Treachery (The Terra Trials Book 1)
Page 27
“How do you know all this?” Max asked as he strained his eyes for the grove of trees.
“Some player built this amazing boat and navigated the whole river. It’s pretty awesome,” Chopsticks said. “This is the river Olgar, the one that splits off by our base, this is just really far upstream.”
“Which means we know exactly what you’ll encounter,” Sam added.
“Encounter?” Max didn’t like the sound of that.
“One thing at a time, my friend,” Chopsticks replied.
“Thanks, now I’m worried.” Max wriggled his fingers and then moved his arm in a waving motion in an attempt to get some feeling back into them. Swimming to shore was his first priority, then lighting a fire so he could dry his clothes.
“Over there.” Sam paused. “Sorry, forgot you can’t see me. Up ahead about fifty feet, you need to start swimming now since I don’t know how strong the current is toward the shore.”
Max scanned the riverbank looking for anything that looked like a Kukunut tree, which were usually fairly visible with their large, almost amber leaves that stuck out along freshwater sources.
He spotted trees with long lean trunks that seemed to grow out of the water. The tops of the trees were covered in leafy fronds of an off-yellow color. A few of the trees bowed down over the river as if they were weighed down. Hopefully by Kukunuts.
Rotating his arm, he began swimming toward the trees using a front crawl. Crawl was certainly appropriate since he didn’t seem to be moving toward the bank much at all, especially seeing how he was mostly using just one arm. That and the current was dragging at him, pulling him wider around the bend in the river.
Kicking his legs as hard as he could without depleting his stamina too quickly, he pushed his face into the murky water, making himself as streamlined as possible. If he couldn’t break free of the undercurrent, he’d never reach the shore, and he didn’t want to be swimming the whole way until Pez found him and fished him out of the water.
With aching legs, he carried on kicking, slowly bobbing his way to shore. The grove was coming closer, but he was also quickly moving parallel to it along with the current. If he didn’t hurry up, he’d be carried past it, and would have to think of something else.
He felt the direction of the water change a little, and just under the water could see a large rock that was disrupting the current, as he swam past it for a moment the course of the river pushed him in the right direction. It wasn‘t much, but it was enough, and he felt the current slacken. Suddenly Max powered through the water like an Olympic champion as he aimed for the Kukunut grove.
Keeping a steady rhythm, he neared the shallow riverbank. His right foot kicked something beneath him, and he recoiled. Was this the encounter Chopsticks had hinted at? He kicked carefully with his left foot and felt it again. There was something soft beneath him that moved when he touched it. His stomach flipped. Had he awoken a beast from the riverbed?
His knee contacted with the soft squidgy thing. Then he let out a sigh. “I’ve reached the riverbank.”
Half-crawling, half-walking, he staggered toward the edge of the river, his feet sinking into the rich, soft mud. Reaching out a wrinkled hand, he grabbed hold of the nearest Kukunut tree, which was bent down toward the river, and hauled his soaking wet smurf character out of the deeper water, onto a shelf where only his feet were submerged, water cascading off his body.
Max had to be careful not to trip on the mass of roots that grew just under the water, but he managed to make it past them, and toward the solid mud of the riverbank.
“There’s some dry wood under the Kuku trees. You should be able to find something to use as kindling,” Chopsticks directed.
Max fell over onto his hands and knees, crying out as he caught his damaged arm before crawling up the rest of the bank until the ground was dry under his hand. He leaned back onto his haunches and took off his bag, thankful he hadn’t lost it in the water. He dropped it on the ground and began stripping off his wet clothes. Shivering despite the humid air, he limped his way toward the trees.
He worked quickly, gathering up a couple of armfuls of dry wood and shell husks that were scattered over the weave of roots. He set them down in a pile. Taking one of the smooth, curved half-husks of a nut, he scooped a shallow hole in the crumbly mud.
Max then got back up and weaved his way through the Kuku trees, stripping dried bark from the trunks that grew higher up the bank.
