Stonehammer 40k BC by teacookies

Link: https://fiction.live/stories/Stonehammer-40k-BC/2T8EhcNvoLSNfHYZr/home

Note: do to how long this first chp of the quest is its litteraly not allowing me to post it's saying it's going over the word limit so I am dividing this to two parts

Synopsis

The year is 40,000 BC. Neanderthals and mammoths walk the tundras of southern Europe, fighting over the land with humans. The icy north is forbidding. The habitable zone ranges from the north of France to the Black sea, and below.

You are a human named Kuh, the first genius. And you've never been out on this side of the river until now.

The year is 40,000 BC. Neanderthals and mammoths walk the tundras of southern Europe, fighting over the land with humans. The icy north is forbidding. The habitable zone ranges from the north of France to the Black sea, and below.

You are a human named Kuh, the first genius. And you've never been out on this side of the river until now.

You're lost and cold. You are clever but that didn't help you when the ice bridge had broken. You could not cross. You could not return from your hunt.

It's been four days of walking, looking for a sturdy tree to build a raft with. But now that you have found some you cannot go near them. Mammoths and big cats cross the frozen landscape between you and the copses of trees. But that's not all that stops you.

Worse than the big animals, there're big people. They scare you. You should never have left home to hunt on the other side of the river. But it had never not been icy. Why the day after you leave did it decide to break? These are questions you cannot answer, so you think about more practical things.

Who did you bring with you on this ill-fated journey?

You brought a small hunting party with you, those who would travel the frozen river. You look to your sister Fa and try to reassure her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We live." She's been angry ever since you came back with the dead lion to find the river flowing freely, the ice had left.

"For now." She's still mad at you. You run a hand through your hair and give her space. You all have spears, but there are many big people down at the trees. Maybe you could sneak?

You are glad to have Doc with you. He is a strong warrior and helped fight back the big people last year when they attacked. "How get?" He points to the trees, looking to you for guidance. You led everyone out here and they expect you to get them back. Your people know you are different, know that you connect things, figure things out.

"We help. Tell how." Gar has been your close friend since you could both walk. He hefts his spear above his head. "We fight?"

"No. I think." You eat a piece of the lion meat, the food you've been living off of. You smoked the corpse on a shrub fed fire when you realized that you could not return to the village.

Dice: 1d100

79 = 79

Dice: 1d100

21 = 21

Dice: 1d100

30 = 30

You think, and think, the seeds of a plan finding root in your mind like a strong tree. A tree you badly need. "Done think. We take. Make fire. Mammoths crush." You lay out your plan, gesturing to dried plants, and pointing out the mammoths. You take your fingers and act them as if they were mammoths, stomping on the big people in the distance using perspective. Other people are slow. You are clever, and so have to help them come around to ideas.

"We try." Gar is all for it once he pieces together what you plan to do, and he begins gathering dead thornbush by the armful, carefully making a pile. "This much?" You nod, and pump your fist, trying to rouse the others.

"We go. We win. We take. We live!" You keep pumping your fist, repeating the words until the rest join you, drawn in by the rhythm of your cadence. You lead your people down to the open scrub tundra where the huge animals roam lazily eating the grasses and drinking from pools of melted snow. You are sorry to have to ruin their relaxing, and hope maybe one day the mammoths can forgive you.

You light the fire from the opposite end of the field, mammoths directly between you and the camp of big people. "It work!" Gar is hollering as the flames begin to spread, the first mammoth running in fear. It trumpets a mighty cry and the whole herd picks up, stampeding after their wary leader.

"It work!" The rest of your people echo the cry, spears held aloft in victory. You join them. It's good fun.

Over the rumbling of the animals, and their cries, you now hear the cries of the big people. They flee terrified as the mammoths stomp their way through the copse of trees, to safety.

"We go. We take!" You lead your people forward, elated.

Take your stone ax to a long skinny tree

Reader Posts- Closed - 1 poster

Dice: 1d100

51 = 51

Reeeeeeeeeee close the thingy this was the 4th roll btw I'm going to post the script of bee movie next

Dice: 1d100

6 = 6

Dice: 1d100

68 = 68

Dice: 1d100

94 = 94

Your group hurries over, following the path of the fleeing mammoths. "Stay quiet." You have to repeat it a few times, but they all quiet down. You can't have the big people returning.

You hand your stone ax to Doc, as he's much stronger than you.



He looks at you blankly and spins the ax, scanning the horizon for enemies. "No. Look there. Cut down." You point him towards the tree you picked out earlier, and have Gar help him with his own ax.

"Gar help." You point Gar towards Doc.

"Gar help." He repeats back to you, before loping over and swinging away at the tree.

You turn to your sister and place a reassuring hand on her shoulder once again. This time she doesn't seem to mind. "See. We live." She nods, defeated by your ironclad logic.

"We live." She looks sufficiently contrite at her earlier behavior.

They make quick work of the tree, and you're all soon bounding far from the camp, into the safety of the hills above.

Once you feel the big people will not give chase, you tell yours to stop. Gar and Doc drop the tree and clasp hands. "We win!" They repeat at each other.

You see Fa walk over to Gar and present him with one of her skins.

"Got tree. For you." She thrusts the skin at him.

"No. Gar help. Only help." He takes the skin anyways.

You need to get more food or you won't make it back.

Dice: 1d100

31 = 31

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35 = 35

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38 = 38

You see Fa making doe's eyes at Gar, and roll your own eyes. You elbow her ribs, playfully, and when she turns to look at you, you make a show of staring longingly at Gar. She looks down embarrassed, and you give a belly laugh at that, rubbing your knuckles into her down-turned head to right her posture.

"Please. No bully." She squirms under your knuckles and straightens back up, fixing her mussed hair and looking to see if Gar saw what had happened. He makes an admirable display of looking elsewhere, but you see his grin.

"We hunt." You say, pointing at the lion. "Not last. Need more."

"We hunt!" Gar and Doc pick up the call, thrusting their spears in the air before giving each other bit of a wrestle. You join them. It's good fun.

"I stay." Fa says, heel-sitting and digging for a large, rough rock. When she finds one sufficient, she pulls out what remains of the lion and starts removing the skin with an ax, rubbing away the inside with a rough stone.

You get left behind in the hunt; they chase and you stumble over a root. Kuh is clever, but Kuh's feet are not sometimes. You spear a rabbit and mope your way back to camp, heel-sitting besides Fa. She offers to skin it.

Gar and Doc return with a deer, and you give them a large smile. You live.

-Smoke the carcass.

+Show off your rabbit as a joke.

Dice: 1d100

72 = 72

Dice: 1d100

28 = 28

Dice: 1d100

48 = 48

You look down sadly at the rabbit. All your smarts don't always mean a better outcome for you. You have bad thoughts and get upset. You overcome your mood, and hand Fa the rabbit to skin. "Thanks Fa." You reach out to pinch her cheek in a show of brotherly affection. She is embarrassed again with Gar watching. You and Gar are amused though.

Doc is chopping up the deer into manageable pieces with your ax. You gather shrubs for the fire, and ring this one with loose stones, making a cage for the fire to live in. "That good. No more." Doc has cut the meat up into the right size for what you want. "Doc. Cut tree. This much." You point to a spot on the tree, large enough to prop against the stones you built the fire under, and not burn the piece.

You start the fire, blowing life into the tinder after you scrape your flint into the fire-stone. It springs to life and begins to eat the shrubs.



"Gar help?" You look to Gar. He repeats back your request as a statement. He helps you slide pieces of the meat onto the stick Doc cut for you. You carefully place the stick between the two rocks, hanging above the fire.

"Fa. Give skins." She hands you the fresh skin of the deer that she recently cleaned and the skin of the lion. You place them above the stick so that they trap smoke near the meat.

It cooks for hours as the sky darkens. The sky fire returning to wherever it goes at night. The meat is good and you sleep, full, the four of you curling up together for warmth. Fa sleeps between you and Gar, with Doc on his side.

In high spirits from the hunt, its hard to calm them down for sleeping, but you manage with repetition.

You awake, finding Doc missing. You all still have your things, and he took his spear. He must still have the fever of the hunt and awoke early.

"Fa, help." You shake your sister awake, pinching her cheek a very little bit harder than brotherly affection demands when she turns away towards Gar's back.

"Fine." She huffs, pulling away from the sleeping Gar. "What help?" You point at the skins, and a relatively flat stone. Grabbing your ax.

She holds the skins in place while you chop off all the dangling bits, leaving some scrap skins, and two roughly rectangular pieces. "Scrape hair. All off." She goes to grab her rough stone.

While she works at removing the hair from the two skins, you take the scrap and get to work on a little something, carefully cutting out strips from the scrap. You stretch them to length and braid the thin strips together, tying off the ends. You wrap it around your torso as if it was a belt, and tie it in place. You will need something to hold together the raft.

With the last of the scrap you do the same thing, but with shorter, thinner strips, until you have a tiny version of the belt.

