(ALT) Day 4- The Real Day 4 :)

[Matt]

Early morning 4th day

Eric walked over to his companion on guard duty. They hadn't talk much, the fellow just seemed too weird. But when he saw him light up a Malboro Red, well that strange fellow might as well of been his best damned friend in the world. That guy named Miracle mad a stink about not smoking at night, but who the hell would know?

"Psst hey.. Phil was it?"

"Actually it's Mike."

"Close," Eric said with a grin, "At least close enough for government work. So where you from man?"

"Britain... Well I was."

"Cool.. Cool.... say can I get one?" Mike nodded at the pack of cigarettes still in his hand.

"Sod off, you haven't said three words to me in 3 hours til now. You can go fuck yourself."

"What nobody talks to me li...."

Before Eric could finished several horses and men burst through the treeline 50 yards away. Two of the men were carrying something, and they were at a near run. One of the dark figures growled as they neared..

"If I were you I would put that fucking cigarette out right now.."

Eric was about to respond to the stranger. Looking up at the face in the saddle changed his mind. The man looked beyond tired, but still somehow seemed threatening.

"Where's Doc Finney's tent?" the stranger demanded. The two men carrying the... strecter it looked like, gently lowered it to the ground. Then they slumped over as if to regain their breath.

"If you want to follow me, I can show ya." Eric responded. "You look like you need someone to help ya's carry him anyways."

"Thank you," panted one of the men near the litter.

"You," the stranger on horseback said, "Grab the other end... we need to get him in now. And where's Lee Miracle?"

[Flocculencio]

The guards had been smoking on duty.

I'm a smoker myself but even I know that smoking on duty is a cardinal sin. I had been depriving myself because I didn't really want to chance the prospect of calming down a bunch of natives spooked by a man blowing smoke from his mouth. Or Ahmick for that matter.

Thank the Buddha that Ahmick seemed to have decided to roll with the punches insofar as we were concerned. He looked somewhat shocked but he stood his ground.

***

Ahmick

These were strange men indeed. Their village seemed huge beyond imagination judging by the campfires. It was as if the entire Miwok nation were gathered in one place- and seeing that, I knew that our lives would be changed forever.

The difference of these strangers went beyond the colour of their skin or the excellence of their weapons. They were something else entirely and I did not know how to address it. All I knew was that if we did not find a way to ally with these people, the Coastal Miwok would be destroyed. No war band could combat a tribe of such size. From my vantage their fires stretched on into the night.

In later years when I had learned their tongue I found that they had been brought here by beings more powerful than mere men could imagine. But remember- that night was the first time I saw their extent. I know now that then they were scared and fearful of survival but when I saw that glittering expanse of fire and the man who blew smoke from his mouth it was all that I could do not to run.

But I kept Helaku's instructions in my mind.

We must learn their ways. We must learn the secret of the bright rock that does not shatter.

And as Flok and Maat led me through that encampment I gaped and looked upon the wonders that were before me.

[Matt]

Tis another beautiful day.

This morning the Rangers return with a wounded man, and Almick- our first Amerindian friend.

[Doctor What]

Day 4
3 AM

Dr. What woke up screaming.

Sarah woke up almost immediately next to him. She held him for a few minutes until he was able to calm down again.

“Are you ok?” she asked

“I…I need to...go for a walk or something. Clear my head” he said. He reached for the bottle of 100 year old scotch he brought but then stopped.

No—not the good stuff...that’s to be used only for pleasant memories…not this. Had some crappy 10 year stuff lying around somewhere…ahhh…there it is.

He poured himself a generous portion and walked outside the tent and sat down. He thought about the last 3 days.

Hell of a 3 days….

**
When the ASBs informed him of their plan, he laughed. When he put together his list and they gave him everything on it, he laughed. When they told him that he could bring a clone of whatever woman he wanted and he asked if they could give him Sarah McLaughlin and they replied ‘sure’, he laughed.

Man—I’m having a really awesome dream here—it’s so real and everything…

Then he appeared in a clearing in southern California c. 3000 BC sitting on top of a pile of supplies—along with a few thousand other people.

Bloody hell—this is real…

Then he really laughed…

A very pregnant Mynx looked around at all the people, the animals, the trees and finally at Dr. What and Sarah, did the cat equivalent of shrugging her shoulders, curled up in a ball and went back to sleep.

Sometimes, I envy that cat...

“Shall we meet the gang?” Doc asked with a grin.

**
Almost immediately Doc noticed something was wrong with his eyesight.
Or—more precisely—not wrong with his eyesight.

He had been wearing glasses since he was six. They were practically a part of him. They were the first thing he put on in the morning and the last thing he took off at night. When he noticed that his eyesight was all weird and blurry, he pulled his glasses off. It took him a few seconds to realize that he could see perfectly without them.

What the hell…

He put his glasses back on. Blurry vision. He took them off. Clear vision. He put them back on. He took them back off.

Doc kept doing this for a full minute. He giggled. He snickered. He may have even cackled at one point. He vaguely realized that there were two or three people nearby giving him odd looks but he didn’t care.

He was about to defiantly throw the glasses into the woods and had actually pulled his arm back when he stopped.

Wait…hang on… scratchproof plastic lenses…metal frame...this stuff might actually be useful for something….

Shoving the glasses into the pocket of his coat, Doc and Sarah wandered off looking for someone familiar.

**
Ward was the first person he met. Or rather—Ward was the first person who met him. He heard a shout behind him.

“Doctor What—is that you? Get your ass over here and meet the family!”

Doc turned around to see a smiling grizzled looking man of about 60 years old, standing next to a woman about the same age. Clustered around them were nearly half a dozen couples. Clustered around the couples was what looked like about a dozen little kids.

Ah…the Ward Clan…looks like the size of your typical Italian family…this should be interesting….

**
Over the next few hours he ran into about 20 or so of the regular Board members. MBarry, Floc, Weapon M and a few others were clustered together talking about various military stuff. Hendryk was sitting next to an attractive asian woman. Psychomeltdown seemed to be having a minor meltdown trying to herd a bunch of animals. Howery was having an animated discussion with several people about black powder.

“Well, well, well—if it isn’t Dr. What. Your appearance is exactly as I imagined” said a voice behind him
“Grimm?” said Doc, turning around
“Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?” said Grimm with a smile.
Doc grinned. “Try the local sewer”

Doc and Grimm stared at each other for a few seconds—then doubled over laughing hysterically. Their wives stared at the two lunatics rolling on the ground, looked at each other and rolled their eyes theatrically.

**
After a few hours, there were a few small pockets of order beginning to form in the sea of chaos. People were chopping wood. Others were collecting water. A few were herding animals. People were setting up tents here and there. Several people were already cooking some food.

Doc heard that there were some scouts being sent out. He managed to find Floc and MBarry (with a few others near them) on horses getting ready to leave.

“Guys –you’ve got a few minutes?” said Doc.
“Uh--we were just about to take off. What’s up?”
“You might run into some natives out there. Now listen carefully, cause I’m going to give you a five minute crash course in anthropology…”

**
The rest of the day was a blur. There were about a thousand things that needed to be done. Doc had limited experience in camping but even half-assed help was better than no help. He ran around carrying wood, clearing brush, helping people set up tents and so forth.

He was so busy doing stuff that it took him a good half hour to realize something.

He was running around—and he wasn’t in pain.

Not to put too fine a point on it but Doc’s cardiovascular system pretty much sucked. He had a heart murmur. Not just any heart murmur—his was ‘special’. ‘Almost musical’ was the way one doctor described it. He used to make a few bucks in college being a ‘patient’ at a teaching hospital. His lungs weren’t in great shape either. ‘Sorry, kid—you can’t do any really strenuous activity’ was the warning his cardiologist said to him back in high school. ‘You can walk, bike ride and all that stuff—but high impact sports are out of the question’. One time, at a track meet, he decided to defy doctor’s orders and participated in a 300 meter run. By the time he crossed the finish line, he was wheezing like Darth Vader having an asthma attack, sweat was pouring down his face in buckets and he couldn’t hear over the sound of the blood pounding in his ears. Some teacher actually freaked out and called 911.

But now—he was actually running around and was only slightly out of breath.

Bloody hell…the ASBs fucking cured me of everything…

**
Just as the sun was setting down, Doc cracked open a bottle of 100 year old scotch that he had. He poured a few small glasses of it and passed it to Ward and a few others that were hanging around.

Grinning ear to ear, they toasted to their new lives together.

Sarah pulled out a guitar and started playing a few songs…
**

That first night was …weird.

Doc had fantasized about sleeping with Sarah since he was 25—and now here he was. But now….

“What the hell are you waiting for? Are you going to get into this sleeping bag with me or not?”
“But…you know…you’re not…really…you. You’re…you know…a clone…”
“So—I’m not real? Of course I’m real—I have memories and everything.”
“But…you’re ..a clone. This would be like…you know…having sex with a sex doll or something…”
“You ever think that maybe YOU’RE a clone too? These ASBs have time travel, cured you of diseases and everything. They gave you a cloned wife. What makes you think that they didn’t clone you too and sent that clone back in time and kept the ‘real’ you back in 2006? It would explain why you’re all healthy and everything, wouldn’t it? It also would be a good way to avoid having to cover up the disappearance of hundreds of people back in the future, right?”
“That…would explain a lot of things, actually…”
“Good. Now get in here already….”

**
The next morning Doc helped out Mrs. Ward with making bear sausages out of a bear that had the misfortune to wander into camp. She was working in the nude and insisted that he work in the nude as well—something about ‘saving wear on clothes’. He gave her a ‘Are you fucking kidding me’ look and then remembered that most of the Ward clan were nudists. Mrs Ward was tapping her foot in a disapproving manner waiting for Doc to get undressed and said something along the lines of ‘get your skinny ass over here and show me these fancy cooking skills of yours that James keeps telling me about’.

He thought about protesting but then took another look at her stern face.

Oh well…when in Rome….

**
The third morning Doc woke up with a groan. He had done more back-breaking work in the last 48 hours then he’s done in the last 6 months. Even cured of all his problems, his body was protesting at this treatment. On the other hand, between the work setting up the camp and the rather lovely nights spending in the arms of his new wife, he was sleeping soundly for the first time in months.

Doc got up and wandered around the camp, enjoying the early breeze. He didn’t have any idea what he was doing today but he was sure that somebody somewhere would find something for him to do. A small ball smacked into the back of his leg.

Doc turned to see a small girl of about 6 or 7 running towards him.

“Sorry mister” said the kid
“No problem” said the Doc, picking up the ball and handing it back to the kid. “My name’s Bruno but everyone just calls me Doc. What’s your name?”
“Lisa” said the kid. “Want to play with us?” she said, indicating a group of children standing about 50 feet away waiting patiently for her to bring the ball back.
“Sure—why not”

Just then Doc heard a commotion behind him. He turned to see a half naked screaming woman running towards him. Right behind her was another man, screaming something in a language he was unfamiliar with. He had a large gun in his hand and started firing.

