[Flashback:Solo] A little bit of work I

[Antar]

9th day of spring, 511 av

The sun beat down on the Sunberthan forests this day as Antar worked. The springtime weather wasn't as unbearable as it would be in the summer, but still the back of his shirt hung damp with sweat. For the moment, he was taking a break, drinking some water from his flask as he surveyed the task ahead of him as the woodsman's axe, from the shop lay at his feet.

The brothers had wanted him to fell down a few of the smaller trunked trees, making sure they were at least ten feet in blocks and he'd brought his horse Dawnstride to help pull them in a tethered harness. The task was even more daunting then one might think as judging which of the oaks, maples, and firs about the area were of the right thickness and age. The older brother had given him a knotted rope as a measuring guide. It was knotted at each foot and was used as a grounding tool to find which trees were what were acceptable for his tasks.

That was the hard part of his first day on the job, getting used to all the tools of the trade. Left handed and right handed hook knives for small carving jobs, a birch handled crook knife for digging in and tearing small branches away by levering them out of the base trunk. A clipper knife for cutting shearing smaller branches. A small chip knife for base carving, much like a chisel, but also used for pruning with an Awl for hole punching should he need to loop some rope through something. To round out the smaller implements there was the two handled scrawl knife, chisel , round grafts. These were the smallest tools of the trade, sometimes used for carving, but only rarely used for the actual chopping and felling of wood and only then in specific circumstances.

Then he got into the interesting items of the trade, the bill hook.

The bill hook was a curved blade, used for hacking off branches and was complemented nicely by larger scrawls, used for debarking. Flat heads, which was a sloped edge, with a flat top base on one side, and a head for knocking in pegs on the other. He'd been expained that it was only used later in the priming process after the trees were chopped down. Fros, used for splitting wood, and cleaving.

Then came the axes, a large forest axescandinavian forest axe, most common type in use with a distinctive handle for when chopping wood.With a large well recognized 'wide blade'. Usually with a 3-4 lb head. A larger, tree felling axe with a straight top with a five pound head and to round it all off, the ubiquitous large saw for when the other tools didn't work if the wood was far too dry.

Noth had also been given a few choice words of advice- always cut away from yourself, and if he whittled, never whittle between his legs, always away from the body as a single mistep could put a knife into one's thigh or into an artery. That was one injury the rogue hoped never to recieve... because it would have been procured by his own stupidity and not from an enemy he'd be taking down.

He never imagined in his life before today, that the task required so much knowledge. And his mind was trying to soak it all up like a sponge. Just chopping down trees haphazardly was kind of deceptive in a way. There was much more of a skill to it then Noth had first realized.

First, one had to identify which trees were suitable in size. Getting close through needles or splayed branches to the trunks was somewhat difficult. One had to force themselves past the knotted boles in the wood, sometimes getting pricked by sharp branches, all to get close enough to the trees themselves. Once one got close to the tree in question; be it pine, oak, poplar , maple or birch it still might be for naught if the measurement wasn't quite right, or the tree was rotten.

He'd been shown a trick, a means of takind the back of his woodsman axe and tapping lightly on the bark of the tree in question. If the tree had a mellow sound from the hit it possesed a good chance of not being rotten, the wood was neither too wet or too dry. If it was dry the hit would come back as clacking, or if two wet, it would sound low in tone like a beating on the edge of a watermelon.

It wasn't a perfect system of differentiating the good wood from the bad , but it did seem to pan out more times then naught. Finishing his draught of water, Noth looked at the cove of trees he was to survey and decided to get back to work.

[Antar]

Noth sauntered over to the first tree checking the area around the copse. There were several good trees which looked close to what he'd been shown to gather, about three knots round. But he was concerned with espying what the brothers had warned him to call a 'widowmaker'. A tree blown down by a storm in a manner which left it leaning against another tree.

The brothers had called it a 'widowmaker' because if one person tried to cut it down from below they had the tendency to fall and crush them. Even a small diameter tree would fall with hundreds of pounds of force to any fool which took shelter underneath it. He'd have to remove that first to safely work in the area.

Luckily, he'd been instructed how to deal with them and what he'd need, hence why he'd brought Dawnstride- his horse along. Noth was shown how to tie two different knots in rope earlier that morning. The first being a square knot, and the second being half-hitch followed by at last a taughtline hitch.

The Square Knot was an easy knot to make, just a looping of the corded rope right over left, and then left over right to look like a sideways pretzel of sorts. The third was a bit trickier, but he'd gotten it after his fifth trythank god for being in scouts . With the fourth knot he'd been shown to use was called a timber hitch. All in all it seemed an apt name for where he was working in the forests near sunberth and the knots in question he figured would be useful later on if he took any 'second story' jobs.

