1 Peonu 720

[GM]

Time: Beginning of 1st watch - Mid 2nd watch

With the rain easing slightly Borygg and Vidar huddle near the trunk of a nearby tree, as they stand watch over their sleeping companions.

Soon the two decide that it is time they wake the next two men and so like the first watch they stumble through the darkness to find Kugald and Algared.

Before long these two new men are fighting back the fatigue as sleep tries to gain hold but the chill in the air and the falling rain helps keep them awake. Drawing their cloaks tightly around their bodies the two men find a nearby trunk to protect from the rain.

Not long after Kugald and Algared have taken up their turn on watch the rain stops but the patter of falling rain drops from the branches aboves continues for some time.

The falling rain drops have almost stopped when the first glow of the coming day can be seen from behind the mountains to the east.

[Kugald Daas]

As soon as there is a little light to see, Kugald starts to gather some wood, seeking out the driest material possible. When he has enough, he comes back to the spot where Algared cooked dinner the night before. He lights a small, carefully shielded fire.

"Algared, do you mind starting breakfast?"

Once breakfast is ready, Kugald goes around an wakes up the other four men.

"We have time for a quick bite before we move out."

While they are enjoying a quick meal, Kugald takes the opportunity to speak. "Last night was cold and wet again. We can't keep going forever in these circumstances. Algared informs me we have enough food remaining for lunch and dinner today and then we are out. I think we should move away from this spot, to make sure we avoid any Ibanvaalese patrols. But, I think we should be on the lookout for somewhere where we can make a good camp and lay up for a day or so, perhaps do a little hunting and/or raiding on the local flocks or herds. We need a good supply of food, several days at least, and we need some real sleep. If we could find a good location, we could get some rest, hunt and prepare the food. An old shepherd's hut would be ideal, but failing that, a sheltered spot where we could build a lean-to would be preferable to sleeping in the open again."

"Thoughts?"

TTYL

- Kerry

[Algared]

"I say we forgo lunch and try to stretch the food rations for the next two days, one light meal tonight, unless we manage to find some choice morsels and a larger warmer meal on the morrow morn We'll be a little hungrier but hopefully that will help us continue on for longer. So if we walk for a watch then forage or hunt for a watch then walk again before setting up like last last night do you feel that would help us pregress? or do you want to travel along the base of the tree line at night and move into the hills at first light and sleep during the day?"

[Barak Daas]

To Kugald: "We may be able to find a sheepherd's shelter in the alpine meadows at the edge of the mountains. I believe these are stocked with wood and food in case of emergency. But, being spring it won't be long before the flocks are driven up there is it hasn't happened already. I agree your plan is good. The main issue will be ensuring we are not spotted. You might, for example, want to cook food near where you find it rather than at the same camp site for several days running. Even if we can hunt meat and forage some greens, we'll still be short of ale and bread."

To Algarad: "I like the idea of marching for a watch, then us all trying to hunt, forage or fish for whatever we can find (and if we do find it cook all the meat at least), and then ending the day marching to try and find a new camp site. I don't like the idea of travelling at night, it will be difficult to hunt or forage in the dark; and if we sleep during the day then we'd be at our most vulnerable to a day-time patrol."

[Kugald Daas]

“I agree with Algared. We need to tighten our belts, skip lunch, and stretch our remaining rations until tomorrow morning. Walking for a watch and then spending a watch foraging and setting up camp sounds like a good idea.”

“I don’t think we should sleep during the day now that we are off the river. Like I said before, I don’t think there is much chance of searchers looking for us at night unless they have already found our trail. I think we are far better off traveling during the day when we can see.”

To Barak, “I agree we won’t have any bread and ale. The concern I have about raiding an outlying cottage is that if the owners report they have been robbed, it will give the Ibanvaalese a place to start looking for us. The only way to avoid that would be to ‘silence’ the residents, and I have no intention of killing our own people, no matter how hungry I am, except if they actively threaten us and it comes down to us or them. There is always the possibility of sneaking in and buying some food. If we do that, I would recommend sending just one person, with a good cover story…perhaps Jurri…who can buy food without giving the rest of us away.”

TTYL

- Kerry

[Borygg Raal]

Borygg listens to everyone's ideas. "I agree, we go hungry, travel during the day, forage what we can, and find some place to get a better rest."

