After walking beside the river for around an hour I am beginning to see a shift in the lighting conditions. This world appears to only have single sun, and that sun is currently peaking. The sun beating down on me is partially abated by the trees, though in certain curves of the river they are entirely absent and I have had to walk for some sections without any shade. While this is not the end of the world, I would like to avoid any sunburn or heat exhaustion for the moment being. Luckily the neck gaiter I am wearing is protecting my neck, and while I could put the kerchief on my forehead to keep it covered, I would rather keep my kerchief at least somewhat clean in case I really needed it. While it is good that I have more daylight left than I originally believed, I am starting to get a little hungry. Not enough to want to eat an MRE, but enough that it would probably get a bit annoying In a few hours.
I have been able to ascertain that, at least while I have been walking along the bank, this river has not seen many grand changes in elevation. This begs to question why the flow of the water in the river is so fast, even changing into minor rapids at certain points, even though it lacks gravity to assist it. The current below may be much slower, but even then this river seems entirely unnatural, at least compared to all of the rivers I have encountered before. Even so, I still think it is a good idea to continue traveling downstream. I should find something of not eventually, be it a road or other structure, because in the back of my mind I refuse to believe that a cosmic entity would find it amusing to leave me in the absolute middle of nowhere, this has to be somewhere close to something.
After continuing on for another hour, I hear a noise in the distance similar to that of old machinery. I round the bend slowly after slowly climbing up the ledge and moving into the treeline. Slinking around one of the thorn trees (temporary name) I see what appears to be a water wheel attached to a moderately sized stone and wood cottage. There also appears to be a road leading away from the cottage on one side and a rope bridge extending across the river to a smaller trail on the other side. I move quietly back around the tree and through the woods, wary of any possible traps or pitfalls in the moss, sticking close to exposed tree roots when possible. The building appears unoccupied as all of the wooden shutters are closed, but as I move around to the front and move closer to the road I find what appears to be untreaded tire tracks or possibly sled or carriage tracks in the road as well as what appears to be some sort of large animal tracks along with them.
I don't see a carriage here at the moment, and the tracks appear to be moving away from the building, so I am unsure if this building is occupied at the moment. Even if I have no idea where I am, I have never seen a reason to intentionally antagonize the locals, meaning courtesy is a must. A little bit of kindness goes a long way toward not getting shot in your back. I move to the muggle of the road and begin to walk toward the cottage, intentionally not silencing my footfalls. The building itself appears to be roughly 10x20 meters with the long side parallel to the road and the short side parallel to the river. Side wall is about 3 meters high, putting this in between a 1 and 1.5 story building depending on how the inside is laid out. The roof is shingled with wood planks and what appears to be pitch, the top of which is another 2 meters above the side walls.
I approach the wooden door in the front and knock 3 times. Loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough for a search warrant. I wait for a few seconds and hear nothing. After 30 or so seconds, I decide to knock a little bit louder, though I still receive no answer. I turn the simple lever style doorknob and push the door in as I step to the side of the entrance. After nothing happens I look around the inside of the cottage from the doorway. It is dimly lit inside, though there are a few light sources scattered about. In the far right corner some chairs and a table are placed in appropriate locations next to what looks like a fireplace and a simple counter with utensils hanging up behind it. A bed could also be seen in the far left corner. I couldn't currently see the close left and close right corners due to the thickness of the walls, and I don't believe I was all too welcome due to the opened and ready bear trap that is placed in a low spot in the wood floor just in front of the front door. Heck of a welcome mat, really.
After a moments hesitation I decide to commit to it and go inside. I rest my spear by the entrance as I am not sure how useful it will be inside. I peek my head in and look to the right, clearing what I can see of the mechanism that appears to be attached to the water wheel. After doing so I step over the trap and clear behind the door while holding my short sword at the ready, though the building quickly proves to be empty. The final corner contains a large drafting table that is cluttered with maps and charts. I bring my spear in with me and close the door, mindful of the bear trap ready to crush my leg. Without the light pouring through the door the room is significantly darker, though there is still enough light available to make out the room and the items within. The light is provided by small globes roughly 3 inches in diameter that are suspended from the ceiling in addition to a small amount of light peeking in from the cracks in the shutters.
