper underground.Day11We carried on making the raft. Hard work and we don’t really know what we are doing. Noreena improvised a sketch show in the evening which was very silly and funny. Miss Lucy was horrified and had an argument with Helena who spent some precious comm battery filming it. But it cheered us up.Day 12More raft building. H and V went hunting and Noreena went with them. Tempers frayed a little as Miss Lucy thinks the raft is taking too long. We met a strange dinosaur-like thing or “plateface” as Noreena called it. Like a little triceratop. They seem peaceful and we have plenty of food so we didn’t try to hunt it.Day 13Raft coming along better now. It will be finished tomorrow. We will hunt and then rest for the remainder of tomorrow, setting off the next day. Even Miss Lucy is looking better for the break in the rain. Helena spoke to her about the benefits of this kind of experience in a leader, so Lucy is less concerned about the impact of all of this on Noreena’s “development”. Noreena is intelligent and keen to learn. Everyone likes her after a rocky start. No longer the spoiled brat she was!Day 14Steering a raft is not easy. Noreena fell off twice and I did one one occasion, which Helena will never let me forget. Made good progress though. Our evening routine is well established now. Noreena will act out a one person “play”, another will tell a story. We might play charades (V is surprisingly good at guessing, H naturally good at expressing) and then security checks, which everyone takes part in.Day 15We were followed by some small crocodiles today. Half a dozen or so. V shot one with the survival rifle. It tasted awful but Noreena made a little song about them which wasn’t very good really but we all laughed at Miss Lucy’s face! I am still starting the day with clairvoyance and it seems to be helping. Helena backs up my “intuition” and no one seems suspicious yet. Well, maybe P.Day 16We reached the end of the current patch of water. P, myself and N went ahead to scout and about 6 km farther on we found navigable water agin. We rested for the day and will try to carry the raft tomorrow. We are all tired and need the rest.Day 17We were quite disorganised so again my leadership skills came in handy - if only to make sure P got his way. We spent all day moving the raft and camp. We found a carcass of a “plateface” covered in the little bat-like crawlers which we saw alit on the first razermouth that we killed. We will look out for them, as we think they follow the razormouths.Day 18We managed to go a couple of kilometres when Miss Lucy - who was otherwise unoccupied - spotted a tower on the hill we were circumnavigating. It took us the rest of the morning to get to the summit and clear the undergrowth from the tunnel-entrance. It was an old scout refuge. It had old solar panels which still worked! We cleaned the moss from the panels to get as much juice out of them as possible and spent the rest of the day charging and using our comms, playing games or making notes. Helena worked out that the whole building was an antenna and, with the signal boosted, we were able to pick up a ship transponder! I must confess to a tear in my eye at the news. Lucy was positively bawling. Only Noreena looked glum. It was a false alarm though. We merely picked up the transponder from the Lusitania, which was the ship we were on when all this happened. I am going to study up on astrogation if we get out of here. This won’t happen on my watch!Day 19Our punting was prevented by thick overgrown bushes and trees. We turned around and will try again tomorrow. Spirits are low after the false hope of the transponder. Even Noreena’s mood was low.Day 20We moved farther out on the lake today, to avoid the higher ground to the west, which would make the raft useless. I was definitely nervous. If the others were they didn’t show it. We thought we spotted a few of the little croc things. But nothing came close enough for us to be sure.Day21We got a shock this morning! A “croconeck” (again N), stuck its head out of the water and started nosing through our stuff. It wasn’t very large, but it did it so casually that when P turned round and noticed it he literally yelped! Other than that we had a good day’s travel.Day 22We took a day off and hunted. We are doing ok for food but we wanted a break and to be back on dry land, if there is such a thing here. We split into two parties and even Lucy took part. Just as we were about to turn back we came across the most unexpected find. A section of fused road. It was unmistakable. Presumably from  an earlier period of colonisation. I think may even be Vilani dating back to the First Imperium.Day 23Another good day of travel. P lost his comm, though. He dropped it overboard and we couldn’t find it as the water was a few metres deep at that point. We