There are 10, including you.

Galad and Gawyn both take initiative after you lay out the game plan.

Galad takes the task of gathering wood and selects 4 others, meanwhile Gawyn does the same for the river came gatherers. They both set out nearly immediately.

The member the leave with you is Lod, who comes over to you and says "we might as well be off then. I didn't realize how much I would miss Aes Sedai healing until now."

It's clear to you that he hasn't released the void yet.

I do think it is a bit odd that Lod didn't released the flame and the Void. Then I realize that he might be doing it to keep his mind off the pain. Still it wouldn't do for us to get ambushed, so I keep my Flame and the Void up.

"Yeah. Aes Sedai Healing is really great. Speaking of which, We need to bandage up your wound until we can properly clean it out. We don't want you to get an infection."

I'll cut a strip of cloth from my shirt then try to bandage the wound by mimicking what I saw Susan and Egwene did with Perrin's injuries.

After that I get up and say.
"Try to save the bandage after it get's saturated with blood. We can wash it out and boil it a bit to clean it so we can reuse it.

Then I'll walk to where I saw those rock with him. And gather a bunch of them together. Then I'll take my shirt off and tie the sleeves off so that I can use it like a sack. Then I'll load in as much as I think the shirt can handle without ripping. That will be more efficient that carrying them in my arms.

Once we are loaded up we'll head back.

if Lod does that with me, that should give me enough stone to work with for a while.

"huh... I didn't think this all the way through. There isn't much point getting more stone until I go though all this stone... Let's get a fire going. I remember a few tricks to get a fire started."

I'll test the stone to see if it sparks when hit by steel. By hitting it with the back of the blade of my folding knife

He thanks you for the bandage and you think you did a suitable job. Getting the right pressure applied so that it reduces blood loss without overly constricting the limb is the challenge as always but you think it's a good job.

Going with Lod does slow you down, his pace is somewhat slow even embracing the void as he is. But he doesn't shirk his job, you and he both fill your shirts with the rocks you want and then head back to camp.

By the time you get back it's clear the others have all made one round trip so far, with a stack of wood and river cane both near the entrance to the cave.

The rocks do not spark against your sword however.

I was using the back of the blade of my folding knife to test the rock. But I would have tested with the back of my sword blade once or twice to see if carbon steel would spark differently from stainless steel.

"Damn. These rocks don't work like flint in that regard. We're going to half to do this the hard way."

Thinking about the materials I have on hand, I conclude that the fire bow is the best method we have available.

Lod, I'll need you to find a straight stick of dry hardwood that is about a half inch thick. then we'll cut it to about six inches long. That will serve as our spindle to help start the fire. Cut one end to be somewhat sharp and then round off the other end."

Then I'll select a dry soft wood log that is about 6 inches in diameter. Then I'll find a rock with a sharp edge that I can swing the log against to repeatedly hit a section that it about a foot from the end of the log. eventually that foot long section should break off from the log.

Then I'll take a stick and then cut it into a wedge. (If Lod find a appropriate hard wood stick to use as a spindle while I break the log into a foot long section, I'll have him make this.)

I'll start a split in the foot long log that is about a half inch off center with my knife as a wedge and a fist sized rock as a hammer. If I strike the back of the blade with the rock it shouldn't damage the knife despite driving it through wood. once i get the split started I'll pull my knife out the drive the stick wedge through to split the log.

Then I'll take the bigger section, move my knife about three quarters of an inch in and then split the log again there.
From that I should have a 3/4 inch thick board. On one end I'll gouge a depression that leaves the board a quarter inch thick at it's thinnest point.

I'll try to find a small rock with a bowl shaped depression that I can use to apply pressure to the Spindle as I spin it.

The fire bow is easy to make. I'll just cut a foot long piece from the springy end of a river cane. Tie one of my boot laces to one end. Bend the river cane and then tie the boot lace to the other end so that it forms a fire bow out of it.

Then we'll need to prepare the kindling and tinder. I'll get thin shaving off a stick using my knife. After I get a lot of shavings then I can use them as tinder. Then I'll prepare a few sticks as kindling by cutting into them while leaving the cut part attached to the stick. that will increase it's surface area so that they will catch fire easier.

Now that I have all the parts together. Set the board with the gouged side down where I want to start the fire. Then put tinder into the gouged depression. I can wrap the boot lace bow once around the spindle and position it on the thinnest section of the gouge with the sharp point about a half inch from the edge. then use the rock with a bowl shaped depression on the rounded end to apply light pressure.


