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I Forge Iron

Game 2, the "Iron Fjord"


Frosty

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not so much, dose sound like a couple of space blanket flags out were ships can see them are in order. One each way, so either way one is flashy and the other orange. I think flags at better than banners in this case. Be great to set a signal fire by night but I don't think we can manage the man power right now, given better tools we can build self feeding fires or Swedish candles. 

Somthing better than a sharp stick would be nice, and as Clinton is for all intense and perpeses stuck at camp ( lots of things need doing  and I don't think the 72 hour rule applies) any way I guess Clinton is the guinie pig for the muscles, he will try 1, and only one, he can try another type tomarrow. 

"Ok, I know y'all are doing the heavy lifting but I think pair of flags rigged so that one is always flashin' and one is always orange would be good set out facing the sea. Not a great signal but it's better than nothing" poking a bit of last nights porky in mouth. And washing it down with some of Aaron's tea. " looks like it's time to try a run ant that wreck and see if you can snag us some tools, I know you boys have been combing the beach already but that looks to be the big prize. Rope, tools, heck just a solid peice of anything would be good." I'll see about making the lodge more varmet and weather resistant" 

 

 

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First up is to finish the lodge, beds and hearth. The space blankets are a valuable commodity, so the tarps and tube tents are better used for the lodge skin. As I understand it their were both the good space ballets with grommets and the thin ones. The thin ones are what will work for the smoke liner  as they will radiate back the fires heat (small fire) and conserve the good ones for personal use. 

Next step is to start rising on cross members so the exterior can be thatched with the pole slash (evergreen bows from cutting the poles) 

not getting crazy and trying for the top but as high as can be safely managed.  Cutting sod with the servival knife dosnt look like fun, so I hope the boys find some nice steel...

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Max has some lunch and tea then volunteers to go check out the wreckage and mount the flags and whatever else he can do to get attention. Whose going with me? Maybe we should make it a bigger team effort I case there's some good salvage. 

What about instead of a bow you make an atlatl? Can use the spear by hand or for distance and power. Early man used them for a long time with success.

I was going to volunteer to be the guineapig for the muscles but wouldn't help to be on the trail with the runs if we find anything good at the wreckage. What's the tide chart say? 

Max also Is contemplating how to rescue that boat out off the shore. 

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Problem with primitive missiles, they take a lot more practice to become proficient than modern weapons, this the cross bow was outlawed by the church (instead of a few archers who had practiced after church from boyhood, on could feild cross bow men with a fortnights traning and punch holes in Knights), and later the match lock, flint lock, precision cap and finally the cartridge fire arm serplanted the bow. Brandon has experiance with a bow, and Clinton, tho rusty has experiance with a sling. Not poo pooing Max's Idea, just pointing out one needs to learn how to make one and use one (I never figured out the stone weight but I have used one on rabits as a teen. The learning curve for close range bunny sized targets isn't that bad, then again I used everything from rocks to rifles...) but a sharp stick vs a bear and a sharp stick at 10 yards and a bear... 10 yards sounds a lot better as long as your standing behind Roman style sharpend stakes. 

Come to think of it harvesting sod and digging a moat with stakes around the lodge sounds real good....

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I believe the stone weight was basically a counter weight and for stability and follow through. Don't quote me on that. Good point tho. No time for practice. Been many years since I messed with one.  I'm not horrible with a bow myself.  Well in whatever free time while waiting for the party to gather I'll sharpen some pikes. 

Hopefully we can find something good in the wreckage. If we come across a wolverine I'd like something better then a club or a sharpened stick. 

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well never put down getting small game with a good old throwing stick. depends on your pitching arm but for me it's better chances then with a rock. 

dont worry we will be looking for Anything useful in the wreckage. could really use a machete or an axe around here.

Clinton, need me to find you some big leaves if that mussel ends up being out of season? haha     hope you end up alright. I love mussels. if only there was some butter.

