Rauko

[Blxz]

No way! I can't believe the luck you seem to be having with some of these unusual and chance events. Good stuff.

[JEB Davis]

Maybe the spirits pity Rauko for having lost his parents and send him luck, who knows?

Now we are catching up toward Rauko's current activities, but not quite yet...

After the hare meat is gone, he's not having any luck finding food, so he heads out in the
canoe to trade for food. Soon after, Rauko spots a strangely dressed man and goes ashore
to see who it is.



Closing in on the man in an open mire it's obviously one of the evil foreigners, carrying
two swords. The fight is over quickly!



From there Rauko goes to Kuikka lands for 3 more weeks of exploring and trading.
Several villages are on the shore of a huge lake.

[JEB Davis]

He arrives near the lake-mouth of the river by canoe at a village the local Kuikka call "Hiisi's stream", which he has visited many times in his travels. Rauko trades some clothing and a staff for lots of food and a dozen arrows. Also 2 heavy elk furs for a glutton fur and fishing rod. They have nice bows, but none better than what he already owns. He has lightened his load by 40 pounds with those trades!

Rauko has no skill with swords and has taken 2 scimitars, a shortsword, and a big sword from his enemies. The friendly Kuikka suggest he travel south along the coast to the Driikaiset, who would have valuable rare goods worth trading for the swords. This sounds like good advice to Rauko and he plans to do so.

Meantime, Koupia needs a message delivered to Ilpo in a nearby village to the south-east. The message (something about pine tree spirits) is delivered and reply returned. He gets more food and a loop snare as thanks from Koupia. (Hiisi's stream is at the quest marker on map in previous post.)

[JEB Davis]

Rauko bids the Kuikka goodbye and sets off, carrying his heavy canoe south-east toward what he hopes will be the sea and trading with the Driiklaiset people. The canoe is quite a heavy burden and he wonders would it be best to leave it behind? Well, at least some of the heavy furs are not on his back anymore!

Still morning, and he sees a herd of reindeer but passes by...

By midday he is tired and stops in the trackless wilderness, baits a loop-snare with blueberries, and finishes tanning that rabbit fur, which doesn't turn out so well. He sleeps until dusk.

Continuing into the dark, he sees a squirrel and fox but can not catch them. He finds a grove and sleeps until morning.

Morning brings an elk. Rauko sneaks, but not too close. His 2nd arrow is a long shot that cripples the bull elk! Now the chase should be easy enough to recover the first arrow along the way.



The elk limps away toward the lake... and the chase ends:

[JEB Davis]

After roasting about 200 elk cuts, he leaves the partially tanned hide and most of his possessions at the lake shore and backtracks toward Kuikka territory to trade the meat before it spoils. It is mid-morning and he's starting to get tired.

On the way he sees a badger nearby. It's raining, he's weary, it's afternoon, and there is no village in sight. Unable to go on, he drops to the ground and sleeps until waking to the continued rain. Finally in the dim evening light he sees the light of fires in the village! Rauko trades every piece but one for a nice wolf fur, then falls asleep in their kota.

In late morning, Rauko wakes and hurries back toward the lake, hoping the tanning is not spoiled.

After passing by one deer herd, he sees a 2nd herd and thinks it would be smart to hunt one because he saved none of the roasted elk meat. So...just a small one that he can carry with him to the tanning lake.

[JEB Davis]

Early evening brings Rauko back to the lake, and the elk hide is still good so he rinses it. Time to build a shelter because it is raining and the temperature has dropped near freezing.



Rauko rises early in the morning and butchers the tiny deer. He knows he needs a better knife for skinning and ends up with about 2 dozen cuts of meat, which he roasts after cleaning the skin. By then he's very hungry and the deer is delicious!

He finishes tanning the elk fur and is exhausted but it turns out about average quality, sleeps in the shelter, then packs up and canoes across the lake in the morning.

Arriving on the far shore, he picks some berries and sees some tracks. Then looks up and there is a wolf!



Remaining calm and going about his business seems the best thing to do, so that's what Rauko does... and the wolf also minds it's own business and nobody gets hurt.

