TUW: The Outpost

[Tellerian Hawke]

Maka, who had been a short distance away from camp relieving himself, walks into view and smiles at Adi.

"Welcome, friend." he says. "Join the fun, these bugs were tougher to kill than we first thought, and there's going to be more. We haven't yet found the ones that were causing trouble for Raven's Ma. I'm disappointed that the bugs didn't end up being edible. As it turns out, they are venomous. Bah, no matter; we still have plenty of meat. We recently killed a group of pigs."

 

[Waynan]

Raven Elk can only shake his head at the frivolity of his friends' banter. He loved them as brothers and knew their worth to be great; but that didn't stop him from thinking them too oft foolish. Strapping two sets of the elitra to his backpack, he can only sigh at their silliness. He didn't mean to take everything so seriously; but he felt that he has never had that much to laugh about.
It doesn't mean he has never laughed. When he would win at sports with them, he was known to laugh, romp and crow with joy. When it came to LIfe, however, he saw little that was humorous in it.
After Raven Elk finishes strapping everything, he asks:"Though, it is late, should we not travel a bit further, away from all this offal and blood,
and make camp in a less "tempting" area?"

 

[MacConnell]

Y 0: Day 159: Doldrums 39: Discussing Possibilities

After Raven Elk finishes strapping everything, he asks:

"Though, it is late, should we not travel a bit further, away from all this offal and blood, and make camp in a less "tempting" area?"

Vittero is outspoken, though not as boisterous as Taylar. He is often a bit of a prankster and is prone to whimsy, but all of that belies that fact that nothing really escapes his attention.

"That is a good point, but curing this meat is taking longer than I expected. It will be dark before I am satisfied that we will not waste any. At least with the cleanings from the pigs and the beetles deposited 50 paces away, anything else attracted to it will be led away from us and toward it, especially animals. I really do not expect any other people to come upon us out here in the untamed wilds."

 

[Waynan]

At least with the cleanings from the pigs and the beetles deposited 50 paces away, anything else attracted to it will be led away from us and toward it, especially animals. I really do not expect any other people to come upon us out here in the untamed wilds."

Raven Elk is not entirely convinced of Vittero's assessment; but, he knows how important the meat is to his friends and to the community of the Outpost, even if he has no taste for it. Thus, he nods in agreement and adds: Then I'll make camp --- upwind, of course.". He then heads to a spot where the smells of smoking of the meat/curing of the hides and the offal heap of pig guts are the least offensive.

As he lies himself down against a tree, Raven Elk calls upon the Spirit of the Raven, into his meditations before sleeping, to ask Raven to give him guidance in his dreams. As he drifts off, he still hears his friends banter and knows they will wake him for his turn at watch when they need him.

 

[Kwargrow]

Taylar helps with disassembling the beetle carcasses and even looks at the other pieces, such as the pincers, to see if they would make good decorative items. He studies the pieces and holds them up to certain parts of his body to see how well they cover and how hard it would be to fasten them. After looking at the strange feet of the creatures he takes a walk to find their tracks so that he could identify them if he saw them again.

He comes back to camp with a vibrant bounce in his step and flexes where the others can see. "That fight made me stronger, I can feel it. I should get sprayed in the face more often," he says with a wide grin.

 

[MacConnell]

Y 0: Day 159: Doldrums 39: Taking Rest

Raven Elk ... adds: Then I'll make camp --- upwind, of course.". He then heads to a spot where the smells of smoking of the meat/curing of the hides and the offal heap of pig guts are the least offensive.

GM: Raven has no difficulty deciding on a good spot a little uphill from where the main work is being done. Occassionally the smell of the cookfire reaches him, but even with his lack of interest in pork, it is not offensive. Being much further downhill, the refuse offers no impediment to rest.

As he lies himself down against a tree, Raven Elk calls upon the Spirit of the Raven, into his meditations before sleeping, to ask Raven to give him guidance in his dreams. As he drifts off, he still hears his friends banter and knows they will wake him for his turn at watch when they need him.

GM: Sleep comes quietly and with stealth, as it always seems to for Raven Elk. In the darkest hours of the morning when sleep is at its deepest, the dreams come. They sprinkle in, like they do, a glimpse her and there. A chicken scratching in the yard becomes a pig rooting in the wood, which becomes a beetle digging at a long fallen tree, then the vision blacks out to a single point of light, like a solitary star in the vast night sky. The start grows larger or perhaps the dreamer is moving toward it, until the light is upon him and a new dream appears. Ravens take to sky, though it is dusk and their vision is limited. As a raven shaken from his roost, Raven flies through the darkening sky. It is not the coming of night that makes the greatest dark. There is smoke over the next hill. The indigo hue of the falling sun on the horizon marred by an angry orange glow. The glow is not some campfire, not some ravish of nature started with a bolt of lightning, though lightning crashes through the sky, filled with circling crows. The glow is total destruction of a community that once occupied the valley over that hill. Men, soldiers in armor, walk that hill depositing a prisoner at the feet of pitch black warhorse. The man on the horse looks down at the defeated heap, then toward the sky and its cawing ravens. Turning his head to his left he seems to look directly into the eyes of one out of kilter rook. Those eyes are pits of darkness, even blacker than the horse. The fires of the community light up in the reflection of his eyes like some mirrored pool into the abyss.

