Adventurer’s Wanted: A West-Marches Campaign

[Heidi]

5 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

What I was thinking of is using an equation in the cell, but just using numbers instead of referencing other cells. If you type in "=100+50", the cell will display 150. If you click on the cell, the equation bar (at the top of the spreadsheet) will display "=100+50". If you double click the cell (to edit it), you will see and be able to edit "=100+50" and add more numbers for the next day.

This is what I was planning on doing as well, but I’d much rather see the individual days, if it’s not to much effort / too noisy. 

[Heidi]

Heidi has been walking the mountain at a steady pace through the day. She sets down her pack and fetches out a flask of steaming tea that she pours into a cup that came from somewhere. She sips as she unrolls the thick woolen blanket and folds it into a large square that will serve as a zabuton for meditation.  She lays her grimoire and pen beside the blanket — she’s going to want to make notes of what she has seen and thought on the day’s hike, 240 steps upward. The pack itself she places face-down on the zabuton as a traveling zafu, and she sits upon it, facing West and watching the sunset color the sky.

 

The evening air is perfect. As she settles into modified lotus pose for meditation, she reflects that the day has been satisfying, a nice change that highlights how far she had gotten stuck into mindlessness headed towards despair. She thanks the Universe for the serendipitous job posting, and for the gumption to join. There is a sense of optimism for the coming days.

 

A chant comes forth, one she hasn’t sung in many years, and her heart is full as the words come: “lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu.” She repeats the ancient language a few times, feeling the sentiment swell inside her, then switching at the end to Common, for all the Universe to hear and understand the words that are both blessing and prayer: “May All Beings Everywhere Be Happy and Free.”
Namaste.

[Ranger Hal]

Rezka continues her mountain trek. She is pleased with the progress she made today.

 

Tuesday: 32 steps for going back to the car because I forgot my key card, 840 steps climbing the stairs in my office building (there are 20 stairs per floor which surprised me, seems like a lot), another 32 steps in the parking garage. Total of 904 steps.

[Heidi]

I finally remembered to actually count the steps in the various staircases I use, and I was shocked that the "short" one (the one I use most) is 15 steps, and the "long" one is 22 (it turns a corner twice). Okay, Universe. I'm still sticking wtih 12 steps per FitBit flight, since it measures overall elevation, and I'm glad I'm not overestimating anything.

 

The rising sun wakes Heidi from her slumber, and she fetches a flask from her pack. The cup materializes once again and she pours steaming tea, as though it had been made fresh just now. It's good to have wizard friends, she thinks to herself, grateful for the gift she had received before setting out on her journey. She sips, then stretches and gathers her thing and packs up her small campsite. The day's journey is calling her, and she sets off to climb, the rising sun on  her right.

[Artemis Prime]

Shava is pleased with how quickly her eyes adapt to the dark. She has forgotten the simple pleasure of wandering through a wood allowing the moonlight to be her guide. She reminds herself that this is not a simple stroll - there are spiders to be dealt with - but for now, it is nice to walk under the leaves with companions at her side.

 

Computer shut down at 9:30 last night and the phone banished to the corner. A nice chunk of reading done and a bit of last minute tidying. An excellent start.

[Sea-to-sky]

Not long after the inn empties of adventurers, there’s a stamping of boots outside before a figure shoulders it open. They lean against the door jamb, removing their left boot and shaking it, sending a scattering of  small pebbles across the door step before tugging it back on with a quiet curse. From her height and build shes is clearly human, but everything from her boots the braids in her chestnut hair is clearly dwarven  in style. As she turns to enter the left side of her face is revealed ,the runic tattoos that run in a dark row from hairline to chin standing vivid against her pail skin. The ink clearly, though out of place on a human, clearly marking her as a member of a dwarven clan. 
 

she trudges to the bar, taking a stool. “Ale,” she says, tossing a few coppers (or whatever the going rate for it is round here) onto the wood. “And any information on what jobs are going round here would be greatly appreciated”. The motion reveals another black rune tattooed on the back of her hand. The mark of a clan member with a particular skill (for anyone who can read it, it denotes her as an apprentice alchemist). 
 

Lifting her left hand from the bar she notices the mud smear left behind she sighs “hellfire. sorry for the mess. took a spill on the way up, blasted stuff gets everywhere” she pulls a rag from a pocket of her and wipes down her left wrist and the loose cuff of her heavy and clearly well worn coat, where the sleeve has clearly been liberally daubed with mud.
 

