I woke up miserable. Far from the feeling of waking up in a bed, I woke up on damp earth on a chilly morning. Dew dripped down from the trees around me and landed on both me and the surroundings. Like the ground, I too was covered in a layer of moisture.
Miserable.
Miserable but not dead. Thankfully not dead.
I sat up, blinked. And took in my surroundings. Red light peeked over some trees as the morning sun rose in the sky. Faint wisps of mist curled around and sank into the shadows as the temperature rose bit by bit.
My guards were still there. Laying on the ground as ordered.
With another command, they rose like nothing had happened, as if they hadn’t been lying on a forest floor for hours. And quickly began their tasks.
Misery, as it turns out. Is a great inspiration on how to improve your current situation. This was made doubly as true by the distinct lack of things I have.
What was that famous line? Nowhere to go but up? Yeah! I Might be here alone but at the same time, I’m not. Even if they aren’t the most efficient or intelligent workers out there, my skeletons will make my life so much easier. But before I can get to work myself, it’s time to test out my new toy!
“Group Summon Skeleton!”
In near tandem three skeletons break through the forest floor and bring themselves up before me. They too are quickly put to work.
For right now I’m trapped here as far as I’m concerned. And I can see the beginnings of something that while not perfect, will be enough to get me by for the time being.
While my skeletons go about their tasks I start to run back to the field with the tall grass. Am I scared of what’s in the forest? A bit but that’s not why. Back on earth I used to like the survivalist aspect and camping. I had better gear than here obviously but videos watch watched in anticipation of somehow getting lost in the woods took up a shameful amount of my watch time.
My guilty pleasure is finally showing results!
At the grass now. It’s tiring to run. Maybe there is a skill for that? I haven’t unlocked it yet so it doesn’t matter I guess.
Anyways time to get to it! Rip off some of these overly long robes, tie them around my feet and legs and run through the grass! The dew from the mist collects and soaks into the fabric which you can then drink from.
A half hour of this later
It’s nice not to have the constant feeling of dehydration.
Slowly and leisurely I walk back to the impromptu camp. And come to see what the skeletons have done. Bad workers, they may be but with seven of them and almost an hour’s time they have managed to make some good headway. A Pile of rocks and small tree trunks was gathered in front of my ‘bed’.
Why? I’m hungry. Those skeletons may not need to eat but I sure do. And that evil boar looks tastier by the minute. I can’t afford to be too picky. Taking out my dagger I start to strike it against the rocks that make up the pile that was collected one by one until eventually one releases a couple of sparks. Then with a bit of inner bark fluffed into a bundle, I soon had a fire going. It always pays to be prepared, doesn’t it? Whether it be knowledge or equipment.
Soon the wonderful smell of cooked meat filled the air as I had used my admittedly lacking skills to butcher the boar to the best of my ability. The hide now sitting to the side. Soon it was ready and I tucked into the meat. Bleh, this stuff doesn’t taste good at all. The smell was deceptive. The meat tastes bad. Not in a way that will become a problem as far as I can tell but it doesn’t taste like bacon or pork roast or anything else I have had. Probably the evil, as I have decided to call it. That boar was not normal. Red eyes are evil. Therefore it was evil.
After brunch, we headed out once more into the forest as a group, me and my proto army.
Some hours later
The four remaining returned victoriously with two more boars. Sometime later we had them skinned and life is looking up! Three boar hides, scraped as cleanly as I could muster, are going to be a godsend tonight.
More time went into making the coffin, I mean bed a little more livable. With sticks on the bottom and a slanted roof with a bunch of leaves on top in case of rain and two of the hides lining the floor all while meat that I had left was slowly cooking away to turn into not so delicious jerky.
By nightfall, I had eight guards and a place to sleep. The coals making the jerky still provide an eerie but also comfortable low light. Pulling the last hide over myself as a makeshift blanket, that didn’t cover all of me sadly, I fell asleep on the second night. With actual hope for the future.