You wake Gar and tell him to get to work on notching and cutting down the stick, too thick to make a spear as is. "Make spear." He knows what to do, slicing with his ax to remove strips of the wood, before twisting it to keep it's thickness even all the way down its length.

You walk up to Fa, surprise ready for her. "For Fa. Big help." You point at the now cleaned skins, much easier to carry and roll up. She turns confused. "Close eyes." You grab the front side strands of her hair, and she squirms thinking you intend to bully her. But you just pull them back, and tie them together with the small belt you made, keeping her hair out of her yes with only a little of her hair needing to be tied back. "Open.'

She looks around and notices her hair is out of her face, reaching back to feel the tie. "Thanks Kuh."

You grab a stone around the right size and take the rough stone from Fa, smashing out a spearhead from the smaller stone. You shove the spearhead into the prepared notch until it begins to cut into the wood, and then use the last strips of skins to tie it securely.

"Where Doc?" Gar realizes he's missing.

"Not know." Where is Doc?

-He found a raw copper deposit and will bring you to it.

You give it some time before deciding not to worry, calming the others. "Doc strong. He safe."

You spend the waiting time affixing the leftover meat to the log, placing it towards the end that will be lifted, not the end to be dragged.

"Find thing. Not know." Doc comes hurtling through the bushes, amused. "Come look!" You leave Gar to hold up the tree and run along after Doc, dragging Fa along with you, as Doc drags you.

You find what he was looking at, a large stone. But it has reddish chunks within it. "Look." He picks up a large stone and smashes it down on the rock. The stone he holds cracks in half and the stone he smashed cracks some too. But the reddish area remains mostly intact if a little flattened. You reach down yanking off a dangling piece about the size of a fingernail and similar in shape.

"This neat. Thanks Doc." He grins at you, chest puffing out with pride.

l

Take your time and sleep after hunting.

/roll 1d100

Dice: 1d100

84 = 84

Dice: 1d100

85 = 85

Dice: 1d100

87 = 87

This area is rich with wildlife, it would be a shame to hurry away, now that you've secured the wood you need. You think back to the large animals you've seen, best trying to figure out how to hunt one. You develop a plan and put it into action.

"Doc. Lift stone. Crush ground." You have him soften the still thawing ground until you call can dig into the earth with the butts of your spears. Once you have a sufficiently sized hole, around as wide and deep as you are tall, you lay down your belt, securing it in place with two stones on either side of the hole.

Over the belt you layer on shrubs until the hole is concealed. Your people are confused by this, and weary from the digging, but you reassure them again and again that it will be worth it. "Big prey. Fall down." You still have their trust from a lifetime of usually being right, and they do as you ask.

You send everyone out to locate a large animal, to meet back here soon. You head out in your direction and find nothing, feeling discouraged as you return to the pit trap. But you're the last to return and Fa is giddy. "Huge elk!" She hold he arms out at full length, "Antler bigger. Each." That does sound impressive.

"Show where. We hunt!" You're excited.

"We hunt!" They echo the chant.

The animal is not too far away and you know that the key will be teamwork. You send Gar and Doc to the sides, having them take places where the elk will have no choice but to run towards the trap when you spook it. Unless it charges you. You try not to consider that, but leave Fa behind safe just in case. They have the wood and know the way back. They'll live.

You circle around the elk, crouch-walking through the shrubs until you're directly oppose the pit trap, the elk between. You lung at the animal, shrieking your loudest battle-cry, and throwing your extra spear at its flank. The spear lands at its mark and the animal bolts, eyeing Gar and Doc who menacingly wave their spears. It does as you expect and runs straight for he pit, falling in head first, then rebounding, front legs sinking into the softened earth.

Expecting a fight you approach warily, but the creature thrashes once, twice, three times, and lays still. On closer inspection, it's antlers caused it to snap it's own neck on falling.

The elk has meat aplenty and you intend to taste it fully cooked. "We feast!" You shout up the cry, repeating it as everyone joins in, dancing around.

"Good hunt." Gar stares at the elk, huge smile on his face. "Good plan."

You clasp a hand to his shoulder, tightening a grip. "Good help." You let go, pointing a spear at the animal, "We cook. Move first." It takes all four of you, and is only possible because of Doc's strength and the fact that the elk's antlers prevented it from falling all the way into the pit. Once it's removed and the pit is empty you hand Doc an ax so he can get to work with the butchering.

You turn to Gar and Fa. "Get thorns." You gather it with them, throwing it all in the pit. Soon the pit is full, the elk is skinned, and large slabs of meat sit on the inside of the uncleaned skin. You all slide as many pieces of meat as you want onto your spears and rest them in the skin.

You start a small fire on the edge of the pit before kicking it in, setting the thorn-brush aflame.

You all roast the meat, dangling spears over the open fire. The fresh meat drips juices into the flames, And the acrid smoke gains a scent that drives your hunger, causing you to take large bites from the meat while it is still less cooked than normal. You mange to hold yourself back and properly cook most of your food, the tasty flesh dripping oil down your beard as you gorge yourself.

After eating you dance around the fire, singing songs until darkness falls and the fire falls with it. You huddle together underneath the large blanket of the fresh fur, hair side down, and you all soon drift off to your dreams.

You awake warm and in a good mood until you see the big cat eating from your meat. Protective of your hard won prize your rise from underneath the fur where they hadn't noticed you, your scent masked. "We fight! We fight!" You raise a clamor waking the others, who draw the weapons they slept by.

You toss your spear overhead at the nearest lion. It hisses loudly reading itself to pounce but it doesn't get the chance as your weapons lands in it's shoulder. It shudders hitting the ground and dislodging the weapon before it gets up to run, limping on the wounded side. Fa throws a spear after it, but misses.

Checking the meat shows that no great amount of it has been lost, and you still have more than you can carry. You sigh in relief, this trip has been a success.

Fa looks up at you with adoring eyes. "Kuh save. You protect." You place a hand on her shoulder, then raise it to pinch her cheek.

"Just lucky. Fa safe. Kuh happy." She just smiles, and pulls your arm away.

"Use skin?" She asks. You point at the butchered carcass.

"Drag behind."

You have a plan to make an antler shield, you just need to get the antler across the river.

You interlock the tines of the elk's antlers, sliding the log through them and tying the three together with your belt until it stays. You push the hide onto the loose tines until they pierce the skin, using thorn-brush to hold the tines in place.

You move the smoked meat from the front of the log and rest it on the fur, throwing around half of the remaining cooked meat onto it. Like this, with all of you dragging two to a side, it's manageable.

You would have liked to stand besides Gar for jokes during the walk, but he had to pull from behind you, Fa and Doc on the other side to even things out. You joke with Fa instead. It's good fun.

-Build the boat and cut down more trees on the other side of the river, to make a better raft that can carry the antlers over.

+Check if antlers float? If yes, can drag on water?

You walk since morning, bellies full on meat and in a good cheer. You bully Fa a bit for laughs, but everyone has a good time and she's smiling. "River there." You point through the next hill. You always had good sense of direction. "Over hill."

Across the freezing river, there's trees aplenty, though they will need to have branches removed unlike the tall, straight tundra tree's log. You take off your belt and you get to work. "Doc. Cut here." You make a notch with the ax, and notch the log at every point you want to have him cut the wood.

You lay out the segments next to each other so that all together the logs make a rough square. You borrow everyone's spears for this, crossing two as an 'X' with the center of them being in the center of the square. Then you loop the belt around the whole raft, so that it pushes the logs together. You loop it over the raft and around the center of the spears, holding the raft together like this after tightening the belt. You take the two thickest of the segments, and push them through beneath the spears, stretching the belt to it's limit and stabilizing the raft.

You can carry one other person with you over safely at a time. You take the other two spears, carefully untying one of the spearheads. You take the headless spear and place it's top towards the butt of the other, using the spear's ropes to affix the two. Gar goes with you first, taking both axes, and you carefully pole across the frigid waters. You wouldn't want to fall in, with how cold it is, but you don't think it would kill you if it happened. As long as you didn't drown.

You reach the other side and drop off Gar, he goes to work cutting a tree. Back at the other side you collect Fa. Doc, most able to handle himself, goes last. You go to work, Gar and Doc cutting trees while you and Fa strip branches. You add two thick logs of the right size and shape to the raft, making it buoyant enough to carry over the antlers and three of you.

You leave Fa there, returning to the antlers. You roll up the hide and set it down on the raft, keeping it down by piling the meat atop it. Then you steer the craft, while Gar and Doc each hold an antler, the top halves sticking into the water. The trip back over is scary.

But you made it. You're back on the known side of the river, your home a half day walk away. It's much colder here, snow still piled heavily.

-Make a tent with the skin and sticks, and stay here for the night with a fire.

You find a relatively snow free patch of ground and get to work. You lean sticks on each other, together trying to make a dome shape and manage something decent. It's more of a cone shape, but it has the benefit that you can take the belt and tie it around the area where all the sticks overlap, holding them all in place, their bottoms dug into the ground. You toss the entire elk skin over it, fur side down. You fold the hide until you have a door-flap, and then shove small sticks through the edges, into the ground, pinning the skin, and tightening it around the wood frame. You've angled it so that the entry point of Doc's butchery is at the top, the wood poles sticking through.

