Chapter 1: Landfall

[Powderhorn]

Day 1, Early Morning

     Finally, after six weeks, land has been found, and the landing party departed.  Greenery abounds, and the climate, unsurprisingly, is the same as home in Kelmar.  Warm, damp, but not quite tropical.  The ocean stretches outwards behind you, while the greenery of the land stretches out in front.  It is unclear how far the island goes to the north or east, but the Fortune has gone south around and continued east, in search of more lands unknown.
     And so, you are now alone.  Strange sounding birds from the forest solidify just how foreign this land is.  Fifty people, give or take, set to survive, build, and perhaps even thrive, for a year.
     How will you start?

[matt_s]

Stavard, Carpenter's Mate

The sailor ran some of the fresh dirt through his fingers and sniffed it briefly. There was dirt on the ship, but not the wholesome sort you found in the unspoiled corners of the map like this island here. A hard journey had ended, and a new one had begun.

 

Well, this is it, I suppose. Time to make do with what we have and what we can scrounge. Nice enough place, it seems. First thing I suppose is get a sense of how things stand. You know, take an inventory of what and who we have with us, do a brief reconnoitering of the surrounding environs, get a rough idea of what the food and water situation looks like. You lot here seem to have level heads on your shoulders. I say we hop to it. I'd like to sleep under shelter tonight and have some food and fresh water while we're at it. Salt beef and hardtack keep one going but certainly lack for variety. Anyone up for a walk around? Or other ideas?

And with that, Stavard will look for volunteers to get a sense of the immediate surroundings or if anyone else has more inspired ideas.

 

 

 

[8w_gremlin]

Brother Koji 

Smiling Koji makes the sign of the Father "it is good to see land again" looking at the only other carpenter Stavard, he nods his ascent "Getting out bearings would be good, a small excursion up the coast to find a better more protective cove might be good, or a river mouth at least, that way we can send the long boat, up and get fresh water and better provisions that I have been providing" 

Koji had been set up a small ships shrine, which was custom, gave some of the sailors a place to worship when things got rough, and every morning he'd bless some freshly drawn sea water and transform the gallon barrel into Holy Wine*; the remarkable drink would fortify a person, so they would need neither food nor water for an entire day, and it would heal the aches and pains away.

"It would be good to scout north and see what we could find, but I suspect that the captain already has this underway. But you are right Stavard, we do need a good location to set up our landfall initial base. I am happy to lend a hand, in whatever needs doing"  with the two carpenters on board, Koji had set himself to other tasks, seemingly picking up anything he turned his hand too, currently he was surveying the land and making a map of the land fall. 

 

OOC, Mechanics

* I was committing two lots of effort to Transubstantiation each day for the journey. 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by 8w_gremlin (see edit history)

[TheWhitefire]

"God above, land at last!" McCuddy says as he stumbles off the ship, a few of the laborers behind him hauling the tents and cots for his make-shift clinic until he can get a proper clinic set up. Rather than taking too much time to look around, he quickly found a spot of level earth to begin establishing a base camp.

"Regardless of whatever else we do," He says to the carpenters, "We'll need to ensure we have somewhere safe and set up to operate out of. Tents for sleeping, fire for food and security and the such. The ship has left, so we have no shelter until we establish a base of operations. This area will do well enough for now, it's a natural port obviously, and I imagine we'll want to keep some people here to direct The Fortune back to us on its return trip, wouldn't you say? Yes, of course you would."

McCuddy grins, rubbing his gnarled hands together. "Ah sweet freedom. No debtors here!" He mutters under his breath.

[SirLoganofGilead]

Oliver took less than a second to be in awe of the new surroundings. He was certainly not the smartest man on the ship, but there were some things he was good at.  In this case, he had some idea of the order things should go.  He listened to the others and nodded, they basically had the right of it so far.  He drew his rifle, keeping it in a position it would be easy to fire thus fire.  "Security and shelter first.  We need to find a spot we think is safe, confirm its safety, and get ourselves sheltered. "  

He makes a bit of a face at McCuddy.  "I wouldn't want to stay here with a small group waiting for a ship.  Dangerous that is.  Smoke should signal The Fortune, as long as we don't move too far inland.  I think following the coast until we find that fresh water was a good idea."

Oliver moves closer to the treeline, giving it a quick glance for anything that might give him signs of life, human or wildlife.  

 

OOCI guess I should point out that is a notice roll. I will label them better in the future.

[Powderhorn]

Dungeon Master

Everything is so foreign here that it is impossible to tell what is and isn't a sign of wildlife.  However, some scuffmarks on a nearby tree at the very least indicates something else calls these woods home.

 

[8w_gremlin]

Koji

"It will take us a few days to get a semi decent shelter for us built, we have the tools and the ability, but water should be our first goal, and someplace more defendable. How about we head up the coast for half the morning or so, and see what we can see. " Koji nods over to Stavard. 

"I was thinking large huts*, if we can build it someplace close to, but not in flooding area of a river that would be best. Then farms and palisade to keep any wild animals at bay." he pulls out a large thin piece of animal hide, where he has drawn at the edge a place that marks were you beached. "We can map this as we find things"

Koji seems enthused and ready to go, his smiling face instilling eagerness amongst the others. 
 

OOC, Mechanics

Did they leave us a long boat, (a row boat), as using that to go up the coast would have been good. 

* two hovels, each worth 50 sp, so take a crafts person 2 days to make.
each one is 10' cube, but we need shelter for approx 60 people. So will need a few of these.
perhaps with bunk beds, and we could have 6 to a hut?

