Graeme's Tangled Jungle

This comes from the end of the thread entitled Future Roma, Graeme's Game Continues

Heat.

Humidity.

The earthy smell of nature.

The shade is affording little comfort, instead giving the sensation of being trapped in a greenhouse.

The pillars supporting the roof are woody.

You are on your feet, and manage to catch your balance, but you are dazed and disoriented.

There is a wild animal noise. Something scampers up your back to your shoulder, but before you can react you realize it is Pixie.

There is a thrashing and thumping, and you look over to see Heph lying on the ground fitfully, apparently having a bad dream but almost awake.

You begin to take in your surroundings. It's a jungle, tropical or subtropical, very muggy, very warm.

It is daytime.

--M. J. Young

Is this Azmayincania?

But then Hephalump wouldn't be here. Looks like I've shifted worlds again. Bloody magic - it's a wonder it hasn't been evolved out of existence by now. I'm just going to have to do all my own magic from now on.

I move to Heph's side and comfort her as she wakes up.

I let the heat envelop me and penetrate me. I sigh as my body begins to sweat and adjust to the heat. I adjust well to heat and it's like being back in Malaysia. I sit with Heph and Pixie and look around a bit more and get a feel of where my stuff might be.

(Are the 'pillars' you mentioned actually trees?)

Were you asking me, or is that a thought question on your part?

As your brain clears, you realize that yes, the "pillars" are the trunks of trees, and this is definitely jungle. It could be Azmayinca--it certainly has the look of a South or Central American jungle, although for that I don't suppose they are all that different from African or Asian jungles. Heph and Pixie, both of whom come from jungles, seem more comfortable with their surroundings than they have been in other worlds recently.

Your gear is not far, about as far from you as your bedroom was in the complex from where you were working in the common area. It does appear that you versed out. Everything appears to be in order.

There is a stream not far which is flowing and probably fresh.

--M. J. Young

Once upon a time I had some camping equipment but I think I'm still separated from it from when I died on vacation to Egypt. Ditto for my weapons and I wouldn't have had any on my person in the Roman prison.

I select a stout stick for a club/quarterstaff in case I run into any nasty critters and make a quick survey of the immediate area, using Heph as my homing beacon. I've got a stream so I don't need to stray far to find a good campsite but I want to look around first in case I'm on the doorstep of something. I also keep looking up in the trees. I may decide to sleep up there if suitable.

Any sign of fruit trees or any other food?

We should get your equipment straight.

You would have had in Rome whatever you took into the pyramid, plus whatever you took to the dig, which would have been within a few blocks of your landing spot. You flew a few hundred miles to get to the pyramid dig, though, so most of your other stuff would I think be wherever you were staying before that, yes? I don't think you'd have left anything with Merlin's show--or am I mistaken about that? I would have to figure out where that is.

You see some small tree climbing mammals and some relatively large birds--something that looks like a parrot. The most dangerous creature you spot is a large snake, which is fairly high in a tree and has its attention focused on a small bird.

There are fruits growing in some of the trees, tropical or subtropical, including papayas and bananas and pineapples, oranges, limes, and lemons.

--M. J. Young

This is what I would have had with me on my trip to Potiphar:

Sextant
Swiss Army Pocket Knife
Magnetic Compass
Flashlight
Rain Gear
Manual Wind-up Watch
Several Silver Rings
Silver Necklace
Good Leather Boots
Good Coat
Hat
Satchel
Journal books
Archaic pens and ink (from Postman)
Pencils
Wallet with various pieces of ID, photos, and poems
Toothpicks, wooden, dozen
28 knotted bones for M1@4 Bonus Mag Skill Checks spell
Cut-off Shorts
Sandals
T-shirt
Broad Hat
Sunglasses
Small plastic gyroscope 1" with metal pin bearings
Gyroscope, 3" diameter heavy metal
Old coin from Mystery of the Vorgo
Silver cross with gems on chain
Coins from Vorgo world (used for finger warm-ups)
Pack of cards for practicing flourishes
Small notebook and pen/pencil
Handcuffs
5 Coloured scarves
Brass-plated analog electronic pocket watch with chain
Passport, Norbert McCuaig, from Mystery of the Vorgo

