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UnReal World => Stories => Topic started by: Brygun on December 07, 2020, 07:10:22 AM

Title: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 07, 2020, 07:10:22 AM
Character Name: Tuukka

Rules of play:
= Writing practice
It is another writing practice so I might reload after a death like for accidents. Example: If I’m real life tired and not paying attention then walk onto ice that breaks and drown.
= Concept: Fishing-boatbuilder so will reroll for good dex and touch. I will discard ‘supermen’ with high scores everywhere.
= Bouddia’s Island Challenge.


Attributes on 1-5:
Int 3
Will 3
Str 3.5
End 3.5
Dex 4.5
Agi 4
Speed 3
Eye 5
Hearing 2.5
Smell 3
Touch 4.5

Height 69” 5 ft 9” 175 cm
Weight 172 lbs

Rituals
General Sacrifice
Bear Skull Rite
Rod Fisherman’s sacrifice
Gaining fisherman’s luck


Skills:
Fisherman and boat builder family. Militia training as well. Winter time would use bow and tracking to hunt when the ice blocked the use of the boats. Physician skill improved by helping with injured.
Set for good carpentry and fishing. Some fight training for sword, axe and bow. Reduced weatherlore and cooking. Some tracking and physician.


Scenario:
Hurt, helpless and afraid.

Course:
Unreal World

Wounds (1-5):
Shallow cut in left thigh 1
Minor puncture in left thigh 2.5
Shallow cut in left hip 2.5
Serious puncture in left upper arm 3
Bruise in left calf 1

Gear:
None all dropped and discarded

<Tuukka start>>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 07, 2020, 07:10:34 AM
Links to my other stories:

Tuukka
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6082.0

Kylpymies
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6076.0
(Short. Island Challenge testing custom start location mod. Got map blocked after about a week. Play used to inform modder Night who made the custom start location mod)

Links to my other stories:

Calle
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6953.0

Tuukka
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6082.0

Kylpymies
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6076.0

Pekka
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6016.0

Iltros
The island challenge
http://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6007.0

Cornan
An adventure to emulate Conan
http://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5461.0

Novrus
A long adventure establishing a first winter house
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=4640.0
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 07, 2020, 07:10:43 AM
reserved
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 07, 2020, 07:10:57 AM

Tuukka awoke on the heathland. Bad spirits had been plaguing the oceans each time winter came. Iltros, Pekka and then Kylpymies had all been lost in preceding years. Stories worried Tuukka. He recalled the fire side warnings of a ferret with a coat as white as sea foam, perhaps even being a sea foam spirit. The storms were calling for the validation of those who live in the Unreal World. That they had the skills and connections to the spirits. It was in the start of winter Tuukka had thought to launch his boat. One more visit to another island in hopes of catching a maiden’s interest.

That was not what happened.

He awoke on the heathland. Completely naked. Cuts, punctures and bruises dotted his body. Heavily the wounds were on his left side, as if he had been fighting a right handed sea man. Perhaps the one with the trident with the foreign styling to his hair.

Tuukka sat up. He was under the boughs of a birch tree. It was as a bare as he was. Was this marking the ritual spot he had been brought to? Lingonberry bushes splashed their reds amid the fading green of early winter. With this spirit-birch as his center Tuukka stumbled in the different directions to scout.

He was fortunate to find the two first rocks. One hard marked by the swirls of being brought into this world as a liquid that cooled. The other one of a flint like material. The striker he struck on the flint. Sparks would start fires. The flint was shaped to a crude cutting edge with a wider back. This he could hold as a knife.
A lingonberry was set in the notch of pine tree’s branches. An offering to the spirits. Tuukka felt calmer doing this, though indeed he was getting cold.
Cutting away branches and the smaller branches off it showed its usefulness. Still his hand was sore. Later he would rub the palm side to smooth the unwanted edges. A trail marker of branches one, one, one then three was set to point the way to the spirit-birch. This was done to the west.
Now he choose to go downhill to the south. Water would be needed for life. Along the way he found a falling trunk piece. Branches were cleared away before dragging this along. Why would he do this? Well at the water’s edge he tipped it end over end and it broke the ice quickly. No need to bang with a rock. He pulled the trunk back to him. For an hour he stared at the hole seeing to his delight a fish swim across. He could make his first survival camp here. It was now noon and he was naked, cold and shriveling.

A short walk west along the beach fond useful looking rocks and stones. These he gathered putting the stones in place next to a boulder. It made a fire ring. Once a fire was started here the stones and boulder would catch the heat to reflect it back to him. The water side would be windy until he setup a shelter. He had already found one length he might use for the shelter for a light lever trap.

Into the night he worked. The stone knife run around a young pine to allow it to be section off. The sections stood up in a tripod. Spruce wrapped in and around to make a wind break save where the opening faced the fire and the heat reflectors. More spruce was brought in woven into a mat and crude blanket. A few leaves tossed in would reduce the poking he would receive. A branch fire was going while he wove them.
With the fire’s glow he chilled himself with the necessity of cleaning his wound. Slow the fire, reflectors and his own body heat trapped in shelter made him feel warm. Hunger was calling but that would have to be for his next day.

<Tuukka first shelter>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 07, 2020, 08:48:16 AM
It was hunger not cold that woke him through the night. Tuukka breathes out watching how the wisps form. He guesses it is above freezing outside. That surely helped through the naked night. Shifting amid the pricks of spruce needles he makes his plan.
He has a shelter and fire ring. Fire gathering will be a lengthy chore. The log makes the shore ice easy to break giving him water and fishing spot. There are berries to eat but that never really fills you on your own.

Exploring north ward the pine laden heathland gave way to lichens dotted with pines. There was good lines of sight here. Tuukka smiled seeing another fallen tree trunk. It was quite a bit of work to prep it and drag it back to the shelter. A basic raft would take three and now had two.

Heading back he was a little more east and the sun was rising. Flickering sparkles got his eyes. There was a patch of unfrozen sea. There must be enough currents to push it so. Well that was indeed interesting. Perhaps a place to fish or place to launch a raft. For now he could get water at his shelter as the frequent breaking would itself keep the ice thin.

Fatigue from poor sleeping and a berry only diet kept him drowsy. The cold wasn’t lethal just yet. It wasn’t comfortable either! By the end of the day he had put down a few more small game traps, the stone on a thin trunk type, in hopes of catching an odd animal. It was the sleeping midday in the cold that convinced him to use a slender trunk section in his fire ring. He slept many hours straight. The clearer thinking was a great relief.

Dawn of the third day saw the trunk again used in its own weight to clear the ice hole open. Cold the water was his body needed drink. Wound cleaning was next. Ghastly was sight of fresh bleeding! The upper arm wound had started again when bit of debris flushed out. The blood had clotted on it perhaps at the first wounding. Now it was flowing again. Tuukka did manage to stop the bleeding. It worried him though. His body was weakened by this. So far he had no meat that is best given to sick.

That meant more traps or to try fishing. Tuukka cut down and sectioned another young pine. The time it took made him dizzy from the cold. He managed a few traps before burning what would have been a trap section. Huddled sitting in the shelter on one mat with the other draped like a cloak the fire warmed him. Surviving when so thin on supplies is about time management. He had put one stone in the shelter to use as a ledge or pillow or whatever he might wish.

While warming so he split some spruce twigs into crude cordage. These let him bind branches into a basic pack frame as one might use when doing lumber work. It would aid in bringing in materials. Even better is he started to feel his sweat drip out of his armpits. It was wonderful to be warm!

Going north of the spirit-birch done again. He place a stone, rocks and branches to decorate the area around the spirit-birch. Hopes were the good spirits would like to be here or the bad ones satisfied with being shown respect. From there he began north felling and splitting a spruce sapling into withe, another form of cordage.

North-west was a wonderful sight! Flowering heathers! A plant whose leaves are edible and useful in clotting wounds. Tuukka was happily gathering when he noticed two more fallen trunks. These were close enough to the shelter for moving! There were mushrooms, which not knowing them, dared not eat for many mushroom types can kill you or make you sick that kills you that way! Moving a trunk to the shelter meant that counting the ice breaker he had the three for a raft. His wounds were washed again. This time he twisted up heather leaves to mix on. The plants own wound healing adding to their medicine.

Day 1 of the 10th week before midwinter

Freezing was becoming more frequent. The shelter, mats and fire rings were a place of safety. That was only if he brought in bundles of branches, which take hours to ready, or could keep cutting young trees. He had managed to make a fire hardened javelin. Crudge but if he had to he could throw it. Perhaps at a squirrel he has never seen on this island. That made Tuukka laugh.

Today he almost froze death.

Efforts to make scouting fires were going badly when he needed them most. Being close to the shelter he ran home! There he used what he did have to make a quick fire, burning a slender section that might have gone into a trap. How desperately he needed that fire! Leaving what he had been dragging naked dying Tuukka ran for home.

With the trunk fire going he would live only if he stayed near it. Rubbing his hands for a minute had him look at his hands. They needed to be active. What could he do from inside the shelter? Well. He was a fisherman. He adjusted the spruce weaves and mat so he could watch the water. He tickled the water with a heather leaf. A shape in the water came near. Wham! His striker rock hit it. Stunned his other hand scoped it onto the shore. A pike! Ha! He had meat!

His hands could barely contain their excitement while shivering. With the stone knapped knife he started a cut on the scales then peeled it off as a sheet. Head and tail removed, with the head bashed to pluck out the eyeballs for candy. He put the meat on the fire ring stones. Water on fish turned to steam. A wonderful thing to see. Even greater to smell. Oh cooking food how you had been missed.
Tuukka pulled over the extra stone in the shelter. While the fish was cooking he cleaned it. One should have a clean plate to eat from! It was slow cooking. Tuukka again cleaned and heather petaled the worst of his wounds.

The next day things were getting manageable. He could carry a slender section and kindling to start an emergency fire. That should be placed where he could gather more branches or burnables to have a fresh emergency bundle. Doing this he made a stockpile of two pounds of heather. What a wonderful word Tuukka thought. Stockpile. A reserve of edibles and medicine in those heather leaves. His smile was even wider when he caught his second pike! Then a third pike while the second was cooking. A stockpile of food!
Joy filling his body as deeply as the fish meat Tuukka skipped over the snow. It was the young trees he was harvesting. It seemed to be that the slender logs with branches for kindling made long lasting fires. These gave enough time to other things, like fishing. It might two or three such fires to pass a day in the shelter.

 As the sun rose again he explored east. East turned out to be a small bay. It was its waters that somehow didn’t freeze. On the east side of the bay there was a cliff. Many large stones for traps were here. He could see out to other islands. His own island wasn’t too large. Pine forests a bit wider than he explored. There was a hill to the north. He would have to leave it he thought for there might never be big game here.

<Tuukka first cliff look>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 08, 2020, 12:58:28 AM

Returning to the shelter became a gathering of materials. Thoughts of how to make the raft where in his mind. The split spruce twigs were a risk that they might come undone in deep water. A rope would need to be made. There was thoughts of using spruce saplings to wiggle out their fibers.
Today was warmer, above freezing. More spruce saplings were gathered and another pike caught. The trip north went up the hill. Surprisingly there is a narrow join connecting what would other wise be a pair of moderate islands. The rain, near freezing, was chilling but not deadly. Even more amazing was that on this hill were patches of broad beans. How did they get there? Did some other traveler plant them? A ritual? A whole in a bag? Or natural means like carried by birds. Strange thoughts troubled Tuukka as in all this time he has never seen a bird on the island.

Then there it was.

A black grouse flying high. Far to far for anything he might throw. So they did come here. Perhaps it was that the spirits here were accepting Tuukka slowly. As slowly as a nervous girl wanting her first kiss to come to her.

Tuuka followed it a while. Laughing as he watched it soar. Its freedom in the sky reminded him of his boat on the waves. Traveling fast, traveling far, traveling with the wind and all in the freedom to go where he wished. It banked left and right. Realizing he might be scaring it Tuukka quieted his laughter. Letting it move on he explored the west part of this hill that was really a ridge. He hadn’t seen that part before. It had a broad beans as well.
Tuukka was debating making a shelter here for exploring the second island. When he saw a fallen tree trunk near the narrow joint he took it as an omen. With that the ice was easy to break. The rain and snow dotted his still naked skin. A fire, made from the emergency carry, was put in a simpler fire ring that warmed him. He feel asleep while working. The warmer weather had kept him alive. He finished the shelter more confident he could find what else he needs.

 Awaking first he sought out to replace his emergency fire bundle. A store of burnables were put at the second shelter. A few more stones in the fire ring. To really be complete it would need the woven spruce mats though those take a lot of time. Those weren’t for now. For now was gathering more spruce saplings for the thin bast, the inner fibers, to make a rope.
A numbing cold was taking him after a long search. He was guessing he might have enough saplings. There had been more heather and berries of course. He rushed back not to his first shelter but the new secondary one. This was safely in reach. Dotting an area with these meant safety.
He set up comfortably there with a fire from those on hand stocks. Stockpile before exploring. That is important. As the fire warmed him freezing rain drops sizzled. Cold ocean water freed of ice by the tree trunk soothed his throat. His wounds were nearly healed. There, among a handful of traps set out here was something wonderful.

A gift from the spirits.

A black grouse.

Caught in a lever trap that had been baited with berries.

It was a blessing. Meat and a bit of leather once the hide was treated.

Ah the meat.

He paused.

That meat could bait a trap. There was only one cut worth. That might be the better way to go. Turning small things into bigger things was what every survival story was about. Some love stories too.

He was working well toward the strong ropes for a stone-axe or lashing together a raft.

<Tuukka making rope>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 08, 2020, 02:05:21 AM

He traveled around to gather more spruce saplings. Each yielded only so little bast. The fibers would be rolled into a rope one day. The focus on working almost cost him his life twice. The center of the island was far from the shelters if you were dragging wood.
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 08, 2020, 06:41:39 AM
Day 6 of the 9th week before midwinter point

Through the focused work and many fires across the island Tuukka held up a stone axe. He had found the good stone shape amid his travels. The delay had been in making a binding as strong as a rope. He had shaped the stone a little but as the axe head was hard this was more a refinement of the chosen shape. It now sat shoved into a split slender trunk. The rope like binding wrapped around and around to seize the axe-stone’s wedge shape in place.

There was enough bast, the inner of the spruce saplings, to have enough rope for the planned three trunk raft. What he would need now is a paddle, and that was what he wanted the axe for.

Is life with with the island spirit was nurtured by sacrifices, laughter and perhaps taking about as much as he needed no more. Birds were caught again in the trap. Now there was a squirrel! Tuukka christened his stone axe upon it! He then paused to thank the spirits of the squirrel, stone axe and island. Part of him was feeling sad at leaving the island soon. It was his friend now, nourishing him and laughing together.

Crossing northward to the secondary camp he made a fire near a trio of young pines. These he brought down and sectioned with the stone-axe. It replaced what he had used in the warming fire. He carried some leaving others there. This was now a stockpile of fuel. On other trips he could use this as a way to be safe in deep winter. There had also been a search of the hills finding a few more stands of broad beans.

Arriving at the north camp two birds were in the traps. It is known that if you checks traps too often your scent and noise scare away the game. By having at least these two camps the animals can drift in to be caught. Those he collected. The shipment of burnables he brought was added to the camps stores.

He slept well amid the woven spruce floor and blanket mats. A fire in the camp’s stone ring glowed. The shelter’s opening caught the fire’s heat. Even though there was no great boulder as a reflector he became sweaty. Freshly roasted bird was quite nourishing.

Searching the second island area garnished heather flowers, on the verge of wilting, lingonberries and he dragged over a tree trunk. This he would start splitting to get a flat board to make into a paddle.

(Making the log went okay. Splitting it though is a challenge in time with crude tools can be 10 hours. In that time the fire goes and you either abort or die. Aborted work on splitting the log into half logs currently can not restarted. An experiment on pushing through killed Tuukka. Really though he could have reached over to packed more wood on the fire and continue. Instead the reload lost about 7 hours of work so I’m trying again with more wood. Purists who read to the first character death can now stop. Frozen while splitting a log.)

<Tuukka splitting a log>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 08, 2020, 07:18:20 AM
<Tuukka splitting a log>>>

Each splitting the length of the took a full day, near ten hours. This in turn took a big fire of two or three slender sections to have the fire last. He couldn’t fish while doing this. Heather petals, lingonberries and a few beans was his diet. This doesn’t really nourish the laboring muscles. He could feel a slight weakness gaining on him. If he was to leave the island he would need more than a shallow water sesta pushing pole. He would need a workable paddle.
The first splitting day made it half logs. Next one of those was turned into quarters. The third was then a fishing day with much frustration but at least one fish to roast. It having been a few days away from the main camp Tuukka decided to take the two quarter logs to be continued at the main camp. Before going a stock of slender trunks should be set in case he comes back in a dire state.

(Given the cruetly of the great multiplier on low skill and low grade tools I will trim that section of the BAC down slightly, base 30 to base 25. Yes, there were a few splitting log deaths.)

<Tuukka has 2 quarter logs>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 08, 2020, 08:30:32 AM

Day 6 of the 8th week before midwinter

Deeper freezing than ever was in the land. It was near death to attempt fire gathering. It had to happen though. During a spell of being warmed up Tuukka hoisted the two quarter logs up. They were quite heavy. He left behind their half log brethern and a basic stock of burnables for any return.

Staggering into the camp he snatched a frost covered grouse out of trap. He just got a fire going when he collapsed. With dread he realized he had not such a good store of burnables here! That would have to be urgently corrected.

He flipped the tipping trunk onto the ice. The ice held! Dread filled his heart. Water was life. Water was drinking. Water was fishing. With the back side of his javelin he drove his weight in again and again. A quarter of an hour later the ice broke. He hoped the thin replacement layers could be smashed by the tree.

Partly clouded stars flickered in the early evening. He was searching for efficient wood to carry. A whimper sound got his attention. A big hare of snowy white huddled at a tree. Tuukka got closer, it started running, he threw his javelin and that is how his javelin disappeared into the night.

Tuukka let out a deep sigh.

Well he needed firewood. Spotting a possible young pine he piled branches nearby for a work fire. Gathering more and more branches until he started cutting. His fingers started to slid off the handle. He was too tired, cold and hungry. He wasn’t in his shelter. Sleep was grasping around him. Putting out the emergency slender he used as a walking aide he put it and all the branches he had into fire. He curled up close to it realizing he might die.

He awoke.

The emergency fire had worked. He finished stone-ax cutting the young pine. He snapped off more branches as emergency kindling. His preparation had kept him alive. Once or twice he had made runs for the shelters without the weight of emergency wood. Fear of old mistakes gnawed at him. Those could have ended his life.

Collecting the slenders he moved a short ways to another young pine. Using branches and a slender log he carried he made a work fire. It profited him somewhat though there was now more than he could carry. He paused here to get warm at this work fire. Looking about he saw a special thing.

It was the spirit birch.

He was but a few yard away from where he had first awoken naked, hurt and afraid. Had the white hair been a part of the birch? Or an kindred animal. All the while the white birch had seen his struggles and his near deaths. Rocks, branches and stone around the white birch were half hidden by snow. Otherwise they were where he left them. Approaching he made a sacrifice of a lingon berry before returning to the work fire.

Tuukka did a hard day of work. Over twenty slender logs where now in the main camp’s stockpile. A good straight pine had been freshly felled. This would be the center of the three-log raft.

Day 2 of the 7th week before midwinter. Late Dead month.

Tuukka slides the raft slowly along the shore. He has lashed it with rope from bast taking from spruce saplings. A long hard job that has taken weeks. He still has no clothes nor a paddle. Soon he will launch.

<Tuukka has raft>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 08, 2020, 09:30:15 AM
Day 6 of the 7th week before midwinter

Launch day. The raft gets an extra trunk tied to the side. On landing this can be a tipping trunk. A mass of additional woods is woven into the mix. A second pack frame will hold the small pieces. A store of slender trunks for building a shelter, setting traps and an initial fire stock are loaded.

A respectful visit is made to the spirit tree. A final offering is made. Broad beans. The most nutritious food Tuukka had found. One that shows he had been to the hills and back on this island.
In those respectful thoughts Tuukka makes for the north camp. A work fire is made part way along for warmth. At the camp there sits the other forgotten half log. He won’t leave that after all! The traps are disarmed though the bait is left as it is. Those will be their own thanks to the animal spirits in the cycle of life. The shelter and fire ring will be left standing and with stocks of burnables. Is this not how such stray shelters are found in travels?

Another problem faces Tuukka. The ice is so thick now the raft is supported. He smiles at the challenge. There was that area of unfrozen water where the current of the bay and the ocean churned. Scouting it is still true that it is clear. Now it is morning of shifting the raft, reattaching the large woods, restacking the smalls and preparing for launch.

The work has wearied him. It is already noon. He has become cold. Now it is snowing and he can’t see very far. It would be difficult to find a village or safe landing like this. As a sailor he decides he will have to wait a day to launch. Hopefully the spirit-birch will accept this.

Day 7 of the 7th week before midwinter

Last night’s pike tastes good. Tuukka is still a little weakened by hunger. One more gathering of burnables. This is for a fire next to the launch site. He wishes to leave nice and warm.

There dashing across the snowy ice is that white hare! It runs off the island. This is a good omen. It too is leaving, perhaps guiding Tuukka’s path. Perhaps going to speak to the spirits ahead that Tuukka is friendly, respectful and not destructive. While warming Tuukka works the bast from a pair of spruce saplings in his mound of things.

Looking outward Tuukka sees several islands.

Yet, what is that?

Is that ice?

Has this bay pocket become ringed by ice?

This rafting might become a portage very soon!


<Tuukka launch>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 08, 2020, 09:43:53 AM
It is a great relief that the ice fields only just rub against each other. In their final closing the currents must be stronger. The raft is only briefly up on the ice before sliding back into the water. No portage. Still, there is much to make with the ice. Tuukka wanted to get to the mainland east but must now paddle west. The time is now late morning. The temperature is hovering at freezing, which is about as good as one could up in the beginning of winter month. There is light clouds and the sun is doing a decent job of lighting his way.

