You're lounging poolside at a friend's home when his distant cousin comes up and interrupts your conversation, showing off some military-grade phone that he got from work. He's talking mostly to your friend, so you hop into the pool, even though you're the only one inside. You over hear the conversation a little bit before you head goes under and you hear him mention it's got faster speed than ever because it is "scriff-enabled".

When you come back up, your friend is reaching for it, trying to touch it, and his cousin is playing keep-away, holding the phone high above his head, when it falls from his hand into the pool you're swimming in. You see an electric spark scatter through the pool and some gold liquid coming out of it as you feel the jolt that hits your chest hard. Your vision goes completely white, and you lose consciousness.

-=-

You awaken with your eyes shut. Based on the light coming through them, you can tell you're probably in a dim environment. You feel twigs and dirt on your bare back beneath you, with one poking you uncomfortably in the shoulder. It takes a moment to get oriented and realize that you are no longer wearing anything. The pair of swim trunks you had been borrowing from your friend is no longer on you.

I start getting up, definitely a little dazed and opening my eyes slowly, until I realize my nakedness. I immediately sit up and snap my eyes open while attempting to use my hands to cover myself while taking in what's around me.

Thinking: Did I pass out? Think Mike, what was going on, I wasn't drinking and I don't really black out so we can rule that out. Perhaps a prank? Maybe I hit my head? ugh.

When your eyes open, you see the treetops above you, high above you. From just looking around, you're sure you're in a very large jungle. It's a shocking intake of sensory information you simply weren't ready for, and it shocks you almost as much as noticing you're naked. The next thing you notice is that several of your possessions are scattered about you, including a pile of your clothes. They're still folded as they were in your dresser drawers, and anything hanging up are in small piles on the ground, but still straightened. All of it is undamaged on the jungle floor.

Something you notice about the jungle is the noises. It's quiet, compared to city life, but has its own noises that you notice. Birds flying, critters crawling, and the wind blowing through the leaves far above you.

When I notice my clothes I use getting dressed as a distraction from contemplating what's going on, even if just for a moment. Putting on boxers, blue jeans, red shirt, socks and boots in that order.

I pretty quickly rule this out as a prank any of my friends would play on me& Mostly due to how much work it would take to orchestrate. My mind then wanders to thinking about whether I got abducted, but I can't find any logic behind that. I finally resolve to ignore the how for now and just focus on getting to safety, taking some solice in my training in Boy Scouts (made it to Eagle Scout, and was involved in a number of the more outdoorsy activities)

I'll start packing everything into my backpack, keeping an eye out for spiders, lizards and snakes. Also avoiding unknown vegetation especially anything with three leaves as to avoid poison rash.

Once I'm done packing I focus my hearing to try and hear running water. If I hear any water I'll start walking in that general direction. If not I will pick a random direction and keep walking until I find a river. I'm trying to find a local population, and best way I can think of is to find a river and follow it downstream.

OOC: Since you made Eagle Scout, that probably means you have a smattering of skills you don't have listed which may come in handy here. We can address them as they come up for the most part. If you think you have a skill and can estimate what it would be in MV, let me know as you use them.

IC: So, you pack up and head out. You listen for running water, and actually think that you hear a small river running nearby, so you start to hoof it that way. You don't make it a few yards before you're calm and start to notice a tugging sensation in your center, back to where you woke up and toward the forest floor. There, you realize that you had missed an item-a tube of toothpaste lay on the forest floor where you missed it before, and you realize that is where the tugging sensation in you was pulling towards.

As you walk through the jungle, you see no signs of civilization or any human markings that you can identify. Most of the plants look at least a little bit familiar, and nothing is out of the ordinary enough to take note of. Aside from, of course, being in a jungle.

When you reach the water source you heard, you find a modest river running through the jungle. It's fairly clear, but deep enough that you can't see the bottom. On your side of the river, the side is covered with thick brush and trees. Some of the plants have leaves you don't specifically recognize as poisonous or not. It'll be a fight against the brush to reach the edge bank of the river, and even then it looks like you won't have an easy time walking alongside it with all the foliage.

OOC: Sounds good to me.

IC: Huh& that's weird, well might as well pack that away. I'll need to think on what's going on here& something isn't right.

I'm definitely not up for fighting through the brush for the entire journey, that's just begging to get bitten/stung/scraped/poison rashes etc. I will make note of which direction the river is running and start trying to navigate in that general direction, trying to make sure to keep the sound of running water in hearing range. Whenever that tends to die away I'll focus on trying to get closer to the river again before repeating the process.

