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Re: Rauko
Early evening brings Rauko back to the lake, and the elk hide is still good so he rinses it. Time to build a shelter because it is raining and the temperature has dropped near freezing. Rauko rises early in the morning and butchers the tiny deer. He knows he needs a better knife for skinning and ends up with about 2 dozen cuts of meat, which he roasts after cleaning the skin. By then he's very hungry and the deer is delicious! He finishes tanning the elk fur and is exhausted but it turns out about average quality, sleeps in the shelter, then packs up and canoes across the lake in the morning. Arriving on the far shore, he picks some berries and sees some tracks. Then looks up and there is a wolf!  Remaining calm and going about his business seems the best thing to do, so that's what Rauko does... and the wolf also minds it's own business and nobody gets hurt. April 01, 2018, 11:17:00 PM |
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Re: Rauko
Continuing on south-west, another big lake will give him some relief from carrying the heavy canoe. First, he rinses the tanning fat from the small deer hide, then paddles around the lake enjoying the peacefulness of the cool morning. Returning to shore, the hide is not ready so he takes a brief swim and nearly freezes! But the pile of spruce branches he'd made ready beforehand makes a quick fire and he's warm again. Then it snows briefly for the first time in the year, and when it stops he finishes tanning. He tries sleeping but the snow starts again in evening so he canoes to the southern tip of the lake. Snow turns to freezing rain and Rauko realizes he forgot to sacrifice for the killed deer... are the spirits telling him something? He shurgs off those thoughts and presses on south-eastward, but the rain won't stop so he makes a shelter. Rauko recites a ritual his father taught him to avoid angering underground folk, and sleeps well, waking late in the morning to light snow. The land is devoid of hills... just an expanse of trees and mires with few lakes. 
April 02, 2018, 06:17:03 PM |
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Re: Rauko
Rauko will be glad to reach the seashore and get the weight of the canoe off his back, regardless of how helpful it has been to have made it. He happens upon a lake with an elk seen in the distance, and puts his canoe into the water to cross it.  April 05, 2018, 03:44:21 AM |
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Re: Rauko
He travels a bit longer and finds the land becoming hilly. A rocky hill ahead seems to have a cave entrance, so he makes a torch, explores it with only spear and axe, then shelters for the night. Rauko dreams... unpleasant dreams of the bear and his father's death.  There wasn't any sign of a bear having lived in the cave... why the dream and what does it mean? April 06, 2018, 03:07:23 AM |
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Re: Rauko
The river ends up flowing into a large lake, and Rauko is disappointed that he has not reached the sea. But his spirit has risen with the ease of the journey in his canoe, so he doesn't let this bother him. Continuing across the lake, he finds the river continuing on to the west.  Downstream a few hours later he sees a swan ahead and takes it as a good sign indeed! 
April 07, 2018, 03:11:47 PM |
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Re: Rauko
A little while later there is a tall hill rising from the shore. Rauko goes ashore and climbs for a look at the surrounding area. He sees a man who looks like a hunter moving through the trees across the river.  He canoes across and walks until he finds boot tracks, which lead him quickly to a rough-looking character, a tribeless wanderer. Rauko's father had told him never to trust these vagabonds... better to strike first and not bother asking questions. There had been two times that his father had been attacked and robbed by such men. 
April 08, 2018, 05:00:46 PM |
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Re: Rauko
Rauko heeds the words of his beloved father and slowly approaches with arrow at the ready. A bit nervous, his first arrow misses badly, and the man pauses and turns, listening and looking. Rauko is not spotted however, and his 2nd arrow hits!  Rauko charges and the battle commences!  The man tries to escape, but Rauko will not let him get away with his prized spear. Rauko picks up the man's dropped axe. Now he will follow and finish the vagabond with arrows.  And so it happens. The spear is recovered. Rauko feels his father would be proud. April 10, 2018, 01:53:20 PM |
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Re: Rauko
Leaving the body, he walks back to the river and builds a shelter for the night. Dreams come to him and disturb his sleep and he wakes in the night, hearing noises of fighting in the distance. He lays on his furs and listens but the noises are gone. Sleep comes once more and he wakes to cold morning rain and cold roasted meat. Heading down the river, Rauko paddles across one good-sized lake and then another, both by late morning. Climbing a hill reveals that the river exits in three streams.  He's starting to feel like the river will go on forever, and stops for the night to make another shelter in the cold rain. His roasted deer meat is getting stale, but still edible. At least he has a fire to ward off the wet chill.  Again, his sleep is fitful and plagued with another dream - that of his father's body burning. The spirits are not giving him rest. What would his father say if he were here? Something like "Make it through and the day will dawn, and with the sun, fear will dissipate like the morning fog." Rauko misses his father and pulls the furs up over his head and eventually falls back to sleep. April 13, 2018, 01:46:26 AM |
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Re: Rauko
Next morning he feels better. He made it through just like his father would have said. Back in the canoe floating downstream after a while the air has a new smell to it and Rauko wonders what this would be. Climbing a peak near the bank, there is water ahead for as far as he can see. If this isn't the largest lake he has ever heard of, then it must be the sea! He hurries back to the river and not long after he's out in the body of water. Deciding that if this IS the sea, he should follow the coast southward, that's the course he takes. Hopefully he will end up at a settlement on the shore or be able to see one from high ground.  His roasted cuts are now spoiled and he has failed in a hunt for an elk during one of several climbs on the shore to look for villages. April 14, 2018, 01:00:28 AM |
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Re: Rauko
He continues paddling along the shore heading southward, and becomes convinced this must be the sea because it seems to go on forever. Finally after several attempts to see a settlement, he spots one in the distance!  Rauko heads inland. 
April 14, 2018, 03:30:54 PM |
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