I get up before the sun rises and nudge Pard awake. Our breakfast is a few of the plump helmets our dwarven friends gave us. We'll be starting early today. What I have planned may take a while.
We head a small ways north, just outside of the dwarven hills. Just where I thought it'd be...a river. I tell Pard to stay back....
And plunge in!!
For what feels like hours I fall into a rhythm of brushes with death, jumping into the river again and again and struggling back to the shore. It's a dangerous tactic but it's the only way I'm going to learn how to swim.... And after one last floundering leap back to land, it feels like it's paid off!
Now the real training can start. After a quick break to catch my breath, I climb on top of the bridge.
I dive in and start to swim under the bridge!
When I finally break for a snack I've come within seconds of drowning at least five times. I can't quit though, not now. I'm finally getting the hang of it all, swimming, this bridge training technique.... Just a few more reps is all I need!
A few more reps turn into a few more which turn into a few more.... I finally get out for the day around noon.
I ask Pard how he's doing and get a spiel about how good it is to be friends.... He does this sometimes to guilt trip me. I guess I worried him some with all that flailing....
To try and cheer him up, I've decided we'll go hunting some more with the rest of the dayllight we have left.
Aaaaand he's still pissy....
We keep searching and--damn!
That smell again, stronger than before!
I try to keep hidden and test the air. The breeze is coming from the east.... Whoever's out there must be in that direction. This is not going to be a recurring thing, dammit! I get low and move eastward, Pard close behind.
As quickly as it's noticed, though, the scent's gone, masked by the regular smells of the forest. What is going on out here...?
We shift our search south, avoiding anywhere we smell humans at. Eventually we take down and butcher a coati. Not a big catch, but it'll make for a nice dinner.
The sun's setting fast. We make our way back to the mound without incident, get settled quickly and are telling our friends about the day's events before the moon's risen. Thob, the town's bone doctor, is surprised to hear about my morning training. He demands I let him check me out!
He admonishes me for going into the training like a dwarf instead of easing into it. I could've died, he says...pshhh. Still, his analysis eventually agrees with what I'd thought I'd felt earlier--I'm definitely much tougher and my endurance has increased as well.
Pard and I eat a dinner of coati meat and water before bedding down for the night. He's still pretty uptight, especially after Thob confirming how dangerous my little training was.... I try to assure him that my next training strategy won't be nearly as scary.
....Probably.
You realize you cant get armor from keeps or mead halls, you are an elf, not a human. Human armor doesnt fit you. Dwarven does though. Dwarf Fortresses or adventerures with armor can be sources. Trading is overpowered with infinite money in the form of rocks. As an advantage, you can get steel as an elf.
(Ooh, didn't know that.... The elf description calls them medium-sized, I thought they'd be able to fit human stuff D: I guess I'll be stopping at a fortress instead of a keep, then.)