Surviving the Wilds

by **Sayana** on November 22nd, 2015, 6:45 pm

Fall 89, 515 - Base of the Mountain

Sayana’s stomach growled as picked clovers from a small clearing in the forest. However, over the last few days it had been the norm for her as she struggled to survive out in the wilds. The Eypharian had turned her cloak into a make-shift basket and gathered clovers and dandelion leaves knowing that despite their bitter taste, they could provide some sustenance.

Fortunately she had found water on the first day, and she hadn’t moved her ‘camp’ since, but ever since arriving at the base of the mountain, she had been unable to start a fire. Her flint and steel were somewhere at the Cubacious Inn, which she could no longer reach. Glancing into the woods, Sayana spotted some white mushrooms. She paused in her gathering, and eyed them suspiciously. On her second day out in the woods, she had gotten quite sick by eating spotted mushrooms and had retched up most of the contents of her stomach. Still, a small bite might be enough to test it out without repeating such events. The Eypharian bent down and with a dagger cut the base of the mushroom and added it to her various food items. It seemed like she had enough to make a meal, though meager, and she turned to head back to her camp after making note of where the clearing was.

Upon returning to her makeshift lean-to shelter, Sayana plopped down the gathered leaves and mushrooms next to the nearby stream. It was one of these Alvadas illusions where the water ran uphill, but nevertheless she carefully washed the dandelion leaves and mushrooms free of dirt. With a mild look of disgust, she began to consume her findings knowing that she’d need the energy they provided.

If only she could get a fire going and maybe cook them to taste nicer or even catch some real meat to cook. Yet strangely in all her time out in the woods, she hadn’t spotted a single animal, nor heard even the simplest bird call. There were bugs though. Bugs that crawled over her during the night. But how long would she be out here? If the winters of Alvadas were anything like the winters of Syliras, it would turn bitter cold with snow and she didn’t even have the means to start a fire.

The thought of spending a winter out in the woods terrified her. To make a fire she’d need flint and steel. One of her daggers could be used as the steel. What about flint? Could she find such a stone? She couldn’t say for sure, but it didn’t seem impossible. With new energy, she donned her cloak no longer needing it as a basket, and headed out in search of flint.

by **Sayana** on November 22nd, 2015, 6:49 pm

She headed towards the mountain side believing that there would be a higher abundance of rocks along the slopes. The general upwards climb of the ground guided her, and after half a bell the forest began to thin. Flint. It was usually a shiny black-brown colour. And whenever she saw it used for making fire it had a sharp edge to strike against. The Eypharian began scanning the rocks along the mountainous slope, and occasionally picked one up to inspect.

Many of the rocks were grey and boring, while others near the mountain stream were rounded without anything to strike against. She picked her way along the mountainside and sometimes climbed up onto a rocky ledge to get a better vantage point. It was on one such occasion that she spotted a bird’s nest high up in one of the trees. A nest! A nest could mean eggs, right? She was momentarily distracted from her search of flint as she rushed quickly to the base of the tree.

Petch. The first bit of the climb looked impossible. There was about ten feet of nothing but tree trunk, however, higher up there seemed to be evenly spaced branches that she could use. Her initial excitement waned, yet there was still that glimmer of hope for some fresh eggs. Trying to think critically, Sayana assessed the situation. If she could use her cloak like a rope… She removed the garment and stood under the lowest branch. It looked strong and with a leap, she flung her cloak over the top of the branch. With a couple more jumps and tugs, she managed to get it to hang evenly on both sides. Yet it was still quite high and probably wasn’t going to help her much.

There was her belt. She carefully undid the belt and placed her weapons at the base of the tree. As she looped the belt around the tree trunk, she realized she could get some good traction if she held it tight enough. And then there were her daggers. Not wanting to damage her ornate dagger, she picked up her two throwing daggers in her mids and sunk them into the bark of the tree. It was soft bark, and the blades managed to give her a bit more to climb with.

At last, applying all three techniques, she began climbing up the trunk. With her lows she kept a tight grip on the trunk using her belt, her mids gripped the daggers as she inched herself up a little bit at a time, and by the time she was high enough she reached up with her highs to pull at her cloak. It was painfully slow, and by the time she reached the sturdy branch her hands ached with the effort. Yet she made it. The next part was not quite so strenuous, but she still had to keep her balance as she stepped carefully from branch to branch going ever higher and pulling herself upwards.

At last the nest was within reach. Slowly Sayana side stepped along the branch she was standing on, and used the branch above to hold onto and keep her balance. Just as she was close enough to reach out to the nest, her heart sunk. It was empty. Petch! Why did the gods curse her so?

Gritting her teeth, she made her way back down the tree. The last bit she had to jump, and she tried to brace herself by bending her knees. The impact was still jarring, and she ended up scraping her hands and knees in spite of her attempts. Back to finding that flint.

by **Sayana** on November 22nd, 2015, 6:50 pm

Along the riverbank she spotted some darker rocks. Excitedly she leapt across the narrow stream to the other side and started picking them up to investigate. They were a very dark grey, almost black, and had some fine edges. Her hopes were high as she drew a dagger and struck it against the thin edge of the rock. Except the rock broke off at the impact. Somewhat startled, she looked more carefully at the rock and noticed it had formed in layers. In fact… Sayana held the rock in two hands and with some effort managed to split the rock down one of the layers with only her bare hands. Well that’s no good. With a sigh she continued onwards.