You smile at your work, proud of the dwelling. This could be a permanent place to live. You light a fire outside, heating stones within it, and you drop one such hot stone into a pit you dig in the center of the tent. You all pile in and you pour water from your water-skin down onto the stone. Hot steam rises to fill the tent, and you all take off your furs, enjoying the warmth.

You take turns going outside to change out the hot stones, carrying them in the two rectangle cut hides you had Fa clean for you. You have plenty of meat to eat and heat it up over the fire. Eventually, you all pile together and rest for the night.

Take the antlers, meat and skin with you back to the tribe.8+Make antler shield before you go. l

You wake up in a warm tent, having taken turns waking up to switch the stones. The steam in the tent is such a comfortable situation that it takes all your willpower to leave the tent. You get dressed, and try to get the others to leave. "We go." But they aren't having it.

"After while." You get your people to join you only after you remove the stakes holding down the skin, and pull the skin off the frame. Their sweat-wet naked bodies exposed to the icy outside air they jump up and begin moving. "Kuh why!?" Gar struggles to get his furs on quickly.

"Warm gone!" Fa yells in dismay, as she slips back into her heavy furs. She glares at you, but you just laugh at her as she hops on one foot struggling to get her leggings on.

They could have just gotten dressed and left on their own. But this was good fun.

"Good sleep." Doc seems immune to the cold, or at least acts it, calmly putting on his furs after a long yawn.

You entangle the tines of the antlers to remake your sled, no heavy wooden log to haul this time. You fit the already made holes of the skin around some of the tines, and for good measure tie both antlers together with the belt.

You trudge off through the snow, dragging massive antlers attached to a huge skin, stacked with smoked, cooked, and raw meats. In the cold, the raw meat should still be edible if cooked or smoked. You idly wonder if food can be cooked with steam.

This was a good hunting trip.

You approach the tribe's land, seeing a few skin-tents and dug-houses among the trees of your forest. You're near the village now, and you see the healer woman silently observes you from afar. Her name is La and she always makes you feel so strange with her odd mix of being forward and obscuring her intentions. She gushes over the glorious future she says she sees for you. But you are a skeptic and don't believe her. You think she just wants to rut with you, and have a child by you, but can't just be normal about it.

Sometimes you wonder if others even realize why they do what they do.

Another of the women in your life that makes you feel weird, her assistant, is watching you with awe. Na is small and cute, and her adoration of you was a thing of humor for many years. But now she has long past gone through the change and is a proper woman. Her worshipful view of you combined with her nubile body now gives you pause and irrational thoughts, where before it gave you laughter, and you fear what you may do.

You're happy to see Kub walk towards you. He's your childhood friend and the clan's top hunter. "You kill?" His eyes grow wide as he reaches you and sets a hand to the antler sled. "Kuh. Bad hunter. How kill?" He's amazed by what you've managed to bring back.

"I cheat." You tell him of the pit trap, and the snapping of the beast's neck. He's laughing near to tears at this.

"Only Kuh. Too much." He actually doubles over in laughter, falling to the ground. He's a passionate man, who has not spent any effort learning to control his emotions. You worry about his health until he gets up, wiping a dirty hand on his furs and then wiping the tears from his eyes. "Good hunt." He clasps your shoulder in his hand, and you knock it away, clasping him back.

"Best hunt."

"No. Mam best." He's referring to the time he killed a mammoth on his own, and you roll your eyes.

Back in the village, you find Doc's sister Da. They run to each other and embrace, the large woman being able to wrap her arms around her brother, a feat you could not claim. "Da worry." She lets go and looks to her older brother, going suddenly icy. "Gone long."

"Doc sorry. Forgive Doc." Doc pleads, wringing his hands.

l

VOTESDivide your meat pile among your close friends. (The core cast)

The village dog, Ru, wanders by sniffing at your sled. You take a raw piece and throw it away a distance to distract the four legged eating machine that the children of the village cherish. But you were a child once, and the village had a dog then too.

You walk over to Da to help Doc smooth things over. "Hello Da." She turns from her brother to look at you, having to look down to do so. "Good hunt." You point to the sled. "Doc share. Forgive doc." You give her half of Doc's portion, knowing she will give it back to him later once she calms down.

"Forgive Doc." She repeats, giving her brother another hug before chewing on a piece of the smoked elk.

La and Na walk over, maintaining their distance and their stares. You sigh, knowing that with these two you must approach them first or they will be content to silently watch. You wish you could see the workings of the others' minds. But you just make do with yours and bring them each a portion of meat. "Good hunt." They reach out, palms up, to receive the gift, Na seeming respectful while La just looks conflicted. "What La?"

"Have dream. With Kuh. Bad dream." You clasp each their shoulders.

"Dream fake. Life real." You've explained this before. You get away from them after they each hug you for the gift.

Then you take a good portion of smoked meat to your grandmother. Tul was always a strict maternal figure. She instilled in you basic respect for womenfolk, and you treat them better than most because of this. Come to think of it, women treat you better than most too, maybe there was something to her methods after all.

Tul is in her cave. You enter and your nostrils flair at the smell of smoke. She sits. hurting in the knees. She burns aromatic herbs to calm herself. "Gone long." She stares you down. You stare back, a grown man now, and she looks away eventually, likely out of boredom.

"Good hunt." You hold out the gift, and she gives a rare smile, moving to stand.

"How happy. Give here." She snatches the meat bringing it to a stone bowl and grinding it down so she can eat. "Good taste. What meat?"

"Big elk." You say proudly.

"Tul proud."

Outside you find the adorable little child who reminds you so much of Na. But unlike Na, when she idolizes you, it makes you feel important, not prey. "Ao! Come here." You bend down to lift the child up as she runs to you, spinning her around to the musical ring of her giggles before you set her back down. She wobbles dizzily but finds her way back to you, clinging to your side.

"Kuh gone long time ." She says quickly. You'd spent so much time talking to her, and from such a young age, that she can hold a conversation with you. The others look on bemused, but also amused, cracking jokes about how when she grows your children will not be able to lift their big heads.

"Good to see you. I have a gift." You lead her back to the center of the village and give her a portion on the cooked meat. She hungrily eats it. "Lok not feed Ao?" You better not hear her father has been neglecting her again.

"No no. Just not eat today."

Your cousin walks over, and you give Num a hug. She is the only craftsperson better than you in the village. "Num look. We craft. Good things." You're excited. "Have gift." You grab her a portion as well, and she eyes the shoddy spear you made while out, scoffing. She takes it from your back.

"Num fix. Make better."

"Thanks Num."

You set aside a portion for he strange man who lives in the woods. He was a friend of your fathers, and you treat him well for it.

Cautiously forgive Doc, chat a bit with Da, ask how the tribe's diplomacy with others is going too (because her dad should be involved with that and likely she knows).

You give Num one last hug and tell her to enjoy the food, before going to find Doc and Da. They sit on a rock, eating the elk. You knew Da would give his portion back. "Doc Da. Where chief?"

"Not know. Try tent." She offers you some of the food and you take it, hungry now after handing out so much food.

"It fine. Doc forgiven?" You take a bite, this is freshly cooked and still dripping with oil. You savor it, hoping to hunt more later.

"Doc forgiven." She puts an arm around her brother's shoulder. He still has four inches on her, but he has a foot on you. The chief's family are all so big. At least you're clever.

"Next time. You hunt?" She sits up straighter at this, giving you a smile. She has such a symmetrical face, and pretty eyes. Looking at her makes you feel less clever and more dull.

"Da hunt. Doc gone. Not again." She nods with finality at this, and Doc just looks at you to thank you for fixing his problem.

You still have to ask her about how the meeting went with the other village that lives this side of the river. Her father is getting advanced in years and she does much of the diplomatic work. "How contact? Others fear?"

'Not fear. We trade. Good trade." She offers you more of the meat, and you see that this piece has been covered in herbs before it was cooked. The meat glistens with trapped flavor. Da is the best cook. You are good, but she is just better.

"Kuh happy. Trade good." You want to know if there are any more meetings planned but she talks before you have a chance to ask.

"Why leave? Over river. What there?"

"Beasts aplenty. Rare things." You pull out the reddish thing Doc found. "Doc found."

"Make necklace? Good luck?" Da asks. It's certainly nice enough, shining like a fish in the sun.

-Go to strange old man in the woods.

+ bring food to old man

You head out to visit the strange old man who lives just outside the villages furthest inhabitants. For years Wato has cut down a tree per week, they say. You can't know for certain, but heard that he was cutting down trees because he wanted revenge on nature for killing his beloved. Maybe she was crushed by a tree? That at least makes some sense.

You bring the portion of elk you saved for him. And walk along alone until you reach the end of the clearing. You wonder how much of this free space is owed to Wato, he must have contributed to this big open break in the trees where the villagers live.