This is what I had from B-Movie World:
Pager
vest covered with diamonds and other jewels
pewter celtic cross necklace set with opals
star sapphire teardrop pendant
Goth attire (various)Eg. A good pair of clunky calf-high black boots with bold silver zippers, black velvet pants, black pants with white pin-stripes with zippers or metal D-rings or whatever it is that they use to make it look outrageous, some shirts (red and black stripes, ones with skulls, made of nylon mesh, plain black long-sleeved and collared, white with lacy cuffs, etc.), a nice formal black velvet coat, a more casual black waist-length coat with big zippered breast pockets and high neck collar. Along with these I'll need a decorative spiked collar, some celtic or otherwise nifty temporary tattoos, a large tub of powerful hair gel, black lipstick, black eyeliner pencil (it's quite probable that I have a bunch of these already in my satchel...) and white mascara.
$120,000
CDs of Dar Koni/English Dictionary and Bible
Sunblock SPF12
4 sledgehammers, 2 crowbars, 4 box-cutters, bolt-cutters and an assortment of other useful tools (multi-screwdriver, pliers, portable drill, hammer, hacksaw.
Basic camping supplies (tent, sleeping bag, stove, pots), stock of non-perishable food
6 5 gallon jugs of filtered water, and 2 quart jugs.
Large mason jar of river water
litmus paper
baking soda and a cake mix
Smaller mason jar of mutogenic potion
digital camera
T-Shirt with "Dol Nacht" printed on it
Goth Band "The Godzillas" propaganda (T-shirts, stickers, buttons, CDs)
bundle of bedding and pillows from the hotel bed
rope
matches
string
chalk

I didn't collect much stuff from the Romans, just:
Assorted Roman bills and coins
20 language potions
Technological translation device (Asmayincan, Mongolchin, Latin)

So that means the following was stored in Merlin's stuff:
Pistol: .45 Revolver RF6 six bullet full load :18 reload time dangerous
Elephant goad
Ammo for pistol
Money in Bag
Rapier RF1 dangerous
Fencing swords, pair
Armor, plate, chain, and leather, top of head helm, coif, -25 cover value
Rapier, from Vorgo
Mace
Engineering books
Malayan Throwing Knife
Didgeridoo
156 bullets
Mountain Bike with generator and lights
Backpack
Tent
Sleeping Bag
Cookstove
Pots
Tarp
Rope
Utensils
Pliers
Hatchet
Snowshoes (homemade-Postman)
Fencing Practice Jacket
Fencing Practice Pants
Fencing Glove
Fencing Mask
Solar-powered Calculator
Beadwork, leather thongs, and feathers (on pistol)
Buckler
Special wand for Pass Through Wall spell, constructed with a magic marker and two double-A batteries connected to the tip of the marker with copper wire, which has been placed inside a circle of copper wire and sprinkled with the ashes of burned papers on which were written electric charge formulas

You have rope listed twice; I had it listed once. I put the rope with the things you have near you. (I apparently had Sextant listed twice, but I'm sure there was only one, so that's been corrected.)

I also find:

6 five gallon water jugs, filtered water, B-movie world
2 one quart jugs, filtered water, B-movie world

which I have added to your stuff near you.

Once you account for the stuff immediately around you, you do have a feeling of a direction for the stuff that's not near you.

--M. J. Young

Once I have it determined that I am surrounded by jungle I will find a likely spot near the stream and set up a campsite. I will set up a lean-to with logs (lashing them together with the rope) and cover it with palm fronds. I put down some kind of vegetation to get my sleeping spot off the damp ground. I collect a supply of fruit and gather dry wood/leaves to start a fire.

The rope does not seem to want to cooperate--lashing is much more difficult than you remember, and the lean-to does not hold together.

You manage to gather wood and leaves as well as fruit. What experience do you have with outdoor fires? (There is a forest survival skill on your sheet, but no specific fire-related skills.)

--M. J. Young

I look at my tumbled shelter with dismay and embarrassment. I'm glad only Pixie and Hephalump were the only ones to see that! My old friends from the Boy Scouts would have a field day. I spent a lot of time learning knots and the like, plus all the time in Merlin's care - you'd think I'd be at home with rope by now. How very odd...

I attempt again to build my shelter.