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Ben will go along with the group. What are you going to do? Whatever weapons you make you'll have to practice to have a chance of hitting anything. Even archers will need to get used to whatever bow you might be able to fashion.

You probably have enough meat to last a couple days good eating. Aaron says burn the guts and food scraps, burying it is a waste of time, bears love to dig and they can smell like a blood hound.

Next segment will be say 1300 to 1600 give or take.

Frostig Den Arbitus.

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well roll the die on my success making an atlatl if you like. I like the things. feathers are better but with some pitch and bark fins can be made. haha. no loss if we have time to practice as you say. tho Max wonders about the tide chart and when we are heading to recover some wreckage.

 

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Big enugh spiked dead fall and we can have bear... 

Come to think of it a tilt up spike trap bated with guts might get that badger on steroids, lol. 

Clinton will spend part of the lunch get together on a sling, ten minutes not work and a bit more than an arm span of that para cord in the servival pack will se it done. 

How big are those servival Knives any way? 

"Boys, remember those flashing beacons? Might want to leave one out by the signal flags come dusk, and see if you can't float one of those radio becons out on the next outbound tide." 

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Max: You were just down on the shore and the tide was going out. The edge of the cliff is a 5 minute walk, go look. Asking the GM silly questions can be bad for your health.

Make an atlatl and some darts. Since when do you need a die roll to carve a notch in a stick? Oh wait, you asked for one.:o  The dice say it takes you 4 hours 20 minutes to make an atlatl. 13 on a 3,d6 averaged. I'll roll to see how long it takes to make each dart later. (two gaming points Das: #1, It's a bad idea to ask for a die roll unless you really need something, say you might save with a lucky roll. As much as possible avoid rolls unless it's a can't hurt,might help roll.  #2, I don't share roll results with players I just thought you'd be wondering about a roll including hours and minutes. I rolled 3, 6 dice for 13 divided by 3 = 4 1/3. I'm sure Charles will explain how rolling dice works, modifiers, averages or not, etc. I have 3, dice in a covered ceramic rammiken so they bounce around and I just give it a shake for a roll.)

The survival knives aren't anything fancy, sort of a K-bar knockoff. 6.5" stainless blade, 11" overall, not a lot of belly but heavy with a saw blade back. Compass (spinning whacko crazy) cap on a hollow handle with stick matches. Plastic sheath with stone in flap pocket. Not high end enough to have a sharpener in the sheath or a built in fire starter. $50.00 knife. Not junk but not high end. There are 3 of them.

One of you was able to hold onto your Leatherman in the wreck. There are pocket knives for everyone.

The noon meeting has lasted 2:30, it's 14:30 and you're still talking.

Frostig Den Arbitus.

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Brandon considers everything that has been said and done and reviews the days counting back from the wreck. “How many days was the overall trip scheduled for?”  Looking at the timeline they had three options for help coming so far. A: one of the distress beacons and/or radio messages was received as the ship was destroyed on that first eventful night. B: They Missed a Scheduled call in and a search team would be sent to where they were “supposed to be” and realise they weren’t there. After that chances are coast guard would be called in. or C: They were stuck here until the trip was scheduled to be over and, when they didn’t show up back at port, a team goes looking.

That brought him down to the current moment. Judging by how the electronics and compasses were working they had a little bit of information. They were standing on either a giant magnet, or a solid island of Iron infused rock. Brandon made a note to watch the cliffs and check for rust run off out of the ground water.

The traps will be good until the evening when they can be checked again and reset.

Brandon makes preparations to go down to the beach with the others. He cuts an 8 foot springy pole to take with him. While the others head to the wreck he was going to check the rocks closer to the tide line to see if any equipment or supplies got jammed. The pole was so that he had a chance if he started to get bogged in the sand and muck. Anyone want to help him out with it?