Paddling west a ways he gets into more open water. There is a glimmer of black fluttering. Fluttering upward. Fires! House fires! Looking west through an icy bay he can see a settlement! Well its not the mainland but it is a village!

<Tuukka sees a village>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 09, 2020, 01:12:03 AM
Now was the time to find a landing site. The ice fields around the village’s island is a problem. Tuukka doesn’t fancy smashing through ice over and over. Paddling there is a possible site on the north east part but does this connect to the village by land? Tuukka can’t be sure. What he is sure of is the chilling air. Either way he will have to land.

Circling in reveals the water up to the shore of a grove. Adler, Rowan and birch. Many young trees for quick fires if needed. It was noon when he landed. This northern land seeing less than half the sun even now. A fire ring was set with a work fire. Gathering replacement wood Tuukka came back to yet another marvel.

A trio of grouse? Yes. Walking and flying around his chosen site. Is this a good omen? Or are they hungry for his berry stash? Well, if it is an offering Tuukka honors it by setting up four light traps. If they were thieves those traps are just as important. Tuukka laughed.

From his little camp he tried fishing. Alas the shallow slope easy to land on was keeping the fish away. Tuukka decided to gather stones and rocks. Replace those used in the ring. Perhaps just for fun. He probed the shore looking for a fishing spot. There was a place just a short walk from where he had built the shelter. Easy enough to relaunch the raft tomorrow. The ice was closer here but still the waters ran free.

There is a shape on the ice.

An elk!

A frozen elk!

Tuukka’s heart leapt for joy!

<Tuukka found elk>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 09, 2020, 03:00:12 AM
Moving the raft out from the sailing stores Tuukka paddled onto the water. He turned for the ice. There he used the stone-axe from the first island to smash the ice. It was perhaps six meters, three man lengths, to reach the elk. That took three quarters of an hour.
His hands clasped the icy hide of the floating elk. Blast it was cold. He heaved, the raft tilted. This elk weighed as much as a third of the raft. Plus his own weight the raft was sloshing around. Tuukka tied the elks forelegs and neck with withes to the raft. Instead of just hauling it he pushed the paddle on the ice. Slowly the elk snapped off the ice. The raft splashed, nearly tipping. It was free though.
Tuukka paddled them back to the shore. The elk’s fur would be wonderful, once freed. The meat a huge stock. There by the camp the spirits had led a grouse into one of the lever traps. This he would use for a quick meal before starting the days of work on the elk.

Sorting out moving the shelter takes some planning. The risk of freezing to death is lingering in the air. He chose the new camp spot as capable of fishing with a boulder for heat reflection. Three more birds were caught in the landing camp.

The next few days was about skinning, butchering and tanning. Errand were run to sort the supply stack. Tuukka also wanted to setup a heavier trap for larger animals.

To be honest he was afraid of embarrassment of walking into the village naked. While waiting for the fur to be ready for shaping he made a loin cloth out of bird leather. It was actually the first piece of clothing he had.

It was Day 4 of the 6th week before midwinter that he felt the first stings of frostbite. The furs weren’t ready yet. He had stepped out of the shelter to start setting a trap. Thats when he noticed the pain and pasty white on his elbow. Coming back to the camp’s fire he warmed it best he could. The temperature had dropped far lower in the night than he had realized. Such mistakes can be deadly.

Working for clothing led to fur foot wraps and a fur shirt. There was plenty of fur left. The challenge was keeping wood stocks. Two days later he was crudely yet fully covered. In addition to that leather loin cloth thre was leather laced shoes with fur wraps over top; fur mittens; fur leggings; a fur shirt and fur hood. It wasn’t great and air slipped in at times. It did though give him a shield from the worst of the wind, hold a bit of warmth and shed snow. He laughed. He wasn’t going to have to introduce himself naked after all!

<Tuukka fur suit>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 09, 2020, 06:14:15 AM

Day 1 of the 5th week before midwinter point

Now fur clad, in the ill fitted suit that it was, Tuukka decided it was time to probe what distance he could travel. Before going he made a bowl and a water carrier. The last really a hollow with a branch for a stopper. Tucked inside his furs his body would prevent the water inside from freezing. The weather was moderately cold and certainly below zero judging by how is breath hovered before him. Exploring out he cut some trees but left sections out in the wilds for emergency fires. Branches as trail markers were set in the 1-1-1-3 pattern. All the while he was cool but not cold.

“Time to see if the landing is connected to the village,” Tuukka said.

He was pleased that it was so. In the morning with the tip of sun just starting to rise over the winter horizon he entered the village of Aijonphja, “Aijo’s bottom”.

He stopped on the edge to eat roasted elk. It is polite to let a camp or settlement wait to decide to approach. As he ate a sage and an old man wandered over. Greetings were exchanged. The sage Torkel rubbed his hands reciting a chant as he held where the frost bite had been. A peasant named Aaro was in need of someone to do chores. Chores for payment of course.
Tuukka also asked about directions, to get a feel of where the adventure had placed him. There was another village to the north-east in the “Maiden’s rear”. Tuukka wondered about the local obsession with back sides. As it is an Islander villager it would be on a different island. Perhaps something to find in the spring.
The old man was Kalle. He and Torkel listened as Tuukka outlined his adventure so far. They both agreed that such an island challenge is quite deadly. Arriving fur clad into a village had been a great accomplishment. Now a more normal life could resume.
Tuukka explored the storehouses. Some were bare already. Others held beans, peas and turnips. What frightened him was the trident. It reminded him of the tale of the foreign spirit. That had claimed the lives of Iltros and Pekka. Was the trident really here? Tuukka didn’t touch it. Maybe he was seeing it to be shown it was now at peace. That is what he hoped.
Aaro’s task was a simple one. Collect kindling branches for their fires. This done the very first thing he traded for was a small metal knife. Ah, such a simple tool. Yet it would make a difference compared to the now battered stone knife Tuukka had used the past weeks.
Most importantly though the villagers of Aijo’s Bottom accepted his story. Torkel convinced them to let Tuukka sleep in their main hall.

Torkel had said, “This main Tuukka is a survivor. Washed ashore. What if our kin, even distant kin, were challenged a he was. Even more than a survivor he is of our people and more than that of Islander clan. We must see to our own. Let him know the chores you need doing. Let him work for us. Surely he can earn his keep. We will not let him suffer in the deep winter. Hospitality binds him in that if we look after him he should look after us. The spirits have blessed him a frozen elk gift. He wears that gift now. If the spirits are gifting a questor it should not be for us to send him away. Who among you would wish it otherwise if your kinsman was spirit blessed and turned away in the deep winer?”

Everyone agreed that it was fair to let him stay. He could have roof and warmth. As for food though he could do chores for them, as they were needed. Tuukka added he could use his camp for the traps already set there and make goods for them. Tuukka discussed his plan to make a nearby shelter as a logging camp. This they also agreed to.

A few days he spent in the village. Happy, very happy, to be around people. The children loved his stories. Tuukka used the logging camp where he dragged over an already fallen trunk and split it into block chunks. Some of these he carved into bowls, using that small knife he has traded for.

Kyosti a woodsman visited Tuukka, “Us Islanders are fishing folks. You say you ran a fishing boat. You should be able to fish! This is my old fishing rod. What you have done and shared with us is already payment enough.”

Tuukka held onto Kyosti’s shoulders. His head leaned down Tuuka wept a pair of tears. He had been accepted back from where the spirit’s challenge had taken him. Tuukka also knew this was a gift of life. With it he could catch so much more fish than striking and grabbing.


Having been gone a few days Tuukka stored his trade goods in the logging camp then went to check the landing camp. A squirrel had been caught adding a little more meat and fur to his stores. The next day Kyosti’s fishing rod brought in a pike and two perch. These were caught while warming in the matted shelter.
Tuukka looked to his snow dabbled raft. If the furs could keep him warm enough he could paddle out into this patch of open water for deep water fishing. It did get quite cold out there! There was more fish brought in. A lot of small roaches, useful for bait instead of elk cuts, and a pike-perch.

This then is how he spent the next weeks. At the landing camp fishing for his own food and working the traps there. At first fishing in shelter to get warm. When he was nicely heated Tuukka paddled in the raft farther out fishing a few hours with better returns. It was the chilling that would send him back to shore for the warmth of a fire. Traps were added with a fox-paw board and triple log heavy bear trap with the expectation that all the bait, cooking and fire smells might one day draw in such predators.
A few days at the fishing camp would see Tuukka hike back to the logging camp, with its traps, to fell a tree or split it into blocks. Then into the village hall. A few days would be spent on carpentry and whittling to make all manner of different things for the village. Bowls, cups, combs and figurines. While in the hall he ate his fish. They would all trade stories with the children enjoying seeming the wood shapes come to life. The hall fire fed by the villagers was ample enough for them all.

During one bartering Tuukka got a proper sized knife. He still had that first small one. The larger knife was a trade good far lighter than all the wood crafts. Though it was proving so handy Tuukka doubted he would ever trade it away. What he really wished for was an iron axe not the simple stone one he was using. This is why he was favoring whittling things like old Iago was spoken of in stories. It was knife work with skill to make a figure look more life like or a comb to make finer sweeps through hair or wool.

On another return the villagers asked Tuuka to play a part in fixing their sauna. Frostbite was stinging one of his feet. The cold winter and snow was out there. Water had gotten in a bad seam and that had seeped in the cold. It would mend in a few days of keeping warm and dry. A village women sewed over the opening to guard against a repeat. Many large stones would be needed. They recalled Tuukka talking of how handy those pack frames are. There was a rocky cliff that Tuukka had recently climbed to look at the sea. Old Henrik said to look there. This was Day 5 of the 3rd week before midwinter point.

<Tuukka sauna quest>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 09, 2020, 09:06:22 AM
As Tuukka started out Sage Torkel called out, “Why don’t you clear the stones from the field instead?”

Tuukka liked this idea much better. It meant not going far from the warmth of the village. This local gathering was done within a day. A few more traps by the logging camp. A day or two of whittling saw a trade done for payment for the work and various goods have Tuukka come away with a bag of broad beans and basket of hemp seeds. At the fishing camp was already a basket of turnip seeds. This would three types of crops should he ever setup a farm.

 
Day 5 of the 2nd week to midwinter

The snow was now calf deep. Tuukka’s self made shambles of leather shoes with fur wraps were always under the snow when we walked. Frostbite pains in both feet were constant. Tukka staggered into the Aijo village hall confounded by the gnawing pains. The village was surviving not prospering. They may have extra seed, beans and peas but clothing or axes were not up for trade. Henrik sat to trade more stories while Tuukka took shelter by the hall fire, feet facing toward he heat. Torkel the Sage came by later doing what he could.

Day 4 of the last week to midwinter

Staying in the hall has reduced the frostbitten feet problem. Working in the deep winter in bad footwear lends it to happening again. Without skis it is always a matter of stomping and spraying deepening snow. Tuukka is so glad the village is friendly, likes his crafts and lets him stay in the hall. The many hours inside has kept his feet better though the struggles when doing the necessary things outside.

He has traded now for a variety of seeds. The chance to buy their spare pot takes far more wealth than he can muster through whittling. Tuukka did make them two game sets. It is a pleasure to see the games being played in the hall. So far they are kind to Tuukka though there is a sense that come spring he should be moving on.

Odd tracks at the fishing camp. They come off the ice and move near the shelter. It wasn’t hare as it was too wide. It wasn’t fox nor wolf. After pondering Tuukka realized the camp had been visited by a seal. Far from what he expected. There is a big lever trap setup for wolf defense. Tuukka relocates this amid the seal tracks. Trap fencing is put up to steer it into the target. A roach fish sits on the trigger. Maybe one day the seal will come back.

Tuukka shrugged his shoulders. As a fisherman he never expected to be setting a seal trap.

Crossing the midwinter Tuukka finds himself laboring hard at the fishing camp just to stay warm. It is so bad that after a few days he decides he should spend his nights in the village. At least for the next few weeks. So much wood is needed to burn through the night that it is taking a great deal of time with his stone axe. He is hardly getting any fishing done for sake of keeping fires going. Paddling out on the raft has to stop as well. Even though the fishing tends to be better in deeper water there is now way to keep a safety fire going. The raft would burn!

<Tuukka deep winter villaged>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 09, 2020, 11:20:52 PM

Deep winter in a village seems embarrassing to Tuukka. Death would be worse.

“People shelter people,” Sage Torkel said, “Wolves and others huddle in their winter dens. Do not be ashamed to do the same. It is life. This is the way.”

“You’re right,” said Tuukka, “I expect much more of myself. This just my first year on my own. One day, spirits willing, my work will let me be the one to shelter others.”

Torkel patted him on the shoulder, “That’s how steads become villages and villages towns. Wouldn’t you like to trade for turnips? We still have some to spare. They will be good for your feet.”

Tuukka nodded. Splitting his meals up with turnips, even if uncooked, would extend his fish. That would mean less time needed at the fishing camp, which is where his feet suffered. The sage was right. Turnips would protect his feet. He could spend more time in the village hall. Checking the logging camp found another grouse worth bits of meat that also meant not needing to risk fishing in deep winter. The logging camp had a good stock now of a slender trunks, wood blocks for carving and a felled tree leaned up to dry for later blocking.
Others might have been trading boards to the village. Tuukka’s youth assisting in boat building had seen such boards brought in by the woodsmen. He knew the theory but was clumsy in practice hindered more by the lack of an iron axe. The stone-axe was rough to work with and had been reset a few times. Carving and whittling was Tuukka’s means for trade. Those skills had come in making fine connections on the boats.

Day 4 of the 12th week before summer

In the small hours Tuukka quietly as he can splits  small blocks from splitting a pine block, itself from the logging camp. A check of the weather finds it snowing in the great deep deathly cold. He could hardly measure the depth of cold by any craft he knew. Had he been at the fishing camp he might well be dead or at risk of losing a foot. He waited until next afternoon trade for smoked fish as trail provisions then with warmth and light went to check the fishing camp’s traps. There was no game nor signs of a seal’s return. With a roaring fire in the fire ring Tuukka caught several fish before his chilly walk back in the early evening.
It was on the next day leaving earlier and treating his warmth like a budget that he reset the fishing camp traps. The snow was brushed off. Ice knocked lose so that they could slam properly. The bait was restored to the triggers.

Day 7 of the 12th week before summer

Today was warmer, as such as to say it wasn’t deadly cold. Thoughts and talks suggested that the many traps at the landing camp were being warned of by the being their fishing with the needed fires. If true there would be a benefit to leave the traps there but set to fishing someplace else. It is this day that Tuukka takes that advice.
Scouting finds an area of open water on this island’s west side. With warmth from a work fire in a fire ring Tuukka raise a lean-to shelter. It sat in a spot that seems one could fish from. Spruce mats are woven to give a floor carpet and a wrap else wind shield. There wasn’t time today to stock much in the way of burnables. For now Tuukka would rest inside the village’s hall.

Day 4 of the 11the week before summer
End of Center Month

It was deadly cold yet needing food Tuukka had gone to inspect, though not reset, the landing camp’s traps. It was too frigid for that lengthy work. On his walk toward the new fishing camp his heart leaps into his throat. A foreign voice in foreign guard takes his mind to that stormy sea that tossed him into the water. Had he heard such voices on the sea. Walking in the forest was a foreign dressed man. Peering around a tree Tuukka sees the man is wearing a battleaxe. At least there is no trident! Even if it is a peaceful trader Tuukka has nothing to offer. There is no benefit only risk Tuukka thinks. Tuukka quietly slips away west.

These deep winter days were very cold. Traps only rarely produced a bird of one type or another. Fishing was done lightly for fear of freezing to death in the shelters. The real value of these days was first in still being alive. Second to that was the wealth slowly growing as new whittled shapes appeared. At the landing camp was a growing collection of baskets and bags of crops. If truly needed they could be eaten yet the plan remained to use them for planting. The one thing he might yield to that is for a good axe for that would make so much more work practical.


<Tuukka whittle trade 001>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 10, 2020, 03:12:43 AM
Day 5 of the 10th week before summer season

Tuukka had finally been cured of frostbite in his feet. This was greatly helped by Torkel the sage and all other good people of “Aijo’s bottom”. Early Pearl month’s name marks it as one full of deep snow. Great for skiing, which he has yet to build or obtain. The short trips from one face of the island to another is managed. His feet would get wet. Now there are always warm fires available at any of destinations: the landing camp in the north, the village in the east, the logging camp just west of the village and the fishing camp in the west.

The small whittlings have all been giving out to many of the villagers: Combs for hair and utensils made the same way; Bowls and cups for eating or sorting; figurines for rituals and others for children toys with gaming sets for everyone. Tuukka’s heart felt bright with how their lives were full of joy. That came from helping him, letting him share roof and hearth.

Other works were going to be needed. Those projects need boards. Splitting logs he is still clumsy at and using a stone-axe. He remembered how his father would go through boards brought in, scrape them with a knife to refine the shape, set them aside to dry then sand them. This would take a time, which in this part of winter they had.


<Tuukka drying boards>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 10, 2020, 06:51:06 AM
Kyosti the woodsman is remembered for giving Tuukka the fishing rod. The same rod that has kept him fed all this time. Tuukka asks and Kyosti agrees to come for logging. Tuukka will catch fish and Tuukka will use the stone-axe for felling trees. To be honest Kyosti is a little embarrassed at not having an axe but the one the village has is held in common and not for such private trips.

Kyosti is so much better at making boards! Two of them come out perfect! Ten are really fine with six decent and only two wobbly ones. Those Kyosti says is more an issue that no tree is perfectly straight. No wonder Tuukka’s father would hire a woodsman to supply them materials for their boat. Kyosti told Tuukka about how to use wedges and adjust the force while splitting. Tuukka will have to practice to understand this lesson.
Among the lessons is also studying the tracks around the village. Understanding how they age over time, how the spread suggests speed and so forth. Kyosti adds tidbits of knowledge of how different animals would compare to the human tracks. There are a few animals around too, like a fox that was caught in the landing camp’s paw board.
Kyotsi and Tuukka talk about paying Kyotsi for his work. Oh yes, that. Tuukka makes a fine gaming set with the king pieces looking like each of them. He lets Kyotsi keep the stone-axe so ply his own trade. He also insists on a fine wooden tub Tuukaa had made and a smoked pike. Tuukka has already made another stone-axe. A fresh stone was a good idea anyway.

Day 3 of the 8th week before summer seasons

The stocks of boards Kyosti made are still plentiful. Tuukka has found the training from the villagers very helpful. Though he is no master trapper the traps are catching the odd bird or fox. He only fishes when those cuts of meat run low. There is several days working as a carpenter for the village. He is also stocking up trade goods and good boards for the next voyage. For fun he even makes himself a portable stool with well sanded boards for a smooth sit.

<Tuukka made stool>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 11, 2020, 09:27:33 AM

Day 4 of the 8th week before summer season.

This morning with another healing frostbite pinch in a foot Tuukka sorts through his stores of hides. He figures there is enough bird leather to make a fresh pair of laced shoes. With what he has learned these past months from the villagers the result is certainly an improvement. These are low cut shoes coming just above the ankle. Each secured by a leather cordage to close the gap. The seams this time are certainly better. The old ones are so badly worn out. Gaps are sewn over several times to rip again. He just discards them which the villager’s decide to burn. With all the frostbite and sickness exposure Tuukka had in those its not worth taking risks. It was probably the smell.

Walking into the thigh deep snow Tuukka is quite happy with the feel of the new shows. The fur wraps were put back on top of them. The shoes feel like they are keeping melting snow out. This should be so much safer. The weather is still quite cold. A weather eye for temperature is still needed, his breath lasting a moderate time in front of him.

For crafting Tuukka makes larger pieces for trade. Like a pair of benches for the hall. He also decides to set up boards drying. Enough to make a go at building the villagers a closet. Only after the wood is dried to you really know its size. Working with green wood will have gaps appear in furniture when it eventually dries smaller. It will take nine days to dry and a few more for the sanding then building. Given how cold it is the ice in the seas will likely last that long. It would make a nice grand piece for these people to remember him by.

Day 7 of the 8th week before summer

The villagers were telling tales of a Bouidda who would catch seals. In the rare times they come ashore they might waddle into a trap. Tuukka wasn’t sure if this was the most efficient way. There was talk of using nets. Making nets takes a lot of decent cordage which Tuukka doesn’t have. More leather for clothes and chubby seal meat have enticed Tuukka.
Recalling having once seen seal tracks, at least he thinks they were seal tracks, at the landing camp Tuukka has adjusted his traps there. In addition to the moved lever big lever trap he adds two more. All fairly close to where the seal tracks had been right west of the fishing shelter. There hasn’t been any seal tracks for weeks. Tuukka shrugged. These would catch other animals too. He placed into the traps little roach fishes from his own fishing. Perhaps that is better bait for a seal. The cut of meat that was in the moved trap is used to now bait the fox trap. There is also meat in the three log bear trap that nothing seems to have disturbed.
Turning to look a willow grouse is in flight. Tuukka watches it pass, circle then land for the bait of a light trap. He actually say it get caught! Tuukka put out heather flowers as a thank you for the spirit then collected the bird. A squirrel was found frozen dead in a trap at the logging camp.
Both grouse and squirrel were taken back to the village hall. Tuukka did a lot of his work there now. First it had been for the warmth. Then the warmth of heart of having people. Now those people were teaching him skills and telling him stories. His games of hide and sneek with the children had also gotten him better at moving quietly. Watching how the people tracks changed had also helped his skills as did talking about animal tracks with them. Tuukka would leave the village much better skilled than when he stumbled in.

Day 1 of the 7th week before summer season

Using boards split and felled by Kyotsi a pair of decent tables was made by carpenter Tuukka. They were given in exchange for a heavy bag of barley grains. Checking about the pot that bag was about a third the worth of the one metal pot they village could spare. Perhaps that closet Tuukka was planning would fetch that pot. That is waiting on the boards drying.


<Tuukka drying boards 2>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 11, 2020, 09:30:22 AM
A shout out to Iago.

His whittling ideas have been in the BAC for a long time under Carpentry. Currently Tuukka is making frequent use of it. It also is a good task to do with an hour or two before sleeping. The stages of whittling then choosing a build path give several options. Its also various different items which is more important now that Saami put in "they have enough X" code.
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 11, 2020, 07:01:02 PM
Day 5 of the 7th week before summer season.

