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Once the group reached the trees, the Vanaran scampered into them. Though he was faster on the ground, Mlinzi didn't need to be very fast right now, and he kept to the lower branches where he could carry on a conversation with the rest. He was curious to see what was at the lake and what this stream was like. "So how do you want to travel? If we go slow, or stop for a few hours, we can search for food, but if we travel faster, we might find something more useful and interesting. Anybody good at hunting? If we can bring down a deer or two, we can start tanning hides for clothes and shelter. I might be able to surprise one from above if we can track them. If anybody knows how to make traps, we could catch small game, too, for the same purpose."
"Tavros knows a thing or two about hunting, that's why I asked him to lead us!" Makoto explained as they walked. Her tails swished pleasantly as she went, "I'm not sure about making clothes; that's not something I really studied... but I should have." she nodded. "I'm sure piecing together rough clothing can't be too hard, though."
In a deeper voice, but with Makoto's lilt, Miyu broke across. "Traps are generally only worthwhile if you will remain near an area... and are typically terrible ways to die. It is significantly better to either dedicate time to the hunt, or follow tracks as we make our way towards the river." The white fox spoke up from Makoto's side.
Meanwhile, Makoto's familiar flitted up to Mlinzi, and perched with him; a mobile platform that was also elevated? Yes please! The bird was characteristically quiet; it could speak, but it seemed to be significantly more private than Makoto was. It was till friendly, though.
Makoto spoke up again, "I think it'd be best if we headed straight for the stream; we can follow it down, and eventually it'll either reach another lake or a city or an ocean. Along the way, we're basically guaranteed to have fish available, too. And crustaceans!"
Tavros happily takes the lead, heading in the indicated direction towards the lake as that seemed to be the direction his companions wished to go in. Perhaps he'd be seeing some of his siblings sooner than he had thought! On the other hand, the lake was likely quite big and there had been concerns about over fishing in one area, so perhaps he wouldn't as they tried to reduce the strain they caused the land.
As they walk, he keeps an eye out for food that might be gathered (or perhaps game in the area) in the hopes that spreading it out during the trip would ease the overall burden, much like spreading weight out across a larger area.
Miyu Michi, held back by his summoner, wasn't able to scrounge up as much food as he would have liked... but he was certainly able to aid the others in preparations for nightfall.
"So... where are each of you hoping to wind up when all of this is over..?" Makoto asked of her siblings as they traveled. "I haven't really given much thought, personally. I... honestly wasn't sure if I was ever going to get to really leave the demiplane without Goodwin with me."
"If you see something to eat, I can sneak up on it," Teniel points out, as he walks in the others' shadwows. "And Pamburu is a natural hunter, but she'll need to eat, too."
Mlinzi scampers and swings through the trees, trying not to disturb the bird on his shoulder or the eggs he has kept in the one pocket. Since the others seem to be moving more slowly and gathering food along the way, Mlinzi does the same, searching the treetops for edibles.
"Me, I haven't thought about it much..." the Vanaran says in response to Makoto's question. "Maybe I can find more of my own kind, meet a nice girl, and start a family. I haven't gotten to spend much time around others like me for many years..." He grows wistful, remembering the carefree days of his childhood, before the day of the raid... "Not that Goodwin's family isn't great and all, but I miss being with my own people."
As the group travels, Mlinzi also keeps his eyes peeled for danger and other, useful things, such as landmarks, sources of food, and important resources. From his higher vantage point, he figures he'll have a better chance of spotting something before the others.
"If we find animals I might be able to put them to sleep from a distance to allow for easy capture but I don't know much beyond that.
"What about you, Tavros? Teniel? What are your goals once we've all found Goodwin?" Makoto asked, trying to retain any banter she could; traveling went faster outside of silence.
You can, it just makes ride checks harder.
The group makes its way slowly towards the water. There is no particular hurry, and you take time to hunt and gather what resources you can. You collect pine needles and find eggs, pinecones, edible plants, mushrooms and even some small game here and there.