Once I've gathered enough supplies for the camp I'm going to investigate the water. I'm going to start by drinking the filtered water I brought with me but it's not going to last forever. Does it look or smell bad? Are any birds bathing or drinking from it?

I'll also attempt some magic to see if it works here. I'll grab some water from the stream, specifically grabbing some silt to make it cloudy. Then I'll try my Remove Impurities spell to clean it.

I have quite a lot of experience with outdoor fires. I was a boy scout for years and camped a lot. It was a regular challenge for us to build the fire correctly so we only needed one match. Even now when I make a fire I am extremely disappointed with myself if I can't get it to light with a single match. On top of that fire safety was firmly instilled in us. It's not really to do with camp fires, but as an officer in the navy I was professionally trained to fight fires so that I could organize the fire teams as Damage Control Officer onboard ship.

Your second attempt on the lean-to, after gathering your fire materials, works--not extremely well, and not so you'd be proud to show it to anyone, but adequately that you believe it would withstand a strong rain if it doesn't have too much wind.

The local fauna do seem to be using the water for washing and drinking, and it seems fresh.

You seem to have a shortage of drinking containers, but between you and pixie it does not take long to empty one of the quart jugs. Collecting some of the water in it, you cast your spell. The water clears up very nicely--surprisingly so, considering that this has never been one of your strong spells and you've very little practice with it.

--M. J. Young

I shake my head at the cleansed water jug. A mixed blessing. I have useful spells but magic it seems to be responsible for my death more than once.

Once I have made sure Pixie and Heph have what they need I'll settle down and see about the fruit I've collected. I peel one and dab some of the juice on the sensitive skin on the inside of my elbow. If I receive no ill effect I'll put a little on my lip. If that's ok I'll try a bite. I'll let that sit for an hour or so before deciding if its edible.

While I wait, I might as well get the fire started before it gets dark. If it starts I'll use it to cast my Protection from Insect-Like Creatures spell.

You experience no ill effects from the fruit, and decide that it is certainly edible.

What techniques are you using to attempt to start the fire? You do have matches, but your mind goes blank on how they are supposed to work. In fact, at the moment you cannot think of any technological method of igniting a fire. You're sure there are ways to do it with friction and electricity, but can't piece together how to get these to work.

--M. J. Young

Huh, that is extremely odd. I stare at the box of matches. I distinctly remember using them to make fire in the past - often. I pocket the matches and sit back with Pixie to ponder the neat pile of twigs. I don't absolutely need a fire right now but I'm going to feel odd camping without one and I'll probably want to cook something before long - not to mention the problem of the bugs. I dig out my magic journal and ponder what I'll need to attempt a fire-making spell.

So, a fire spell. My recent bad luck with magic is making me cautious so the first thing I want is to create a spell that will protect me from fire.

I take out my pens (or pencil) and draw a large triangle with the point down on paper (or other such material). I draw a smaller triangle inside with the points bisecting the sides of the larger. This will be my combustion triangle. I draw an icon of fire in the centre triangle. In the other three triangles I write "Oxygen" in one, "Heat" in another, and "Fuel" in the third. I pass this image over the surface I want to protect (i.e. me, or anything up to 5 square meters) while chanting in Latin "Ego servo is res" (I protect this object). I then rip the "heat" triangle off and put it in or on something with a large heat capacity like a large jug of water or a boulder, within 100 meters. At that point the spell takes effect and will transfer thermal energy that touches the protected surface into the object with the heat triangle. I expect the drawing and chanting to take about 5 minutes and I expect the spell to protect me for 1 hour.

I'll stop there and see how that goes.

The pen works with some difficulty, and you put your drawing together. You perform the other steps easily enough.

My inclination is that nothing observable happens, but I am not certain what you would anticipate observing if it worked. You do feel a bit cooler, but you were not overly hot before.

--M. J. Young

Ooh, my first M5 skill!
I thought afterwards that I should have said that at the activation of the spell the ink transferred to the objects touched and faded after the hour duration.