[Kugald Daas]

"OK, done."

The group packs up their things. They head off towards Ygesdram, keeping the mountains to their left and staying well inside the tree line.

"Barak, can you please lead. Thanks."

The group travels in single file: Barak in the lead (25 yards ahead), Kugald, Algared, Jurri, Vidar and finally Borygg.

"Borygg, keep a look out behind us for anyone following. Algared and Vidar, you watch left. Jurri, you and I watch right. Stay sharp."

"Let's go, we have a lot of ground to cover."

TTYL

- Kerry

[GM]

Time: Mid 2nd watch - End of 2nd watch

In the slowly growing light of morning the forest is shrouded in a fine mist casting an eeiry pall over the warband. The dark trees silouhetted against the lighter fog.

Algared goes about preparing a fire to get the morning meal started but is unable to get the fire started, despite Algared's best efforts the tinder he is able to gather is sufficient to get a fire started but the surrounding fuel has been soaked by the rain during the night and will not light.

In the dim light of morning the warband are awoken by Kugald and they quickly go about packing up their gear, the fire from last night is extinguished from the rain during the night and the lack of fuel to keep it going.

The warband ponder their position and their next course of action as they sit and eat what remains of their fresh rations. Algared does a quick check of what remains and finds that apart from a few herbs carried by a few of the warband all that remains is the dried fish with only a few other morsels left.

With the morning meal completed the warband head north keeping within the treeline...

[GM]

Time: End of 2nd watch - Mid 3rd watch

The warband track north with Barak leading. With the mist obscuring everyones vision at more than fifty yards or so there seems a blanket over the forest that shields it from any noise, as the only sounds each of you hear is the almost silent footfalls of your own feet and the occassional tap of leather scabbard striking a hip of the clunk of a shield against a sword hilt. But the sound does not seem to carry far as each of you are only able to hear the sounds from the warrior to your front or to your rear, the others seem to be as silent as ghosts. As the daylight increases it continues to burn the morning mist away. The going is relatively easy for the first part of the morning, but the warband have travelled no more than a thousand yards or so before the trees open out into farming land and with the mist all but dissipated it forces the warband to change their heading to a more westerly course to keep within the trees.

Soon the warband find themselves heading into the foothills of the mountains. It would seem that all your time is taken up with climbing the ever increasing number of hills.

After some hard walking the warband finally turns north again keeping within the treeline of the forest.

Along your journey so far you have seen no sign of anyone and Barak has been able to find old sign of small game as he leads the warband along their journey. The forage seems to be slightly more plentiful too.

Continuing your journey the warband you move ever northward, from you vantage point amid the hills you see through the trees sitting in a valley surrounded by farming land a thran several hundred metres to the the north. The woods give you a good vantage point from which to view the thran while remaining concealed.

The thran consists of about two dozen buildings or so from where you view from....

[Barak Daas]

Barak waits for everyone to catch him up, pointing out the thran as the reach him: "I think that one we should avoid - follow the woods around it without being seen. Perhaps the next one after we have had some rest. It will be soon be time to camp and see what we can find to eat. What say you Kulgald?".

[Kugald Daas]

"I agree, let's try and skirt this thran quickly and quietly."

TTYL

- Kerry

[GM]

Time: Mid 3rd watch - End of 3rd watch

A river wides its way through the farmland and surrounding countryside where it passes by the thran to the south. As the warband move through the trees several small pathways can be seen heading out through different compass points but a larger trail can be seen leading from the thran heading towards the north east.

The warband skirt the thran remaining inside the tree line.

You have travelled several hundred yards when you come across a wide river, which for now seems to parallel your course. You follow its track unable to find a way across.

You continue to follow the river towards the west for quite some time heading further into the hills until you are able to find an area suitable enough for the warband to cross safely.

By high sun you have managed to find yourself well to the west of where you wanted to be, but you are safely across the river and well into the hilly forests that form the foothills of the mountains and into country with more plentiful forage and less likely to encounter the locals.