GM: Raven Elk wakes with a start and sit up, looking directly into the first rays of the rising sun. It was only a dream, or was it. He is shaken to his core having met that gaze and his body is covered in cold sweat. Never before has dream felt to carry such portent.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Although the campfire was extinguished at the end of the evening, it was rekindled with the dawn, and Maka was one of the first to make use of it, warming his hands, and wafting the smoke into his face. Among the Rheini, this was an important morning ritual. Smoke was not the breath of his dead ancestors, Maka knew that. But he also knew that when the ancestors did choose to speak, it was only through smoke, which was the only substance in the world of the living that could carry the words of the dead. Thus, every morning, Maka waved the smoke to his face, hoping to hear a familiar voice. Most days, the smoke was silent. Maka knew that at least twice in his lifetime so far, he had heard voices in the smoke, although both times, he had been unable to hear them clearly enough to understand. He often thought about that. It bothered him that he could be so addled. Others heard the voices clearly, and often. He had heard the stories. Thus, he refused to give up. He hoped, one day, to hear the voice of his grandfather's spirit. His father once told him that his grandfather's soul now rode the skies on the wings of an eagle. But Maka hoped that this was not so; if his grandfather's spirit WAS up there, with the eagles, it would be hard for the smoke to catch his voice.

As Raven Elk suddenly sits up, Maka is the only one to notice. A look of concern crosses his face. ~Raven Elk is not one who is easily frightened. Perhaps he had a vision from the ancestors?~

Maka chooses to say nothing of it. "Good morning, my friend. Come, and share the smoke with me."

 

[MacConnell]

Y 0: Day 159: Doldrums 39: Tinkering

Taylar helps with disassembling the beetle carcasses and even looks at the other pieces, such as the pincers, to see if they would make good decorative items. He studies the pieces and holds them up to certain parts of his body to see how well they cover and how hard it would be to fasten them. After looking at the strange feet of the creatures he takes a walk to find their tracks so that he could identify them if he saw them again.

GM: There is no special affinity for the other parts of the beetles, but Taylar finds that the chitinous mandibles are hard and vicious looking. When the pig gut strung between the trees dries to make taut line, he figures he can take some of it and make a necklace or some other fetish to hang them on display.

He comes back to camp with a vibrant bounce in his step and flexes where the others can see. "That fight made me stronger, I can feel it. I should get sprayed in the face more often," he says with a wide grin.

Vittero stands making an overt examination of the display, nodding his head up and down then replies,
"No. No, I am not seeing any difference. You sure you did not inhale too much of the nasty spray."

He then laughs, loudly, unable to contain himself.

 

[MacConnell]

Y 0: Day 160: Doldrums 40: Morning Light

Although the campfire was extinguished at the end of the evening, it was rekindled with the dawn, and Maka was one of the first to make use of it, warming his hands, and wafting the smoke into his face...

GM: Maka waft the smoke about his face as he has observed his elders do until the others are up and about. He knows that this custom has been observed for as long as his people could be called a people, and yet it has to date offered no insight or clarity. His mind drift to practicality as his hands continue the motion subconsciously. ~Perhaps I need to use a special wood. Maybe it is not just any smoke that will do.~ He wishes that the elders were not so tight lipped about the smoke tent and sweat lodge. No one younger than twice Maka's age was permitted to enter those. He has a second epiphany. ~Maybe it is the feather.... No, no, that cannot be. The men carry any old feather they like and some none at all. It has to be the smoke. Maybe they add special herbs to the fire.~

" Good morning, my friend. Come, and share the smoke with me."

As Raven Elk walks toward where Maka is seated, Vittero walks toward them from the direction of where the remains had been deposited the day before.
"Well I will say that having placed those remains that far away was a good idea. There is not a scrap left. I can recognize for certain that other pigs came, because the ground it all dug up, but I noticed tracks of wolves and a cat too."

 

[Kwargrow]

Taylar does string the beetle mandibles with his pig teeth, but not to make a necklace. He does not want anything clacking around his face when he has to run or for some enemy to grab and choke him with. He ties them to his belt.

Taylar says to the group, "I did not get any feeling of power from the bug parts like I did the pig tusks. Perhaps pigs are closer to the spirit world than bugs are."