I guess with that sorted it's time to think about my fire skill. I hunt around in the stream while I think, collecting different colour stones. I want my fire spell to be associated with red colour so I'm hoping for a reddish stone. If I find one, I will grind it against another stone to mix with water to make a kind of paint. (It will be the red paint that's important, so perhaps I'll be able to improve on the paint in the future if I get some oil or something.) If I don't find a red stone, well, I guess I'll do without.
I paint a stone red and after its dry I will draw a fire icon onto it. I expect that takes about 10 minutes. Then, when I place or toss the stone I say "Aduro!" the stone will heat up to incredible temperatures, thus setting fire to inflammable objects it is touching (or very close to). It will remain hot for RS/10 minutes.

If that works, I will place the stone in my fire pit and attempt to set my twigs alight.

You find two sorts of red stones. One is a soft stone, dark and murky, which is probably a compressed clay. The other is a crystal, uncut and rough but definitely gemstone material.

Your attempt to make paint from the crumbled rock and water fails; the rock does not dissolve in the water, but settles to the bottom.

--M. J. Young

I examine carefully the gemstone, looking up at the sky through it. It reminds me how Sowan flew over the undead armies dropping rubies that exploded into fireballs. I pocket it as it may very well come in useful in the future but I don't want to tie my ability to start a fire with a rare gem. I do, however, look around to see if there are more gems in the stream.

What I do is to use this spell to turn some pebbles red:
1@8 Temporarily change object color M3@5 use standard scarf, hold it up in one hand, then with two hands shake it, crossing hands and back to show both sides, then with one hand touch it to something while saying Presto Chango, 0:12TF, 10:00 duration, object touched will change to the color of the scarf; it will remain that color for RS minutes +33SM.

I then proceed with my fire spell.

It appears to be an uncut ruby; you've seen quite a few rubies, particularly as they were one of Sowan's favorite material components for fire spells. There are more of them in the streambed.

I'm confused. You originally intended to paint a single stone red, but your effort to create paint failed. Now you are attempting to color a group of pebbles red. Is this so that you can use one of the red pebbles as your stone, or were you intending to use all of the pebbles?

The color spell works; it is designed to transfer color to a single object at a time, but you can touch several objects with it while it is "active". They don't stay colored very long, in your experience, but they seem to be lasting a while this time.

--M. J. Young

I collect the rubies that are easily found and will look for more in the days to come.

I had originally intended to turn the pebbles red with paint, but now I just want the spell component to be a red stone. Now that I have red stones, I will use one for my fire spell. The stone will be consumed by the spell. I guess the spell will only take a couple of minutes since I don't have to wait for paint to dry.

So the current form of the spell reads,

I place or toss a red stone stone and say "Aduro!"; the stone will heat up to incredible temperatures, thus setting fire to inflammable objects it is touching (or very close to). It will remain hot for RS/10 minutes. The stone is consumed by the heat.

You suggest that the casting time would be "a couple minutes", but your casting does not appear to last more than a couple seconds. You would remember that when Sowan cast his fire spell, he shook his rubies in his hand for a minute before tossing them. Also, his stones themselves burst into flame; that's not your objective here, from my read, but you intend that the stones would become hot enough as to ignite flammable materials. Is it a stated part of the magic that the stone causes certain types of materials to burst into flame, or is it a technological/scientific assumption that a hot stone will create fire in this way by transfer of heat?

--M. J. Young

I am still drawing a fire icon on the stone. That is what is taking the time.
It is an assumption that once something reaches a certain temperature, it will ignite.

By any means possible, I draw an icon for fire on a red stone, then place or toss it and say "Aduro!"; the stone will heat up to incredible temperatures, thus setting fire to inflammable objects it is touching (or very close to). It will remain hot for RS/10 minutes. The stone is consumed by the heat.

Looking back, I note that the "icon for fire" appears in the center of the triangles of the fire protection skill, so I'm assuming that this is not that elaborate image with the triangles but only the symbol from the center.

Assuming that the rock is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (~27C, if I remembered the formula aright), by how much (in degrees F) do you anticipate it will increase in temperature? A fixed amount is fine.

--M. J. Young

Hmm, let's say the temperature rises to 2000 F.

Your stone heats as desired, until it is glowing and starting to consume itself, but it does not itself burst into flame (which was not an intended part of the magic, if I understand it correctly).

