Anastasia's Diary

[Pretender]

shutup about fucking condoms, more of the story.

[Botch]

Day 37:

Before the incident, I had began to make myself new clothing out of some stinging nettle I had found. It twined easily into rope, and it wasn’t long before I realized a pattern I could make cloth out of. The shirt and pants were objects I could be proud of, but they still stung on the outside, despite my best efforts to rub down and smooth the fabric. It was wearable, though, and definitely better than the linens I had attempted to wash many times, but without soap they were becoming rather unsanitary. Not to mention that I need to find a better absorbent than taproot, blood stains are rather unsightly on the linens I had. I have been able to blame most of it on leeches however. The swamps near my home have plenty of resources to obtain, and I avail myself of them quite often… I only hope that I can one day look back on these memories with fondness, but the pain for those few days was not pleasant in the slightest. Amusingly, apparently the fish in this world also follow the cycles of the moon, where certain fish disappear altogether if it isn’t the right stage.

I had gone to Dolgepol the day before I was mercilessly taken advantage of, and in the evening began talking with Karl, who was rarely around. His insights into the past of this strange world were interesting, and when he told me that he had begun to chronicle the history of the area, I asked to see what he had written down. His utensils were much better than mine, with parchment and quill and ink rather than my simplistic birch bark system. Obviously impressed with his system, he noticed my awe and asked if I would like to see something more impressive. I guess I retain some memories after all because that was the cheesiest pickup line I had ever heard. Regardless, I was in much need of a man, and his embrace was welcome.

The day after I was violated, I went over to Araxia’s house to find it ransacked and her nowhere to be found. I pray for her safety, but this may in fact be in vain. That I did not find any trace of her leaving willingly bodes poorly on my already downtrodden spirit. On the other hand, a new girl has begun to live in the settlement of Dolgepol by the name of Enki. I have not seen much of her, but from what I hear I do not think it is the reincarnation of Araxia. I hope to protect this new girl from the harsh realities of this world as much as I can, but my optimism is strained.
This morning I discovered that some wild, wind-sown seeds had been stolen off of my drying racks, where I was hoping to discover what they were before planting them. Kail explained to me that he had begun to develop the ability to track scents and that thievery leaves a very distinct one. I asked that he track down the man who raped me, but for some reason I could not obtain just vengeance, and all that Kail could in fact get was an apology. While angry at Kail’s uselessness in the situation, this new ability intrigued me and I began to seek knowledge about this ranging power. By chance, a ranger was also coming to town today which Kail had sent for, to track down some thieves of his own. The man was incredibly tough looking, with bulging muscles and a lithe figure which will stay in my mind a while yet. His exchange was gruff and practical, and after an explanation he went off into the wilderness, only to come back shortly with the bodies of the two thieves who had stolen the fruits of Kail’s hard labour. When I asked the mysterious ranger about the man who had assaulted me and violated me, he apologized in a much softer tone, explaining that the scent had already but disappeared. Justice eluded me once again, but I hope that if I maintain my current course of investigation, then one day I shall find what I seek.

I need to move on with my life, and so I asked to go on the next foraging party with the men from Dolgepol this evening.

We leave tomorrow.

[Caribou]

I'm like, ninety percent sure I'm just a little south east of you guys. Small world.

[cgbnab]

I have been able to blame most of it on leeches however.

...Now I have a mental picture.

[Mitudev]

I'm like, ninety percent sure I'm just a little south east of you guys. Small world.

Now we are all going to get raided.

Aside, this is a smaller world than World 2 or 3 was and it is destroying the decentralized feel that I had in the other games. Ten minutes in every direction by foot you walk right into two settlements or a village. I liked the isolated feel of not seeing people.

[Caribou]

I'm like, ninety percent sure I'm just a little south east of you guys. Small world.

Now we are all going to get raided.

Aside, this is a smaller world than World 2 or 3 was and it is destroying the decentralized feel that I had in the other games. Ten minutes in every direction by foot you walk right into two settlements or a village. I liked the isolated feel of not seeing people.