Along the way I'll also pull my phone out and check for signal. Not optimistic, but I would feel foolish if I struggled to find civilization only to realize I was neglecting an important resource. If the phone isn't receiving signal I'll turn it off to conserve battery.

The first time I decide to take a break from walking, I'll sit down and experiment with the toothpaste. I'll try throwing it a short distance and seeing whether I can replicate the effect from before. Assuming I can I'll try it with a credit card from my wallet. I don't know what I'm expecting, but I'm trying to isolate whether it's the toothpaste, me, all my stuff, a combination of such or what. Even after I isolate that, I'm no less lost, but at least I had a small experiment to relax for a moment, and slightly more information.

You decide to take the safe road away from the thick brush, and head in the general direction of "downstream" through the jungle. You walk for a very long time before having to take your first break. You try your cell phone, which turns on perfectly fine but is still searching for a signal. Looks like you're not anywhere near a cell tower.

When you take your break, you repeat the same results with the toothpaste and notice that the sensation is always present, just in the background of your mind. Only when you aren't concentrating on other things can you identify the exact direction of the toothpaste. The jungle proves to be a perfect testing ground, especially when you fling your credit card into the jungle. Somehow, even through the foliage and trees and sticks and mud, you're able to track it down too on your first try, all by following that pulling sensation that you feel deep inside.

You find the experiment slightly comforting. It's something that you finally have control of in an otherwise uncontrolled scenario. Do you continue to travel downstream? How long do you intend to travel in that direction?

It begins to occur to me that something is changing inside of me, or awoken maybe. This sixth sense isn't normal, and while that scares me a little my primary emotion is excitement. I've always been a fan of discovery, and this is just completely new ground to explore. The back of my mind is also running through comics and anime where powers manifested. While finding ones way to his own belongings is relatively mundane and wouldn't make for a great comic, maybe there's more I haven't found yet. Maybe it's a type of mutation and I'm one of those next gen humans that are so popular in sci fi books. Either way this looks like it could be exciting.

That's all taking place in the back of my mind however. That place where fantasies and colorful descriptors of the world thrive. Definitely not theories I would admit to another person in conversation.

I'll keep walking until it's late afternoon (based on the position of the sun). At which time I'll start looking for half fallen trees that could be used to make a good lean to. Or preferably a rocky outcropping for the same purpose. Either way I'll gather large branches to lay across and brace against the wind. I'll also get smaller wood for fire and kindling, and rocks to make a fire circle out of. As for water, I know where the river is, so I'll drink from there at a turbulent point as to reduce risk of disease. And I think I'll have to subside on berries for now, keeping an eye out for berry bushes that have animal tracks leading up to them, as they're more likely to be safe if small mammals are eating from them. Either way I'll eat one berry and wait half an hour before consuming any more to be safe. And that's my plans to prepare for nightfall, after which sleep and hope to make it to tomorrow to continue my search.

Sorry if this is somewhat disjointed, had a lot I wanted to write and written from my phone.

You keep walking, and the day lasts for a long time. You must have woken up in the morning some time. While it's hard to follow the sun's path through the heavy foliage above, you manage to keep track well enough in the few gaps you run across and by judging where the light shines from brightest. It starts to get a little darker, and you judge it's time to find a shelter, so you follow the river more looking for either half-fallen trees or rocky outcroppings, when you suddenly get a very strong feeling that you aren't alone out here.

Well my feelings have been pretty spot on so far today, so I'll trust myself and shout out.

"Is someone out there?"

I'm going to prioritize finding who or what is here over the shelter and everything. Worst case is I don't find anything and won't be as warm tonight and a little hungry.

For what it's worth I'm starting to really trust my sixth sense, so when I get the vague not alone feeling I would try to slow down for a moment and use what has so far felt like amazing intuition. If this makes me feel an extra pull, I'll follow that.

You see some movement in front of you, as your shouting seems to frighten a couple of nearly-hairless monkeys who stand approximately three feet tall. They move back behind trees, one reaching its long, nimble fingers around the tree trunk and sticking its head out to stare at you. You can only see the wide, flat forehead of the creature and two hollowed eyes that have high, hard cheekbones. It has thick, brown hair on its head that continues to grow out of its neck and the tops of its shoulders are covered in what looks like peach fuzz.

I smile at the sight of the monkeys, especially the curious one that didn't run away. I'll go back to getting ready for nightfall, but keeping an eye to see if the monkey stays watching.

You continue to move with your observer, hoping to find that perfect rock outcropping or tree for your shelter. Along the way, you gather some kindling, a little bit of wood, and you see one good bush to grab berries from-there were small animal tracks around it. You're able to harvest 24 berries that look edible. The first you eat is sweet, and you give that one a while before eating more.