You find him in his house. He built it with whole logs, rolling them at an angle up the side of the large rock, and sticking them in place with tar, like a large triangular lean-to. The tar pit is several days walk to the east, the opposite direction of the river. But he's made it countless times, returning with a a hollowed log filled with tar and plugged closed. He rolls it the whole way. But his house has grown little in the year since you last saw him, and you suspect age has finally caught up.

You know better than to ask personal questions, he doesn't talk about himself or what he does. But he always enjoys your company, and your gifts. Maybe it's time to ask something of him. An idea strikes you, one of those rare moments where you imagine something grand that didn't exist before. If you could get some of his larger logs, and the tar needed to stick them together, you could bridge the river, and it would be cross-able in spring and summer.

-Bring up the bridge idea and ask for his help.

"Brought gift." You hold up the skin bag which holds the elk meat. Wato pushes back the sowed hide-curtain that separates his house from the outside.

"What bring?" He comes out excited and happy to see you.

"Big elk. Good hunt." You hand him the bag.

"For me?" He peers in and grabs a piece out to gnaw on, seeming delighted.

"Da cooked." You reach into the bag and grab a piece as well, you've grown really used to the flavor.

"Thank you. Thank Da."

"Have favor." You look at him and when he seems receptive to the idea you continue. "Big favor." He's still looking at you while you watch him.

"How big?" He eyes the mountain top idly.

"Need tar. Need logs. Build bridge. Over river." You point out the direction of the river.

"Big favor. Wato help."

"Thanks Wato."

"How help?" He asks, offering you another piece of meat while he chews another.

-Tell me how to get to the tar and lend me a hollow log.

You think for a moment, solving your problem, but not wanting to put Wato out to much. "Need log. Hollow log. Need tar. Where tar?" You hope this much at least he can help you with.

"Come in. Follow Wato." He takes you past the hide-curtain, into his house. In the back of the room, against the wall, is his hollowed out log. It's a marvel, nearly as tall as you are, but only the outermost layer of it still remains, the inside black with dried tar. "You take. Wato done." He gestures to the room around him.

You're still fascinated by the log, a mystery you can't solve. "How make?"

"Slow burn. Hot stones." Of course! You see it in your minds eyes, burning away the inner part of the log by dropping small hot stones towards the center and fetching them out once they cooled. Eventually they would make it all the way through.

"Wato clever."

He shakes his head. "Not Wato. Your Grandfather."

Your grandfather designed the method? You never got to meet your grandfather. He died before you began to live. But you feel a pang of loss at thinking of him.

"Thanks Wato. But more. Still need." You try to sound apologetic.

"What need? Need logs?'

"Need tar."

"Wato show you."'

He takes you outside and references where to go using the mountain as a landmark.

-Go socialize in the village, see what everyone is up to. (Core cast)

+Make necklace for Da

"Thanks Wato." You express your gratitude after he's told you the directions. You repeated them back to him word for word on the first go, and he slaped your back a few times, impressed.

"The same." He waves goodbye, cooked elk in his hand.

You walk back to the village center and find Num has finished fixing the spear. You add it to the other on your back, also made by her. "Strong spear. Good hunt. Best cousin." She blushes at the praise.

Ru paddles over, sniffing you. Ao walks over with him. You sigh and remove a piece of the elk Da had made, tossing it to the greedy hound. His jaws clack together, and he comes up to you, resting his head on your knee. You give him some pets until he's satisfied and wanders off, presumably to beg more food from others.

"Hang out?" Num asks you and Ao. Sure, you could stand to spend some time with her.

"Good fun." You pat the spot next to you, and Num sits down. You pick up Ao and sit her on your lap. "Did you get enough?" You pull out your your last piece of elk cooked by Da.

She looks at it, then looks at you. "Let us split it."

No way you're arguing that, you bite off half and hand her the rest. She gobbles it up faster than Ru ate his. "You not going hungry? Be true."

"It is just tasty." You decide to believe her. You set her down and stand up, stretching your back to the feeling of several satisfying pops.

"Make gift. Want watch?" You ask your two companions. They both agree, following you to the flat-stone. You place the reddish thing there, where you would normally crush open nuts, or bones to get at the marrow. You lift your stone hammer, a heavy thing made of a dark, smooth stone, with white veins running through it. A family heirloom; your grandfathers.

You swing down with calculated force, ever careful to preserve the hammer. There's an odd, musical ringing that emanates out. And the small chunk of reddish stuff has flattened into nearly a disk. It no longer looks like a fingernail, being about the size of a child's palm, but it is now as thin as one. "Ohh!" Ao shouts in glee at the transformation.

The piece is shinier now, and you're mesmerized by its luster.

You grip a hand-ax with a sharp, but wide, blade-side. It has no handle, so you apply pressure and direction as if it was an extension of your hand. You carefully trim away the edges until it is a very good approximation of a circle. Then you slice it down the middle, making two half-circles. You can see in your mind's eye if you were to poke a small hole through each sharp corner, a string could be attached and it could be worn, rounded side down. You take the stone awl and carefully press and spin until you make the small holes you desire.

Both an amulet, and a sharp cutting tool, if your suspicion is correct. You rub the edges against the rough flat-stone, turning it over to repeat the same, and bring a finger to the edge. No, you don't want to risk cutting yourself. You head back to the antlers grabbing a piece of your meat. You try out the bladed edge, and it cleanly slices through it, sharp and straight. You hand Ao the piece you cut off, returning the large chunk to your pile.

You head to your tent and grab a length of hair cord, thin and strong, using the new tool to cleanly slice off two lengths before tying off the ends through the holes you made. You throw one amulet over your neck, and take the other, looking for Da, who gave you the idea.

You find her in her father's hut. Chief Thok sleeps under a pile of furs. His large frame, a half head taller than even his son, once so mighty, now troubles him in his old age. Da makes a shushing motion and leads you out of the hut. You pull the amulet out of your furs and offer hers out to her. "Good idea. For you."

She takes it in awe, turning it in the low light of afternoon to examine the reflection of light. "So pretty."

"Just like you are." You blurt out. Before cursing internally.

"What? Say again?" Luckily you slipped into the speech pattern you normally reserve for use with Ao, and she seems not to have understood you. "My thanks." She puts the amulet on, and it rests above her fur covered chest, angling out slightly because of that. She leans down to kiss your cheek before returning inside the hut.

Go visit the healer woman and her assistant, show them the amulet.

Dice: 1d100

82 = 82

Dice: 1d100

10 = 10

Dice: 1d100

52 = 52

You head to the healer's hut, which she shares with her assistant. You leave Num and Ao to wait outside, and then enter the hut without knocking.

La sits at the table inside, stone bowl and pestle in use and she grinds up a silver-grey herb. "Hello Kuh. Why come?"

"Call Na." She stands to get her assistant from the next room, Na comes out, her hair down to her waist rather than held in its normal braid. You haven't seen her like this in many years, and get nostalgic.

"Kuh. Oh no." She tugs at her hair, trying to put away loose strands. You reach a hand out to stop hers and she freezes, eyes locking on yours.

"Looks nice." You lower your hand and she sits down beside La, blushing intensely.

La seems jealous, standing up to move closer to you, leaning over the table to emphasise her assets. "Why here?"

You pull the amulet free and show it to them. "I made."

"How make?" She's staring at it, tilting to look at it from different angles.

"With hammer. Grandfather's hammer." She goes into deep thought at this.

"Is sign. Great future. Must be." She nods with finality.

-Show them it's cutting power and say your wit keeps it sharp.

"I agree. Watch this." You grab one of the tough herbs from her table and hold it in your hand. Taking the sharp side of the amulet, you saw back and forth, cleanly cutting the herb in half.

"That sharp. How so?" La's eyes have gone wide, and she opens them revealing the white above her eyes which is normally hidden by the lids.

"Sharp wit. Sharp blade. Have both. Stay sharp." You return the amulet. And La stands to grab your hands into hers. Na does the same, slipping her hands in between yours.

"Tell more." Na speaks, but they're both enraptured.

You hold the amulet. "Find more. Make more." They just keep listening. "Make different. Better use."

"What now? From us?" La seems uncertain.

"Keep secret. If do. Will reward."

They pause at this.

"What reward?" La looks excited.

"How reward? Na looks nervous.

-In return for your discretion on this matter I shall promise you...back rubs.

"Promise secret. If promise. I give." You take a moment to think, what could you offer that they would take, that would be easy enough for you to actually deliver on. "Will give. Back rubs." You give your offer.

You can see them both considering it, or at least imagining what a back rub from you would be like.

"Promise secret." They both promise you. "Kuh promise?"

You smile at them both, and they sit back down looking dreamy. You move to leave, saying goodbye. "Kuh promise. Bye." You close the door on them and exit back outside. Num and Ao wait for you and you head back to the village center. You see Doc playing a spear game with his friends. Fa and Gar are there too, sharing some of their portion of the meat while Fa finishes cleaning the inside skin that needs removing from the elk hide, or at least what little is left of it. Da is no where to be seen.

Plan to travel to the tar pits.

You take Num and Ao over to sit besides Fa, putting Ao in your lap. "Thanks Fa." You point to he cleaned skin, and she smiles at you.

