The storm increases in intensity. The dawn is followed by a clouded dusk within an hour; by noon, the sky is almost black. No one is looking at the sky by that point, though; they're taking shelter.
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My children… A storm approaches. Our shelter is incompletable in the time it will take before Wild Wind Wallace reaches us… We need shelter. We head for the forest…
OTHERWISE: Everyone carries supplies deep into the forest or until they find a good/decent shelter hoping to not die in there. After that everyone will equip weapons [except the children and Steve, The Most Powerful Steve in all of Stevedom] in order to hunt for food. Steve, The Most Powerful Steve in all of Stevedom will work to further tame the Cupcake assisted, of course, by the three children.
The metaphorical children obey Nerjin fearfully. Abandoning the gardens and hut for the present, eight and twenty hands take most of Nerjin's supplies, leaving only the grasses, reeds, stone, feathers, and foxfang behind. They manage to locate a decent spot in the forest and even construct a roofless shelter there before the storm reaches its climax. While doing so, they encounter a massive cupcake, presumably full-grown--around 40 feet lon, if the children don't lie, and as tall as the trees. Meanwhile, the captured cupcake (spooked by the storm) is being tamed by Steve and his terrified assistants. They sadly make no progress before the end of the day, and indeed the cupcake regresses (very) slightly.
They all flee into the woods. Hunting parties are sent out as the cupcake's loss in tameness is corrected, and then some. The creature is still mostly wild, but much more agreeable. The hunters do quite well for the weather, bringing in a tortoise the size of a...large animal not known to them but big enough to ride, a spider six feet across, half a dozen gray-skinned and tusked creatures as high at the shoulder as a human, a few unconscious muffins, and eight foxrats, though not without major injuries to the hunters. Once the muffins are brought in, Nerjin tries to awake and speak with them. As he does, he gets frustrated at not being able to understand them. Also angered, one of the muffins grabs a passing serpent, as brightly colored as the muffins themselves, bites its head off, and slathers its blood over Nerjin's body while chanting. Nerjin can suddenly understand this specific muffin! They have a productive discussion as the storm rages outside...
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Five Men will construct quick and temporary cover out of wood and reeds! Make sure everything is weighed down by rocks, we need shelter!
One Man will gather water!
Five Women will gather food!
One Woman will watch the children!
All Children will try and help with moving the supplies and etc needed for shelter!
A quick shelter is thrown up. It's not great, but it'll do...The women gather 16 food and a copper axe, green with verdigris. The small shelter is packed with what supplies fit as they weather the storm...well, the well's full now.
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Everyone look for a cave or other sheltered place to shelter in, moving everything of value in there before the storm hits. Apart from thee of the women, who'll gather berries until the storm begins.
((I assume you mean three?))
The women gather five units of fruit. The people find a small sea cave, big enough for everyone to crouch in. Everything that doesn't fit in the cave is put in the canoe, which is hauled inland. Everyone buckles down for the storm...
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Robert will try to tame the spider, and not get poisoned. (Really, catching giant spiders=/= not getting in trouble) Feed it some fruit, because it's unlikely that it's an insectivore at that size
4 males with grab the cano, load all our stuff in it and take shelter in the forest. (Try to find a rocky outcrop to shelter, but avoid hills and sparse to no vegetation)
2 women will gather more reeds
2 others will gather all the animals.
The remainder of the population will try to fashion crude shelter out of the upturned cano (don't damage it), the reeds and the wood.
A simple shelter, holding all of Robert's goods and people, is fashioned, using a shallow hole dug and the dirt from that hole. Robert himself makes progress with the spider. The gatherers gather half a dozen units of grasses and reeds, which are shoved into the cracks of the cramped, damp, and dank shelter as the storm passes over...
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Well...shit. I got rid of two of the female children and one male. But I have one advantage. I have a book. It's called How to Stay Alive in the Woods. And it tells me how to make leather. Why does that matter? BECAUSE LEATHER CLOTHING>REED CLOTHING. And it's also armor. My people will have moccasins while you wear grass! AHAHAHAHAHA
Worth noting, if anyone catches critters with hides that make good leather they'll also be able to make leather stuff.
I might give you a few skims to make up for your late start, especially as said critters tend to be things like elephants and cupcakes.
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Stalin, Abraham, David, Him, and Her all fish at the river delta and try to collect shells.(Not THAT hard to fish with bare hands...just have to time it right.)
Samuel and Jose try to hunt in the fringes of the woods, not very deep(penalty to hunting roll? But no evil things?), trying to catch things with their bare hands, or thrown rocks(a well thrown stone can kill, and animals are numerous in most places).