Now that you know that you have company, you notice that the monkey is following you, hiding behind trees as it goes.

Eventually, you locate a tree that you think could work, and you get started making your shelter when you hear growling from the direction that the monkey that's been following you is in. You look, and find that a medium-sized wolf is staring at the monkey, its eyes shooting towards you as well, and you hear an audible scream come from the monkey. Not just the screech you might expect, but a noise that resembles a human's scream. The monkey backs away from the wolf in your direction very slowly.

While I was considering attempting to save it when I thought it was just a friendly monkey (it is the friendliest thing I've seen since waking up) I definitely plan to intervene once I hear a human scream. I'll throw some of the wood I gathered at the wolf and ready the largest piece for use as a club. I'll then charge in screaming and posturing, swinging my club in what I hope is an intimidating enough gesture to make the wolf run away.

I'd much rather it just run away (especially since I don't know that I would win in a fight) but I will hit it if it gets closer

And so you rise to the occasion, picking up some logs and chucking them at the wolf. A large bit of dry wood strikes the wolf square on the nose, making the wolf yelp in surprise. It gives you the time you need to grab a larger piece and start waving it around to frighten the wolf off.

Your first rush makes the wolf jump back, and you see that it looks frightened at first, but then lowers its head and lets out a low growl at you. It stares you down, and lets out a loud bark at you.

Following the bark, you feel something large SLAM against your back, causing you to fall forward and lose your balance. You hit the ground hard and lose your breath for a moment, before realizing a second wolf just tackled you to the ground. You have an instant to possibly respond before the wolves continue their attacks.

Added Skills:
1@2 Improvised Thrown Weapon T0@4

I'll try to identify a tree that looks climbable near by and get up quickly and try to get up it. I thought I had a decent chance with one wolf (not to mention I would need to take care of it either way if I intended to be able to sleep), but two would almost assuredly spell death. I'm just hoping the monkey had time to likewise take to a tree and climb it.

You spot several trees, one of which is extremely close and looks easy for you to climb. The monkey-creature you encountered is already up it, screaming down at you and the wolves.

So, you make to rise and run for the tree, but the wolves are on you. One quickly jumps at you while you're still on the ground, and strikes out at your throat while the other moves in to bite you on your leg. You struggle from freedom, and the adrenaline is really pumping.

With difficulty, you manage to dislodge yourself from both of the wolves' jaws, and ignore for the moment the warm sensation running down your neck to make for the tree, which you scale quicker than you ever thought you would be capable. Two wolves continue to bark, growl, snarl, and snap at you from behind, but you clear the first five feet of the tree quickly and move up where the "monkey" is, beyond the wolves' range.

Now at relative safety, you feel dizzy and rationalize that warm wetness on your neck from the bite is probably blood-a lot of blood. You see, past the wolves who are circling the tree, staring at you, that your duffelbag and anything you didn't put on your person and in your pockets lay next to the pile of wood you were gathering. Happily, you find you're still gripping the makeshift club.

Once I'm up in the tree I'll get my phone out of my pocket and turn it on. I'm going to use the camera to see exactly how bad the bite on my neck is.

Regardless of how bad it is I'll need to get some pressure on it, and try and calm myself down to avoid shock. (I do have first aid training in Boy Scouts, probably 1@8 or so in terms of multiverser) So I'm going to grab the largest leaf I can see to use to apply pressure to my neck wound. The best way I know to avoid shock is to keep talking to someone, and the "monkey" will have to do. (Is it ok that I termed it a monkey? It's obviously special but for lack of a better term)

"Some predicament I got us into to eh? You look good though, was worried that wolf was going to make you a snack"

I'm also focusing on wedging myself into the tree, out of fear if I pass out I'll fall to my death.

You assess your injury better from up here in the tree, and discover that the wound is deeper than you initially thought. Blood is still leaking through as you put initial pressure on the injury with your hand, quickly becoming slick with your own blood. You start feeling more light headed, whether from pain or blood loss you're not sure.

Talking to the monkey certainly helps, and you're able to keep your mental faculties and not pass out. At this distance, the creature still looks very similar to a monkey, but it looks more like pictures you've seen in evolution books. It looks like a child version of the picture right before a neaderthal on a diagram of human evolution.

Honestly not much I can think to do about the injury. At this point I'm just hoping that applying consistent pressure will win out before I bleed out. And I'm not about to get my blood pumping even more by risking moving too much especially with the wolves down there. So just trying to ride it out and hope I live.