"Fa help. Glad to." You pinch her cheek and she pulls the hand away, looking to Gar. "Not child." She pouts, and you wink at Gar. You reach back to pinch her cheek and she turns to you, knocking the hand away. Gar winks back when she can't see.

"Oh. Not realize." You say sarcastically, pinching Ao's cheek instead. She giggles and kicks her feet at the attention. "Gar. What think. Fa child?"

He looks over Fa with mock intensity. "No. Think not. Too old." You stifle a laugh as Fa fidgets.

"Then? Fa hag?" You move the hand to stroke Ao's hair from the top of her head.

"Not old. Not hag. Not child." Fa's flustered and talking quickly, she looks back and forth between you and Gar. She's looking at you trying to figure out why this is happening. "Fa woman."

"Gar. Fa pretty?" She blanches at this while looking at you, then slowly turns to looks to Gar.

"Very pretty. Cannot resist." She blushes deeply until he reaches up to pinch her cheek as you do. "To pinch."

You and Gar break out in laughter at this, causing Ao to fall off your lap. She lands on her feet and hops up in Fa's lap. "Feel better. Pinch me." She takes Fa's hand and uses it to pinch her own cheek. Fa, just sighs and leans down to wrap Ao in a hug.

"Thanks Ao."

"Be back. Num Gar. Follow." You stand up leaving Ao to comfort the bullied Fa. Walking towards Doc you speak with them. "New trip. Tar pits. We go."

"Why go?" Gar asks. You try to think of how to explain this and decide he doesn't need to know right this minute.

"Explain later. Reason complex." He nods at this. "Other thing. About Fa." He looks at you intently.

"You like? Want Fa? Not mad. It fine. Be true." He looks conflicted at this, his mouth thinning into a line from its normal smile.

"Not sure. When know. Will tell." Good enough, you'll ask again later.

You clasp his shoulder. "Thanks."And you turn to Num. "Need help. You help?"

"Help cousin? Always." You're tempted to pinch her cheek, but she's nearly your age even though she seems younger, so you pull her into a half hug while walking.

"Need Doc!" You call out towards the warriors as they play spears. They have two teams of two, a thrower and a runner. Both team's throwers throw a spear as far as they can, and the opposite team's runner has to bound after the spear, grabbing it in a long jump from where it has landed, and run back to their thrower. First back wins for their team.

You catch them right as a game ends, Doc taking hold of the spear Kub brings back to him for the victory. On seeing Kub you call him over as well. "Both come. Planning trip."

They sprint over from the game-field, still in the fever of their exercise. "What trip? Where go?" Doc is the first to ask.

"I go. Want go." Kub just seems happy to be invited.

-Head for the tar pits. Bring Fa, Gar, Doc, Num, and Kub.

+Try to memorize the way there, so you can carve it into a rock or piece of wood later as a map.

Bring the antler sled to carry loot and the large skin to sleep in.

"Get Fa. Then tell." You lead everyone back to the village center where you find Fa braiding Ao's hair. "We prepare. Long trip. Four days. Get things." You tell everyone, then turn to Fa. "Tell Tul. Come with."

"I go." Num stays behind with you and Fa as everyone else goes to prepare as you have asked. Doc asks Ao to go tell Da, not having the heart to go himself.

You take the long walk to Tul's cave where she lives alone. You find her sleeping, wrapped in her furs. You shake her awake with a gentle hand. She wakes and rises. "Kuh. Why here?" She sees Fa and Num. "Fa! Num! Come here." She pulls them both into a hug. "Visit more." She always is happy to see her granddaughters. She liked their mothers.

"To tell. Taking trip. We go. Tar pits." You answer her question.

"What? Why go?" She's confused like everyone else. "For Wato?"

"No. For village. It complex." You fall back to the standard line, it's worked for you ever since you stopped an attack from the big people by having villagers sit in trees with many rocks. They grumbled at first, even when you explained what it was for. But when the big people came they realized it was worth doing after the first rock hit. They've made only one attack since then, and the warriors pushed back those who broke through the treeline that time.

"Be safe. Tul loves. All grandchildren." She motions for you to join the hug, and you do so. Leaving soon after with your sister and cousin.

Back at the village center, everyone stands ready. Doc and Kub have all the extra spears they could gather. Gar has tied your tools in a fur and stuck them in between the antlers. The fur is draped over the whole sled, skin side down, and meat and other food have been shoved between the two antlers, depressing the fur down into it like a bag.

"Good work. We go." You take your party. Fa, Gar, Doc, Num, and Kub, and head east, for Wato's house. When there you roll out his tar-log and thank him again. He tells you the way again, and you repeat it again, making sure that you have memorized it properly, before continuing the way he told you to go.

Fa and Num roll the log while chatting. Doc pulls the sled across from Kub. It's still light out, but you have some time to do something while you walk.

Gar helps you gather plants you don't recognize

Dice: 1d100

6 = 6

Dice: 1d100

23 = 23

Dice: 1d100

53 = 53

Dice: 1d100

59 = 59

Dice: 1d100

63 = 63

"Gather plants. Gar help?" You reach down and pluck a few of a small blue flower. You can take this all back to La and Na later to see if they recognize any. You put the flowers into the simple hide bag, sewed together with hair cord.

"What plants?" You lift up the flowers.

"New plants. Not know. Then pick." You walk for a bit longer until you reach an area with more snow on the ground. You almost give up looking but then you spot something new. It'a a bright yellow flower, with many petals. It pokes proudly through the deep and icy snow, a spot of color.

You reach down and grab it, showing Gar. "Flower strong. Ignore snow."

"Good find. Look more." Gar points out some more areas with the flower sticking through the snow, and you gather up a good sized bundle, placing them in the bag. You see nothing else until the snow lightens up, thinking you will find nothing more here. But when you leave the snowy area you're surprised to find two more plants, Gar having pointed out he first. You find a light brown mushroom.

You pick all you can find and toss them in with the flowers. As you're leaving the snowy area you find something of your own. A fungus thing.

It's big, a couple of pounds of flesh. You pull it from the ground and bring it to rest on the sled with the extra spears. "Stop soon?" Doc asks when you approach the sled. "Not tired. Snow thins." He points out that we're almost back on dry ground. It might be good to stop soon and set up for the night.

"Keep going. Will tell. When stop." You still have to get out of the snow first. Once there you could hunt or do something else for a while, then all curl up in the fur to sleep.

Although the snow could be used to heat a hot stone instead if you wanted to fell a tree and make another tent with the skin. You're sure you could all fit one, if a bit snugly.

-Stop at the edge of the snow, and make a steam tent.

+Look around for tracks, see what passes this way for game

After a while you reach the end of the snow. Once on the dryer ground you wait until near a tree and then stop the group. "Stop here. Have plan." Everyone stops. Fa sits on the log to rest. "Gar Kub. Cut tree." You survey the tree's looking for a good one with long thin branches. "That one." They take the axes and go to do as you say. "Doc. Find stones." You hold up your hands making around the size of your head in the air.

"How many?" You think he could carry more than two, but two is all you need.

"Two. Find Tracks. While looking."

You head over to the sled and think about what to do with the food. "Fa Num. Help move." You go to the sled and pick up some of the meat, taking it over to the snow to lay down. They copy your action and you soon have the large skin cleared of stuff, the tools and weapons placed in the broad part of the antlers. You lift the large skin off and toss it to the ground.

Doc returns with the stones so you ask him to soften the ground to dig. "Two spots." You point near the snow. "Big shallow." Then you point where you want to make the tent. "Small deep. Fit stone." He gets the idea, remembering the steam tent from before, and gets to work. By the time Gar and Kub have felled the tree and drug it over, You've had the two holes dug.

Once he finishes you ask if he found any tracks. "Find tracks?"

"Yes. Find tracks."

"What kind?"

"Deer. Rabbit. Lion." He pauses. "Wolf. Not know." You dislike wolves intently. The old village dog died fighting one that strayed to close to the village. The wolf was killed, but it didn't change anything. You miss that dog, it was very brave to fight the wolf.

You direct everyone to start removing branches and chopping wood into burnable pieces, throwing all the leaves and small branches into the broad hole. Once there's a good thick layer, you toss in all the meat and start making another layer. You don't want to wake up to find it being eaten again.

Making the tent is quick work because of your practice, and you make the base broader this time to accommodate the larger group. You take everyone's extra furs to cover up the bottom two feet of the sticks and drape the large skin over the top, sticking small sticks through the holes on the edge to fix it to the ground.

Doc has gathered more stones and set them up in a ring to contain the fire. You get it started and everyone gets into the tent stripping down to make a bedding of furs around the central hole. The rock is soon hot and in place. You use your water skin to make the steam, reaching outside to fill it with snow when it empties.

-Tell stories, sing songs, play games. Fall asleep.

+Set up up watch shifts if we do sleep.

