After making the first Arrow I grabbed my bell and walked outside and I tried to at least have a tree with the arrow. Pulling back the drawstring took a lot more strength than I would have thought or I'm just weak anyway. I released the string and I'm sad to say that the arrow went directly into the snow at least five meters from where I was standing. I must not be doing it correctly or it could be the quality of the arrow. Regardless, I don't think a bow is supposed to do that.
I grabbed the arrow and tried again and again. I'm not so happy to say that on my 27th attempt, I finally hit the base of a tree about 22 meters away from me. I tried to replicate exactly what I did to make the arrow fly that far and failed yet again. Fast forward 3 hours of trying and failing, and I could eventually hit the target every five or so times in a row.
Then the magic circle reappeared with text hovering in front of it: "Would you like to allocate one point towards Mastery of the Bow? YES or NO." I picked yes because why wouldn't I? I pulled back the drawstring with the arrow and released it. The arrow flew 22 meters and thudded directly into a tree. I repeated this, and the arrow would come close to the tree every time. It never hit exactly where I was aiming, but it was always very close, missing by a maximum of a meter. It might sound pretty crappy, but for someone using a bow for the first time, it was pretty good.
I walked to the maple tree and collected the bowl of sap. It wasn't full, but it wasn't empty either. I walked back to the house and used some of the sap, wolf bones, and the little bit of twine I had left to make three more arrows. I placed the bow and arrows at the foot of my bed, went back out, and put the bowl back at the maple tree. Since I had almost everything I needed on me—the spear, the axe, and my clothing—I started to walk back to the cave. I still had at least five hours of daylight left, which gave me just enough time to go to the cave and come back.
On my way back to the cave, I found the little snow mound where I had buried the corpse. I stopped a few feet away, lowered my head to pay my respects, and then continued on my way. When I eventually got to the cave, I checked the traps around it, and there was, of course, nothing. I slid open the small, crappy door of the cave and was met with a terrible stench, one of blood and probably rotting flesh. As I looked up, I could see sunlight reflecting off of someone's eyes. I took a few steps back and fell on my back. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the cave, I saw it was a corpse. This person had more equipment on them. They had what looked like brass shoulder armor, some sort of leather strap going across their chest, and leather boots.
I crawled into the cave again, grabbed the person by the foot, and dragged them out. As I did, I noticed this person's skull was split open at the very top. Trying to keep myself from vomiting, I inspected their bones until I eventually turned them over onto their back. There were words carved into their backs—the same phrase: "I can smell your fear." looking at this I froze for a few moments.
When this happens the magic circle appears and the text floating in front of it says "self inflicted paralysis for 2 minutes". I couldn't look away from the corps. I couldn't move. I could barely breathe and my hands were shaking. After the time was up I took a big deep breath in and breathed out and then took the equipment off the corpse.
The boots fit perfectly. I was surprised how well they fit actually. The shoulder guards are also pretty comfortable although if I moved my arms too fast it would hurt. And I didn't notice this but the leather strap going across his chest was attached to a quiver that rested on his right side.
After Gathering the equipment and wearing it I crawled inside the cave and waited a few moments for my eyes to fully adjust rip it a piece of paper from Eloise's Journal and with a small nearby stick I pricked myself in the finger and Drew the map on the piece of paper with my blood. I will change it to Ink when I get back to my house and I can use the ink and quill.
I started to walk back when I suddenly heard a blood-curdling roar. I turned to my left and just above the little mound where my cave was, I saw deer antlers. I saw these lanky, armored claws reach over and grab a branch, flinging the creature forward. I turned and started running. I could hear footsteps behind me and the wind from its wings—"vwoom" "vwoom." I continued running as fast as I could when one of the worst things happened: I tripped. I fell and landed on my back. The Wendigo continued running towards me, one of its arms ready to claw me. I turned away, trying to get up and run again, but it was too late. I felt a sharp pain in my back, followed by a ripping sound.
But I didn't care. I continued running, pushing my body to the limit, as fast as I could go. Then a thought struck me—if this thing was going to hit me, I was going to hit back harder. It might have been idiotic, but I stopped in my tracks, turned, and thrust my spear towards the Wendigo. I pierced it in the right shoulder. It howled in pain and raised its left hand, smacking me in the left shoulder. I heard something crack as I went flying back into a tree, my head hitting the wood. I felt consciousness slipping away.
—-----------------
I woke up in pain, specifically in the back of my head, my back, and my left shoulder. The snow all around me was red. I tried to get up but fell back down. I took deep breaths in and out, then stood up and put my hand on a tree to steady myself. I could barely raise my left arm, and my back was in so much pain that every breath hurt. I also had an agonizing headache at the back of my head. I looked around, and the Wendigo was nowhere to be seen, although my spear was on the ground; it must have pulled it out of itself. I put my foot underneath the spear and quickly raised my leg, catching the spear with my right hand.