The realization on the potential missing link nature of the monkey concerns me. How far away from home must I be. Then again maybe I'm dreaming. That would be nice, and a lot less painful. Either way, in case this is real, let's try to make the best of it.

"So, I heard you scream back there, any chance you can talk at all or just screams at this point?"

With the wolves still circling at the base of the tree, you keep your eye ground with your hand pressing on the wound. You do start to lose less blood, so the pressure might be beginning to work, but you turn your attention to the monkey, who sits there with wide eyes looking at you. You can't initially tell if the eyes give away the creature's fear or adoration.

Its eyes go between your mouth as you're talking to it and the wound on your neck you're attempting to cover up. Then, after you try to communicate with it more, it slowly moves in closer and gently pets your hair, making a cooing sound at you and you can plainly see now that it's concerned for you. It doesn't reply to your speech with any formed language of its own.

I try to keep my movements nice and slow, both as to not increase my blood flow and not scare my monkey friend.

"Looks like those wolves aren't moving any time soon, probably best to try and get some shut eye. We'll be ok." All said in the calmest voice I can manage. While the speech probably doesn't get through (although I'm holding out hope that basic speech may catch depending on intelligence level and the time I spend here) the emotion should, and calm and rational is important.

And I'm going to try and wedge myself into a section of the tree where I'm not in danger of falling and try and get a little rest and hopefully the wolves will give up.

The monkey does look calmer as it finds a spot of its own to wedge in to, just like you did. It looks down cautiously at the wolves, which are still circling the tree below and trying to find a way.

You don't see the monkey fall asleep, but you wake up abruptly to a warm sensation of blood running down your neck and chest again, and you realize that the wound has opened back up. You feel even more faint than before, as you look around and see that it's much darker outside now. You don't find the monkey on the tree nor the wolves below. Your belongings rest unmolested on the ground, and you're sure of that, because you don't feel any pulls in any direction but the one.

I immediately go back to applying pressure to the wound. Hopefully the bleeding dies back down quickly. I'm really going to need to get to the food I gathered to get some of my strength back, not to mention to the river for water. And a turbulent part at that to avoid diseases.

I will use my phones flashlight to make a double check for both the monkey and the wolves. If even with that I see nothing I'll make the climb down and get to the berries to eat, and then my gear to gather up. I'll work on getting that fire started to hopefully scare the wolves. Then I'll work on whittling a point onto a spear sized stick, as to be better prepared for the wolves. All of this will be notably slowed down by periodically making sure to keep enough pressure on my neck to reduce the bleeding.

After that's all down sit down near the fire propped up against my backpack with my sharpened stick in my right hand and my left hand applying pressure. And just try to ride it out until my neck stops bleeding.

I hope the monkey is ok, but I imagine it is. Probably will be back sometime tomorrow

Your phone's light works perfectly fine, and shows no sign of the wolves and monkey in the immediate area.

While you feel a little tired lying down in the tree, when your feet hit the forest floor and you're standing erect, you feel immediately dizzy again and almost fall down. Your vision briefly goes black, but you shake it out of your eyes and make it to your pack to reach the berries you collected earlier, which you gobble up greedily.

You make quick work of the fire, getting your embers with your flint and steel and gently encouraging them to life until it looks like the flame is self-sustaining and controlled.

Then, you whip your pocket knife out and get to work on carving the tip of a likely-looking stick's end into a spear point. It takes a little effort with just the aid of a pocket knife, but you manage to turn the end into an acute point in about an hour. The darkness is a little disconcerting, but you've seen no movement so far.

And finally, you get off your feet for a rest against the tree and hold pressure long enough that you're confident that your neck wound has stopped bleeding for the time being. Whether it's from the darkness, travel, all the work you've done, or the blood loss, you really start to feel the exhaustion setting in now that you're on the ground and resting. Unless you do something, you're pretty sure that you're going to fall asleep soon.

Skills
1@8 Fire Starting Skill Package TX@x
1@1 Wood Carving T2@3

Equipment:
+Basic Wooden Spear (Damaging, 5%)
-unknown berries

I'm ok falling asleep again, although I want to add wood to the fire first, hopefully it lasts throughout the night and dissuades any would be predators.

I'll keep my sharp stick and and pocket knife near by me when I fall asleep. Hoping for the best

And you sleep, and sleep deeply.

Next, you wake to sounds of birds and critters in the jungle, and the water running nearby. Your fire is but embers, but the sun is up high and the jungle well-lit by it now.

