After gathering all the materials to make a fire I bring them back to my little pile of stuff. I look up in the sky to roughly see what time it is. The suns are not fully straight in the sky, meaning it is still morning.
I take some time to think about what to do next as my spear won't fit into my cave. It's too long. I might have to make a little hut or building above the cave. I think that is my best option. It's going to take time but it will have to work for now. I make my way with a few sharp flakes and my spear back to the cave.
Once I reach the hill that the cave is on, I realize it would be easier to get up with a railing. Plus gives me an idea on how hard the dirt might be. I found some large oak trees that could be used as posts or railings. They are straight and roughly a few inches wide. I use one of the stone flakes to start sawing at the bottom of the tree. It feels a bit easier to saw this time. Maybe I'm getting more proficient at this?
After a bit of time I bent the tree off. The tree can be broken into a few pieces. I might need a few more to make it to the top. I drag the tree to the hill and toss it up so that it is laying on the hill. I take the next hour or so, till the suns are high in the sky, to gather more young large oak trees. I bring them all to the hill and toss them up. I now have 10 young large oak trees that I can make into railings for the hill.
I then start to cut or break off the branches. It has got to be somewhat smooth for a railing. Can't have branches sticking out from a railing. It takes me a little while to get through them all but I manage pretty easily. I grab one of the trees and guess how tall I want the railing to be. This one would be cut into multiple portions for the posts in the ground.
I think that in between my waist and chest is a good height for the railing. It will be shorter as the posts need to be in the ground. Eventually I might make stairs if I am here for a long time. As I have made up what height I want, I start cutting the tree into portions. I'll get roughly 2 posts per tree and the last bit being too thin or not long enough. But this is all roughly so I might use it depending on if I do need it.
I cut up the 3 pieces of the wood, and looked up the steep hill. I might need more trees for this project. Ugh why did I have to go and make something fancy... Well it's better than falling down the hill with stuff in my hands.
I grab the thickest piece of tree that I cut up and start digging a hole with it. It's not the best tool to dig but I don't want to waste much time digging. Surprisingly the dirt is fairly soft and easy to dig. I dig the first hole then move on to the next hole. Question is should I space out the holes more so I don't have to make as many posts? Or should I make more posts? I think I will make less posts and just longer railings.
I grab one of the other trees that I haven't cut up and lay it next to the first hole to get an idea where I should dig the next one. I give about a half a foot on each side of the tree so that I have somewhere to tie off too. I then start digging my second hole. I thought it would be easy but it's harder than I thought due to how steep the hill is. Guess I'll have to pack a lot of dirt in front of the posts so that it has more support.
After the second hole, I just moved on to the third one. I'm going to make the holes first as that might be the hardest part of making the railing. After the third hole I move onto the 4 all the way till the 15th hole. Way more than I thought I would need. I guess that also means I need more trees to make the railing. Plus even more for the base above ground.
I slowly go back down the steep hill making sure that I don't fall. I then do the math for how many trees I will need to cut. If I use all 3 cut pieces it will be 5. But if I am only using 2 pieces then I will need to cut 8. Hmm, I think I will just cut more trees, cause I would rather the railing be a little stronger in case I do need it. After making my mind up I go back to cutting the 9 trees I already cut.
I cut the 8 trees that I needed for the posts. I keep them at the bottom as it will be easier to go up only once then making multiple trips up and down. With the posts cut and in a pill I go to grab more of the young large oak trees. I look for 14 trees that are roughly the same height as the other ones I cut down.
After roaming the forest I find the 14 trees and I cut them down and drag them to where the first post is. I then cut off all the branches from the 14 trees. I then realize once I cut off all the branches that I don't have any cordage to tie the trees to the post. Well shit, now I have to go look for fibrous plants to make cordage.
'Sigh'
Now I have to go find certain plants or trees to make the cordage out of, or similar to what they are on earth. Any being, cedar, yucca, dogbane, brambles, foxtails, cattails, and many more. But first I should go get some more cyan berries and water. Making sure I take my spear with me. I make my way back to the creak grabbing some berries to eat, never getting used to how sour they are. I make it to the creak and grab handfuls of water to drink out of.
After drinking some water I think about what plants and trees grow where. So I know I haven't seen any cedar trees so far in these woods. Maybe if I walk further out and around I may find one. The others could be closer except yucca, which only grows in aired environments. I think the brambles got beaten out by the multi berry bushes. That is the only berry bush that I have seen growing.
The dogbane, cattails and fox tails all can grow in creaks or ponds. Which I think will be my best bet to find. Maybe some will be around this creak? I know I wasn't looking too closely the first few times I was walking around the creek. I think I should walk down the creek and look a little further in to see if I see any of the plants.
Before I start walking I look up in the sky to see roughly what time it is. As I look up I see that the suns are a little past the peak. Thankfully I still have time. I walk down next to the creek, looking into the woods, not too far just on the edge. To see if there are any of the bushes.
