4 Slate
Bank of the Playpapers, The Confusing Dunes
Well this is bloody lovely. They expect us to ride this river for weeks, months, even, but they don't give us anything to do it on. We've basically set up camp around the wagon now while Urist and Mafool went out to get lumber to make a raft.
Nothing but saguaro, far as the eye can see. Urist seems okay with that, somehow. I guess she thinks we'll be able to use the ribs to float on, or as flooring on a raft, or something. All the plants around seem pretty, well, alive to me. I'm not sure how she plans to extract the ribs, but she's done a lot more carpentry than I have. We'll continue along the riverbank until we reach more fertile land. This is not going the way we had planned.
5 Slate
We haven't picked up on that "continuing on the riverbank" idea just yet; Urist wants to fell some cactuses. She's going to try to feel the ribs out and cut all the flesh away around them so we can bring the ribs with us to make a floor to our raft from.
Our provisions have started to draw flie. I heard someone talk about chipping away the animals' saltlick to rub on the meat to preserve it and let it dry in the sun. Ye gods, I'm pretty sure someone else just suggested using some of this barrel of mushroom wine that we've discovered had soured today. I don't think this idea can turn out well at all.
7 Slate
Well, Corinthius thought that curing the meat and hanging it out to dry sounded like a better alternative to throwing it away, so the wagon is now adorned with a lovely fringe of venison, warthog, and cave fish. I tried to tell him it's a silly idea--biltong, he calls it. He glared at me, yelled "Fine, don't eat any of it, then," and stormed off.
We can feel cool breezes from hills off in the distance and the horizon now has beautiful curves with what look like trees on it. Finally!
8 Slate
We are at the base of the hills. Urist is chopping trees and Mafool and Kogan are helping her drag them through the grassy mud back to the rocks and sand and the wagon. I've suggested that they cut willows first, and then move on to the ashes.
We will camp here for the night and all work on building the raft together. Perhaps we need two for the ass.
9 Slate
This raft is finally taking shape! We're all covered in sweat, but between Urist and company's continued supply of wood and the rest of us combining all our skills and supplies, we have overcome. I rather fancy a soak in the river now, so I'll update this later.
Mafool just approached me and shared some of his engineering expertise. He thinks the wagon will have to be taken apart to go on the raft. Noting that he said "raft" and not "rafts," I inquired further. He responded that he had done the math and determined that the willow and ash logs we'd gathered ought to hold us quite well indeed. We will be on our way soon!
10 Slate
The River Playpapers
The raft is complete, and boy, is it a big one. We can't really move it, even with all of us pushing. Sitting on our new creation, I asked everyone for options. Plenty of silence before Leesin suggested she bring the river to the raft instead of the other way round. That sounded like a direct enough answer to us, and like a flash, she was off with her pick, somehow swinging and shoveling at the same time, gradually channeling toward the raft. It was really an amazing sight.
We celebrated the completion of the raft with a round of sweet pod rum and were away. I was so happy to be making progress again, I ran up and gave Leesin a hug.
The sun's coming down now, and I can't help but feel prouder than a new parent. I said it in the last update and I'll say it again. We are away. We are away, by the gods, we are away. This is the most exciting thing that's happened to us on the trip, bar none, even if Leesin still gives me funny looks.
15 Slate
I've felt bad about making Corinthius snap at me back in the desert, so I agreed the other day to try some of this "biltong" stuff he's been ever so carefully working on since. The day had come, apparently, and it wasn't as bad as I had feared. I told him so, and I think we might be on good terms again. We've turned the wagon cover into a tent and pitched it on the raft. Corinthius has the first watch tonight, more to keep the ass from wandering overboard than anything. We don't expect much disturbance, though; haven't come across anything yet. The junction with The High Lung should be coming soon, though, and surely more concerns.
We shall have to make landfall sometime tomorrow to gather grass for the animal and maybe catch a rest for a while, build a fire or something.
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Topic: PACILAOMETHU, A Journey to Distant Lands (Read 3403 times)