Cylus 6, Arc 721
On the 6th of Cylus, Devin Thorn, medical genius in progress, masterful bard and priest of Delroth stood in the center of the path that led from the door of his house to the garden gate, bundled up in his warmest clothes, a Cavani’s Cloak that shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow draped across body for a bit of extra warmth and a thick book in one of his gloved hands. On the cover of said book was a picture of the author, a man with a fur hat and a thick beard that had made Devin wonder if he even knew what a barber was when he had first seen it, and the title was “Wilderness Survival for Beginners.”
The arc before, there had been a terrible volcanic eruption, and there would probably be a war soon, and he had just become a baron. Of a place that seemed to be pretty much made of wilderness at the moment. He wanted to be prepared for all kinds of disasters, he didn’t want to starve (or drown or freeze to death) when he had to hide from the bad guys, and he didn’t want to disappoint Saoire who had given him the barony either.
If he had a wilderness barony, he needed to learn to survive in the wilderness, and a garden was the closest thing to a wilderness that he had access to at the moment. It had trees (currently barren), grass (currently shriveled and hidden under a lot of snow) and rocks (there was a little rock garden), just like the real wilderness, and what more, there were even animals such as his Scalvwing, his flunny and his beloved pet goat Heidi, although they were currently in the stable or the house. It would be the perfect place to start his foray into the mysterious world of survival!
Since it was currently winter and cold and unpleasant, he had decided to familiarize himself with the basics of winter survival. So, without further ado, he leafed to the chapter on that particular topic (which was a bit more challenging when you had thick gloves on) and read aloud, his breath forming little clouds of mist in front of his face, “When you are outside in winter, you need to stay warm and dry which means finding or setting up a shelter and creating a heat source. These need to be your priorities. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly if you don’t have a place where you can hunker down. Staying alive in winter also requires you to eat and drink regularly in order to maintain your energy stores”, he continued and decided to move on to the part that talked about how to set up a shelter in the wilderness in winter.
The author recommended that you just bring a tent if you could; although it was possible to just build a shelter as well using various materials that you could find in the wilderness, including snow, of course. Since Devin had a perfectly fine tent in his basement, he decided to just skip that part and set up a tent and moved on to the next passage in the chapter – the proper location for your tent. The author warned against pitching your tent at the bottom of a valley or in a ravine as cold air tended to move down such terrain features, or places where avalanches were likely to occur. He recommended taking advantage of things such as fallen trees or caves – and flattening the snow beforehand.
“Flatten the snow as much as possible by stomping it with snowshoes or skis or whatever other tools are available. If you set up your tent on raw snow, you will be dealing with annoying lumps which will make your sleep much more uncomfortable”, he read and proceeded to furrow his brow deeply as something just occurred to him. The man with the ugly beard had mentioned snowshoes. He didn’t have any snowshoes though. Did that mean that he would have to run to the store and quickly buy some now? He looked around as he wondered how he was supposed to solve that particular problem. As he did so, he spotted the shovel leaning against the wall of the house. He would just use that instead! A shovel was, obviously, a tool as well!
So, without further ado, Devin started to hit the snow right next to the path and flatten it which made his arms hurt and required a lot of strength, and once the snow looked at least halfway flat and compact rather than lumpy and such, he dropped the shovel and walked back into the house. The man with the ugly beard had mentioned eating and drinking in order to maintain your energy stores, and since he wanted to be a good survivalist, he would do just that. He would make some hot chocolate for himself and eat a sandwich. With lots of bacon!
On the 6th of Cylus, Devin Thorn, medical genius in progress, masterful bard and priest of Delroth stood in the center of the path that led from the door of his house to the garden gate, bundled up in his warmest clothes, a Cavani’s Cloak that shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow draped across body for a bit of extra warmth and a thick book in one of his gloved hands. On the cover of said book was a picture of the author, a man with a fur hat and a thick beard that had made Devin wonder if he even knew what a barber was when he had first seen it, and the title was “Wilderness Survival for Beginners.”
The arc before, there had been a terrible volcanic eruption, and there would probably be a war soon, and he had just become a baron. Of a place that seemed to be pretty much made of wilderness at the moment. He wanted to be prepared for all kinds of disasters, he didn’t want to starve (or drown or freeze to death) when he had to hide from the bad guys, and he didn’t want to disappoint Saoire who had given him the barony either.
If he had a wilderness barony, he needed to learn to survive in the wilderness, and a garden was the closest thing to a wilderness that he had access to at the moment. It had trees (currently barren), grass (currently shriveled and hidden under a lot of snow) and rocks (there was a little rock garden), just like the real wilderness, and what more, there were even animals such as his Scalvwing, his flunny and his beloved pet goat Heidi, although they were currently in the stable or the house. It would be the perfect place to start his foray into the mysterious world of survival!
Since it was currently winter and cold and unpleasant, he had decided to familiarize himself with the basics of winter survival. So, without further ado, he leafed to the chapter on that particular topic (which was a bit more challenging when you had thick gloves on) and read aloud, his breath forming little clouds of mist in front of his face, “When you are outside in winter, you need to stay warm and dry which means finding or setting up a shelter and creating a heat source. These need to be your priorities. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly if you don’t have a place where you can hunker down. Staying alive in winter also requires you to eat and drink regularly in order to maintain your energy stores”, he continued and decided to move on to the part that talked about how to set up a shelter in the wilderness in winter.
The author recommended that you just bring a tent if you could; although it was possible to just build a shelter as well using various materials that you could find in the wilderness, including snow, of course. Since Devin had a perfectly fine tent in his basement, he decided to just skip that part and set up a tent and moved on to the next passage in the chapter – the proper location for your tent. The author warned against pitching your tent at the bottom of a valley or in a ravine as cold air tended to move down such terrain features, or places where avalanches were likely to occur. He recommended taking advantage of things such as fallen trees or caves – and flattening the snow beforehand.
“Flatten the snow as much as possible by stomping it with snowshoes or skis or whatever other tools are available. If you set up your tent on raw snow, you will be dealing with annoying lumps which will make your sleep much more uncomfortable”, he read and proceeded to furrow his brow deeply as something just occurred to him. The man with the ugly beard had mentioned snowshoes. He didn’t have any snowshoes though. Did that mean that he would have to run to the store and quickly buy some now? He looked around as he wondered how he was supposed to solve that particular problem. As he did so, he spotted the shovel leaning against the wall of the house. He would just use that instead! A shovel was, obviously, a tool as well!
So, without further ado, Devin started to hit the snow right next to the path and flatten it which made his arms hurt and required a lot of strength, and once the snow looked at least halfway flat and compact rather than lumpy and such, he dropped the shovel and walked back into the house. The man with the ugly beard had mentioned eating and drinking in order to maintain your energy stores, and since he wanted to be a good survivalist, he would do just that. He would make some hot chocolate for himself and eat a sandwich. With lots of bacon!