“So you will be sailing to the mainland on a raft?” sage Torkel asked, “I thought you were a boat builder.”

Tuukka’s shoulders hunched, “Yes I am but there isn’t anyone here selling the tools or nails nor can in winter one fetch out ores from a swamp.”

“A forest has different animals,” sage Torke, “Are there different kinds of boats?”

Tuukka nodded to the sage, “Yes. I might not be able to make a clinkered punt nor gather the leather for a simple punt. A dug out then folded out punt is possible. I’d need to make pitch glue for bending heat and sealing it.”

“Glue making stinks,” a passing woman said, “Don’t you dare do that in our hall!”

Torkel waved to the woods, “There you go. You can make the glue at your camps.”

Tuukka thought for a moment, “Yes I can do that. I’ll need to carve a block into a pot shape for cooking pine tar into glue.”

Tuukka walked out into the woods. The pine tar is lumps of sap formed over old wounds on a pine tree. In a forest one can find bits of it here and there. He walked slower through the woods toward the fishing camp weaving in his path to search. Slowly his shirt began filling up.

Tuukka went to the fishing camp. It was here he started hollowing a block of wood from the burnable stocks there. The top center was burned for a while then the weakened area chiseled out. This would be repeated until the block had a hollow center. Once done hot rocks from a fire could be put in to heat water. It was crude and awkward but it could reach a low boil. That would melt the pine tar clumps to mix with charcoal remains from a fire tomake a glue.
Tuukka caught a more fish before slithering in between the spruce mats. With them, his elk fur clothing, new shoes and the mild weather he was able to sleep well enough without an overnight fire.


Day 2 of the 6th week before summer season

It had taken a few days with the stone axe to work a block into a hollow for a block pot. He still hadn’t fired the pine tar yet. He probably would have to gather more too. A very cold night had come. At risk of freezing Tuukka elected to run back to the village. There he slept in the hall again after those night away. It also looked like the boards for the closet had dried. It took the whole day to sand all the boards. Almost time to make the closest for the village.

The next morning the several days away meant it was time to check the traps. At the logging camp nothing had been disturbed. At the landing camp it was much the same. Settling into chore doing Tuukka began resetting the trap. There was a thud and a snort. A bear? That sounded dangerous. Tuukka turned around fearful of being attacked.

There, in an ice edge trap, was a badger. Mean and nasty. Furry. Hurt. Caught.

That may have been what was scaring off the seals. Tuukka guessed with its white fur it might have been waiting in a snow bank for a seal
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 11, 2020, 07:53:24 PM
Dealing with a badger needs to be done carefully. Tuukka considers how to do so safely. He has a stockpile. There are two large stones and twenty five rocks he collects. Battering the badger from a distance is far safer. Heaving the first stone it smashes into the badger and it falls unconscious. Warily approaching Tuukka smashes the stone-axe into its skull. Basic care of the trap is done and the trap he was working on when he heard the badger. The skinning will be done in the village to proudly show them the beast.

Tuukka checks on his plans for the closet. Now he realizes he doesn’t have hinges! This will have to be shelves. Its rather embarrassing to tell the villagers. At least the shelves will still let them sort their household goods.

Day 6 of the 6th week before summer season, Early Soil month

The shelves have been made. It has inconsistencies with some twists in the boards. That is part of having chosen the average boards not the better ones. The better ones from Kyotsi’s work had gone into other smaller projects. Terhiki comes over right away to inspect it.

Terhiki says, “I need this. Someone pay Tuukka! I have all my herbs, spices, medicines and flowers to sort. This is going to be mine understand!”



<Tuukka made shelves>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 11, 2020, 08:51:02 PM
OOC:

Game bug

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6103.0

The pot (unpaid) isn't generating trade dialogues but is generating thief messages. Thief messages lead to hostility which I not only don't want but Tuukka might not survive.

Trying to deal with the game issues best I can as a player. One thing about making the frequent saves is I can frame the timeline for Saami.


(Game bug, reported, pot becoming free on its own. Poking around on prices a pot is 224 torches and its about 13 (?) arrows to a squirrel hide. The shelves decent quality is worth 24 squirrel hides. So the ‘inferior’ shelf is somewhere around the value of the pot. Since I can’t use the trade system due to the bug I’m leaving the shelves as payment…

…or not… as trying to leave with the pot is generating thief messages)
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 12, 2020, 04:45:04 AM
Day 6 of the 6th week before summer.

Getting the pot is proving troublesome. They want the shelf but its not condition isn’t enough to pay for it. Still Tuukka hopes to finish that trade. He had moved some of the boards to the landing camp. Those may be needed for more trade goods.
Arriving at the landing camp finds two ravens flapping in a trapping and a growl. A wolf! A wolf is trapped in the three log bear trap. Tracks suggest the wolf had been attracted by the trapped birds. Tuukka looks around nervous of stories of wolf packs but finds none. The birds are quickly dispatched. The wolf takes a barrage of stones and rocks before being unconscious. A stone-axe strike the skull ends it. The whole wolf weighs in at sixty five pounds. A decent four pound skin comes off the wolf, thirty pounds of meat and the bones.
A sacrifice of thanks is made to the local spirits. Tuukka cleans the skins, resets and rebaits the traps. The thought of other wolves in the area discourages staying in the landing camp over night. The rest of the tanning will be done at the stead.
At the village there is much rejoicing. Sage Torkel suspects it was a gift wolf but if not then it was a lone wolf. A lone wolf could get hungry and might endanger people.

“A gift wolf that isn’t caught in a proper trap can become a lone wolf,” Torkel said, “It is a testament of your trap skill to have caught it.”

Terhiki crossed her arms, “Well? Are you trading the shelf for the pot now? Those old furs you don’t need now? Or your old hood? Then you can wear a wolf hood.”

Tuukka said, “Well, let me think. That wolf hood idea sounds good. It will show my journeys.” 

<Tuukka caught wolf>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 12, 2020, 07:41:37 AM

Thus it was that Tuukka finally got a metal pot for cooking. The inferior shelves, fine boards, gaming sets, his roughed up fur hood and numerous small things were needed in the trade. The metal pot opens up a lot of cooking options.

The main task now then is working towards a Finnish punt. One that is a hollowed dug out log then folded outward. The folding is done with steaming and pitch to temporarily soften the wood to turn the arcs of the hollow out. This will displace more water while providing vertical height to resist waves.

As Terhiki had suggested, and with her help, Tuukka would now wear the wolf. Using the wolf’s fur. bones, thin wood and cords they made a wolf animal headdress for Tuukka. It is styled to keep the ears pointing out and the eye holes appears to be looking forward. As if the gift-wolf was watching what Tuukka was doing. Torkel came along chanting over the headdress. A thanks and invitation to the gift-wolf to watch over  whomever wore this provided, to drive away bad spirits and warn them of danger.

Now for the dug out punt, a far simpler craft than the clinkered punts he had apprenticed from his family making. For where to build Tuukka choses the fishing camp. This will leave the large traps at the landing camp less disturbed in hopes of other mid-sized animals like the badger or wolf. The fishing camp is at water making it possible, when the ice melts, to sail the punt over to the landing camp where the supplies are currently stored.

For a tree Tuukka chooses pine as the preferred material. Its soft, as woods go, to empty out yet decently durable. He strolled the slopes looking for a good tree. It should be a healthy diameter with good straightness. Straight can be found from a tree in a center clump where the outer trees had to sheltered it from wind. This he brings down and drags across the snow to the fishing camp.

To feed himself he ground rye grains, purchased earlier, into flour. He had wolf meat still but could fish when exhausted. In the village, with Terhiki’s guidance, he cooked the resulting flour into a hard tack.


Day 6 of the 5th week before summer season

Traders visited the landing camp. They talk of wanting furs, like that in the wolf headdress. They offer quality metal goods like a mace weapon. They don’t seem to have much interest in the camp. They to are waiting for the ice to melt so they can trade on the mainland. Tuukka shows his traps as he resets them. They promise to let him skin the animals if they get caught. They want to have good relations in later expeditions.

At the fishing camp the stone-axe is awkward to use. It takes some going so a new edge is worked onto this second stone-axe. The bark was easy enough to clean off. It was tacking off big chunks yet not random destruction to give the log a pointed shape. Fatigued Tuukka sits on the rough stool in the matted shelter using the fishing rod to bring in a harvest of fish.

The next day the work of burning the pointed log begins. Just like the block pot a controlled burn on the center weakens it making it easier to dig out material. This is done multiple times over multiple days to create an upward open C shape. The weather of Soil month is at times above freezing. It will be some times before the great sheets of sea ice melt. Rain started in the afternoon. Its wetness speeding the descent of snow and ice.

To get the deeper wood out a normal axe swing no longer works. Tuukka converts a stone into a stone based adze axe. The blade is turned sideways to as to swing with a scooping motion. There is two days of this plus time fishing. Tuukka fetched one of the perfect looking boards from those Kyotsi had made. Tuukka smiles wide at the perfect looking paddle he carves from it.
On another day comes the expanding. The pitch glue is mixed with steaming hot water to be pasted as a hot paint. Stakes and slender trunks are shoved in with the weight of heaving blocks pushing them down. As the steaming paint heats the wood it softens enough to give way to the spreading force. It has to sit like this for some time.

Day 6 of the 4th week before summer season.

Tuukka is tapping his knife and small knife along the wood. The imperfections of axe and bending are straightened for clean water shedding lines. More pitch glue mixed with water as a paint is spread along this time at a cooler temperature. This is the second layer which will seek the last cracks or the spots just worked by a knife. This seals the punt from absorbing water while also giving it the black coloring.

Tuukka is so happy as he faces to land with one foot in the punt. His other foot pushes them off. A ritual launching taught by his father. The punt slides into the punt. With the new paddle making decorative twirls Tuukka crosses the short open space over to another island. Most of the coast is still blocked with ice. This channel had remained open. One the east side was the fishing camp. Now Tuukka stood on the ground of the west. He was greatly pleased.

<Tuukka made Finnish punt>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 12, 2020, 11:39:31 PM
Looking across the sea to the fishing camp Tuukka feels a deep pride. He was back. Like coming home. He was again a fisherman boat-builder. He had awoken with nothing but his skills. Death danced with him in the cold. He had lived. He had come from one to a second and a now a third mountain. The wolf headdress seemed to stare farther east. As if it could something of his life farther east still.

Tuukka wished to celebrate. He gathered eight stones to make a four star compass, two stones deep, around a dip in the ground. In the dip he started a small branch fire for smoke climbing upwards to the ancestors. He puts heather flowers as an offering into the fire.

Then he explored this third island. There were a lot of hills and cliffs. There wasn’t any other settlement here. In the spring there would probably be lots of different plants. On the highest part of the nearest cliff he stacked rocks and stones in an anokshook marker. There was a lonely tall pine and a great boulder watching. The three would now keep each other company.

Near the shore there was a fallen tree and other stones. These Tuukka quietly asked to come. They would be proof that he had been across the sea. Backwards pushing in ritual the punt took to the water. On the open sea Tuukka fished up a half dozen bream. The first of these was tossed back to the sea in a ritual of thanks.

On returning to the village Tuukka tries seeking in as far as he can. The child Mikko soon spots him. They laugh at their game. Torkel the sage turns to approach.

“I have been told to speak to you,” Torkel said.

Tukka asked, “What chores does the village need done?”

“Its the spirits that spoke,” said Torkel, “They have said to teach you the beginner lessons.”

Torkel began to explain nature of spirits. It seemed familiar from the stories of Tuukka’s youth. There was more in this telling. Something deeper was being said. The wolf headdress shifted as if nodding in attention to the sage. The lore of the man of the forest, with his grey hat, is explained. An offer of silver is needed.

The village has a silver bracelet for trade. Tuukka wonders for a moment if this just a way to get him to buy the bracelet. Winds shift the wolf head dress as if it was shaking its head no. Tuukka could make another dug out punt. Leaving this Islander village with a fresh boat is even better than those wobbly shelves.

An idea came to him. It turned over in his head. He would try selling the punt he just made. Then the new one for himself would come from the tree of the third island. Alas in trade they insist on a few things more, it is silver after all.

Tuukka goes about gathering boards stockpiled at the landing camp. He makes some benches and still more is needed. There is quite a bit of work to do.

Day 1 of 3rd week before summer season

While travelling Tuukka hears a man singing to the south-west. The voice is unfamiliar. He is boasting in his song of robberies done.

<Tuukka hears robber>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 14, 2020, 02:27:19 AM
What to do about the robber? With dispersed camps Tuukka could well be robbed without knowing about it for days. The villagers are in danger. Perhaps though there lies the solution. Ill equipped Tuukka might higher up a fighter or two to take the robber on. Together they might manage it.
Kyosti is Tuukka’s first choice, the one who gave him the fishing pole that has meant so much and made the boards Tuukka used for weeks. Kyosti says he couldn’t come now. Sage Torkel of course shouldn’t be risked nor leave the village. Olaus, the other woodsman, couldn’t be arranged for either.
Without company this will be more dangerous. Tuukka thinks then to go to the landing camp for supplies to make himself a wood shield. Made with his stone axe it is a rough substitute for a proper wooden shield with a metal boss. This one has a raised grip to make a place to put a hand. Less wieldy to be sure though certainly better than nothing. It troubles Tuukka that this takes the rest of the day. The thief could well have escaped. At least the thief hasn’t raided the landing and its stores of seed crop.

Day 2 of the 3rd week before summer

The day is quite warm. The sea ice on the coasts is depleting yet enough to still change traveling to the mainland. Thigh deep snow burdens movement but will also make it easier to track the brigand. First he checks the fishing camp with its shelter, stool and stocks of wood. No disturbance there.
Now skilled in tracking, much thanks to Torkel and the villagers, Tuukka seeks to find the bandit’s tracks. The effort is fruitless. Checks of coastal ice was done, where the wind might have hidden the tracks. High cliffs are climbed to gaze out. There isn’t any sign of the bandit. There is still enough ice such that if one dared it they could go to other islands that way. Perhaps then that is where the bandit sounding man went.
Fishing at the fishing camp for the rest of the day is followed by a night guarding the landing camp. Awakening Tuukka has decided that rather than more furniture to make more shields, that the villagers might better defend themselves. Like his own they will lack a metal center boss so an raised handle is needed.
Voices of the traders are heard singing. Perhaps it was them the bandit was after. Perhaps it was they who dealt with the bandit. With armor and metal weapons it would have been quite easy!
Tuukka finds Kyotsi. Deliberately Tuukka buys back some items at low value in exchange for one of the wooden shields. He wants his friend to be well protected! A similar, though not so generous, bargain is struck so that Olaus the other woodsman will have a shield.
More carpentry and more shields. Finally the silver bracelet is purchased for the first punt with its fine lines, 2 shields and a host of other carpentry work.
Now to arrange to be up at midnight for the ritual of meeting the man of the forest. Also to make himself a punt. There is a happiness in Tuukka knowing his friends have furniture, a fishing punt and shields. He hopes they will tell of his visit for some time. He certainly will remember them.

<Tuukka got silver bracelet>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 14, 2020, 02:29:50 AM
Note:

I did do trades with the Kyotsi and Olaus so they have shields in their equipment. It was a way to make sure they have them. Might be important if I hire them later on. Two more shields were involved with the trade for the bracelet.
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 14, 2020, 06:25:55 AM
To ready for the ritual of greeting Tuukka forces himself to do chores in the night. This lets him sleep in the day to be awake at night.

Day 1 of the 2nd week before summer season

In the dark of night Tuukka returns to an ant nest he had marked on an earlier day. He shaves off silver as instructed. Its strange to see the silver fleck into the nest. He stays up until the small hours of dawn. He never saw the gray man. Tuukka wonders if he should try again once on the mainland.
For now he has his own punt to replace. The snows have receded from his thighs to his knees.
First he makes a fresh batch of pine tar glue. The good amount he will need for mixing for the steaming and later sealing. A mix of roasted fish and rye baking sustain him. The “sacred” log from across the waters is cleared of its bark into a log shape. That took a day the next day he’s studying the log. There are defects in this tree he’s not sure about cutting through.
Frustration is settled with fishing sessions. Getting off his stool for a walk he checks a birch. Finally the birch bark is in condition to be pulled off. Frustration grows again as two trees are felled then converted to logs to find defects making them inappropriate to continue. Tuukka made one already. Perhaps the Gray Man of the forest didn’t appear because of some imbalance in the spirit realm with tendrils around Tuukka. Tuukka decides to head to the village to hire one of the woodsmen.
Speaking to Olaus its learned old man Teppo needs chores done. It simple work done in a few hours. While doing it a hare ran by very close. Perhaps a sign the woods are calming to Tuukka.

Day 2 of the last week before summer season.

Today green greets Tuukka. The snows have melted in blotches. The sea ice seems to be weakening.

Tuukka hasn’t yet found a viable tree for his second punt. He made one before so it is a little confusing to him. Now he will either have to use the raft or just keep trying. With the bark of the various trees harvestable he gathers quite a bit of birch and rowan. Rowan bark is worked into a set of tassets decorated with elk bones, the bones of the first animal he found in the ice here at the landing camp.
Tuukka takes a break by working on other projects, making fish glue for a bow. He fells a possible birch and sections it up. Nothing really looks too god for bow making.
Coming back fresh minded to the punt Tuukka gets started on the punt again. He tries on one of the partially worked trees. It really is looking full of knots and parts that might crack. Struggling for days Tuukka comes to appreciate the value of skilled woodsman like Kyotsi. Was it one of the trees he had worked on?

Day 5 of the 13th week before midsummer.

Tuukka has three pointed logs all with concerns and one unpointed log around the fishing camp. Its time to just get going on one of them. He chooses the original intended “spirit” log from the other island.

There are many steps where he can clean out problems so long as the material that is left is the good. He turns the log to a slight angle to aim the worst at the top. Hacking the start of the opening and starting the burn Tuukka starts getting around the worst parts. He reshapes the bow and stern to compensate. It might turn out okay after all.

The next day he continues digging deeper with the adze. New fires started inside. Tuukka smiles then laughs. Its coming together decently after all. Maybe he was too nervous. Still a better start is always good. One must do with what can find, or something like that. After that days hard work he works the traps at the landing and logging camp. The landing camp traps he leaves the section he has to walk a ways to check down so as not to accidental leave caught animals suffering.
A few days later Tuuka has done the deep digging then pitch-steamed the walls to expand the boat shape. He finishes it off producing a decent Finnish punt. Its not as magnificent in his mind as the first one but it will do well on the seas.

Day 3 of the 12th week before midsummer

Skillfully Tuukka paddles in his new Finnish punt. A testing is done fishing between the two islands. To honor the boat the first fish caught is thrown back. Probing along the ice packs Tuukka does a few yards of dragging overland to slip around a sheet of ice. Then he paddles along finding a narrow path where the punt just squeezes by. A pleasant sea battle on a sunny day finds him sailing onto the beach at the landing camp!
Checking stores he’ll have to leave wood and other stockpiles behind.

<Tuukka sailed to landing camp>>>

(OOC: a bit confused over why he couldn't make the pointed logs when he did it before. Has the same tools and his skill is better. Did tweak the recipe to shorten the time slightly. Its supposed to be doable with stone tools.)

IF you wish to learn more of this type of punt there are links in the BAC text which is as follows:

// >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
// Finnish dug out punt
// uses 6 steps
//
// Brygun's inspiraton based on discussions at
// https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=4661.0
// espicially Erkka (co-dev of UrW) sharing a youtube
// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW7BdhOZZ_c&t=4s
//
// Requires a Stone adze axe or Iron adze axe
//


Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 15, 2020, 09:40:27 PM
To ready for the ritual of greeting Tuukka forces himself to do chores in the night. This lets him sleep in the day to be awake at night.

Day 1 of the 2nd week before summer season

In the dark of night Tuukka returns to an ant nest he had marked on an earlier day. He shaves off silver as instructed. Its strange to see the silver fleck into the nest. He stays up until the small hours of dawn. He never saw the gray man. Tuukka wonders if he should try again once on the mainland.
For now he has his own punt to replace. The snows have receded from his thighs to his knees.
First he makes a fresh batch of pine tar glue. The good amount he will need for mixing for the steaming and later sealing. A mix of roasted fish and rye baking sustain him. The “sacred” log from across the waters is cleared of its bark into a log shape. That took a day the next day he’s studying the log. There are defects in this tree he’s not sure about cutting through.
Frustration is settled with fishing sessions. Getting off his stool for a walk he checks a birch. Finally the birch bark is in condition to be pulled off. Frustration grows again as two trees are felled then converted to logs to find defects making them inappropriate to continue. Tuukka made one already. Perhaps the Gray Man of the forest didn’t appear because of some imbalance in the spirit realm with tendrils around Tuukka. Tuukka decides to head to the village to hire one of the woodsmen.
Speaking to Olaus its learned old man Teppo needs chores done. It simple work done in a few hours. While doing it a hare ran by very close. Perhaps a sign the woods are calming to Tuukka.

Day 2 of the last week before summer season.

Today green greets Tuukka. The snows have melted in blotches. The sea ice seems to be weakening.

Tuukka hasn’t yet found a viable tree for his second punt. He made one before so it is a little confusing to him. Now he will either have to use the raft or just keep trying. With the bark of the various trees harvestable he gathers quite a bit of birch and rowan. Rowan bark is worked into a set of tassets decorated with elk bones, the bones of the first animal he found in the ice here at the landing camp.
Tuukka takes a break by working on other projects, making fish glue for a bow. He fells a possible birch and sections it up. Nothing really looks too god for bow making.
Coming back fresh minded to the punt Tuukka gets started on the punt again. He tries on one of the partially worked trees. It really is looking full of knots and parts that might crack. Struggling for days Tuukka comes to appreciate the value of skilled woodsman like Kyotsi. Was it one of the trees he had worked on?

Day 5 of the 13th week before midsummer.

Tuukka has three pointed logs all with concerns and one unpointed log around the fishing camp. Its time to just get going on one of them. He chooses the original intended “spirit” log from the other island.