Lucina's idea to sleep some animals seems excellent, and there are birds aplenty in the trees, but she preserves her magic for now. As you move through the forest towards the water, the wind blows through the trees. Sound is muffled at times, and your feet crunch softly and quietly on the pine needles. The terrain is rugged and the closeness of the trees and low hanging pine branches, make for slow progress, as well as the hunting. Mlinzi climbs a tree periodically to ensure you are going the proper direction. Within a short time, your hands are covered in sticky pine sap, from moving branches out of the way, and even your arms, clothes and legs catch a spot or two. Other than being annoying and serving to collect dirt or debris on the sap covered spots, there is no issue with it. Walking through the forest in your underwear is bound to have some drawbacks. In addition some of you may not be accustomed to walking through the wilds in bare feet.
Makoto steadily grew annoyed by the sticky sap getting all in her fur, ruining her meticulously kept appearance... and so shifted into her natural human form. The process took only a few seconds, and she didn't seem affected by it at all.
It became quickly apparent why, covered in fur as she was, she was actually wearing any clothes at all, if people hadn't already known. "Don't worry too much about the sap and such, I'll get us clean once we get ready to bed down. It'll just take too much effort to keep fixing it until then." the lilt in her voice was gone, but her voice carried more of an annoyed tone; likewise, the loss of her tail was replaced by more obvious facial expressions.
Her hair became a mane of untamed golden-blonde hair, and the rune stayed where it was. Her skin was on the darker side of olive, but otherwise, she was much the same. Her body was a hybrid of a dancer's and an athlete's, as if even her commitment to her art couldn't pull away the last vestiges of bulk that seemed inherent to the girl.
"We're going to need to make up some tools if we're going to do anything with the stuff we get. We can basically just use sharpened rocks for a lot of what we need... though we won't make anything beautiful with what we have."
While the others are more focused on actively gathering food, Makoto looks out for herbs to make the food taste less plain... and flowers with natural pigments to use for making ink and paint, especially more unique colors.
"Putting an animal to sleep actually seems like the best idea. If I were going to die, I'd rather not know about it... and we can guarantee a good, clean, merciful kill that way." Makoto nods agreement to the idea.
Miyu huffs at this. "The concept of mercy is a good one, but it denies the purpose of the hunt."
Mlinzi begins to become annoyed with the pine resin as it begins to cake his hands, feet, and fur. Having grown up in a more tropical environment, he was not accustomed to dealing with this kind of annoyance as he climbed. After returning from one of his treetop excursions, he's beginning to look like some kind of pine tree monster. "Yick! I miss hardwood trees!" Still, the pine resin could come in handy. "At least this stuff will burn easily, and if we need to make pitch for some reason, we'll have no trouble finding the ingredients. Fires'll probably be pretty smoky, too. Wish I knew how to do smoke signals."
On hearing the Changeling's suggestion, he brightens up. "Lucina, that's brilliant! Much less work than what I had planned! Better save it for the bigger game if we can, though. We don't get that many spells in a day to work with."
Though Mlinzi is accustomed to going without shoes - his feet are not well-suited to most shoes anyway, being more like hands, he can tell that some of the others are going to have a problem with it. "Hmmm... I bet this pine sap would work as a pretty good glue, too. Maybe if we get some leather or find some reeds to weave, we can glue layers together and make some sandals"
"Hm. That could definitely work. I remember seeing some shoes that are basically just wooden blocks strapped to your feet... similar to sandles. Do you think reeds would work if we could actually get some wooden blocks from somewhere? We'd have to drill holes, too, I guess... or maybe just glue it with the sap?"
Mlinzi looks around and notices that nobody has an axe. "Carpentry might be a bit tough if we can't get wood. We'll need to make axes somehow. I'm guessing we'll have to learn how to make stone tools. Once we can get a cutting blade on a sturdy shaft, we should be okay. Still, I don't think I'd trust this sap to hold up to a lot of pulling strain. We'd have to find a way to drill a hole." Noticing Makoto's spear, he hesitantly comments, "The tip of your spear might work for drilling small holes, though, until we can find something better." He knows the weapon, being a gift from Goodwin, must be very special to her, and he's not sure how she'll take the idea of using the weapon as a tool.