[Algared]

Once across the river Algared calls a brief halt before ensuring all water skins are refilled, and then suggests that they should forage and find a suitable place to camp for the night. 'We dont know when we'll come across a mountain stream again so we should take advantage, hopefully we can find enough to provision us for a few days. We could find a place to set up camp and leave most of the baggage with two to guard and set up camp while the others forage. Kuglad remember our first engagement with the Ibanvaal dogs. They said they were hunting the tribesmen of the mountains. Hopefully we wont encounter any but if we do they may not be overly friendly and assume we are another band hunting them, so even if we avoid the Storzars people we need to stay wary I'm thinking."

[Barak Daas]

"It is good to be back in the mountains. I feel safer here than on the river" says Barak. "If we're stopping here we need to find a good site for the camp, sheltered from the wind and where we can have a fire without it being visible. We'll need to build a shelter, so amongst the trees will be good. Why don't we split up and look for camping sites and meet back here in a short time. We can go with which ever camp site looks best. After than I suggest that I try my luck hunting. Someone else could have a go at hunting or fishing, two of us could forage there may be some fruits and nuts to be found, and the last two can make camp."

[GM]

Time: End of 3rd watch

The warband split up and conduct a quick search for a campsite, the warband reunite and Barak starts with declaring the spot he has found. The warband make their way over to where he found a possible campsite but Jurri declares that the spot he found is much better.

Making their way uphill for about a hundred metres or so, Jurri holds out his hand and declares "Well, what do you think?" the site Jurri has found sits in a hollow surrounded by a low rise to the south east and the river not more than twenty metres to the south west from this spot. The northern aspects are sheltered from any extreme weather by a small rocky cliff face about twenty metres high to protect the warband from inclimate weather.

The other members of the warband look about and no one has found a site as good as this one so with a smile they declare Jurri the 'winner' and go about organising their camp.

[Kugald Daas]

"Excellent," Kugald says, looking at Jurri's site.

"I will start building a lean-to shelter, large enough for four people, protected from the wind, with a thick layer of evergreen boughs to keep off the rain and another layer for us to sleep on comfortably."

Kugald labours mightily, but he just can't get the evergreen boughs to stay up like his pa taught him. Finally, after several hours, he looks crest fallen. The next time he sees Jurri, he takes him aside, "Could you give me a hand with this? I just can't get the evergreen boughs to stay up, everything just keeps collapsing."

[Jurri Grebel]

Jurri will certainly assist.

Post by GM Jurri set to to gathering wood for the fire and was about to go out and assist with the foraging when Kugald asks him for some assistance. The two men set to and work together to build a shelter. After about 1/2 a watch a shelter has been erected that will provide adequate shelter for the warband against the elements.

The two men take a few steps back to admire their handy work. A look to the river sees Algared sitting beneath a tree with a fishing line in the water. Vidar has taken to collecting firewood as his disappearance is soon followed by his reappearance bearing drop wood of various sizes.

Barak and Borygg are now where in sight having informed the other warriors that they were hunting and foraging. Some of their gear sits around the campsite.

With nearly a watch of daylight left Kugald and Jurri ponder their next move.

[Barak Daas]

Barak will spend a watch(*) hunting for game or birds in the woods. He will also keep a look out for any suitable fishing sites (e.g. lakes and ponds etc) for futrure reference. With the last of the light (1/2 watch) he will forage for whatever he can find in the way of edible plants etc.

He leaves his armour, shield, non-hunting weapons, knapsack and loot sack in the camp. He has his clothes, bow, quiver, knife, hatchet, water flask, and food sack with him. He will add some thin rope and his firemaking kit to his sack before he leaves.

(*) If he bags something sizable (deer, goat, etc) early on, he'll move to foraging sooner.

Post by GM Heading out from the camp you head north west slowly careful to aviod areas of population. Quickly the terrain becomes such that travelling in a straight direction becomes all but impossible. The hills soon give way to steep mountain sides and impassable cliff faces.

You have travelled for just over half a watch without finding any sign of game.

Searching out possible terrain that is likely to hide game or at least find sign that game has been in the area recently you stumble across the fresh tracks of forest deer. Following the tracks brings you within sight of the beast. There it stands grazing in a small clearing about 200' away. Sensing an opportunity to close the distance Barak moves slowly around so as to approach the deer from down wind and then with the cover of the trees shielding him from the deers view Barak is able to close to within 50'.

Slowly he nocks an arrow and raises his bow to take aim. Releasing the arrow it flies straight and true taking the deer through the chest. The beast attempts to take several steps as Barak fears the beast is about to take flight and quickly prepares a second arrow but it proves unnecessary as the deer collapses to the ground.