There are many steps where he can clean out problems so long as the material that is left is the good. He turns the log to a slight angle to aim the worst at the top. Hacking the start of the opening and starting the burn Tuukka starts getting around the worst parts. He reshapes the bow and stern to compensate. It might turn out okay after all.

The next day he continues digging deeper with the adze. New fires started inside. Tuukka smiles then laughs. Its coming together decently after all. Maybe he was too nervous. Still a better start is always good. One must do with what can find, or something like that. After that days hard work he works the traps at the landing and logging camp. The landing camp traps he leaves the section he has to walk a ways to check down so as not to accidental leave caught animals suffering.
A few days later Tuuka has done the deep digging then pitch-steamed the walls to expand the boat shape. He finishes it off producing a decent Finnish punt. Its not as magnificent in his mind as the first one but it will do well on the seas.

Day 3 of the 12th week before midsummer

Skillfully Tuukka paddles in his new Finnish punt. A testing is done fishing between the two islands. To honor the boat the first fish caught is thrown back. Probing along the ice packs Tuukka does a few yards of dragging overland to slip around a sheet of ice. Then he paddles along finding a narrow path where the punt just squeezes by. A pleasant sea battle on a sunny day finds him sailing onto the beach at the landing camp!
Checking stores he’ll have to leave wood and other stockpiles behind.

<Tuukka sailed to landing camp>>>


Day 3 of the 12th week before midsummer

Tuukka sorted goods this way and that. By late afternoon the punt is packed with as much as he can fit by volume and weight. The traps of the landing camp are disabled with two more birds caught in them. Travelling to the village Tuukka calls over Kyosti.

“Well, the ice is thinned, still there but room enough to make a go of getting to the mainland,” Tuukka said.

“You made our winter full of stories,” Kyosti said, “You worked hard, helped us and even caught a wolf. You’ve left us a fishing punt which happily turned out better than those shelves!”

The two laughed.

Kyosti asked, “Mainland, north east? Or east? Or go north?”

“I feel there is something to the east. For the best distance I launch as soon as I next wake,” Tuukka said.

“We’ll look east every dawn offering hopes for your safety,” said Kyosti.

The two men embraced in hug, patted each other’s backs. As they parted Tuukka shifted to the logging camp making sure those traps were released. The villagers could reset them when they were ready to take over the harvest of trapped animals.

Day 4 of the 12th week before midsummer
 
It was a cloudy night. The air was above freezing still thawing the ice. The seas were still freezing cold. The spirits roused him just after midnight, the beginning hours of this day of late Swidden month.
Off the island onto the sea the going is at first easy. Trying a bay of ice the path around two nearly joined islands is blocked. This thin ice is to risky to dry a surface dragging. Portaging is possible but with all the supplies would take several tries. Tuukka goes half-way back west to try a broad opening to the south east.
Late morning after a rest break along the edge of ice the rain starts. Yet paddling north west a settlement is spotted. Circling to approach near its east side Tuukka went into speak with them. Its a small Islander village, Huge cove, with a hall smaller than the one he just left.
Its Noon now, Tuukka is tired but moves on farther east. Evening exhaustion overcomes him. It is rain chilling him and filling the punt that wakes him. A rush of bailing with a bowl soon calms to just another fisherman’s day. The punt is stable enough. Tuukka had turned from mostly south east to mostly north east. It has been a few hours without seeing land. From recollections of stories and sailing he may have gone around the south west corner of the mainland. A small island is nestled with a V notch of ice. Paddling up his exhaustion takes over. At least the V ice is acting as a wave breaker.
In the early morning rain Tuukka bails the punt again. For himself he is feeling rather hot in his furs. There is enough spruce and branches that he can have a false deck covering for his legs.
Late morning of Day 5 of the 12 week of summer, Tuukka is scouting what he thinks is the coast of the main land. The rising heat finally dispatches the large sea ice chunks. As if a glorious greeting for coming to the shore.
Choosing a cliff to land near he climbs. A roach fish is put out on the cliff top in offering. Then standing tall he lets out a long loud song of greeting. To the north east is a vast stretch of forest! The mainland! Farther up there is a village and stead.

<Tuukka mainland village>>>

Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 15, 2020, 10:26:57 PM
Tuukka goes through the punt stores selecting some of the seed crop, boxes, a bag, a pair of tubs and so forth as trade goods. Travelling inland Tuukka arrives at Islander village of “Goodish wild”.
A sage and his wife wive to Tuukka. There is an urgency to the gesture.

“We have a wounded adventurer here,” sage Mauno said, “We need another adventurer to help. Surely a traveler like you is such a person.”

Tuukka’s head jolted. He had been a fisherman carpenter who was taken up in a ritual for the fishing folk. Now he was walking in as a friendly stranger wearing a spirit-wolf headdress with goods of value for trade. A shield was on his back and weapons on his hip. Tuukka chuckled. He did look like an adventurer didn’t he.
In their main hall the wounded adventurer is resting. He weakly waves to Tuukka.

“I knew one would come on thaw,” he said, “I am Uolevi.”

The story is told of Uolevi’s shelter being attacked by a bear. Uolevi tried to escape but it followed so they fought. The bear staggered away with a bleeding wound. The equipment was left there, a place four kilometers to the north-east at the border of a large heathland with a lichenous pine forest in the east of that.

“Can you bring me my special trident,” Uolevi said.

Tuukka staggered a step back. Now he was being asked to rescue a trident! Was this the foreign spirit at work? The sea man with the trident. Tuukka turned his head to the side disbelieving what he had become a part of.

“Please, you can keep the rest. The trident, it needs to come to me. An Islander like you is best to do it.”

Tuukka spoke slowly, “Yes. I’ll go. I’ll bring the trident so there can be peace.”

Tuukka felt dread. These adventures might never end.

Lasse, a local woodsman, is hired to help in the hunt. A bag of peas and smoked pike from the trade bundle cover the food the man needs to carry. Payment hopefully will come from the goods they find near the trident. The sage Mouna hovers around were Tuukka is roasting bits of meat at the village fire.
There is an adventurer Eero visiting. He had heard of the trident. He felt warned not to take the lead on the expedition. He would need a knife or better yet a spear to go fighting with, plus of course food. Instead Tuukka trade over another spare bag of grains plus foods to buy Eero’s woodsman’s axe. A strong long handled weapon, Driik make by the looks of it. Eero confirms that he is a Driik and its from his people.

So it is that Tuukka and Lasse made out to find the trident. Perhaps a symbol or the actual trident of a foreign great water spirit that had lead to the lose of Pekka, Ilotros and Kylpymies. At Tuukka finally has a metal headed axe to bang against his wooden shield.

<Tuukka trident quest>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 16, 2020, 01:34:27 AM
Through the day the two walked. Lasse talked about the local plants, spirits and tales he knew. They saw another village, a distant traveler and an elk. The traveler they met, a woodsman looking for the right forest to accept him. Hopefully one day he will find the home he seeks. That night they camp next to the lake “Bruin summits.”
Days of searching together hasn’t found the camp, trident nor bear. Its still been a very good time for Tuukka. He’s learning about more plants and woodcutting for they fell and board a few trees. This is so Lasse can show Tuukka techniques he didn’t know. Afterall in his youth others provided the boards to the boat builder, not the boat builder going out into the wood. Though it comes to mind that Tuukka recalls his father going out to choose which tree would be used for the keel. That is the long bottom wood which though could be joined is best if it is all from one strong straight tree. A few days later Lasse departs.

Day 4 of the 10th week before midsummer

After several days of solo searching Tuukka could never find the camp, trident nor the wounded bear. He accepted his defeat after a second methodical pass through the land. He couldnt peer behind every tree but had gone to each field size patch of land that seemed to match the description. The blood scrapes were surely long gone from the rain by now. The shelter from a distance would just appear as a lump of spruce amid pine and spruce. Luck had not favored him that way. He had one one points come within a few yards of a powerful elk though he had no bow nor intent in chasing it in this warm season.
Returning he visited two villages and a stead, all Islander people. The time out in the woods of the mainland had at least let him practice his plant identification. The plants were young being unsuitable for harvest. He had taken his axe onto already fallen trees and one newly fallen. His skills with the initial timbercraft were growing thanks to Lasse’s lessons. OF course he might not even have this iron headed long handled woodsman’s axe had he not accepted to try.
He met Uolevi, now well into his recovery. Though saddened the mission had failed Tuukka told him of his adventures. It had been good for Tuukka afterall. He hadn’t really explored like that. Pushing off from the mainland Tuukka sailed south east making an overnight camp on a tiny cliff like island. He marked his landing spot, one that had hooks of land to better shield the landing point. A shelter, fire ring and cooking stone were set with rocks and stones as makers to better find it again.
Just off shore there were upthrusts of rocks one of which had an F shape. Here he nestled the punt in to fish from for a short while. The next day he pulled ashore on the mainland at a pine mire. He searched and found a suitable tree for part of the bow he was making. It was felled, a fire started to warm the wood and him and he managed the heart wood out. Perhaps not ideal but neither was the birch backing he had made back on the island.
Assembling the bow parts is done here in the wilds. It will take days for the glues to set. Since this is mire Tuukka intends to explore for a bog to harvest ores from. Where the mountain side rains drain into a bog where the oily slicks reveal where lumps condense as a gift for those that understand the transformation into smith’s iron.
In his search he stumbles across a driik village, “Sweet forest”. This could be a useful place to trade. Tuukka is already committed by the bow making to be in this area for a few days.

<Tuukka bow and Driik>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 17, 2020, 08:03:33 AM
Day 1 of the 9th week before midsummer

After exploring and greeting in the first Driik village Tuukka speaks with them on iron working. They agree the cliffs feed the bogs nearby. They are also willing to sell a well trained big dog or a nice linen dress. The linen would also easily be turned into a tunic and socks. Both options would be rather expensive.
 Exploring a little more finds the walled town of Sikumetsa “Sweet forest”. It has even finer weapons, clothing and tools for sale. Photo is one of their leading craftsmen, a skilled iron smith. He says he isn’t worried if Tuukka takes on minor crafts as he is too busy making fine swords and axes.

“Having someone else make nails would ease the annoying knocks on my door,” Photo says, “But don’t stay till midsummer. That make me think you are cutting into my trade.”

Tuukka explained, “I plans to leave well before then. Really I stopped to make a bow. Most important for now is to stockpile some crude ores. To roast them will take making charcoal. That whole process can take weeks or months. The spirit call to the east feels like it will allow a rest but more travel is to be done before the longest day.”

For now Tuukka explores this place a little more. Soon is found a third Driik community, the village of “Day forest”. Here Tuukka trades his wooden shield for a handful of arrows. These he will use for hunting. The arrows he might make might not be this good. A shield he can make again. Making minor improvements where he set the bow to dry Tuukka gathers ore chunks from various coastal mires fed by cliffs.

Day 6 of the 9th week before midsummer

The later afternoon rains start as he prepares to do his first firing on the rough two-wood bow he has crafted. He certainly has a long way to go with his skills though much of the early work had been done with a stone not metal axe. He fires the air toward a young pine tree that remains undisturbed. The arrow goes a little sideways into the rain. Search by wet foot or boat in the rain never find it. Tuukka had thought about firing an arrow as a gift to the spirits. Seems they have chosen their offering.

The next morning the one defensive trap is disabled. With the fencing around the shelter intact a bit of flower is sent to float onto the sea. Tuukka continues his journey now with a bow, four arrows and bog ores.

Day 1 of the 8th week before midsummer

Tuukka awakens at a traveling camp. Paddling into a bay on a large island he selected a landing point behind a rock uprise, sheltered from the waves. The shelter was barely visible among the spruce with only two man sized approaches, one of which he warded with a trap. In that trap this morning flaps a raven. Apparently the spirits are overall blessed with him to bless him with food on his journey.

Day 7 of the 8th week before midsummer

Traveling for the rivers for the great inner lake, between Reemi and Nerjpez territory, a simple camp each night had been made. These are markers on his mental map. Places he could steer for should he come along the shore again. Each a good not hard days travel as he always needed time to build and often fish.
On this day he spies a river mouth. Along the river are splashing rapids that never freeze. The wonderfully named “Horses bottom” river. A swan graces the waters of the river mouth. Thinking this is a good omen Tuukka well set one of his camps here.


<Tuukka Horses bottom rapids>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 17, 2020, 08:40:51 AM

Pushing into the Horses Bottom takes some effort to overcome the outflow. Paddling up the river the need for an overnight camp means this must indeed the great inner river network. This camp Tuukka nestled the shelter very tightly into a close clump of trees. In the morning the sound of Nerjpez drums and chants could be heard. A war camp was made the same night nearby!
They were on the river way he would need to use to return. Was with there spirit magic shutting the door? Had friendly magic held them off? Straining to hold them back until Tuukka had crossed north? Does this mean in the future he must come to purge this warcamp?


<Tuukka warcamp cut off>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 18, 2020, 04:18:19 AM
Day 4 of the 7th week before midsummer

Jlmavaara, “Cruelfell”, is the name of the Kuamolais village up river. Tuukka warns them of the Nerjpez drums. There are boasts of the Kuamo big knives from the younger men. Others in the village concerned. An adventurer named Seppo is there, saying he will patrol the woods for wandering Nerjpez. He also has a carving axe that interests Tuukka. Meanwhile Hetta has rough linen trousers for sale.
Tuukka decides he will try crafting for them for a little while. IT will also mean he is around if the Nerjpez come this far north. A few days later Hekka has a table and benches for the pants and Seppo has spare shields for the carving axe. It is much more comfortable having linen rubbing inside the rough elk fur leggings. With the carving axe for middle work between the woodsman’s axe and knives Tuukka expects great things from his carpentry skills. Using his improved collection of tools Tuukka form a decent wooden shield, well balanced yet as sturdy as one with metal reinforcements.
The next morning is a short trade of bench and odd things so one of the village elders can have a comfortable seat. This in exchange for village cooked meats, a nice change from his own cooking.

<Tuukka carving axe and pants>>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 18, 2020, 04:55:19 AM
Day 4 of the 6th week before midsummer

Upstream paddling finds a moderate lake as the end of the navigable waters. Tuukka thinks it best to scout from here before committing to a stead location. An improved camp would be wise with a pair large boulders offering a starting shielded location next to the lake. While gathering supplies a snuffling sound reveals a badger drinking at the lake. Tuukka isn’t sure if this is a blessing or warning or both. To be safe he lets it leave and places heather flowers out as an offering to the local spirit.
As Tuukka builds the shelter the badger watches. It isn’t scared of him at all. Tuukka put down some of his travel bundle wondering he should hunt it.

<Tuukka greeting badger>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 18, 2020, 05:23:57 AM
Tuukka, wishing the best with the spirits, moves after the badger. These things eat everything. As powerful diggers they threaten cellars as well. Tuukka hides best he can with the badger’s own courage being quite obvious. They move along the shore east until when just a a few meters away Tuukaa fires his village made arrow from his self made bow. It slams through the badger’s face for an instant kill. The badger itself weighs twenty pounds. This yields nine pounds of meat, plenty for a landed exploration.
Next morning the exploration begins. There is a cliff and hills nearby. Fairly clear areas if he wanted to cultivate the hills. There is mostly heathland around with no likely iron holding bogs right at hand. Eastward finds interesting ponds just off another river head. In a broad mire an elk is spotted which Tuukka gives a go at stalking. Tracking the muddy trail is now within his skills, thanks the training from the Islanders. However he doesn’t get a good sighting. Surely it can see him on the open mire and is keeping its distance.
At another river bank in the east he makes a simple over night camp, not even bothering with a fire ring. Exploring the lands finds the forests broad with large mires but the hills and cliffs are shielded in heathland. A good many resources save for easy bog iron. Perhaps he can get more out of the lake.
When he awakes he circles west. Then south nearing the previous river camp. Turning northward… is a bear!

<Tuukka first bear>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 18, 2020, 06:39:04 AM
Tuukka’s heart is pounding into his throat. He grew up a fisherman boatbuilder. Father’s hand running a sanding stone along the side of hull that Tuukka follows with a sealing paint. The days of youth, alert and learning for the trade of his Islander people. Now in front of bear.
His mind traces through tracking practice with his Islander kindsmen after building that raft to change islands. The ceremony at the ant hill where he left silver shavings but never saw anyone. The shooting of the greeting badger as it boldly turned its face to him. Are the spirits going to have this bear kill him?
The heart beat deafening calms. Tuukka takes a breath. The bear has still there. One paw lazily flops off its side. The bear is asleep. Its raining. Rain shields footsteps yet troubles arrows. He has four arrows, two axes, a shield and a few knives. His clothing is elk fur, mostly one layer, hardly armor especially given its self made and rough traveling.
Tukka slides between trees for a clear shot. Snarling roars announce the bear has awakened! Tuukka fires his readied arrow. It sails over the bear among the trees. Tuukka notches another legs seizing in expectation of being charged.
The bear lumbers westward.
Tuukka’s hands are shaking making the bow wobble.
A search for the arrow is quite simply brief. Tuukka circles back to the badger camp. Fear is circulating in his veins. Perhaps he should sleep on his boat? Or in a spot to the east.
He could raise a bear trap.
This is promptly done. Fishing from the lake yields fish, some of which he cuts up, to be able to bait the bear log trap and the smaller traps.
It takes a day the a second before he has the confidence to explore again. He finally sleeps away from “Badger Landing” at a ford a little ways south. While marking the hidden shelter a reindeer doe brushes its way along the spruce. Truly this area has a lot of game!
More exploring leaves him still uncommitted where to put the stead. Certainly there are places to set up traps, like at the fords. Foreign traders are discovered, saying they come to these northern lands looking for furs. They say the sea is calmer than it was in winter. Perhaps the seasonal change or had Tuukka settled the bag magic at least a little?
Many things are on his mind. Making Badger Landing, really called Kasikallio “Hand Cliff” an improved camp with a cellar still seems like a good idea. To be dry the cellar is uphill of the fishing shelter and within the trap line already started. This way animals that come to it may still be caught converting lost foods into fresh meat. At the very least Badger Landing will be a trapping station. “Reindeer Ford” or the other fords could also use pit traps.
It could even be possible to give Badger Landing a small cabin using those two boulders as part of the defenses. This idea intrigues him. His first building can be a small first winter arrangement. It has a lake that will freeze but a shore-door makes that tolerable and saves making a well or rain catcher. A cellar is already here, baiting critters as well. 
Now is a time for major time management. If he is going to use Badger Landing then he has decided that amid these hills, lakes, forests, fords and a rapids he will make a stead somewhere.  Timing though calls for fields to go in, he might yet harvest turnips and pit trips at the fords could catch reindeer. Perhaps the pit traps should be first.

<Tuukka plans at Badger Landing>>>

Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 19, 2020, 03:22:55 AM
Tuukka heads over to the rapids down river, scouting for trapping or a cabin. There is a natural jetty for beaching at on the south side. The north side reveals reindeer tracks.
At the “Hanging rapids” the river flows eastward. Tuukka decides to pit trap on the north side while making a shelter on the south side. He does wonder if he may have issues during the thin ice months. A camp on the same side but a little ways along might be useful. He can probably manage that at a ford site. For now separating them is to hide the smells of his human touch, the camp fire smoke and cooking fish from the traps and the trees nearby. One is clear, the wood shovel is very slow to use, taking time across a second day to get deep enough. Its the punt that makes it simple to move supplies from one side to another.
After his third night there Tuukka on the south bank loads the punt with stakes, twigs and slenders for fencing and another pit or two. Crossing over he hears a rustling then thrashing. Disembarking he finds the one pit trap placed, where the tracks were dense and the trees a natural fence, has made a capture!
Its a small doe. The way it moves its clearly in pain. Tukka will end it quickly. This rapids must be a good draw point! Heavy back swings of a two handed woods axe bash in unconscious then knife cuts on the neck bleed it out. The trap is near the shore making it easy to get it onto the punt then across to the south side for processing. The first cut of meat he gives to the spirits, a thank for their great generosity.
Over eighty pounds of meat remain, more than he can eat himself before it spoils. After skinning, butchering and cleaning the hide Tuukka decides to head back to Badger Landing. There he roasts half the meat and puts the other half in the cellar. He uses some meat to change over the bait on the bear log trap.

Day 7 of the 5th week before midsummer

A ten pound reindeer fur is in hand, without major flaws. Tuukka ponders making new footwear and cloths or a cloak. Really though he is warm enough right now. With near eighty pounds of meat in stores what matters now is what crops might be managed. Quick growing turnips certainly. With weeks of food already he can manage broad beans and maybe even peas, though he has none of the latter to plant. Then he can return to pit traps and the selection of the winter shelter. The hills a short walk up from Badger Landing will do nicely.

Day 3 of the 4th week before midsummer

The first section of ash turned earth has cooled enough for broad beans to be started. Its a challenge if they will grow in this four by four array. Tukka won’t plant all he brought north. The idea of just turnips for winter vegetables is rather dreadful. After a second plot is planted and third turned Tuukka heads back to Hanging rapids. While installing a second pit trap on the north elk, that is moose, tracks are found on the south bank quite close to the shelter! So it seems he will pit trap the south side as well.
The elk is there running on the shore! Tukkaa is punting to the south bank when he sees it! Chasing is only briefly attempted. It will be too alert and with only four arrows from a moderate archer isn’t likely to catch it. Perhaps I winter but this is high summer. A pit trap though where it was seen.
“Let the existing animal tracks tell you where to trap,” recalls Tuukka.
The first south pit trap is put in and a second started. The chores must be split though. Heading back to Badger Landing then to the “Hand cliff” hills Tuukka seeds a third plot of broad beans. He may try for a fourth or fifth of broad bean though it will cross the half way in his seed beans. Hand Cliff has a simple shelter with a spruce mat, fire ring, cooking stone and a tub of water nestled next to a boulder at a dip in the hill. This work camp will give him some shelter from rain and cold though it is lacking in defenses.
Sadly the half of reindeer he put in the cellar has spoiled. Well, it does make a wonderful lump of bear bait. A section of the waste he burns at Badger Landing, hopefully received as an offering admitting his error. Though there is not much he can do about bringing down a truly large animal so far. He would need to travel to trade or invest in a smoking building.
Work continues focusing on the agriculture. Tuukka thinks into the first week of Hay month the broad beans might, that is might, make it up. The turnip patches will be started soon. A few days at the Hand Cliff fields is followed by a trip to Badger Landing and Hanging Rapids pit traps. Fishing is again needed to sustain himself. As a fisherman boatbuilder this is relaxing enjoying memories of his youth.