“Shit!”

Doc jumped on Lisa as mass panic ensued. People were screaming all around him. He was vaguely aware of people running and tripping all around him. There were a few more shots—then no more.

After about 30 seconds Doc raised his head. There were people still running around but the lunatic with the gun was nowhere to be seen. He heard screams from all around him. He looked down at Lisa.

She wasn’t moving.

And there was a very large blood stain under her.

Fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck……

**
The rest of the day was spent in a daze.

He wandered around the camp.

He walked into the woods.

He sat down on a tree stump.

He thought about what had happened that morning.

He spent the next ten minutes throwing up.
**

That night—it took forever for him to finally fall asleep—and only because Sarah had spent hours holding him and cooing to him like you would a frightened child. He finally fell asleep around 1 am.

He woke up screaming at 3 am. He didn’t have any recollection of the nightmare he had but he was pretty sure he knew what it involved.
**
4 AM

Doc drained the last of the scotch in the glass. He looked at the mountains off in the distance.

It’s going to be a hell of a day…

[Matt]

0400

Doc Finney took Phred in without a word. He didn't even seem to notice Almick. That kind of worried Matt. Outside the Aid station the 4 finally found a few seconds to rest. The horses were tied up to the nearest avalible point, and the kid Mike was made to watch them. The other sentry Eric, was sent unceremoniously back to his post.

After a few moments, Flocc broke the silence. "Well I suppose we're need to report in or something."

Matt sighed, and stood up. Tired muscles, indeed his entire body protested under the strain. He looked down at his clothes. 4 days ago they were brand new. Now they were stained and worn from the march. Placing his fedora on his head he said, "Well then gentlemen, let's go find Lee Miracle then."

The group stood up and looked around. The camp was sprawling now, much larger and organized then when they left. Someone had taken charge apparently. They wouldn't of been able to find Doc Finney without the sentries help.

"Sion, stay here. Doc Finney might need to ask you some questions." Matt said. Indicating at Almick, he continued "Follow me buddy. Comon Tonto."

The group wondered around aimlessly for a while. With someluck, they stumbled upon Weapon M only a few minutes before sunrise. He was bent over a fire, attempting to make a pot of instant coffee. Details of the last 3 days poured out of the two Rangers mouths. Finally he concluded with a bomb shell.

"We're raising a company. No clue how big it well be yet. But I want you two to run the show. The CO and XO. And who the fuck is that?"

[Matt]

Matt sent Flocc to relieve Sion at the Aid station, and for him to send Sion home for now. However he was left with one more duty before he could lay his head down finally. With Almick in tow he set out to do it.

At about 5 in the morning, just as the camp was stirring to life, Matt found Doc What outside a tent.

"Hey Doc I got someone for you to meet...."

[Psychomeltdown]

Psychomeltdown walked back into the Herder's camp, Rose walking beside him. Nizhoni was still up, looking worried as he sat down across from her, before a small fire. She immediately placed a cup of tea into his hands.

"How are you?" She asked.

Psycho sighed. "Tired, exhausted, and angry." He replied honestly.

"You wanna talk about it?" Nizhoni asked.

Psycho shook his head. "No." He said, sipping his tea.

Nizhoni continued to watch him, poking the small fire with a stick.

"The Great Hunt's planned in three days." Psycho said.

Nizhoni nodded.

Psycho sighed, looking back toward the Main Camp. "I'm beginning to despise this place." He said.

"What's wrong?" Nizhoni asked.

Psycho laughed bleakly. "Everything. I just want to go home." He sighed, draining his cup. "People are just milling about, there's a ton of work and some people aren't getting it into their skulls that this is about survival, not some big camping trip. There's talks about trials, people trying to start a market, schools, and all that crap that isn't important now. What we need to do is secure what we have. and prepare for the move north. Not dicking around over some asshole who should have been killed or arguing with an idealistic fool who's living in the only building that will be able to keep our supplies safe." Psycho shook his head again and rose to his feet. "I'm tired of it. i don't know how Ward can handle all of this. Everyone's flocking to him with questions and demanding answers."

"Where are you going?" Nizhoni asked as Psycho began to walk away.

"for a walk." He said.

"But you've been up since five this morning." Nizhoni said. "You need sleep."

Psycho shook his head. "Look, I just want to be somewhere familiar. I grew up around sheep and cattle and maybe being around them will clear my head. Enough shitty things have happened today and I'm tried. I just want a little something that's familiar."

"Be careful."

XXX

Psycho stood upon the top of a hill, staring into the dark. It was cold and a breeze tugged at his shirt sleeves. His breath plumed before him and he could feel it almost burning down his throat.

Damn, it's cold.

"Psycho?" A voice asked.

Psychomeltdown turned around and saw Dave Howery and an NPC approaching, both were carrying rifles and heavy coats.

"Dave." He said, acknowledging him.

"What are you doing out here?"Dave asked.

"Thinking." Psycho responded.

"Its nearly four in the morning. Have you been out here all this time?" Dave asked.

"I... I guess so." Psycho shook his head.

"So what did you think up?"

"Things will sort themselves out. Ward and the others are good people. They'll know what to do. I have a job to do and I'm going to do the best that I can do with it. We have these animals and they're very important." Psycho said.

"It took you all this time to think that up?" Dave asked, smiling a bit.

Psycho grinned. "I have a tendency to take the long route when it comes to common sense." He replied.

"If I were you I'd get back to camp. or at least get a jacket." Dave said.

Psycho nodded. "Big day tomorrow." He said.

Dave grinned again. "Thankfully I'm gonna be sleeping through all that wood cutting."

Psycho grinned again. "Actually all us menfolk are going to be helping, at least a couple of hours, including you."

"Why do you hate me so much?" Dave asked, mock hurt.

"Must be the crazy woodsman beard you're trying to grow." Psycho said heading back to the camp.

"I think it looks nice." NPC said.

Dave grunted. "Shhh...Let's continue patrolling."

[Doctor What]

"Hey Doc I got someone for you to meet...."

Doctor What did a double take at the sound of MBarry's voice.

He got up --far too quickly as far as his tired and semi-pickled body was concerned--and turned to face Matt.

"Matt--how are y--"

Matt was standing there, looking like he had just spent 3 very long days without a decent night's sleep or meal.

Standing next to him was an honest to god native.

Doc's jaw dropped. He closed it. He opened it again to say something--then realized he had no idea what to say. He shut it again.

After a few seconds he turned to Matt

"I think you have some 'splaining to do..."

[pisces74]

Pisces got dressed in the dark. He needed to go back to three hills to kill those beavers. It might take a while, but that would be good eating and pelts for a while. He just had to make sure to not waste to many bullets doing it. " Honey, I'm going out hunting. I'll be gone a day, maybe two" Jen Grunted an affirmitive. "at least the broken arm wasn't affecting her ability to sleep." Pisces mused. Of course she did have a habit of taking painkillers like tic tacs. He figured three hills to be about 10 miles to the east of the main encampment, which probably translated to 15 really. Pisces laughed out loud. The advantages of being built like a stiltwalker. "Keep it down out there chuckles." some grumbled as he walked down the tent street.

XXX

Pisces waved at a couple of watchmen guarding the edge of camp as he got out of the miasma that was proto-ianoplois. Musket slung over his shoulder. he had a duty to Jenn to come back with meat, and tradable goods, or not at all. The thrill of daily life seemed incredibly weighty and exhilartaing at the same time. "Who'd a thunk that my existance would come down to a series of dicerolls.However how do I know that my life was niothing more then a seires of dicerolls."

[SionEwig]

Sion worked with Glen on Phred for around 15 minutes until other medical assistance arrived. When Flocc arrived to tell him to go crash he was still waiting outside the Aid Station listening to the activity within.

"Sleep, sure that sounds great Flocc. Tell Matt I've got most of the route to Berkely mapped out. I can show him in the morning. You know, I am too old for this sh%#," he said with a chuckle. "Oh," he said as he turned toward his tent, "the Enfields need to be zeroed, sights are way off, can't remember if I mentioned that."

[NapoleonXIV]

The strange man awoke to find himself in sunlight. He felt very weak and tired and his leg hurt a lot. He looked around and saw some very dirty naked children playing nearby.

A face leaned over him, a girl, older than the children but not by much, also naked and a little cleaner, very pretty. She smiled at him "Nazio pagwani" she said and then stuck something into his mouth. He bit down on it automatically, it tasted wonderful, juicy, hot and meaty but very crunchy, the flavor nutty, a little sweet and very full bodied.

He looked at the children as he chewed. One of them had a Glock pistol exactly like the one he'd been carrying, and was pointing it at himself. He hoped it was his, for he had never had the guts to load a weapon without a safety.

"Nazio pagwani," said the girl again. She went to put something in his mouth again. This time he noticed it was a small but very live lizard.

"This seems a good time to pass out". The strange man wondered if he'd thought this, said it or both, and then did so.

[Norbert]

With the preperations for the great hunt, a lot more wood was needed for the smoking racks and for fuel. The team headed off as normal to do the days cutting.
It was midmorning, and Norbert was taking a break, and looked over the crews working. He was pleased, especially as less and less supervision was needed. He frowned to himself, and headed to the edge of the woods to relieve his bladder.
'Grrrrrrrwwwwwllll'
Slowely, Norbert turned his head, and just as slowely reached his hand to the small of his back to the .357 Magnum there. As he turned his head, he saw a pair of yellow eyes staring back at him.
'Ohhhhh Bloooody Helllll' he mutered softly.
Norberts mind raced. Slowely he brought the pistol towards the big cat, cocking the action as he went. The cougar was crouching, its tail twitching, not a very good sign.
BOOM!!! As soon as he fired he was moving to his left, getting lower to the ground. The big cat snarled in surprise and pain and started its leap. BOOM! Norbert was now crouching, and the big cat was coming towards him. BOOM! It seemed as if it were taking hours to get each shot off. BOOM! With the last shot, Norbert threw himself to the ground just as the big cat hit him.
And then there was silence. The weight of the big cat pinned his right arm so he couldn't bring it to bear again. He could feel the big cat twitching on top of him, and he felt a wetness on his right thigh.

Shouts were going up from the woodcutters, shouting to each other and asking what was going on. Norbert was having difficulty breathing, and couldn't answer with the breathe knocked out of him. Sounds of men running came to Norberts ears, but he couldn't call out to them. The shouting continued, asking who had fired.
Scarecrow was the first to find Norbert, laying under the big cat. Pale and shaking, he pulled a hunting knive and cut the big cats throat to make certain it was dead. And then, as he tried to roll the cat off he shouted to the others to call for help, and to help him get this damn thing off the boss.

Once the cat was off him, Norbert was finally able to start to catch his breath. The cutters crowded around, and Scarcrow told them to 'Get Back! Give him some Air!'
In the background, Norbert heard someone yelling over and over 'Mna Down! Man Down! Man Down! Wood cutters you g**damn idiot!'
Scarecrow was still pale, and put pressure on the claw marks on Norberts thigh.
Norbert looked at his crew, and seemed to try to manage a weak smile, 'I always thought I liked cats!' was all he could say.