[JEB Davis]

Continuing on south-west, another big lake will give him some relief from carrying the heavy canoe. First, he rinses the tanning fat from the small deer hide, then paddles around the lake enjoying the peacefulness of the cool morning.

Returning to shore, the hide is not ready so he takes a brief swim and nearly freezes! But the pile of spruce branches he'd made ready beforehand makes a quick fire and he's warm again.

Then it snows briefly for the first time in the year, and when it stops he finishes tanning. He tries
sleeping but the snow starts again in evening so he canoes to the southern tip of the lake. Snow turns to freezing rain and Rauko realizes he forgot to sacrifice for the killed deer... are the spirits telling him something?

He shurgs off those thoughts and presses on south-eastward, but the rain won't stop so he makes a shelter.

Rauko recites a ritual his father taught him to avoid angering underground folk, and sleeps well, waking late in the morning to light snow. The land is devoid of hills... just an expanse of trees and mires with few lakes.

[JEB Davis]

Rauko will be glad to reach the seashore and get the weight of the canoe off his back, regardless of
how helpful it has been to have made it. He happens upon a lake with an elk seen in the distance,
and puts his canoe into the water to cross it.

[JEB Davis]

He travels a bit longer and finds the land becoming hilly. A rocky hill ahead seems to have a cave entrance, so he makes a torch, explores it with only spear and axe, then shelters for the night.

Rauko dreams... unpleasant dreams of the bear and his father's death.



There wasn't any sign of a bear having lived in the cave... why the dream and what does it mean?

[JEB Davis]

It's probably best to forget the dream and just focus on the journey ahead.

Walking up a rocky peak gives a beautiful view of a river in the distance. It will be a great
blessing to be on the water again, and Rauko hopes the river will lead him to the sea rather
than just a lake.



Changing direction, Rauko heads straight for the river!

[JEB Davis]

The river ends up flowing into a large lake, and Rauko is disappointed that he has not reached
the sea. But his spirit has risen with the ease of the journey in his canoe, so he doesn't let
this bother him. Continuing across the lake, he finds the river continuing on to the west.



Downstream a few hours later he sees a swan ahead and takes it as a good sign indeed!

[JEB Davis]

A little while later there is a tall hill rising from the shore. Rauko goes ashore and climbs
for a look at the surrounding area. He sees a man who looks like a hunter moving through the
trees across the river.



He canoes across and walks until he finds boot tracks, which lead him quickly to a rough-looking
character, a tribeless wanderer. Rauko's father had told him never to trust these vagabonds...
better to strike first and not bother asking questions. There had been two times that his father
had been attacked and robbed by such men.

[MrMotorhead]

Watch out, he could be a berserker with 2 axes like that!

[JEB Davis]

Rauko heeds the words of his beloved father and slowly approaches with arrow at the ready.

A bit nervous, his first arrow misses badly, and the man pauses and turns, listening and looking.
Rauko is not spotted however, and his 2nd arrow hits!



Rauko charges and the battle commences!



The man tries to escape, but Rauko will not let him get away with his prized spear. Rauko picks up
the man's dropped axe. Now he will follow and finish the vagabond with arrows.



And so it happens. The spear is recovered. Rauko feels his father would be proud.

[JEB Davis]

Leaving the body, he walks back to the river and builds a shelter for the night. Dreams come to him and disturb his sleep and he wakes in the night, hearing noises of fighting in the distance. He lays on his furs and listens but the noises are gone. Sleep comes once more and he wakes to cold morning rain and cold roasted meat.

Heading down the river, Rauko paddles across one good-sized lake and then another, both by late morning. Climbing a hill reveals that the river exits in three streams.



He's starting to feel like the river will go on forever, and stops for the night to make another shelter in the cold rain. His roasted deer meat is getting stale, but still edible. At least he has a fire to ward off the wet chill.



Again, his sleep is fitful and plagued with another dream - that of his father's body burning. The spirits are not giving him rest. What would his father say if he were here? Something like "Make it through and the day will dawn, and with the sun, fear will dissipate like the morning fog." Rauko misses his father and pulls the furs up over his head and eventually falls back to sleep.