Sink and Swim

Beyond the city of Rharne lies the Stormlands, which is home to a number of farms, forests, fields, Lake Lovalus, and the River Zynyx. This subforum also includes the Stormwastes to the south.

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Dandelion
Approved Character
Posts: 561
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:43 pm
Race: Mixed Race
Renown: 230
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Wealth Tier: Tier 10

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Sink and Swim

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8 Vhalar 719
Wealth Skill: Fieldcraft

The first thing Dandelion noticed near his latest camp site was the hazel tree and the nuts falling from it to be lost among the piles of dead leaves at its foot. The second thing he noticed was the lazy pool where a backwater of the stream had been half choked by a fallen tree. The backwater was as much rock and gravel as mud, which meant the water itself was fairly clear. Good for drinking from, but not so much for fishing. Still, there were other uses for such a place.

He took a pair of battered sacks and shoveled ground cover into them with his hands - this arc's nuts, last arc's nut cases, dead leaves, and all - without bothering to try and seperate it out by hand. He carried them down to backwater of the stream and set the sacks on the bank while he drank and filled his waterskin. Once that was done, he simply picked up each sack in turn and dumped the entire contents straight into the drifting water. The nuts, of course, sank. Everything else just floated gently away on what current there was, and after a few minutes, he could reach down into the cleared water and pick out the sunken nuts, now sorted by the simple result of how much they weighed - and on top of that, they were washed clean of any dirt.

He spread the sacks out flat and laid the recovered nuts on top of them in a single layer to let them dry. If he didn't wait until they were dry to store them for the coming colder seasons, they were as likely to rot and mould as they were to keep in an edible state. Stored dry though, they were good for a season or even an entire cycle, and made a quick easy supplement to his meals.

Once the nuts had been spread out, well clear of the stream, where they couldn't get splashed and have to start drying all over again, he gathered up most of the clothes he wasn't wearing and carted them down to the bank of the stream. It seemed like a good time and place to get his clothing clean and dry and as mended as possible before the colder weather swept in and he was back to piling on the layers for warmth. It would be nice to give his bedding a good clean too, but he suspected that that would have to wait for another trial. Still, he'd be here for a while, there would be other trials to use this patch of stream as a washing and laundry spot.

He started by wrapping and tying a piece of leather over the head of his spear, both to protect his spear, and his clothes. Then, one by one, he carried his shirts and trousers, and other things to a spot downwind of the drying nuts and thwacked them repeatedly with the shaft of his spear so that any loose, dry, dirt was beaten and shaken out of them and carried away. Better that way, than dunking it in the water and having the dirt turn into mud that soaked into the cloth and stained it more than it already had.

Beating dry dirt out of clothes was effort, but it was less hard work than scrubbing mud out of wet clothes. Dan grimaced to himself, remembering one of the messes he had got himself into early on, when he'd scrubbed hard and successfully shifted the dirt from the shirt he was washing - only to look down at himself and realise he'd just transferred all the dirt to the clothes he was wearing instead. That had been an - interesting - trial, and he'd gone to bed hungry in the end, having spent all trial cleaning and not managed to get anything to eat. That wouldn't happen totrial. Yestertrial had been very lucky on the snares, and he had more than enough soup left to see him through until tomorrow.

Once everything had been beaten, he brought it back to the pool, and pushed the first of his shirts into the water, shoving it down until it lost any bubbles of air trapped in or under the folds of cloth and grudgingly sank on the clean stones. He pinned it down with another rock so that it could soak without floating away, and reached for his other spare shirt to give it the same treatment. Trousers and underwear followed the same pattern, and then he sat back for a moment to rub life back into aching arms and water-chilled fingers.

Then he went back to the first shirt, freed it from the rock pinning it down, and dragged it over to a bigger boulder on the edge of the stream. Once there, he scrubbed cloth against cloth, working out the dirt and dunking it frequently to rinse anything loosened away, and then cloth against stone to provide an extra rough surface to work the shirt against. When he finally had it as clean as it was going to get without the soap he couldn't spare, he wrung it out, twisting the cloth until it was as tight as any rope to drive out the water, spread it out over a convenient bush to begin to dry in the warmth of the sun, and started on a pair of trousers.

