Solo Jungle Hospitality

[Taren Coballon]

64th day of Summer, 518

Taren started off by taking a short path behind the community areas of Syka and headed up towards the maw within chimes of dawn breaking on the horizon, even though he wasn’t cutting an actual trail to use yet he practiced navigating in the jungle. Even though his actual intent was scouting for a piece of land to claim as his own, after spending a couple of nights on the beach which he enjoyed but it also appeared the beach was popular among the Sykians and he preferred to have a bit of privacy or at least when he wanted it. He had decided to scout the area and see if he could find an area that up in the jungle that would suit his wants and needs. So after he had left the community center he had trekked up into the jungle and just started to wander around in the jungle and checked out the area behind Syka and hopefully without getting himself lost.

The chimes and even bells passed as Taren searched the jungle for a location that suited him. Even though he was not cutting a true trail, he watched for anything of note without running into dangerous, and most importantly not getting himself lost. Fighting all the underbrush took more time then he realized as he hacked a little here or there to make his way when he couldn’t go around and often a bit or marking to let him find his back if needed as the fresh hacks were easier to see. Eventually he made it as far as the Syka River where he switched directions and headed upstream, but it also gave him a good bearing on where he was .

Sometime in the afternoon, he found a small tributary feeding the larger Syka River, while a nice breeze blew up the river and tributary. Taren found a small crystal clear pool fed by a small waterfall where he could even watch the fish swim around and within sight of the Syka River as well. A small clearing surrounded the pool down to where it opened up into the larger river allowed sunlight and the breeze to make it much more comfortable in the heat. Regardless he quickly dropped his belongings and rinsed off in the cool waterfall. Although he didn’t know if it was safe to drink yet, the water was flowing nicely with no odd smells or algae growth that he could see but he decided his waterskins would be a better choice for now.

Taren thought this would be a good place to set up camp so he left his belongs at the pool and went for quick walk of the immediate area to find several different fruits trees within a short distance along with undisturbed jungle for as far as he could see. The only trails he found were of animals coming to the water above and below the falls, the surrounding jungle seemed alive with living creatures and the birds seemed to flock to the trees. Within a stones throw of the waterfall, he found a small natural cave in the hillside, although not very big at all but it would allow a two or three people to lay down in it but it wasn’t even as tall as Taren and it did taper down further in the back.

Thanks to Gossamer for the boxcode

[Taren Coballon]

Taren returned to the pool and his things where he found a couple of trees close to the water where he proceeded to stretch and hang his hammock in the shade of the trees. The heat of the day was upon him and the dense jungle seemed to intensify the heat and was more than a little irritable, hungry, and a little tired from his earlier trek around the jungle so he pulled a bit of fruit out of his pack and sat on the edge of the pool to have a bite to eat. Afterward he pulled off his boots and equipment to rinse off again in the waterfall and then laid down in his hammock to rest a bit while the bit of breeze kept him a little cooler as he listened to the different birds call above him and water run beside him.

Taren hadn’t meant to fall asleep but he had and now he woke after a couple of bells had passed he believed since he wasn’t sure where Syna actually was in the sky. As he looked around at his surroundings again, he noticed that the wildlife did not seem to to have much fear of him at all. A whole flock of various birds watched him from the trees while looking around the jungle floor and trees revealed several different kinds of reptiles that watched him from tree or from underbrush and the fish were still swimming in the pool. Taren found the whole scene was quite relaxing and calming which was exactly what he was wanting in a location. As he stood up, he stretched the sleep out of his body to get himself moving again he decided he would need at least a small area cleared of underbrush if he wanted to stay here long at all.