I'm assuming that you placed or threw the stone prior to the completion of the spell. I want to know with great precision and detail what you did with the stone that is now two thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

--M. J. Young

I had previously prepared a fire pit with a carefully prepared cone of kindling and larger sticks. I toss the stone into the opening under the pile of sticks where I would normally hold a match. I'll also remind you that I am protected from heat through my previous spell.

Your stone glows brightly; the peat below it smolders, and a cloud of steam starts to rise as the moisture in the ground is drawn from it. The steam soaks the materials, and the rock sinks deeper into the ground.

You can feel the intense heat coming from it, and your fire starter materials are drying and again soaking as more steam rises.

After about seven minutes, the heat begins to dissipate. There is a hole in the ground, and dust is all that remains of the stone. The wood is hot and dry, and the ground is also dry for several feet, but you never got a flame.

--M. J. Young

I throw down the un-charred twig I have been desperately holding over the stone in frustration. Something is definitely screwy in this jungle. I give it up for a lost cause today and will sleep on the problem. I tidy up the camp and organize my gear in case it rains. I will put my food items in a bag and attempt to haul it into the air with a rope over a branch of a tree. I do it out of habit of ingrained bear-safety, all the while telling myself it will prove to be mere seconds of delay for any monkey with designs on my foodstuffs.

Then, resigning myself to the tortures of insects, I turn in to my rickety shelter for the night.

It does rain, but at least that keeps the insects down.

You awaken to find Pixie rather nervously huddled against you. He does not seem eager to leave the shelter.

Your food is untouched, but there is a large cat curled up next to the place where you wanted to make a fire. It's probably about a meter long, not including the tail, and tan with black spots. It is not sleeping, but seems to be waiting patiently for something.

--M. J. Young

I look at the cat warily. I've never had to deal with a wild cat before but I've been told you should look as big as you can. I grab my shirt and slip it on, unbuttoned. I climb slowly out of the shelter so as not to startle it and stand up. I'll let it do the first move. If it leaves, I'll let it go. If it seems threatening I will open up my shirt to look larger and shout at it in hopes of driving it off.

It looks at you, and then washes its forepaw with its tongue, drawing it up over its ears to groom itself. It continues in this wise, not quite ignoring you but more seeming to occupy itself.

Heph is obviously nervous, but the cat is not paying attention to her, either. Pixie is peeking from the edge of the shelter, but staying back.

--M. J. Young

"Heph, take it easy." Keeping my eye on the cat I back slowly to reassure Heph. "The cat is a tenth your size. I'm sure it can't even conceptualize you as prey."

I guess it's here just to enjoy the warmth that might be remaining in the ground from my failed attempt at a fire. I'm happy to share my space with it as long as it remains docile. In fact, I love having the opportunity to see such a creature so close up. If it isn't too much of an ordeal, I'll try to get my journal out and try to sketch the cat for as long as it remains.

It seems to have decided that your camp is a good place to rest. Pixie takes about half an hour to relax, and makes a point of getting no closer to the cat than you. Heph takes your reassurance but is not ready to relax around a predatory feline. Still, the cat seems to be settling in as a housecat might on the arm of its owner's chair. You are quite able to sketch it, although in this strange place writing implements seem to smear and blot a lot more than you expect.

--M. J. Young

A tame jaguar in the jungle. My luck seems to be improving a little. I'm somewhat chagrined that I don't have anything to offer. Maybe the dry ground is good enough but I should be able to do more for hospitality.

I get a wooden stick and peel the bark off it so that it is smooth. With the stick I draw a circle with my G-in-gear symbol in the dirt. I take one of my 1 quart jugs of water and remove the top and place it in the circle. I use the clean end of the stick to stir the water while I recite, "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree. For he on honey-dew hath fed, and drunk the milk of paradise."

I expect to change the water into milk, which I will pour out into a dish or a fruit rind for the cat.

The smooth barkless wooden stick will be a component but preparing it will not be part of the ritual. The ritual will take about a minute. The change will be permanent. It will be limited to 1 quart at a time.

In a minute you have a jug of milk.

You have your pots from your cook kit; that would work for a bowl.

The cat grasps that the milk is for him, and laps it up eagerly. Then he gives himself a proper bath, following the familiar pattern that all cats use.

When he finishes he stretches and leaps into the tree behind him, and from there vanishes in the brush.