I move first to the drafting table and observe the maps and charts on top of it. They are written in a strange language that I have no means of interpreting, looking almost like a mix of Cyrillic and japanese kanji. Some of the maps appear to be of a much smaller scale and show the location where I am currently located on the river. I am unable to determine the actual scale of these maps but there should be a city a small ways away from here, apparently in the same direction of the tracks from earlier, while there also appears to be an object of note a shorter distance away across the river, likely where the rope bridge and trail lead to. The rest of the maps are much larger in scale and I am unable to identify any landmarks, though there appear to be monsters drawn over the sea of trees similar to old sea maps that I had seen in museums growing up. The charts were full of information I was unable to understand and were all hand drawn in a somewhat messy manner with what appeared to be the writing utensils left on the table, leading me to believe that some form of research or data collection was taking place here.
I move clockwise around the house to the bed. The bedframe is of reasonable craftsmanship, though the bed itself is not made. There is a light sheet on the bed in addition to a few blankets, none of which are in any state to show off to outsiders. The blankets are well worn and have some small frayed patches, and the sheets are torn here and there. On the plus side the sheets and blankets themselves do not appear to be soiled or dirty, so the person or persons occupying this building were more likely to be humans than they were to be like the goblins from earlier. Regardless, I am not particularly sleepy at the moment, so the bed is not exactly of interest to me right now.
Moving around to the fireplace and the supposed kitchen area, I step on boards that sound hollow and less supported than the other boards. Looking closely there is a latch and a pull rope on one side of what looks like a large trap door, likely leading to a root cellar of some sort. I will inspect further after clearing this floor, though in the meantime I will try to maintain awareness of it. The fireplace is still radiating a small amount of heat, telling me that it has seen recent use. The firepower that is resting on the lip of the fireplace is also covered in soot, showing its use. There is also an iron pot with a wooden lid hung by a hook on an iron rod over the fireplace, and with more heat coming off of it and a wondrous smell coming out through a crack in the lid. I inspect the countertop section to find that it is well used but clean, clearly being cared for over time. On the wall behind the countertop there were ladles and spoons hung up on wrought iron hooks, as well as a few large carving forks and knives of various sizes and purposes. There were cabinet doors and shelves beneath the countertop, inside containing glass jars with large cork stoppers that appeared to contain salts and spices of a mixed variety. Another cabinet contained larger glass jars of what may be sugar and flour in addition to some extra cookware, dishes, and utensils.
The table itself was clean but appeared well used, with minor smoothing of the edges where individuals likely rubbed it when eating. The chairs had also been well used, though one chair in particular out of the four was more used, and the floorboards had been lightly worn into tracks beneath it. It appears that this building usually only houses one person at a time, though it may have more at certain times. There is a bucket next to the countertop with what appears to be leaves in the bottom, likely a disposal system for food scraps, further showing that this building has some long term residents who are accustomed to living here to some extent.
Next I move around to the water wheel mechanism. The water wheel shaft that extends into the cottage does not have any gears on it, however it has a circular ring around the shaft that remind me of the stones in the pouch from earlier. Below it is a pedestal that is also of the same color on top, but is wood the rest of the way down. The ring and the top of the pedestal are not in contact with on another though their placement together does not seem to be a coincidence. I reach to my waist pouch and take out one of the stones to compare the colors and characteristics to that of the material in front of me. As I bring out the stone it slips out of my hand and lands on the pedestal. The stone does not bounce off and roll to the floor as it should, however. The stone sticks where it landed and seems to start to merge with the pedestal. The globes lighting the room get a little brighter initially but eventually dim to be just a little brighter than they previously were.
While I may not understand exactly what happened, I now understand that these stones have some form of utility value and are somehow connected to the method used to light this place. As I ponder this new development I hear a muffled noise beneath the floorboards.
this is a very nice story if possible i would love to see more
Good to see you back, tftc