Mik

[JEB Davis]

Mik left home with few possessions after his mother and father caught a sickness and died.

They had been poor and barely survived the previous winter, during which a pack of wolves
had chased away and then eaten their only remaining reindeer. For you see, as many of the
tribe of the Owl, they had herded the deer. Unlike his friends' parents, Mik's father was not
very skilled and his mother was not an Owl tribe member, so they were never well accepted.

He buried them and mourned until hunger drove him away from their tiny kota.

He wandered until coming to another Owl settlement where he did not recognize anyone.
There he built a small shelter on the edge of the gathering and tried to make friends.


v3.40

[JEB Davis]

Mik had always considered himself a good hunter for his age.
He set off for the wilderness again looking for prey and was rewarded.

[JEB Davis]

So far, Mik has been hunting with only a Juniper bow and a stone-tipped spear.
On other trips, he has seen a glutton and killed a badger.
This day he encounters a bear...



And manages with some luck to kill it with his spear.
Mik is becoming quite the hunter, and has made many friends in the settlement.
The Owl people enjoy trading goods with Mik for all the meat he provides them.

[JEB Davis]

After some weeks, Mik has acquired a Northern bow and gained a good reputation.
However, the need to wander has been in his mind. He wants to see more of the world.

Mik sets off southward with most of his possessions to find a new place to settle.
He explores for some time and finds himself out of food as game is scarce in the area.
The gnawing in his belly is strong.
Finally he finds a stag and his skills provide him with a kill.

[JEB Davis]

His need for food satisfied by the stag, and it's hide tanned, he continues his explorations.
On the north shore of a large lake he makes a shelter after observing a goshawk and it's prey.



He then sets several snare traps and spends a few days there. Success!!!



Mik decides to stay here a while.

[JEB Davis]

Much time has passed and Mik has settled just across the narrow part of the lake on the tip of a penninsula. He is constructing a kota but it is not complete yet... he needs more furs.

His snare traps have been catching many birds and he's been fishing from a raft and has even
traded for a net. Mik has not been storing up food, but rather roasting and trading the meat he
get from hunting many deer and elk.

Mik has also encountered and killed several Njerpezit scouts. He relies on a mace and shield in
combat, hopefully after putting an arrow or two into his enemies first. The dedication of these
corpses to Kalma has enabled him to receive her blessing to increase his skill with the mace.

Some recent adventures were hitting 3 goshawks with arrows ...





and encountering a Njerpezit, avoiding the risk of further injury by letting him run away.

[JEB Davis]

Only a month until winter.
Mik hopes the spirits will be pleased.

[JEB Davis]

Many weeks have passed and Mik has made many hunting trips and continued working around his homestead, but he is still passing nights in the shelter because his kota is not complete yet. Winter has begun but there is no snow yet and nights are not too cold for his shelter because he still has the precious, warm stag fur.

He decides to go trading to obtain the last 3 furs he needs to finish his kota. So he packs up some of the equipment he has taken from his vanquished enemies and sets off toward a village.

It is early morning and the air is crisply cold, but the light is still dim. Mik is fortunate that he is alert because he sees a sleeping figure. He quietly puts down his load and draws an arrow to his bow, then begins sneaking forward. An easy kill, surely, and he can make out the foreign costume of the Njerpezit.

Mik's first arrow bounces off the man's leg armor and the man cries out, jumping up and draws a knife.



Mik quickly drops his bow and clutches his shield and mace. The fight commences and Mik's confidence soon wanes as he realizes this enemy is an expert fighter. Both score multiple hits and Mik is grateful for his shield's protection, but he has taken many knife wounds by the time he finally knocks the Njerpez unconscious with a blow from his mace, then smashes his skull. Mik is close to death himself and can no longer walk.



Mik is very lucky that none of the wounds struck deep or hit any vital organs or major blood vessels. He manages to crawl to the safety of home.




(I've never had a character wounded to 98% before... this was scary!)

[JEB Davis]

A few days later, Mik is healing quickly and staying around home, checking traps and making stuff.
Here are his current skills:



And here is home at "Pain Summit" (which Mik understands very well now):



And here is the lake... the lower yellow X is the kota and across the lake is a shelter on the other yellow X. The red X is where he cast his net, and the white X's are dead Njerpezits.

[JEB Davis]

None of Mik's wounds were deep or serious and so he's feeling better each day.
He has finished building the kota and is crafting items & practicing his weapon skills.

In the meantime, let me share Mik's world in pictures.

[koteko]

Seems like you removed all pictures from the stories.. it was better before, IMHO

[JEB Davis]

Seems like you removed all pictures from the stories.. it was better before, IMHO

I still see the pictures in this story. Don't know what could be wrong.

[koteko]

Seems like you removed all pictures from the stories.. it was better before, IMHO

I still see the pictures in this story. Don't know what could be wrong.

I see them now. Not sure if it was a glitch on my side or the forums, but it's all good

[JEB Davis]

Another week of healing and training his mace and sword skills passes by. Nothing exciting has happened, and Mik is grateful for that.
He's also used his net to catch some lavarets and pike-perch, duly sacrificing to appease the spirits as his parents taught him.

[JEB Davis]

Feeling completely recovered from his knife wounds, Mik decides to travel south with his 3 best hides to do some exploring and trading. Snow is falling and the weather is making him wish he had dressed a bit warmer, but it is bearable and he's optimistic.

He wanders south and finds large lakes, now with some ice on their surfaces. There are some peaks to climb that give good vantage points to spot game, someone to trade with, or enemies. Exhausted, he builds a shelter to sleep without ending up covered with snow in the morning.

Next day he continues his travels and finds a herd of deer. He drops most of his equipment, selects a fine broadhead arrow and sneaks forward... he looses and the arrow wings toward a large deer, burying itself deep in it's haunch. The deer is startled and tries to run off, but is limping. Mike runs to the chase and eventually catches it.

He carries the skin and meat to a lakeshore several hundred yards away, builds a shelter, and proceeds to tan the skin and hang the meat up to dry using split spruce twigs.