Topic: [Brygun] Tuukka  (Read 26956 times)


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>>>>

Brygun

« Reply #1 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
« Last Edit: April 27, 2023, 05:57:32 PM by Brygun »

Brygun

« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2020, 07:10:43 AM »
reserved

Brygun

« Reply #3 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #4 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #5 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #6 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.

Brygun

« Reply #7 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #8 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #9 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #10 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>>>
« Last Edit: December 08, 2020, 09:36:03 AM by Brygun »

Brygun

« Reply #11 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #12 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #13 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>>>

Brygun

« Reply #14 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>>>

 

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