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7 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

So we have 3 spear points, push come to shove. (Tho I had read it as 7 packs, 7 knives but beggars can't be choosers)

"Might want to get a move on, Boys. Least if you want to get anything productive accomplished with minimal risk"  

7 packs total, 4 were med packs only scalpel / exacto size blades in those.

While everybody's talking Ben takes the bucket to the shore and gets fresh water for Clinton and brings back a couple more kelp stalks with the sea water.

 

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"The dice say it takes you 4 hours 20 minutes to make an atlatl." Lol well last time I was whittling I stuck the wood carving knife through 2 of my fingers cutting the tendon in one. Better to be slow and careful when there isn't a hospital around. Besides Max is making it in his spare time .

 

 

 

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Look what I started, now I have to roll to save against stabbing himself every time Max handles something sharp or pointy. <sigh>

Even worse news Max. Aaron rolls over and it turns out he's laying on one emergency pack that had the other 4 knives in it. Now even Max has a big sharp pointy survival knife to carry around!

Ben tells you the tide is still going out when he got the bucket of water and there's enough rocks to get close to the wreck. He leaves the sea water and kelp with Clinton, grabs a line and pole.

The group Ben, Brandon, Bruno and Max head to the shore following the path brushed by Ben and Max earlier. The water has receded significantly and there is a boulder strand extending to a point almost under the top of the mast of the boat wreck. It's back is broken she's laying in two barely connected pieces. She lays across three house sized rocks under the waves. There is relatively deep water between the hull and the barely above water point the group is exploring.

The waves are washing the rocks where you're standing but not strongly enough to wash you off into deeper water. The waves in the deeper water are turbulent as they are breaking over submerged rocks.

On the walk out you discover the material between the boulders is mostly sandy gravel and no amount of poking or pumping with your feet liquifies it. The mast is a good 15' above your heads and in pretty rough shape. There is a bent and twisted ladder running from the top to the deck though as it gets close to the deck it looks barely hanging on. There is a large block hanging from a broken boom just down from the light head of the mast. The block is rusty and there is some cable still strung through it. There are a couple various shackles and such hardware remaining.

Of the boat itself you can't see much you're looking straight at the top, like you were on a bridge as it sailed under you. She's firmly jammed between the rocks or she'd have been ground to pieces and gone under long ago. You don't find anything to salvage on the point it's washed clean with every tide.

Looking at his note book Ben estimates the tide to be at or close to slack it'll start to turn soon.

You've been exploring the point and wreck about an hour now, it's 1600 sun is getting low you THINK you have an hour before it goes behind the mountains.

What do you do?

Frostig Den Arbitus.

 

 

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(Sorry Frostig,and thanks for taking my turn)

I say we take anything light and useful we can lay hands on,and anything that you can retrieve using knives rocks etc;and we get headed home.we can try to figure out how to cut the(i assume its steel cable on the block)tomorrow.The only other thought in Brunos' mind is "we need better tools"

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(no problem, I'll keep characters in the game at least till I think they're abandoned)

Okay, by now you've made it back to camp without any significant salvage though you did gather some kelp and shell fish, a lucky grab got a crab.

Sundown of Day 3.

What do you do till bed time? Dusk conditions last a long time here you have more than an hour till it starts getting too dark to see what you're doing or might be watching you.

Play it boys!

 

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At this point the lodge should be squared away, barring sodding the sides if we are stuck here when the weather turns. 

between the trap line and the fishing crew (you boys are setting spring/traut lines and building tidal traps?) calories are in hand, we still need to adress signaling (did you boys make any signals? Flashy/orange flags, light becon set out at dusk? Float some of the radio becons?) the next priority is to make camp safer, being that we know we have black bear, potentially a wolverine, and the possibility of brown bear. I'm only half joking about cutting a trench and piling the tailings up against the lodge and planting bear and wolverine sized spikes. 

As neither I or Clinton thaught to much about the iron deposits, I will leave exploring that to Brandon. 