It took a bell or two of searching and several strikes against potential rocks, for her to finally find something promising. Holding out the almost glassy looking rock in one hand, she struck it hard with her blade. The first time held no results, but the second time she got a hint of a spark. She struck it again and managed to get a true spark out of the flint. A sense of accomplishment and success surged within her and proudly she pocketed the rock. It was time to return to her camp.

Another unexpected blessing came upon her when she caught sight of a tree with fruit hanging from it. She ran down the hill towards it and leapt to catch the lowest branch. Small crab apples fell from the branch as she shook it, and she managed to reach one branch higher to knock down a few more of the fruit. She jumped back down and landed softly upon her feet before gathering her reward. She took a bite of one and found it sour, but hoped that it was still edible and something a bit of cooking might fix. With a bundle of fruit, she headed back in a lighter mood than she had left.

However, as she neared her camp something was off. She heard voices.

Part of her wanted to rush forwards and greet whoever it was, and finally have someone to talk to. Yet another part of her was suspicious. Who were they? And why hadn’t they come earlier? Keeping the results of her foraging held tightly close to her, Sayana crept forwards keeping behind trees and vegetation. She moved slightly crouched and was careful to avoid dry leaves or sticks that might alert them of her presence. Between tree trunks and branches, she spotted several dark shapes gathered at her make-shift shelter.

“Someone was definitely here. Animals don’t make things like that.” A voice spoke and there was movement towards the shelter as a gesture was made. “Was it her?” Asked another voice, heavily accented and slow to form words.

“Hard to say. But we’ll find her. Her and all her family.”

There was a flapping of wings and Sayana ducked low, trying to hide behind a bush yet also not wanting to alert them with too much movement or sound. Her heart pounded in her chest. The wings… were they zith? She had been close enough to see that there were at least half a dozen of them, but beyond that, she couldn’t tell who or what they were. Fortunately their voices had carried. Yet they were speaking common? Fear gripped her as she suddenly realized that one of them was probably not a zith, and was still probably on the ground looking for her.

by **Sayana** on November 22nd, 2015, 6:50 pm

Sayana buried herself deeper into the thicket, squeezing under the tangle of branches. There was a rustle of leaves that she could have sworn were footsteps, and she tried to keep as still as possible. She fingered one of her blades knowing that if she was found, she’d probably have to attack right away. Yet apart from the gusty wind that blew at the leaves, she didn’t hear any more sounds.

So the zith family had decided she was enough of a threat to track down? And what had they said about her family? She didn’t have any family in Alvadas. Except… Her heart sunk as she thought of Timothy and Andreas, and even Nephti. Could they know about them? Maybe they didn’t know about Tim and Andreas, but Nephti could easily be seen as related. She wondered where they were and how they were faring. Yet until the illusions changed or she found a way up the mountain, there wasn’t much she could do for them.

After sufficient time had passed, Sayana carefully crept out from her hiding place. Twigs got caught in her hair and fine scratches were all over her arms. Yet she was alive. If it had only been one zith she wouldn’t have been so concerned, but with 6 or 7 on her tail? As much as she had enjoyed the meager comforts of her current shelter, she’d have to move lest they find her.

At a slow lope, Sayana took off through the woods away from her camp, and hopefully in the opposite direction of where the zith had gone. At least she had the apples and flint. Although her eyes constantly darted towards the skies and between the trees seeking out any danger. She spent about half a bell running, leaping over fallen logs and rocks, and ducking behind trees to avoid being spotted. Her legs burned but the further she ran, the safer she felt. The forest offered some protection and after continuing to walk for yet another bell she finally reached a small pond that could offer her fresh water.

This time while building her shelter, she didn’t just use fallen sticks. She included large branches with leaves still on them to make it look more like a bush. It was a simplistic measure of safety and it only needed a second glance to tell that it was shelter, but it would help her sleep better at night. She prepared a fire pit and found some flat rocks to use for cooking. After carefully finding the driest twigs, leaves, and bark Sayana readied her flint and dagger to strike a fire. It took a couple of goes, but with some soft blowing upon the spark she managed to get the fire started. She cooked the apples slowly upon the flat rock, and gradually the heat of the flame and the rock softened them. The small crab apples still didn’t taste the best, but it was something and it kept her stomach from growling as night began to fall.

Sayana slept fitfully that night and her dreams were haunted by zith. “Who’s the monster now? We’ll find her. Her and all her family.”

by **Fable** on November 24th, 2015, 4:25 am

S A Y A N A

a d r o i t . a c c r e t i o n s

e s p i e d . e r u d i t i o n

r e c o m p e n s e . a n d . r e t r i b u t i o n

❃ minor scrapes and bruises
d e t e r m i n a t i v e . d i c t a

Good work! I can see you pushing for Sayana to get some wilderness survival.

Solo Surviving the Wilds