Then I'll start spinning the spindle with the fire bow. the sharp end will start to drill though the soft wood do to the difference in hardness. I'll genitally increase the speed and pressure as it drills though the soft wood. By the time it drills though, the tip of the spindle should be glowing like a hot coal. That should light up the tinder as soon so it touches it. Then I'll feed the small fire the kindling I prepared and build it up to accept normal sticks. and continue until it can accept logs.

OOC. Let's see how that goes. I'm loving the chance to solve problems.

OOC) Glad to hear it. Awesome description of your process by the way.

Where are you planning to start the fire? You had originally mentioned in the back of the cave, but it's a catch 22 in that you need light to reasonably work on starting the fire but need the fire to provide the light.

I'll start a fire about ten feet from the entrance of the cave. We can transfer the fire to the back of the cave later.

Lod performs admirably under your instructions, getting you your hard wood spindle.

The rest of your prep goes according to plan as well, and you're set up 10 feet inside the cave, where you still have the light of day to work with. You get the fire started but it takes nearly half an hour before you have any flames growing and the initial process of feeding it slowly but consistently to not smother nor starve the fire is nerve wracking. But after another half hour you have a good, self sustaining fire that is unlikely to go out in absence of water or lack of fuel.

I smile at getting the fire started and making it burn well.
"It's good that we got a fire started. That will make things easier for us.
Starting a fire is a lot of effort. It's much easier to just keep this one going.
Lod. When I get to working on something I become rather focused and often I don't notice things around me. I want you to keep an eye on the fire and make sure that it doesn't go out. Can I count on you for this?"

I assume that he'll agree to this.

"... If we want to eat the bear. I better start bleeding it out and cutting it up. So We can start cooking it. We need to clean the bark off a few sticks so we can cook the meat over a fire. "

I'll try to find a tree with stringy bark that I can use to lash together a frame to bleed out the bear then skin it. I'm using my previous experience with Perrin doing this with me to guild myself to do it again.

I'll do this a bit away from the camp so that I don't draw scavengers to our camp.

I expect that the others will come back while I prepare the bear. We'll need to eat all of it we can. We are going to need the energy.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:34, Thu 06 Oct 2016.

Lod nods and goes about dragging over various sized logs before setting one up as a stool and sitting down to rest his leg.

You manage to get the frame built after about 45 minutes of working with it. After another 15 minutes or so Galad and Gawyn's group both return with their final haul for now.

Galad and Gawyn are giving direction about where materials should be set down before they both come to you.

Galad speaks up saying, "We managed to get a good haul of both river cane and wood for the fire. Everyone is starting to flag a bit due to hunger however. They're all used to the hard work, but also heavy eating and it's pushing afternoon. Should we be foraging for berries... It looks like the bear is going to take some time."

"Yes, I was going to get started preparing the bear because we need food more than we need stone axes at the moment.

this wood and cane should last us for a while.

Go ahead and forage for food for an hour. Stick together, Nothing should bother a group your size. Before you eat anything, check with Gawyn to see if he recognizes it.
Usually you can test something by eating a little bit and waiting to see if there is a reaction to it. You bod will generally reject anything that would hurt it and make you throw up. Just be careful, Ok? By the time you get back, I should have the first part of the bear cooked. We should try to not let any part go to waste. We don't know when our next big meal will be."

I assume that they will go off to forage with that.

I'll look for some plate sized flat stones that I could use as well plates. I'll clean the dust off of them as best I can. then I'll cut up the bear. taking the meat out and putting it on the makeshift plates along with the organs that I think are eatable... which should be most of them.

I'll gather what sinew I can out of the bear. That can be used for lots of things.

I'm also going to try to skin the bear. There should be a layer of fat between the skin and the main body. That is a lot of calories we could use. But how to cook it so that we don't throw it up...

"Hey Lod. The fat is eatable. But how should we cook it? I can't think of a way that I can prepare it..."

I'll cut the bear meat into thin strips that I can skewer on the sticks we cleaned before. Then cook them over the fire and/or dry them out.

I'll encourage everyone to eat as much as they can when they get back.

The others go off after agreeing to be careful what they eat. Gawyn seems nervous, but is maintaining a mostly cool look.

When you ask Lod about the fat, he mentions that he's heard rumor that some lower inns sometimes substitute fat for more prime cuts of meat in hearty stews. They break down more, so the difference is harder to tell supposedly.