After he strapped his sword and lakan back on his hip, he pulled his boots back on, and grabbed the half hatchet from his pack. Switching between his sword for quick swipes thru the foliage and the hatchet for the larger stalks he proceeded to clear the underbrush around the pool and made a few different piles around the area and back away from the pool. One pile was made up of the larger leaves he picked up in the area, another pile was of all the vines he found and pulled down, with any branches and limbs next to it, and finally a pile that encompassed everthing else. He started at the pool and slowly worked circles out from around the hammock and then downward toward the Syka so the breeze that ran down the Syka would reach him better and he continued until his arms were sore and he could barely lift them but he knew he couldn’t stop entirely yet. The work was hard and tedious but the bells passed quickly and he was rewarded with a large clearing around his hammock and a small path down the sides of stream.. For tonight, he decided that would be enough as he still needed to prepare other things for the night like a fire pit and he needed to find and make dinner yet.

Thanks to Gossamer for the boxcode

[Taren Coballon]

Next thing Taren needed was a fire and after a quick inspection around the area he realized he had a real problem. Everywhere he dug down at all, revealed that the ground was way to moist for a fire so he knew he had a real problem. Taren leaned back on a tree while he looked around and tried to figure out what he needed to do to get a fire going. The chimes passed and Taren walked around looking for options he could come up with, he had found some wood for a fire but not a lot, maybe he could place enough wood down to keep the fired dry long enough to cook but he wasn’t sure if his fuel would last long enough for that and he didn’t like switching one problem for another, even with it being an easier problem to deal with. He would if he had to but he hadn’t given up yet.

While looking on the other side f the pool of the waterfall, Taren noticed a large rock that looked that looked like it had a flat side. It was large and looked really heavy but he went and looked at it and he wasn’t able to put his arms completely around it either. Even with all his strength he was not able to pick up the rock by himself, he found it incredibly hard to move the rock at all even with trying to roll or flip it on its side but he was able to move it slowly. Although it took the most of a bell, he eventually was able to move the rock of the edge of the pool and get it maybe six or seven meters from the water and up a very slight hill which put it maybe half a meter above the water.

Happy with where it sat, he grabbed his hatchet and started to dig down into the dirt beside the rock. He proceeded to dig down and make the hole large enough for what would be the bottom of the firepit which would leave the flatter side up. After about ten chimes, he had a large pile of dirt on the opposite side from the rock and felt it would be right but he knew he would only have a single chance to get it correct. To be certain he took an additional few chimes and made sure the sides and bottom were all clean and smooth. Then he grabbed the sides of the rock and started to rock it into the hole until it started to slide down on its own. As it started to slide, Taren attempted to hold one edge up to keep a slight angle to the table but it hit the bottom with a resounding thud that even quieted the birds.

The jungle became eerily quiet for a moment before the birds started in again and proceeded to chatter at Taren as if it was his fault. As he inspected the table and realized that it sat flatter than he desired. Anytime it rained, the water would sit on top and put out the fire, so he tried to wiggle it around a bit and get one edge slightly lower but the rock was way too heavy for even his strength. Using his foot and eventually the majority of his weight he finally nudged it down enough to make himself happy. With the rock sitting where he wanted, he scooped some of the dirt back into the gaps between the rock and the ground.

Thanks to Gossamer for the boxcode

[Taren Coballon]

Taren rinsed off in the water while he listened to the birds call above him and then proceeded to sit down on the rock and rested for a moment. As he looked around a rather large red bird with yellow and blue wings, possibly a parrot he thought, sat on a branch near him and watched Taren intently as it squawked at him. Taren ignored the bird and removed his flint and steel from his pack and gathered some tinder to make a fire up on his newly made pit. With hatchet in hand he went to the wood pile and found a few smaller pieces and some larger pieces before going back to start the fires. Using the tinder, the fire started quickly and he sat there and tended to it until the larger pieces had a decent blaze going all the while he listened to the occasional squawks above him. The parrot seemed incredibly interested in him and not scared of him in the least, he had never seen animals so inquisitive of people before.

While the fire burned by itself, Taren ran up and down the stream as he quickly found rocks to ring the fire with and later hopefully cook some food. After the fire is ringed, he restocked the fuel with most of the fuel he had and pulled the last of it close to the fire before he grabbed his spear and headed for the water. As he walked slowly up the stream he looked for larger fish he might have a change to spear, he had seen some earlier but hadn’t gone after them which he now wondered if that was a mistake.