"It will be useful for many things. I think Goodwin would prefer it be used as a tool of survival as opposed to a weapon of destruction. I don't think I could finesse an ideal hole... but I don't mind trying." she nodded. "It just isn't ideal." she smiles, showing a dozen white teeth, "And it's better than asking Tavros to use his horns for it."
"I'd rather we found a better tool specifically for it, but I think it will forgive me for finding additional uses for it." It would seem she was considerably less reverent about the object than the others; certainly it was one of her only remaining possessions, and she cherished it... but it was also a tool. And tools were meant to be used, denying an object a purpose was denying the object outright.
Tavros seemed a bit confused by Makoto's question. ”Will we not just return to Father’s plane?” He seems sad when he realizes his assumption was incorrect. He supposed he should probably have some longer term goals than just continuing dancing and reading. But there wasn't all that much that he wanted from life.
Tavros seems completely unconcerned by the sap on his fur. He does, however, make a face upon discovering that while sticky, the sap is no where near as tasty as other sticky things like maple sap or honey. He's a bit glad that his shoes came almost built in to his hooves, although from what he could remember, doing without wasn't that bad either. And making him shoes would probably be a lot harder without tools than making ones for his siblings. And I am not quite big enough yet to be able to carry all of them, should they need it.
He didn't really know that much about clothes, but reeds could be make a container or a hat. Although he didn't really wear hats much. He had more experience reading about simple traps that could be made by making it easier for the creature to enter but hard to leave. I hope this mysterious temple we need to find has books.
Teniel thinks a bit. "Drilling holes and lacing reeds through might be alright, but pine resin is not nearly strong enough to hold the weight of a wooden sole. My people lived off the forest, but our leather took weeks to tan, and our fabrics months to weave."
Lucina walked not seeming to pay much attention as her natually tough skin kept most of her skin safe occasionally picking a particularly stubborn stick or thorn out. "Can any of us start a fire if needed?" Lucina never had a need for setting things a blaze in Goodwin's home so she wouldn't have the magic to do so.
"I don't know, Tavros. It depends on what he wanted... it's not as though I could go against him." she said, her voice low. "I would like to make something of my life, not simply live comfortably for the rest of it, though."
"Well... it may take weeks. We're certainly going to need clothing before long, unless one of you also has spells to mend things. I do not. Nor do I have magic for starting fires, apologies, Lucina."
"Can you think of anything we actually can do quickly, Teniel?"
Mlinzi nods to Lucina. "I can probably manage to start a fire, but it would be easier with some magic. We'll definitely need to pick a spot fairly early and start collecting wood, though. Tonight's going to be cold. Oh, and we need water. I know a lot of the others could create water. Can any of us do that?"
"To address Teniel's point, though, we're faced with a choice. We can try to move as fast as possible and find civilization, or we can try to find a spot to settle in and make a living for ourselves while we make some basic necessities. We need containers to carry things, basic tools, better clothes, blankets, and shoes. If we can get any of these - especially shoes, we'll be a lot better off, and overall we'll move faster and more efficiently. If we can find a town, we'll be able to get these things easily, but if not, we'll be better off taking some time to prepare before setting out."
After a bit of a pause, Mlinzi adds, "Hey everyone, keep an eye out for any trees with bark that would be good for making strips out of - stuff like birch and willow would be best. We could use it as paper for sending messages to the others, or maybe we could find a way to rig some makeshift shoes. This pine bark is too flaky and resin-y to work for that, though with some effort we might be able to get the underbark to do the job. Maybe once we're at lower altitudes those sorts of trees will be easy to find."
"And medicine," Teniel adds. "I can mend things, and craft wood, although I don't have my puppet-making tools with me. But crafting does take time."
"On the other hand, if we find civilization, and they are friendly and able to speak to us, what do we barter with?"
"Sing for our supper, maybe?" Mlinzi glances meaningfully at Maks and her unusual spear.
"Or you could put on a show with just your magic, right?" Maks offered, turning her attention to Teniel. "I don't have to be the star of the show." Despite her words, she seemed pleased that Mlinzi went to her, first.
As Mlinzi mentions it becoming cold, the Fox-Eidolon looked up through a break in the tree-tops, to also try to discern the rest of the weather. Knowing was a significant portion of the battle ahead.