The second was a half-hitch, a simple working knot where the end you were working with was brought over and then under whatever it was looped around. Usually a pole.

The third called a tautline hitch was a useful tool of ropework, granting the ability to keep a line taut with tension as it was looped around the object. For larger items it was good to make adjustments as you went and quite easy to tie once you understood the basics: You looped the rope around the object you wanted to anchor, the standing part, bringing it back over the working part of the line before looping it under to shuttle up and through the first loop. Then you continued to loop it a second time through the top loop before anchoring it with half-hitch going in the same direction. After that, it was a matter of easing the rope forward to a desired tautness, and if you were lucky, you didn't have to redo the entire knot if it snagged.

The timber hitch was a little easier, and probably the knot he'd be tying often in the future of cutting wood. A good way of anchoring a tree before cutting it to ensure it wouldn't fall onto his skull. It was simple: after you first anchor and pulling the line through one made three smaller loops around the working end of the rope after doubling the rope back on itself. Then all one did was pull the working line to tighten the timber hitch to safely secure it to whatever you were needing it tied to.

Looking at the widowmaker, Noth weighed his options and looked back to his horse, Dawnstride. The Eyktolian Desertbred wasn't normally used for rough labor, but his horse had seen him through thick and thin, and was probably one of the few creatures he trusted. She was used to pulling carriages, but one day soon, Noth was going to try to see if she could be ridden.

He had her tethered by the carriage he'd been given today for all the wood he'd cut down. But if he didn't secure the site safely, he was wondering if he'd get any work done at all. Glancing back towards the task at hand he figured he had to come to a conclusion on what to do. After a moment or two, Noth put his thoughts into action.

Near the base of the widomaker he tied a timber hitch around it's girth and walked back towards his horse, playing out the line all the way. When he got there he looped a taut-line hitch to the bottom of the saddle and went over to look his horse in the eye.

He muttered and patted the mare on the side of the cheek, talking softly to it while he held the reins tightly. Finally, he began to walk, noting the mare straining behind him as she walked after, the anchored rope slowing pulling the tree down, letting it fall slowly to rest on the forest floor. That was a good thing, he could probably trim it and send it back in the wagon for extra firewood after he got done a few of the trees his days quota demanded.

Undoing the ropes, Noth coiled it up and secured it before he re-tethered Dawnstride back to the wagon. Appreciative of his horse's value he gave her some water from his own flask to thank the horse for her hard work. She seemed to like it after stamping the ground a little and snuffing Noth's hair before trying to lick his cheek. One of these days he'd have to get the horse a saltlick as a way of thanking her.

Grabbing his bag of tools, Noth sauntered towards a tree which caught his eye and drew out the measuring cord, the one with all the knots every foot, and took a look at the prospect which might be the first tree he'd ever cut down.

[Antar]

Ever the cautious one, Noth looked around the general vicinity of the tree he was about to cut down. Trying to espy any dangers to his work, Antar checked high and low. First to ensure there were no animals inhabiting the tree he was about to cut down. Birds had a nasty habit of dive bombing the heads of those chopping down their homes, not to mention one didn't want to disturb the nests of snakes, squirrels, or even owls. All of those tended to be ornery when they were disturbed. And with trees you never wanted one being brought down to snag on another tree and become a hazard of falling on you.

Then there were the ground hazards, one had to look for divots in the land, signs of animal dens, briars, poison ivy, or anything that might be a safety hazard to the work you were doing. The brothers had rattled off a list of such things to watch for, but in the end their one and only sage advice had been to tell him to use his own common sense and ask if there were any problems.

He didn't see anything wrong with this particular tree, so it naturally followed to the next step. Measuring the trunk. Measuring a trunk was easy so long as there was nothing in one's way. All he had to do was loop the measuring rope with knots at every foot and eyeball it to see if the tree was suitable for cutting. The brothers wanted him working on the smaller trees until he got the hang of things, those in between four and five knots in diameter were acceptable. They'd handle the larger trees until he got some experience under his belt.

Finding it suitable, he got to work by planting his feet wide and swinging his axe sideways. His strikes were not the best, he missed and almost winced when the woodsman's axe handle connected with the tree until he calmed down and began to line up every chop. Noth knew he'd improve with time, even if that meants being here a season or two.

