Intelligent Activation: Hmm, what to do. You want to explore deeper into the cave, as it's been a while since you last did some exploration, but you're not quite sure about the quality of your ropes. While you do want to explore the cave more, you also don't want to die - so you'll have to make sure the ropes are as good as they can get before you explore the cave. In the meantime, you still want to do something exciting so... how about you work on getting the people to trust the forest more? You're pretty confident that it's safe in daytime, at least.
Let us hunt a large beast, and celebrate the changing of the spirits with a feast in their honor.
(5
(MMMMMMPH))When you announced your intention to hunt a beast of the forest and asked if anyone wished to join, you weren't entirely certain what the result would be - you worried that your people might even decide to replace you while you were away, fearing what such idiocy might bring down on the tribe. Instead, the reaction was mixed - some received your speech about pleasing the spirits with some trepidation, but many accepted it and a few even volunteered to join you in your hunt! It would seem your bravery and previous speeches about the spirits had more of an affect than you previously thought, as your people trust your knowledge of what pleases the spirits and are quite willing to go into the forest if you're willing to lead the way - especially since you've already spent some time there previously and are relatively knowledgeable about it.
(6(Okay, but it's time for a new dice.)) The hunt goes amazingly well! Those weapons you got your people to begin making a few moon-turns back came in handy, as the new fibre has proven quite strong and resistant to being worn down, unlike the fibres your people used to use. This also confirms the safety of those thick fibres, as you're pretty confident that they can easily be used to create a strong rope capable of holding your weight when you go down the hole. It's the only area in the cave you haven't yet explored after all! Anyway, you find a number of strange creatures in the forest, but no fantastical monsters. You find antler-beasts and antleress-beasts travelling around in some areas and kill them with ease, as well as a few small big-ear-beasts hopping around the forest floor. The closest thing you come to being in danger is when a small pack of teeth-hunter-beasts tried to surround you when you get separated from the rest of your hunters, but you stood your ground in intimidating fashion until the rest of your hunters found you, impressing them in the process. A few moons have passed and you've found no sign of monsters - a few people claim to see eyes in the darkness when moon-proper comes, but you're confident that no beast will come and attack you when the stick-lights are lit. Currently you're aiming at a big-ear-beast in the near distance, ready to take it *thwip* out in a *thwip* moment's noti- wait wha-
(1)One second you're hunting with 4 of your fellow hunters, the next 2 of them have arrows embedded in them and you're being rushed by 2 men covered in fur with spears!
Brave Activation: You charge forward, surprising them with your fierceness!
(2+
1=3VS2)You rush forward and ram your elbow directly into the stomach of the older first man, sending him toppling to the ground while you awkwardly stumble over him to confront the other man.
(6+
1=7VS1) You expertly do a short running leap at him, grabbing his own short-spear and smashing into his face with such strength that the short-spear snaps, giving him two very nasty and very painful cuts through his cheeks, but little else. He responds to this by violently clawing at his own injuries, trying to get the pain off. You are also now lying on the ground, having eaten shit due to overshooting your jump. Before you can react the first man has grabbed his spear, gotten up and is running at you!
(5VS2) While old, he is clearly quite skilled with his spear - you desperately grab the end of his spear to stop him from impaling you, cutting the flesh part of your skin between your thumb and your index finger. He quickly moves backwards, dragging you along with him as you're barely able to keep from falling over entirely. Then you hear a scream and the other two hunters rush to your aid, having just finished off the second man! Your opponent quickly moves backwards, further cutting your hand as he turns to face them and you fall flat on your face.
(3+6VS 5) One of your hunters grabs the man's spear arm, taking a light cut to his chest as he presses the spear against his chest sideways. The man kicks the hunter in the lower bits and recovers his spear before turning to the other one - who impales himself on the old man's spear so that he can get close enough to stab the man's throat with his own, somehow splintered spear!
(2)You hurredly retreat to the main hunter group and return to the tribe after that and the shamans try to treat you. Unfortunately the wound was quite jagged, and despite their best's efforts the shamans and spirits aren't able to heal you!
(4)Over the following moons you slowly recover from your injury, the wound hardening as spirits clog it to stop more blood from coming out. You seem to be recovering well, and feel well enough to continue the tribe's previous activities, though you are no longer able to use your left hand. Your people react to your recovery well, but their fear of the forest has worsened - though the reason for that fear is now obviously very different. Later, to celebrate your recovery and the changing of the spirits, you hold a feast of plants and even some meat, burning fibre and a portion of the food as a sacrifice to the spirits. People seemed to enjoy this and remained jovial for a few moons after - maybe you should make this a constant thing?
Work on improving ropes
(1)Progress on the ropes seems to go arduously slow over the following moons, and it is only when you personally inspect their ropes that you see why. They've been making them entirely wrong! They've been wrapping fibres far too thin around each other, leading to all of their attempts snapping when they try to use them. Not only that, they've already thrown your original rope down the hole, believing it to be useless! You give the people who did this a good beating with your right arm as punishment, as well as stripping away the shiny rocks of the contributor who ordered this. He's lucky you're only able to beat him with one hand... Exploring the cave will have to wait for now.
Lets get back to work on the baskets.
(4)Meanwhile, progress on the fibre storage thingy continues to go steadily. More recently your people have been experimenting with smaller fibres, and they believe they have found the correct size. With some difficulty they have even figured out how to stop the square shape from collapsing if moved too much by tying up the corners in a complicated knot - now you just need to figure out how to keep things staying inside it. The main suggestion right now is getting another few pieces of fibre, tying one to each corner and then tying them together around the end of a long stick. Depending on the size, you could carry lots of things in those! Meanwhile, the original fibre design has become a popular thing to sleep on instead of hard rock or various other leathers. It's a bit lumpy of a sleeping surface, but at least it's softish.
Let's check if any of the tribeswomen fancy us, and vice versa.
(2) You also keep an eye on some of the women of the tribe. Traditionally, chiefs don't have a dedicated mating partner like the rest of the tribe. Instead, they can theoretically take any woman they want and, generally speaking, it is considered a blessing or good omen if a strong, proven chief decides to bless a woman with his seed. You could take any woman regardless, but you don't want to do so until you've further proven yourself a good ruler and have fully recovered from your injury - it is a bad omen for an injured chieftain to bless a woman with his seed, as evil impurities may well of seeped into him through the wound and could surely infect the child. Therefore, there is currently little interest in you, in part due to your own current lack of interest in them.
(81) Good news - another large pocket of the blue rock has been discovered hiding behind an especially thick length of fibre holding some especially juicy food! This is considered a good omen, and the increase in blue rocks means you now have enough to create a small pile as high as the centre of your leg. You know this because this where the rocks have been for many moons now, untouched. Perhaps you should continue your experiments with them now that it has been long enough for the evil spirits to leave and the shaman spirits to occupy them.
Meanwhile, your left hand has FINALLY recovered enough for you to safely use it for simple tasks, according to the shamans. With your hand recovered,
What are you going to do? There are no issues of immediate importance, though the new shamans have shown interest in studying the rocks alongside you. It has been roughly 45 moons since the last of the old shamans died.