But the best news you notice is that, while your neck still throbs painfully, it seems that the wound has at least closed enough to stop the bleeding. You feel crusted blood on your neck and, now that the adrenaline and worry and fatigue are gone, it pains you intensely every time you turn your head or your heart beats in your chest. There's no sign that the monkey or wolves returned to harass your camp while you slept.

I smile when I wake up and realize I made it through the night. Small steps, may still be lost and severely injured but I'm not dead.

I wince when I get up, and try to keep myself from turning my head. I'll pick up my spear and begin my way to the river. I'm looking for either a vine plant that has water that I can cut and drink from, or a turbulent part of the river to drink from.

I plan to make this campsite livable for long enough for my neck to heal a little better. I don't want to be in a dire situation where straining myself makes my neck start bleeding again. I'll use my knife on one of my tshirts to create clean linen strips and wrap them loosely around the wound to keep it clean and change it periodically.

Other than that I'm trying to collect enough berries to last me a few days.

Will try and keep some amount of fire going at all times, with a few throwable rocks near the edges of it.

Hopefully those plans let me get through however long my body takes to heal.

You manage to find a decent gap that leaves just enough space for you to reach running water through the brush right near your campsite. While it's running quickly, there isn't as much white water as you'd like, but it's the best in sight along the river.

After you cover your wound, you forage for more of the same berries to eat for later. While you're looking, you identify tracks that you identify with the missing link monkey that you met the day before. There are more tracks at your campsite-wolf tracks, missing link monkey tracks, and your own tracks.

So far, your fire is still going strong.

Ok, after eating some of the gathered berries and having some water to drink, I'll try and track the missing link tracks. I'm more curious where it went as opposed to where it originally came from (since it came from the same direction I did and I'm hoping to avoid completely backtracking) will be traveling with my pocket knife, my phone which is turned off, and my spear. Leaving the rest at the makeshift camp.

I want to leave the fire burning but at a level only slightly above embers. Let it die down to that point before going tracking.

While it was out of my own hands, I would like to apologize for my absence. I've been trying to regain access for about a week straight now.

IC: You gather your travel equipment and head out looking to follow the missing link to wherever it ventured.

You find that its newer tracks lead into the jungle, away from the nearby water source.

You follow them for about an hour and then you find a muddy area with similar-looking footprints to the missing link's of varying sizes. Some are smaller, some about the same, some the size of your own feet, and you see one set of tracks belonging to something with feet approximately 18 inches long and several inches wide. While they all seem to wander in this area, the general direction they all go, as well as your missing link's, is further into the jungle away from your camp.

Glad to see your back. Was worried for a bit before finding out it was a forum problem.

Ic) The large track gets my attention and keeps me wary. Is it a mostly round track like what I would expect of an elephant or a pronged foot found in more predatory animals?

Either way, the answers to where I am have to be somewhere and the monkeys tribe seems to be the most reasonable place to start. I'll keep following them.

OOC: Yeah, I usually give notice to players before I head on vacation, so if I don't, it either means that something urgent/important happened or technical problems.

IC: Oh, no. The large tracks look humanoid, like the missing link's, but larger.

So you follow the monkey tracks further into the jungle, and you eventually move through some bushes to find a group of those missing link creatures. You see a few smaller ones, like the one you remember, a few females that are between your size and an enormous one you see across this small clearing you've stumbled into.

One of the females sees you, her eyes go wide, and she shrieks, very similarly to the way the missing link you met did earlier upon seeing the wolves.

I slow down as soon as I see everyone, and as I walk slowly into the opening I keep my hands up in an open posture. I slowly kneel down and let them smell my hand much like you would to befriend a cat.

I'll also say, calmly and as smooth as possible, "I mean you no harm, but I'm lost out here and was hoping to find out what's going on"

Most of the missing links you see all turn to you, and start to back away immediately upon seeing you, all except the large one standing across the clearing. And a couple of the child-sized missing links start approaching you, one getting close enough to actually touch the hand you put out for them to investigate.

The large, male link, however, moves swiftly across the clearing, pushing the children back and staring at you while you attempt talking to him. He lowers his head to your level and lets out a low, confident growl before backing off and returning to a new position between you and the rest while they continue to gather fruits and grapes from the vicinity.

I'm starting to seriously wonder whether I'm dreaming, everything feels so real though& But who would do this to me and what explains the presence of these missing links or the mysterious sixth sense I have towards my gear. For that matter, I try to focus for a moment and see if I can feel my gear at camp from this distance.

How's my neck wound holding up by the way? I don't want to over exert and get myself into trouble that way.