You throw on your largest furs to go switch out the stone, and turn the meat chunk you have warming over the fire. Back inside the tent everyone is in a good mood, Num and Kub enjoying the steam for the first time and the warmth it brings. You've set an order for who switches the stone and made sure everyone remembers. It's important to keep switching it and making steam throughout the night, cold will wake us up if we don't.

"Tell story." Kub says, looking to you. "Catch elk. Tell all." You smile at the memory and do your best to lay it out in words.

"Have idea. Big animal. Big pit. Dig pit. Find elk. Elk big. Gar Doc. On sides. Spears raised. So brave." The two smile wide at this."Stand there. Ready. I go. Circle elk. Raise spear. Throw it. Elk spooks. Runs away. Gar Doc. Block sides. I charge. Battle scream. Elk jumps. Running fast. Into pit. Falls hard. Bounces once. Falls again. Twitch twitch." You pause for emphasis. "Twitch. Dead. Neck break. We win!" Kub and Num listen raptly while those there are still drawn in at the memory. At the end everyone picks up the call, the tent filling.

"We win!" You leave to get the meat, it wasn't cooked when Gar left to switch the stones. And find it now well cooked. You return back inside with the meal and the good mood continues. You pick up your amulet from the corner you stowed it in and wipe it on a fur. You use it to slice up the meat in front of everyone to their noises of amazement, and hand out pieces to eat.

"Kub. Now you. Tell mam." Everyone has heard this one but you still like to hear it.

"Alone. Hunt deer. Deer flees. Chase. In open. No trees. Mam mother. With baby. It attacks. I flee. Too fast. Turn. Expect death. Last moment. Throw spear. Not think. Just throw. Spear flies. On knees. Expect death. Spear lands. Mam screams. Mam sounds. Very loud. Mam falls. On knees. Then side. I rise. Approach. Dead mam. Spear true. So true. In eye. I weep." The story is another crowd pleasing one, and soon everyone chants Kub's name. He sits there in pride starts to eat his food.

Once everyone is finished, you gather to sing. Many of the words mean nothing but they surround the words that do. The songs feel right, they feel good to sing. It's good fun.

"Go hunt ... Find none ... Be sad ... Not good ... Be glad... No sad ... Next hunt ... Find much..."

After you've all sung yourself out, you open the flap a bit up towards the top, letting the flame's light enter the now dark tent. Everyone huddles around you to see the opposite wall. You use your hands to make shadow figures, a talent taught to you by your father before he died at hunt. Your hands are practiced and you use your cleverness to make entertaining scenarios of animals and people. You get many laughs and have great fun, nodding off to sleep as some point, after it grows quiet and you lower your hands.

You awake to Fa, rubbing your shoulder. "Kuh's turn." She points to the hole of the tent. You spend a long time switching the rocks and filling the tent with steam. You see no predators at night, and wake Gar when you grow tired and bored.

"Gar's turn." You fall back asleep.

Hunt before leaving.

Dice: 1d100

94 = 94

Dice: 1d100

14 = 14

Dice: 1d100

53 = 53

You awake some time later. "Kuh's turn?" You ask Fa, who woke you.

"If want. Morning now."

"Sleep over. We wake." She stretches and moves to put on her furs, slipping on her feet-covers first.. No one else is awake yet. You sit up to dress as well, the tent not being high enough to stand. "We wake!" You shout loud enough to rouse the others.

"We wake." Gar sleepily answers. The tent is not filled with steam like last time and so they are agreeable to getting up and leaving, everyone pulling furs back on.

"Get moving." You crawl out of the tent and start remove the stakes that hold the furs, bringing the large skin back to the sled. Everyone helps you to put the meat back in place on the sled.

"What now?" Kub asks once you finish the task.

"We hunt!" They pick up the chant.

"I stay." Gar says. "Watch things." He gestures at the sled, and takes a seat, sharpening an ax with a small stone.

Fa looks at him, then you. You nod. "I stay." Fa says, sitting next to Gar.

You head out with Doc, Kub, and Num, spears ready. You have a long length of bark rope you brought with you. Your ax, slung through your belt, and your two spears. Everyone else has at least two spears, Kub having three.

You find large tracks and they lead you to a cave. You know better than to enter the cave but find tracks going from it that look fresher than what you followed. At the end of the tracks you hide behind a tree at what you see, and the rest of your group does too.

Not a big bear. A giant bear. It sits, digging at the ground for tubers, munching what it finds lazily in its maw.

"What do?" Kub asks. Everyone echos him.

"Not know. I think."

-Try the pit trap again and spear it from above.

You figure out your plan. The pit trap worked so well last time, with just a bit of adjustment and planning it should work fine again. "Have plan." You turn to your cousin. "Num watch. Watch bear. Tell us. If leave." She nods. "We dig. Deep pit."

You go and start digging, improving on your plan. The beast has arms that could claw it's way out of soft earth. A regular pit won't work. "Doc. Gather rocks. Big rock. Very many. Some small. Mostly big." You give him a general idea of the rock sizes you want, from large rocks you yourself couldn't carry to those the size of your head. You go over it until you're sure he understands, and he's off to gather them.

You've chosen a spot to dig, in between two large trees. You dig with your ax head, scooping away the earth that's been softened by the pounding of the butts of your spears. When you encounter thick roots you chop them off with your ax and hand them to Kub and Gar to use as better tools than the spear butts they dig with now. You dig, and dig, deepest at the point where the tree's are encountered. You dig shallower behind the trees until you could walk down into the hole from behind the trees.

All the while Doc returns with stones, and eventually he's piled several tens of the large ones, and twice as many of the others, brought in armfuls.

The hole reaches so deep now that water seeps up, through the bottom. You keep digging until the hole is at least up to the bears neck, and you stand in an ankle deep puddle of water at the bottom of the hole. All the extracted dirt lies behind the trees in huge piles, the ramp of earth leading out of the hole is still hard-packed earth, and you easily walk out. You show Doc where to lay the first big stone.

He makes a line at the back of the hole, at the bottom of the ramp, and you fill in the space with earth behind them before having him stack more rocks on top of the first line. You fill the ramp in with extra earth behind this and he gets the idea, stacking the big rocks in layer over layer, and filling the space behind with supporting earth.

You drop the head size stones into the water at the bottom until you have a layer above the waterline, so that he bear will fall on hard unyielding rock. The ramp is almost all filled in now, leaving you with a hole with a single wall of rocks towards the back. You dig up the front of the hole enough to bury two layers of the rocks under dirt and foliage. Then you cut the roots of both trees wherever you see them on all sides, digging down for some and filling it back in with earth.

You hold the rope taut over the hole and cover it with long thin sticks from the ground and pulled from nearby trees until you feel it is sturdy enough to stack leaves and other plant material. The hole is finally well hidden, and Doc is very tired from lifting so many rocks. "Who bait?" Kub is still fresh, and offers to take up the next part of your plan.

"Kub can." He seems eager, he had been asking again and again why your plan took so many stones and so much work beyond just digging a hole. Now that it's done he's practically rocking back and forth in excitement.

"Can jump?" You point towards the hole, the ramp now filled in and level with the front.

"Can jump." He runs a distance and leaps, jumping farther than needed to cross the hole. You hand him your extra spear and send him off to get the animal.

You all hide a distance away, near the pit. Num holds you tight, afraid for Kub. He comes bounding through the trees, bear in quick pursuit, two spears stuck in its front. But Kub crosses between trees and manages to avoid the animal's chasing swipes.

He leaps over the pit trap, landing on the other side, far enough to not knock loose the rocks. The bear charges at him as he stops and turns, seeing only a defeated opponent. It steps in between the trees. Then it falls with a large crash and a larger growl, thrashing in the hole on wounded feet. It tries to climb out, but only succeeds in tearing the wall of heavy stones down on it in front, and the two lines behind it in back. Crushing and trapping it in the now twisted earth, its struggles only hurting it further. In its agony and the resulting movement of earth, it knocks loose one of the trees, a result you had only hoped for. It falls crashing on it and pinning it down into the hole. it whimpers now, and Kub motions for you to strike the killing blow. "Kuh's plan. Kuh's kill."

"Kub's bravery. Kub's kill." You argue, for you would not have made it alive being chased by the bear, you think.

"Both?" He asks. You can agree to that.

The bear lies dead in the hole. It takes a long time to dig it out and excavate it from the stones, but you pull it out, and make a sled from the fallen tree's largest branches to drag the body back to the antler sled. It takes everyone's full strength, and you stop, sending Kub ahead to gather Fa and Gar while your rest. They return and the six of you manage to pull the body the rest of the way.

Widen the shallow hole you stored food in, and bury the bear in compacted snow until you return from the tar pits.

Back at the sled, Doc prepares to skin the animal. "No!" You shout louder than you probably should have, and he looks to you, hurt. "Sorry. No skin. Not yet." You point at the shallow hole. "Need help. Clean out. Make wide."

You all pull the left over plant matter out of the hole and then begin to beat the edges with the rocks you used for steam. You remove the dirt from the inside and keep going, pushing back snow from the edge until the hole is wider and taller than the bear, and the snow is piled up high behind the hole. "Make deep." You stamp your spear but into the ground, and twist and wiggle it until it hits the depth around what you want. "This deep." You pull out the spear and start digging.