Slowly, he began to get his strikes on the mark. And the feel of the axe wedge hitting the tree began to reverberate up his arms as he awkwardly chopped out a sideways "V" into the tree. He was working on the side of where he wanted the tree to fall down, that way he'd be able to get out of the way in time. Throughout the process of felling the tree, Noth had to wet down the axe once or twice, and douse the wood of the tree as well. He'd been warned if one didn't do that , there was the chance of sparks, and the wear on the axe increased. Keeping too the task, the notch grew larger and larger as Noth was almost completely absorbed in his work. But he kept one eye and one ear out for that tell tale crack which signalled the tree was coming down.

Very soon it came down, causing Noth to scramble sideways like a crab towards the back of the trunk as the tree above tilted and then crashed to the earth with a hard hitting smack. Securing the axe in the wagon, he shuffled throught eh leather bag of tools the brothers had given him to grab the bill hook.

In one hand, it was about the same size and weight of his gladius, and as long. An enlarged knife or machete used to delimb the fallen tree. He starte with the outer branches, hacking downwards over and over again to shear the excess foliage with its leaves away. It was hard work, and he missed a few times, with the blade sinking into the soily earth away from his body. But with trial and error he began to get things right even though it took him the better part of an hour to delimb just the one tree, placing the branches in the wagon for firewood before he was left with just the trunk.

It was a decent length, stretching along the ground for about thirty feet. The brothers had said when it was down to this they wanted about ten foot pieces if possible, citing it was easier to cut into boards and firewood after that so Noth grabbed his axe again and took a stance about two and a half feet away, lining up the axe. Unlike cutting a tree from the sideways position with one's hands steadily gripped in one place around the hilt, cutting from an overhand swing required one hand anchored at the lowest part of the hilt, and one hand sliding from a point just under the axe handle on the downwards swing till it met up with the other hand. This transferred the force of the axeman's blow completely to the wood, and allowed the chopping to occur easier.

Taking his time, and alternating his cuts from one side to the other, Noth's efforts began to eat away at the wood- creating a "V' indention as he got closer and closer to chopping through. The pine was a wet wood, but he took no chances with sparks, stopping to douse the axe blade a few more times. Antar would never admit it, but he definitely felt a bit of satisfaction to the work. Especially when the axe cantered through the wood to hit the loam of the forest below. Taking care to repeat the process twice more he finally finished the tree before hauling the heavy sections up and into the wagon's bed. Much to the consternation of his horse, Dawnstride who was harnessed to it.

It had been awhile since his horse had done any work other than be his companion, and the mare didn't necessarily care for the new working arrangements. With care, he patted her on the neck and went back to his task to find another tree as the process repeated itself.

He took a break when he noted a squirrel chattering on a log nearby, taking the time to unlimber his bow from the carriage, to knock an arrow and fire. But he didn't hit anything as the bolt imbedded itself into the wood nearby as the animal scampered noisily through the underbrush before jumping up to hide itself behind the girth of a tree. 'Nothing for the pot tonight' he thought before he sighed as he went over to dis-imbed the arrow from where it stood in the bark.

He knew he'd eventually get better at hunting, it was just a matter of time. After all, an archer couldn't be blamed for missing once in a while. Even if it was irksome. Beside, his entire body hurt, and his hands stung. Working with an axe was different then swinging a sword or firing a bow. He'd develop a few callouses after today, he knew that for sure.

At the end of the day, he was tired, and with a laiden wagon, he climbed up into the drivers seat to clack the reins. Clucking his tongue to his horse to get going he took it very slow. He wasn't the best driver, but the horse knew the way as the muffled clip clop of the hooves upon the ground marked the start of the journey back to the Brothers workshop.

[Antar]

The most important thing he knew from driving a wagon, was that you always wanted your horse to be calm and your hand on the reins to be deft. One didn't want to pull on them wildly, just sawing the harness and bit in the horses mouth. That way only lead to an irritable horse, and that was a bad combination. He didn't have blinders on Dawnstride, she was a mellowed out creature, well accustomed before he got her to the noises of others, either in the city or the wilds. But, he had to make sure the reins fed through his fingers from the botom of his hand and tucked up under the thumb. He'd been told it was just like he would if he knew how to ride, and he'd be testing that out later to see if Dawnstride would carry him the rest of the way home.

He was kind of surprised, he could feel the reverberations of Dawnstride's gait through the reins, and was somehow connected to the animal in that moment when he clacked the reins are started telling her to walk out loud. All the trip back he spoke, giving verbal commands like "walk" or 'right' as he slowly guided on the reins. he ride back to the brothers place was quite pleasant in the spring time air, even if Noth kept a wary eye out for bandits and other hazards. Divots in the roads or holes he didn't want Dawnstride or the wagon to hit. Bumps with such a laiden cargo were bad, both to the stock of wood in the back, the wagon, and his horse. And most assuredly, Noth didn't want anything to happen to his horse.