Time ticks on with no luck finding any of the plants I need. I make my way further down the creek. It's not going to be fun walking back up this super long hill. Eventually I found some plants that look like dogbane a couple feet away from the creek. I walk closer to the dogbane to see if there are any dead dogbane plants inside. As a dead dogbane is easier to work with than a living one.
*ding* [New Item Identified - Sappy Dogbane]
I wonder if the dogbane produces more sap than normal. The reason dogbane got its name is because it is poisonous to canine species on earth. It is also harmful to humans, and can be an irritant to skin. So I should be careful and wash my hands off. I'm hoping it is the same here with the dogbane.
I find a good handful of dead dogbane plants and harvest them. I go to the bottom of the stalk and cut them off with a flake I brought with me. I really need to invest in weaving baskets or a backpack. I hate only carrying around a few tools. After collecting like 20 of the dogbane plants, I make my way back to my base.
On my way back nothing eventful happened. I make it back to where the clay and rocks are. I feel the clay and it is stiff. Means I can start making it into pots! But I don't have the time right now to make pots. I'll have to do that tomorrow. I put the dogbane down and get ready to make the dogbane into cordage.
I first break off the stems that branch off of the plant. I do that for all of them. As the dogbane is a little too hard to crush in my hands I need to use some tools to do that. I grab a large and small rock, going to put the dogbane in between and break up the pith on the inside. I crush the dog bane starting one end and continue to the other. To make it easier to work with and get the inner fibers.
After crushing half of the plants I got they break open into different parts, still connected. I then open one of the dogbane starting from one end. As it opens up into 4 different parts that can be worked into cordage. But I have to first break off the pith that is still connected to the fibers.
After opening up the dogbane I have to bend the pith till it snaps and pull it off the fibers. So I break off a few inches from one end and pull the pith off of the fibers. Now I know there is a tick to the next part where I can't do the same thing. But since I am in a different world I might as well try the same thing. I might get lucky and the fibers being stronger than on earth.
I tried the same technique as before, and it luckily works! Yes! Thank god it is the easier way. I break off the rest of the pith and I'm left with 4 long fibers about up to my chest in length. Now I can finally start making cordage!
I take one of the fiber strands and use my hand to get close to the center to make 2 even lengths on both sides. I then make it a little lopsided from the center. I grab the longer strand with my fingertips and twist it clockwise, which is away from me, so that the strand kinks. Making a small loop with the fiber.
I grab the kink with my holding hand so it makes the cordage process easier. So with the top strand I spin it clockwise like before. Then I pull the twisted piece over the other strand. With my pinky and ring finger, I grab the bottom strand and pull it under the top piece. So now both strands switched places. I then do the same process over and over, till I completely use up the fibers. I make a small knot at the end so the twisted fibers don't unravel. I am left with shin length cordage, which I can use for a lot of things.
*ding* [New Item Identified - Dogbane Cordage]
Cool, now I need to make the rest of the cordage. I made 3 more dogbane cordage from the 1 dogbane that I got. I then do the same process for the other 9 plants. Making a total of 40 dogbane cordage.
I take my spear and cordage with me to where I started my railing. I tie up one railing at a time using 2 of the cords per railing. I wish I didn't use so much but I had to. After the railing is done and I am at the top of the steep hill I feel like I accomplished a lot for the day. I then look up to the sky to see where the suns are, and they are a few hours from setting.
As I look around at the top of the hill and where I would want to make the shelter above the cave. I realize that I don't have the time today to make it. But I do need to make a fire and harden my spear tip.
I make my trek back down to where I have a pile of my stuff. I used the railing this time and it was much easier to keep my balance. Before I get to my pile of stuff I head to the creek to drink some more water. I also go to a berry bush and eat some more berries. I definitely need to find a different source than just berries.
I make my way over to my pile from the creek and grab the birch hearth board and straight pine sticks. I grab them all in my arms along with my spear and 1 flake. I then make my way back to the cave to try and make some fire.
I stumbled a bit going up the steep hill to my cave. I throw everything down to get ready to make a fire. I shave down one side of the birch stick. Once it is flat I make a small dent where the pine sticks will go. On the side where the dent is I saw it going vertical. So I start to hit the dent with my sawing. Once the sawing is done I shave down the pine stick so that it is smooth and easier to use.
Now that I have completed everything for fire making. I put some of the birch stick shavings underneath the dent. I then put the pine stick in the dent and start spinning it between my hands. I have one foot on the hearth board so that it doesn't move. As I spin the pine stick it starts to make a pile of embers in the little channel that I sawed earlier.
The pile starts to grow and I see some smoke happening from the embers. I put more force into the pine stick and spin it faster. Once the smoke is consistent I stop and slowly take away the hearth. With the birch shavings having them embers I slowly blow on the embers trying to get the shavings to light. Once they do I quickly add more shavings so the fire gets bigger. Then a sudden realization hits me, I don't have any branches or sticks!