Sliding to the ground next to his hastily scooped-out pit, he made a pile of kindling over which he laid a couple of smaller pieces of wood. Max grabbed hold of his bag and flipped it open. Plunging his hands into it, he pulled out the laser gun and pointed it at the pile of kindling.
“Don’t you want to save the gun?” Sam asked cautiously. “You never know when you might need it.”
“There can’t be too much charge left in it. And I need a fire.” He pulled the trigger and a purple pulse of energy shot out. The kindling lit instantly. Max grabbed a few more dried branches and fed them to the hungry fire.
This sure beats flint and steel, Max thought as he looked at the lightless handle of the gun. Out of battery.
As the cheery flames leaped up into the air, Max fetched his clothes and hung them on sticks around the fire to dry before flopping down to warm Murf, who was still shivering. Max was becoming fond of the little guy.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“So, a raft,” Max said to his friends.
“Yep,” Sam replied. “What do you have on you? There are plenty of Kukunuts, but you’ll need to lash them together.”
“I have a young Strangler Vine I collected last night. But it could do with it being rope.”
“What’s stopping you?” Sam asked.
Max began undoing the loop of the vine around his bag strap, careful not to look into his bag and see the eggs. So far, they were still a secret that only he and Chopsticks shared, and they had agreed that Sam would not be very pleased if she found out why they had jeopardized Max’s character.
Until they decided what to do with them, that was how he wanted it to stay. If hatching the eggs and taming the Coelophysis proved worthless, the others would never know he risked their plan for little dino eggs.
“There’s some decent Kukunuts on the trees,” Chopsticks said. “There are also a few on the ground that might be suitable to use. You’re going to need to gather them up and make a hole in them. Then you drain out the juice, which smells revolting, before they’ll float.”
Max nodded. “I’m going to have to find something to eat soon as well.” He placed his axe between his legs and began cutting the Strangler Vine into three thinner lengths, the tendon-like thread coming apart easily. “I need to get my health up again, and maybe not starve to death.”
“Yeah, it’s a shame that Kukunuts aren’t edible like coconuts. I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” Chopsticks said.
Max didn’t have the energy to reply as he began work on the rope. Taking one long split strand of Strangler Vine, he folded it roughly in half, making sure that one end was longer than the other. He then pinched the fold which formed a V with his damaged arm. He winced with every movement, and so made sure to rest his arm on his lap as much as possible so that it wasn’t taking any weight. With his good hand, he grabbed the top of the V, and rolled it between his fingers, twisting it away from him. Keeping the tension on it, he used his other fingers to grab the bottom length of vine, then twisted them both in tandem so that the bottom strand was now on top.
Max had spent countless hours making rope and cordage and being such a necessary and basic process, even Murf’s lack of skill didn’t impede Max’s progress much.
“So, what can I expect up ahead?” Max’s fingers stiffened as the coil grew steadily bigger at his side.
“River monsters,” Sam said ominously. “Nothing Murf can’t deal with. Especially if you’re a little more prepared. I’m going to check on Pez while you make the raft.”
&nb
sp; “Okay.” Max’s forehead creased. His hands ached and his eyes were filled with grit from lack of sleep, but he was so close to reaching Pez, he didn’t want to stop. Forcing his tired fingers to work, he tied off the end of the vine, now fully made into a stronger and longer twine.
Max then opened up his character overview, taking a look at the status bar.
Hungry
Thirsty
Injury: Broken Forearm (Left, Moderate)
Injury: Dislocated Shoulder (Left, Moderate)
Injury: Broken Ribs (Moderate)
Injury: Sprained Ankle (Right, Mild)
Injury: Blood Loss (Mild)
Injury: Bleeding (Moderate)
Total Health Penalty: -658
Total Stamina Penalty: -431
“Yeesh,” Chopsticks cringed. “That’s a lot of damage.”
“That’s a lot of orange.” Max looked at the amber-colored alerts. They would slowly fade to red if they got worse. “But I wouldn’t expect much else from falling from that height. I’m just glad I survived. I don’t have any real medication, but I’ll do what I can.”