[Ghost 88]

Ghost was out checking the guard when he heard shots."What now?" he thoughtHurrying towards the Wood camp where he heard the shots,he spies a gaggle of men around abig cat. "Oh crap " is his thought as he sees theres a man down to. Steping towards the group then stopping when he sees that 1st aide is being done he looks for the guard for this area. Not spotting him near his post "Now where the--"his thought cut off when he sees him in the crowd Muttering to himself" I have got to make myself better understood. Okay he was right to check out what was going on but he needs to be back at his post once he saw the man was being taken care of." Ghost then makes eye contact with the guard motioning him to return to his post. Observing that they are making a litter for the downed man "Is that Norbert? Yes Thats him." Ghost decides to go inform Doc Finney before one man injured becomes half the camp having been butcherd by a horde of Stampeding rabbits.Trotting towards the Main camp Ghost thinks " At this rate we won't survive till 2999 BC" Ghost always has been a believer that Murphy was an optomist

[Flocculencio]

Doc Finney had told Flocc that he wouldn't be needed at the infirmary any more. Phred would live but he'd be out of action for the forseeable future.

Flocc wandered tiredly back towards his tent where Vicky was waiting she was full of information about the encampment- as a primary school teacher back uptime, she had begun to help supervise the children. Looking at Flocc's condition, she immediately made him lie down.

"You stay there," she said, "I'll get you some breakfast."

He was already asleep.

[Bety]

We had a small family argument.
Everybody agrees we should plant for future crops.
Should we do it now? Maybe we shall rather move to some more fruitfull location?
Our seeds are scarce and if we waste them we shall depend only on nature.
But viability of the seeds is not unlimited, land needs to be prepared - so we have to do something.

[Norbert]

We had a small family argument.
Everybody agrees we should plant for future crops.
Should we do it now? Maybe we shall rather move to some more fruitfull location?
Our seeds are scarce and if we waste them we shall depend only on nature.
But viability of the seeds is not unlimited, land needs to be prepared - so we have to do something.


Good News is we have a 362 day growing year with the first frost about Jan 5 and last frost Jan 8. This is information we could have picked up before our move.

[Bety]

And what about the rainfall?
And you know some seeds actually need rest in cold.

[Ward]

At the Wards Camp early in the morning about an hr after sunrise .

Ward's oldest Grand daughter Brook
Grandmama can I and take Billy and Mary over to the river for some fishing ?

Mrs Ward : Ok but you better take a rifle with you .
Grand mama is it ok if I take my pistol also .

Mrs Ward : Brook you becareful if you take it .

As Brook rounds up Billy and Mary she has already gotten the rifle and pistol . They start heading out of the camp gathering a group of othere older children with them .

They past the guards and told them that they were heading down to the river .

Brook had gathered a group of 40 kids between the ages of 8-14 years old.

[Bety]

How old is Brook?

[Ward]

How old is Brook?


She 14 going on 30 .

She is a Farm girl and her Dad has pounded weapon saftey in her .
Also she is a Venture Scout and knows her way around the woods .

She also has here boyscout lifesaving card .

I would trust her with a .357 better then my youngest son who is 16 .

[Bety]

She 14 going on 30 .

She is a Farm girl and her Dad has pounded weapon saftey in her .
Also she is a Venture Scout and knows her way around the woods .

She also has here boyscout lifesaving card .

I would trust her with a .357 better then my youngest son who is 16 .

Good for her. In our camp we use dogs for protection. We have one pistol in case someone attacted us directly.

[Doctor What]

"I think you have some 'splaining to do..."

MBarry, after introducing Almick to Doctor What (Almick pronounced it as 'Dak-Tar Waat'), went into a very brief summary of what happened in the last few days.

Doc's eyes lit up at the news of a village--maybe even two-- only a day away. Despite the lack of sleep and coffee, Doc's mind started to race.

This is good...really good...maybe...have to find out what went wrong with the second group...damn--hang on...if those books are correct about the natives in this area, at least about the basics--don't trust them about details...then Almick's people probably has never seen more than 300 people in any one spot before. Three hundred people in one spot to him would be like a city to us uptimers. Oh shit...there's three thousand of us here! This place would be like seeing New York City or Mexico City for the first time. Once this camp starts waking up...

Doc looked at Almick again. Impressive--obviously a little confused but he's keeping it together. Very impressive.

"Matt"--Doc looked at the young guy. He looked like he was going to fall on his face any second--damn, I really needed to pump him for a lot of information but that's going to have to wait --"Matt--go to Ward's place and tell him what happened. Tell him to send one or two of the younger kids back here with a big plate of food--bread, sausage, maybe some of that squash they found, whatever else they have." Food--universal gesture of goodwill and friendship--I hope.

Doc paused for a second- "And coffee--I'm going to need it. And get some sleep!"

MBarry trudged slowly away. Doc motioned Almick into his tent. "Sarah--I've got someone for you to meet--"

[Bulgaroktonos]

Bulg, or Ed, as some knew him, awoke again, in 3000 BC in California. So far, the camp was more or less organized chaos. Psycho had come up with an excellent idea for a Great Hunt, to be held in a few days time. With that in mind, it became all the more imperative to find some snakes to milk and increase the supply of antivenin in camp. He expected more than a few bites. Snakes didn't really run so much as camp out and bite stuff, so the beaters were in serious risk.

Also pressing was the trial. As the new chief prosecutor, he had to make sure that Romulus was found guilty. Didn't think it would be too hard, but privately, Bulg hated prosecutors. Always out for the conviction rather than justice. He wasn't going to push for murder on the little girl too hard. In truth it fell under negligent homicide or manslaughter than murder, as Bulg had heard, but then again he may have heard wrong.

And that's what this morning would be committed to. Finding out what people saw.

[DominusNovus]

OOC: Whats the forecast for Day 4?

[GBW]

OOC: And another question - are you all PMing each other before these interactions with one another? Because I hesitated in doing so myself in case the rest of you had established plans for the day.

[Flocculencio]

OOC: And another question - are you all PMing each other before these interactions with one another? Because I hesitated in doing so myself in case the rest of you had established plans for the day.

OOC: Well SionEwig, MBarry and myself have been PMing each other regarding the ranger related postings. I don't know about the rest.

[Psychomeltdown]

OOC: Whats the forecast for Day 4?
OOC: My guess is that it would be a continuation of yesterdays...

Let's see.

Low: 46 degrees F
High: 59 degrees F

Sunny and breezy through out the day.

Things Going On:
Today we begin building for the Great Hunt, Norbert needs all hands to begin clearing forest for wood and begin erecting the Kill Zone SW of the Camp's location.

MBarry and Flocc have returned and brought back a visitor.

People needed to continue harvesting the Squash patch found.

The Trial will still be talk of the Camp, things still need to be hammered out.

[Flocculencio]

Flocc woke up to find Vicky gone- presumably helping to look after kids.

He arose, wiping the sleep from his eyes and looked outside. Midafternoon.

Strapping on his Colts and putting on his boots, he donned his fedora and made his way to Dr. What's tent. Voices came from inside and Flocc paused as he approached.

"Hey, Bruno- it's Flocc," he called.

"Finally- one of you guys is up! I thought I'd let you all get some shut=eye before pumping you."

"Hello, Ahmick," said Flocc catching sight of the young warrior.

"Hey-lo Flok," he replied, brightening up a bit when he saw the familiar face.

"Maat...sleep?" he asked, pantomiming the action.

"Yes," replied Flocc, sitting down inside the tent, "Matt's still sleeping."

"Ahmick here has proved an excellent study," said Dr. What, "At least he's picking up bits and pieces of our language rather fast. He got a bit freaked out when the camp started to get busy so I've kept him inside as much as possible. He's been sleeping most of the day but I've managed to talk with him in between his naps."

Ahmick was frowning with concentration, nodding to himself when he caught a word he thought he recognised.

"Camp..." he said, spreading his arms wide and shaking his head to show amazement.

He wished that he could learn the language of these strangers faster. The camp...well the fires the night before had told him something of it's extent but seeing it in broad daylight. Such a multitude of people with their amazing tools and strange animals. Men and women of every conceivable shade- he had seen some who were dark like Flocc and some who looked a lot more like his own people but the majority were the pale-skins with their strangely coloured hair and eyes.

He knew that it had been the Hill Miwok who had attacked the scouts and again he gave thanks to the gods that it had not been the Coastal Miwok who had acted so rashly.

He knew that if he, as an ambassador for his tribe, could successfully form an alliance then the Coastal Miwok would never again have to fear defeat in the skirmishing that the Bay tribes sometimes engaged in.

No tribe can stand against these...if they come few by few then foolish hunters like the Hill Miwok may take their chances with an ambush. But when this host moves together, the earth herself will shake.

[Matt]

OOC: And another question - are you all PMing each other before these interactions with one another? Because I hesitated in doing so myself in case the rest of you had established plans for the day.


Alot of it's PMing, but some of it is "Oh I bumped into so and so, now his day has been derailed. " THat's what I'm going through right now... going from here to there to here. Damn I need an orderly.

[Matt]

The Sun was up now, and the camp buzzed with energy. A thousand conversatinons hit Matt's ear, but few words would process. He had only one thought in his mind, find Ward. The goto sleep.

Through half asleep eyes Ward's tent was easy to find. At was barely an hour after sunrise, but there was already a line forming to talk to the Old Man. Everyone was looking for leadership, and they were finding it in Ward.

Matt completely bypassed the line, like a man with purpose. Those who were waiting voiced their protest, but Matt didn't here them. He openned the tent flap and spoke..

"Knock, knock. Can I come in?"

The lack of intimidiation in his voice was striking.

"Jesus Christ Boy!" Ward proclaimed. He pushed the poor soul he was talking to at of the way and went over to Matt. "You look like you've been ran over with a truck, several times in fact."

"Damn near close sir," without thought Matt brought himself to parade rest. "It's been a long night. Had a man go down, Native ambush."

"I see. He alright?"

"According to Sion, Glen said he'll live. A lung collapsed on him, and we had to hump through the night to save him. But the good news is we found some friendly natives."

"Good job Boy, where are they?"

"Well there about 14 miles north of here. Right by the bay. Sion has the path charted out. And halfway to Berkeley for that matter. But we brought one back with us."

Ward took that in for a second. "No shit boy. Where is he now?"

"Bruno's with him. He'd like a nice breakfast for the guy. Names Almick by the way. Real smart. He's already picking up English, and we only meet him 3 days ago."

"Interesting... well, I'll make sure the food gets there. For Christ Sake Boy, get some rest now. See your family."

"Yes sir, just one more thing. I've talked to Miracle. He wants me to draw up a T/O for the Rangers. We want everything to be by the book, so the Council would have to authorize it."

"Good. You'll be doing important work. Get it here by the end of the day. And goto sleep boy."

"Yes, sir." Matt knew a dismissal when he heard it.