(After looking through the options she will choose the spider hunting and set out)

@Sovalis and anyone else

(if you would like to rp i always enjoy that, if not no worries)

 

No screens gives me a good excuse to get my book reading goal in before bed ?
 

Current challenge here

[Jarric]

Pouring over the texts, Guglug starts to get into his stride as the hours go by. Even the oddly-coloured owl seems somehow pleased with his progress, insofar as he can read its avian features. Much of the text is prosaic, detailing mundane goings on from a far-gone era, but the occasional gem of information shining through keeps attention wrapped. 

 

Managed 3/3 for daily goals again this morning, so that's good. Tomorrow's going to be tricky as I'm travelling for work, but I should be able to do some on my morning train.

[Heidi]

3 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Not long after the inn empties of adventurers, there’s a stamping of boots outside before a figure shoulders it open. They lean against the door jamb, removing their left boot and shaking it, sending a scattering of  small pebbles across the door step before tugging it back on with a quiet curse. From her height and build shes is clearly human, but everything from her boots the braids in her chestnut hair is clearly dwarven  in style. As she turns to enter the left side of her face is revealed ,the runic tattoos that run in a dark row from hairline to chin standing vivid against her pail skin. The ink clearly, though out of place on a human, clearly marking her as a member of a dwarven clan. 
 

she trudges to the bar, taking a stool. “Ale,” she says, tossing a few coppers (or whatever the going rate for it is round here) onto the wood. “And any information on what jobs are going round here would be greatly appreciated”. The motion reveals another black rune tattooed on the back of her hand. The mark of a clan member with a particular skill (for anyone who can read it, it denotes her as an apprentice alchemist). 
 

Lifting her left hand from the bar she notices the mud smear left behind she sighs “hellfire. sorry for the mess. took a spill on the way up, blasted stuff gets everywhere” she pulls a rag from a pocket of her and wipes down her left wrist and the loose cuff of her heavy and clearly well worn coat, where the sleeve has clearly been liberally daubed with mud.
 

(After looking through the options she will choose the spider hunting and set out)

@Sovalis and anyone else

(if you would like to rp i always enjoy that, if not no worries)

 

No screens gives me a good excuse to get my book reading goal in before bed ?
 

Current challenge here

Welcome, and shout out from the northern mountain (I'm on the Herb Gathering job).

 

39 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Pouring over the texts, Guglug starts to get into his stride as the hours go by. Even the oddly-coloured owl seems somehow pleased with his progress, insofar as he can read its avian features. Much of the text is prosaic, detailing mundane goings on from a far-gone era, but the occasional gem of information shining through keeps attention wrapped. 

 

Managed 3/3 for daily goals again this morning, so that's good. Tomorrow's going to be tricky as I'm travelling for work, but I should be able to do some on my morning train.

Woo HOO for goals!

[athousandwords]

Now that she's picked a direction, Evanna is determined as she sets out to the North Woods. She looks around and notices her companions have snuffed out their torches, and she follows suit. It's a long march through the moonlit woods, with little wisps of conversation occasionally emerging from the darkness. She feels buoyed by the companionship, and decides to trek through the woods longer and more purposefully than she would have on her own. But her eyes don't seem to be adjusting well to the moonlight - despite making extra circles around the area, she sees no sign of the spiders she's hunting for.

 

I took the challenge v seriously and decided to go screen-dark at around 9:15pm last night. I spent some time going through boxes of books I've been working on decluttering, listening to music, and managed to avoid the temptation to get back on my phone when I went upstairs to get ready for bed (seriously though, how do you brush your teeth without passing the time on your phone?? sigghhh). I went to bed around 10:15, clocking an hour of screen-free time for this challenge, set my phone far away on my nightstand so I wouldn't have any excuse to check it, and then... couldn't sleep. I was struck with probably the worst insomnia I've had in recent memory. An hour went by and I still. couldn't. sleep. I think I finally started to drifted off around 11:30, only for my 4 year old to crawl into bed with me and wake me up all over again. ?

 

 

Going to try a slightly less ambitious time of putting my phone away 15 min earlier than normal tonight.

 

[Elastigirl]

49 minutes ago, athousandwords said:

I was struck with probably the worst insomnia I've had in recent memory. An hour went by and I still. couldn't. sleep. I think I finally started to drifted off around 11:30, only for my 4 year old to crawl into bed with me and wake me up all over again. ?

I had insomnia last night too. Which I thought was totally unfair given that  I had  turned off all screens and started to wind down early.?Maybe we were too keyed up about hunting spiders.?

