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Ol'random

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From: Somewhere by the Mountains

Registered: 2018-05-25

Posts: 417

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John, the first nine days

OOC: this is an experiment of mine to give some insight into what John's been up to since he started chasing after Zoltar & Co., though where the squirrel is now I'm leaving a mystery. I'm posting it here and not somewhere else like fiction and stories because this directly relates to RP and the character John
plus other people have been posting out-of-muck ic stuff and i wanted in

Following this log, John began a rather lonesome journey...

"It had been five days since John left the vermin town and five nights of cold and bitter dark by himself in high branches. The squirrel had do en his best to keep moving as quickly as he could while the tracks of the wildcat’s party remained clear and unconfused by time and snowmelt - until they stopped at the river. Judging by the word of the shrews it appeared a boat was missing or stolen, though he hadn’t bothered to stop and actually ask the shrews as that was more likely to lead to hours of arguments than an actual answer and frankly he was quite comfortable listening from the tree-line up in the branches.

From there he had a choice: upriver or down river.

Down river would be easier going for the vermin as they could ride the current and rest both day and night if they so wished, as well as come out at the river mouth near Halyard - a place John knew by reputation housed many a creature willing to do business with murders, thieves, and slavers.

Two days and a night were spent searching the latter way, and, realizing that none of the bank had been disturbed since the snowfall he begun his way back upwards traveling all day and, when able, most of the night. Though at times the waxing moon aided his journey it was more often combined with overcast skies; what light provided then was meager and unhelpful. So John spent those dark nights resting what little he could.

At least during the day the sun shone through the clouds and blanketed everything in a white light, and luckily for the squirrel the wildcat seemed to be taking time to pick up members. Of course, no matter how fast a growing party of ten or so sail upriver they could not outpace a squirrel in the treetops, especially that they had to be careful to avoid the ice and battle the still strong current of River Moss. 

Three hours past dawn on the eighth day, after John had spent another sleepless night in the branches of a large oak, he came across yet another camp with the same tracks - except now something out of what had become ordinary caught his eye. A single pair went off back west, backwards Mossflower; one of two pairs that were present in the clearing. Taking out a bit of hard tack John sat himself down on a stump to think as he gnawed on the bland food.

Perhaps it was the wildcat themselves who was returning to the woods - but they wouldn’t leave behind their party. Perhaps it was that healer cat… Either way, he could see no signs of any other beast joining the lone tracks, especially not that of a young badger’s.  While he couldn’t be quite certain of any of marks around the bank, crossed over themselves as they were and trampled all over thrice times by a multitude of boots, shoes, and claws, he could make out the place a log boat had been hauled unto the bank and pushed back in. There was certainty his mind they had not returned down river as he would have spotted them - likewise there was doubt they crossed here as the far bank held no boat nor any distant snow disturbed that he could see.

So, when he finally gotten through his stale meal and stood from his short resting place the squirrel had made up his mind: he would ignore the lone pair of boots and continue north-east.

By the middle of the ninth day he felt some grim assurance that he’d made the right choice: the smoke rising in the distance was surely close to the water. Though it might be something entirely unrelated to his pursuit of the wildcat and company the chances of that, John felt, were rather slim.

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I play Atticus, John, Lossow, Terrence, and Spruce
The Long Patrol Landing Page!
Usually on the MUCK Saturdays + Monday & Wednesday evenings if I have the time
Fastest way to reach me is via my Discord: Luke_SkyOtter#1438