Soon the hole is deeper and you start pushing snow into the hole from the surrounding snow piles. Once full you jump in and roll around. "Come roll." You tell the rest of your people. "Make ice."

Everyone hops in and rolls around to much laughing. It's good fun. Once the snow is tight packed and low in the hole. "Help move." You point at the bear and drag the branch sled to the side of the hole. You roll the bear into the hole, its back to the sky. and start pushing snow into the hole again until it's filled. You piled snow over the hole, patting it down all the while. Once it's in a mound, you beat the snow with the branches, repeating the process with a mound of fresh snow, until the mound is waist high. The hole is completely covered under a thickly compressed mound of snow with the bear between thick layers of snow above and below.

You sit, sweating from the work. "We done?" Kub asks.

"We done." You reply back. He sighs.

"Hunt strange. It work. Good hunt."

"Good hunt." Everyone who participated congratulates each other.

You walk over to Gar. "With Fa. Alone long. You know? Want Fa?"

He looks at you as if scared, then looks at Fa and she smiles back. "Want Fa." He hangs his head.

Give Gar your blessing, make a steam tent and sleep.

"Raise head. If Fa. Take Gar. Gar brother. Happy thought." You clasp his shoulder and he looks up at you, raising his clasped arm to clasp your shoulder back. You stand there, arm over arm, for a while, in silence, faces getting serious. He says his piece.

"Gar Glad. Will make. Fa happy." You nod to him at this, and he nods back. You ready what you have to stay, still serious.

"Never hurt. If Gar. Hurt Fa. Kuh promise. Kuh. Will kill. Kill Gar. Gar die. Gar. Not know. When. How. Kuh surprise. But promise. Gar die. Never hurt. Never." You stare at each other for a longer while as he takes in the words. You repeat them once more. He nods to you, and you nod back. You unclasp arms.

"Never hurt. Fa deserve. No hurt. From any. Protect Fa." He stares seriously.

"Go then. To Fa. Kuh approve. Hope best." He walks over to talk with Fa, who had been nervously watching the exchange from a distance, your serious demeanors having drawn the attention of the rest of the people.

Gar and Fa head off a ways to sit. You direct the rest of the group. "Dark soon. Make tent. All help." Doc and Kub get up from sitting and Num looks over from the spear she is making. Your extra spear and one of Kub's were lost to the pit trap, snapped by the dead bear.

"Cut tree. For fire. Doc Kub." They grab axes and head over to cut down a small tree like the one from yesterday. "Help dig." You tell Num, picking up one of the steam rocks to hand to her. You both break up the ground and dig it out with spears. When the others return with the tree you fill the hole with leaves and twigs, storing the meat from the sled there under another layer. You lay down the skins on the still standing frame from last night. You'd spent most of the day tracking the bear and then making the pit trap.

You look to Gar and Fa. Fa sits in Gar's lap, and he plays with a strand of her hair. Good for Fa. She had wanted Gar. You smile at them, hoping you gain Gar as a brother. Tul may live to have great grandchildren. She will dote on them lavishly. You chuckle at the thought.

The tent made, everyone clambers in, and exhausted from the day's work, most of you fall asleep soon after eating your meal of reheated meat. Gar and Fa stay up to change the steam, having not gone on the hunt.

You awake later to Fa shaking your shoulder. "Kuh's turn." It is the dead of night, and Gar sleeps next to you. Fa starts undressing, the tent full of fresh steam, and lies down beside Gar in your place.

"Kuh's turn.' You give Fa a hug before you dress and exit the tent. "Kuh happy. For you. For Gar." She blushes.

"Thanks Kuh. I know. You talked." You nod and exit the tent, heating the next stone.

Later you wake Gar and return to sleep.

You awake to a cold tent, Everyone asleep, and having no idea who failed in their turn. But it is morning outside, so your wake the others, preparing for the day.

Push the log yourself. Have Num and Fa gather plants.

It's snowed during the night, and the mound under which the bear lays is covered and hidden. You trudge out to where you remember it being until your foot hits the harder icy snow of the mound, and you plant a stick there to find it on the way back.

You gather up everything to leave, making quick work of it and head out. Fa and Num roll the log, and you go to pick plants but decide better of it. "Fa Num. Gather plants. Any new. Not know." You hand Num your bag of plants. Back at the sled, you check on the fungus you picked and find it to be drying out rather than rotting.

You take the log and roll it along one hand over the other. You're struck by how easy it is to move the log since it is hollow and round.

You continue on at a good pace, occasionally stopping whenever Fa or Num falls too far behind. You stop to rest shortly, and Kub wanders off into the woods.

He returns with three rabbits and you make a small fire to quickly cook them for lunch. "Thanks Kub." Everyone echoes after you thank him while handing out a half rabbit to everyone. The rabbit is tasty fresh, and you season it with some known herbs that the women have picked up in addition to new plants, not wanting to turn down the available known plants.

You continue the rest of the way re-energized and finally arrive at the pits a while before nightfall. You will spend some time here before needing to sleep, since there is no source of water near here for which to make steam, and you must conserve what is in your skins.

You look over what Fa and Num have gathered. In addition to flavoring herbs, they found three new plants.

Plain red flowers, fancy purple ones, and small yellow. The bag is mostly full with plants now, and you hope to find some useful qualities in them once you return to La and Na.

You scope out the tar pits, and they spread blackly into the horizon, but do not cover the view. They are large, but not immense.

-Carefully walk the perimeter to see what you will find.

You roll the log over to the stopped sled and brace it against the sled. You put a rock under the log on the side opposite the sled, so that it cannot roll away. It's strange to think that an object is so mobile that it needs to be stopped from moving. How could you make use of something like a log better?

Sure, filling a log with material and rolling it is good. But you can't help thinking there must be a better way. You think of the rolling motion of the log. What if you removed the middle, such that only the ends were left to spin. If you could somehow attach two ends to a sled, the sled could stay fixed in space, the wheels rolling along. Perhaps you could make a smaller hole through two disks of wood, cut from a tree trunk and shaped. But how could you affix them onto things?

In your minds eye you see the rolling action of the log, and imagine the log being long and thin like a stick, sticks still roll. If a stick could be stuck through both holes attaching the disks to each other, the whole thing could spin like one object. You will have to experiment with this later.

"Kuh. You ill?" Fa looks at you concerned. She waves a hand in front of your face. "Kuh!"

"Not ill. I think. Done now." Fa sighs to the laughter of the rest of the group.

"One day. You stuck. Trapped. In idea. I worry." She shakes her head, but hugs you, "Happy. That day. Not today." She can be so dramatic.

You hug her back and then decide on what to do. "Doc. Watch sled." You turn to the rest of your people. "We walk. Around pit." They all follow you as you walk away. Doc staying behind.

"Doc watch. Sled safe." He assures you.

The pits are large and dangerous, you see a few animals stuck in the muck, struggling to free themselves, but they are all too far in to be worth trying to pull out and salvage for meat. About halfway around though, you come upon a different sight, two people stuck. A woman closer to the edge, stuck to her thighs in the thick black goo, and a man farther in, at his waist. They both slowly slide deeper, sinking further towards the center of the pit. They call out to you. "Help! [Sca dego!] Save [uru]!"

The fact that you can understand any of their words at all means they must be from your sister-village. The people of your grandmother Tul. They live in the caves about a days walk farther east, at the foot of the mountains.

-Toss your rope to try and help them out, they may still die.

+tie a rock at the end of the rope to make it go farther when thrown.

Dice: 1d100

90 = 90

Dice: 1d100

25 = 25

Dice: 1d100

80 = 80

Dice: 1d100

93 = 93

You must save them. They are your distant kinfolk! "Kub! Run sled. Fetch rope. Make haste!" He's sprinting off before you're done speaking, and you shout the last word-pair at him.

You shout at the trapped people, hoping that if they do not understand the words they at least feel the meaning behind them from your tone. "We save! Be calm! Help you!" You take very, very cautious steps towards them feeling the ground. You reach a point where the ground is somewhat soft underneath your foot-cover and when you lift your leg, thin strands of black stick to the fur there. You back up afraid and run to gather sticks from the ground. You go back to where the sticky spot was and plant one, testing the area until you find solid ground. You advance again until you reach another hidden area of the death pool, and mark it again. You repeat the process until you no longer can go forward, and take the path you've marked off back to your group.

They look to you, happy for your safety, but sad for the two struggling people who occasionally cry out. Kub soon returns with the rope and you give it a test throw with all your might. It falls short of the distance you calculated was needed to reach either of the people and you swear. "Corpse eater! Rope fail." You think, how can you make the rope go farther. An idea pops into your mind, and you take it, thinking no further.

You look around for a rounded stone, but one oblong enough that you could tie the bark rope around it. You find one, and it fits smoothly in your hand. You wrap the rope tightly around it and make a simple knot, then wrap it around the other way to form a cross, and tie it again as tight as you can manage. You throw the rock, and it flies just like a rock, but trailing the rope after it. It's still not far enough. You curse again. "Long winter!" How to make it go farther?