Winston, Salina, Brenda, and Merissa gather grass/reeds, berries, nuts, and medicinal herbs in the woods.(they should be able to do all those at once, right? Not that hard)Winston's there to make sure they get the right herbs, and not POISON.
Clarissa and Sarah, being the stoneworkers of the group, will gather some rocks, and make knives, once Georgia and Louisiana find some wood.(it may not make them more likely to find rock, but more likely to get workable, at least? Right?)
Georgia and Louisiana look for wood(same as above?) to help with setting up camp, and making knives.
The Lincoln brothers and Max begin clearing out a campsite, safe, by the cliff the waterfall is falling from. Also, look for caves to shelter from storm.
EDIT: Oh yeah, we can have an animal tamer. David's it.
The three canp-makers locate a cave behind a waterfall, which they make into a crude base camp. It's better than nothing, neh? The five fishers do very well, netting (figuratively speaking) 13 food and three shell. The hunters do impressively well with the hunting, catching a crocodile and seven foxrats (another 17 food, plus 14 foxfang, 10 scale, and 2 skin), although they got rather injured in the process. The gatherers ((you are all rolling like crazy tonight)) gather seven units of grasses and reeds, six units of food, and two units of medicinal herbs, plus a flower with a strange, poisonous barb in the middle. Clarissa and Sarah ((first bad roll of the turn)) find nothing, while the others find one unit of wood and one of grasses and reeds that was accessible (between the coming storm making them head back fast and a python blocking the way to the best wood they found...) Everyone takes shelter in the cave and hopes for the best, "feasting" on provisions and crocodile. Which, incidentally, tastes only slightly of chicken.
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Move all materials in land to the hill, dig a shelter into the opposite side of the hill form the direction the storm is coming.
A good-sized hole, holding about as much as a hut, is dug into a hill. It's quite a cozy little home. This is discovered to be a perfectly viable housing design, and you can replicate it in the future. A hut-sized hole costs nothing but labor (oh...10 man/days?) and 10 wood, plus anything you want to make it comfortable. Something new to add to the OP. People other than mesor: You didn't discover this. Anyways, the Hunters bunker down for the storm...
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Alek and Farrah move equipment, canoe and resources inland to the forest.
Matta, Joso, Oma and Oba build a large makeshift shelter with wood, not bothering with roof's (the forest canopy will mitigate most of the rain.) Focus will be on a decent protection against the wind in the direction of the storm.
Chih and Yumi help out with the makeshift shelter.
Aki and Sae collect medicinal herbs.
Iliath guides and chickens to the makeshift shelters, and helps out where she can with the shelterbuilding.
Cera explores the cliff for a cave.
The children quickly dig with their hands to bury the tools and shells/points/grass and reeds.
A crude shelter is built. Three units of medicinal herbs are found. Cera finds a little hollow, fairly dry and therefore used to store stuff that the Narrans want to keep put of the rain.
If no cave is found:
When noon hits, the women and children huddle into however much the walls have been built, keeping warm. They also hold the chickens and have the resources/tools inbetween them and the wall to prevent any getting lost.
The men continue until the shelter does not need anymore work, before joining in to wait out the storm.
The women and children crowd into a small shelter. The men stand outside in the pouring rain (very strange) until they can't stand it any more and squeeze inside with the chickens and children.
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Maya crouches in his cave, unable to catch any food today. The Raiders ignore him; perhaps the high winds he can hear from his caves have something to do with that?
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The storm reaches a massive peak a bit after noon, with a massive burst of lightning strikes lasting for almost fifteen minutes. Everyone could find some spot struck by lightning within a short distance of their home. If it wasn't for the driving rain, surely massive forest fires would have started. Thankfully, after such a showy burst, the storm lost steam; whether it actually lost power or if the strongest part of the storm merely moved on is indeterminate and unimportant. First to go was the thunder and lightning, with the last peals heard around an hour past noon. Next was the rain, reduced to drizzle two or three hours after the thunder's last cry. While the skies were almost as dark as night by noon, they cleared up with the storm; the peak of light for the day occurred a few hours before dusk, and a pitiful reward for the day's destruction was found in a lovely sunset, such as none present had ever seen--or at least ever looked at--before.
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Nerjin and his children filed out of the shelter once the rain was slowed to a normal storm's tempo to survey the damage. The hut stood only slightly damaged, and the two plots of food were expected to still yield 157 and 37 units of food when mature. A rooster is missing, and the cupcake is miserable, but the two are presumed unrelated. Also notable is the minor injury Nerjin suffered from being in cramped quarters. All things considered, the experience was far less severe than it could have been. However, everyone knows that the wild beasts are riled up...
