Day 15

I didn't do much besides collect more logs and twigs for the fire. I also set aside a large sturdy log I had found and started to try and flatten its top with my ax and knife. Lastly, I grabbed a long unbroken stick, that was fairly straight and made sure not to absorb all its water, and started to carve its narrow side into a spear. I sat around my fire then, whittling away my boredom before falling asleep, the ground marginally softer as it had been thawing more and more.

I have a faint recollection of my dream that night, and only had felt a vague sense of unease upon waking up, something to do with a creature getting loose. I don't know if it meant anything and slowly started my day, feeling pretty good, I had accomplished a fair amount yesterday. I looked around at my campsite and restarted the fire, warming my hands and body back up. I pulled out some jerky, and warmed it up, taking a bite when it was done, and took a drink of my water to wash it down.

I immediately spat out the water, it tasted foul, and I realized this was the first time I had actually taken a drink in a while, pretty much only drinking with the Manaphage. I poured the water over my fist and the taste slowly faded, my body and throat feeling rehydrated. This worried me somewhat, what if this whole time I had been ingesting some sort of bacteria or dangerous chemical. I thought back, realizing that although I hadn't felt great this whole time since I got here, I never really had an upset stomach, besides the first time eating the jerky, but that was more because I hadn't had real food for a little while than it was about disease or indigestion. Maybe the Manaphage filters out everything dangerous, I didn't know and really didn't want to test out if I could drink straight poison with it.

I sat there for a while, before coming to the conclusion that I had already absorbed the blood of a monster, and felt fine, so I shouldn't worry about brackish snow. I got up and stretched my arms, and chewed on some more jerky. Thinking I probably needed more than just meat in my diet, I started to walk deeper into the forest, my newly made spear in hand and at the ready.

I walked for a while, the snow cover lessening as I proceeded, and I realized as I walked, I was slowly going down a gentle slope. Looking back I could make out the faint wisps of my campfire and the very tip of the mountain. As I walked I marked trees with my ax and knife, I had gotten this far and I refused to get lost. Eventually, I came to a clearing of trees, in an almost perfect circle, with what looked to be a large rock sitting in the middle.

I stopped then, examining this 'interesting' formation from afar, I really didn't like the look of it, and figured, rather than fucking with it, I should just keep going. I walked about 30 feet around the perimeter of the circle and decided to quickly walk away. As I walked deeper I started to hear more noises besides the occasional rustling of feathers, sometimes the gentle rustle of underbrush, other times I saw and heard a creature sprinting off, far away from me. I never got a good look, but it sounded big, about deer-sized if the shadow was any indication. Hopefully, it was a prey animal, scavenging for food midwinter.

I took a break when the sun was shining directly over me, somewhat tired and sat down, leaning against a tree. I hadn't seen any food and didn't think I would guess it would be just meat for a while longer. I sat there for a while, listening, trying to hear if there was anything moving. I waited a while and heard nothing besides the creaking of trees, and the whistling of the wind, so high above me.

I got up after another hour of sitting there, contemplating my choices, and shaved a large section off, marking how far I had gotten today. I turned and started following my own path back, carefully going around the clearing and making it back to my campsite before dark. I hadn't made much progress today, but now I knew the size of animals around here. At least, some of the animals, and now I could make a trap to catch one and kill it. I laid back in my lean-to, chewing on more jerky, passively absorbing some snow and water, and planned for what I was gonna do the next day.