Excellent!
While on the hunt for meat, form alliances and play most of the hunters against one another, getting them to eliminate each other. Essentially, play Survivor RL.
[2] Your attempts at manipulation are stymied by several factors, most prominent of which is that the hunters do not trust you one bit, and also that many of them stayed behind to watch the results of the meeting - on the other hand, you and a few others seem to have gotten a head start in the search for meat.
[3] A search that seems to be going poorly anyway - squirrels and other small animals are visible occasionally, but they are beyond the scope of your current equipment - a shot with a bow and arrow, in the unlikely event that it hit, would probably cause any such animal to lose half of its meat in an instant. Perhaps you need traps.
NAME IS SCHNOOGLEWUDDLER, PREMIER HIDESMAN THIS SIDE OF INSERT FAR AWAY PLACE NAME
ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE OF SITUATION WHILE CUTTING UP SOME LEATHER AND STUFF
[1] The situation at hand confuses you, as you stand on the banks of a river, distant from all things, currently known, in the company of nobody at all. You have only strips of leather, crafted from the sole remaining members of your tribe who succumbed to the plague. And even those you have mostly eaten to stave off hunger.
Your tribe is dead, and you are alone in this world. One has to wonder what more can life take from you. Your skills? Your mind? Your limbs? The spirits do indeed seem cruel today.
Find Conrak.
Conrak,I need to borrow your tools to sharpen this blade as a gift for Haphan.
If he allows me to then start sharpening the knife.
[3] You obtain flint from Conrak easily, and manage to sharpen the knife up to a rough edge - it is not a top quality cutting instrument by any means, but you believe it should at least be a roughly functional thing right now.
Call a meeting of the elders to discuss leaving for more bountiful land once the outcome of the hunters' trip is known. We are nomads, after all.
The elders meet freely, and a discussion ensues.
detach a pouch from my body and use it to scoop up leaches
[3] A pair of leeches you do indeed obtain, along with a very tiny helping of little bugs and other things of the creek - none of them are creatures you have studied, or even know the names of, and you wonder if anybody in history has before.
I am Zurik, average gatherer of our tribe! Gather the fruit!
[3] You attempt to lead the women in the gathering of fruit, and a few follow your lead - after the council has ended, you return with a modest gain of a basket of berries - each of the women who came with you takes her share, and this leaves you with about two handfuls for yourself. Not a heroic gain, but it will stave off your evening hunger when it comes.
FLOP AROUND LIKE FISH
FREE MYSELF
MEANWHILE LOUDLY REMIND VUKKO AND HIS SILLY LITTLE FRIEND THAT I AM THE BRAVE AND HANDSOME PLOK, AND THAT I HAVE SURVIVED FAR WORSE THINGS THAN THIS IN MY TRAVELS, AND THAT THEY WILL MOST CERTAINLY BE IN FOR IT WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE
LEAVE JUST WHAT "IT" IS TO THEIR IMAGINATIONS. THAT WILL MAKE IT SCARIER. PROBABLY.
...TRY AND THINK UP A SUITABLE PUNISHMENT FOR MY TORMENTORS WHILST I MAKE MY ESCAPE.
[4] You flop around in place, attempting to free yourself from imprisonment, all the while shouting vague threats at the long-gone Vukko and Irk - it helps little, but your quick hands and instincts let you eventually undo your bonds and escape the leaf-covered ditch the two malefactors put you in.
[5] You have, of course, thought of what you could do to Vukko as revenge, your addled mind fueled by rising anger. You could catch his feet in a noose and then hang him and his crony upside down from a tree - it has been done to you at least once in your life, and you remember it being very unpleasant as well as conducive to reflection on the bad decisions that brought one to such a state.
Engrave images of Haphan's journey if he is willing to tell me about it. If he is not, instead engrave images from our legends.
[4] Your images of Haphan's journey, made from a combination of the details you overhear during the circle meeting as well as the additional details he reveals afterward, are indeed hopeful ones, and certainly worthy of display near the shaman's tent along with the shaman's own work. The idea of a promised land to the east is a greatly fascinating one in these rudderless times, and you notice at least a few of the passing people gaze at the symbolism within wistfully.
Wonder where Tuypogina went and in a fit of madness cut a plant into its main parts (leaves, stem, roots, fruit) and bury them individually by the water. Insist that I'm discovering the mysteries of Life and have myself or Tuypogina observing them 24/7.