XXXX

Eric was still guarding Traveller when he found him. He thanked him and sent him along his way. First things first, and Traveller needed to be corralled.

He found the corral on the eastern side of the encampment. Hundreds of animals were gathered here, under the protection of the sheppards and the dogs.

He unloaded Traveller and threw his belongings on his back. Sighing he went to go find where his party was set up.

[Doctor What]

Morning

Talkiing with Ahmick will be a long and laborious job. With no common language, the best that could be done was using a combination of sign language and 'show and tell'. Dr. What decided that offering him some food would be a good start. He cut a few slices of salami and gave a few to him. It was obvious that Ahmick had never seen a salami before--but he knew meat when he saw it--even if the origin of the meat itself was dubious. He wolfed it down. The cheese proved to be only slightly more challenging--he raised an eyebrow quizzically at its appearance but he managed to nibble on a few pieces. When Dr. What offered him some leftover rice from yesterday's dinner, he got a reaction--but not the one he expected.

'Kada! Kada!' he yelled, making a disgusted face and backing away as best he can in the small tent. At Dr. What's confused look, he wiggled his index finger on the ground. It took a few seconds for Dr. What to realize what he meant.

What the--worms? He thinks this is a bowl of worms?

Dr. What chastized himself--of course he's never seen white rice before, you moron! The only kind of rice that exists here in North America at this time is wild rice, which is a completely different color and texture and only grows--he thought about this for a minute--Great Lakes region, maybe parts of the east coast in this time period. Nowhere near California, that's for sure.

Dr. What pulled out a bowl of seeds and mimed eating them. He pointed at the seeds and then at the rice then back at the seeds several times. Then he mimed eating the rice. Ahmick looked at Dr. What dubiously. It was only after Doc ate a few scoopfuls of rice that he--very reluctantly--ate a few scoopfuls as well. He seemed to find the taste *somewhat* likeable, judging by the look on his face.

Dr. What looked at the bowl of rice. You know--now that I think about it--a bowl of sticky long grain white rice does look a bit like a bowl of maggots...

A few more minutes of 'show and tell' went on before a small kid of about 8 years old showed up at the entrance with a large plate of food. She freaked a bit upon seeing Ahmick but this time, Ahmick took the initiative of introducing himself to the kid. Dr. What motioned Susan (or as Ahmick called her 'Zu-an') to sit down. Dr. What set the plate before him and offered Ahmick the food. He recognized the squash on the plate right away, brightening up immediately.

'Squash' said Doc, pointing at the food.
'Tagon' said Ahmick, pointing at the squash, smiling.

The sausage proved to be almost as much of a challenge as the cheese--until Ahmick bit into one and widened his eyes in amazement.

'Curoc' -he whispered in amazement. Off their confused looks, he pantomined a growling bear. Susan found this absolutely hysterical and giggled appreciatively. Ahmick grinned and playfully pretended to claw at Susan with one of his 'paws'. Squealing with laughter, Susan ran outside the tent.

The bread was a bit of a challenge. 'Bre-ed?' said Ahmick before biting into it--then announcing that the 'bre-ed' was apparently 'Lakto'. He mimed crushing something into ball, then putting it on a fire and letting it cook. He pointed at the bread -'Lakto' he repeated.

Hmmm...that's right..almonds is a staple of their diet...you can crush that into a crude flour...and if you can make flour then you can make...

Ahmick yawned and lay down to rest.
**

For the next ten hours, between naps, Ahmick and Doc would spend an hour or so describing various things in and around the tent or drawing various maps and objects on the ground. Doc was a little hesitant in letting Ahmick move too far away from the relative safety of his tent, despite his obvious interest in knowing more about them. It was obvious that seeing just the small part of the camp that Doc's tent was in was a little disconcerting for him. When he caught a quick glimpse of just how big the camp really was, he was visibly shaken and couldn't wait to go back into Doc's tent.

He was becoming very good at picking up English--Doc figured that he probably knew about 100 words or so with various degrees of fluency already and was well on his way to learning 100 more by tomorrow.

"Hey, Bruno- it's Flocc" said a voice at the entrance of the tent.
**

While Ahmick wolved down another plate of food, Flocc answered a slew of questions from Doc. Some of the questions were obvious ("How many villagers did you see?" "About 60 or so"), a few were very nitpicky ("Were the spearheads made from flint or bone?" "Did the chief or elder have any paint on him?" ) and one or two were downright weird ("Did you see any indications of ritual scarring?"). When Ahmick lay down to take another nap half an hour later, Flocc was still answering questions from the Doc....

[Ward]

I had asked Glen to post today for me last night but he did not sorry about that .

The high for today was to be in the mid 60's and clearing to partly cloudy .

Sorry about that .

[Dave Howery]

OOC: so, did the great hunt get cancelled for today? Nobody seems to be doing it.... any other random events for today?

[Matt]

I thought it was tomorrow.

[Ward]

Same here .

[Norbert]

I believe I stated that I would like to have about three days to prepare: 1 to clear and set up the kill zone, and two to gather the materials for the smoking racks and lay in as large a store of firewood as we can.

[Psychomeltdown]

OOC: so, did the great hunt get cancelled for today? Nobody seems to be doing it.... any other random events for today?
Great Hunt is Day 7, we're preparing for it now.

[Dave Howery]

OOC... Okay... looks like another day of sleeping and another night of guarding the sheep for me then...

[Psychomeltdown]

OOC... Okay... looks like another day of sleeping and another night of guarding the sheep for me then...
You're helping in the wood cutting probably today or tomorrow, depending on the need. Plus it looks like you're gonna head up the Herds for the time being while Nizhoni and I are trained as ambassadors to the neighboring tribes.




0545

With an hour and a half of sleep in him, Psychomeltdown was a little cranky. He knew it was his own fault, staying up most of the night wandering about and thinking about things, but he was still cranky.

There were a lot of things to do today.

The plan for the Great Hunt was full steam ahead and he had volunteered at least 10 men and four horses from the Herders camp to help in the woodcutting, as the de facto head of the Herders he figured that he'd also have to lend a hand in the wood cutting. The thought did not fill him with joy, but he knew he would have to do it, one and a half hours of sleep or not.

Breakfast with Nizhoni was quiet, she had made some more tortillas and had added a bit of the bear meat they had gotten a couple of days ago. the other waking men and women were also unusually quiet. Psycho assumed that it was the shooting that still lay heavily on their minds. It too was still in the back of his mind, but since last night he had decided that it was not his to deal with. Let Ward handle it, there was already enough things to worry about than what to do with the damned Murderer.

"Alright, boy.s" Psycho said, finishing off his breakfast and rising to his feet. "Time to get to work."

The men groaned but headed for their tools and animals, the women began clearing up the camp and those that were on guard duty began heading out to the animals. Psycho puled out a log coil of rope and his work gloves, glancing to where the horses were picketed for the night. He swung the rope over his shoulders and headed to the animals.

Even in the dim morning light he noticed something.

"What the fuck is this?" Psycho cried out angrily. He stalked to one of the picketed horses and knelt down before it. Beyond the mud covering it's hooves and fetlocks, there was another color, a black and glistening color. Blood.

"Who's horse is this?" Psycho demanded to the men gathered.

"Looks like Jeff's." one of the men said. "He's on second watch-"

"Get his ass here!" Psycho snarled. "Get me a rag, clean water, and a bandage!" People moved and Psycho began examining the wound on the horse. It's wasn't deep, a gash only, but still it rankled him. Something like this shouldn't be happening, not from one of the people in his camp, nor anywhere else.

"What is this?' Psycho demanded of Jeff as the man was roused from his sleeping bag. The other man just stared at the gash, unable to say anything. "What is this?"

"I didn't see it." Jeff said.

"Damn it. These animals are important. We can't just let them go about with injuries or hurts. This cut could have been infected, it could have taken the horse out of commission for weeks, worse yet. It could have killed it." Psycho rose to his feet, standing before the other man. "I want you to clean this wound, I want you to bandage it, I want this horse out of rotation until the wound is healed, I want you to then check every horse, groom every horse, and when that's done, begin checking the sheep. cattle, and goats we've been watching over." The man paled at the sudden work shoved upon him. "I want a full report when I get back this afternoon." Again the man paled, looking around for support, but everyone looked away.

"I will." He finally said.

Psycho nodded, picking up his equipment and facing the men. "Let's get going." The rest of the men grabbed their equipment and horses and began following.

XXX

Psycho began noticing a lot of things as they passed through camp toward where Norbert was gathering men and women for the logging expedition. He knew many of the people here didn't know how to take care of animals and many had been adamant about keeping their own animals in the first days. Now he began to realize that things needed to be taken care of and quickly before anymore animals got hurt.

He also noticed a lot of people were talking and not about the trial or the shooting.

"What's going on?" Psycho asked.

"Didn't you hear?" A woman said. "MBarry and the Rangers came back last night and they brought back one of their men, seems he was shot with an arrow. They also brought back a real life Indian." She said.

"An honest to God Indian?" Psycho asked in slightly mocking tones, the woman nodded. Psycho shook his head, continuing to head to Norbert's side of the camp. "What the hell am I? chopped liver?" He snorted and continued to think of what needed to be done regarding the animals.

[Norbert]

Norbert was a bit pissed off over the whole situation of the day. Especially being carried back to camp. That was the kind of thing he never liked being the recipient of. On the way, he asked if someone had a radio he could use. And he was ignored. "Damn you bastards! STOP RIGHT NOW!'
Shocked and surprised, the men carrying the stretcher stopped. 'Now who has a radio, and give it to me NOW!!' The men looked at each other and finally one gave Norbert the radio he had demanded. Taking the radio, he turned it on and called into it:
"Wood cutters???? Woodcutters! Answer me NOW! This is Norbert!!!'
Finally a reply came back from the woodcutters. Norbert spoke into the radio again:
'I suppose you guys are standing around wondering if I am Ok??? Well, I got scratched up, and I am going to get Doc Glenn to clean up my scratches. I will be all right, but you guys have to get back to work now, we have to prepare for the hunt, nad we can't do it if we jawjabber all day! Now get to work, you know what we need to do!! If you wnt, you can stop by my tent when you get back. The Doc will probably make me take it easy the rest of the day, but I am going to work on what we will be doing when and after we move. Now Pass the word to get back to work!!!'
Norbert turned off the radio, and handed it back to the man who handed it to him.
'Ok, lets get going, we can't keep the Doc waiting! And someone tell MBarry I want to talk to him. And if the Doc won't let me talk to him, tell MB that I want another guard up at the cutting site, and tell him I would like someone to skin that damn cat and get it tanned. I want to make it into a rug, so the first thing I do when I get up is to feel its fur on my bare feet in the morning to remind myself not to be so stupid about the dangers here in the future!!!!!!!!!"

[Dave Howery]

You're helping in the wood cutting probably today or tomorrow, depending on the need. Plus it looks like you're gonna head up the Herds for the time being while Nizhoni and I are trained as ambassadors to the neighboring tribes.
OOC: OK, so do I still take a shift at night, or do I draw up shifts for other people and troubleshoot problems with the herds during the day?