are all being extra careful in case it happens to any of us. Noreena’s evening sketch was pretty ruthless!Day 23A very rainy day but good progress. Helena and I can feel the presence of the settlement, it’s only 70 or 80 km away. But we can’t let the others know, for the obvious reason.Day 24It was so sunny today we only travelled for a few hours and then rested. Noreena has contrived an awful string instrument - apparently she is something of a cello prodigy. She regaled us for a half an hour as we threw things at her to get her to stop. Spirits were lifted. I have started teaching her some presentation skills and Helena has been talking to her about script writing and she tells us she is writing a three act play about the journey.Day 25Disaster! We lost our raft and a lot of out equipment, including a tent, food and some survival packs. A huge long necked crocodile - Noreena later lamented that she had given away the name "croconecks" too quickly - attacked us. None of us saw it coming. It bumped us from underneath and then tried to take a bite out of the raft. Noreena fell in but the rest of us kept our footing. Lucy dived straight in to get Noreena - which was unnecessary as the little one can swim pretty well - and lost her pack and machete in the process. P, V and myself opened fire straight away and used a lot of ammunition. V had the carbine and used almost all the rounds we have. I ended up going in the water to help Lucy and got a nasty nip from the critter. I lost my knife in it’s mouth and nearly lost my arm - again awareness training saved me. Parts of the raft came loose and by the time we got back to “dry” land it was only three logs. Old “BigSki” as Noreena had named our “vessel” was no more. We grimly packed up, found a dryish patch of land and set up camp. We didn’t play charades. Miss Lucy is pretty ill and seems to have a fever. Noreena is very upset.Day 26Crash! We saw the final descent of the Lusitania in the early hours. P, who was on watch, woke us all and we watched in silence. We didn’t discuss it, we just packed as soon as we had eaten and set off west towards the crash sight. There might be valuable salvage! We rigged up a make-shift stretcher over Lucy’s protestation as she obviously can’t walk far. She suggested we come back for her but we didn’t want to leave her. A surprisingly good 10 km today.Day 27Razormoths! We wandered into a clearing with more than half a dozen of the critters! A tense moment passed and then P opened up with with his snub pistol and I joined in. We both hit a couple but didn’t bring any of them down. The noise startled them and they ran. We were pretty lucky and I think we are somewhat reckless after losing the raft. Spirits remain low and we are all worried about Lucy. Noreena suggested that we leave the hunt for the wreckage and go straight for the settlement but we are only a few kilometres away so agreed to carry on in the morning.Day 28It was harder going than we expected and so had to back-track. Spirits at an all time low. Noreena is barley speaking and spends all her time with Lucy. I think she feels guilty that she was enjoying herself.Day 29We found the Wreck! The power plant is inactive but I think we can get it up and running. We found some caves and stashed Lucy and our equipment and searched for salvage. P found his gauss pistol would you believe! We have some more clothes, blankets, ship rations, a basic ship’s med kit and a few other bits and pieces. I have started Lucy on some antibiotics. Everyone is in better spirits apart from Noreena. She is now castigating herself for her “bad decision making” in wanting to skip the wreck and therefore miss out on the antibiotics “…I nearly killed Lucy!”. Poor girl. Helena and I are taking turns soothing her with telepathy.Day 30We decided to stay for a few days until Lucy is fit to travel. We set off a few flares last night as it seemed quite clear and we hope we are close enough to the settlement to elicit some help.Day 31Another rest day. At least Noreena is a little more cheerful as Lucy improves. We buried the dead we found. Four in total but we only recognised two, one was the captain and the other was a fellow traveller. A sad afternoon.Day 32We set off along the coast. We were beaten back by a storm which blew in from the sea. We will try again tomorrow.Day 33We set off again. Good progress and the weather was clear. We are travelling light.Day 34Another clear day with good progress.Day 35We stumbled into an area of march gas! Fortunately we didn’t ignite it and were able to move away safely.Day 36Contact! We ran into some locals who were coming to investigate the flares we set off. They are very hospitable and we will be in the settlement tomorrow night.Day 37Arrived at the settlement.</blockquote>

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