--M. J. Young

I watch the cat go and watch the dark jungle for a minute after it's gone. The encounter with the cat has made me reconsider some things. I suddenly don't really feel like I should be burning trees. Obviously something is affecting my ability to do so anyway.

I think I will still attempt to come up with something to cook dinner and keep me warm but I'll go about it a different way.

I search around the stream for a large flat stone, hopefully the size of a large platter and quite smooth on top. I use the following spell to write the words, "Caution: Hot Surface" a few times around the edge of the stone.

1@3 Write on Surfaces M7@1 chant words desired in intended language while using both hands to position words as desired on smooth surface, image etches, sound is necessary, +8SM.

Then I will place both hands on the top surface of the stone and say "Aduro!". I want it to heat up 25 degrees C for an hour. However, I want to be able to control the temperature. (Maybe this is another spell using the current set-up as the required components.) I want to be able to say, "Hotter" and pass my left hand over it to raise the temperature another 50 degrees and "Cooler" and pass my right hand over it to lower the temperature 50 degrees. Each time I do this, the temperature will raise or lower an additional 50 degrees. I will limit it out at 500 degrees at the top end and 0 degrees at the bottom.

While you are gathering your materials, the cat returns with a fresh killed bird--probably some kind of turkey, with plenty of meat. He drops it by your fireplace as if offering to share it. He looks very pleased with himself, and starts washing again.

--M. J. Young

"Well, that's might kind of you, Mr. Cat." I look at the bird and try to decide what to do with it.

I guess I'll start with sharing it out. I take out my penknife and do my best to hack the bird in two and give one half to the cat.

(I don't have the skill for butchering game. The only place I can think it would have come up before is on Tropical Volcano Island and I think di Vaars took care of the meals that weren't fish.)

I do my best at chopping off the head and feet and scooping out the innards (which I give to the cat). I'll pluck off the feathers and set the carcass aside.

"I'm sorry I can't join you right away, but I'm not yet hungry enough (or resilient enough) to eat this thing raw. You'll have to bear with me if you're inclined to wait. Oh, and by the way, I don't think you met Pixie and Hephalump. Please don't hurt them."

I trust Pixie and Heph can forage for themselves here in the jungle.

If nothing else happens, I'll continue with my cooking stone project.

You encounter significant difficulty in the use of the knife: you can figure out how to use it as a wedge (jabbing or driving it into the object) or as a lever (prying sideways), but not as both at once (cutting or slicing). You wind up tearing the bird apart mostly by brute force, with some help from the weakening stabs and prying actions. The knife is much less effective than you remember.

You take about twenty minutes finding a stone, and it's a bit thicker than you want and not as level on the bottom, but it shouldn't be too difficult to settle it into the soft ground such that the top is flat and level.

My guess is that the use of the spell to write on the surface is preparation, not part of the ritual itself, and that you could re-use this stone without writing on it again. I'm also guessing that the means of writing is not part of the requirements--that you could write on it with marker except that technology does not work well here. Are those guesses correct?

You do write the words on the stone easily and clearly.

How long do you expect the initial casting (not counting the preparation of materials) to take (unless the stone is single-use and has to be re-written)? You did not specify whether sound is necessary, or whether the explanation point after "Aduro!" means it must be spoken loudly/forcefully.

Concerning this part:

Each time I do this, the temperature will raise or lower an additional 50 degrees. I will limit it out at 500 degrees at the top end and 0 degrees at the bottom.

There are two ways I could read this, and it might matter.

It could mean that the skill will take the rock from whatever its present temperature is to five hundred degrees hotter and back to its initial temperature. This would mean that if you started with a rock already heated to a hundred degrees, you could take it to six hundred and back.

It could instead mean that the skill will change the temperature between a minimum of zero and a maximum of five hundred degrees regardless of its starting temperature. I would guess then that the skill would not work on any rock whose temperature was outside those parameters by more than fifty degrees initially (if it were within fifty degrees, the first casting would bring it within the limits), and it would also mean that you could use the skill to control the temperature by cooling a stone to the freezing point.

Which it is makes a significant difference.

--M. J. Young

Your guesses are correct.
I expect the time to cast the spell is only about 6 seconds.
"Aduro!" is to be spoken forcefully, out loud.
The second option was my intent.