The first fish he saw was on the opposite side of the pool from him. He drew back the spear and released it with his full strength and immediately regretted that action as the spear didn’t even get close to his mark. He didn’t have the skill to throw the spear yet so he waded across the pool which only reached slightly above his waist and retrieved his spear. Still finding fish in the area, Taren throws a second time and again succeeded in only scaring the fish. He quickly realized throwing the spear was not going to work so he moved out of the pool and stood over it and waited several chimes for the fish to return. This time he waited until a largish fish stopped near him, this time he planned to jab at the fish with the spear, he lowered his grip on the spear to give him a longer reach. When he attacked, he again missed the fish and out of frustration he jabbed several times at the other fish to break down into a long run of swearing.

Frustration and anger wasn’t helping him at all and it really made his temper flare which he knew it was not the time for that so he sat his butt down in the shallows of the water and attempted to relax. He spent several chimes to slow his breathing and he listened to the water splash off the falls which slowly allowed his meditation to help regain his composure. Taren stood back up and waded back into the deeper water. Taren practiced a couple of thrusts into some weeds on the bottom, when he realized it worked much better from below the water.

Thanks to Gossamer for the boxcode

[Taren Coballon]

Taren stood motionless in the water as the chimes passed, spear tip resting on the bottom of the pool as he laid in wait.Eventually as the fish started to return, he pulled the spear slowly off the bottom but still held it under water as he waited now very patiently. As a larger fish started to near him he tensed his muscles as he prepared to strike, since he didn’t want to miss another one so he waited with his arms and hands high on the spear until it was an easy strike. As the fish leisurely swam and neared his own feet, Taren jabbed at the fish with one strong downward strike until his hands hit the water. Taren looked down hopefully to find that he had indeed speared the fish and then sunk his spear into the pool’s bed with a grunt of satisfaction! He dropped down into the water to grab the spear on either side of the fish so it couldn’t get off. He quickly pulled it up and made towards his campsite with a pleased grin on his face.

As he set the spear down next to the fire, he noticed the fire was mostly out but he had a nice large bed of coals in its place which was perfect for his need. After he tossed the last couple of pieces of wood on the fire, next he went and grabbed a large tree leaf and rinsed it off with a bit of water skin before he stretched it out beside the fire. He pulled his sword and lined up the stones as close together as possible with the coals in the middle, before sheathing his sword. Then he extracted the fish from the spear and walked a short ways downstream and almost to the Syka River before he gutted and cleaned the fish with his lakan and let it wash away downstream. Back at the fire, he wrapped the fish up in the leaf and set it up on the rocks to cook before he cleaned off both the spear and his Lakan from the fish.

As he waited on the fish to cook and while he had a little light left in the day. He went a gathered another armful of wood in case he needed it later and he also picked a few mangoes off a nearby tree that he had found earlier and thought they might add a little extra to his meal. When he returned to the fire he turned over the fish to cook the other side as well and then stacked the wood off to the side of the pit but within easy reach of the fire as well. Taren extracted the torches from his pack, in case he needed fire and set them next to the the fire. Afterwards he dug down into the pack and removed his snares so he could smoke them to get rid of his smell.

Taren relaxed for another few chimes before he pulled the fish off to the side of the pit to cool while he threw on the greenest leaves he could find and let the fire smoke as he set the snares up next to the fire and let them be covered by the smoke. Taking his fish over to a tree, he put his back against the tree and unrolled his fish onto the leaf it was wrapped in where he greedily ate the entire fish. The fish was slightly burnt and actually rather bad but it filled his stomach enough so he would not go to bed hungry tonight. After he finished off one of his water skins, he proceeded to lay in his hammock and listened to the noises of the jungle as he fell asleep.

Thanks to Gossamer for the boxcode