Day 1 of the 2nd week before midsummer

Six plots of four by four of broad beans have been planted all but exhausting his supply.
Tuukka if enjoying a roast trout at the Hanging Rapids pit trap camp when a bawl of pain sounds off. Something went into a pit! Its the small elk he saw and didn’t try chasing. It has gone in at a trap placed on its original tracks. Sure enough animals do tend to go to the same places.
Tukka moves the 375 pound elk by punt to Badger Landing for processing. He has already gotten an idea of the limits of food he can store. Much of the meat will traded to communities south.
Processing the elk Tuukka remembers to pull out the back strap. This hide will be soaked to dehair. This will supply the leather for many tools to be made over the winter. With a reindeer fur and the battered fur he wears he is warm enough for months to come.

<Tuukka to trade elk1>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 19, 2020, 09:15:26 AM
Day 3 of the 2nd week before midsummer point

Tuukka awakens do a wickedly hot day. He takes off half of the fur garments he is wearing. Splashing in the lake ware cools him. Assessing his clothing its time to replace his loin cloth. His hideworking skills are certainly much better than months ago. His linen trousers still cover him of course. The loincloth is a support he has become comfortable with.
Instead of travelling south along the river Tuukka decides to try north. There should be owl tribe people near. By late morning it is into the “Marry trail” Owl camp Tuukka enters, giving the signs of greeting. First to return the greeting is a shaman, Dearsu.
“I knew someone was coming today,” Dearsu said, “We have exchanged greetings. Why do you come?”
“To trade fresh meat,” said Tuukka, “and to show friendship.”
“Come be welcome,” Dearsu replied.
Ahekjouksa, the village woodsman, offers arrows which Tukka agrees is a good trade. Light yet valuable they are common barter item. Being arrows they have a habit of becoming more meat. Tuukka obtains eight arrows from the Owl tribe. Almost all their other goods were furs.
When asked Dearsu explained to the northwest there is a cave in “Piecetip” a half hour to the northwest. That is quite close!
 Exploring out of Marry Trail, to the north east are waters of various lakes. Reindeer are seen from a hilltop moving in the north. Piercetip Cave is found with the survey finding a boulder almost fully blocking the way in. Easily a single door could seal the cave, a very easy winter homestead!
Soon done Tuukka spends a night with rains pounding outside while he is dry and hot behind his cave door. A cluster of light trap ward the approach. Stone crop flowers in bloom are gathered, always leaving a share for the spirits. Trail makers are placed and an innukshuk is built for the spirits. It also shows the cave is claimed. Tuukka is so very happy he came north. It might not be a forever home but certainly this is viable. An inner section of Pierce Tip cave could be partitioned for a smoker.

<Tuukka Pierce Tip cave>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 19, 2020, 10:32:11 AM

Exploring Tuukka finds various crops are coming into season. A few leaves are tried in hopes of identifying them. To his horror he is coming down with a fever! Rushing back to Marry Trail the sage Dearsu gives him a concoction with prayers to speed his healing.
“This is moderately bad,” Dearsu warned, “You best learn not to eat those again. Bet it was spicy though, that can be warning. You should rest. Do you have heather? It makes a tea that can reduce your fever.”
“I still have some heather, yes. From the islands far to the south west. If I drink that then can I put in more fields, for the turnips?” Tuukka said.
“Dead men don’t eat turnips,” came the stern reply.
Tuukka departed. A pack of wolves scared him. He backed away and they went their own way. Badger Landing had caught an eagle owl, good for meat and feathers. Fetching his pot from the cellar storage Tuukka made his heather tea.
Grumpy at his foolish mistake Tuukka heeds the sage advice. At least for a little while he will simply do some whittling safely in the Badger Landing camp. By mid morning the fever has cooled. The combination of sage healing, herbal tea, rest and good eating has saved him.
As a thanks to the spirits he places one of the new figures here in Badger Landing’s shelter. Another is placed in the shelter at the Hand Cliff fields. These figures, Tuukka, feels give better eyes to the spirits who could choose to inhabit them.

Day 1 of the last week before midsummer

Having healed from the moderate poisoning Tuukka got back to the agriculture project. Another plot, four by four man lengths, was made that soon would start the turnips. Starting sets of traps were set for the small game that could threaten the crops. Perhaps later he will make another pit trap up here.
Out of meats Tuukka strolled back to Badger Landing. He realized there were wolf tracks doing that way. Sure enough the big three log trap with its hunk of reindeer had been pulled down. A wolf was trapped beneath. Recalling the tale of Beodrin two-bears Tuukka bombarded it with blunts like rocks. Only once it was stunned or battered should one approach such a dangerous best. Once skinned and butchered the first cut is gifted to the spirits.
Since he had been away so long Tuukka goes to the Hanging Rapids pit traps finding them empty. The pit traps are adjusted and repaired from the routine weathering they get.
Coming to the elk hid on the planned day, he finds it has rotted. Something had gone wrong. Its useless. He had been checking it a few days ago that it still needed a few days yet. Disappointing though its not dangerous to him. Tuukka takes a rest in the shelter to think.

<Tuukka poison, wolf and rotted>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 20, 2020, 04:13:25 AM
With the hopes for a large leather sheet for clothing and gear ruined Tuukka settles on laying a few more turnip plots. He did come north with three boxes of turnip seeds. That amount being more a matter of trade value then desire to eat. Light lever traps in sets of three are being placed around the plots. Its far from a complete shielding yet already they have pinned a hare and a grouse. Meat and fur traded for a few lost vegetables.

Day 5 of the 13th week before winter season

Routine life is so far proving safe. Tuukka sees people moving to the west at times. Traders in a group and perhaps a lone local traveller. Collect the few furs he has he goes to meet the traders.
The whole ten pounds of reindeer fur is traded for a small bronze brooch. Hardly the warmest idea though these makes a nice way to pin together clothing and small items can be far easier to travel with for big purchases.
The wolf fur is traded for twelve broad-head arrows, he kind that bleeds out large game. Tuukka’s mind flutters with the thought of the big game he has seen easily replacing the four pounds of wolf fur. The idea is warm in his heart he trades a hare and two squirrel furs to hold another four broad-head arrows. That makes for sixteen broad-head bleeding arrows plus the eleven normal arrows he already had. 
As they trade two of them are discussing berries unfamiliar to Tuukka. The elder explains these are northern bilberries, a bit earlier in season, but are edible.
Tuukka goes to meet the other figure. It is a lost woodsman named Isto. Tuukka and Isto come to conclusion that Isto may be on a travel quest, like Tuukka was on an island quest. It wouldn’t be hard to get them to a village and a sage. Given that this is a journey it feels wise to lead Isto north to the Owl village so that he sees new lands and people.
Dearsu the Owl sage is there to greet them. Dearsu agrees to guide Isto. He has things he best do. Isto thanks Tuukka by teaching him tracking wisdoms. Tuukka spend the night with Isto and the Owl’s of Marry Trail. Me splits a tree for boards and shapes some for paw-boards or fitting where needed. For this they give him ten more arrows. Tuukka now considers himself well supplied to arrow hunt big game.

<Tuukka got many arrows>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 20, 2020, 09:24:28 AM
Day 7 of the 13th week before winter season

At the Hand Cliff fields Tuukka is splitting more firewoood for more turnip plots when a lynx wanders into view. At this moment Tuukka himself is breathless. Nibbling on a cut of roast meat he watches the lynx. It slides away then back. It is drawn to something up here. The light traps might catch it. Tukka decides to slip into a hollow for a while to see if the traps will do their thing. After a half hour he comes out with no sign of the lynx. He’ll upgrade a few traps to have more holding power.
Another two plots of turnips are started which comes to the close of his planting efforts. Anything more probably won’t come up. Instead he adds large animal traps to the fields starting with a spiked pit trap.
Now will be a peaceful few days as early berries can be harvested, the existing trap spots checked and perhaps relaxing fishing. Using the river Tuukka watches the banks. He can see fallen trees, stones, rocks and now flowering plants. Easy enough to travel in a short way to gather those, even the trees to be floated back to Badger Landing. Tuukka is especially thankful to see heather flowering. With how it cooled him when poisoned it is most welcome even treasured. At one landing there is even an ant hill that he might try for the ceremony again.
He starts marking a path to the ant hill to find it in dark night. Elk tracks are spotted. The wisdoms learned suggest it is a few hours old. A patch of plants Tuukka hadn’t gotten to yet have been eating. Clearly a grazing time for the elk. While returning to his punt there is the elk! He wasn’t prepared but now can try hunting with all his new arrows!
Its a challenge as the elk moves so easily through the brush. Tukka decides to try and circle to force it into a notch on the bank. The cluster of trees makes it hard for it to escape. It might get out. Tuukka has become winded running after it. The rain is pelting down. From this angle the arrows will skid into the water, float and hopefully be found again.

<Tukka river pin elk>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 20, 2020, 09:56:54 PM
Tuukka is as fatigued as the elk. Shifting from position to position a little over a half dozen arrows are fired. Several hit with the misses, thanks to fire from above, striking the ground save one that floats in the river nearby. The broad heads from his self-made less-than-ideal bow aren’t able to get deep bleeding started. The elk’s leg is lamed though allowing closing for blows with the back of his long handled woodsman axe. Cuts on the knife begin the bleeding while the rain continues to batter down.
While the animal passes to the spirit realm Tuukka gives it space. He gathers the punt and some last materials form the shore. It is early evening and he will sail this to Badger Landing for processing. Exhausted he fell asleep with the carcass ashore, regretfully doing the skinning in the morning. Once again it sets the hide for soaking into leather. The damage the beast took and its general condition won’t give a perfect hide. He needs the leather if he is to make large bellows for forging iron. Once again he pulls the backstrap off the corpse for use in cordage.
While processing the elk the lynx came by the camp. It came close but didn’t actually step into one of the traps. Another medium trap is set on part of where it had been seen.
The next morning Tuukka gets ready to travel with the excess meat south. There isn’t any way yet for him to smoke the meat so it was all roasted. Sad eyes look to the de-hair soaking fur hoping it will turn out this time without being wasted like the last.
At the stead of Louhi’s front over a hundred cuts of roasted elk is traded for a hunting knife from a hunter named Nestor. Nestor demonstrates how the knife’s shape can better bleed a an animal. In any case its light weight and steel nature makes its a good trade item. Other roasted cuts are traded for smoked cuts the villagers had made. These will of course last a lot longer in storage. Tuukka had left a small portion of roasted elk at Badger Landing and having found a trapped hare on the paddle over is happy to trade the rest of roasted elk carried here.
Now comes a time for a think. The need for smoking meat is really becoming apparent. He could outfit the Piercetip Cave for it but that would always mean hiking in large pieces of meat from any place along the river traps. The Hanging Rapids though have always held an allure. Growing up a fisherman boatbuilder doing ice fishing, by rod or nets to be made, in the winter has its own charm. Plus if he does take to making a forge that also regularily needs water. Any cave or inland location would take a well. A well is possible or various forms of rain catchers.
Scouting around Tuukka chooses a location on the south bank of Hanging Rapids. There is jet of land into the rapids just there that makes an useful punt landing, fishing and hide treating location. The smoke house will be a smaller walls and doors design. A dozen tree trunks were already gathered by punt which will up a third of the needed logs. This is a process that will take a few weeks. After logging those and felling a few more Tuukka realizes this is just the sort of thing you hire someone for.

<Tuukka starting smoke house>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 21, 2020, 12:51:18 AM
At Louhi’s stead the woodsman Joukahaien, who had sold the hunting knife agrees to come working. They do several days hard work. Using the punt and river the main harvest of trees is done along the river than moved to the building area. The actual construction is only just started when it comes time for him to leave. For payment Tuukka makes him a wooden tub and a wooden shield, which will double as a lid for the tub. The boards came from their own work.
Tuukka works on his own deciding after a day or two more to check the traps again. Right across the river there is a small elk trapped in one of the pit traps! Now here’s a challenge, the smoking house is a few days away from working.
Puttering on chores to organize Tuukka doesn’t feel right leaving the elk there. In the days needed it might get away and worse it is suffering. Tukka downs the beast. Checking on the leather-ing at Badger Landing it has a little bit of time left, after 2 mornings. If that works he can use this hide for fur.
That midnight he goes to the marked ant hill to once again offer silver. A rain begins to pelt down. Then, as if waiting for the rain to cloak him, bearded man appears. The spirit has come! His approach is as a gentle stranger peering at Tuukka through the rain.
“May your tracking be successful, your traps bountiful and your arrows accurate!”

<Tuukka meets gray man>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 21, 2020, 04:00:16 AM
Day 5 of the 9th week before winter season

The smoke house has been completed. Its quite narrow on the inside with the stone of the fireplace filling the east third of the interior. The stockpiles from Badger Landing have been moved here. The elk leathering had come off providing usable if rather battered leather and the other elk’s fur had been tanned. In the fireplace Tuukka lit a ceremonial fire with various local plants amid a large stock of woods.
Tuukka has kept having dreams about the meeting of the gray man and the sage who first told him of it. That would mean a rather rushed journey back to the islands he started on. There might just be enough time for that while the crops grow in.
While on the long trip, coming out of the great central inlet, Tuukka found the Reemilais village of Snoutcliff. The left over shelters from the trip in have aided in navigation and been the places where he could do a little work each time. A fine linen tunic decorated around the base and sleeve edges with red threads interests him. He trades the wooden shield he brought with him, boards he had made among the journey and his wooden shovel. At least he has decent looking clothing. Tuuka trades a cluster of just over a dozen arrows and carpentry works for a broad knife to aide in his hideworking. He spends an the rest of the day carving shovels but there isn’t much interest them.
Having broken the pattern Tuukka finds it hard to locate the shelters he made before at reasonable times. Well that leads to extra shelters dotting the southern coast.

Day 3 of the 7th week before winter season

After nearly two weeks of travel Tuukka arrives back at the Islander village of Aijo’s bottom. Finally after months away Tuukka and sage Torkel sit down on the grass to talk about the forest of the spirit. He also gets to visit his friend Kyotsi the woodsman, who had given Tuukka the fishing rod. Across the night they trade stories while Tuukka whittles a few things for them. After sleeping Tuukka begins what will be the one and half to two week trip home. Home at Hanging Rapids.


<Tuukka Torkel’s spell>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 21, 2020, 08:30:56 AM
The trip home is well handled. There is now a near doubling of pre-made shelters from is there-back-and-there-again journey. Tuukka indulges in some variation of course to see new sites. One is a cliff jutting out of the sea as if a remote being were raising its head from the sea. He made a shelter there to visit that spirit over night.
Groves and pastures discovered isolated or as the distant old fields of villages are searched. A harvest of nettle, flax and gatherings being to fill the punt. These once threshed should hopefully yield seeds for new fields. Both plants can be worked to make fabrics. The Kuamolais village of Perch Stream is one such place. Tuukka tells them of his adventures, the Nerjpez warcamp and his Island beginnings. One of those listening is Salme a housewife who visited Tuukka by his punt. Tuukka prepares for them two new tables for the village in exchange for seeds, turnips and roasted meats for the final leg of his journey.

Day 2 of the 5th week before winter season

Tuukka arrives at Hanging Rapids, to an elk running around his camp! The efforts to drive it into traps or pin against the river are unsuccessful. Still it was quite the homecoming! As if a consolation gift a grouse gets caught in one of the original camp traps.
Checking Badger Landing the an artic fox has gotten itself stuck in one of the traps. Up at the Hand Cliff fields no animals are trapped making the greatest achievement of how many turnips have come up. The broad beans need perhaps another month which they should hopefully get but only by a small margin. It is also a blessing that the natural blueberry shrubs are in season. Badger Landing’s cellar will be the collection location so that Tuukka doesn’t waste time going up and down the river more than needed. The lynx is still around reindeer are seen to the east.
Tracking the reindeer finds a calf with an adult, likely the mother. Tuukka won’t hunt those two so he looks if other reindeer are around. A few moments later a reindeer stag pushes out between the spruce. After a few minutes Tuukka declines further efforts to close to a shooting position.
A few days later returning with a shipment of turnips to Hanging Rapids a crash and chortling grunt signify that the elk has gone into one of the pit traps on its own. Now Tuukka will be able to smoke this meat! At short range three broad head arrows are shot in to bleed the elk to its journey through the black gate.
 
Day 7 of the 5th week before winter season

The elk is set to smoke aside from an immediate use stock of roasted meats. Tuukka is pleased he thought to put shutters on one wall to let light in when all the doors are closed. It also lets him manage the smoke and air better than with a door. As he finishes he looks out to see snow. The snow is coming.
Tuukka worries for the harvest but this is hopefully just the first dusting. The ground isn’t frozen just yet, but soon it will.
Another matter that concerns him is gathering clay and burning charcoal. These being related to other production tasks.
Paddling ends up being a daily routine due to the need to keep the smoking fires ongoing while gathering from the fields as crops ripen. A clay pit was dug by Badger Landing with an initial load of it brought in. It can be warmed up in the smoking house when it comes time to work it.

<Tuukka smoking elk 1>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 22, 2020, 09:22:19 AM
Day 4 of the 4th week before winter season

Across the river a small reindeer stag has been caught in a pit. This area is proving very productive. Its meat is soon smoking next to the elk taking the rest of the day to process the meat and tan the hide. The next day is a haul of turnips from the Hand Cliff fields. The turnip harvest is almost complete with the last plants verging on withering. As for broadbeans they need a couple of weeks yet seem hardy enough to keep growing for now. They remain a concern for Tuukka.
This is followed by a gentle wander gathering in the vast spruce forest and heathlands nearby. The heather flowers, those precious saviors are nearly all wilted away. Plenty of berries and other edible plants worth gathering. In the evening he takes his first taste of the shaman’s mushroom, naodi, for the amazing dreams he will have.
Its quite the dance of light. Dazzling light reflected through the shutter off waves as he tries to spark a fire to keep the smoking going. Chips of flint laughing with glee in their bursts of freedom. Tuukka staggers back onto the sleeping bunk he made. The furs on top of a spruce mat soften his landing. Giggles seep out as sleep takes him into the Real World.
Awakening he chugs river water to wash out the vomit taste in his mouth. Roast cuts bring in nutrition as he continues his routine of harvesting and readying for charcoal burn. A three-quarter ring of spruce with a majestic birch in the center is the new burn location. Winter winds shift a lot making control of the charcoaling difficult. This ring of spruce will serve as a block to dampen those winds.

Day 1 of the 3rd week before winter season

Tuuka starts his first charcoal burn. They should come near ready by the end of the week. The weather today is above freezing without rain so it seems a decent start. He’ll spend a day or two starting charcoal mounds as the broad beans need to ripen still. Once the third medium sized charcoal mound is going Tuukka decides to erect a clay kiln before the deep freezes come. This is put on the west edge of charcoal ring, to slightly dampen the entrance and benefit from the windshield.
Firings in the kiln are done. Tuukka smiles and laughs having to build a wooden tub to bring water here so he can make other containers. A amphora is first as a general container. Then a drinking set of two mugs and boiling kettle. Boiling draws out the medicinal nutrients of plants and is much lighter to carry a kettle. This is followed with a host of clay items.
With a wooden stake inner with branches as supports clay is kiln fired into a fish decoration. This Tuukka proudly hangs on the outside of the smoker-cabin, after all it was built by and home of a fisherman-boat-builder. A ceremonial clay figure is made to be given a home in the birch that over looks the clay and charcoal work area. A figure where the spirit could come into as a place to live. Tuukka also makes a cave playset on a whim which he models on the Piercetip cave. It will serve to remind him what to look for in later months or years.
Once the first charcoal mound is opened to reveal a completed pile Tuukka heads back to the Hand Cliff fields. The last few turnips have withered in that near weak away. He figures on around six hundred turnips in his stores which is far more than he would want to eat in one winter! This year had been rushed so he only planted the fast growing turnips. Next year there won’t be any where near this many turnips.
The broad beans appear to still be developing though Tuukka is nervous about them as always. The blueberries have also withered though perhaps in the forests the lingon berries are coming into season. With the smoked meat of an elk and reindeer plus the huge amount of turnips Tuukka knows that he has enough food. In addition Hanging Rapids was chosen for those rapids making it easy to fish through the winter as well.
Puttering around with casual exploration Tuukka learns the northern bilberries are also wilting. Walking back to Badger Landing a snake has been caught in a trap. Tuukka finds that to be rather odd. As he was pushing off he turned around to look back. A bull elk is right there on the shore! Of course it sees Tuukka in the punt and soon runs off. Tuukka watches where it goes pondering if he should make a suitable trap here. On return to Hanging Rapids the second charcoal mound is opened with the third being done soon.

<Tuukka made clay and charcoal>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 22, 2020, 09:32:10 AM
Tuukka’s Hanging Rapids layout:

D = Door
W = Wall
O = Wall with shutter window
S = Sleeping bunk
F = Fire place
+ = open space

WDODW
DS+FD
WDWDW

Mostly he goes in and out the doors on the west side lining up with that natural jetty of land. He does most of his tanning there with a long and rock put out for that purpose. He can see the preparing hides through the window.
The one space is used for fuel and cooking. Its hard to see things there so he steps onto often to check for anything he might have forgotten. 16 branches have been running the fireplace each time.
The sleeping space has a spruce mat fur (BAC mod item) as a layer on top of the wood boards. He stocks his furs and leather there for more snuggly warmth and knowing where they are.
There is one cellar outside holding numerous food items and things under the tool category like bones.
The 3/4 circle of spruce for his work zone is visible in the picture. The pinkish material is the clay and the kiln. Black is the stack of charcoal finishing preparing.
His punt is beached just west of the smoke house. This is the most frequent spot. It has been convenient for drag offloading heavy things and not having to fiddle with doors.
Hiding in the grey non-visibile areas south east of the smoke house is his sorting of woods by type like boards vs stakes and quality levels. Its far enough away that items aren’t unexpectedly pulled into recipes.
Farther east is the short trap fence with two pit traps and only a handful of fences. Mostly the trap fence works with the river and the trees.