I don't even have rage, but man if we were in the same timezone (You folk are never on when I forage near your village), I would so trade for some wheat seeds. I have pretty much everything but.

[Mitudev]

I'm like, ninety percent sure I'm just a little south east of you guys. Small world.

Now we are all going to get raided.

Aside, this is a smaller world than World 2 or 3 was and it is destroying the decentralized feel that I had in the other games. Ten minutes in every direction by foot you walk right into two settlements or a village. I liked the isolated feel of not seeing people.

I don't even have rage, but man if we were in the same timezone (You folk are never on when I forage near your village), I would so trade for some wheat seeds. I have pretty much everything but.

Sent a PM. We would gladly trade.

[Botch]

Day 39:

Yesterday’s hunt was exhausting. Rewarding, but exhausting. I first borrowed some leather armor from Kail just in case things went awry. I must mention that it is far more comfortable than I had anticipated. This is my next goal, to obtain (once again) new clothing. The nettle ones did little to allay my attacker, so this... upgrade as it were, will hopefully be tougher. We set out early in the morning, on foot. I was a little apprehensive about taking a boat because I never was a good swimmer. My memory of swimming back at home surprised me again, as I seem to be recovering a little at a time from my amnesia. A shame that the others do not seem to share in this recovery. Regardless, the journey was uneventful until we spotted one of our neighbour's plots, owned by a man named Lord Chesterfield and his minions. His minions were quite afraid of us, and at first sight as we were walking by, screamed at each other to run! They almost started running until we were forced to correct them on their misjudgment. The entire conversation was almost one sided, as we berated them for assuming we were going to attack them. It made me feel furious that I could be mistaken for one of the filthy barbarians of which my attacker had come. They had screamed that we were Russians as they had started to run, so I had heard that there were rumours arising about a group of people called Russians killing people and taking their supplies. We took the time to explain to them that we were not Russians and that labeling us as a group of wandering murderers was insulting, and that despite what they have heard, not all Russians were killers, and that all killers were definitely not Russian.

As we walked away, furious at being grouped together with vile miscreants, I couldn't help but wonder what a Russian was. Was their settlement named Russia? Other than the rumours circulating about their misdeeds, we had not heard of any village named Russia, only Russians. I must look into that.

We passed by another settlement on our way to our ultimate goal on this journey, which was to obtain sand for glass making. The most unsettling rune stone laid just outside a small, round pole fence and it read that a man named the Black Lich lived there. I must say that I had been taking my ability to read and write for granted, but this definitely did not look anything like the lair of what I thought a lich was. Maybe it will make sense one day, but necromancy is not in fact a stretch from what I have learned of this world, where reincarnation is literal fact. I had not seen anyone I would describe as black thus far though, and so we moved on.

The next settlement we saw was totally abandoned. I felt wrong scavenging what I could, but it is necessary to take advantage of whatever you can in this world. Their names were Chupala Bigote by Valhalla, and I will begin to try and remember all of those I see on my journey here, as a dedication to the memories. Another similar grouping of buildings further north was titled Spaceheaters, and so we went through the motions here too.

About this time our group came upon a fox, and this being my first time, they attempted to explain to me the best manner in which to trap and kill one in order to obtain its fur and meat, which were valuable. The animals here have no defensive instinct, and it is a rather simple task to fence it in while it pays us no heed. I worry that we may get used to this simplicity with which we obtain foxes, as they will eventually begin to realize that humans are dangerous, a fact I know all too well. Only when we had it completely entrapped did the men begin to sling stones at it and fire arrows from their makeshift bows. It decided that it wanted to attack us, but as it gnawed at the bars of its cage I took pity on it as its life leaked away. We did this to another fox, and then a boar (which seems much more intelligent than the foxes because it immediately attacked us, and as it fixated on the men who needed to hide in the river I needed to risk my life to build a fence around the animal from either side, as it seems that they cannot swim).