Now then, being stuck "camp siting" armed with a sling and a knife tied to a stick, is not as fun as clambering around a ship wreck Clinton is ready to "interrogate" the intrepid explorers! 

 

 

 

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Once they get back Brandon has no issues explaining what they found at the ship wreck. After that and hearing what everyone else has to say Brandon decides to help getting the camp defended. Last thing they needed was a hungry bear looking for an easy meal and smelling fresh meat on the fire. The trench and stakes was a good place to start

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"Camp hygene is probably the best defense against bears, setting up the cooking fire and hanging the meat and other food a hundred yards a way was the best Defence I could think of, but having one tearing up the lodge either wile we sleep or with Aaron in it would be a suck I don't want to embrace." Clinton says to Brandon wile they are showing the other guys how to manufacture digging sticks from a sturdy branch, by cutting it and it's crotch from a tree (makes a wooden hoe). "Other than the knives and wire saws, we can't even rise to the Stone Age on this rock"

hey, Jerry, how thick is that steel plate the guys found the first night? Is it 3/16 or thicker?

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Bruno is not feeling to well,he is sure its nothing major but decides his day will be best spent around camp and asks Clinton on which project he should work?Bruno explains he would like to help in any way he can but is not 100% today and awaits instruction.Maybe Clinton can go stretch his legs and Bruno will keep an eye on camp for half a day?

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See my previous post for what's visible at the ship wreck. The closest you can get is to the top of the mast where it hangs about 15' above the spit at low tide. A quick look shows a little rigging on the mast, large block with a little cable in it. Some shackles, eye bolts, etc. and the battered remains of light mounts. There is a battered ladder leading close to the deck behind what remains of the house.

N-O-B-O-D-Y said what they were looking at or for. N-O-B-O-D-Y  spent time searching the point. N-O-B-O-D-Y  walked up the shoreline either direction. Other than a little sea weed and a GM gift of one crab you guys came back empty handed.

You guys are playing this WAY too passively. You guys MUST tell me in ADVANCE what you are going to DO or your actions are zero. Unless you're responding to a direct question from ME, ELIMINATE "I DID" from your vocabulary. Speaking in the past tense is saying you didn't do anything. I've been playing you like Non Player Characters, (NPCs) If I was dealing cards would I have to play your hands?

Come on guys,I HAD to pack you off to look at the ONLY source of ANYTHING but rocks and limbs you know of. Not ONE of you took advantage of that GIMME move. Did ANYBODY say something like, "I'm looking at the hardware on the mast from every angle, maybe count it, see how it's attached, maybe what it'll take to get some of it?" ANYBODY? Did ANYBODY say, "I''m going to comb the beach?" NOPE nobody did, so you CAN NOT find anything you just plain didn't look.

I know it's a week end and everybody's busy but SHEESH! We've been 3 real time days playing 2/3 of one game day and night fell Saturday. This evening somebody says he'll share what he found at the boat wreck. I just repeated what's visible. Someone else is feeling poorly and offering to watch camp for Clinton. When, tonight?  The GM calls the game time and I do it in large ORANGE type. Right now game time it's nightfall Day 3 and I've been waiting a LONG time for anybody but Clinton to DO SOMETHING.

Clinton is busting his butt suggesting things to DO and you guys are wandering around hoping for . . . what, a quick death?

These games are a LOT of fun but you gotta play. I've asked this before haven't ANY OF YOU played games like "cowboys and indians?" Maybe "Indiana Jones and the X?" "World of Warcraft" LARP even, when you were kids? This is a better game as a board game but we used to sit around a camp fire and play without dice, notebooks, maps, etc. The DM would have the player draw straws for die rolls.

Come on guys start making up a story.

Clinton takes a close look at the piece of steel, it's not really plate, more like heavy sheet. It could be heavily rusted thin sheet but maybe 12 ga. and mild, a little heat a rock and a pair of logs and you could hammer it into a wok. 

Frostig Den Arbitus

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