[Matt]

"Thank God you're back!" Jenna said as she burst out of the camping chair she was sitting in. She ran up to Matt while he was still dropping his pack, and gave him a hug. Then she hit him. "You had us all worried, and poor Jenn."

"What, I was just doing my job!" Matt said sheepishly. His sister had a way of doing that to him. Although he towered over her, and outweighed her by at least 50 pounds, he still was afraid to draw her wraith.

"Matt!!! You're here, you're here!" Andrea saw Matt and ran over. Robynn was his new wife. He didn't think it would be fair to bring his girlfriend back uptime.

"Hey kid. It's me alright." He said with a grin.

"How long well you be back?" she asked.

Matt's other friends were gathering around now. Ian, who despised modern life... Matt called him hours before the ISOT, and told him to register for the Boards. There was Ed, who Matt revieled the presence of AH.com when drunk one night. Apparently he registered too. And Brad, who cyber-stalked him onto the site.

A lavish lunch of fresh food was served, filling his empty stomach. In his mind he wondered for how long the cycle would continue, of departure and of reuniting.

[Gerard-ABC]

Dave,
I'd think that letting more of the NPCs do the ordinary guard duty is best, and then you get to rest. Still be enough for you to do in the daylight.


Regards,
Gerard

[Dave Howery]

Dave,
I'd think that letting more of the NPCs do the ordinary guard duty is best, and then you get to rest. Still be enough for you to do in the daylight.


Regards,
Gerard
OOC.. ok, that's what I thought... and when does this start? Tomorrow? Not sure just what to write for my character...

[Gerard-ABC]

Dave,
Not sure on that. I'm just keeping my group doing wagons / providing wood until told otherwise.

Regards,
Gerard

[Psychomeltdown]

OOC.. ok, that's what I thought... and when does this start? Tomorrow? Not sure just what to write for my character...
OOC: I'm writing up some plans on Animal Maintenance and Allocation, just cuz I like making up pretend plans.

Don't know when Dr. What and Leo want me to start the training, but for now i'm logging with Norbert and the others, be back by mid day at the earliest.

[Ward]

Down at the river the kids are fishing and have gotten about 360 fish .

Thats when some of the boys desided that they were going to go swimming . Most of the boys striped down to there short as the headed into the river . As the boys were playing in the river . Some of the Girls decided that they would lay out in the sun , and some joined the boys in the river .

After about a hr of the playing in the river The kids heard a noise comeing from the other bank . There stood a large bear that was heading over to were the kids left the fish they had cought. Brook started to yell at the kids to get out of the water and head back to the camp site .

The kids started to panic and started to run . The bear sat down on the pile of fish and started to eat them .

Brook watched the bear as she backed away from the river . But she notice
that most of the kids had left ther clothing and boots down at the river .
But with a bear around how would the kids get them back she thought as she headed back to the campsite.

Over 30 kids showed back to the camp site only in there underwear and covered in mud . Talking about a bear down at the river .

[Dave Howery]

OOC...OK, when we get that all decided, I'll write something up. For now, for day 4, I'm just assuming I get off the night shift from guarding sheep, spend a couple of hours on lumber duty, and then totally collapse for a nice long sleep.... say, I'll be back up around 9 PM or so... if I'm going to take over herd management tomorrow, I'll get somebody else on guard duty tonite... if not, I'll take another shift at 10:00...
I keep forgetting the wife in all this... I suppose Michelle will be helping Mrs. Ward or Nizhone during the days...

[Bulgaroktonos]

Okay, a quick summary of the evidence day 1 of Bulg/Ed's investigation has discovered.

1. Witnesses heard loud shouting/screaming coming from the tent. Clearly there was an argument of some kind going on. It came to a crescendo when the woman stormed out of the tent hurling obsenities.

2. At this point, the accused came out of the tent, still yelling. The argument continued for a few moments, at which time, the accused fired at the woman. She was not hit immediately, and the accused continued to fire in her direction, striking several bystanders, killing 1 and injuring 3.

3. Eventually the woman was killed with a headshot, and seconds later, the accused was taken down and taken into custody.

Thus, the charges laid before the accused, pending further investigations, are as follows.

2 Counts of 2nd Degree Murder
1 Count of Reckless Homicide

1 Count of Reckless Endangerment

5 Counts of Assault with a Deadly Weapon

Also, taking a break from the unfortunate duty of investigative work, I managed to capture a speckled rattlesnake (of the kind that bit the individual earlier this week, or likely to be). Brought it to Glen where it was milked to produce antivenin.

[Norbert]

At the Ward enclave, Norberts wife Carla was hard at work. She was glad of all the camping trips she had been on when she was a kid. She was even more glag of the summers with her grandparents, where her grandmother had insisted the kids learn the old ways of doing things, one of which was cooking with wood. Mr Ward was busy talking to all the people who came to talk with him. He had the two-way radio with him, listening to reports that came in. Late in the morning came the call that chilled her to her very core.
'Man Down! Man Down! Man Down! Woodcutters!'
Without waiting, she rushed away, heading towards Doctor Finneys tent. When she got there, she told the people who were training that a man was down with the woodcutters. And she stated her father was a doctor, and she could help with the wife of whoever was injured, calming them down and just talking to them, keeping them out of the way. Doctor Glenn said fine, do it, as he went to check his supplies.

Twenty minutes later, she was watching for the patient to arrive, wondering which would be the best tact to take with the mans family, keeping them calm. Soon, she heard the commotion coming through the crowd, and she stretched to see who it was. A minute later, the people were parting for the stretcher crew, and she saw who they had on the stretcher, and she promptly sat down on the ground, going into the very shock that she had planned to help someone else through.

As the stretcher passed, she looked up, and her husband Norbert saw her and said 'Hi Dear! How you doing??? '

[Psychomeltdown]

"Animal attack? What animal attack?" Psycho asked, leaning on his axe. The day was cool, but sweat dripped off him and he was actually feeling a bit better.

He'd grown up chopping wood and occasionally fell trees with his father and uncles, it was hard work, but it was also work you could lose yourself in. A rhythm you got lost in.

"Norbert got attacked by a cat or something."

"Damn, that's bad." Psycho shook his head, glancing about uneasily "What' the plan?" he asked.

"Don't know."

"Well, we need this wood and one cougar or whatever shouldn't put us a day behind in work. I'm going back to work, tell the others to do so too and get some guys with guns to watch over us. Just in case." Psycho said, picking up his axe.

Psycho went back to work and soon the others began following suit.

[jolo]

With the information on the surrounding territory, an up to date map could finally be made. The mayor and a few of his colleagues divided the land into allotments suitable for farming, foresting/hunting, herding, fishing, crafting, living, mining, and so on.

Every family got an allotment for a house with a big garden for free. The allotments already in use by citizens of Ian's Fort (like lumber mills) were given to their users. People whose businesses were located on the market were given replacements close by. Loud businesses were moved further away. People who didn't have a business were given a small patch in the outskirts of the city.

The allotments outside of the cities were bigger, limited to 2 per person (including children), and leased away at low monthly rates in an auction system - in the first round, every family wrote down all allotments they'd like to have, but not more than 80% of the ones available. The ones with only one bidder were assigned. The people who were successful could choose neighbouring allotments until the quota determined by their family size was fulfilled or continue the auction. When two people wanted the same allotment, the dice decided. The ones not finished had to eliminate the allotments on their list taken by others and reduce the number of allotments according to a ceiling of 10% below the maximum of the last round. People were allowed to add allotments as long as they stayed below the limit. The auction was repeated until everyone had reached their allowance of allotments. Afterwards, people were allowed to swap allotments with each other or for free allotments if they liked to.

Only about 10% of available land was distributed, to leave more room for later expansion of farms or the likes. But that was about twice as much as was needed to plant all our seeds. Places apparently in use by Amerindians were excluded from the auction. All results were deemed temporary, as a base for negotiations with the Amerindians in the area.

The market was deemed community ground, with lots being available for a small rent. Similar was to be true for Ian's apartment when it became available.

Quite a few people volunteered for a second fishing camp further down the river, which would also be responsible for producing salt. After getting my home and my part of the lumber mill, I was able to grab a piece of land to the south suitable for my ponds, a little bit of farming, and growing fruit trees.

A contract was awarded to build a small channel from the closest river to Ians Fort to improve the water situation and irrigate the gardens. In the summer, the soil would get too dry otherwise.

The market was becoming more and more organized - some huts were beginning to look remotely like bakeries, butcheries, potteries, workshops, fish stores, food stores, hardware shops, tailoring shops, and so on.

The first hand carts were assembled and used to transport branches, bushes, food, salt, logs, stones, sand, water, and so on. Also, a small boat began to form - our fishermen were in high demand of them.

The bench saw finally worked better thanks to the good weather, thanks to putting up the solar cells directly on the lumber mill in a good angle to the sun, and thanks to disconnecting unnecessary equipment. Therefore, a lot of boards and beams were produced, which lead to faster construction, more production of wooden goods, and higher quality housing.

I was able to employ three people who didn't have much to do or weren't very successful with what they did. After getting them started, I rode with some equipment to my new grounds, to start building my first fishpond. My wife was left at home to care for our Garden. I found a family willing to develop a field nearby, and they helped starting to build the dam and the irrigation channels for both of our fields. Later, a fishing net further down the river would be erected soon before the creek could be closed. Then it was planned for the water to be diverted into my and my neighbours fields. The low water in the creek would offer a great opportunity to catch lots of fish there, while the pond would allow easy fishing in the future. But that would still take a few days.

In the breaks I had to take inbetween the hard work I studied the requirements for the different seeds and planned which parts of my fields would get which seeds. Seeds I couldn't use had to be traded for seeds I could use, though I intended to plant everything possible to grow in the area at least in very small numbers, if only for seed production. I intended to remove very few stumps at the beginning, using crops that could be planted between the stumps and clearances for the other crops. Some wet farming was also among my goals, to let the tree stumps rot automatically over the years.

In the evening I returned home and moved the tent of me and my wife from the top of Ian's apartment to our new home. Ian's apartment was being used as a watch tower anyways.

[GBW]

GBW wandered the camp, still gloomy over the shooting yesterday, the fact that everyone around appeared to be strangers and he still had no idea what was being planned. Sure, he'd caught a brief glimpse of Hendryk the day before and he knew Glenn Finney was here, but he barely knew him - not that he knew any of them that well, of course, aside from AH.Com. He also remembered Flocc mentioning the name Ianopolis when they'd discussed settling near Berkeley, but that was all he knew. Had most of them even come along? Or had the ASBs decided to exclude some members and not others at the last minute? "I wouldn't put it past them," he muttered under his breath.

