Solo Jungle Days

[Jei]

Jei of the Dancing Dagger
12th of Summer, 518 Years after the Valterrian

Any dedicated, disciplined soldier woke when Syna’s rise. Their body was a trained clock, ready to move and act as if they'd been awake for hours. Jei was no different. As Syna peeked over the swells of the Suvan Sea to Syka’s east, Jei's eyes slid open smoothly, staring at the roof of his tent. Where those who hadn't been trained as a soldier would have stayed in their cot for more than a few chimes, the Myrian was up within three ticks, getting out of his cot and folding it up along with what few blankets he used. He set the sleeping paraphernalia to it's designated place, keeping the inside of his tent looking as neat as it always did.

It took him no more than a chime to get his clothes on, pulling on his underwear, pants, long-sleeved shirt, socks, boots, and jacket in what seemed like an eased, practiced motion. He wanted to spend less time on dressing and more on preparing his pack, which would take more time and more consideration.

Jei planned on staying the day in the nearby jungle wilds, exploring the fringe and maybe a little beyond, if he felt confident. He didn't know how different these nearby jungles were compared to those near Taloba, but without much of a militant leadership in Syka, he had the day to himself and felt he needed to do it. So he sat in his tent with his pack, emptied, in front of him. He didn't want to sleep the night there, so he didn't need a tent or his bedroll. But what he did need was the basic survival gear.

He counted out about fifty hands of rope and cut it free with his dagger, coiling it and placing at the bottom of his pack. His tarp went next, folded so that it'd take as little space as possible, though the pack was nearly full. Next went in his extra torch, in case the one he kept immediately on hand needed to be replaced. His flint and steel went into his pocket. One of his smaller daggers, sheathed, was strapped to the side of his lower leg, while the other, also sheathed, was strapped to the underside of his right forearm. He had little practice with them, but they were better than nothing. His favored weapon, though, the double-bladed dagger, was placed into the small loop he'd created on the back of his pants for it, so that it hid under his jacket.

Satisfied with his preparation, he left the tent. He could see the torches of the main area of the settlement a little ways away, but there wasn't much activity quite yet. That was fine, though, as he didn't need to speak with anyone until later in the day. For now, though, he took the flint and steel from his pocket and the second torch he'd left out and knelt.

He didn't have much practice setting fires, but he'd seen it done before. He had to strike the flint against the steel to create sparks, sparkes which would light the flammable material at the end of the rather thick wooden stick. He crouched and stabbed the torch into the sand so it stuck out, and prepared to hit the steel with the flint, before he waited.

Did he need it yet? His mind thought back to when he was back in Taloba, learning how to survive in the wilderness with his schoolmates. He couldn't remember a time when anyone used a torch early in the morning, as Syna was rising. And material wasn't infinite, so…

He placed the flint and steel back in his pocket and pulled the torch out of the ground. He'd conserve the light source until it was necessary, and it wasn't yet necessary.

(WC: 634)

[Jei]

Traveling closer to the treeline, the man glanced up towards the towering trees. Falyndar’s jungle life never ceased to amaze the man, even if he'd been born in Taloba. The strength, benevolence, and perfection of the Divine could be seen in the graceful deadliness of the land, in the unique wild of its creatures. Nothing of such a magnificent magnitude could be replicated or remotely imitated by mortals of any caliber. Not without Their help.

And the thought of mortality was what reminded forgetful Jei of a rather essential part of surviving in the jungle, or even the fringe. Food. He'd forgotten the rations he had packed away, the dried meats and fruits meant to get a soldier through extended periods where hunting wasn't an option. He could have smacked himself with how stupid he'd been, nearly forgetting it. He turned back and immediately began running to his tent.

The sand proved something of a problem as his arms and legs pumped to move his body. The front of his feet sunk into the sand with each impact, and he was forced to do an odd variation of running; it was more leaping and bounding forward, really, trying to get as much distance with as few moves as possible. He made it back to his tent in decent time, but the exertion caused his forehead to sweat, the shin now shiny with the liquid. It was right, though, he thought, as he grabbed the food. He shouldn't have been so unprepared.

Ten chimes later…

His heart began to thump a bit harder in his broad chest as he broke the treeline and stepped into the fringe of the jungle. He'd never explored the wild on his own before, always had gone with his teacher and other students or at least another Myrian. Where before there were multiple eyes watching his back, he was on his own.

The thought caused his eyes, ears, and nose to go into overdrive. His gaze never remained on one thing for too long, his head never remained straight for more than a few ticks as his ears drunk in the sounds of the jungle. He'd yet to cross any animals, but the bugs were numerous.

