Adventurer’s Wanted: A West-Marches Campaign

[Artemis Prime]

Shava buries her head in her pack to dig out her flask, using the time to hide her surprise over the talking bear. Who wants to be a bunny? Is this a person stuck in a Polymorph spell? Should she offer to help? Not that magic is really her thing. She surreptitiously eyes the rest of her party, none of whom seem overly surprised by a talking bear.  Perhaps this is normal around here. She drinks deeply and continues on. The torches are squared away, and it's time to collect some dew. That she can handle.

 

Another good 50 minutes of screen-free time last night. 2 liters should be pretty doable for me, sometimes I let my water consumption slip, but when I remember to be intentional about it, it's usually not a problem.

[Sea-to-sky]

1 hour ago, Artemis Prime said:

2 liters should be pretty doable for me, sometimes I let my water consumption slip, but when I remember to be intentional about it, it's usually not a problem

Know what you mean. I tend to forget i need to drink if i get distracted. 

[Sea-to-sky]

17 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?"

 

kaja Offers the bear a empty vial, seeming pretty unfazed “so how do they manage it if they dont use their ears? ..the rabbits i mean.”

[Heidi]

6 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

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.

I really love this gamification of Hydrate, you fools!

 

Heidi rests on a fallen tree on the mountain slope and amires the view. 1000 steps up, maybe a little more, and the air feels different, cleaner somehow. Mountains always call to her, and the view down into the valley is beautiful.

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

2 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Shava buries her head in her pack to dig out her flask, using the time to hide her surprise over the talking bear. Who wants to be a bunny? Is this a person stuck in a Polymorph spell? Should she offer to help? Not that magic is really her thing. She surreptitiously eyes the rest of her party, none of whom seem overly surprised by a talking bear.  Perhaps this is normal around here. She drinks deeply and continues on. The torches are squared away, and it's time to collect some dew. That she can handle.

 

Another good 50 minutes of screen-free time last night. 2 liters should be pretty doable for me, sometimes I let my water consumption slip, but when I remember to be intentional about it, it's usually not a problem.

Ursina peers over her glasses at Shava. “Being a bear is a lot of fun. I highly recommend it. Would you like some tea? I brought enough for everyone. I think I may have some ginger biscuits too.”   She rubs her paws together and her fur glows slightly as she heats up the pot. She winks at Shava. “Maybe SOME magic is involved.” 

 

1 hour ago, Sea-to-sky said:

kaja Offers the bear a empty vial, seeming pretty unfazed “so how do they manage it if they dont use their ears? ..the rabbits i mean.”

Ursina beams at the offered vial. “Thank you very much, this is lovely! As to rabbits, I’m not sure how they manage seeing.. I think their eyes must be spaced apart enough that they can see back there. Seems kind of useful actually, but I bet they don’t sleep as well as bears do. Would you like a ginger cookie? Or biscuit. I only burnt them a little.” 

 

 

I turned off my screens 30 minutes before bed last night. I listened to a sleepy meditation from the Balance app beforehand. I spent some time journaling about the day and made a to-do list for today.  I like the addition of drinking more water, that’s something I could use more of in my life, and I’m appreciative of the extra incentive here. 

[Sea-to-sky]

39 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Ursina beams at the offered vial. “Thank you very much, this is lovely! As to rabbits, I’m not sure how they manage seeing.. I think their eyes must be spaced apart enough that they can see back there. Seems kind of useful actually, but I bet they don’t sleep as well as bears do. Would you like a ginger cookie? Or biscuit. I only burnt them a little

“Sounds headache inducing” Kaja replies. “ a biscuit would be lovely thank you” she removes her pack from her back. “I have some herbal teas and dried fruit in here if anyone is interested” 

[Artemis Prime]

 

One liter down!

[Ranger Hal]

1 hour ago, Heidi said:

Heidi rests on a fallen tree on the mountain slope and amires the view. 1000 steps up, maybe a little more, and the air feels different, cleaner somehow. Mountains always call to her, and the view down into the valley is beautiful.

Nice work! You made it!

 

@DarK_RaideR @titsworth, how's it going? Do you have big plans for the weekend?