I continued walking for an hour and fifteen minutes until I got back to my house. I looked around at the equipment on the floor and found my bandage, which was a bit bloody, but I didn't care. I started wrapping the bandage around my upper chest so my back would be bandage, making sure to cover the wound. I took off the shoulder guards very delicately and then removed my t-shirt to inspect my left shoulder. It was purple and green, which was not a good sign, and it had swollen to approximately double its size. It was probably broken.
I tried raising my left shoulder with my right hand, but all I could feel was sharp pain and the disturbing sensation of my shoulder blade grinding against the other half that was broken. It was extraordinarily painful. I touched the back of my head and looked at my fingers. My head was bleeding a little bit, but my skull wasn't fractured or broken; it was just blunt force trauma.
My wolf cloak was nowhere to be found. It must have gotten clawed off, and I'm glad it did; otherwise, my back would have been ripped to shreds. It's funny—I spent all this time not getting injured, not freezing to death, not getting hypothermia, and now I'm here, battered and broken.
Next time I see a corpse, I'll run in the other direction as fast as I possibly can, like the last time. Apparently, if I stay too close to the corpse, the Wendigo knows where I am. I could use this to my advantage by setting up a trap to run back to. Or when I see a corpse, I can just hide behind a tree with my bow and arrow drawn and wait for it. Regardless, I should get some sleep right now. I feel like I'm about to pass out any second. I lay down on my "bed" and fall asleep.
—-----------------
I woke up in a bit of a daze in the back of my mind. I could see the magic circle again. I stayed in this half awake half sleep state so I can see the magic circle better because for some reason when I focus it goes away.
The information on the Magic circle is:
Proficiencies:
Medical Equipment (3/100)
Crude Lumber Tools (15/100)
Polearms (2/100)
Basic Craftsmanship (10/100)
Crude Leather Working (2/100)
Crude mapping (1/100)
Name: Ivan
Magic: None
Skills: None
Titles: Lost One
Alias: None
Weapons:
Crude Axe
Crude Spear
Rough Pocket Knife
Hands
Crude Bow & arrow
Armor:
copper shoulder guards
Scrappy leather boots
Weapon Masteries:
Crude Spear (1/1000)
Crude Bow (1/1000)
Status Effects:
Cold
Paranoid
4 back lacerations
Fractured collarbone
Broken shoulder blade
Brain damage
Wendigo's Curse
Well it looks like my injuries are pretty severe, brain damage is one I did not expect to see. So how am I going to fix a fractured collarbone and just take it easy for a while. no that won't cut it. Regardless I still need to get water though. I got up and slowly made my way to the wood stove, picked up the bucket and opened up the door.
Every time I took a step I filled my collarbone, my shoulder and my back screamed in pain. It's like every step was agony. Eventually got to the ice Lake and I'm definitely not stopping on the ice that would kill me. I crouched down, picked up a decently heavy nearby Rock lifted it up above my head and swung my right arm down and through the stone at the lake. The Ice broke, leaving just enough room for me to fit my bucket into the hole and screw up a bunch of water.
I got back inside and left the bucket on the wood stove. There's enough room for me to start a fire. I do not want to empty the ashes today. I let a match. I didn't have any birch bark so I just started with Twigs to move up just sticks then thin branches and finally firewood.
When the water was turned to boil I went back outside and collected some of the rabbit meat I placed outside of the snow to preserve it. I went back inside and skewered the rabbit meat with the same stick I used last time. Before I forget I put some pine needles and pine cones into the water before it started the boil.
After the tea was done boiling and the rapid meat was cooked I took a bowl scooped up some of the tea placed it beside me on my bed and ate the rabbit meat. I went back outside with my pocket knife and carved out a huge chunk of bark from the tree. When I got back in I separated the fiber from the rough part of the bark. And started making twine.
I still wanted to be productive. You know what they say: progress never sleeps. It was very difficult to wrap twine with one hand, but I managed to do it. I took more breaks than usual to scoop up more tea. After drinking most of it, I dumped some of the pine cones into a bowl and then went back out to the lake to get more water.
This time, before the water boiled, I took off my bandage and put it in the water. The plan was to clean it as best as I could, and what better way to get rid of germs than boiling the hell out of them? While waiting for the water to boil again, I continued making twine. After the water started to boil, I looked back in and saw that my bandage was getting cleaned, with some of the redness coming off.
I sat back down and started to think about my injuries a little more. I didn't want my bones to heal in a way that would impede my movements, so I needed my shoulder to be elevated or in a normal position. Right now, it was just limp and dangling.
I had an idea. I put my arm through where I normally would in my t-shirt but didn't put my head or right arm through. Then, I twisted my shirt behind my back. Because my shirt had more strain on the right side, the left side squeezed and lifted up. As this happened, I felt my bones grind against each other and then snap back into place. Using one hand, I managed to tie my t-shirt so that the strain would keep it in place with the twine I had made in the past four hours. This left me with one meter, which wasn't horrible.
I didn't know how I was going to fix my brain damage. Maybe if I just took it easy... Wait a minute, how long does it take to heal brain damage? How long does it take to heal flesh wounds? I mean, it took three days for the bite to heal. No, it took three days for the bite to scar. How long will a bone take to heal?
I still need to kill that dam Wendigo.