I plan to stick close to these missing links for a bit, as long as the big link doesn't get more aggressive. Being near them is probably the safest from the wolves, and if wolves attack I'll help fend them off both throwing rocks and with my spear.

Do the links appear completely nomadic or do they eventually head back to a camp? Either way when it starts getting late I'll gather firewood and set up a secondary camp near them. But far enough away the fire doesn't spook them but hopefully interests them enough to try and communicate. They seem intelligent and organized enough that they have to have a type of communication. I just need to find one that's above average intelligence to learn to communicate with and act as a translator.

The missing links return to their business, while the large one keeps turning his head to check on you while observing the perimeter. Some of them start gathering fruit from low branches of trees as well, but soon they're all on the move.

You relax and focus to feel your equipment, and find that you do feel that same familiar pull, back in the direction that you came from. You guess it's probably in the same direction that you made your camp earlier.

Your neck wound still throbs painfully, and your head starts to feel a little hot. You begin perspiring while you're following the missing links through the woods. You follow them on a short walk to a natural cave coming out of the ground. The angle down into the cave looks very gradual, but the missing links stop at its entrance and lower to their haunches to eat some of the vegetables and grapes they picked up today. The large one takes the lion's share of the food, while the little ones and women are fed next.

So, outside of their cave, while there's still some light left, you gather some wood and attempt to make a fire. With the help of some kindling and sticks, you manage to start a friction fire with wood. It's small and weak at first, but you give it some time and fuel and it comes up much more.

Most of the missing links try to ignore the fire that you make. For a second, you see the large one have a look of fear and awe until he hides the expression with a mistrusting scowl toward you. While you can tell that they are for the most part interested, they stay close to the cave and the larger missing link. When it starts to get dark, the large missing link pulls the rest with him into the cave, but within a matter of minutes, you see one of the females poke her head out. She looks to be anywhere between 12 and 15 if she were human, and she crawls on her fists and the pads of her feet slowly and quietly over to your fire.

As she's approaching, she seems very cautious of it, but she can't seem to hide the intense curiosity in her eyes. Those eyes dart between you and the fire constantly upon her approach.

When they started moving to the cave I would have picked some of the fruit they had been picking from and then follow.

I make note that I can use this sense to potentially keep track of multiple camps. I'll get out one of the valued member cards from my wallet and dig a small hole and bury it near where I'm making the fire. Hoping it stays there as a method for me to track it later. I'll be using a qdobe one, it's plastic and bright green.

I'll make a gesture of holding my hands in front of the fire for warmth when the young link comes over, but then also make a motion towards touching it, wincing as if burned and shaking my hand to discourage touching the flame. I'll continue talking in English, explaining I'm Mike and that I'm lost. This is a campfire, to provide heat and light. Also asking at points if she understands me. I'm trying to pantomime the meaning of what I'm saying, and thus form a language that can act as a bridge.

I'll also cook one of the fruits over the fire, using my spear as a stick to roast it on and my knife to cut it open after done. I'll offer her half after it cools a little and I'll eat the other half.

There's plenty of fruit left. You get a couple likely-looking mangos (you think) that they had grabbed and eaten too.

You bury your Qdobe membership card and bury it nearby, deep enough you believe not to be unearthed by animals or "people" walking over it.

When you mime that the fire is dangerous, she just cocks her head to the side and stares for a moment, but soon her attention returns to the fire. She is in its light now, and stares directly into it, a little bit amazed while you continue talking to her in English. While she occasionally looks over at you, she doesn't respond to anything that you say, and moves one hand a little bit close to the fire.

Her world immediately lights up, and she smiles brightly at you. Moving her hand a little closer, she pulls it back quickly, looks at her hand, and looks at you for a moment before returning her attention to sitting and looking at the fire.

You cook one of the mangos over the fire with your spear, until it looks just about prepared. When you hold out the other half to her, she backs up a little, but then slowly returns to your hand, snatching the mango quickly before sniffing it. Even after you eat it, she doesn't seem to have made up her mind whether or not she should.

Heads up. I might not post for a little. My surface charger has gone missing. Could be hours to days before it is found/replaced. Maybe late as Monday.

Ooc) thanks for the heads up and good luck finding it.

I smile when she discovers the warmth of the fire, and am relieved she pulls her hands back quickly enough to not get badly burned when she gets a little too close.

I'm going to continue trying to communicate in both pantomimes and English, hoping it'll eventually stick, but also as a task to keep my mind busy. I don't really want to have too much empty time to contemplate what the heck is going on.

Is there an obvious source of water near this cave? I would imagine if they stay here regularly there is somewhere near by even if it's not immediately noticeable.