If he'd actually owned anything that had been dyed, he would have spread that piece of clothing in the shade somewhere so that the sun didn't bleach the precious colour out of it as it dried. As it was, all the clothes he owned were the muted shades of beige and brown and off-white that came naturally to the material they were made from, all of which only helped him blend into nature better. All that the sunlight could bleach were any remaning stains, and as far as he was concerned, it was more than welcome to do so.

He lost partial track of time in his focus on the work in front of him, but when he eventually looked up from the last piece of clothing, the light had taken on that golden quality that meant late afternoon. He spread the trousers over a bush and stretched, wincing, as the hard work made itself felt in protesting joints and muscles. He was going to be sore tomorrow, but it was worth it. He stretched out his hands in the grass, letting them too dry before he went back to check the nuts so that he didn't waste the time already taken by dripping on them right as they'd finished drying. His fingers brushed something more feathery than grass, and he turned to look. His smile widened when he realised that it was a small patch of wild carrots, their feathery green tops right by his fingers. He pulled two of the carrots and stored them to eat later, green tops and all. Carrot greens might be sharp, and a little bitter, but they were perfectly edible, and he wasn't going to let perfectly good food go to waste.

After making quite sure that his hands were dry, he checked the nuts. They were dry too, and he shoveled them into a sack for easier carrying back to his camp. The earliest of his clothes were all but dry too, so he shook out the other sack and stowed them in that, working his way down the line of clothes. He checked the thickest spots - seams and collars and cuffs - flipped them over so that the other side got sunlight too, and let the golden light encase him, as thick and sweet as honey.

When the light dimmed enough to drive him back to his camp, Dan strung a line under his tent for his clothes to finish drying, stored the nuts safely, added fuel to his small fire, and hung the soup over it to warm through.

After he'd eaten, he took out his boots and kicked off his shoes, and began to clean those too. First he slipped his hand inside a boot to provide support and a firm surface, while he worked his way over the outside with a brush, removing all the dirt and finding all the spots where the wear was showing. He'd have to mend those eventually, but for now they were holding up. Then he went over the boot again, working warm pine-pitch into the seams and leather. The pine-pitch, gathered from the sap of the pine trees and warmed indirectly to prevent it catching fire, softened the leather, making it both more pliable and more waterproof. It was entirely too much like his life, he reckoned, setting the first boot down and starting on the second, that he took what nature gave and reworked it to suit his own needs. But really, he wouldn't have it any other way.
word count: 1513
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Saint
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:12 pm
Race: Biqaj
Renown: 0
Wealth Tier: Tier 1

Contribution

Re: Sink and Swim

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Sink and Swim
Dandelion
Points awarded: 10
Knowledge:
Fieldcraft: gathering hazelnuts
Fieldcraft: gathering wild carrots
Fieldcraft: using water to separate nuts from leaf litter
Strength: handling sodden fabric
Strength: beating dirt from clothes
Leatherworking: waterproofing leather with pine pitch

Renown: -
Loot: -
Injuries: -
Consequences: -
Skill Usage: Appropriate to level.
Word count: 1,520
Notes:

Innovative and efficient! Dandelion seems to fit perfectly into the environment and the setting you've created here, and his love for the wilds really shines through. He has a good understanding of the world around him, without it feeling like he's overplaying his skills or knowledges. I feel like I learned a lot from this thread myself! The scenes of dumping the hazelnuts into the water, knocking dust from his clothes, and soaking up the rays of sun really painted a nice mental picture of the trial.

I liked it when Dan came across the wild carrots by feeling the soft greens - it tells a lot about his character, that he's more than willing to eat something bitter if it's beneficial for him.

Enjoy the rewards, and feel free to send me a PM with any questions or concerns.
word count: 195
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