In his short walk, he'd stopped to kneel next to a decently large rock. He overturned it just to see the small crawlies scatter at the sudden exposure, their varied forms of movement causing an explosion of motion. He'd considered taking a few of the juicer ones and eating them, but he figured it'd be a better idea to wait until later to collect them and take them to someone who might know for sure. Eating random things in the jungle wasn't safe, and he was, at least, smart enough to know that.

What was safe, however, was marking his path. He'd walked no more than few yards into the jungle before he drew the knife on his forearm and cut an arrow into the tree. It pointed back to the beach and he was ready to walk away before he turned back and placed another arrow on the opposite side of the tree, making sure both scars were large and easily seen from a ways away.

At that particular moment, he could hear a faint roar of some incredibly distant creature. He could have missed it if he wasn't so focused on remaining quiet. It was to his… He looked back towards the beach, where the sun would be rising. If that was east, then… He pointed north with a small motion of his finger, then towards the direction the sound had come from. Deeper in the jungle, towards the west. Maybe a bit south, as well, but more west. So that's where he wasn't going, and turned to the north.

(WC: 632)

[Jei]

And so he went. Every few yards he'd mark out an arrow on his path, back to the direction he'd went. He made sure that every marked tree was in view of the previous one, so that the trail was almost too clear for people. It made him the slightest bit worried that something could follow it, but anything smart enough to read an arrow would probably have been in contact with the settlement long before he'd arrived.

Jei never went too deep into the jungle. If he strained, he could still hear the waves of the Suvan in the distance, so he still considered himself in the fringe of the jungle rather than the deeper part. He wasn't sure he could survive the deeper part just yet, he knew, so he didn't push his bounds just yet. But he needed to be more prepared.

He got to his knees and touched the ground. The jungle was a humid place, a hot place, evidence being his body temperature and the sweat that he could smell wafting from him. And if he could smell it, then animals with a stronger sense of smell could track it. The stench of humanity was hard to rid, but he had an idea.

The jungle itself had a distinct smell. It was fresh and earthy, it was wet yet dirty at the same time. The floor of the jungle wasn't hard ground, but more of ground becoming mud. It was scoopable, and could be smeared and spread, with some work. And it smelled like the jungle, probably more than anything else, from the scents he got from bringing a handful of the mud to his nose. He removed his pack, his jacket, and his shirt, placing them all a foot or two in front of him. With his upper body bared, he used his fingers to dig up more scoops of the mud.

The Myrian applied the earthy, thick material to his body. He smeared it across his shoulders and arms, under his arms and on his sides. It took a bit longer to get his torso, and his back even longer and probably didn't look as even, but it would do. Next he put some in his hair, the layer of thick mud providing some protection against the heat. The last bit went to his face, where he covered everything except for his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

The human scent was, more or less, gone from him now. He smelled more of the jungle than he did a man, and that was the point. He'd be harder to track by scent, and the dark appearance of the mud made him blend slightly with the ground.

His train of thought didn't stop there, however. He looked at the green plants growing all around him, their distinct color giving him something of an idea.

He plucked handfuls of the leaves and plantlife, so he had a mix of greens, browns, reds, and yellows in front of him. Jei stared long and hard at the items, before he simply scooped them up and pressed them to his chest. The idea was to kind of paste them to his body with the mud he'd applied a few chimes ago, so that he looked more like a plant.

(WC: 550)

[Jei]

The results were… Mixed. A decent portion of the leaves stuck to his chest, but more of them simple crumpled against his body then fell away to the ground when he released them. Parts of the mud could be seen, but parts were covered by plants, giving him a bit of both.

He wasn't quite sure what to do past that, though. He tried smearing some mud into the back of leaves and then smacking them to his arms, which had greater success, but they looked crumpled, dirty, and stepped on by the time he was finished. He was like a patchwork jungle monster and it wasn't extremely satisfying. It would do for now, though, as he couldn't even smell himself anymore, which had been the original goal.

He folded his shirt and jacket up and opened his pack. Before he put the clothing inside, he placed his dried foods to the side so that they'd still be on top. Oh, but now one thing keeps leading to the other….

As he put his dried food back and closed his pack, putting it back around his arms and shoulders, he remained on the ground, among the suffocating quantity of plants. It was… interesting how much he wanted to try and eat a few of these plants, but even children knew that was a dumb idea. Plants were as dangerous as animals in Falyndar and it wouldn't help if he died while out exploring. The goal was reconnaissance, not death by stupidity.

All the same, however, he knew that having a strong knowledge of edible plants was important to survive anywhere. Edible plants and animals, but he didn't want to run into any creatures just yet. There would have to be someone in Syka that knew what was good to eat and what you don't touch, though, and taking stuff back to them to go through would be a good idea.