[Artemis Prime]

Space for tracking random encounter goal added to the spreadsheet.

 

ETA: While I was playing around, I did some conditional formatting to color code column E based on which party people are in, but sometimes I get a little carried away once I start fiddling with spreadsheets, so if it's easier to not have so much color going on, I can switch it back.

[Radost]

Radost repeats her new companions’ names seriously, weightily. “Evanna. Kaja. Shava. Grewynn. Ursina. Oh, tea! Thank you kindly!” She pulls a heavy ceramic mug out of its fabric nest deep in her pack, followed by a soft golden-brown waterskin with an intricate green design, a little faded from wear, painted on it. She jets the last few ounces of water into her mouth and starts trying to build a scaffold of twigs to hold the waterskin at the base of a worryingly thick anchor strand leading up, up, up into a nearby tree where the mass of an old web is just visible. “If we set our vessels at the bases of these strands, maybe we can gently shake the dew down the line. And I have tea leaves for the next pot, thanks so much for sharing, Ursina!”

 

Water challenge will be a bit tricky for me, but I think I can do it! Twice through my water bottle and an extra glass at dinner should do it. 

[Elastigirl]

Walking silently through the forest, keeping an eye out for spiders, Grewynn senses are suddenly an alert as her ears detect  a loud rumbling in the distance.  Her body on alert, she turns to the sounds, and sees a bear  ( in clothes) running toward them. What sort of magic is this? Not one to act hastily, Grewynn, stands silently, ready to defend herself if necessary, but for the moment just observing. The bear approaches, greets them, and introduces herself.  Grewynn is still unsure if this is magic, and if it is good magic or bad magic. And  how can the group be stealthy with a bear in the group? 

The bear,  Ursina offers them tea, and burnt biscuits, another member of the group ,offers  herbal tea,,Kaja,and another member,Radost,  cleverly finds a way to extract dew from the webs, and  also thought to carry tea.  Taking a sip of the tea, calms Grewynn. They all have obviously come prepare for the journey, and  they know the  delights of a good cup of tea, so perhaps she can let down her guard and trust her companions.

 

My goal for water is higher than that, but I'm a bit behind today , so we shall see. I will try.

[Sea-to-sky]

Face planted on the sleep thing last night. Lights out much earlier than expected as i was exhausted and then slept very poorly. So the tech off early didn't really happen.

[Heidi]

22 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Space for tracking random encounter goal added to the spreadsheet.

 

ETA: While I was playing around, I did some conditional formatting to color code column E based on which party people are in, but sometimes I get a little carried away once I start fiddling with spreadsheets, so if it's easier to not have so much color going on, I can switch it back.

FWIW, I like it.

Nicely done

[Sea-to-sky]

23 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

ETA: While I was playing around, I did some conditional formatting to color code column E based on which party people are in, but sometimes I get a little carried away once I start fiddling with spreadsheets, so if it's easier to not have so much color going on, I can switch it back

Colour coding is amazing, thank you. Makes it so much easier for me to read

[DarK_RaideR]

On 9/13/2024 at 8:12 PM, Ranger Hal said:

@DarK_RaideR @titsworth, how's it going? Do you have big plans for the weekend?

If you're asking about random encounters, I cannot say. That would be against the randomness of their nature.

 

On 9/13/2024 at 8:15 PM, Artemis Prime said:

Space for tracking random encounter goal added to the spreadsheet.

 

ETA: While I was playing around, I did some conditional formatting to color code column E based on which party people are in, but sometimes I get a little carried away once I start fiddling with spreadsheets, so if it's easier to not have so much color going on, I can switch it back.

Very nice and welcome additions, thank you very much.

[Ranger Hal]

2 minutes ago, DarK_RaideR said:

If you're asking about random encounters, I cannot say. That would be against the randomness of their nature.

Nah, just trying to check on the folks who are on the same quest that I am.

[Jarric]

I've managed to appease the owl pretty well so far this week. Being out all day on Thursday I only managed 2 quests, but I was 3/3 on both Friday and Saturday, bringing me to 16/18 for the week so far.