<Tuukka’s Hanging Rapids layout>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 22, 2020, 04:27:30 PM
<Tuukka’s Hanging Rapids layout>>>

Day 2 of the 2nd week before winter season

Preparations for winter continuing. The broad beans are still growing. A pit trap has been placed at Badger Landing, what with the bull elk coming up near Tuukka a few times. A second is started there as well. That makes three places where pit traps are to be checked: Hanging rapids south side with the smokehouse; Hanging Rapids north side of the rapids and Badger Landing. A fourth if you head up to Hand Cliff fields but Tuukka is thinking of disarming those traps in the winter or maybe just leaving them out. Today also sees the first of the smoked elk being ready. Tuukka is now having a large collection of preserved meats to eat along that mound of turnips.
Tuukka will add small amounts of smoked elk to the turnips and herbs at the different regular camps. Those are emergency stores for him or any random lost traveler or questor, like he was, that might come across them.
When he wakes up at Badger Landing there in one of the two pit traps is the bull elk. It went into the first pit trap that was laid on top of its previous tracks. There is a great wisdom in watching the animals to learn their habits before placing traps.
 
<Tuukka caught bull elk 002>>>


Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 22, 2020, 05:45:09 PM
Seeking to preserve the hide Tuukka fires broad head arrows into the elk from close range. When it is down he stabs the neck for arteries with the hunting knife. The huge over six hundred pound beast is slowly, every so slowly, worked toward the shore. The hide is skinned and cleaned. The butchery is done. There wasn’t any real benefit to pushing it so far as Tuukka just had to butcher it anyway. The mighty load is floated in the punt back to Hanging Rapids where this load of meat starts to smoke. The hide of this beast came off well, with puncture wounds from the broad arrows and knife, making it well suited for crafting new clothes.
For now Tuukka celebrates by shaping the antlers into a hunting horn. Binding the two halves is fish glue left over from the bow making months ago. The sound it makes is quite fancy. A declaration to his time in the Unreal World. Later he makes a visit to the ant hill where he met the old man of the forest. A turnip is offered as a sacrifice giving the gift of agriculture to the wilds.
Before the ground freezes Tuuka has several possible chores. He decides to dig up birch roots, a few from each, in order to have simple cordage. There are numerous birches soon found near the Hanging Rapids smoke-cabin. A meal of smoked meat, turnip and berries fills his belly. As more meat is smoking he needs to keep coming back to the cabin to tend the fire. Spruce roots are also dug up then with a stone holding tension braided into a crude rope.
Using a bit of charcoal Tuukka puts down a possible list of chores on the cabin wall. These will be washed off as completed. The list includes:
= Make a forge
= Collect lake ore before it freezes over
= Smelt metal
= Make a metal shovel
= Bring in broad beans
= float in trees for firewood
= float in trees for building over the winter
= make skis
= dont let the punt get stuck in the ice
= harvest more clay before ground frozen
= harvest cordage before ground frozen
 
Tuukka looks at the list that stretches well up the wall. Well if really needed trees could be felled nearby. Tuukka decides to make a dip net as part of how to gather lake ore. He knows that one will bother him if he doesn’t do at least some iron scooping. He’ll also need a sesta, this is really a staff like object long enough to push on the bottom. In scooping it used to poke around and perhaps wedge things onto the net. While at the lake Tuukka can also dig up more clay from the pit east of Badger Landing.
While on the lake the first snow falls begin. The weather is just above freezing. Time is truly growing short. The scooping goes well. Quite likely no one has scooped this remote northern lake in years. It nearly doubles his stock of ores. The extra clay will see various uses. When he checked on the broad beans the first ones planted are almost ready for harvest. Two of the amphora have been placed at the fields for gathering.

<Tuukka pre-freeze chores>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 22, 2020, 11:03:16 PM

Day 6 of the last week before winter season.

The first of the broad bean harvest begins! The very first fistful is put out of the spirits. A pair of trees are towed by the punt back to the Hanging Rapids where amazingly another elk is caught in a pit! These rapids do seem to be one of those hereditary crossing points.

Day 3 of the 13th week before midwinter.

Its finally happened. A thin sheet of ice has formed blocking effective use of the punt. Just the night before Tuukka landed a shipment of tree trunks and other lumber from the Badger Landing lake. Now going to from there and fields will have to be by foot.
 The rapids are still flowing though so trees from the north side can be fetched over. Then there is felling trees on this side. Tuukka is wary of felling near the house and established traps. There is a wisdom in keeping where you live as natural as possible so that it blends in. Also if new paths are opened how the animals move may change and the point of the trap being placed on their tracks it leave them moving onto them.
At the fields Tuukka gathers more of the broad beans. As a test he fills up the seed bag he brought. The bag is almost full making him wondering how full the bag was when he came here.
Tuukka thinks on the tales of the winter-frenzy. He certainly feels it every time he wakes. There is only going to be so much time before ice thickens and snows deepen. There will be the skiing times of deep winter, which he has materials to make those skiis. Right now is the urgency for the last crops, berries, gathers and easily moved lumber. A sled might help in the winter, where you can slide it across the snows and ice easier than over muddy ground.

<Tuukka first winter frenzy>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 23, 2020, 07:31:49 AM
Among the building wishlist is to improve the cabin cycling out some of the board sections for proper walls. This is a bit problematic with the smoking going on. Hopefully the meat isn’t ruined. It would turn out a portion is but most is fine. Still there is hundreds of meat cuts in stock. He could probably already live on meat and turnips through the winter even without his excellent fishing skills.
A few days go by and Tuukka is gathering at the Hand Cliff fields. A second amphora is filled with broad beans. He is now pretty sure he has doubled his supply of broad beans. If the original bag was half fill than it is four to one. Tuukka really can’t remember which of the bags he bought months ago. He did eat a bit form that original bag and it was already 11 or 21 pounds. There is still stalks growing needing a bit more time so the ration is even better still. As he isn’t likely to come by again but once or twice more Tuukka deactivates the traps. It wouldn’t be kind to the animals to leave them to die slowly in a trap.

Day 5 of the 12th week before midwinter

Pretty colors dancing, leaping, singing with the spirits joyfully around the cabin. Out into the woods where the rain taps the world with pats of love. The third sample of naodi mushroom having lasted all way through his sleeping. Such a colorful world.

Day 1 of the 11th week before midsummer

Tuukka transfered to the north bank to reset the pit traps only to discover a rotting small reindeer. It must have been in there for a week. The work at expanding the cabin and fields had kept him away to long. He puts out a sacrifice in offering an apology. With the ice currently melted Tuukka punts the carcass down river to the south bank symbolizing it finally getting across in its journey. He now recalls a few nights ago hearing a grunt but didn’t see anything in the south bank traps. He promises in the future to check the north bank as well. The ceremonial fire is lit with rocks marking directions and a recently felled tree providing the fire.
Tuukka considers that with his plans to expand the cabin having a broad axe would be really helpful. Its shape is ideal for much of the work in making a cabin. He laughs realizing he almost spend the winter building the cabing then the broad axe! It really needs to be the other way around. He starts to work on building the bloomery and furnace for metalworking.
“Build a smoker to survive,” Tukka called out, “but build the axe before the cabin!”

Day 5 of the 11 week before midwinter

Tuukka checks the Hanging Rapids cellar to find over 500 smoked meat cuts and over 500 turnips. Though the fur would always be useful he decides for the time being to disarm the pit traps at Hanging Rapids. The sight of the small juvenile reindeer with its sad eyes rotting in a trap going to waste reminds me that hunting is also a responsibility. The ice starting to come across the river movement patterns will change anyway. He will make a trip to Badger Landing to disarm those traps. The field guards at Hand Cliff were already disarmed as the harvest was completing. He will leave around Badger Landing traps for predators, birds and scavengers that might otherwise threaten his cellar stores. As if on cue another grouse is caught next to the cellar. This is also to give Tuukka freedom to move about and work without having to daily restock a smoker fire.

Thinking of the work to be done in a forge Tuukka decides a partial shed would be good. One next to the water for easy quenching and refilling. An important reason is also that fire is also dangerous. An accident at a forge fire that is separate doesn’t endanger the main cabin. This is a bit of work.

Day 7 of the 10th week before winter

With the need for travel to the fields and traps relieved work seems to go at a fast pace. Smoke meat, turnips and berries make a decent diet with plenty of all in stock. Today Tukka delivered from a mountain amid the “Death Top” region to the west an anvil stone. Its been smoothed with a whetstone for a flat surface. Later he will make an iron anvil.
The stone anvil is placed under the roof of the new workshop. This open building has an eastern wall supporting a short over hang to keep him and work dry. Flowing rapids for easy water access flow past. The kiln has been brought over joining a bloomery and forge just outside the overhang so that their smoke can freely ascend. A roast of the various ores is started. Tuukka now recalls how greatly reduced the mass of the actual iron will be. Each ore lump is only partially of iron. It is bonded as rust to other mucks that will come off as useless slag.
While waiting for the roast to complete Tuukka is concerned by the coming and going of shore ice. It is time then to settle on making a sledwagon. He will be able to load material on it to drag along the ground. Now the whole forest is reasonable to harvest building trees from. The harness is made of leather from various birds and a portion of elk leather. Leather is so important to crafting Tuukka is glad he managed to dehair two elk hides into this resource.

<Tuukka ore roast and sledwagon>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 25, 2020, 05:06:37 AM
A cluster of trees was sledded in from south of the cabin. After the ore was roasted the bloomery was run for the first time. That in turn took making the bellows. The bellows Tuukka knew he would need leather for and begin his de-hairing of animals, some of which went rather wrong.
This is going to take a series of iron working to really make a good broad axe. A stone hammer for the stone anvil so they can be struck together. Ores roasted to remove easier impurities then run in a bloomery for an actual bloom separating the iron. Banging it to be wrought and then having iron the first of which should go into making an iron hammer that will work better than the stone hammer. Only then to consider whether to start on an iron anvil to replace the stone one or to start on the axe. The large axe will need a length of iron converted into steel for the cutting edge to be welded to iron for the weight and loops of the axe head. Then a shaft to drawn up.
Good thing he has such huge stocks of food! The rapids provide all the water he will need to drink or quench.
Before the 9th week before midwinter is over Tuukka has a flat iron hammer. He’s unsure on the iron anvil as he would need a lot of ore. This ore was gathered while travelling or in a rushed check of the lake. The amount of metal, around nine pounds, needed for the anvil would be so many other things. Perhaps later he will make the metal anvil. For now he wants the broad axe to better make the bigger cabin before deep winter comes.
While progressing through the smelting a bloom comes out looking particularly well. Tuukka’s eyes lock onto to it for several minutes. A shape is trying to speak to him. Fine tools make other works come out better. This wishes to be a hammer. With a better looking axe haft selected Tuukaa forms this into a ball hammer. Now its round shape will give him options is moving and bending metal that the flat iron hammer alone couldn’t do. This was finished in the evening of Day 1 of the 8th week before midwinter, in Dead month. It was then the fine ball hammer came to life. It was like it’s voice had told him what shape to become. Beside them the rapids spoke its babbling and crinkling tones of cracking winter ice.
For the next piece Tuukka choose to work toward a simple knife. It will be practice piece. One that later he might give back to the iron spirits to show his skill in caring for their gift.
Day 1 of the 7th week before midwinter has seen these two weeks of smelting and forging to in the early evening finish fitting his self-made broad axe. Its weight is well balanced, the edge gleams in the early evening moonlight and its voice calls to be put upon wood. Quickly one then a second trunk is hewn to cabin ready shape. The blade dives in and leaps out like a frog from leaping from lily pad to lily pad.

<Tuukka made broad axe>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 26, 2020, 12:03:40 AM
Day 2 of the 5th week before midwinter

Logging, sled hauling and building has seen the last times go by quickly. The new broad axe has done much of the work in shaping after the woodsman’s axe felled them. The expanded cabin will have a larger room several times the size of the narrow smoke house. While tree gathering it is finally today that Tuukka feels cold. His roughly made clothes of last winter with his fledgling skills starting to let in drafts. Soon he will use the more recent hides to make better clothes. For now its time to sled in three more trunks for the cabin.
A stack of boards was set to dry. They lay in the cabin extension area under its partial roof. They’ll need a month which is when the cabin should be done and furniture can be made.

Day 3 of the 3rd week before midwinter

What is that feeling? Its in his foot. Frostbite!

With only a few days left its finally so cold to give him frostbite through his busted up old clothes. This he can treat. It should be okay. It sure makes Tuukka’s heart leap. The deep winter is coming. His cabin is almost complete. Once again it is a race for life. The first year or two as a settler are so demanding.
“Death is like a wind twirling in the branches that could dance onto you unless you shelter properly.”
Well somebody may have said something like Tuukka thinks. Already the forest has provided. There is winter elk fur in his stores. He can make better boots with the thicker fur. With his new collection of tools a bear of boots then fresh fur wraps to go over top now guard his feet. Over the next days its quickly decided to make an overcoat of the winter elk to keep him warm. A hood and facemask for his head as well. As well as new mittens of the better material. Its all quite heavy yet he is walking mound of multiple layers of fur and leather. This used up almost all of that hide. He is basically wearing winter elk over rough elk over leather or linen. Tuukka laughs at how he must look quite the sight topped off with his wolf headdress staring back at anyone.
As the week closes on Day 7 of the 3rd week before midwinter the cabin expansion is done. The walls seal it in nicely with a door on the east and south. The south door opens to the cellar and the east toward the workshop. The north door goes into the connected smoker-cabin. There is still a need to fit a fireplace or sauna stove, a table, shelves and other furniture. Tuukka is personally pleased that this is done before the snows got to his knees. He’ll make skiis soon to search the hills and woods for stonework in the cabin.

<Tuukka cabin expansion>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 27, 2020, 06:19:19 AM
Day 1 of the 2nd week before midwinter

Tuukka has completed his skis and ski pole. Hare furs on smooth perfect boards formed the skis with lashings while bird leather was used for the strap and pusher on the ski stick. He lashes them on enjoying the feel and sound of gliding over the calf deep snow. Last winter he had suffered frost bite over and over in crude furs. Its amazing what a year of working has done for his skills.
Tuukka skiied south west to the Hallowin’ Cliffs where a mountain has loomed up in view these past months. Rather than wrestle his way up the gliding and pushing of skiing lets him move on the slopes in a whole new way. He makes two sorties gathering stones for the cabin construction. The weight of furs and furs he finds a burden on how many he can bring back. Still he is rather warm even though the temperature is below freezing.
Then sets to gathering from the forest a bit distant from the cabin. The necessary logging had opened up channels with the cabin on one end. Still the idea is to keep disturbance near your home to as little as possible. The natural spirit will be more at ease and tracking a little more difficult, if one didn’t just follow one of those logging paths. During one trip Tukka thought he saw motion to the south but was moving to fast to make out exactly what.
The next day Tuukka assembles the stones and rocks to make a more robust burning place as a sauna stove. This will let the smoking, when needed, be done in the back room that was the first cabin. The forward cabin has much more room and is pleasant to fill up with the steam. He then takes a wade into the icy rapids to suddenly cool his skin. As the cold gets intense he comes back into the humid cabin.
After that is setting more wood to dry on the outside of the cabin. In a month those new boards will be ready to try in furniture. Ones already started with the expansion was just a porch have a week to go. Like a farmer a furniture maker needs to plan projects in advance when to “harvest” ready materials.
Following that Tuukka enjoys time leisurely fishing on the jetty. Several fish are soon brought up. Chores no longer urgent can be seen too. The rest of the roasted ore is wrought with hammering at the workshop. Sinew from back straps converted to strings. Whittlings of this and that including a new figurine to sit on the table so that the spirits can join in for dinner.

Day 3 of the last week before winter

Tuukka was pleased waking in the moved sleeping bunk. Its now in the main large room. As his eyes creep open the table with cups, bowls and spirit figurine look back. There are supplies here and there. Spare tools are slid under the bed for easy finding. The sauva stove of the main room hasn’t been started in a few days yet thanks to his many layers Tuukka is comfortably warm.
A short journey is taken to covert a cluster of trees into a C shape. Maybe for future sorting or an animal pen or a place to chase animal. It soon gets gaps filled with fences and fence gate set in place. When the snow melts they’ll need adjustment but for now he could keep an animal here.
A short ski across the ice of the river. Its a nice visit to the north side traps, also deactivated, to gather stones as way of keeping the two sides spiritually in touch with each other.
Tuukka ponders what chores to do. He did collect a lot of nettles and planets that need threshing. A lot of the nettles should go into making clothing. He could also try deep winter ski hunting. Though exciting that is of course the most dangerous. A trip to the Piercetip cave is considered to take smoked meats and turnips as emergency foods but that is just setting up to be in an emergency in the midwinter.

Day 4 of the last week before winter

Now Tuuka is recalling the lessons of how to make clothing. With the rapids going water is plentiful. He sets half the nettles to soak. That is his guess on having enough to thresh or sort out any problems later. The flax likewise will be soaked. He had gathered more flax so two hundred pounds of it is about two-thirds of what he brought. This will take two weeks to soak. The flowing water makes Tuukka wonder if that is better or worse for it.
He’ll have to make other tools to process them, which the carpenter in him looks forward to. By the end of the day there is a distaff for wrapping threads and a spindle to spin then tighter together. A loom is made using lengths of braided birch-bark strips and a large host of rocks as weights. They quietly sit on the wall near the table as if conversing with the table’s spirit figurine.
The next day Tuukka takes a deep breath needing to be out of the cabin for a while. He skis to the Hallowin’ Cliff mountain sitting on its top enjoying the few for an hour. Then he skis a load of mountain stones to the cabin.
Enjoying time skiing he skis across to the east side of the weather. Pressing through the forest brings the vast mires into view. With how sparse the trees are he can see over a great deal of terrain for possible movement. There is another river running north south a half kilometer from his on. Off that river is much larger lake. This is actually going to be an interesting place to explore for ores come summer.
Another hour of skiing reveals that there is actually a huge lake with small islands nearby. On one of those islands he sets up a shelter for future exploration. He spends the night in it once he has laid a matting of spruce on the bottom to complement the spruce lean to.

<Tuukka made loom>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 28, 2020, 12:02:41 AM
Cabin puttering described Tuukka’s next few days. The winter solstice, darkest day, has past. Its now Day 5 of the 13th week before summer season. The first batch of drying boards was collected, sanded, pegged into sections then assembled as shelves. He leans the shelves up in the inside cabin making a useful sorting place. Soon it has a share of the various herbs, leaves and flowers for medicine or diet. A clump of turnips is stored just in case a blizzard or disaster overwhelms the cellar. Tukka finds himself puttering on assembling more cordage and braiding rope that can always be useful.
Since he has time to do simple chores Tuukka decides to reset the pit traps. He is now hoping to make a trade run to villages, including exploring to find new ones, while it is the easy to ski “travel” season. The frozen rivers and lakes no longer a barrier but an aid to rapid land travel. There should be trade goods as well as smoked meat for the trip. Tuukka fired up the forge to make iron broad arrow heads to be mounted in his own arrows. These are assembled with sinew fibers from elk backstraps securing his self-forged iron broad head on one end and goldeneye feathers on the other. Twirling each in his hand they have come out as fine as the ones he purchased. He thinks its time to use the regular arrows in archery practices. They dash along the travel lane cleared in the logging days. Arrows catch on branches on this side or that while others thud into the cabin walls. The cabin is acting as a backdrop to limit the search area for stray arrows. One arrow does break, its tip lodged deep in joint between cabin logs. The others are volleyed a few times before the short winter day comes to a close.
The rough nature of the bow certianly is affecting his name, at least that is what Tuukaa is telling himself. A pair of quarter logs are set up to dry properly. Maybe they will become a different type bows that will be more accurate.
Pondering which winter crafts will be next might soon see a bow. An axe is always good for trade and the Owl tribe’s surely could use it. In the dimming light of a forging day Tuukka held up a steel billet realizing how perfect it came out. Such a piece might be better used in a sword or armor.
He has a rethink of what to make coming to the conclusion he should make himself an iron shovel for the spring. Using one of the ideal perfect boards cut by the woodsmen Tuukka attaches a well made decent iron shovel head. The result looks like it would be a fine shovel for more pit traps and other digging works once the ground is no longer frozen. It did though take up even more of the dwindling stocks of on hand iron billets. The coal pile is down from four and half hundred pounds of dried charcoal to less than a third of it. The three mid-size burnings are proving enough for what he has yet it shows just how reasonable it would be for a full time black smith to need a charcoaler to keep them supplied. Tuukka works up a set of pliers but the lower quality of the rivet piece makes is a little floppy. Still having pliers as tongs is so much safer than burning one’s hands all the time. A rough small knife is made for the cabin’s dining table leaving just a single half-pound billet of wrought iron to decide on.
Something else is stopping the trade trip. The timing of the retting is coming up within two days, which is longer than the trip might take. Scheduling all the chores is a great challenge for those living on their own. In the time available Tuukka decides to make use of a failed clay pit west of the cabin to be another trap pit. He doesn’t have to dig that hole as its already there. He’ll just have to cover it and lay various fencing to guide an animal in. This fencing will also give more a sense of perimeter to the cabin. There is a trick to leave openings for animals to enter yet be forced to where the traps are yet also to have ways for him to move out. As well Tuukka puts fencing out at the nearby ford. Its not so useful now but later if he chases an elk eastward from the cabin it will come here and, when flowing, the river and fence will pin them for capture.

Day 7 of the 12th week before summer season

The retting, soaking the plants to release fibers, is complete. Taking off his overcoat and skiis Tuuka expects now to be cabin bound a little longer.  A light snow dances in the down in the gray winter morning that still awaits the kiss of the low angle dawn. With that pretty view outside Tuukka stacks hundreds of pounds of plants in the south east corner of the cabin in dry. That will take around a week so he does have the time for a village trip after this laborious chore. Its exhausting work with the table used to help keep things leaning to dry.

