D.A.B. day 3
Welcome to Planet Hell
Being woken up by a screeching birds suck, and I want to build a bow just to kill that fucker. After my heart starts to slow down and I made sure my camp seems secure, I wash my face, groin and body and try to limber up while watching the view. That bloody bird screech again, and I jump. Fucking bird, so I give it another bird without looking at it. At least it is better than those distant roars echoing before dawn, followed by what sounded like a fight and really bad noises. There is so many screeches and tooting or trumpeting animal noises that it generally have become just the background. Some still makes me jump, especially when they're loud and sounds close and mean. On the other hand it's a very good wakeup call, and pretty much on the spot for yesterday according to my watch. Yeah, might as well let that loud mouth bird live. I know he have a nest in a tree, and although I could reach it, it would be dangerous and I might fall without securing myself. But if something dangerous comes close he might start screeching. He do it pretty much every time I get close. Can I feed the bird?
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Eventually I reluctantly have to make my way back down, and take my morning dump at my usual spot away from my camp. I need a better toilet and I should really focus on securing my camp and improving its creature comforts. A bucket for 'middle of the night pooping' have to be included since I don't want to go down here in the dark. It seems likely I will be here for quite some time, and even if I go exploring I will try to return before nightfall.
"He don't know how to use the three seashells!"
I'm going to miss toilet paper. I move down to the trap and something have tripped the snare for the animal trail, but nothing is stuck. I reset it but make the loop bigger. Everything here seems too big.
Sneaking around with my home made backpack carrying frame with all the grass and leaves sticking out makes me feel silly, but it should help a lot if I crouch down, and it shades my arms and body. It absolutely feels good to carry the long cumbersome fish traps across my back so I can focus on being quiet and aware of my surroundings, and my work pants have a horizontal loop that is pretty much perfect for one of the axes. I just need to be careful about the blade and not hitting the handle as I sneak around.
Something have really snacked on that washed up fishy, and there are big crabs and other animal. Does everything have to be so bloody big?! I might kill a crab, but reacting to the meat might be bad. I never had crab before, even though it might not mean much for creatures here. I sure won't eat anything less than 'well done'. Anyway, hunting is for when I head back, so for now I just avoid the fishy.
It's hard to find two spots for the traps, as I want to try to be sneaky about it, but I should be able to hide another without having to cross the river or go further up than I usually do. Man, I really haven't explored much since I got here. I layer the weaved grass basket with leaves and then just start adding mud and don't stop until the weight starts to worry me. Then I cut and strap on two bundles of grass on the sides. If someone looks close at this area it might be a bit suspicious, but there are plenty of grazers so hopefully not.
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Holy shit, that crabs shell is tough and my fire hardened spear isn't good enough. I don't want to use the stone axe in my belt as hitting stone will damage the blade, so in the end I just throw big stones at it until it cracks and stops moving. Not a very silent kill, but hopefully it's a meal. Classic human thing. Animals spiral down to food started when a human figured out to throw stones and showed another. I make sure to tie up those pincers before I bundle it up and fasten it to the pack. Time to try to kill a bird and get the fuck back up!
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My spear suck, and so do my spear skill. But I have a tied up bird as I quickly make it back, check my surroundings and move up to the camp. For once it feels good to be greeted by that screech, but I still salute it. Can't break a tradition. I don't believe in luck but I kind of feel lucky. So far so good. One of these trips are just nerves and anxiety all the way.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Time to make a few more pots and make parts for a kiln. The first pots seems completely dry, but I can't risk it yet. I need a grate to have the fire on, so I can force air from below and let the ash fall down, and I also want to avoid having the flames hitting the pottery and I need to slowly increase the temperature, so I need a clay tray or more to force the hot gasses and flames up around the pots and up to a chimney, and I want to make the space oblong for two or three large high pots, and cut outs for shelves for stacking when stuff is smaller. I also want a large thermal mass to make cooling down slower, but I will use rocks for most of that instead of going all clay as that will be better for my nerves as I can collect stones close by. The kiln will crack, but I have to live with that.
I will need blowers, but I plan to use the wind up here to make a sort of funnel instead of having to use blowers all the time, and that will need a damper to adjust the airflow. Since I want to be able to do many burns I have to make the kiln reusable as well. To save work I plan on making a small forge-kitchen just beside the kiln on the future front wall side so that it too can have adjustable wind from below and they can use the same chimney with a damper and diffuser on top. The hotter the kiln burn, the higher the temperature will be, and I assume I need high temperature for good work. I probably need charcoal for really good work. Especially as I will try to use pre-shaped clay molds like crucibles to melt my metal into something roughly the shape I need, like a blade or axe, or just a long lump. I have no idea if that is a good idea or I can reach high enough temperature instead of making a proper furnace, but a crucible will limit impurities from coal and air, and might mean less real forging and hammering. Which is good both for noise and work, since my tools will suck. I still need to harden and temper so I need that forge, and since I have a very limited amount of metals for forging, the forge will mainly be a kitchen in the future. So the forge have to be good for cooking food and boiling water for normal day to day life, so I will add a grate, and hooks for drying, grilling and barbecue and so on.
I'm going to have to make so many trips for clay, and fill my pockets with stone. And add some slate too.
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I make another trip, followed by another, but as I'm filling up my backpack basket for the second time animals start to make noises and I realise they have become agitated. Bad, bad sign! So I quickly decide that this is good enough and I don't need more right now. I start to make my way back downstream along the river like I normally do, with with my head and ears on even fuller alert. Crashing and breaking tree sounds increase, and as I turn around I see trees falling out into the river a couple of hundred meters further upstream, and big dinosaurs come rushing over the water. Shit shit shit! As I reach the sea I see predator looking dinosaurs chasing after and hunting. That is a bloody pack of them, and they might not look that big compare to other dinosaurs I've seen, but they look vicious as hell! I can see their bloody claws from here! And all those teeth!
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"
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I basically collapse as I reach my camp and my body and back is killing me. A heart attack might be close too. This was the third round today, and I pretty much ran the whole way back while crouching and staying low to hide along the grass edge of the stone beach. The very bad noises and screeching was a great motivator, but it is a mad dash ending in something like a 60 to 100 meter climb, and my fitness isn't that good. The distance makes it hard to see, but it looks like a pack off 7-8 predator dino's tearing into their two kills.
"Well, better those dino's than me. Eat up boys."
If there are Aliens watching me I bet those bastard finds this bloody hilarious.
"Damn Alien Bastards! You should come down here and try to survive and live of the land! I hope you all die a slow painful death!"
It feels kind of good to have someone to blame. I hope I can reach some form of win condition so I can meet a couple of the bastards responsible, and I hope they have nuts. Unless they have a truly epic excuse, I will try to kick them so hard they will barf their nuts out.
It is absolutely time to start improving my living accommodations and safety, and that damn ladder. I can chop down a tree and use rock or wood wedges to split the log. Then make holes and poke round branches through. I guess most larger predators are kind of busy right now, although smaller predators might be hiding in the jungle looking for prey. Might be best to let the large predators leave so scavengers and smaller predators gets a chance to pick the bones. I don't doubt my skill in finding my ridge trail that is well worn enough, so next time I will remove the cairn. Without that any caveman or human looking from a distance will only see something like an animal track going into the jungle, or rain water formed.
I need to start on that kiln and forge as it too need to dry before first firing to get it heated. Probably have to patch it up and let it dry. Then I can use it. I bloody hope this works. But I will have to fetch more clay and stone.
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