So yeah, just trying to make myself as friendly looking as possible, while also building a potential communication, but eventually letting the fire die down a bit and getting some sleep. I'll keep my spear near by in fear of wolves.

The next day is going to be dedicated to getting my equipment and bringing it to the new camp near the cave. I'll also be trying to ascertain how the links communicate, and see if I can learn that language. Practicing with the female link who seems curious and tags along.

You keep trying to communicate with the female link, not entirely sure if any of it is really sticking. You can tell that she's paying a lot more attention to what you're communicating to her now that the newness of the fire has worn off at least a little bit.

The female link stays up with you, watching the fire as it dies out slowly back into the ground. She seems as perplexed by the fire leaving as by it coming, and a little sad to see it go down to embers. The female link crawls back to the cave to join the rest of her kind, leaving you alone by your dead fire with a sharp stick in your grip.

Anything else you want to do before the next day? It's pretty dark now, but you're free to look for a source of water. Otherwise, I can add that to your agenda for the following day, which I read as: Get your stuff from Camp 1 to Camp 2, Try to communicate with friendly female link more/observe their behavior when communicating, and track down the nearby source of water.

Nope, that's all for the night, just getting sleep and going about that agenda tomorrow.

You lay your head down with your neck still throbbing and your head feeling hotter than ever, but you wake late the next day. And, while the wound in your neck is still throbbing and feels a little thick where the wounds were, you feel remarkably better. Thirsty, hungry, but no fever anymore.

The missing links are sitting near their cave, the larger one scanning the surrounding area constantly, until he sees you're awake, and rises to his feet. He picks up one of the younger links, and the rest rise with him. He makes eye contact with you, and starts walking away from your new camp next to their cave in a direction that generally favors your old camp's direction, which you can sense.

You're confident that you could make it to your camp and back easily within the hour it took for you to find this one, because of your magic stuff-sensing ability and no longer needing to follow tracks.

I don't mean to slow you down, but what did you want to do here? Follow the group, head straight to your old camp to grab your gear, try to interact with the female link among the rest of the group?

I'm not sure whether I have managed to illicit a certain amount of curiosity or acceptance from the group of links, but I am thankful for whatever caused them to wait for me to be awake. I'm also incredibly thankful that my neck is better.

I'll follow the links, as they seem to be heading roughly towards my stuff. Hopefully they'll be needing food and water as well which will eliminate me having to find it.

Just observing the links for now, but trying to follow as close as possible without upsetting big link.

If they stop for food I'll assist in the picking and contribute it to the group share.

After they head back for the cave for the day I'll break off and hit up my camp gathering my stuff and moving it back to my camp by the cave.

Also I understand there are lots of decision points here, I'll do my best to predict on my side. I am really enjoying this game though.

You follow the links, from a safe distance behind, and eventually come to a stream. Somewhere between a regular stream and a river, you judge that this large stream is probably run-off from the river you were following earlier, and Big Link places the child he's been carrying this whole time on the jungle floor.

He glares around the jungle, and at you for a moment, but mostly at all of your surroundings. He carefully bends over, while watching around, and dips his hand into the water, taking a drink from it.

Still looking around, he stands up and suddenly seems much more relaxed. The rest were watching him intently while this happened, and then they too partake of the stream water with Big Link, who you notice immediately starts looking around at the stream bed, until he smashes his foot down, and scrapes a bloody frog off the bottom, handing it to one of the children links after inspecting it.

Big Link takes the role of watching for predators, it seems, but drinks his fill as well. The rest are drinking and hunting for frogs and other smaller animals in the area with their bare hands. Friendly Link chases a squirrel, which manages to scurry up a tree before she can catch it.

Eventually, after a few hours of this, Big Link starts gathering the rest from their play, hunting, and drinking, and herds them back away from the water in the direction of their cave again.

You break off and make good time getting back to your camp, collecting your possessions, and heading back to your second camp. The new power of sensing the locations helps tremendously, but you almost get confused on the way to your possessions at first, because the two pulls feel identical and equal in force.

Eventually, you make it back to the cave when it's getting dark. You don't see any out of the cave but Big Link at the entrance and Friendly Link, who is standing a little bit away from the cave, watched by Big Link. She lights up some when she sees you, a big smile on her face before she turns around and goes back into the cave. Big Link stares at you briefly, but turns himself and heads into the cave as well.

It's getting dark at this point.

Ok, so the source of water is good, future meat from frogs, and a source of mangos is known. Things are starting to come together.

I'll flash a smile towards friendly link and big link. I can see they definitely have some type of society established, and big link definitely cares for them all.