As he walked past a few tents where people were sitting on the ground chatting, GBW's expression remained impassive but inside he worried. Most of these people don't seem to be doing anything. What'll they do when they eat through the supplies they brought with them? The answer to that seemed obvious - start looking at other peoples' supplies; GBW unconciously brought a hand close to the handgun he now carried all the time clipped to his belt alongside the knife and hatchet. A situation like that was going to make the shooting yesterday look like nothing. He thought of his wife back at the tent, guarding their supplies, and worried a bit more. He was the reason she was there. "If anything happens to her..." He shook his head. He didn't know what he'd do.

As he moved into another semi-clearing amidst the tents, he looked around; this was pretty near where the shooting took place and where Glenn Finney's tent was. He'd asked around and he was certain this area was where most of the organized effort was being coordinated, what there was of it. By chance, his eye happened to land on someone walking by who looked familiar. Where have I seen that guy before? Let's see... camouflage outfit... "Hey, Weapon M!" he said, and trotted after him.

[Bulgaroktonos]

OOC: I really don't think we're giving out land at this point. As basically everybody agree upon, everything is communal for now. We're parcelling out land once we start making enough stuff to survive. And certainly no businesses yet. We don't even have food.

Nor do we have real jobs. Current jobs include Doctoring, wood cutting, two lawyers, militia, fishing, and some hunting. Also, part-time snake catching.

With the information on the surrounding territory, an up to date map could finally be made. The mayor and a few of his colleagues divided the land into allotments suitable for farming, foresting/hunting, herding, fishing, crafting, living, mining, and so on.

Every family got an allotment for a house with a big garden for free. The allotments already in use by citizens of Ian's Fort (like lumber mills) were given to their users. People whose businesses were located on the market were given replacements close by. Loud businesses were moved further away. People who didn't have a business were given a small patch in the outskirts of the city.

The allotments outside of the cities were bigger, limited to 2 per person (including children), and leased away at low monthly rates in an auction system - in the first round, every family wrote down all allotments they'd like to have, but not more than 80% of the ones available. The ones with only one bidder were assigned. The people who were successful could choose neighbouring allotments until the quota determined by their family size was fulfilled or continue the auction. When two people wanted the same allotment, the dice decided. The ones not finished had to eliminate the allotments on their list taken by others and reduce the number of allotments according to a ceiling of 10% below the maximum of the last round. People were allowed to add allotments as long as they stayed below the limit. The auction was repeated until everyone had reached their allowance of allotments. Afterwards, people were allowed to swap allotments with each other or for free allotments if they liked to.

Only about 10% of available land was distributed, to leave more room for later expansion of farms or the likes. But that was about twice as much as was needed to plant all our seeds. Places apparently in use by Amerindians were excluded from the auction. All results were deemed temporary, as a base for negotiations with the Amerindians in the area.

The market was deemed community ground, with lots being available for a small rent. Similar was to be true for Ian's apartment when it became available.

Quite a few people volunteered for a second fishing camp further down the river, which would also be responsible for producing salt. After getting my home and my part of the lumber mill, I was able to grab a piece of land to the south suitable for my ponds, a little bit of farming, and growing fruit trees.

A contract was awarded to build a small channel from the closest river to Ians Fort to improve the water situation and irrigate the gardens. In the summer, the soil would get too dry otherwise.

The market was becoming more and more organized - some huts were beginning to look remotely like bakeries, butcheries, potteries, workshops, fish stores, food stores, hardware shops, tailoring shops, and so on.

The first hand carts were assembled and used to transport branches, bushes, food, salt, logs, stones, sand, water, and so on. Also, a small boat began to form - our fishermen were in high demand of them.

The bench saw finally worked better thanks to the good weather, thanks to putting up the solar cells directly on the lumber mill in a good angle to the sun, and thanks to disconnecting unnecessary equipment. Therefore, a lot of boards and beams were produced, which lead to faster construction, more production of wooden goods, and higher quality housing.

I was able to employ three people who didn't have much to do or weren't very successful with what they did. After getting them started, I rode with some equipment to my new grounds, to start building my first fishpond. My wife was left at home to care for our Garden. I found a family willing to develop a field nearby, and they helped starting to build the dam and the irrigation channels for both of our fields. Later, a fishing net further down the river would be erected soon before the creek could be closed. Then it was planned for the water to be diverted into my and my neighbours fields. The low water in the creek would offer a great opportunity to catch lots of fish there, while the pond would allow easy fishing in the future. But that would still take a few days.

In the breaks I had to take inbetween the hard work I studied the requirements for the different seeds and planned which parts of my fields would get which seeds. Seeds I couldn't use had to be traded for seeds I could use, though I intended to plant everything possible to grow in the area at least in very small numbers, if only for seed production. I intended to remove very few stumps at the beginning, using crops that could be planted between the stumps and clearances for the other crops. Some wet farming was also among my goals, to let the tree stumps rot automatically over the years.

In the evening I returned home and moved the tent of me and my wife from the top of Ian's apartment to our new home. Ian's apartment was being used as a watch tower anyways.

[Ward]

Running into the herders camp is a young boy about 7 bearfoot and wearing only undershorts . Dose anyone know were Mr Psychomeltdown is or his wife .

I'm Billy Ward and a bear took us kids fish from us . Can some one come back with me so I cna get my fishing pole and clothing .

Thats when he sees Mrs Pcychomeltdown and runs up to her .
And starts babbling about a bear and kids swiming and fishing and how he cut his foot on a rock , and then he starts crying for his mommy .

[Psychomeltdown]

"Bear?" Nizhoni asks.

The gathered men and women are also a little scared. Bears at this time are big and mean.

Why were the kids alone in the first place?

Nizhoni shook her head. "Billy, tell us where this bear is." The little boy nodded.

"You." Nizhoni pointed to one of the Herders. "Go into camp, tell Weapon M or whoever that there's a bear close to camp, tell them we're also going to see what can be done about it."

"That wise?" Asked the man.

"Do it." Nizhoni said flatly. "Michelle, wake that lazy husband of yours up and tell him to bring his big gun. The rest of you... load up for bear."

Nizhoni calmly took Billy's hand. There would be some words needed to be spoken to Ward about letting kids run around unsupervised.

[jolo]

OOC: I really don't think we're giving out land at this point. As basically everybody agree upon, everything is communal for now. We're parcelling out land once we start making enough stuff to survive. And certainly no businesses yet. We don't even have food.

Nor do we have real jobs. Current jobs include Doctoring, wood cutting, two lawyers, militia, fishing, and some hunting. Also, part-time snake catching.

If we have a market, we automatically have businesses. If we have wood crafting, we also automatically have businesses. The same is true for butchers and others. And as said before, my settlement won't be based on communal property, but on private property - though it's for lease for now, to avoid the financing problems.

It only concerns the land around Ian's Fort anyways, and that's of no consequence for the main settlement.

We also need specialisation to get desperately needed fishing boats going. Carts help transport water and other needed things. And so on.

As I see it, we (at Ian's Fort) need to get going asap. I just made sure everyone knows what they have to do. We also need to understand that the people from the main settlement will only be motivated to work until they leave if they get something for it - why should they help clean out fields, if they can't use them? Community work doesn't even function on this very simple level. And most of you guys should be pretty happy about being able to get jobs to buy food - which is the next goal of Ian's fort, as a lot of people who aren't good hunters, guards, or lumberjacks are sitting idly around.

[Norbert]

A big commotion seemed to be starting in thhe tent of Doctor Glenn:

'You are going to do WHAT???? No Way in Hell!!! I only have the two pair!!!'
'DAMN IT!!! You lay back down and let us cut those off you!!!'
'NO BLOODY WAY!!!!'
'YES BLOODY WAY!!!!'
'NO WAY!!!!'
'YES WE ARE!!!! IF YOU DON'T LIE BACK DOWN, I'LL, I'LL, DAMNIT!!!! IF YOU DON'T LIE DOWN, I'LL HIT YOU OVER YOUR DAMN THICK HEAD WITH A ROCK AND CUT THEM OFF ANYWAY!!!!!'
'YOU DON'T MEAN THAT, YOU WOULDN'T!!!!'
'I CERTAINLY WILL, AND IF YOU DON'T CO-OPERATE THEN I'LL CUT SOMTHING ELSE OFF TOO!!!!
'Mbmmmblerrmmebr'
'NOW YOU LIE DOWN AND LET ME CHECK THAT WOUND!!!!'
'Mmmmbrmbmmr!!!!'


(And thus Norbert looses his battle with Dr Glenn to save his Carhardts)

[Dave Howery]

OOC... carhardts?

"Do it." Nizhoni said flatly. "Michelle, wake that lazy husband of yours up and tell him to bring his big gun. The rest of you... load up for bear."
lazy? I just spent 14 hours awake doing herd duty and chopping wood, and I get this, grumble grumble...
:)

[Norbert]

[QUOTE=Dave Howery]OOC... carhardts?
QUOTE]

Yes, Carhardts. Nice heavy duty work wear that wear with heavy use for years.:D

[Psychomeltdown]

OOC... carhardts?

"Do it." Nizhoni said flatly. "Michelle, wake that lazy husband of yours up and tell him to bring his big gun. The rest of you... load up for bear."
lazy? I just spent 14 hours awake doing herd duty and chopping wood, and I get this, grumble grumble...
:)
OOC: yeah, but you're supposed to be up for 16 hrs. :p Wanna write up the bear killing? I'm writing up where Nizhoni tears Ward a new one. ;)

[Bulgaroktonos]

If we have a market, we automatically have businesses. If we have wood crafting, we also automatically have businesses. The same is true for butchers and others. And as said before, my settlement won't be based on communal property, but on private property - though it's for lease for now, to avoid the financing problems.

It only concerns the land around Ian's Fort anyways, and that's of no consequence for the main settlement.

We also need specialisation to get desperately needed fishing boats going. Carts help transport water and other needed things. And so on.

As I see it, we (at Ian's Fort) need to get going asap. I just made sure everyone knows what they have to do. We also need to understand that the people from the main settlement will only be motivated to work until they leave if they get something for it - why should they help clean out fields, if they can't use them? Community work doesn't even function on this very simple level. And most of you guys should be pretty happy about being able to get jobs to buy food - which is the next goal of Ian's fort, as a lot of people who aren't good hunters, guards, or lumberjacks are sitting idly around.

Who put you in charge of a settlement? Right now, everybody is still camped out around Ian's apartment. Shops? Four days in? I just don't see it as plausible in the slightest.

This is the game's primary, and glaring flaw. No organization.

[Norbert]

Who put you in charge of a settlement? Right now, everybody is still camped out around Ian's apartment. Shops? Four days in? I just don't see it as plausible in the slightest.

This is the game's primary, and glaring flaw. No organization.

Right. No organization. And that is part of the best part of it. We have been pulled from our comfortable lifes, most of us never having met each other except on the board. We are thrown into a situation that is foreign to almost everyone. The beauty of it, in my opinion is the chance to try to organize ourselves into a group that not only survives, barely, but to survive and grow into better people, with new respect for ourselves and those around us. My skills, for example, has little to lend to me to be successful in the modern world. But in this world of the past, the skills I learned early in life that I no longer use, are valuable to the survival of not just myself, but others as well.