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Kamehameha is less pleased. The smokehouse is almost completely destroyed, and the shelter basically fell apart halfway through the storm under the combined weight of the rain and a fallen branch. Worse, much of the supplies were ruined, leaving Faeurn with only 10 units of food and 36 of grasses and reeds.
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The sea cave Heiruphus II took refuge in was surprisingly wet once the storm kicked into high gear. Despite this, most of the Ñeophites' supplies were salvageable, however (pardon the pun) dampened their spirits. One good thing came of their choice of shelter--a pale green and softly glowing item in the very rough form of a legless beast with a head place proudly atop its shoulders and a wide snout. Five such items were caught before they could be swept away, thanks to an effort by the children. They continued to shine pale, like moons tinted with crushed leaves, until fairly well into the night. Perhaps they could come in handy?
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Robert was about as joyful as could be expected after being rained on all day and having to abandon his shelter and such to a combination of weariness and a large beast, with green feathers, two clawed feet, and a a long neck tipped with a sharp maw capable of tearing flesh, as Robert himself discovered. What a day, what a day.
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Abraham had little to lose because he had so little to begin with. About the only notable thing to happen in the evening was the discovery of a basalt adze shining with a strange red aura. But boy, was it notable. No one could really take their eyes off of it...
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The Hunters enjoy the day after the storm. While it seemed so dreary during, afterwards the storm left a lovely rainbow in the sky, shrouded against the clouds. The Hunters, uniquely among the inhabitants of these islands, were dry and warm enough to truly appreciate the splendour of the skies. Heightening their joy was the capturing of a strange, almost-walking fish a bit smaller than a chicken, although longer and thinner obviously. It's evidently capable of breathing air, as (in the words of Ross Taylor, it's captor) "It's not quite rainy enough for just any fish to be skipping about in the muck." The children were delighted about the prospect of a new pet. Just about the only damper (ha ha!) on matters was that the farm plot was washed away in the rain.
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The Narra Tribe awakes from their metaphorical slumber to find several changes. A massive swarm of rodents and damp left only half a dozen units of food left to be stored for the morrow. On the bright side, the storm washed up a wide variety of debris, especially on his island's west bank. Perhaps picking through it could be profitable?
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Maya squats in his flooded cave, picking through dead creatures and live fish to try and find something edible. Later that evening, four new people are tossed down there with him. Two are adults, a short and slender middle-aged man and an equally-short woman with pale skin and lovely violet eyes. There is an adolescent boy, very muscular and with very gray eyes. Finally, there is a little girl with big brown eyes and red hair which contrasts with the browns and blacks of the others' hair.
They are castaways, a family blown off-course in a short journey between neighboring islands. They landed here, only to surrender to the Raiders once they landed. The Raiders took all they had and chucked them down here.
They talk further, and Maya prepares "dinner" from some of his recent catch. The castaways let it slip that they can do magic, which astonishes Maya. They explain that it is not much. The middle-aged man, Semwell, demonstrates an ability to make stuff appear out of nowhere with a simple gesture, by summoning an amorphous blob of basalt. His wife, Syzom, can breathe water and shape it somewhat. Their son, Jorj, can speak to sea creatures. Finally, their daughter, Lina, has a gift with magic; her talents, in order of strength and proficiency, are controlling weather, transfiguration, flight, telepathy, and control over animals, in addition to being precocious. However, for all their power they are weak. Semwell can create, but there is less of him to resist harm; he bleeds easily, as shown by the still-bleeding wounds from his brief fight with the Raiders. Syzom is a maid of the waters, and Jorj her apprentice, but both are sickly and supernaturally repulsed by fire. As Lina is the most powerful of them, so she is the weakest; in addition to the problems with being a girl of only six winters, she is harmed by direct contact with stone (Maya notes that Syzom is keeping her daughter on her lap at all times), even weaker of body than a normal girl of her age would be, cannot smell, is weak to magic, seems inexplicably alien to people, and easily loses control of her magic.
Overall, these four are either going to be a great boon to Maya or they will simply cost him food.
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The day draws to a close, much like the last; however, it closes on relief and gladness rather than fear and anxiety like the day before.
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GM Notes:
I was generous, even beyond what the good rolls would have given. Let's face it, a hurricane on Day 4? Terrible for these settlements. Don't expect future typhoons to go over this easy.
Caerwyn can still control Maya.
If any of you want, say, mesor's little burrows or some other intellectual property, step 1 find them, step 2 convince them to send some people over to yours to teach them.
Finally, I'very decided to scrap XP. Too much work, too little payoff. Skills will still slowly advance, though.
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Topic: You are Islanders--Turn 4: A Surprisingly Good Day (Read 13660 times)