Simple Crafting Traits allowed for the most basic medical supplies. He was just lucky that he wasn’t bleeding badly.
Max rummaged into his bag and pulled out the small amount of Shrow lichen that he had left, tearing it up into small strips and wrapping it around the wounds on his arms and legs. It would help stem the blood flow, but without hot water and time, he couldn’t make it into the much more effective bandage.
Max grabbed four of the straightest sticks he had found, as well as a length of unrefined Strangler Vine rope. He tied a loop of the rope around each of the sticks at both ends, leaving a few inches of slacked cordage in between each of them, forming a loose square with a stick in each corner. He then carefully slipped the makeshift splint over his arm, slowly pulling it tight, wincing as the wood began to press against his forearm as he tied it off.
It was the most basic form of medical supplies he could craft, but it was better than nothing. While it wouldn’t speed up the recovery of the limb by a lot, or provide much protection bonus to prevent further injury, it would allow him to use his arm, as long as it wasn’t for anything too strenuous.
If he had some better Traits, he would be able to pop his shoulder back into place, and even craft a support for his ankle, but for now, there was nothing else he could do except cope with the penalties his character now had.
“You need to eat at some point,” Chopsticks reminded him.
“Yeah, I suppose I might be able to live on caffeine alone, but my character can’t.” Max stretched his back.
“Ha, I’m talking about real life for once, you dingus, but you do need to feed your character as well.” Chopsticks laughed.
“After I’ve finished the raft,” Max replied. “I took a quick look around when I gathered the wood and there’s nothing around here that’s edible. I don’t want to waste time going too far inland. Especially since I don’t know what’s out there.”
“You could fish from the raft,” Chopsticks suggested.
“I could.” Max got up and stretched before he held his hands out to the spluttering fire. It was good to be dry again, though he’d be too warm in minutes around the fire in the humid climate. “I have the spear.” He gave a short laugh then briefly gave a thought to talk into only Chopsticks’ earpiece. “Or I could cook a dino egg and eat that.”
“Don’t even joke about cooking one of my babies,” Chopsticks said in offense.
“Sam would cook us alive if she knew I got chased because we stole those eggs.” Max checked his almost dry clothes.
“You. You stole those eggs. I’m going to deny all knowledge or else tell her I tried to talk you out of it.” Chopsticks sniggered.
“No honor among thieves, huh?” Max figured his clothes were dry enough. He dressed quickly and picked up his axe. Twirling the tool in his hand as he walked toward a short Kuku tree, he mentally planned how he was going to build this raft.
There were around twenty decent-sized Kukunuts on the ground, a few were damaged, and were unlikely to float with the chunks taken out of them. He’d need more than that to make a solid raft. He needed several of the long straight tree trunks to lash the Kukunuts together to make a firm platform to sit on. He also needed an oar or a long stick he could use to punt his way down the river.
The more he thought about what he needed, the more his confidence fell.
Max crouched down by the slim trunk, about twice the width of his arm. He adjusted his grip and pulled his arm back. He swung the axe toward the base of the tree trunk, hitting it with a hollow thud. The shock from the blow through his body hurt his other shoulder a little, but it wasn’t unbearable.
He brought the axe away and swung again, and again, working his way around the tree as he chipped off small pieces. The tough outer bark took a handful of swings until he broke into the soft, pithier heartwood and gave a wet smacking sound with every hit.
Groaning, the Kukunuts began to drag the top of the tree toward the bare ground as Max thinned out the trunk, until eventually with a snapping sound, it fell over, the bottom of the tree resting on the stump, which looked very much like a beaver had just finished with it.
Max wiped the sweat from his head, as he looked at the fruits of his labor; five ripe, walnut brown Kukunuts and a long, straight tree trunk.
“Man, it’s tiring just watching you work,” Chopsticks said.