<Tuukka drying retted plants>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 28, 2020, 04:02:24 AM
There was a mistake that almost became dangerous. Tuukaa had gone out to work on the fencing a bit more working into the night. His fur overcoat was sitting on the bed. By the time he realized it he was numbingly cold as a north bluster brought chilling winds sapping his heat. Going inside the cabin the winter elk garment was quickly heaved on with a roaring fire started. Outside a hare had gone into a trap providing fresh meat for a change. These traps and fishing have let Tuukka vary his diet as the turnips are running low and the berries too.
Tuukka has decided on a trade good to make: wooden round shields. This will use his skill as a carpenter without needing his near exhausted supply of iron. If there is danger from Nerjpez warcamps the shields will better defend them.

Day 3 of the 11th week before midsummer

With a trio of shields as the main trade goods there is a few days between chores to travel. His sleep cycle is badly off so its an afternoon start. On the lake to the east there is the island with the shelter and that is where Tuukka sleeps on the first night.
On the next morning while using lakes and rivers Tuuka sees on the shores an elk. It looks like a lone female. The snows are thigh deep with Tuukka skiing on this pine mire that is so sparse that tree ambush hunting just won’t be possible. The best he can hope for is use the slopes to allow him to get a little closer.
Using the slopes Tuukka slips forward as quiet as he can. He can’t work the ski pole and use the bow at the same time. Seeing him the elk darts off a way but not very far. Tuukka skis down the slope then slinks up to rise. On the low side the elk’s cough makes him smile with a fast beating heart. Take a breath he loops the ski pole back to properly ready an arrow. Ski stepping he waddles up the ridge to see the elk just under ten man lengths away. With one of his own goldeneye broad heads he lets fly.
It cuts deep in the left hip. It seems to stick in the bone. Though no great flow of blood comes the elk’s left hind leg isn’t working right. Yet in manages a fast brief run. The two feet of snow makes tracking trivial.
Pursuit is now onto a broad slopeless flat. Struggling with the wound Tuukka gets up to a small spruce in a rudimentary hiding position. Two arrows miss and a brief chase resumes. Breathless the elk is easier to approach shooting it to fall over unconscious. A hunting knife stab to the neck artery finishes it. A search for the two misses comes up a loss. So easy for them to have skidded into the deep snow anywhere on the sparse mire.
The butchery is brutally long. There is so much meat and a wonderful new skin. Tuukka decides to turn back taking the supplies to the cabin. It is now a matter of new smoking, that often needs to be tended, allowing the trade of the already smoked meats. That though is after a long range return to haul in the rest of butchered meat. Thanks to the deep winter cold the meat will freeze rather than quickly rot in the summer. That was one reason this distant hunt can work, otherwise it would be just a hide.
On the way back he skis along into range of reindeer herd. It is his choice though to let the animal pass. There are at least seven good sized reindeer and two small calves. Tuukka lets them feed, graze and play. As he moves the herd is alert yet only moves a short way before settling back to calm. He continues on with the second load of meat to smoke. The fire has to be boosted and the hide treated more. So it will have to be that the third lead of fresh elk meat will be trade goods. The search for a new village is cut short and not found due to having to cycle back to the cabin. Instead Tuukka makes for the known village of Marry Trail.
He left two of the three shields and a wooden shovel behind. He arrives with eighty cuts of frozen elk meat and small whittling for trade. Its not enough for a winter reindeer fur though.
Surprisingly Ahkejuoksa the woodsman asks for all seven of his golden eye broad head arrows and two more beside. Tuukka blinks at the boldness. An exchange is agreed for knowledge, to bait a deadfall bear trap naked is best. Tuukaa wonders if this is a joke to freeze him in winter. Some how his wolf head dress is shaking to tell him that is not it. He already has such a trap disarmed at Badger’s Landing.
Other trading for the elk fetches a masterwork juniper bow. A water skin from a hunter will be handier than the stoppered wooden bowl Tuukka has been carrying. Sixteen arrows, a light trade item, is provided for the shield. Its a strange trade in a way but its how things go with bartering. Sometimes you get things to give to someone else later on. A night is spent with the nomadic Owls of Marry Trail trading stories as well.
In the morning the path now is south to the Hand Cliff fields and Badger Landing. This of course means this means the time set the deadfall bear trap and bait it naked. Ah Ahke, this better not be a joke! Still naked Tuuka gathers the stored smoked meats and other meat or fish baits so the bear should only go the deadfall trap. There was a bear here in the early days of landing. Being scared by it is why Tuukka had made the bear trap. Its then a river ski back to the Hanging Rapids.
Right away there is work to be done. That is the homesteader’s life. A trip means returning to over due work. The smoking fire is desperately past due. Then there is working the winter elf fur. This fur for now ends up on the bed as a blanket. Those where simple. Now comes processing the next stage in turning plants into garments. The table spirit looks forward in being freed of that burden. Then there is the whisper of the dried boards being ready for sanding. Yes, that little trip getting an elk and losing two arrows was his past-mid-winter adventure. Tuukka will be stuck near the cabin for some time again.
In a later evening Tuukka pulls a partial sheet of nettle fabric off the loom. This is cut and sewn for basic wraps for his feet and hands. One more thin layer adding one more bit of warmth. More importantly he can make some more to change over these if they get wet with sweat or snow. A few days along a portion of the huge haul of flax has been made into yarn, woven and fitted as linen privates wrap that are far more comfortable than that rough leather loin cloth!


<Tuukka made linen undies>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 28, 2020, 05:57:54 PM
A few simple days at the cabin followed. They felt restful. The stack of flax to continue work was still there. For these days Tuukka let himself be a simple trapper. A few birds around the cabin were caught with nothing in the bear trap he had danced naked in when baiting. Maybe that was just a joke after all or the bears just weren’t there. The smoked elk was turning out well. Another day should see it done. A bit more work on the flax then he could consider another trip away.

Day 5 of the 8th week before summer season

Tuukka departs on a trade trip south. He decides to use skiing season to explore new forests and cross new rivers to seek out new settlements among the Kaumo. Only a few hours later one is found to the south west hidden by the pockets of hills. It is “Point Summit”.
Point Summit is a small Kaumo village which keeps a herd of pigs. Interesting that he could bring trade goods here for fresh meat of that variety. There is an adventurer Korjus and a hunter Vaino. These might be a good person to hire later on.
There is also a maiden named Ilpotar. Tuukka asks her to come help with the flax but she declines. Tuukka hoping to see her in the future gifts her a row of smoked meats. They laugh that he really could do better. Taking out one of his own fine combs he puts it in her hand with a smile.
By the time he leaves the shields and the many smoke cuts are gone. He deliberately traded badly to in part be gifts. Both the woodsman and hunter have a wooden shield now. Tuukka has an winter arctic fox fur and a half bag of broad beans. Leaving south east a stead and the fields for a second stead are seen. Tuukka will visit these to chat.
At the stead of Hiisi’s Head there is work to be done. A hunter Isto needs a hand, which Tuukka agrees to a simple chore. Easily done for a winter hare fur. The other is Shetlerfront with several hunters in their family. Near them is a village. It can be amazing how in a short exploration you can find such different things. Also in Hiisi’e Head this village is prosperous enough to have bronze goods among their trade items. Tuuka will keep that in mind. Here is a sage Vainamo. They exchange a look that somehow knows they have each seen the Gray Man of the Forest. Pressing on Tuukka rests the night at the village he knew, Louhi’s Front. Louhi’s happens to have a mail coif and mail mittens for trade. Tuukka happily trades the Point Summit winter wolf fur for the mail mittens.

<Tuukka’s trade mission 001>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 29, 2020, 12:53:43 AM
Chores were being done. Most to deal with the dried retted flax. A few birds and a skiing trip to Badger Landing, reseting the bear trap naked once again. On the way back Tuukka met foreign traders, lacking furs he went home. They, and competitors, have been moving around these lands for winter furs. A few days later he decides to search for them to see if the most recent elk fur might be the bulk of a purchase.

That’s when he ran into robbers…

<Tuukka robbers Hallowin cliff>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 29, 2020, 11:59:03 PM
OOC:

In the beginning this was one of my writing excercises.


So first time I thought something was buggy but nope it was right. They can sprint run in the snow faster than Tuukka can ski.

Its looking like a roughed up fight is likely. The tests came out at ~ 70% wounds which sounds bad but with food in the cabin cellar and knowns sages reachable its likely just a long heal. The kicker for me the player was the likely loss of most of his tools. I, the player, am a bit stunned if thats what comes out. Its legit if it happens. Its a bit numbing to me though. 

Christmas is over and I might take a break before taking the recovery from this robbery. If I do I will write that one of the 'canon' event.

Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: JP_Finn on December 30, 2020, 07:14:27 PM
Robbers are the most annoying feature in the game for me. With group of ~6, with archers and they move faster than my character with 7km/h base speed.
Always get “start again from beginning and forget about doing anything progressive when skills have malus and all your clothes, armor and weapons were taken. And your dog(s) got killed”

I force quit when robbers are involved. Not worth the CPU cycles to zoom in.
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 31, 2020, 05:01:42 AM
Thank you for your view.

I may not have mentioned but I enjoy reading the occasional feedback or opinion on the writing of these characters. These characters have also lead to the series of "fast updates" of the BAC.

Each time I finish a writing section the the end comment such as <Tuukka robbers Hallowin cliff>>> is also the name of the zip file of the character directory. That means each posted story segment is a potential point to reverse-save to. While definitely not pure-rogue like it allows a restoration point to the story should a major problem or bug be encountered. At least once this frequent saving has helped Saami identify issues in the base game code.


 I am trying a few things with Tuukka's robbery and so far it is not going well.

I'm over some of the initial shock as the writer-player which surely would be more intense yet the character.

edit:
In one go I managed to back up and hide, swerving through various trees. Perhaps they were tracking me but  the one seemed to be on target with me.

edit 2:

What do you mean by malus on the skills? Is their a temporary skill penalty?


Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 31, 2020, 05:36:55 AM
^___^

I lamed one with an arrow into the calf and he STILL caught up to me!

Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: JP_Finn on December 31, 2020, 05:53:09 AM
Yes ‘malus’ is opposite of ‘bonus’. A malign effect.
Meeting with robbers ends up in malus every time as I don’t surrender my hard earned wealth away to ruffians.

But since fully given up hope of balanced robbers, I simply reload from an earlier backup than waste my time on even attempting to deal with “bump-in on Wilderness map robbers with zero evasion chance given these guys move skiless on snow faster than grandmaster can ski”
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 31, 2020, 06:28:39 AM

The two scruffy robbers snarled throwing their arms wide with weapons in hand. A gesture of intimidation that made Tuukka’s heart race. He spun pushing off on his skis. With two of them there is the risk they might get behind him. Swerving for a tight cluster of skis he turns to look.
One has a two handed woodsman’s axe and the other a bow. Both have other weapons and what appears to be a skramasaki foreign knife. Is this a foreign robber or a local robber who had some success. Both look cold lacking layers of clothes. Tuukka is double or triple layered giving him an advantage in armor.
Snow puffs as they run toward Tuukka. Run. They are running not skiing!

Tuukka switches out to the masterwork juniper bow and a fine broad head arrow, one traded for months ago. The robbers yell back and forth, Tuukka partially shielded by the bowman by a tree. The axeman insisting he shoot. The other complaining of the angle. Tuukka fires, the slash cleaving just behind the ankle of the axeman. He stumbles as the vital tendon as been cut. In truth it was sloppy shot which Tuukka had meant for higher.
Tuukka’s heart is pounding, the weight of gear weighing on him, the spirits of Leaper the broad axe screaming not to be taken by these foul men. Tuukka loads again, fires, and the woodsman’s turned to yell at the archer. The broad arrow cleaving the front flesh open on his throat, he falls dead.
The archer howls a foreign curse.
Tuukka turns and runs, praying the shield on his back will help him. His lips already turning dry from fear. He loops his ski stick on his arrow hand. Pushing hard he slips away to hide, then moments later breaks into a hard ski north.
The archer banding wailing at the corpse of his friend. The sound growing distant as the spruce and spirits swerve to hide Tuukka. A swirl of of snow-devil tornado dances over the path behind him.

Tuukka escapes.

(For the recored this was attempt number eight-ish, including discovering that the game allows lame robbers to run faster in deep snow than you.
I’ve decided for now to just stay away from the last robber, which also means the dead robber’s stuff and the two fine broad head arrows. A small price to pay for not being shmegged)

<Tuukka escapes robbers 001>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 31, 2020, 07:01:00 AM
In his fleeing Tuuka had gone north, recalling now he passed an ant hill. It looked like the one he had seen the Gray Man of the Forest at. Now he goes east. The adrenaline surge in his veins calming. The east wind blows upon his face making him look west.
He listens.
Skiing west he readies a bow as he closes on where the fight had been. There lays the slain robber. Of the other there is no sign.
Tuukka’s eyes strain as he leans his arrow then puts it away. In deed the man is dead. Lowering the bow as well Tuukka feels a sadness now. This man lays dead far from home. Alone beneath the stars, skies and spirits. This was how Tuukka had awoke, though breathing, on that distant island.
This man is barely over one hundred pounds, thinned by starvation. Shreds of once fine cloth hang around his wait and a Kuamo hood with tears is all the clothes his companion left him. Four cuts of roasted bird lay on the ground beside him. The man was had a story once. 
A wind rustles the leaves of tree tops. The meaning is clear to one who has seen the Gray Man. This was a living being who should be sent on to their Real World.
Tuukka assembles a trio of tree trunks as a spirit raft along with a slender trunk as a pole. Ceremonial rocks and stones are placed to brace the man’s head and torso as if reclining to sleep. Herbs and turnips are placed as a further offering of peace and healing for a spirit that was suffering before they met.
A branch fire is started that catches to ignite the pyre. As it burns Tuukka takes a meal of foods much like are in the pyre-goods. He waits a while to ensure the pyre burns bright. As the afternoon becomes evening Tuukka leave letting the spirit continue its journey in privacy.

<Tuukka robber pyre 001>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on December 31, 2020, 09:19:49 AM
Tuukka skied home having decided this was not the time to try again. Gentle actions taken at the cabin. Tanning a hide a little more, collecting roasted meats and thanking the spirits for their protection. In the night he woke nervous at sounds outside. Looking to the table the spirit of the figurine looked back with a calm smile. Tuukka went back to sleep. His next day was a calm working on the flax.
The next day he continues and onto the next. While spinning flax into yarn he spies a lynx through the window. This seems to be a visitor though perhaps it has come to stay in a trap. Tuukka takes it as a good sign.
On the next day he pokes out of the cabin. A grouse bird flies with wounds upon it. Was it the lynx?
Tuukka touches his hand to his chin stroking where a beard has started to grow. When did that start?
The wounded bird flying free from a battle with a dangerous visitor.
Yes, just as he had fled from the robbers. The animals are repeating the journey. Had he done into the Real World when he met the robber spirits? Or was the animals now showing the Real World here to the Unreal World. The bird flies higher. Tuukka turns back to this world.
A few more days of weaving sees the bulk of the flax turned into sheets of cloth. He kept spools of yarns and lose fibers of both flax and nettle. The yarns are good for sewing and the fibers for crafting. The lynx seems persistent in returning, perhaps a gift.
During one morning he sees the lynx on the ice, strikes it with an arrow and it flees. The lynx tracks are very mixed for it has been here for a few days. Perhaps it symbolizes the robbers. Tuukka sees no blood trail from the normal headed arrow strike. He does like that it may be suffering. Has it been driven off like the robber?

<Tuukka lynx shot escaped>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 02, 2021, 02:26:38 AM
Day 2 of the 5th week before summer season.

A fence enclosure close to the cabin is complete. That is where it doesn’t come to the flowing rapids nor the river ice. Most of the year this will be a way to have an inner compound. Various fence gates allow easy transfer at various places.
In the center north on the river bank is the cabin extended from the smoke house and thrust of land. East of that is the smithy, the south east is the outdoor stockpiles of wood, tree trunks, blocks, boards, rocks and stones. South is toward the charcoal ring and the two small animal pens, currently empty. West is fairly unused save that it gives easy skiing onto the river ice several lengths away from where the rapids break it up.
Crafting has seen the creation of several shields and a pair of longbows. Decent enough work to aid the hunters of the lands. 

Day 4 of the 5th week before summer season

The warming yet still frozen day finds Tuukka skiing to the north east. He is searching a possible Owl village. This would be the area he had been heading for when he brought down an unexpected winter elk. This time trade goods are shields and longbows.
Many are the lakes frozen over. The ice and snow make it possible to efficiently ski in straight lines of search patterns. Though there aren’t much if any hills there are many mires feeding these lakes. It would be possible, when the ice is gone, to scoop up lake ores in many places. Not as efficient as bogging but the spirits that form the lumps will have laid their eggs.
His search discovers the Owl-tribe villae of “Bowbog”. Wimme an adventurer shares a tale of another adventurer now here recovering. This tribe keeps reindeer with a few for sale. They stomp around in an enclosure outside the kuuta sheltering the wounded man. He speaks of a wolf attack, wanting a woodsman’s axe back at a spruce mire and pine mire.
Which Tuukka laughs, “Is about everywhere here!”

Searching the area Tuuka made a shelter of his own on an island in roughly the middle of the best guess. The next day he began scouting to try and figure this out. In the early evening he found wolf tracks, crossed by many other animals: ermine, fox and a few grouse. The criss crossing was making it hard to determine if this was the right place. The wolf was alone, prowling and growling, from a under ten man lengths away. Tuukka notched a broad head arrow.

Looking down the arrow Tuukka put his thoughts toward the wolf.

“I’m here for the man things that were left behind,” Tuukka said, “I do not know how he wronged you. I am not here to fight you. It is not my wish for us to fight. If I do not take them the stink of the bad man things will linger here. I will leave a sacrifice of respect to you. To apologies for the rest of mankind for whatever wrong was done.”

The wolf’s growl asserted its strength.

Then it started to trot away.

Tuukka took a deep breath. He returned the arrow to his quiver. Skiing on he searched the mix of trails. Making a shelter amid the spruce he slept nervous. Both the wolf and the warm rain were dangers. The warm rain meaning the snow then ice were melting.

Fox then ermine show themselves. Tuukka is tempted but keeps to his promise to the wolf. He will not hunt them. He is here for the bad man things left by the adventurer. The tale of the battle could mean the adventurer was paying for some bad deed. This is what Tuukka hopes. It does not mean the man is forever bad. He can be taught to respect the spirits. The spirits are also being seen that there are those, like Tuukka, who respect them.

On the next dawn  rains confound sight. It drains off his many furs. Onto the morning Tuukka has started back tracing the wolf tracks to now find a blood scrape. This is a few bow shots from where he first met the wolf. It must be close. More sets of trail markers are put out. This time 3-1-1-1 of spruce pointing to the blood scrape. Now if the rain melts the dried clots away he could still know where to center his search. A second blood scrape is found yet it is surrounded by fox tracks. Perhaps the fox was hunting? Or the fox spirit is playing its own game with Tuukka.

These two points give a line of movement but which way? Tuukka’s first guess is wrong. Able to return to his trail markers he goes the other way and finds the camp. There is the axe and very little else. Still this is a promise. As a sign to the spirits Tuukka dismantles the bad-man’s shelter then burns the materials.

<Tuukka found camp 001>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 02, 2021, 02:52:56 AM
On the way back a cluster of forest reindeer are seen. Perhaps a reward for having fulfilled his task. After efforts of maneuvering a shot is tried, missed and the arrow recovered across the open mire. Tuukka decides not to pursue. These could be spirit beasts and he was given a fair chance. The miss was his own doing.

The axe is returned to Ahkemiella. The survivor teaches Tuukka about sword fighting. The measuring of range and the slight twists of the wrist changing the blade’s path so much more. Tuukka in turn teaches him of making sacrifices, almost daily, of herbs or berries to show respect. Tuukka also explain how to better place his shelter to be less vulnerable to attack.

Among the villagers Tuukka provides split boards, mostly likely for firewood or sled repairs, plus the shields and longbows. In exchange they give him the leash to a big reindeer doe. Tuukka hopes this will be a good beast of burden when it comes to hauling ores in the spring. As the rain comes down Tuukka choses the name Relka for his new reindeer.

Staying the night in training and story telling with Ahkemiella feels most friendly. It is nice to share time with people. In the morning Tuukka desires to go home though will explore a different path. Relka proves a calm reliable follower, well trained by the Owl tribe at Bogbow.

A board is sited in the distance. It might be worth a hunt. Tuukka thinks he could carry the extra meat on Relka.

<Tuukka got Relka the big doe>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 02, 2021, 05:18:19 AM

Of course trying to sneak with a big reindeer doe isn’t so easy.

Tuukka laughs.

Coming homeward they pass through the Hand Cliff fields and by the Badger Landing bear trap, still empty. At the cabin Relka is coralled in one of the prepared fenced areas. Before going to sleep a reindeer figurine is carved and placed as a spirit-house in Relka’s coral. This will let Relka still be part of a herd and be protected. A stack of turnips is provided should Relka wish to eat of them.

The next morning the middle sized traps are moved to outside the fence perimeter. Once they had been to guard the cabin. Now they are to guard Relka. Being a carpenter a new wooden tub is fashioned. This becomes how rapid’s water will be provided into Relka’s coral. A thud is heard and a moved trap has caught a bird.

Over a few days the trees for a triple log bear trap are assembled and tied with a fresh rope. This is also near Relka’s pen. The ritual of naked baiting the bear trap is followed. Tuuka is wondering now that all his changes may well mean the pit traps will no longer have animals coming to them. Relka’s presence may actually help calm their fears. It could also be it is a seasonal path and it isn’t the season now.

As if to tease Tuukka the Badger Landing has old elk tracks passing by the pits. Tuukka doesn’t think he led Relka there. So the animals are coming back. Tuukka resets the traps here and at Hand Cliff’s fields. While circling the fields the elk itself is seen. It is quick into a dip then out somewhere. Tuukka skis after it. The chase this time is not productive.

