At midnight Adam activated stealth and kept an eye as his stamina regen went suddenly negative. Without the noises that disturbed him each night before he dropped off to sleep before his stamina reached zero comforted by the fact he should be hidden to anything outside by his skill.
He woke and stretched. Each morning so far he woke refreshed but this was the first time he also felt calm and a bit more in control. He checked his watch 6:00am exactly. With no alarm set it must be some odd internal mechanism that made him wake at such a precise time. He was actually excited to get out of the tent for the first time. In his excitement he forgot that it was still quite chilly in the morning, the sun not having the chance to warm things up yet.
A message from his bladder beat the desire to stay in the slightly warmer tent. Once out Adam set about planning his day. He added a morning stretch routine before his pre-breakfast run and used the time to update his quests. As before he added more as he went.
Quests Complete? Exp
Work out where I am
-continue exploring area
32% 40 Find a way to bring water to camp 0% 20 Find out where the vermite come from 0% 25
Make camp more secure
-Complete outer fence
10% 10 Get supplies for the day 100% 5* Start a fire 0% 15 Survive tonight 100% 5* Don't pass out in the night 100% 10*
Reach level 3
- Increase Inspect to level 3
- Increase Discern to level 3
0% 20
Gather supplies
0% n/a
Survive the night
0% n/a Collect Y/N 20
The system was going to reward him for reaching level three. That was good. He collected the experience. Bringing his total available to a grand total of thirty. Hmmm, to level either skill would take forty exp meaning he needed another fifty. The system had obviously stopped rewarding him for tasks he knew he could complete relatively easily as well. That was frustrating. The most rewarding quest would be exploring the area - Adam looked at his map.
Given that he was about a third complete and the area that had been mapped properly so far he would need to explore the rest of the forest line across to the coast; back up the coast to the mountain and then across the foothills to return back to camp. He would also probably need to cut back and forth across the grassed area a few times for the map to pick up detail. It didn't take him long to determine that he wouldn't manage that today. With no tools or equipment he was yet to think of a way to get the water to camp; so that was going to wait. He remembered when camping as a child they had tried to start a fire rubbing sticks together; making a fire was therefore theoretically possible but who knew how long that would take. As children Adam and his friend Gary got bored and his Dad had just used a lighter to start the fire in the end. Vermite hunting was already underway as was completing the fence.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Priorities set Adam started his day by running through the orchard to the waterfall he had found and then sweeping up around the cliffs forming the base of the mountain rather than down the river. A swerving rather than straight route meant he returned via the foothills to find the map completed for the entire area he had covered.
One chore down and food for the day gathered Adam set about starting his second fence. He stopped to rest once he had placed most the outer stakes due to the repetitive nature of the task. Maybe he should have put some points in perseverence after all. This no longer being an option he distracted himself by taking a break for lunch instead. After the break he was still not in the mood for fence-building so opted to head to the stream for a drink and to collect some nuts. Leaving the fruit he had brought from the orchard earlier left much more room for nuts than previously. He also decided that more wood was better than less so ended up returning to camp with another pile of wood for the fence too.
It was clear by mid-afternoon that he was not going to finish the fence properly before night fell. Adam had completed the staking and had moved to weaving but was less than half done and was running low on stamina already. The fence stood over a foot high now with two gaps left to enter camp at right angles to the entrance he had left to the tent. As it was the fence might stop a rogue rabbit that ventured near; but he was pretty sure the vermite could just step over. Really though, he wasn't that worried about them anymore. Sure a large group might cause him an issue, and more so if he was trapped in the tent, but he was mainly trying to complete the fence for the reward not the protection now.
With this in mind he left the fence in pursuit of another goal. Yup; perseverence might have helped a little here. He packed a mix of fruit and nuts into his bag and picked up his staff. The vermite were out there somewhere and finding them would be more lucrative than his fence anyway. He found his pile of rocks easily. In the full light of day he could see it from where he had been placing the fence. From here he followed the broken nut shells another thirty paces or so where they trailed off. Another pile of rocks marked the point. Rather than just set up his food parcel for the vermite here Adam explored a little further in the same direction. Not having any idea how to track an animal or having any obvious markings in the hard earth visible between patches of grass there weren't many clues which way to go. At the point when he was about to give up Adam found one more nut shell about the same distance again from camp. A third pile of rocks was created and Adam left more nuts than fruit in the hope that this method of finding the vermite would be successful in the end.
The day was completed with an unproductive return to fencing that he gave up on at the point where Adam realised he had been spending the last ten minutes watching Person making a minuture fence next to him rather than doing any work. He took his staff and played 'fight the tree' again with little in mind other than passing some time. He felt he was getting a bit better at swinging it around but other than that he still wasn't sure it would be much help in an actual fight. A frustrating hour rubbing sticks together as the sun set ended his day. It was probably his imagination that towards the end the sticks were warmer than at the start; they certainly hadn't produced any smoke let alone fire.
Not having completed any tasks for the day; there was no experience to collect. The only positive being that the percentage completion in some had risen.
Quests Complete? Exp
Work out where I am
-continue exploring area
46% 40 Find out where the vermite come from 12% 25
Make camp more secure
-Complete outer fence
65% 10 Start a fire 1% 15
He really hoped the 12% vermite completion wasn't reflecting how long it would take to find them; and did 1% in the fire quest mean he had spent his time fruitfully? He was feeling brave enough to sit outside and watch the stars for a while before getting into his tent. Without any scuffling or added noises the hard part was staying awake until 23:30 to activate stealth. He hoped he hadn't got his maths wrong and it would stay active all night.