You manage to find a suitable stone and begin the messy work of preparing the bear. In the course of another hour and a half you manage to get several skewers cooking. It comprises most of the easily cookable meat. You also have harvested a good amount of sinew, and have separated the edible organs from the inedible. Are you skewering the organs as well? I'm not honestly sure  myself how one would go about utilizing that much of the animal.

You don't need to encourage anyone to eat a lot, they all are eating as much as they can get their hands on once they get back and you instruct them that the food is safe. They apparently didn't find any berries that Gawyn was familiar or comfortable with. Well, after the first set that had Rory throwing up a few minutes after trying one.

Most organs should be edible if cooked. Although that are probably not that appealing. Basically
Heart: Made of muscle. edible
lungs:I don't see why we couldn't try to eat them.
Liver: edible but attached to gallbladder. Don't let bile get in with the rest of the meat.
kidneys:edible
Stomach: wash out and tie off one end. We can use it to carry water.
small intestine: Use to make fat sausage.
large intestine: ... I'll figure out some use for it.
Bladder: Wash out and use to carry water.

Yeah I'll skewer the ones I consider edible.

Most of the other organs I wouldn't recognize. or would be hard to get to.(Like the brain.)

Did Perrin use something to tan the skin we got?

After I Cook the meat and eat, I'll get to work on making the stone ax heads.

"We'll need to build traps. Hunting will take a lot of energy."

Looks like good logic to me. Prepping all of it will take you several hours yet however, as they require a bit more work and in some applications care to not mishandle. It would put you to early sunset if you decide to do all of it immediately.

Perrin heat cured the back during tanning, as neither of you had tanning agents. It's not ideal, and it won't hold up anywhere near as long, but it also doesn't need materials. He emphasized getting all of the tissue off however as the most important aspect.

When you mention traps Galad asks "what type of traps are you thinking of Eli? We would have to make rope if we want any snares. We could also create cages with lures, but that'll also take a certain amount of work to fashion enough sticks into usable sections."

We should probably go ahead and prepare them because we don't have anything to preserve them.

"We can make rope using fibers from the bark of that I used to bind this frame.

Trapped cages would also be good for small game.

I have enough sinew to make a few bows. But I don't have any feathers for fetching.

I could also make some spears and spear throwers."

Galad nods and then sets about directing individuals to the tasks of preparing the fibers for the rope and carving sticks.

As the sun is setting you finish up with preparing all the organs.

Galad meanwhile has been instructing the production of two small cages for trapping and Gawyn has been overseeing the extraction of the fibers and binding them to make rope. There's enough for a small snare trap currently.

Light is going to run out fairly shortly on the day however. The cave still has the rotting smell, and Lods wound hasn't been treated yet. Also while the traps have now been made, they haven't been set up obviously.

Hmmm. I should have sent two people with the bladder and stomach to get water while I prepare the food...

"We'll set up the traps tomorrow. Tonight we need to clean out the cave and get all the rotting meat outside and over there. We'll also need to separate the usable bones from it.

We'll need to make a bowl to boil the water in to clean Lod's wound..."

If I didn't think to send some people to get water before I'll ask
"It'll take thirty minutes to go there, get water and come back. Sorry I didn't think of this before when I was preparing the food... Take two or three people to maintain the safety of numbers."

I'm wanting to make a bowl. A short piece of log already has a lot of the shape I want. I'll gather some hot coals with sticks and place them on the center of a short piece of log. Basically I'm using them to burn out the parts of the log I don't need. I should be able it work on this while cleaning the cave. I just have to make sure it doesn't burn out too much.

Once I burn out a bowl, I'll dump the hot coals into the fire. By this time they should be back with water. I'll put some water in the bowl to put out any hot spots in the bowl.

I'll select some nonporous stones and place them near the fire to heat them up. (So they don't explode from the water contained within a porous stone)
Then When they are hot enough, I'll pick them up with sticks and place them in the water in the bowl. The heat in the stones will transfer into the water and boil it. Killing anything nasty within.

I'll remove the bandage on Lod to inspect the wound. does it look like it is producing Pus or has the blood clot sealed the wound properly?

That works, so you have the bladder and stomach full of water. The stomach is leaking slowly out of the knot, but the bladder is keeping the water well. You estimate it would take about 2 hours for the stomach to fully leak out.

Your bowl works the way you expected, though it takes a good amount of time. Near the time that the sun has fully set you have the bowl and boiling water. Everyone else has managed to pretty thoroughly scour the cave as well. The smell is lingering, but you can tell it's fading.