[4] Before the council begins, you take some time to slice a particular plant you pluck from outside your tent into four main parts - the stem, which is like a leg, the roots, which are the foot, the leaves, which are like the torso, and the fruit, which are like the head - you bury all of them under a layer of dirt, each in a separate grave so that the earth may swallow their parts more easily, by the river, and then return to take part in the council.
Mediate upon my images and this suggestion, to understand the future of our tribe.
[4] You feel that it may be time to move on further than before, far to the east, as your grandmother counseled the tribe of her day to go far to the north. It is your way. The plants are of the earth, the animals are of lightning, and the people are of one another, nourished by the plants and the animals, and given strength by the wind itself.
I am glad this challenge has been set upon me. I was planning to challenge Kurgle myself, but now, I can show I am greater than ALL the hunters of the tribe, for I will hunt a beast of legend, and I will show all, and all will be in awe, and call me great hunter, as I should be.
Gather my hunting gear, and ask Conrak for his biggest wagon, for the catch shall be large, and I will be the only hunter. Grab Chantututu to be my assistant, for doing this with the tribe idiot will further cement my legend, and I also like him, and I need help carrying the legendary catch. When I'm ready, boast to all the tribe about my soon to be journey and catch and success, and to prepare for the return of a legend
[3] Conrak promises to give you an enormous spear. You are not sure if he misheard, or simply did not deem a wagon, which even you yourself are not entirely sure of how it might work or even look, in spite of overhearing the Thinker once explain its basic principle operation to his apprentice. At any rate, you seek the camp idiot to help you in your quest, having no faith in any of Kurgle or Vukko's ilk.
Distribute the latest batch of arrows to the hunters, and craft an enormous spear for Nth. What plan he has that would suit a spear better than a bow, Conrak does not know, but it is an excuse to craft something grander than Conrak has ever crafted.
[1] You recall that you have neglected to make any arrows today, for you did not expect there to be such a commotion. Eventful days such as these are quite rare, after all. Not that the warriors are in grave need of arrows, with their lack of prey to shoot.
[1] You also find that you have no wood whatsoever, as you did not request any to be brought to you yesterday. You remember having some sort of interesting project in mind, but you cannot currently remember what exactly it was.
Chantutu (he has lost track of the number of tus in his name) supposes that it was inevitable that he would eventually be forced to do something. He claps and dances excitedly. He decides to perform one more act of amusement before leaving: he climbs a (short) tree, then shouts "Look at Chantutu! Chantutu bird!" He then jumps off the tree and flies.
[1] Excited or at least pretending to have been brought to such a state by your prospects of being actually useful, you decide to give the camp one more act of amusement - climbing on a nearby tree, you plunge forward, imitating the leap of a thunderbird, attempting to swoop, but in vain as your arms fail to provide even a small amount of lift. You begin plunging headfirst toward the ground.
Seeing Chantutu trying to fly, I run my fastest, and attempt to catch him so that he does not kill himself.
[5] Noticing the idiot about to break his neck, you run right into him, catching the strange man midair and redirecting his head to a much safer position - as a result, he survives narrowly, albeit is bruised from the fall. Though you like the fool, you wonder if you have not unnecessarily prolonged his stay in this world.
Once the elders are done with their meeting, Kurgle asks for permission to bring a few of the loyal hunters and some assorted other tribesmen east to see if the land really is as good as our scout promised.
"Why not allow the scout to take a small group of volunteers back to see this new promised land, then? When we return, we will be able to either affirm or disprove his claims. Perhaps we could even bring food back."
Tuktu volunteers to go with Halpan to see the promised land.
[5] After the meeting, an exploratory band including Haphan, Kurgle, Tuktu and a majority of the tribe's hunters, disappointed at their marginalization as of late, is formed, and they quickly assemble around the fire once the elders have returned to their respective business. They seem to all be ready to go.
I'm long gone from the meeting. I care not about old men telling us what and what not to do while they sit around and do nothing. Once all my supplies and Chantututu are ready, I will take off from where Haphan came from to catch the three legendary beasts that he talked of.
Though you have saved the idiot, you find that you have no supplies, since Conrak appears to not be able to provide you with a wagon on the spot, or a giant spear that you never asked for, for that matter.
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Topic: History: the Minimalist RTD (Read 124865 times)