"We will not harm you. Why are the two of you travelling alone at night fall?"
What tribe you from?
Cartimandua lowers her gaze.
"Our own."
Cartimandua looks at Kryas, impressed, and seems to stand taller. She doesn't look down anymore.
Us too the woman answers.
The two that have been traveling with you, the young girl from the cave steps forward and speaks up.
Father and I join them. You come too?
Her words almost echo in the air, but the man and woman are hesitant.
Kryas speaks, and the tone of his voice is almost that of a snake charmer. It is clear, rhythmic in cadence. His trusty snake slithers around his feet, almost out of command from his voice.
The man sees the snake, but doesn’t recoil out of fear. He whispers to the woman with him, and after a few moments stands tall, and extends a hand towards Kryas.
We accept. My wife dreamt of a snake protecting us, instead of being the carnivorous creatures we expect them to be. We shall sleep here, and move on in the morning. Tomorrow I will go into detail of what we have seen tryouts by to survive be out here
Cartimandua is quite impressed with Kryas now.
She nods at the new people and starts preparing the camp for the night.
"Excellent. Growing in numbers is good. What are your names?. I am Fenal and this is my friend Decos"
Payngor he grunted, looking over the new lot that was joining them. He didn't like that they were adding more and more to their group, more to cause problems, or turn on them.
Payngor looks at all the new faces, but can’t tell if they are trustworthy or just biding their time.
The man and woman tell you their names, Toby and Anna. The father you met gives his name followed by Lissa his daughter.
The next morning Toby does indeed tell you what they have experienced.
To the north, we escaped barbaric tribes. Fearsome Orcish blooded men and children. To the west is the tribe that kicked us out. Anna was tribe elder’s youngest daughter, and we were not allowed to wed. We fled during the night because of it. Unsure what lies elsewhere. We were headed over the mountains. What is beyond?
"Beyond is the lands were we came from and were expelled. But maybe you could go there if you brave the wind and the cold. With the things you say, I think we will go East, and find our fate there."
"East is as good a direction as any, and better than some"
You decide east is best, and the four less battle skilled tag along. You talk amongst yourselves, learning a little about each other. Toby was a proud warrior, and Anna was the oldest daughter of the tribe elder. She was arranged to marry the strongest warrior of the tribe, Tik, but she didn’t love Tik. Anna and her beloved Toby had chose to instead vanish in the darkest of night.
Toby can craft weapons. You learn Anna can repair clothes and and calm people down with her soothing words.
Lissa and her father were not outcasts or runaways, but rather the two left after a band of Orcs and raided and decimated their tribe. Lissa was taught how to forage and survive in the wild from her father, who was taught by his father before they were killed by the barbarians.
Your and your four new traveling companions all head east hoping to avoid the Orc brigands. The next two days pass by, uneventful, which is oddly welcome. Around midday of the third day, you can see water. As you get closer, the water expands outward. The water is slightly opaque, but upon closer inspection Cartimandua can see it’s clear just recelecting the gray sky above.
Cartimandua checks the lake for any fish, resources or dangers.
Cartimandua looks in the lake. She can spot a few tiny fish. Too tiny to consider being a meal, but it’s safe to presume that their would be larger fish present. The water is crisp and clear when she drinks it. There is small glint in the water. Upon closer inspection Cartimandua finds a chunk of quartz precious stone.
She takes a quick journey for a hour each way around the lake and figures that it would take roughly five full days to travel around the edge of the lake from your current location. The lake seems to be quite pure and fresh, great for straight drinking. There are small shrubs dotting around the lake. Most of the berries are edible, some are poisonous neurotoxins if eaten or smeared in a wound. If one was inclined, a poison could be crafted from the berries, possibly to aid in taking down larger game. While larger game would have to be hunted away from the lake, in theory grazing game such as gazelle or similar creatures may venture near the waters edge.
Kryas’ assumption that of being a possible settlement site is accurate. The clear threat would be Orc raids, but they are far to the northwest as it currently sits.
Cartimandua gets some berries (the safe ones) and goes back to camp. She tells the others about what she found and shares the berries with everybody.
"Maybe we can make a permanent camp here."
"We should see if there are any islands in the lake. An Island would be MUCH more defensible. I really like this land except that it seems a little too vulnerable to attack"
Fenal sends Decos flying out over the lake, looking for any Islands that might exist out there. Failing an Island, perhaps a penninsula where the village could be better defended
Payngor follows along, keeping a watchful eye out for any sort of threats. Still, he heard of the orc raid, and didn't see another choice-he'd have to be social. He made his way over to Lissa, taking a deep breath. "So. Those orcs. Tell me about them" he put bluntly, hoping that they weren't who they thought they were.
Lissa doesn’t speak at first. It seems the thought of Orc raiders causes her bad memories to resurface. After a few moments, she turns to you and your boy recalls a few things.
Leader had giant bone club, no left eye. Ruthless, killed mother and all others not runaway. Little sister die too...sad day
Payngor, you think back, and the description could match roughly 4-6 various leaders of Orc tribes. The worst being a man named Tck’Tchh. He has no fear, even has a rumor he took out a pack of velociraptor be himself, before entering manhood.
Decos takes a lap around the lake, and reports that there is no island on the lake big enough to support a camp of your current size, let alone should anyone else show up. The size of the nearest island is big enough to have a single person “live” there in a leanto style hut.