It'd have to be later, though, as he wasn't totally ready to leave just yet. He needed to be sure he could survive at least a night out, and fire was important for that. He knew fire held many creatures at bay, so fire was a necessity. If the air itself wasn't so damp and wet, he'd be confident in his ability to light a fire, but since it was…

The abundance of plants and wood would be deceiving to many novice survivors, but he had a bit more competence, so he knew that the materials needed to be dry to be lit, and the wet air made dry items hard to find. He could probably retrieve the torch from his pack and light that, but he wasn't sure how long it would last and whether he'd be able to use it again. He didn't to risk it so he stood up instead, and turned back towards where his arrows were pointing.

He could see Syna higher in the sky now, but more west than east. It was past midday and, since he couldn't risk getting caught in the jungle at night, he started on the way back, using his arrows to guide him to safety.

Jei could have chuckled at the effectiveness of keeping track of his location. It felt extremely good not to be lost, so good that he kissed the knife he’d used to mark the trees before placing it back in the sheath strapped to his forearm.

(WC: 571)

[Jei]

As he walked and the sound of the distant waves got stronger, he slowed his loping gait to a stop. He was almost ready to walk clear out before even grabbing anything to take to Syka and ask around about. He needed plants, he needed bugs, he needed…. Stuff.

First and foremost he needed something to use to carry all of these hypothetical bugs and plants and whatnot, but he didn't have any extra containers on him. It was something he had to remember to purchase and keep on him for next time, but for now, he had to improvise, which he was rather good at at, in his humbly smug opinion.

He waited until he was next to a large rock that would no doubt have a million different bugs under it for his browsing. Jei got to his knee next to it and pulled his pack from his off of his back and removed his shirt and cut away a few hands worth of rope. He used the length of rope and scrunched up the top of the shirt, where the arms and neck would be, and tied it off so that only the waist of the garment was open.

With his new shirt-bowl-creation in hand, he lifted and pushed the rock back, giving him an eyeful of multicolored bugs. His fingers moved quickly, catching and squeezing the heads of bugs before they could get away. Critters without heads, just like any other living thing, were no longer living, and easier to collect, so he focused on that before he out anything inside his creation. He tried to get as large as variety as he could with limited resources. The resources being his own two hands.

When he was done, he had about a dozen different things. Millipedes, beetles, worms (who didn't have a head to squeeze but still didn't move very fast or very far), centipedes, spiders, and a few he couldn't quite name. Either way, they were all freaky looking and probably more than one could be consumed, so he gingerly picked up the dead insects (and worms) and put them into the shirt giving a nice little layer of the things at the bottom.

With his mass killing over, he was done with the bugs. The juices he'd gained on his fingers grossed him out slightly, and he most likely wasn't going to be very comfortable with eating many of them, but still…

He got to his feet and started on his way again. He hadn't tied off the waist of the shirt yet so he simply began plucking leaves and plants and flowers from the ground and branches and vines. The crusty layer of mud on his hand gave him some protection from thorns and the like, which wasn't something he'd thought about, but was still no doubt grateful for.
He easily filled the shirt with mundane plants and whatnot to ask about, and he didn't yet know about all of the better fruits and where to find them, but it was a start. And he felt proud as he stepped out of the jungle and onto the beach some distance away from his tent and the settlement, making his way back through the sand to go and find out what he needed to know about the creepy crawlies and growing things in his shirt. Even if he did look like a patchwork jungle monster.

(WC: 571)

[Okara]

Grades and Awards Jei Experience Observation 4 Planning 1 Running 1 Endurance 1 Wilderness Survival 3 Land Navigation 2 Camouflage 2 Foraging 1 Lores Wilderness Survival: Be Prepared for Your Trek Wilderness Survival: Don’t Eat Random Things in the Jungle Land Navigation: Marking Trees to Signal Your Path Land Navigation: Using the Sun to Tell Direction Camouflage: Using Mud to Cover Your Scent Camouflage: Using Local Plants to Blend In Foraging: Look for Bugs Under Rocks Misc Rewards or Injuries (+)A shirt full of random bugs and plants Notes It was fun to read Jei’s first foray into the jungle! I was super tempted to award you rashes from touching random stuff you don’t know about. It might also help next time to specify how many unknown bugs and plants you found so there is a specific number to award so your inventory doesn’t end up questionable. Overall though it was a nice read, with all the experimentation I can already see that Jei is a brave and slightly reckless PC. PM me if you have questions or concerns about your grade. Please edit your post in your grade request to reflect that it has been graded. PM me with any questions.