(053) Moonshine

[coffee]

"Dusk is when animals come to water to drink," Dieter muses, getting out his sling and bullets. "Olaf, what say you take up your bow and join me?"

he goes down near the stream(s), seeking out any sign of animal tracks while letting his eyes adjust to the darkening sky.

[flightcommander]

Armando will join Dieter and Olaf in some impromptu game hunting.

[waysoftheearth]

A camp-site is hastily chosen, and the hungry company half collapse there; all now lamenting the lack of supplies sorely.

Wen makes to establish something of a perimeter, while Olaf, Dieter and Armando summon the last vestiges of energy to attempt some game hunting, while Dorgan and Highbough do some gathering. The remainder variously sit or lay bemoaning their poor stomachs (particularly the hobbits), rubbing the feet and resting their weary bones...

[waysoftheearth]

The hungry hunting party set themselves widely apart along the length of a shallow gully divided by a trickling stream. The water isn't wide or deep enough for any substantial fishing, but they find a few animal markings at place along the muddy banks, so it is plausible they might get game here. They ready their respective missiles, and hide themselves in the grasses and low shrubs of the gully and wait... their stomachs rumbling painfully often.

They wait... and wait... and wait...

d6

[waysoftheearth]

Meanwhile, Dorgan gathers what small woods he can. The vegetation here about is low and twisted; little grows taller than the dwarf's waist. But even half-delirious with hunger a dwarf knows how to make a fire; Dorgan stoically gathers an armload of finger thick twigs, and also digs out a whole, dead spinifex shrub. It is dried and brittle, and probably dead at least a year; he reckons it should burn well. There don't look to be much to eat thou...

Somewhere else Highbough is squatting and burrowing in a muddy siding of a stream, overturning small rock and digging in the mud like some perverse ghoul. Occasionally he pulls up a cold, pale worm and gobbles it down hungrily, then eagerly resumes his foraging...

[waysoftheearth]

Dusk is waning and the hunting party are ready to despair when suddenly they catch their breath.

| Ref rolled a 6 on the last die so there will be a viable hunting opportunity; rolls to determine what animals will be about... |

A wild pig pushes its head out of the undergrowth, and tests the air suspiciously... sniffing for a long moment. When it deems the night satisfactorily safe, three piglets emerge to splash and drink while the pig watches.

| Who is nearest? 1-2=Dieter, 3-4=Olaf, 5-6=Armando. 1d6=3. It's Olaf. |

After a long, tense moment, Olaf reckons he has a clear shot. He draws back on his bow string, aims, and lets fly d20=13 his missile hits the pig! It's not a killing shot, but enough to maim; the pig squeals wildly causing the others to immediately scatter, but the hunters have eyes only for wounded swine. They give chase and soon bring the animal down.

It's a smallish animal, perhaps 2ft in length, but they don't care; it's dinner...

[coffee]

Success!

"Good shot!" Dieter says, clapping Olaf on the arm. "This will give us a better chance of making it back to town alive."

Then, together, the three of them butcher the pig (burying the guts in a hole away from the stream) and return triumphant to the camp.

[mushgnome]

With the others occupied in the long process of hunting, butchering, and roasting the pig, Highbough returns to the campsite, his stomach gurgling from the annelid delicacies. With Dorgan building a fire nearby, he would feel safe and sleepy. By getting to bed early, he intends to wake in the small hours to take his turn at watch and, should the night pass uneventfully, at first light he would study his spellbook and refresh his knowledge of yesterday's uncast spells (Trammel, Smaze, and Torrefaction).

[sully]

Dorgan says, "Well done, lads. Ain't no better tasting meal than one ya caught and cooked yerself, especially when yer this hungry."

Once the meal is finished, the dwarf will say, "I'll take first watch, and I can pick up third watch too, if'n the rest of ya are too tired. These dwarven bones gotta be good for something other'n building a fire."

[waysoftheearth]

By the time the foragers and hunters return to the camp site it is proper dusk.

Envongr's owl has fluttered off into the night, presumably to do some hunting of its own. But the dreary mood improves dramatically with the sight of the pig carcass. The company are so starved that they build up the fire mightily and can hardly wait for the animal's flesh to sear before tearing into it like ravenous wolves.

The eating is deliriously good, albeit incredibly brief. A good humour is restored, even to the blind Hobbits and to poor Dorgon, whose bare feet are so badly blistered and raw with cuts and abrasions that he doesn't know how he's going to continue tomorrow.

Talk begins to turn to the very real possibility of returning to Ket, rather than the glum possibility of not making it back...

| Plans for the evening..? Will Dorgan really take two watches? |