(IC) Lost In Dreams [Peter]

[ericthered]

Peter retrieves the weapon. Goliath sniffs a dark spot on the road, and Peter realizes its the blood of the man who stabbed himself. His body is gone, and it appears to have been moved rather than eaten by scavengers.

Peter moves slowly into the woods, gathering and eating food as he goes: testing acorns for that one tree that isn't poisonous, upturning logs and eating the grubs, and he even finds two bird nests that have eggs in them already. Goliath doesn't seem to be interested in any of the food but the eggs.

They slowly work their way into the woods, running across one or two other roads.

[the_matrix_walker]

He hopes they will find better food, but Peter will pack up a little of this and that in case they can't find anything else later.

Peter finds a good stick and plays a little fetch with Goliath as they go, but not too much... he doesn't want Goliath to get too worked up while they don't have a water source. He will be sure to drink and give Goliath a little water from the skin from time to time to make sure they do not become too dehydrated. He keeps his eye out for potential water sources as they continue their travels.

[ericthered]

Finding 'good' water sources here is a matter of choosiness. Nothing here is going to satisfy 21st century standards of clean water without boiling.

He finishes out the day feeling hungry, but not unbearably so. Goliath has managed to catch a squirrel as the day comes to a close.

Peter wonders how best to camp -- its cold enough he may want a fire, but doing so will alert his position to others -- and it is a good protection against predators. He also needs to decide how long he wants to spend building a shelter -- it will take away travel time, but is he really in a hurry to go anywhere?

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter decides to make a decent camp, and makes a fire. He tries his best to minimize it's smokiness and hopes for the best. He figures Goliath will help him keep a lookout for anyone who might approach. He keeps the weapon close, just in case...

If one of those armadillo beasts or another animal happens by, he will hunt for a decent meal.

[ericthered]

Peter's dreams that night are uneventful and unhelpful.

In the morning, he and goliath run across a giant armadillo fairly early in the morning. Its quite aggressive, but slow enough that Goliath and Peter can double team it. They get it stuck between the two of them. Peter is quite glad to have his spear-sword, but soon finds that simple stabs bounce go off of the armour on it, and the animal is being most unhelpful about displaying its belly. Peter is aware of a lot of tricks for living off the land, but how to kill a aggressive giant armadillo with just a dog and a spear is not one of them.

Peter observes that the underside of the animals is less armoured, as are the toes and parts of the head. Of course, he's been trying for the head and hasn't really been able to land a blow, and the claws on the toes certainly can block a hit.

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter exercises patience and observes the creature closely until Goliath distracts it and gives him an opening to skewer the critter.

[ericthered]

Peter takes the 'patient' route to hunting. He and goliath keep the animal switching between the two of them for well over an hour. Its exhausting. Luckily, Peter is young and in good shape. As the dance goes on, the creature becomes less coordinated, and peter begins to get in little bloody nicks on the animal. Half an hour after that, the creature becomes too tired to react to the two sided attacks, and Goliath manages to seize it by the back of the neck. Held in place, Peter flips the belly into an exposed position. The animal tries to curl into a ball, but with its head in the dog's jaws, can only do so partially. Peter worms the spear into a crevice and rams it home. He feels the skin give, and worms the weapon around. Goliath lets go, and Peter holds the creature against the ground until it stops moving.

Both he and the dog are exhausted, and somewhere between an hour and two hours of the day is gone. But now they have more meat than they can eat, and with the growling in his stomach, Peter is pretty sure the endevor was worth it.

Of course, they made a ruckus and took a while. Two turkey buzzards have already shown up, and who knows what else is waiting out there.

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter will rely on their activity and Goliath's growls to keep the birds at bay while he attempts to build a fire and partially dress the animal so he can cook the meat for their meal. He will cook up as much of the meat as he feels he can comfortably carry with them for provisions, and leave the rest to the scavengers.

[ericthered]

Goliath chases away the animals while peter cooks. He's not much of a cook, but it hardly matters. Goliath eats a large, hearty meal. Peter spends a good amount of time cooking the meat and cutting it away from the bones so that it won't take up as much space or weight. He's not sure how to properly dry the meat, but figures he doesn't have enough time anyway, and mostly just cooks it on a stick. With any luck the meat will keep for at least a while.

They leave the carcass behind for the animals with full bellies and half of the day gone.

He continues walking, and comes across a ripe field of corn -- a sign of civilization. Looking around, no one appears to be about-- the young corn is just growing on the stalks. Other fields are adjacent, and there is probably a house or villiage around here, but he doesn't see one just yet.

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter will explore the area cautiously, trying to remain hidden from any prying eyes until he identifies who might tend these fields.