[Sea-to-sky]

despite being a bit behind the rest of the spider hunting group, another figure eventually catches up when they stop to make camp  . “Are you the group after spiders?” She asks whilst catching her breath “the barkeep, Avolen, sent me. Said they were looking for more hands. Im Kaja Stoneshaper” 

 

got 30mins in last night with a book before bed. Would have been longer but i got to an exciting part in my ebook and lost track of time ?. This Seems like a good  excuse to read vaguely adventury themed books so thinking of going through my shelves and finding a few.  Have legends and lattes sitting on my shelf at the moment. Anyone want to do a little book before bed club with me, that might be fun?

[Artemis Prime]

Got a full hour or screen free time before bed last night. Put my phone down to go take a shower, plugged it in when I got out of the shower, saw that I had a notification and...I walked away. Felt pretty darn good about that.

 

Already hit my 90 minutes for the week, which is good because I'm running Forbidden Lands online tomorrow night, so there will be screen time right up to (and really past) my bedtime.

 

 

[Ranger Hal]

After the big push yesterday, Rezka takes it a bit slower. There's still time to make it up the mountain before the weather turns.

 

Wednesday: 32 steps in the parking garage. As a fun side note, I'll hit exactly 1000 steps tomorrow (assuming I get a parking spot on the second floor instead of the third, but that's not uncommon for Fridays when fewer people come into the office).

 

@Sovalis @DarK_RaideR, is it okay if I edit the spreadsheet so that the totals will happen automatically if the box is checked in columns B, C, and D? If yes, would you like the totals to include Weeks 2-5 as well?

[Heidi]

16 hours ago, athousandwords said:

I was struck with probably the worst insomnia I've had in recent memory.

 

15 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

I had insomnia last night too

GAH, same, and this is the third night in a row, though it's been less each night.

And I'm not even fighting the spiders!

Solidarity, Spider-Hunters!

May we all have a long restful night's sleep, and soon.

 

44 minutes ago, Ranger Hal said:

After the big push yesterday, Rezka takes it a bit slower. There's still time to make it up the mountain before the weather turns.

 

Wednesday: 32 steps in the parking garage. As a fun side note, I'll hit exactly 1000 steps tomorrow (assuming I get a parking spot on the second floor instead of the third, but that's not uncommon for Fridays when fewer people come into the office).

 

@Sovalis @DarK_RaideR, is it okay if I edit the spreadsheet so that the totals will happen automatically if the box is checked in columns B, C, and D? If yes, would you like the totals to include Weeks 2-5 as well?

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I'm pretty sure they are going to say Yes (and possibly also Yes Please!)

 

Heidi stops for lunch and surveys her progress while the kettle heats up. Nearly 200 steps upward since this morning brings her very close to the goal for the week. This progress feels encouraging, as she knows she wants to wander around a bit in the coming days and make notes in her journal about the Mountain and its flora. She never mentions it, but she tries to set her goals in a way that they can be 100% achieved in 75-80% of the time allotted, given how chaotic life seems often to be. She thinks of the fellow adventurers she met at the inn, and hopes they are faring well. The tea is a blessing.

[Radost]

15 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Maybe we were too keyed up about hunting spiders

Ugh, this was me on Monday! Screens off and early lights out and two hours to fall asleep.  My spiders were a combination of PMS (insomnia seems to be a shiny new symptom! Hooray!) and rehearsal brain. Fun, intellectually stimulating stuff that gets my brain going totally feeds my soul but once that mode is turned on, it’s hard to turn off. When I used to host weekly Monday night board games, it was brutal. 
 

Wednesday was a lot better, even if I did put the phone away a half hour before bedtime and then got it back out absentmindedly while brushing my teeth. ?

[DarK_RaideR]

2 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

@Sovalis @DarK_RaideR, is it okay if I edit the spreadsheet so that the totals will happen automatically if the box is checked in columns B, C, and D? If yes, would you like the totals to include Weeks 2-5 as well?

Of course. It's a communal thing to help every participant with tracking. You're not stepping on our toes, we have the DM information elsewhere ?

[Ranger Hal]

36 minutes ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Of course. It's a communal thing to help every participant with tracking. You're not stepping on our toes, we have the DM information elsewhere ?

Sweet! I decided to go with only Week 1 totals because I don't know what we're tracking for other weeks yet and we could get all kinds of nonsense by trying to add steps, minutes, or other things you DMs decide to measure for the different weeks. Maybe the Total row becomes a Week 1 Total row, but that can wait until we see what next week brings us!

[Snarkyfishguts]

I think for spider-hunters, it may be best change your evening screen habits gradually if you're experiencing insomnia. You're essentially retraining your brain on recognizing sleepy-time. I hope you all sleep well tonight! ?

