G.U.T.S.™ * M.A.R.S.™ * Hexes Nexus™ * Players * Chronicle
Previous * Next

00006 - The river is wide...

Day 3, awakening

The next day everyone assembled at endekks' portal. Not much was said about it, but everyone noticed that they had all again arrived within a few minutes of each other.

Everyone was stiff, sore, and uncomfortable, and everyone needed to use the latrine. After some discussion of that subject, it was decided that they should continue with the schema Frank had started, and to schedule at least two latrine intervals each day. Everyone went to Frank's portal. Everyone still had very loose stool, but they had grown accustomed to dealing with that. Two groups of four each made relatively quick work of the their latrine requirements, but the overall effort still consumed about an hour.

endekks' Port - awakening + about 1 hour

Tyler said he was up next as the backup person for endekks, since he was the only one not yet to go on a 2 person exploration. Jody agreed that was a correct count, but then pointed out that Tyler's portal was next. During the previous discussions it had been suggested that nobody should go out twice in a row. He suggested that Tyler sit this one out so he could lead the next expedition. Tyler said that was Ok with him. He didn't care much when his turns came, as long as it was all the same for everybody in the end.

Jody volunteered to accompany endekks on his outing. That seemed OK to everyone else.

Endekks & Jody each grabbed a club from the collection, and stepped through the portal. They arrived on the summit of a central rise on small island at the juncture of three very large rivers. The island was irregulary shaped, approximately 100 yards N-S at its 'tallest' points, and 250 yards E-W at its widest. The summit of the island, where the portal opened, was a flat surface of solid rock, 30'N-S by 20'E-W, about 20' above river level. At the edges of the plateau, the rock begins to slope dowward in all direction, but the surface was irregular.

A wide westward flowing river and a wider eastward flowing river came together at opposite ends of the island, joining into a still wider southward flowing river. The narrowest of the three rivers appeared about 1/2 mile wide as it approached the juncture. The southward flowing river may have be a mile or more across. It was difficult to judge distances. Everything seemed immense and out of scale. The rivers coming in on either side, and the river flowing out to the south were all moving rapidly, and acrrying a lot of debris.

There was movement on all banks of the river, large herds of animals at the rivers' edges and on the gently sloping land around the rivers. The distance made it impossible to discern any individuals in the herds. or to be sure of any specific type of anmal. Horses, camels, antelope, bison, deer, auroch? It was hard to be sure. Four legged and a lot of them. That was the one thing you could be sure was correct. Beyond the creatures at the banks? Plains of grasses and even more animals to the southeast and southwest. A forest to the north.

The two made their way to the northern edge of the island. It was the shortest distance, and they figured the currents would not be as dangerous there. The footing was uncertain as soon as they stepped from the rocks, The ground was not firm, and their feet sometimes sank deeply into the mud. One or the other always had his footing, so they made it to the waters edge.

They came to a shallow area of mud and rocks at the center of the northern shore. They noticed a dozen sea birds which were stalking prey in the small shallows. When endekks & Jody approached, they flew off. Moving carefully into the region where the birds had been searching, they saw dozens of crayfish moving about in the shifting waters. Jody remarked that he really wants to figure out how to start a fire... and something in which to cook. Endekks says he loves cajun cooking!

Endekks and Jody stand in place for a bit, observing the water closely for any signs of life. The current is subdued in the area directly north of the island. It moves eastward, but very slowly. They see fish. They both think that perhaps they have also seen something larger to the northwest, but they cannot see its size or shape.

The shoreline to the north of the rivers is about 1/4 mile to the north of the shore of the island. The rocky shallows extends in the correct direction, so they decide to see how far it will take them. They estimate that they can travel 100 feet before the depth starts to fall off. They retreat to the summit.

They investigate the island more thoroughly. They discover some animal carcasses, mostly intact though partially decomposed, just below the surface in multiple areas. Upon exposing them, the smell nauseates both the men. They both decide that the carcasses smell too bad to be useful as food, so they cover them up again.

They decide that this place will be great for fishing, especially since it even has its own bait store. They return through the portal, and report their findings.

G.U.T.S.™ * M.A.R.S.™ * Hexes Nexus™ * Players * Chronicle
Previous * Next