There is a small peninsula around the other side of the lake. You could start setting up permanent camp there. It would take about two days to reach it.
You feel the peninsula, albeit small, would make defending yourselves easier than the current location. The first not two side is that you’ll have to travel there, and you’ll be boxed in should trouble come to find you.
You pack up and begin to make your way around the lake. After two full days, you reach the mouth of the peninsula. You find the mouth of the peninsula clogged with tumbleweed like weeds.
As Payngor approaches, one of the tumbleweeds seems to move forward, attracted to Payngor.
Cartimandua grabs her spear with both hands, and tries to remember if she knows something about this, or detects why the tumbleweeds move.
Payngor grunted-they definitely wanted to avoid the Orcs, if they could. That wouldn't go well if they had to deal with them. He followed along to the peninsula, though had his doubts-easier to defend, but easier to get trapped in. Still, before he could vocalize that, the local fauna was already a problem! With little to no hesitation, Payngor drew his axe and swung, hard.
Does Fenal have any idea what it is?
I'm guessing not :-(
"What is that? Never seen something like THAT before"
Cartimandua
Payngor
Kryas
Fenal
Red
Fenal looks at the creature, but cannot discern what it is. Payngor readies to strike the creature should it turn out to be hostile. Fenal lets out a hiss, and his snake companion slithers towards the dried brush.
Cartimandua throws her boar-spear at the creature and then draws her great club.
(-2 for every 20' away the creature is)
Cartimandua tosses her boar spear at the creature, but since it is almost hollow the attack thuds has n the dirt. It still appears intact however.
Kryas waits for it to attack, along with Payngor taking up an offensive stance of hostility. Fenal stands there, still trying to asses the current situation.
The tumbleweed, rolls forward, causing Payngor’s cautious aggression to be on display. He takes a mighty hack, causing barbs to splinter off in all direction. Some seem to get stuck in Payngor’s arms as he follows through with the swing. The enemy barrels forward, at an alarming rate but connect connect with Payngor’s meaty frame.
Cartimandua tries to move around and flank the creature, attacking it from "behind".
Flying into a rage, Payngor brought the axe down again on the small thing that had hurt him with quills.
Standing carefully behind Payngor, Fenal attempts to hit it with his longspear
Cartimandua lands a grazing blow on the spiky enemy. Barbs scrpae up her hands as she withdrawsfrom her hacking.
Payngor, whom is very pissed off at the retaliation and outward aggression, takes another mighty hack at the enemy. The swing is accurate as can be, and it shatters the enemy into tiny pieces of barbs and plant debris. The threat stays still.
After Payngor’s anger subsided, you take a closer look at the peninsula that you’ll be calling home. The mouth you are currently standing in, stretches about 80 feet from side to side, and slowly tapers as you traverse it. It extends about 200 feet into the lake, and it all feels firm as you walk on it. You have no doubt that it could structurally supports basic houses.
Near the waters edge, you find some lily pads, and various roots jutting towards the lands edge. A frog jumps from pad to pad as you near, food is food. Fresh water is at your disposal...the only question is how long before someone else comes along.
The rest of the day and evening go by. You take watches throughout the night, which also go by quickly.
The next day, Lissa’s father approaches you.
I will help build simple huts, but I will need supplies to build them. If you gather limbs, brush; Lissa and I can build it
About 30 minutes after Father approaches you, Toby walks up.
Thank you for taking us in, we owe you. If you can find me bone or black stone, I can craft weapons to help us against predators.
————
Cartimandua volunteers for finding housing supplies.
Fenal would look for building materials
Would take 10 if allowed (17). If not,
Ok, I'll take 20 instead :-)
Cartimandua, Kryas and Fenal go looking for various supplies. Cartimandua and Fenal go looking for supplies to start building some sort of place to sleep. Not just hard earthen dirt, but something to protect themselves from the elements. Cartimandua is only able to spot grasses and weeds, and is about to give up when Fenal spots a small outcropping of trees in the distance. Upon arrival you see some larger limbs to detach and can use as support beams. You gather enough tree limbs and thick grasses to construct a small lean-to style hut that can fit two people.
Kryas goes in search of materials to construct weapons, and is able to find some stone big enough to make a few spears and a few daggers out of it. He also finds broken spear shafts from battles long ago. The shafts are in no shape to be used, but is a good indicator that stone is readily available for weapon crafting in the future should the need arise. He makes a note if travel direction and distance.
Back at camp, you create the shelter and Toby begins to craft whatever weapon you decide. The sun starts to set, and darkness creeps in to envelop you. The moon is nonexistent as it’s a new moon, and a fire is started.
The night goes by with ease, as your rag tag group continues need to forage for shelter and weapon supplies. On the third day of gathering, you see a man walking towards you with a bear hide strapped to his back.
He sees you and approaches. He appears to be very old, and you are all kinda shocked he has survived for as long as he has.
My name is Ashtok, former elder of Black Bear tribe to the far south.
"Greetings Ashtok. What brings you here, alone?"
Cartimandua stands behind Fenal, hearing the men talk. She has her Boar Spear but doesn't threaten the man with it.
My tribe has spoken. I cannot help in any way. I knew of this lake, and wished to spend my final days near it. I didn’t know it was inhabited