 

 A large brown bear stomps loudly up to our spider hunters. She has pink wired spectacles on her snout. She wears a wide brimmed hat, and a comfortable tunic and trousers for scurrying around the woods. On her back is a large pack that is stuffed with a fluffy pillow, snacks, books, and tea. She holds a large flip flop that has no mate to it. She looks at it and blushes, "For the spiders. I don't like touching them with my paws. I'm Ursina. Fun fact: Did you know that rabbits can see behind them without moving their heads? CAN YOU IMAGINE? Maybe I should've been a rabbit. No no.. Bears are good." She adjusts her spectacles and grins broadly at the group then leans in and whispers in a rumble heard for miles "Are we stopping for dinner soon?"

 

 

[Ranger Hal]

2 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

A large brown bear stomps loudly up to our spider hunters. She has pink wired spectacles on her snout. She wears a wide brimmed hat, and a comfortable tunic and trousers for scurrying around the woods. On her back is a large pack that is stuffed with a fluffy pillow, snacks, books, and tea. She holds a large flip flop that has no mate to it. She looks at it and blushes, "For the spiders. I don't like touching them with my paws. I'm Ursina. Fun fact: Did you know that rabbits can see behind them without moving their heads? CAN YOU IMAGINE? Maybe I should've been a rabbit. No no.. Bears are good." She adjusts her spectacles and grins broadly at the group then leans in and whispers in a rumble heard for miles "Are we stopping for dinner soon?"

Wooo! Another adventurer! Welcome! (Even though you're not with my group.)

[Snarkyfishguts]

4 minutes ago, Ranger Hal said:

Wooo! Another adventurer! Welcome! (Even though you're not with my group.)

yay! thanks! I’m not terribly practiced at this sort of thing but it looked like too much fun!

[Ranger Hal]

50 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

yay! thanks! I’m not terribly practiced at this sort of thing but it looked like too much fun!

Only one way to get better!

[Sovalis]

9 minutes ago, Ranger Hal said:

Only one way to get better!

Best advice!! ???

[DarK_RaideR]

10 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I think for spider-hunters, it may be best change your evening screen habits gradually if you're experiencing insomnia. You're essentially retraining your brain on recognizing sleepy-time. I hope you all sleep well tonight! ?

I had a similar thought reading about all those people having trouble to sleep. Them phones are like a pacifier for grown ups and it's a struggle to adapt when it's taken away ? If anything, it makes me feel like it was a good goal to pick for Week 1. Hope once everyone is past the rough part of the experience, they find themselves in a better state.

 

Thanks for the formulas on the spreadsheet @Ranger Hal! I also added a map for ease of reference, it will be updated as the surrounding area gets explored.

 

"Oh damn, I almost forgot!" Lukaas exclaims as he mindlessly slaps his own forehead when the thought pops into his head. "When you lot are done setting up your light sources, make sure you also have an empty flask, vial, jar, or other kind of container. Ellereth asked me to try and save up some of that morning dew off the spiderwebs. Said they're usually dry, but given the forest's humidity, we might find a few droplets. Must be some rare ingredient for his recipes, so let's make sure we don't waste any hard-to-get resources being reckless, yeah? Drink up!"

Friday random encounter for the Spider Hunting group! @Artemis Prime @Elastigirl @Radost @Sea-to-sky @athousandwords @Snarkyfishguts your bonus task till the end of the week is to hydrate better. Either make sure you drink at least 2L of water throughout a single day, or replace one of your other beverages (coffee, tea, alcohol, energy drink etc) with plain good old fashioned water.

[Sea-to-sky]

8 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

yay! thanks! I’m not terribly practiced at this sort of thing but it looked like too much fun!

Welcome to the chaos!

[Sea-to-sky]

Kaja flips open the worn leather bag messenger bag open to reveal all sorts of alchemical gear. Books and scrolls stick out amid the bottled and dried plant material, feathers, claws and bottles of brightly coloured liquids. “I have spare bottles  and vials if anyone need some”  she thrusts a hand into the  packed space, pulling several glass vials from an lined inner pocket of the bag. “ a the trip Seemed like a good excuse to collect ingredients anyway”

 

Another half an hour of no screen before bed. Not having the same issue as other with the struggling to sleep, but flicking from one book to another is not my usual reading style so am struggling to settle to one. Slept pretty well last night, though wether thats the no screen before bed thing or the more layers on bed (it is getting very chilly here at night) it is hard to say.