Frakk you too, continent

Senkar woke up in his little camp. There was no reason to wake up anywhere else, but he still felt oddly dislocated due to his Dimensional Rift experiences so it was reassuring to see the same thing in the morning as in the evening. The bonfire’s ashpile was still warm, and he considered starting a new fire to eat something warm in the morning, but he could not be bothered to collect more firewood first. Everything was still somewhat damp, and the sun was just licking the horizon line.

He recalled the events of the previous day. Ah, right, the swim and the stars. Right. Uh… what do I do now?

He decided to start with breakfast. Thinking on an empty stomach never worked for him, and he would need energy for the rest of the day, whatever he would decide.

The morning was somewhat cold, but he suspected it was mostly because of the humidity in the forest and the clouds rolling in from the east. He could see wisps of fog in the distance, deeper into the forest, when he squinted his eyes. I want that fire after all.

An hour later, when the fire started crackling merrily on the wood and a tin cup stood near it to boil water for tea, Senkar decided to not stand idly and climbed up on the same tree he had at night. Last night I learned I’m to the north from the starting point, so maybe I go south from here. He turned south to see what kind of terrain awaited him, but his eyes immediately went to what was in the far distance.

Mountains. Snowy tops. Sorostade kingdom is bordered by a mountain chain to the north. With this realization, he started scanning details in the mountain peaks and ridges with his eyes. And he noticed a familiar trio of peaks standing up like a trident. He had never seen them from the northern side, but Rockbase’s smart people had drawings taken from the south. Then they built models with clay based on those drawings, and had the Divers look at them from every possible angle in case they needed to use them as landmarks for orientation. And what do you know, they were right. Again. He blessed Esther, Alza, CaptainBlasta, Trev, and a few others for this foresight. They need to be hired by NASA or something.

He estimated the distance to the feet of the mountains at twenty to forty kilometers, which was walkable in two or three days for him - depending on the terrain and other problems - but his enthusiasm was curbed. There was a reason they never crossed the mountains from the south side. Monsters. A frakk-load of big monsters. So do I really go up there? Maybe not.

He dropped down on the ground and had a field meal. Then he reached for the parchments and drew the area he saw from the treetop, noting how the woods grew sparser to the north and revealed plains, hills, and strange criss-crossing patterns. Likely rivers. Or maybe roads? No, too many, too close to each other. There had been no signs of civilization in his immediate vicinity. In a corner of a page he also sketched the image of the trio of mountain peaks as they looked from his perspective. He had to climb the tree for the third time, this time with the drawing materials. Once back down, he spared some time for the flowers and other plants near him in case they were endemic to this area and useful for something.

His cast iron pan was extra useful - drawing a rough outline of the area was easier using a pan’s flat bottom for a desk. Still, it was very awkward, and Senkar was forced to commit several crimes against good handwriting and straight lines.

The orders. Find a way home, and/or contact other Player groups and stay there or return afterwards. He patted the bags to make sure the precious scroll-tube was still there. It was. So my priority is finding people. If I don’t see any structures like towers or anything, my best bet is smoke, unless I find any traces on the ground. Wagon tracks, footprints, trash, old campfires. I have better chances at spotting distant lights after sunset, but I forgot to look around yesterday evening, dumb gruul that I am.

He resolved to wait until next evening, but before that at noon it started raining. Heavily. Well frakk you too, continent. I don’t want to be here either. At least this time his belongings were stowed inside and protected from water.

Abandoning the plan and accepting the wet conditions with all the stoicism he could muster, he went north and north-west, but it was not a reason-based decision - he was now moving directly away from home.

—

He almost died. Twice, in fact, but he did not know it the previous time he narrowly avoided an embarrassing death. He had not even seen a proper monster yet, which now that he thought of it, was really weird. He had only seen weak, bottom of the food chain monsters and regular animals.

Senkar sat back clutching his heart, rainwater streaking down his face. He was relieved to not have died, but he was upset at losing his spear, likely forever.

A gaping chasm yawned before him, stretching more than a kilometer in both directions; so far, in fact, he could not see its ends. It was like a crack in dried mud, but on a colossal scale. He had almost dropped right into it because of the thick bushes and the downpour obstructing his view. He was a hair’s width from sliding down there due to the wet foliage underfoot.

A second wave of shock came through him when he realised he had been wandering around after sunset the day before. How close could he have been to one of those cracks?

He removed the backpack to keep the center of his mass low, and crawled to the edge to peek down the chasm. It was deep, and a tumultuous river was now swelling up on the bottom. No chances of survival. No chance of descending down there and retrieving the weapon. No chances of jumping over that gap.

I’m an underleveled character in a hostile area, with no primary weapon, and limited arrows for a shortbow, and now even the ground underfoot is trying to kill me. Cool. Northwest it is.

He picked himself up, gathered his belongings, and turned to leave. Then the wet ground underneath him collapsed, slid down the ravine, and became part of the tumultuous river.