 

 

[SirLoganofGilead]

Oliver grunts a bit at Koji.  "You can't drink water if you are dead.  I think you are mistaking structure for shelter.  All we need is 10 rather large lean-tos.  Something that can keep us warm enough at night, put a roof over our head for both rest from the sun and rain, and help us defend from animal attacks."  He uses his fingers to make each of his next points.  As if he is counting on them.  "Shelter, Water, Fire, Food.  Those are tenets of survival in that order.  Now there are enough of us we may be able to get two done at a time..."

[TheWhitefire]

McCuddy nods his assent to Oliver's words. "Nothing permanent, not for now. But we need a place to plan, a place to cook, and a place to sleep. Certainly I agree this shouldn't be our permanent home, unless we happen upon a stream or other source of fresh water nearby. Though I still argue we should consider building a port here, in the long term. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go make sure these people know how to properly lay out my triage."  McCuddy then sets about directing the laborers where to place the cots so he can move between them easily, as well as packing away his surgeon kitLabelled as a "healer's bag," I figure it'd be more in keeping with the theme for it to be his surgery tools rather than a bag full of herbs and poultices. on a makeshift shelf.

OOC

So, here's what I figure.

I cannot imagine it would be as complex as building a full wooden structure, but I also think establishing this temporary field hospital is more complex than sticking some logs in the ground to build 10 feet of wooden palisade. So would a cost of about 20 or 25 silver for the labor and materials be appropriate? Or is this maybe something we assume that the ship would have just come with?

 

[matt_s]

Stavard, Carpenter's Mate

Stavard nodded along as his compatriots spoke.

Yes, obtaining safe shelter is our first priority, especially since I reckon we brought some provisions with us. Let's find someone who looks like they can count without resorting to their fingers and read without mouthing the words as they go - or as close as we can get to that lofty standard, har! - and have them take and record an inventory. Then, the lot of us can act as a reconnaissance party as the fancy officer folk would put it. 

 

Stavard then mingles with the disembarked crew and other colonists, trying to find a suitably competent and honest quartermaster. Please let me not be the hapless lubber roped into accounting duty, he thinks to himself...

 

 

 

[8w_gremlin]

Koji looks over at the gruffness of Olivers remarks "The good Father tells us that Air is the first, with out it you'll last but moments. with out Water you'll last about three days, Food seven, and you can huddle in the cold for weeks if you have too. and No I do not misconstrue." his smile never leaves his face 

"Whilst the good Father lets me transform salt water in to holy wine, I can only really keep 36 of us alive on it, so with out water, we'll die first." he looks over to the others "We will be well protected, when we make the shelter, or perhaps find caves, but let us search our surroundings"

Edited January 30, 2023 by 8w_gremlin (see edit history)

[SirLoganofGilead]

Oliver stares at Koji open-mouthed for a minute.  Arguing is not his strong suit, all he has is bluntness.  Most of the time he doesn't argue, but this happens to be a thing he knows about.  "You will die of hyperthermia during the night in what most people consider mild conditions without something stopping the ground from sucking the heat out of your body, the air from letting your heat escape.  If you want to 'huddle together' with 50 other corpses...be my guest."  He clicks his tongue for just a second.  "It's called the rule of 3's sir.  You can last 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter in harsh environments, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.  I admit it is not a harsh environment, but do you know how cold it gets here at night?  Do you know what creatures are the major predators and hunt people-sized things?."

He stops to take a breath more than anything.  "I promise when it comes to things I have no clue about, you can take the lead.  I would like to see everyone survive though.  Don't get me wrong, water is priority number two.  When it's time to find the water, I will even lead the search and dig irrigation...whatever you need.  The first thing though is we have a place to stay warm. Even on a mild summer night, I have seen folks die of the chillThe powder didn't answer my question quickly enough, but he is letting you know that even at 60 or 70 degrees people can die of exposure..  

Somewhere in the middle of his speech he stopped looking at the man and continued to scan the tree line for danger.  "Now which way up the coast do you think might have a better chance of both finding a good spot for shelter and having a water source, because that would be ideal."

[8w_gremlin]

Brother Koji

"Why do you think that I am not at skilled as you in this regard." it seemed strange to Koji that this man would make assumptions just based on what he looked like and said. He had spent many years travelling the wilderness, had had hardships, and had led people through such hardships in the past. 

"Why is it that you think I do not want everyone to survive, it seems ill thought out and rather lacking in intelligence. Of course I want everyone to not only survive but to thrive here."  He lets his shoulders fall, relaxing his body.

"I do not underestimate the importance of the things you say, the rule of 3 is well known to me as well, but your order seems to be at odds to my experience, and the situation we find ourselves in now. As too surviving the elements, we are not naked, we have camp fires, canvas, clothes, and warm bedding. We argue over whether shelter, or water is more important; and I'm sure the others do not care for this bickering. Perhaps it's best if you see to the protection and shelter, and I'll help the others find water and a good place to set up camp."  

Koji looks at directly at Oliver his eyes softening "I understand your concern, it is admirable, we both want what is best for all involved, and do not want to bring harm or jeopardise our beginnings. Creating shelter on a beach, as you know can be perilous, if you would be our protection and our guide as we look for a more defensible and perhaps more robust shelter on our way to finding water I would be grateful of your combat expertise" Koji looks down at Oliver's weaponry "Will you aid us, and protect us, perhaps train us in the coming months?"

[TheWhitefire]

"You sure talk a lot for a carpenter." McCuddy said to the young priest, before looking to Oliver. "I'd say north probably. I think the laborers have things handled here, I could join you--though I warn you, I'm not terribly skilled with firearms or bows. If you need to box, on the other hand, well." McCuddy gives Oliver a solid sock in the shoulder with a gnarled fist. "I'm your man."

[8w_gremlin]

Brother Koji

Smiles at Oliver, "it's the priest in me..."