[jolo]

Who put you in charge of a settlement? Right now, everybody is still camped out around Ian's apartment. Shops? Four days in? I just don't see it as plausible in the slightest.

This is the game's primary, and glaring flaw. No organization.

I'm not the one organizing anything - I'm just describing what's happening, as I'm the only one active for this community atm - Imajin could also contribute some, though. The mayor is someone else...

If people start working and trading, they also have some kind of "shops" - though atm it's just stilts with simple roofs and wares distributed on the ground or on tables found in Ian's apartment. Some people even sit on blankets in the open if they just want to get rid of a few things they have too much of to get the things they need.

I'd also say that you'd see a similar development (trade, some kind of currency...) automatically whenever you put a few thousand unorganized people into such a situation...

What do you mean with "game's primary"?

[Psychomeltdown]

Who put you in charge of a settlement? Right now, everybody is still camped out around Ian's apartment. Shops? Four days in? I just don't see it as plausible in the slightest.

This is the game's primary, and glaring flaw. No organization.
As Norbert said, we'll be making our own rules and sorting ourselves out. Sorting ourselves out, you got the motivation, the ambition, you can put yourself in charge of something.

Jolo's pretty much the head of Fort Ian's Apartment, cuz we'll be leaving him and the 272 poor souls there, since they don't want to come with us.

Ward is nominal head of the Camp, those going to Ianopolis.

[Soyuz]

If we have a market, we automatically have businesses. If we have wood crafting, we also automatically have businesses. The same is true for butchers and others. And as said before, my settlement won't be based on communal property, but on private property - though it's for lease for now, to avoid the financing problems.

It only concerns the land around Ian's Fort anyways, and that's of no consequence for the main settlement.

We also need specialisation to get desperately needed fishing boats going. Carts help transport water and other needed things. And so on.

As I see it, we (at Ian's Fort) need to get going asap. I just made sure everyone knows what they have to do. We also need to understand that the people from the main settlement will only be motivated to work until they leave if they get something for it - why should they help clean out fields, if they can't use them? Community work doesn't even function on this very simple level. And most of you guys should be pretty happy about being able to get jobs to buy food - which is the next goal of Ian's fort, as a lot of people who aren't good hunters, guards, or lumberjacks are sitting idly around.
Lol, almost fell of my chair laughing.

Butchers? Who are the butchering? Each other?
Wood crafting? "Somebody, get me food fast, I haven't eaten in days!" - "Well, I don't have food, but I do have some finely crafted wood!" - "Eh, the heck with it. Gimmi twenty." Dies the next day from malnutrition.
Trading? Well, ok. Maybe they can exchange smaller items. But no-one's going to trade their food away. Or "Anyone got a plow?" - "Well, I have one..." - "Can I buy it?" - "No, I only brought one!" - "But what am I supposed to farm with?" - "Beats me, ain't my problem. Dig with your hands, or something."

Face it, unless 80% of the people are engaged in food gathering activities, some people will starve. Good luck eating your crafted wood thought!

[Dave Howery]

OOC: yeah, but you're supposed to be up for 16 hrs. :p Wanna write up the bear killing? I'm writing up where Nizhoni tears Ward a new one. ;)
Okey dokey...

Dave emerged from a deep comalike sleep... someone was shaking him. He forced his gummy eyes open and saw Michelle crouched over him, looking worried. "Whazit?", he managed to mumble out. "Another bear damn near got some kids today.. it's still out there.. get your Sharps!" That woke him up in a hurry. "Damn, two bears in four days... I was hoping they wouldn't be so thick on the ground here. Alright, lemme get dressed". He quickly pulled his boots on, picked up his Sharps and a box of bullets for it. "Need to get a bandolier for this," he thought to himself. Stepping out of the tent, he saw Psychomeltdown and several other men standing there, all armed with big bore rifles and waiting for him, apparently. Turning to Psycho, he asked, "Ok, where is it?" Psycho briefly told him about the kids who had been fishing and the bear that stole their catch, and started walking out towards where the bear had been seen. Dave and the rest followed. "Damn, Psycho," he said, I was really hoping we wouldn't run into so many bears here. They should be spread out some, they're so big. Do you suppose all the noise and smells are attracting them?" "Yeah, but what can we do about it? 3000 people, a few hundred animals, and lots of cooking fires are going to be impossible to hide". "True enough... anyone seen any wolves yet?" Psycho shook his head. Dave replied, "You know, I'm not sure they're around here. One book I looked at before we came here said that wolves didn't live here in central California, but something I read on the natives said they did. Maybe we can ask the natives, if we learn their language." Psycho said, "Personally, I hope they don't live here... we don't need any more predators. A cougar got a couple claws into Norbert today.. he's mostly alright, but he'll be limping for a while." "Damn... do you suppose we'll have to pull more people off of work to stand guard duty? That's just what we don't need." "True... hold it.. we're getting close." The men all slowed and walked cautiously. Soon enough, the bear came into view, still on the bank of the river, nosing around, obviously hoping to come across more free fish. It was a monstrous boar, with the classic 'silvertip' hair. Dave and Psycho dropped to one knee and looked at it. The rest of the men also did so, with too much noise. The bear heard them, and with a noisy 'huff', it reared up onto it's back legs, nose moving around as it sought the scent of the men it could hear but not see yet. Psycho grinned at Dave and said, "Want the first shot?" Dave looked down at his rifle. "Okay, but I only get one shot with this thing, so the rest of you be ready." The bear dropped back to all fours as Dave lined up his rifle, aiming at a spot right behind the front leg. The bear dimly saw him move, and rumbled angrily... but it didn't charge, having no experience with guns. Dave fired... the gun's heavy recoil threw the barrel up high. The heavy 45-70 bullet, designed to kill buffalo, hit the bear with a loud thud. But the shot didn't instantly kill it. The bear whirled around angrily and bit at it's flank and the ground. It then began charging towards the crouching men, moving erratically due to the wound. Luckily, the rest of the men were more than ready, and 6 more shots hit the bear... one in the head dropped it instantly. Psycho elbowed Dave in the ribs. "You missed the heart, there." Dave, looking a little pale, nodded. "Yep, sure did. I'm really out of practice when it comes to shooting. Actually, I was lucky I hit the bear." The men all stood up... some whooped in excitement, while the rest just looked relieved. Psycho grinned and said, "Well, let's get someone to skin this thing and carve it up... looks like bear stew for a while longer." "Joy"....

[Glen]

I had asked Glen to post today for me last night but he did not sorry about that .

The high for today was to be in the mid 60's and clearing to partly cloudy .

Sorry about that .

I'm sorry too...having significant internet issues. A lot of my attempted posts weren't even able to get through, and the few that did took so long that there wasn't enough time for more.

[jolo]

Lol, almost fell of my chair laughing.

Butchers? Who are the butchering? Each other?
Wood crafting? "Somebody, get me food fast, I haven't eaten in days!" - "Well, I don't have food, but I do have some finely crafted wood!" - "Eh, the heck with it. Gimmi twenty." Dies the next day from malnutrition.
Trading? Well, ok. Maybe they can exchange smaller items. But no-one's going to trade their food away. Or "Anyone got a plow?" - "Well, I have one..." - "Can I buy it?" - "No, I only brought one!" - "But what am I supposed to farm with?" - "Beats me, ain't my problem. Dig with your hands, or something."

Face it, unless 80% of the people are engaged in food gathering activities, some people will starve. Good luck eating your crafted wood thought!

A lot of our people are hunting. Some people buy the animals the hunters don't eat themselves, take them apart and sell them. Some hunters even do it themselves after a successful hunt. With the money, they can buy knifes, maybe ammunition, horse gear, or whatever else they need or want.

We need boats, we can use carts and other wooden equipment to get our work done more easily, we need housing and fences, and so on.

Some people brought along enough food. Also, personally I see the situation at Ian's fort as manageable - we start working one or two months earlier than you guys.

And I'm pretty sure people will get along with plows and other important tools - they can sell them if they specialised on fishing or hunting, they can agree on some kind of cooperation, and so on.

Of the 272 people of Ian's Fort, maybe 30 are occupied with wood cutting, wood crafting, building, and the likes. Maybe 20 are guards or the likes. Most of the rest was occupied with fishing, hunting and gathering until today - there's not much left in the area for gathering anymore, the area will also be hunted empty in a few days. Now the people are starting to plant their seeds, to clear their fields, and so on. I see this as a positive development.

[Psychomeltdown]

"What the hell do you think you're doing, sending little children to go fishing, with no one watching over them!" Nizhoni yelled as she entered Ward's tent without knocking.

She was pissed, that was clear.

"I-" Ward began.

"What were you thinking? Were you even thinking?" Nizhoni continued, running rough shod over Ward. "These are little children, they aren't prepared to fend off a damned bear. And you let them go running off without anyone so much as knowing what was going on or without anyone watching them."

"I-" Ward tried again.

"This is beyond stupid. It's dangerous. We've already lost one little girl, we can't be losing anymore children! You got that? So next time you think you can just tell you kids and grandkids to go off and play somewhere, remember we're in a damned forest surrounded by bears, cougars, and all sorts of nasties!"

"But-"

"The next time you let the kids run off unwatched, will be the last time. Got that, Mr. Ward?" Nizhoni said dangerously. She glared at him and stalked out of the tent.

Ward sighed. "I didn't go let them play out by the river." He muttered and sighed again. "Mrs. Ward and I are gonna have a long talk."

[Psychomeltdown]

"Hey, Honey! Look what you Great Brown Hunter of a husband brought home." Psycho said happily, then suddenly got quiet.

"I even know what that look means." Dave said as the two men hurried away from the storming Nizhoni.

"Looks like we'll be doing the cooking tonight." Psycho said.

"Oh, joy."

"I kinda like my meat burned anyway."

[Dave Howery]

OOC: nice to see we still have our sense of humor, even though we're working our butts off 5000 years back in time.... :)

[Psychomeltdown]

OOC: nice to see we still have our sense of humor, even though we're working our butts off 5000 years back in time.... :)
OOC: We'll always need a sense of humor, it's the only way to get through the shitty situation we're in. :D

[Ghost 88]

Ghost heading towards Wards tent,hears a women shouting. "Damn that sounds like Nizhoni,Psycho's women. Whoa she just said that far more elegantly than I could. Sounds like she's got this handled guess I better check the Guards"

[Doctor What]

Don't know when Dr. What and Leo want me to start the training, but for now i'm logging with Norbert and the others, be back by mid day at the earliest.

OOC:
There's a lot of shit that needs to be done with the Hunt and the Move and now we've got this other bear, so I'm going to hold off on the training until everything has calmed down a bit.

Even though there's a ton of stuff that still needs to get organized, ideally I woud like you to come by at some point on Day 5 or 6, even if it's just for one hour. A 'familiar face', so to speak, might calm Almick down a bit and get him to open up a bit more. Besides which, there's all kinds of subtle nuances of native culture that you can help me out with. Granted--odds are that your culture will be nothing like Almick's culture but there might be a few commonalities. At the very least, I'll have someone else picking his brain for info. And he'll get used to you a bit.