The day will remain sunny and windy. At night it will be clear, and of course much cooler and still windy. It will get close to freezing but not below. The temperature will drop below 40 degrees though which will result in those unprotected (those without fur) having to make Fort saves hourly.
An unprotected character in cold weather (below 40° F) must make a Fortitude save each hour (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who has the Survival skill may receive a bonus on this saving throw and might be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well (see the skill description).
DC 15 : Gain a +2 bonus on all Fortitude saves against severe weather while moving up to half your overland speed, or gain a +4 bonus if you remain stationary. You may grant the same bonus to one other character for every 1 point by which your Survival check result exceeds 15.
Making the survival checks would indicate things like sheltering out of the wind, or nestling into a bed of pine needles or against another warm/fur body to help with the Fort saves.
Clearly having a fire will be your best bet and eliminate the need for rolls.
Inspirational Photos of the area you are in:
The basso voice from the fox eventually flowed out once more. "Mlinzi is correct. It will become cold tonight. I would suggest we bed down in the forest, rather than on the lake, where there will be more breaking from the wind. It should remain clear, though... so roofs will be less necessary. If we can manage a fire, starting it away from the forest, as Mlinzi suggested earlier, will be the best possible option."
"Keep an eye out for any likely campsites. Maybe we can find a hollow or something near the lake where we can safely build a fire out of the wind. I'd hate to set the trees on fire! Also, remember that we'll need quite a bit of wood if we're trying to keep the fire going all night."
Mlinzi scurries up to the top of a nearby tree to check on the group's position and find out how far they are from their destination.
"I'd like to keep moving at least during the day, I don't know if we have the survival skills to set up a long lasting home without help from other civilizations but if we can craft and use our magic to keep traveling we might have items to barter with by the time we reach a town."
The group presses on. As Mlinzi climbs the trees periodically to look ahead, Tavros' inability to become lost assures the party they can always find their way back, or won't wander in circles.
Mlinzi keeps a single peak as their target one which lay beyond the lake which Grobly pointed out earlier. Going solidly in that direction should get the group to the lake region before nightfall, with scant time to spare to make a fire or quick shelter.
Your movement rate is about 15' since you are moving at half speed to hunt and forage. This is 1.5 miles per hour overland. This is halved since you are moving through trackless forest. You cover about 3/4 of a mile in one hour. With about 5 miles to cover you need about 7 hours to reach the lake, You started at mid-day and it is early summer. You will arrive at the lake as the sun slips behind the mountain peaks and the temperature will drop quickly from that point. You will have about an hour from there of dusk to gather wood and do something for shelter.
Assuming you reach the lake...
Noting the position of the sun and their rate of progress, Mlinzi scampers down the tree, a glum expression on his face. "We're not going to make it to the lake until nearly nightfall at this rate. With the trees as close and dry as they are here, we probably shouldn't light a fire in the trees, either. I say we try to make the lake if we can, then get a fire started as soon as possible. Once we've got a fire going, I'll work on collecting as much wood as possible to keep the fire going. Tavros, if you could help with that, I'd be grateful, though I don't know how well you can see in the dark. Anyone who's not already collecting food, do your best to gather firewood on the way. Go for deadfalls, not green wood, and be sure to get a variety of wood sizes. We'll need kindling to get the fire going and bigger pieces to keep it burning."
His mind was racing. He had to protect everyone somehow, and this wasn't going to be easy. He muttered something under his breath in Vanaran.
He determined that he'd spend all night awake to gather wood if that's what it would take to keep the others safe.
Makoto nodded, as she swapped from looking for pretty flowers (which were arguably more useful than wood; better a pretty girl with a flower, than a silly boy with a stick.) to looking for sticks. It was a simple enough request, and it'd make things better in the end.
It was a shame her tails weren't prehensile... that would have been quite neat. They might have been able to support a little weight, regardless, but then she'd have to get coated in even more resin.
Tavros hums softly to himself as he thinks. "Easier to navigate by day. But moving is good it keep warm at night." Not that he generally had much problem with that with fur across most of his body. Sleeping close to each other would also help ease his furless friends.