Day 4 of the 4th week before summer season

Tuukka woke up in a panic. Warm rain was falling on his face where he had collapsed. Collapsed skiing on top of the river ice! The rain melting snow and ice! How the angry water spirits could have just reached up to him. Yet he had given sacrifice often to the waters, avoided wasting fish and thought well of the water. His heart was racing for minutes before it calmed down. He must not let himself fall asleep on the river ice. Ever! Even worse in the warming season!

Day 6 of the 4th week before summer season

After stocking fire wood at the Hand Cliff field Tuukka passes into Badger Landing. Finally the elk has put itself into the reset pit trap. A few broad head arrows at short range and the elk has passed away. The weather is still cold enough that on average it can be dried rather than smoked. After bringing in the hide and first load Tuukka brings Relka to pack carry the rest back. The hide, lacking the thicker winter coat, will be de-hair in hopes of better leather. Perhaps as backing for armor once he can gather lake ore again.

<Tuukka almost spring elk 002>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 02, 2021, 11:01:39 PM
Day 2 of the 3rd week before summer season

Today saw a preparation for spring planting. The long overdue threshing of plants for seeds. The biggest was a selection of flax, which means he could grow his own linen sources. As well a bit of rye though by now he had already traded for rye grains. The next day the reserve of nettle is committed to threshing, again for seeds. With the various traded for seeds there can be quite the diversity of crops.

The question is where?

The Hand Cliff fields will be used. The ash turned soil is good for years. Yet it is also quite a few hours away.

He enjoys the roasted pike for its different taste and different nutrients. His fur overcoat and clothing is slightly reduced with the warmer weather.

With the snow sill calf deep now is still a good time to use the sledwagon on its runners. Relka can now haul it making it possible to gather many trunks for charcoaling or prepping fields. A restful memory filled time of fishing brings in a pike to roast. Eating it recalls to Tuukka the times of his youth as a fisherman on the south west islands and coast.

Going street west a few archer lengths the spruce forest gives way to heathland. After scouting, loading wind felled trees on Relka’s sled and considering Tuukka makes his decision. The spruce forest is hard to see making inspection of the fields awkward. The heathland with its narrow pine is rather visible. Crops here would be easy to inspect. Other hills to the west could be used but they are nearing the distance from the cabin of the Hand Cliff field. This heathland would be a good place for fields, easy to find and far enough away to avoid stirring bad spirits.*

Relka might not understand the back and forth of the scouting with a loaded sled. She manages well enough. A shelter is raised as workers rest. Pockets for fields are selected for the minimum clearance. These felled trees will see their way back to the cabin for charcoal, carpentry or building. Later, when the snows are thinned, will fell trees for ashing the plots here. Staying out one then a second night work is progressing.
Then Tuukka wakes to a bawl shriek from Relka!
A lynx on top of Relka! Its claws and teeth already sunk in!
Tuukka had seen the tracks for the last few days but thought nothing of it. Relka is bloodied.
Tuuka rises roaring at the lynx. An axe swing and a second scare it off. Had it attacked when he was exhausted from logging they might have died.**

Doing what he can for Relka the two make their way back to the cabin. Relka can’t be risked for some time now.



(*: it is game issue of having too many stacks at once. Fields generate many of those. It is a gamers recommendation to make fields at least a few tiles away from your main homestead.

**: which sadly is exactly what happened. Rogue-like purists are again offered to stop reading as I reload the save.)


<Tuukka logging lynx>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 02, 2021, 11:59:26 PM
A spruce hiding squirrel gets the first of Tuukka’s venting. Several rock throws with no hits. This anger starts to pass. Perhaps best he didn’t strike the squirrel like this.

Now Tuukka realizes when he began the logging he had not done any sort of a sacrifice. Perhaps he had angered the spirits. Though the lynx had already been there. It probably hadn’t helped. If the lynx was already hungry from late winter a spirit might have warned Tuukka and chosen not to do so.

This was now his problem. The lynx was out there. Relka with her hurt shoulder was at risk. The predator traps farther out might catch the lynx if it went for the easy hanging meats. Now Tuukka puts on his fur overcoat back on. This isn’t for warmth but as extra armor. Frozen meats surplus at other traps are collected. Tuukka will also be setting lynx traps as he tries to hunt it.

Arriving back at the new “Death top” field the lynx tracks are immensely convoluted. The scouting for the most recent tracks also lead to spotting stones heavy enough for traps. A few rocks are collected for a tiny ritual circle with a turnip, Relka’s favorite food, placed as the offering. Setting them around the area of the attack amid the track Tuukka is growing in confidence the can deal with this lynx. The frozen meats are put in them as bait. An extra light lever is placed near others by the shelter. It is now that Tuukka is sure the tracks he is looking at are fresh.


<Tuukka avenging Relka>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 03, 2021, 01:13:28 AM
These tracks lead to a trap tilted down by the stone. Tuukka is hopeful. Then he sees the spray of black feathers and blood splattered on the snow. It was a black bird that had been caught. Then the lynx had come upon it to eat it. This though will be they lynx’s undoing. This trap was set just a short time ago. These are fresh tracks to follow. The lynx now well fed might take to nap. Napping means not moving. The bird carcass itself is put into a tree near a deadfall trap.

Alas the jumbled snow of lynx, bird, reindeer Relka and Tuukka’s skis is a jumbled mass of paths. He moves off in a new search patten. A spoke and hub search. Where like the wheels on a cart you go out on a spoke then search to left and/or right. South finds old lynx tracks and stones for traps. Then on another spoke he finds fresh lynx tracks. A minute later he has eyes on the lynx. It already has a trace of blood from a wound on one leg. Seems the bird had gotten a desperate peck in already.

Stalking gets off one arrow which is a miss. The lynx is quite cunning in its loops. After hours the trail loops back into itself then seems to never exit. How this was done Tuukka can not puzzle out. He wonders if the lynx will look at the trapped bird as enough of a gift or whether it will keep stalking this area, near the cabin, for food.

Tuukka resumes to felling trees. Felled now they can be collected once Relka has healed. For safety Tuukka sleeps in the prepared shelter with a guard trap. Into the afternoon the need for skis has become pointless. He truly hopes Relka will be able to haul while the ground is still frozen. While the sled does have wheel attachments for the warm seasons it is the slippery low-friction winter that is easiest to move heavy trunks.

He returned to sleep in the cabin’s safe wall. The numerous guardian spirits floating around their figurine homes. Awaking Tuukka inspects Relka. She is still too hurt to risk in pulling in the new trees. This will have to be Tuukka hauling the sled-wagon.
Pulling the sled he manages less than half what Relka can manage. This is still the best time. Though the snow is thinned the ground itself is still frozen. That is still helping the sled make its way under load.

Day 7 of the 3rd week before summer season

Finishing a tree fell around noon Tuukka looks about. Now there are bits of moss showing. The snows have receded enough to release them. The season of mud is now coming. This will be the last of the trunks sled hauled to the cabin. That will make nineteen by the charcoal area with four more in the production stores.
River ice is looking thinned. A punt trip across the rapids is done to check on the far shore pit traps. No change there. A long walk, as you can’t paddle up the ice, is taken to Badger Landing. A bird has been caught there. The Hand Cliff fields have no captures in the two pit traps and the few others that are set. The whole array will only go up once the seeding is done. At the cabin the elk hide de-hair into leather needs four more days with two and a half weeks for the drying elk meat.
The major chores looming ahead are:
= Turning ash into new fields
= Planting the existing fields
= Charcoaling many mounds

Then later he can see to seeking out ores.

<Tuuka planning 2nd spring>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 03, 2021, 08:39:11 AM
Day 2 of the 2nd week before summer season

At the new Deathtop fields to be Tuukka is slugging away splitting firewood with Leaper the fine broad axe. The ground is to frozen to ash yet. This is the stockpiling.

There is a yelp of perhaps a fox to the north. Did he set a trap that way?

There to the south west a reindeer calf wanders into view. Then a reindeer doe. It doesn’t look like a herd just yet. A mother and a calf. These are not for hunting. There is no desperation for his food and the calf needs the mother.

A few more days of prepping firewood should be more than enough for the first new fields. Getting into Swidden month it seems a time to try planting hemp and broad beans at Hand Cliff. There are already beans starting to poke up. Stray beans or ones that didn’t quite make last year’s harvest.

Tuukka is happy of three things. The lynx never came back, so the bird eating was the gift of food it needed. Relka is healing with one of the two wounds no longer showing. Her movements are still poor. The last is that in his previous metal work a true metal headed shovel had been birthed.

“Its the hot days of a farmer,” as they say. Burning and churning ash into soil. There are a few mishaps of extra trees burning down. All the more ash to fertilize the soil.

Tuukka becomes frustrated as it seems some of the broad bean sprouts have done. Eaten by the reindeer doe and calf perhaps? Or destroyed by early weather?

Meanwhile with a little blessing from the spirits the leather sheet is done.*

Farming work continues. Relka is healing well enough to walk normally though not yet to her full strength.



(* = I am quite tired of large leather sheets turning rotted even though getting frequent care. Maybe 1-2 nights were missed but it rotted out. I put a fix in the BAC to allow replacing it.)

<Tuukka more at second field>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 03, 2021, 12:56:02 PM

Day 5 of the last week before summer season

In the gentle early afternoon Tuukka passes by the pen. Relka is calmly sleeping. Her wounds have fully recovered. Tuukka lets her rest. She earned a rest hauling in after the attack. Soon there will be other work to do.

At the side of the cabin there is five to six days left for the meat to finish drying. At the new Deathtop fields they are expanded a bit more. Having seen the Hand Cliff broad beans sprouting Tuukka considers it likely that the wandering reindeer are eating his seed. He commits to installing trap pits and other means of guarding the fields.

With much regret it is the mother doe that is caught. She had indeed kept coming around the seedlings, which was her undoing once the trap pits were in the place. The young calf flees to fast to catch. Tuukka says a prayer for it wondering if it has learned enough to survive.

A kindness comes. After skinning, butchering and delivering the mother Tuukka returns to find the calf has gone in a bit. This was not his wish. He had wanted them to both leave to grow in the forest. Their insistence made this a necessity. The crops were being destroyed just as soon as they were planted.

One all the meats are roasted Tuukka loads them onto Relka along with the reindeer furs. Tuukka can’t stop himself feeling bad seeing the mother and calf fur. For a while they stayed on his bed pile. It feels like they need to go on to someplace else. As we have had the spring equinox the ice has left the river so he could for a punt. Instead with Relka this will be an overland trade mission. He will go south this time. It is only a few hours to the cluster of villages.

By days end Tuukka and Relka are back home. Two quivers of arrows, a bag of peas and a bag of barley are part of the trade. Tuukka is also thinking ahead in having obtained a rough woolen dress, hoping to cloth a wife in it some day. The spooky mother and calf furs are now with a village with a shaman. He said he would ensure they journeyed onward.

Now he suspects he needs to lay in even more fields for more diverse crops. Broad bean and hemp are started but the season needs to progress before others can be laid down.



<Tuukka woolen dress>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 04, 2021, 09:52:09 PM
Given the time of year the sap is again running in the barks. Now is also the season for collecting such barks as can be used in tanning. It is also the time for brich-bark. Rather then collecting thin strips Tuukka pulls tree lengths sheets off to load on Relka. Then the tree itself is converted into blocks. The bark and blocks are carried to the cabin to process later.
Relka grunted at finally having a long walk in the woods. The sled-wagon was left at home for this trip. It was testing Relka’s recovery. Tuukka was letting the ground dry before trying the sled’s wheels.

Then it is back to the near fields. The proximity to the cabin is nice. The need to weave the plots around the trees is a mixed blessing. Many trees are felled to later sled retrieval. A few extra trees are lost to spreading fires. So far no major fire disasters. Clearly that is something that could happen.

Day 6 of the 10th week before midsummer

Weeks of heavy work in the nearby Deathtop fields has two or three times the Hand Cliff fields now sown. A wide variety was planted. A wide mix of seed types were sown. A mix of traps including new pit traps are on guard.
Even turnips are now in. Tuukka always found turnips to be a thing associated with a poor season. As Islander fishermen-carpenters his family could often eat a protein rich sea diet. The turnip is though a decent nutrition that stores very well. This had been a big part of last winter’s diet. That had a lot to do with turnip’s fast growth making it ideal for late summer rushed fields. Tuukka could always lay mid summer fields for more turnips.
As stocks stand whatever is left can be considered edible. Well a bit for a bad season restart seed. There is a few clay amphora full of grains. He could have eaten those over the winter but wasn’t sure how much he would need to plant. Now he knows.
The fields were also producing meat. This by the catching of the animals coming to feed. Espically true now is the birds that seem to be migrating back. Perhaps a dozen in the last week or two. Tuuka didn’t even fully process them all. Though a little upset about that it was about the need to the work in time for crops to have a long growing season. The Hand Cliff and Badger Landing traps have also not been checked as often as they could.
Now with the major ash turning done he can turn to other pursuits. A few days on that over due trap work would be could. Lake ores need to be scooped. Then there is the time needed to do a large charcoal burn. Tuukka looks forward to traveling. For one day though he will simply stay at the cabin. That elk leather is turned into protection and Relka enjoys an extended grooming.

After that rest day Tuukka led Relka behind him as he punted along the river. They had no load this time. This was a training trip to see how well Relka managed. A hare and two birds were found among the Badger Landing and Hand Cliff traps. Tuukka smiled at the thickening stands of hemp and rising broad beans at Hand Cliff. These had been sown early on the ashed fields made last year. That year they had been a mix of broad beans and late turnips. Now they yield would be more to his taste. Tuukka looked at the large amount of hemp envisioning anchor ropes, boat caulking and perhaps more fine clothes for a wife.
From the nearby hills and mountains stones are collected for eventual transit to the Death top fields. These would be the weights to give energy to more traps. Relka has held up well making it much easier to transport the stones to the punt. There they will be punted back to the cabin.

<Tuukka year 2 post ashing trip>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 05, 2021, 06:29:10 AM
Tuukka next finds his wandering calling him. In his youth sailing the fishing boat fulfilled this. Here it is taking a couple days walking. His goal is to search for high ground draining right to a mire as this has the conditions for ore to form. Its not likely giving how heathland and lichenous forest adjoin the hills. Still it is fun. He even stumbled into another Kaumolais village “Foxstep”.

During these hiking days a freedom passes through his spirit. He is well established with food in stock, more growing, warm walls and forms of companions waiting for his return. That being Relka the big reindeer doe and the spirits in the numerous figurines. On the hike he sees elk, bear and even a reindeer herd easily within bow shot. He doesn’t try for them. This is what he is searching nor the spirits guiding him for.


Day 7 of the 9th week before midsummer

Finally he has found an ore mire! He had gone west sleeping out there. Then north sleeping out there. Then east then south. Days of exploring. Now he has found one of those rare gems. A tall cliff jutting with rust colored marbling. This drains into a mire. In that mire the metal has been pooled by their means into seeds to be pulled up. Latter he would learn this is the “Poleclimb” lakes.

To be certain in patrols the mire. A clever grin with warm blood fills him seeing a pool with rainbow coloring. This oily area is a sign of the hidden iron seed. Poking his metal shovel into the area it takes time but a thunk is felt. He pulls up… a rock. Then another and a few more. Finally the probing leads to heaving up a rusty ugly mass: cliff bog ore!

A sacrifice of thanks is made as an introduction. The route is long but with Relka quite a lot can be brought in. He’ll need to return to reset traps, patrol the fields, butcher any captured animals and only then prepare for the main ore trip.

Checking the cliff finds a superb medicinal plant of rose root growing. He had heard of it from the sages. This is first he’s found. It is edible as is. When boiled it lowers pain while restoring bodily functions from long term problems. Truly a wondrous healer!

Tuuka puts in a shelter, trail markers then gathers more cliff bog ores. Recalling ancient tale he throws his self made small knife into the water. This is a respect. A cycle of life with the bog for the ores he has and the many more he will collect. It is also showing the spirits his skills will treat well the iron they allow him to have.

 Heading back his navigation comes for a nearly due south to get back to Badger Landing. He has to sleep in the woods but perhaps if he had left at down instead after the ore hunting he might make it in a day. Traps are patrolled with one bird found.

At Hanging Rapids cabin Tuukka sends into the rapids the fire cliff bog ore he was giving. This is an invitation of the spirits to visit each other. The knife was forged here and this new ore comes from there. The two places are now linked. Going to that forge he puts down the other ores. Then Tuukka sets to work making a new small knife to carry. This uses the last of the winter’s wrought iron. Perhaps that too is closing a cycle of life.

In preparation Tuukka takes up branches weaving a new pack frame. This one is shaped for Relka to better balance loads on her. A wooden bowl for helping feed and water is put on as well. An overland travel pack for her.

As he goes to sleep he dreams of again visiting the spreads of ore mire circling the Poleclimb cliff.

<Tuukka found cliff bog ore>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 05, 2021, 06:45:10 AM
OOC:

These bog ores are a real life thing. Though described as spirits and gifts by Tuukka these do happen.

Finland has/had a lot of iron laden material coming up on the surface. This is going to be in iron oxides. Iron oxides being basically rust. This is ancient material turned into rock. Where it is pushed up as cliffs and mountains it is now exposed to rain.

The rain slowly erodes he rocks dropping the iron oxide as sand or pebbles. It flows down into the mires.

Within the mires are organisms like bacteria. Their processes want the oxygen and give off the iron. They give a lot of other things too. The critters breed making clusters in the mire. Thus the iron, mixed in with other gunk, forms in clumps.

It can take hours to find a bog ore. With a probe you stab around looking to hit something hard. Perhaps it will sound or feel differently if it is iron. I could imagine a lot of unwanted stones being turned up.

The bog iron you do find is in a very crude state. That’s where the other production steps take over.

For more research start with wikipedia at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron


<Tuukka on real life ore>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 06, 2021, 06:36:00 AM
Day 3 of the 8th week before midsummer

Tuukka leads Relka north on their mining adventure. As a gift Tuukka has made a wooden comb just for Relka. This is added to her travel bundle*. His own bundle includes lots of dried elk, a few turnips and weight of broad beans. Giving the expected farming he can use them freely as a foodstuff. After a week of soggy boggy poking and shoveling they make their way back. Relka has a heavy load that she bears up well. It should be enough for quite a lot of metal working. Of course comes the need for a huge collection of charcoal.

* : ooc I’m using the “discard” on them. The pack should make it easier to carry but really weighs down. That makes discard for Relka as a lumber pack frame, wooden bowl, comb and a collection of turnips.

<Tuukka many cliff ore 001>>>
Title: Re: [Brygun] Tuukka
Post by: Brygun on January 09, 2021, 07:40:01 AM
As Tuukka starts to split wood for charcoal once again an ancient voice speaks to him, “Build the axe first.”

He has enough ores now to use the remaining last year charcoal to make a splitting axe. Its always amazing how the weight of bog ores quickly reduces to just a few pounds of metal. Of there will be enough for the new axe. It will take more bogging and laking to have a surplus. He could get to so many more projects too.

Unfortunately the charcoal supply isnt enough to finish the needed tasks to make the splitting axe head. Charcoaling will take several days. Tuukka realizes that it would be good to check the fields and their traps first. Relka is brought along for hauling any hides or materials.
At the nearby Deathtop fields a small bull elk is roaming the edge of field. Knowing were the pit traps are Tuukka ties Relka to a tree in the center. Then he slips off the side to circle round. His goal is both to get into an archery position and to “drive hunt” the elk into a pit trap. Alas the drive fails. Still the elk has found the fields and will surely come back. It may soon step into a pit. The north fields and badger landing are fine. All crops are growing well though of course the risk of animal feeding is there.

A little work at the cabin with a good’s rest. A return to the Deathtop fields find the pit traps have done the job. The small bull elk has gone in after a tasty turnip. It wasn’t even roasted! Tuukka laughs. He’d love to eat roasted turnips. Its the uncooked one that he finds somehow just demeaning. The advantage of field traps is that the smoker cabin is quite close. The meat is soon smoking and the hide tanning. This does mean sixteen days of stocking the smoker. Well staying here for charcoaling is looking like a matching task.

Day 3 of the 5th week before midsummer, Fallow month

After being exhausted making a second charcoal mound Tuukka takes an easy day. Time is taken to wander around his fields reseting traps. As these are guard traps he hasn’t been doing daily resets. Its still good to tidy them up. His heart is pleased seeing the crops coming up. These fields will be good for a few years. Hearth, milkweeds and crowberries grow naturally on the Deathtop heathland. All of them a nice addition of edibles.
Tuukka does carve out stakes for fencing. These to better aim large game into the scattered pit traps. The time he can put in will divert in a few places. Really though the perimeter to be complete is huge.

Day 5 of the 5th week before midsummer, Fallow month

The first charcoal mound has finished its burn. The controlled burn has driven out the wood the moisture and a share of the non-combustibles risen away in smoke. Though there is less of it the remaining, the charcoal, has a higher energy density. More fire per unit of volume. This combined with bellows blown air creates the intense heat for iron working.
Tuukka has also been diligent in burning a block of wood or more in the smoker. The meat smoking should come out nicely.
Another two nights pass before he finishes fitting the head on his self made splitting axe. This completes his set of three long handled axes. The woodsman’s axe with its cleaving blade, the fine broad axe for long length for straight cutting and the splitting axe with its widening head force wood fibers apart. Tuukka gleefully spends the rest of they day sundering a tree trunk down into firewood for another charcoal mound.


Day 1 of the 3rd week before midsummer, Late Fallow month

The days speed by. Without the desperation of risky survival these are pleasant days. Today 150 smoked elk cuts completed their preservation. Placed into the cellar they continue to ensure a great surplus of food. Three large mounds worth of charcoal was added to workshop stocks. A new plot of ash turned land was made Deathtop. When cooled it will allow a midseason planting of turnips.
Small game and birds continue to be found in the field guard traps. Tuukka regrets the few that are rotted before he notices them but this is a hazard with having other jobs. In one case a rotted fox is burned into the ash and turned into the soil for a field. Its life energy reunited to the forest that way.
For future work quarter logs from three trees are now drying. These will become longbows for trade and arming the communities.

<Tuukka added turnip plot>>>