“Try actually working.” Max began to laugh, but ended up coughing, his throat scratchy from heavy breathing, and what felt like the beginning of dehydration. “Now I remember why we use dinos for all our heavy work.”
Max moved to the end of the tree and pulled the ripe Kukunuts off from the branches, which was awkward to do while relying heavily on one arm, and piled the smooth-shelled fruit next to the embers of the fire. He then spent some time using the axe to trim off the flexible branches of the tree, making a separate pile with them until just the long, slender trunk was left.
Max looked at the pile of resources he had now and still wasn’t happy. In his experience, it was better to gather up more than you needed at first rather than getting halfway and realizing you were short.
With this in mind, he went back into the grove, looking for another tree that wasn’t too thick, and repeated the process of hacking it down.
Once he’d cut through the trunk, he dragged the short tree to the shoreline, holding onto the branches with one hand, and using his body weight to haul it over the dirt, careful not to put too much weight on his injured leg. He then pulled off the Kukunuts and stripped off the branches as well, throwing a few of the smaller sticks into the fire to get it going again.
“Phew!” Max looked at the pile of wood and football-sized nuts. “I hope Pez has brought some supplies with him because I’m going to die of dehydration if I keep this up much longer.”
“You’ll be fine,” Chopsticks said. “Pez always thinks of everything, he wouldn’t leave without adequate stuff for the both of you.”
“He hasn’t let us down yet. Right, so, raft time,” Max said.
“Remember, nothing fancy, Max, it just has to float well enough down the river,” Chopsticks told him.
“I know, I know,” Max smirked. “This isn’t going to be up to my usual standard of build.”
“Heh, you can always make up for it and build a sick boat for the next project,” Chopsticks said.
“What happened to one thing at a time?” Max laughed. “Ah, crap, I just remembered, I better check whether I can even pick up a Construction Trait, otherwise I’m going to be knapping flint and twisting cordage until I can.” Max opened his character’s screen.
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” Sam said. “I’m so used to being able to just do things.”
“Same here.” Max looked at his stats.
(+5) Strength: 16 (1 TP)
(+6) Constitution: 22 (1 TP)
(+2) Dexterity: 16 (1 TP)
(+9) Agility: 30 (2 TP)
(+4) Intuition: 14
WUTT: 4
“Nice,” Chopsticks said. “That’s a whole lotta levels.”
“You’re getting there,” Sam agreed. “And quickly, too. Though remember, after level 50, it’s going to start taking longer to get the same levels.”
“But I’ll also be able to do more and gain more experience, and I’ll get some bonus points to spend once I get there.” Max opened his Character screen showing his other Stats and unlocked Traits. “I might as well figure all of my levels out now.”
Health: 146/662 (MAX: 1320)
Stamina: 752/939 (MAX: 1370)
Hunger: 72/100
Thirst: 48/100
Carry Capacity: 20/31 kg
Current Traits:
Strength:
Encumbrance I: +10kg Weight Carrying
Constitution:
Conditioning I: +10% Health
Endurance I: +15% Stamina
Dexterity:
Simple Crafting: The ability to work with basic materials to form simple tools
Basic Ranged Weapons: Gain the ability to use simple weapons designed for ranged attacks
Agility:
Terraining I: -10% Stamina Drain when moving over difficult terrain
Terraining II: Basic Skill in Climbing and Swimming
Marathoner I: +10% Movement Speed when jogging
Intuition:
Foraging I: Identify Common Resource Plants
WUTT: Primal
Hotfoot: Move 15% faster when fleeing
Blood Sense: +10% increase to Intuition when following tracks of a wounded creature
Slow Metabolism: -15% Hunger Rate
Hunter’s Nose: Detect strong scents of animals
“Uh, Max?” Sam asked.
“Yeah?”
Sam paused. “Why do you have so many Primal Traits?”
“We thought that they’d be useful.” Max closed the screen, changing to his Strength Trait Tree.
Sam sighed. “All right, I don’t know if I trust you guys’ judgment but what can I do?”