I'll then get a small fire started and rest there for a while before going to sleep.

I plan to repeat this routine of following them, gathering food and water to keep myself healthy but also contributing to the group supply as an effort to gain trust.

I'll also make a habit of talking with any of them that pay attention, or I guess it would be talking to them. I'll include pantomimes to get my point across. If I see them using a form of verbal communication I'll pay particular interest and try to learn it myself.

As to my camp, I have a few aspirations. I want to gather vines and large sticks and start fashioning 3 walls and a roof. I'll also get larger rocks to make a proper fire circle (outside of the roofed area)

My goals here are two part, become more comfortable and safer but also pique the interest of the big link, either through the friendly link or directly. I'm hoping to get them to start trying to figure out how to communicate with me, much as I am trying to with them.

That's my plans if things go relatively uninterrupted for a while.

Ooc) I'm having increasing problems getting this website to load for me, perhaps moving this game to rpol sooner rather than later would be good? I'd have to make an account, but i imagine that's simple enough.

OOC: It wouldn't hurt to make an account and request access to the game over there via the link that Oak posted. That way, if things ever do fall apart over here, you'll be able to contact me. For now, though, I'm going to keep posting here until the mass-exodus occurs.

IC: Friendly Link smiles back at you, while Big Link just looks at you suspiciously, then briefly at Friendly Link before moving on.

Over time, you watch them closer, and find that they sometimes do communicate vocally. Always grunting to get attention, and then gestures with their hands to things worth seeing, but nothing beyond that. You don't see any storytelling or abstract concepts floating around. It centers around what they see, hear, smell, and feel, but you start to understand their body language better. You're sure that you can communicate on their level now, but explaining things might be more difficult (but easier now that you've got this down).

Big Link seems to get not quite comfortable with your presence, but less uncomfortable. You slowly shrink the distance between you and the rest, until finally you are close enough to try to communicate with Friendly Link, who is very receptive to the things that you point out to her, and points out some things to you. Some of the things she points to are rocks, rippling water, and even points out sounds as well. She's fascinated with the fires you make, and visits you to look at it every night and communicate with you.

You start to notice more general things about the group as well. There are two that look dissimilar, the Big Link and another female that looks a little older, but the rest look generally the same or similar to the Big Link or the Older Female (roughly late 20s-40ish). You count:

1 Adult Female
3 Adolescent Females (one is Friendly Link)
2 Toddler Females

1 Adult Male (Big Link)
1 Pre-Adolescent Male (thinking like 8-12ish)
1 Toddler Male

Big Link, while spending some time separating you from Friendly Link and the other females, focuses most of his attention on the male members of their unit, doing a lot of the hunting for frogs, wrestling, and such with them. The females engage in similar activities with them too, but most of his interactions are with the other males, and keeping you away from the females sometimes.

You build a proper fire circle after one trip from the water with stones.

The rest takes a much longer time to gather the materials for, and by the end of one week, you have a pile of vines and large sticks that you think you might be able to make a shelter. Many of the links seem interested in your actions of collecting these supplies, and some of the little ones help out after they're finished eating a couple of days, but mostly bring back useless small sticks. Big Link doesn't let them go farther away than eyesight.

So, one week complete. Sorry, I know this was a lot of information. Also, have you made a hut out of sticks and vines before?

New Skills:
1@1 Language: Caveman P0@0

OOC) Sounds good to me.

IC) I practice the caveman language constantly, but also try to consistently push it's boundaries. I'll try to get across the concept of time by referencing the sun rising and falling multiple times. In general I'm just going to try and get them to start thinking about the abstract.

Any time a member of the link community shows interest in the hut I'm making, I attempt to communicate that I plan to lash the wood together in an effort to provide shelter, much like the cave they live in naturally does.

I've made a wall segment from rope and logs before, but never using vines. I intend to braid three vines together and use those as ropes. I don't trust any individual vine not to break.

In the coming week I'm going to try and find a source of lamellar rocks (the type that fracture to sharp points, best for arrow heads and spears) I want to make 3 spears with rock heads, and show the links how to use them and give the community 2 as a gift.

I'll also want to kill a few frogs and cook them and share the cooked meat.

I think I covered everything that was posted, sorry if it's somewhat disjointed.

Hey, sorry to do this to you, but I've been having a lot of trouble getting on GO lately. Let's move over to RPOL now. It's easy to make an account, the site is well-maintained, and I can't guarantee regular posting here.

Also, I'd copy that post of yours and repost it in your RTJ, where you need to notify me who you are.

Thanks for understanding, and I hope to see you over on RPOL soon.