[Elastigirl]

On 9/13/2024 at 1:31 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

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.

Was the end of the week considerd Friday or Saturday? I posted  through Saturday, but then thought   maybe I was just supposed to record one day.

[DarK_RaideR]

28 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

Was the end of the week considerd Friday or Saturday? I posted  through Saturday, but then thought   maybe I was just supposed to record one day.

Given the various time zones involved, I'd say Saturday to be safe. Late Sunday to early Monday (again, relative given the time zones) is when the next weekly narrative and tasks will be posted.

[Ranger Hal]

Rezka pauses next to Heidi, but then spots an interesting rocky ledge. "I think we have a little time. Hold on, I'll be right back." And she dashes off to do a little exploring before it's time to start gathering herbs.

 

Thursday and Friday: 16 steps each day from parking on the second floor of the garage.

Sunday: Let's call it 1160 steps for the hike I did today. That was actually the elevation gain, but I don't want to bother figuring out steps.

[Elastigirl]

Grewynn struggled with extracting the dew at first, but after Radost figured out a way to do it more efficiently,  she was able to get a surprisingly large amount. As she takes some sips of the sweet dew, she hopes there isn't some magical enchantment on it that changes here into a bear (or rabbit, she has no desire to be either)

 

Managed to drink  water this weekend. That was good, I usually struggle with it more on the weekend.

 

[Sea-to-sky]

kaja struggles to remove her dew flask, which seems to have become tangled in the webs. Despote being old, the web is still surprisingly sticky

 

Water drinking going well (it was actually one of my ongoing goals, so im more in the habit with that one). Have family vuisiting so was absolutely exhausted after a long day and turned the light off very early, there fore no reading before bed so didn't manage to add to my tally. Was very hot in the night again which woke me up. read an ebook for 15mins before i managed to drift off . Being unable to turn the light on at night (as it disturbs other people in the house) is not a great mix with this challenge. 

[Jarric]

After many hours of translation, Guglug was pleased to see the pile of documents he had been handed dwindling significantly. The sun had long set, and the lamp was burning low, but nonetheless he was pleased with his solitary progress.

 

All 3 Duolingo quests completed yesterday, giving me a final total of 19/21 for the week. 

[Heidi]

13 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

Rezka pauses next to Heidi, but then spots an interesting rocky ledge. "I think we have a little time. Hold on, I'll be right back." And she dashes off to do a little exploring before it's time to start gathering herbs.

Heidi makes tea to share with Rezka and looks through her journal. She found a number of interesting flowers and herb-like weeds, but nothing that stood out as particularly uncommon. 

The view is lovely, but she knows there is further yet to go, and she is looking forward to the coming hike.

[Sovalis]

@Jarric Niko leans over your shoulder as you labour with your translation. It seems to be about geographical markers in the area such as particular fallen trees, crystal spires, caves, and bottomless ponds. “Very good,” he says, pushing his bushy black hair up and out of his eyes. “You have almost worked it all out. I was hoping having fresh eyes on this thing would uncover new information. I think the next step is to get work out how to get some of those descriptions lined up with a map of the area so we can see what the authors were on about. Avolen thinks that there might be tunnels running under or around Rebel’s Refuge. *I* think they might be magical in nature, ley lines or similar. We have never agreed on that and the translations haven’t clarified one way or another. Either way, we have never found entrances or exits, so continue searching we shall. If you can get this map sorted out, that would be great.” He hands you a map of the area on smoothed vellum and leaves you to transpose your translated descriptions of the land around the Emberwood onto the new substrate. It occurs to you that you might need to tap the spider hunters and herb gatherers to see if they saw any of these landmarks on their travels. But the location of one pond of steaming, herb-scented water sounds familiar from your inbound journey, so you orient your map and pencil it in. It’s a start.

 

Your task for this week is to do something creative that will simulate adding to Niko’s map. This can be a daily sketch, or working on painting your minis. For each day you are able to dedicate 15 minutes or more to this task, you successfully orient one hex of the map which DR or I will fill out with hex-specific geographical details and update. These geographical details will offer details about further sites for exploration or hints for upcoming tasks. Happy mapping!