When you remove Lod's bandage you see that it's clotting, but not cleanly. There is a generous amount of puss around the edges and the skin looks to be inflamed.

I'll use water from the stomach to boil first.

"Boiling the Water remove the risk that we'll get sick from drinking the water. So It should be safe to was a wound out with. Too bad I don't know anything about herb to help... Ok Lod, This is going to hurt a bit. I need to get the pus out of your wound and then clean it with the water."

I'll wait until the water is cooled down enough that it wont scald Lod's leg. Then I'll massage the wound to get the pus out of it as best I can. Then I'll use the water to wash it out. Then I'll cut another strip of cloth from my shirt and bandage the wound again.
(This would probably cause the wound to bleed again. Since I got the pus out the Blood should push any germs out and seal the wound properly.)

Then I'll boil some more water from the stomach.
"Go ahead and drink this. Don't want to risk getting dehydrated."

Lod nods when you mention it will hurt. He barely grimaces as you do the painful work of cleaning the wound. After all is said and done its lightly flowing blood again, having reopened at areas but nothing bad. You finish dressing the wound with a new strip of shirt and inspect your work. You think you're getting better at it

Lod takes a sip of the water before saying "That will hold me for now, you and the others did harder work than me today. You all should drink first and then I will."

"Ok. Everyone. Let's drink"
I'll have the others drink their part and then I'll drink my own.

"We should divide into three watches and then get some rest."

While I sleep, If I suspect that I am in a dream I can control, I'll pinch my arm to test if I am in the dream world. If I feel pain from the pinch, Then I know that I am in the dream world.

It takes a few iterations of heating up and letting the water cool before everyone has had enough to drink, but morale is higher afterwards.

The night passes uneventfully and you have no memory of any dreams come the morning.

I'll Get up and stretch for a bit. Then fix the fire if it needs any attention.

If we have any meat left I'll cook it up for the others and then set the bear skin to tan near the fire.

I'll also check Lod's wound to see how it is healing

What season is it by the way? I think it would be summer by this point.

Was there any feathers with the bone and rotting scraps we took out of the cave? The bear might have killed a few birds. If so I would have saves the feathers to use in fetching arrows

"We need At least one person here to tend the fire and Tan the bear skin. I don't like leaving anyone alone. so we also probably need another person here doing something... Maybe try to burn out a bucket from a log. Or working to make tools for the rest of us. I know stone axes would be useful all around...

We also need to set up the traps you made on the game trail and set up snares in strategic places along the trail.

I could make some spear throwers and spears to help us hunt. I could also try to make some bows and arrows.

what does everyone think?"

There is a small amount of cooked meat left from the previous day. You all ate as heavily as you could per your instructions so it's not all that much left.

Lod's leg is stiff this morning, but healing well. You think the stiffness is only temporary.

You don't find any feathers. The meat all seems to be of smaller animals foolish enough to wander into the den and some fish.

Several members of your party mention a bucket or two would be helpful, getting water was one of the more time consuming tasks.

Gawyn mentions "none of us have made stone tools before, you will need to show us the proper technique. Perhaps once you do we should all work on making one so we all have a tool out there, improper use of our blades will dull them quickly."

"er... I've learned to make stone arrowheads. I should be able to apply it to making stone knifes and stone ax heads. Everyone, Select a haft for your ax. You'll probably want one that is about three or four feet long."

I'll select a piece of stone that I think will make a good ax head. Basically a stone with a flat face that is about 6 inches in diameter, preferably with an more oval shape.

Then I'll show them how to flake off stone slivers to form the beginning on an edge.
Then I'll Hit with another stone so that the entire oval comes off the stone and is about an inch thick

Then I'll flake off the other side to form the edge of the Ax head.

Then I'll select a piece of wood that is suitable for a ax haft. I'll Bind sinew or rope around the haft about 9 inches from the end. then I'll split the half in half on that end using my knife. The split shouldn't go past where I wrapped it Then I'll place the Ax head in the split and then close the halves together and then Bind them together.

Let's see how well they learn how to do this.

The group as a whole learns reasonably well. Two of the first attempts result in unusable pieces of stone, but after that everyone picks it up well.

Dahvin seems to have taken to it particularly quickly. His came out nicer than the entire lot, including the demonstration. He also seemed to enjoy the work.

At the end of about an hour and a half though you all have workable stone ax's.