They would also have to be careful not to let their fire get out of hand at night. He doubted they had the tools necessary for a quick, controlled burn to make the area safer, but they could at least clear a large area of fallen pine near the fire perhaps. Digging up some of the earth would help with that, but that could be troublesome without shovels. At least the ground wouldn't be frozen solid. Of course, even so they'd still want something between them and the ground to try to prevent it from leeching all their body heat.
Tavros smiles broadly at Mlinzi. "I can see fine in the dark. And I can carry large logs." It might actually have been better for him to work on getting large branches to form a lean-to of sorts rather than firewood, but he supposed that it would depend on what was available near the lake; for all he knew a better type of shelter would present itself.
"That's why I thought you'd be helpful, Tavros. I bet you and I could carry a lot of wood, and hopefully we'll be able to get enough to last us the night. If there was a road and we had warm clothes, a lot of us could probably get along fine traveling at night, but navigating by landmarks does take light." The Vanaran had read that one mistake beginners often made was to underestimate the amount of wood it would take to maintain a fire, and he was determined not to fall into that trap.
Mlinzi continued his arboreal explorations. He had collected quite a few eggs by now, and he briefly felt a pang of sorrow for the parent birds. Still, it was necessary for the group to keep their strength up. He was beginning to feel quite hungry, and he expected that the others would feel much the same. Still, a thought occurred to him, and he decided to voice it.
"I wonder what sorts of creatures live here. Obviously there's plenty of birds and small animals, and Champawat said she saw signs of deer. I wonder what else is here. Probably some large predators, I'd expect. Maybe bears. Oh, and I saw an eagle! What do you guys think?"
"Things that we need to worry about running into? Probably just wolves... unless there are strange things going on. If we run across a pack of wolves, and they have reason to not leave, then they'll want to fight. Just about any other creature will avoid us, except maybe a bear." Makoto shakes her head. "That's just guessing based on what I've seen so far, though."
"I expect most animals won't bother us unless they're desperate. Bears and wolves generally avoid people if they can, and are usually afraid of fire." Mlinzi replies, not sounding very worried about it at all. "That is, unless they mistake Tavros for something tastier and much less dangerous than what he is." Mlinzi chuckled a little to indicate he was telling a joke. His laughter had a strange croaky quality to it that was very reminiscent of a monkey.
Lucina wouldn't know much about surviving in the wild but would be able to pick up small amounts of food as they traveled toward the river."If we have enough food by the time we reach the water we should have plenty of time to make some shelter right?"
"Depends on type of shelter." A cave would be a good shelter. Although admittedly, there was likely some other creature who would agree. A hole could also work to have the wind just run over it, but digging could be hard work. Admittedly, if they had cloth or a tarp, that would open up many more options.
"We will probably want to sleep in shifts. For the fire."
"Keeping watch sounds fine," Teniel adds, "But I don't know what else I can help with. My sword would not enjoy cutting down trees, but it might be willing to split firewood with a bit of coaxing."
"We should definitely take turns keeping watch. There could be dangerous creatures around that we don't know about, and even if not, Tavros is right - we have to keep the fire going. If we rest for 10 hours, we can each get a full night's sleep and take a 2-hour watch. I don't have to pray or study a spellbook, so I can take one of the earlier watches. One of you who do should probably take last watch so you can do that. Since it'll probably be light by then, if anyone doesn't have good night vision, that should be their watch."
Looking to Teniel, Mlinzi asks, "Can you cook? Maybe you can keep the fire going and work on getting a meal ready while the rest of us set up camp. Maybe you've got a spell or two that could help with that?" Then he remembered his earlier question. "Oh, and can you create water? If we don't have water on demand, that'll really limit our traveling range until we can find a way to carry some with us. What about purifying food? Can any of us do that? We really can't afford to get sick right now!
"No water or food spells. I could make sparks tomorrow after studying though. I can see in the dark though." It suddenly occurs to him that he could have offered Lucina his spellbook earlier to start writing in. If it weren't for their lack of writing tools anyway. Maybe a burnt stick would work? He could try bringing it up with her once they had settled.
Makoto nodded at the logic of the monkey. "I think everyone here but me has good night vision... so I'll take the first rest, and last watch. I can also serve as a comfy blanket in the night, if no one minds serving as a pillow." she says with a smirk.