Quickly and with a skill to long practiced Barak prepares the kill for transport. Hoisting the beast upon his shoulders Barak begins the long trek back to camp. Arriving with about a quarter watch of daylight left.

Exhausted Barak begins to butcher the kill and prepare it for cooking. There is perhaps enough meat on this deer to feed the warband for perhaps two days

[Algared]

Algared takes out his fishing line and tries his luck fishing, while Juri and Kugald work on the camp amd Barak goes hunting. Algared fishes for the watch and returns to the campsite having had a some success in order to gather firewood and fill the cook pot with fresh water from the river. Chuckling to himself he half imagines everyone returning just prior to dark with enough food for a feast and no-one having gathered enough firewood to cook the food.

Post by GM Algared spends nearly a watch sitting by the river wetting his fishing line. His initial attempts prove frustrating as he is only able to catch smaller fish not sufficient to provide a reasonable meal. Using his smaller catch as bait Algared soon reels in his first 'catch' of the day bringing in a 5lb perch then later in the watch Algared makes his second 'catch' of the day bringing in a 7lb perch.

There is enough fish to feed the warband for a day with this catch.

Algared takes the time while still near the river to prepare his catch, gutting and scaling the fish. When he returns to the camp he finds that Vidar has been busy collecting a substantial amount of firewood, Kugald and Jurri have completed constuction on a makeshift shelter but Barak and Borygg have not yet returned

[Borygg Raal]

Borygg will head out to forage for food (Foraging ML 60). He will continue for a watch than head back and help Algared with any preparation tasks or help set up the campsite if there is anything that needs doing (Survival ML 60).

Post by GM Borygg heads out of the campsite initially following Borygg but he quickly seperates allowing the hunter to stalk alone. Scouring the hills to the west Borygg soon discovers that he too is running into the steep ascents and cliffs of the mountain range.

After spending nearly a watch on the hunt for forage Borygg returns to the campsite bearing enough forage to feed the warband for perhaps a meal or two. He too is fatigued from his climb into the mountains.

[Kugald Daas]

After Jurri and Kugald finish setting up the lean-to, Kugald starts doing some work around the site to make the camp more comfortable. He collects a number of head sized rocks to build a circle for the fire pit and he finds some good green sticks to make two forks and a spit for the fire. He also starts to cut up the wood Vidar is bring in into smaller more easily managed chunks. He also collects some more green boughs to cover the firewood in case it rains.

After finishing that, Kugald spends some time putting his damp items (cloak etc) out to dry and cleaning his weapons.

TTYL

- Kerry

[Kugald Daas]

Once everything is set up, he collects some dry tinder to start the fire (Survival 64).

[GM]

The member 'Kugald Daas' has done the following action : Dice rolls

'Percentile Dice' : 57

[Barak Daas]

Barak returned to the camp triumphant bearing his deer carcass. Seeing the spit over the fire, he suggests that they joint and roast the meat tonight. There should be enough to last another couple of days when combined with the gleanings of the others.

With what remains of the light, Barak assists Algarad with the roasting, in between cleaning and repairing his gear. He will be at pains to check all his gears is present and is in working order.

[Algared]

Algared endeavours to prepare both the fish and deer so that that the warband supplies shoulf last for the three days supplies of provides by the two sizable perch and the deer will not spoil. Either way tonight they will eat their fill. And enjoy the food complimented with roots greens and other forage that Borryg gathered which though not as plentiful as either the fish nor as impressive a catch as the deer will certainly ensure that the meal will be be more tasty.

'With the fish and the deer we should have enough aditional meat for three days. With the remaining smoked fish I'd say we have enough for maybe four days."

As the meal is being prepared both Borryg and Barak are keen to help, but seeing how spent both appear after their respective forage and hunting trip, Algared while greatful of any help they can give suggests they may do themselves and their band more good if they rest. As the food is prepared algared ensures he gathers the animal fats to make a dubbing, as his mother had showed him to be used for rubbing into the leather equipment to clean and preserve it.

Once the preparations are done and all that remains is for the food to stew or roast, Algared spends time sorting through his equipment cleanig and carrying out any repairs that are needed that he can fix or asking others for help if the repair required is beyond his skill.

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