We followed the river as it went, and found a burned out and ransacked village called Aroma followed by some runes I could not read, with too many lines and backwards letters in the language. But it was clearly a language, as there were repeating symbols. I began to worry for our safety, but we had in fact reached our destination, obtained a large amount of sand and packed it into heavy crates, and then we used our hearth magic to take us home with the sand in tow.

I wasn't tired yet, and so I went exploring towards a different direction and gathered herbs. Foraging is less useful than it used to be as I now have a large store of vines and edible roots, but I occasionally find wild blueberries and chanterelles now and then. My journey occurred as the sun was setting, and I discovered an entirely new camp where there had once been a cave that I had explored on my first arrival. The rune stone placed out front said that it belonged to a man named Caribooty now, and as I passed by I spotted someone passed out on top of his plough. I made a few attempts to wake him, but as he didn't awake I decided it best to let him sleep and moved on. With this encounter however, I found that it was in my best interest to get some sleep myself as my eyelids fell. With the skins drying outside, I can rest today feeling like I have accomplished something.

[Haspen]

Very nice read.

Please keep writing more!

[Botch]

Day 42:

I woke up this morning to find a deer, dead in front of my door. I hadn’t heard anything like someone hunting last night so I fear for the worst: I think Tony might be back. I have never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth though, and quickly took care of business, skinning and butchering before finally collecting the bones of the creature. I guess I had this assumption from somewhere that deer had a fair amount of meat on them, as if one could feed an entire family for a month, but the meat was gone within the day. As I walked to Dolgepol with the bones, I spotted another deer just off the path, as if someone had left it for me to find. I was beginning to get worried that Tony might be out there stalking me at this point, and so I picked up the deer and took it with me to Dolgepol. The men were ecstatic that I had obtained a deer, and took the antlers with great reverence. It seems that deer antlers are very useful for staking a claim on land for a village, as is the custom in this land.

As I was walking, I found another dead deer. I quickly memorized its location to come back to later, and then once again walking near my house I found another, directly in my path. At that point I was extremely afraid of whomever might be stalking me and leaving me these gifts in my path. I began to work on an extended fence and other precautionary measures, but soon I would definitely need to move within the confines of the town itself.

Unfortunately, later on that day after laboriously skinning, butchering and then gathering the bones of all three deer, I received an alarum from Dolgepol. It appears that they were raided while they were out, and all of the livestock was slaughtered and the rust root extract stolen. With my limited knowledge of the flora and fauna of this world, I didn't share the concern that the others did, but apparently rust root is very valuable. They want to being to build a mine in Dolgepol, which seems like it’d be a decent idea, but I should think that it wouldn’t be very structurally sound. Endnote has assured me that it will be fine though, so I trust his expertise in all things construction related. All in all, an exciting day and I will be busy for a few more dealing with the new gifts lying around. I haven’t actually seen Tony yet though, so maybe he has ceased his incessant whining approach.



Day 46:

I wasn’t crazy when I thought that the food was changing us! I guess this is of little comfort now though, as I am sure my body has been irrevocably changed. I was attempting to lift a cabinet not a few weeks ago, but I had a sneaking suspicion and attempted to lift it, to find that it was easy now. This is strange magic, as I do not feel my muscles are getting bulkier or any sort of physical changes, but I definitely feel stronger whenever I eat boar meat, or certain types of fish. And when I eat the blueberries I find, it seems that I gain capacity for knowledge, and begin to adapt more to new ideas. I must begin to catalogue the effects that certain foods have, as it seems that everything has a different effect. Eating the venison from the deer the other day is making my eyesight definitely improve. Having an objective measurement however is an idea that will require a lot more thought than I can give at the moment.

In front of Dolgepol today, something strange happened that I nearly forgot about until I was almost asleep; a strange rune stone appeared with the words wolf and 100 on it. I figured it was a bunch of nonsense from some mentally deficient psychopath, who did not know how to write or form coherent sentences. But after a while I began to worry that there may actually be one hundred wolves out there in the darkness somewhere. I haven’t heard any howling though, so I figure I am okay for now, and that this stone is as I originally thought, the markings of a madman, who in his mother’s womb must have been bounced on too many rocks, and suffused with drugs and malady.