I've interviewed Flocc already--MBarry is definitely next on my list.

Right now--we're putting together a (very rough) dictionary--'Man', 'Walk', 'Big', 'Tree', 'River', etc...

Leo's speciality is linguistics--I'm hoping that with his help we can figure out the grammar of Almic's language so that at some point we can actually say 'We are going to walk down to the big tree then follow the river' in Almic's language.

BTW--if you need my help for the Hunt, put me down on one of misc. crew--I'm pretty sure that even I have enough skills to schlep water or wood from point A to point B. :)

[Psychomeltdown]

"Well, the day's finally over." Psycho said, pulling off his boots. He was beginning to feel sore from the days exertion, not to mention all that hauling when it came to dismantling the bear. But it was a good feeling, like you did something good. Something you could be proud of.

He lay down up the sleeping mat. It was hard and he could almost feel the ground beneath it, but to his weary bones it felt like a feather bed. He sighed, pulling off his shirt.

"Long day over with." He said.

"G'nite, husband." Nizhoni muttered, curling up beside him.

"Nitey nite." Psycho yawned.

"So, husband dear. How tired are you?" Nizhoni asked, a smile on her face.

"I'm tired." Psycho mumbled half asleep. He pulled the covers over himself, then promptly fell asleep.

"Hell of a day." Nizhoni muttered.

[Psychomeltdown]

"Next time you'll listen to them." Mrs. Ward stated.

"Yes, ma'am." Ward replied, unlacing his boots.

"Next time you'll send someone to watch over them." Mrs. Ward stated.

"Yes, dear." Ward replied, pulling off a boot.

"Next time you'll tell me where the children are." Mrs. Ward stated.

"Yes, wife." Ward replied, pulling off the other boot.

"Next time you'll listen to them." Mrs. Ward stated.

"Yes, ma'am." Ward replied, buttoning his shirt.

"Next time you'll send someone to watch over them." Mrs. Ward stated.

"Yes, dear." Ward replied, pulling off his work shirt.

"Next time you'll tell me where the children are." Mrs. Ward stated.

"Yes, wife." Ward replied, carefully folding his work shirt.

"There's a lot of things to do. I know you're busy. I know you're being pulled in so many directions. But we have to keep our children safe." Mrs. Ward said.

Ward paused and then nodded. "Yes, ma'am." He said.

"Good. Now you can take your bedroll outside and think about it." Mrs. Ward said.

Ward paused and then nodded. "Yes, dear." He said, picking up a blanket and heading out of the tent.

[Doctor What]

OOC: Ah --peace and harmony fills the Ward home once again... :rolleyes: :p

[pisces74]

OOC: for future reference Jen has offered her services as a den mother to the kiddies since shes convinced of my inability to hunt, Of course some food for us will have to be negoiated since shes firmly convinced that her don mothering will be our family's sole source of non beef jerky/hardtack food.

[Bulgaroktonos]

I think I'm just going to wander off. I'll update you guys as to my progress across this great land.

OOC: Norbert, by "no organization" I meant "No coherent pattern of developments, or commonly accepted accomplishments."

[Ward]

Ward mumb;es to himself when he lays down .
She knows I let her handle the kids and that Brook can wrap me around her little fingner .
Well I'm going to have to talk to WeaponM about the Guards someone should of stop the kids before they left .
Damn Damn it we realy got to get are shit together before more people are killed .

I'm so tired and my head hurts so much . :eek:

Oh damn not again please God not again .

[Matt]

With the information on the surrounding territory, an up to date map could finally be made. The mayor and a few of his colleagues divided the land into allotments suitable for farming, foresting/hunting, herding, fishing, crafting, living, mining, and so on.

Every family got an allotment for a house with a big garden for free. The allotments already in use by citizens of Ian's Fort (like lumber mills) were given to their users. People whose businesses were located on the market were given replacements close by. Loud businesses were moved further away. People who didn't have a business were given a small patch in the outskirts of the city.

The allotments outside of the cities were bigger, limited to 2 per person (including children), and leased away at low monthly rates in an auction system - in the first round, every family wrote down all allotments they'd like to have, but not more than 80% of the ones available. The ones with only one bidder were assigned. The people who were successful could choose neighbouring allotments until the quota determined by their family size was fulfilled or continue the auction. When two people wanted the same allotment, the dice decided. The ones not finished had to eliminate the allotments on their list taken by others and reduce the number of allotments according to a ceiling of 10% below the maximum of the last round. People were allowed to add allotments as long as they stayed below the limit. The auction was repeated until everyone had reached their allowance of allotments. Afterwards, people were allowed to swap allotments with each other or for free allotments if they liked to.

Only about 10% of available land was distributed, to leave more room for later expansion of farms or the likes. But that was about twice as much as was needed to plant all our seeds. Places apparently in use by Amerindians were excluded from the auction. All results were deemed temporary, as a base for negotiations with the Amerindians in the area.

The market was deemed community ground, with lots being available for a small rent. Similar was to be true for Ian's apartment when it became available.

Quite a few people volunteered for a second fishing camp further down the river, which would also be responsible for producing salt. After getting my home and my part of the lumber mill, I was able to grab a piece of land to the south suitable for my ponds, a little bit of farming, and growing fruit trees.

A contract was awarded to build a small channel from the closest river to Ians Fort to improve the water situation and irrigate the gardens. In the summer, the soil would get too dry otherwise.

The market was becoming more and more organized - some huts were beginning to look remotely like bakeries, butcheries, potteries, workshops, fish stores, food stores, hardware shops, tailoring shops, and so on.

The first hand carts were assembled and used to transport branches, bushes, food, salt, logs, stones, sand, water, and so on. Also, a small boat began to form - our fishermen were in high demand of them.

The bench saw finally worked better thanks to the good weather, thanks to putting up the solar cells directly on the lumber mill in a good angle to the sun, and thanks to disconnecting unnecessary equipment. Therefore, a lot of boards and beams were produced, which lead to faster construction, more production of wooden goods, and higher quality housing.

I was able to employ three people who didn't have much to do or weren't very successful with what they did. After getting them started, I rode with some equipment to my new grounds, to start building my first fishpond. My wife was left at home to care for our Garden. I found a family willing to develop a field nearby, and they helped starting to build the dam and the irrigation channels for both of our fields. Later, a fishing net further down the river would be erected soon before the creek could be closed. Then it was planned for the water to be diverted into my and my neighbours fields. The low water in the creek would offer a great opportunity to catch lots of fish there, while the pond would allow easy fishing in the future. But that would still take a few days.

In the breaks I had to take inbetween the hard work I studied the requirements for the different seeds and planned which parts of my fields would get which seeds. Seeds I couldn't use had to be traded for seeds I could use, though I intended to plant everything possible to grow in the area at least in very small numbers, if only for seed production. I intended to remove very few stumps at the beginning, using crops that could be planted between the stumps and clearances for the other crops. Some wet farming was also among my goals, to let the tree stumps rot automatically over the years.

In the evening I returned home and moved the tent of me and my wife from the top of Ian's apartment to our new home. Ian's apartment was being used as a watch tower anyways.


Wow


This is insane

It's DAY 4.

4.

We're near stravation.

You'd think people would be more concerned with feeding you know their families, not establishing a thriving capitialistic system.

At least that's what I would think.

edit: Sorry, I posted that a little too personally insulting. I edited that. Just woke up and all.. :)

[jolo]

Wow


You're insane

It's DAY 4.

4.

We're near stravation.

You'd think people would be more concerned with feeding you know their families, not establishing a thriving capitialistic system.

At least that's what I would think.

You're the third person with exactly the same comment. What's the problem with a few people doing a market and everyone who's got something to trade using it?

I also believe it'll increase the efficiency of our food gathering - whoever can get some food without farming will do so as long as it's possible, while doing his farming on the side or leaving it to specialists. Even more so, the people occupied with gathering are just realizing that they aren't doomed, because the fishermen are beginning to be successful. A lot of people will turn towards this market therefore - much better allocation of people's work force than under a command structure.

Think about why even the poorest developing countries usually have markets - it keeps them from being even poorer and therefore from starving. Only communism managed to make people starve while there was enough land to feed them around.

[Psychomeltdown]

I think I'm just going to wander off. I'll update you guys as to my progress across this great land.
But you're the Human Resource Allocation Coordinator! You're supposed to be the person who gathers up the necessary people to fulfill the job requirements of the camp.


I also believe it'll increase the efficiency of our food gathering - whoever can get some food without farming will do so as long as it's possible, while doing his farming on the side or leaving it to specialists. Even more so, the people occupied with gathering are just realizing that they aren't doomed, because the fishermen are beginning to be successful. A lot of people will turn towards this market therefore - much better allocation of people's work force than under a command structure.

Do you know how much labor is going to have to be put into actually farming? You can't just let specialists do it, you need your whole community there, planting every bit of seed crop you can get. Then you've got to get everyone who's able to go fishing, hunting, etc.

for your group you got,

33000 lbs of food to last you 40 days.
you're consuming 800 lbs a day.
You'll need about six months of food beyond what you have.
That's 150000 lbs of food.
then when you do get your crops in, you'll only have enough to feed about 2/3 of your population for 3 months. This is because WE ARE ALL short on seeds and I doubt you could trade our Camp for the seeds you'll need.
You'll also have to save a bit of your crops as seeds, meaning less food to eat.
You can't have everyone hunting, pretty much all the game in the area will be killed when the Great Hunt begins. You can trade with the locals, but even they are aren't farming or anything, they're just living off what they've managed to gather in the fall and what they're hunting for now. They don't have the luxury of a gun to shoot down game, they have to stalk, they have to kill it using nothing but a stone tipped spear, dart, or arrow.


As for specialists, what specialists?

Even our Community has a limited amount of people who know what they're doing. Ward and his family are the only people who have long experience in farming, Norbert is the only guy who has had long experience in lumbering, etc. We're all 21st century men/women/children who've grown up with pretty much everything done for us. We've grown up only having to go to the store to buy things, but now we've got to BUILD everything from the bottom up.

With a group as small as yours, you're looking at things being far more difficult, in the simple labor sense. You'll be lacking animals, lacking people, lacking skills.

[Matt]

I'm thinking we should do the pioneer wagon deally... if only to make Jolo's posts more sensical.

[Ward]

I can see a small market were people might be trading something like extra pans or knives they might have . Also some Goat milk , eggs or that but not much more . But major iteams no not yet . I could Also see someone setting up a bath house . or maybe washing clothing . But not a lot of the things you are talking about .

[Ward]

I'm thinking we should do the pioneer wagon deally... if only to make Jolo's posts more sensical.


MB are you ralking about us getting the wagons , the team of oxan and the 1000 kg of iteams each here .

[Psychomeltdown]

MB are you ralking about us getting the wagons , the t