You pick up the rock, messing with it in your hands, thinking about the motions of throwing things that you know, and what you know about how things work. You think to the wheel suddenly, your mind summoning an idea. You grab the rope, far below the rock and lift it above your head. You spin it and the rock goes in a circle shape, faster and faster as you spin harder. The rope pulls on your arm, a force you can control. You watch the rock, waiting for it to be in the right spot, and throw the rope. The rock soars this time, clearing more than enough distance.

"Kuh! Kuh! Kuh!" Your people chant having watched this amazed as you throw a rock farther than a warrior could.

You run over to your first marker, and cautiously follow the path to the edge. "I help! Catch rope." You just hope not to hit them, or miss so badly that the rope becomes entangled.

You spin the rope, letting it loose and it flies to the woman, who catches the rope before the rock can hit the tar's surface. The rope does something odd, spinning around her body, and the rock hits her in the chest. She's not too harmed, mostly just ecstatic at the new life-line she's been given. You give her some slack, not enough that the rope touches the surface. She untangles the rope from where it is over her shoulder and wrapped around her torso, and tosses the rock at the man. He wraps himself in the rope like she was wrapped, and she uses the rope to wrap herself.

You walk out to the safe distance of firm ground, and you all grab the rope, pulling with all your might. The two people slowly slide out of the muck, until they reach the place you threw from, and manage to step out of the muck, up to rocky safety. Soon they follow your path to your group and collapse on the ground, weeping and kissing its surface. "[Mu] Thanks! [Uru] Saved!"

Let them decide where to go, but offer help.

Once they've recovered enough to stand, and stripped out of their ruined leggings, they thank you profusely. The slight heat rolling off the pits keeps them warm for now, but they will likely need new leggings. "Why here?" You ask, not knowing what will get through to them.

"[Uru] go. [Ko] village. [Gat] help. From [ko]. [Ranru] attack. Chase. Go far. Ground crack. [Uru] sink." You think uru is their equivalent for your word for we/us after considering the contexts they've used it in. You work of that assumption. You ask them to repeat, and they point at you and your people after saying '[Ko] village.' so ko must be their equivalent for you/your/yours in your tongue.

"We help. Follow." If they were heading to your village to ask for help, you'd best bring them back with you. Tul can speak with them then in her mother-tongue.

You lead them back to the sled, and give them both spare furs to fasten leggings with a bone needle and hair-cord. Their lower bodies glisten with the sticky blackness, and no amount of rubbing or scrubbing removes it. Perhaps Wato will know a way.

"We go. To village. After gather." You let them know as they sew their new clothing.

"Thanks. For save." They smile, the woman very attractive. Your heartbeat quickens at her look, and your eyes stray towards her bare but blackened legs.

You pull your gaze away before it's noticed. "Have names? Me Kuh."

"Me Haa." The woman answers.

"Me Drok." The man answers.

Search the rest of the perimeter of the tar pits.

Dice: 1d100

6 = 6

Dice: 1d100

20 = 20

Dice: 1d100

14 = 14

The man finishes his leggings first, slipping them on. You turn to everyone, wanting to walk around the pits before it gets dark. "Walk around. You come." You tell the new people. Your people get up to go. "Doc stay." He nods. The woman has not gotten a chance to sew her leggings and so continues sitting to work on them once the man rises.

"Need finish." The woman says, holding up the furs.

"While walk." You tell her, staring at her legs now. She looks irritated, then it changes to hurt as she remembers you are her savior, but she stands, trying to sew and walk at the same time.

The man sees you staring and so you look away. He seems fearful of upsetting you, reading that you are the leader of the large group and have power over him. He was sent to your village after all, and needs help from you. He can't afford to get on your bad side. You smirk at him, and he looks away disgusted with either you or himself. Maybe both, you cannot tell.

You seem to have made a bad impression on them, so you try to talk while walking. But you only manage to further distract the woman as she tries to sew and walk, adding figuring out your slightly different language on top. More than once she pricks her finger on the bone needle, before she finally just asks. "Please stop. Let finish. Please." You take a last longing look at her legs before stopping, and she looks away, now noticing your gaze for the first time.

She finishes up with the sewing and slips he leggings on. "I finish. We go." She says finally, sucking on a bleeding finger. You feel bad. Should have let her make leggings, you don't know why you didn't. You just wanted to hurry. You just wanted to finish this before darkness.

You continue walking and take the lead, you walk to the front to hide your slight tears of frustration. Lost in your thoughts on your bad second impression, you walk on. The fact that your first impression was so great seems to make ruining their opinion of you feel even worse.

You reach the other side of the pits and find a pack of three dire wolves there, chewing on the head of a mammoth who's lower body had sunk into the pit. It look like it was killed by the wolves.

If you could scare off or kill the wolves it should be possible to hack off the tusks of the mammoth. You also consider fleeing. Hard choices.

Try to kill one with your thrown rock-rope, then attack.

Dice: 1d100

82 = 82

Dice: 1d100

63 = 63

Dice: 1d100

66 = 66

Dice: 1d100

5 = 5

"We kill. Too far." You point towards the way back. Taking out the rope-rock that you had brought in case the ground swallowed anyone else up, you spin it. "I throw. We attack." Your people silently raise their spears, wanting to be quiet and so not picking up the call.

You spin it, making a bigger circled until you think you've judged the distance and compared it well with your last throw. You let the rock loose and it heads straight for the nearest wolf. The rock connects with it's back and it falls, the rock bouncing away. You pull back the rope as quick as you can while the other wolves stop their meal to turn and charge.

The wolf you hit gets back up as one wolf fights with Gar and Fa. The other attacks Kub and Num. Fa tries to spear the wolf attacking Gar, and manages it, but it doesn't go down.

You have have your rock again and spin it as the wolf you hit charges you. You throw it and it misses, but the wolf runs into the rope and the rock wraps around its neck. It charges at you but you run, pulling the rope taut as you do, until it lunges at you. You duck and it soars over. It's leap pulls the rope very tight, and you pull on it more as the wolf lands, falling on its back, the rope having spun it around mid-air. It's choking, letting out whimpers and trying to scramble back to its feet. You run over, slinging a spear from your back and thrust it through the beast's neck.

You turn and see Kub's spear sticking out of a dead wolf. The other wolf being cornered. with it's back to the pits by your people.The two sister-villagers standing a way back.

The wolf makes a desperate leap at your people and is stabbed by all four of them for it.

You gather the wolves bodies and bring them back the shortish distance to the sled. Taking an ax, you have Kub go and retrieve the spear. Doc butchers the animals for meat. It's dark now, and you move the sled a way away from the pits and near some distant trees. You smoke the meat on a large fire, and keep the fire going all night in shifts, turning the meat. You sleep in the large skin, the new people joining you all in sleep to avoid the cold.

Choices -Voting closed - 7 voters

VOTESGather tar in the hollow log and head back to the frozen bear.5+Try to get the new people to like you.4Cut down a tree to try to make more hollow logs.1Cut down a tree to try to make the rolling thing for the sled.0Check the area for plants and reddish stuff.0

You wake up early and go out for a quick hunt. You find what you're looking for and soon come back with two rabbits. You skin them and rub flavoring herbs from the bag into the meat liberally. You spike the rabbits on a stick and roast them over the dying fire, hot embers quickly browning them.

When they've cooled, you shake the two new people awake, the woman first and then the man. You hand each a spit with most of a rabbit, having tried some to make sure it was cooked all the way. They look at you warily. "Is gift. Sorry. For rush" They take them and start eating, tearing away at the tasty seasoned meat. You may not be as good a cook as Da, but you are better than most.

You walk over to the sled and grab the six rabbit hides there, ripping two in half. You hand each two full and two half hides, along with the bone needle and hair-cord. "For feet. Make covers." You point to their bare feet, and think they get the idea. You're favored once again with a smile by the woman. And the man seems pleased as well.

"Thank you. Good [uma]." He finishes his food first and starts to sew the hides around his feet.

The woman looks over to you and rips off some of the rabbit. "Have some?" She asks, tapping the spot next to her. You sit and take it, eating with her. "What uma?" You ask, trying get the language more. She points at herself. "Uma." Then at the man, repeating, then at you saying once again. Then she points to your still sleeping group and says it a final time. People/person?

You chat for a while longer while you eat, and then while she makes her feet covers. Then you wake your group. "Get tar. Go back." You say once everyone is awake.

You roll the log to the area you found your sister-villagers in removing the wooden plug from the open end. You dip the log into a soft spot, rolling it out afterward with much effort, and lift it to sit on its closed side. You reach up and plug it, the sticky substance inside making sure it stays closed. Your people came with you for safety's sake and you roll the log back to Doc and the new people at the sled.

You make good time with the help of the new people. The man helps with the sled, while the woman rolls the now heavier log with Fa and Num. By midday, you arrive where you had stowed the bear, a cone of snow marking where you had placed the stick that shows the location of the mound.