The mare was a good creature, and seemed to like him very well. Furthermore, he knew she was like his business partner. He depended on her just as much as she depended on him, and that would increase twofold now that he was working for the Cutter and Carver brothers.

Coming into the shop's grounds he pulled the reins gently and shouted, "Woaaah!" The rogue was quite pleased when the horse heeded his words, and stood still, allowing him to dismount and untether her from the harness before re-saddling her. He had to clap her once on the haunch to make her exhale her breath so he could tighten the cinch a bit. It had been a rough day, and he hoped the mare had enough energy to take him back home. If not, Noth would gladly accept the half hours walk back to camp guiding her by the reins. But for now, he left her with the reins tied to a post the brothers had in front of the shop.

Turning to wave at the carver brothers, Noth gathered up the borrowed bag of tools and stowed them in the shop before turning to go back towards his horse. Before he could go, one of the brothers waved him over, "Come back tomorrow, we'll have you working in the shop a little, Noth. You'll be learning to sharpen your tools as well. Good job for a first day."

With a smile, Antar nodded and replied, "Thank you sir. I'll be back bright and early." Turning back to his horse, Noth undid the reins. Wondering if he could actually ride a bit he slipped one foot experimentally in the saddle to grip the horn and pushed himself up and his leg over into the saddle. Dawnstride whinnied a bit and stomped the ground nervously.

He had ridden a horse very infrequently, but he wondered if the mare might oblige him a bit. Waving goodbye to the brothers, Antar pulled the reins slightly to the left shouting , "Walk" to wheel her slowly around before clucking to the mare. Surprisingly, Dawnstride obliged him, shaking her mane in excitement as she hardly ever bore a rider. So he talked to her constantly , letting her hear his voice as she walked off, and eventually began to trot.

The movement of the horse would hurt his flanks in the morning, adding to the aches and pains of the day's events. But being on a horse was a peaceful experience, one he didn't really get to enjoy before. Even if it was torture on his bones as the horse's gait left him bouncing. By the end of the first mile back to town he gathered enough of an idea to move along with Dawnstride's gait, shifting as she shifted. That worked for about another mile when he settled the mare into a walk and undid his feet from the stirrups to see if he could keep his balance by clenching his legs around the horse's ribs.

Taking a bad shift, Noth fell off rolling to the ground. He was always told it was important in any fall to keep rolling, and was glad a bit of natural agility served to allow him to lessen the pain of the impact. He lay in the middle of the road, his eyes closed and his chest heaving as he heard Dawnstride slow and turn about to trot back towards him. The coarse feel of the horse's tongue on his cheek and hair made him laugh a little as the sensation forced him to open his eyes and mutter reassuring words to the mare, patting her nose before he sat up to stretch a bit.

She nuzzled him once or twice more as he sat there, forcing him to get to his feet to pat her neck in reassurance as her eyes looked at him and blinked. Common rhetoric always said, "Get back on the horse," but with slight pain of bruises from the tumble, Noth relegated himself to save that for another day. Noth knew he'd have a long day tomorrow working at the brothers shop, and he was sure going to be a little sore from this day's ordeals so he opted that the easiest thing would be to use his own two legs to get back to town. Gathering the reins up in his hand, Antar began walking back towards the town of sunberth, with his horse following at his side.

~Fin

skills evidenced :

Longbow (missed a squirrel), Driving(wagon/carriage), Riding(horse); Maybe weapon(woodsman's axe) or Weapon(gladius) for the bill hook (it's roughly the same weight and size of the gladius save its used for shearing.
Woodcutting.
Maybe bodybuilding for lifting heavy logs.
Maybe animal husbandry for dealing with his horse.
Any others you see for carpentry/woodcutting type skills.

Ropeworking? -or the equivalent lore/skill ?_?
Any others after that

As always: thank you for the read, I hope you enjoyed it

[Cantrip]

Did you want something? Antar: XP Award: Bill Hook +1; Woodsman’s Axe +1; Longbow +1; Driving (wagon) +1; Riding +1; Bodybuilding +2; Carpentry +2 Lores: Getting Wood; Life as a Manual Laborer; Woodworking Tools (basic); Rotten or Not?; Tying the Knots (basic); Fleeing from Trees; Squirrels are Elusive; Not Stealing Something, For Once. Additional Notes: A good read. I didn’t give you points for woodcutting because it seems like more simple labor, although you did make a compelling case.