>>633173
Yeah, I agree.

Hmm, if we're going to be doing cross time contamination we have two choices. Use it so you can build off each other's efforts of or avoid each other completely.

I think we should do the first. Start moving your stuff to the camp. It's a good choice, near enough between water and the beach. It has a tent and a fire pit set up already and that is work you do not have to do.

You can even try and to salvage the salt, though it might be wiser to ask your downtime friends to maybe preserve it better?

>>633194
It would also be an easy way to alert them to the presence of others, assuming they haven't already been alerted by something we've done. Food might rot and ships might appear out of nowhere, but I doubt they'll assume the supplies moved to the nearest camp of sentient beings by themselves, especially not decades prior to their arrival.

>>633194
Moving our stuff to the camp would likely render it unusable, either by us or them. Remember, them moving the barrels caused it to rot greatly in our timeframe.

If we can't write in the book our next best bet is to carve out a message on a tree.

>>633172
>safely or in any kind of useable way.
What theoretical speculation or unsafe/unusable lab results have you heard of specifically? That might give clues to the potential opportunities and hazards, here.

If you want to keep the division between you and them clear, make a second spot for your own tent and supplies. Things that can be shared freely go near the center (IE long lasting supplies like the books or salt) Stuff like perishables stay near your tent. Your water jugs and food for example. Stuff you don't want to find rotten.

Write the plan with charcoal in the book and hopefully they will agree and stick to it.

We can experiment how used stuff behaves with the two rotten barrels. Frequent exchanges should help show how fast things can age and such.

Try and get a handful of salt out of the barrel and pour it into a pile on top of the journal, try and make it look obvious that this was done deliberatly and not by accident without actually damaging the journal.

After that, see if you can find an ember in the warm ashes and some dry moss to carry it in and return to your campsite.

Eilin 2015/04/29(Wed)16:16 No. 636982 ID: 69994e
File 143034938302.png - (112.54KB , 600x500 , CH1-17.png )

>>633173
>You could improvise a charcoal pencil relatively easily.

I take a piece of charcoal from around the fire pit and write a message in the journal, then place it back on the barrel in which I found it.

>>633234
>What theoretical speculation or unsafe/unusable lab results have you heard of specifically?

There have been records of attempted time magic use. One scholar attempting it withered into an old man, reportedly right in front of his assistant. Another simply vanished, no one knows what happened to him.

>>635269
>see if you can find an ember in the warm ashes and some dry moss to carry it in and return to your campsite.

I scoop up some moss and bundle a smouldering ember into it and begin heading back to my camp.

I didn't realize how late it was, it's starting to get really dark under the jungle canopy. The ember provides a little light, but not much. I... I think I might be lost...

"Are you lost little one? You have no light? Lucky you! I can see fine, so come, trust me."

>>636982
Oh jeez. Try to get a good look at the thing and maybe get some distance from it. That bottle can become a weapon in a pinch. Ask who it is, and what's going on with this island.

>>636982
Well, on the plus side, you found someone who can talk!

...on the down side that's a lot of teeth.

Turn around, ask them who they are, and be ready to lash out with a wind spell if they try anything.

Yes, you're lost. Shipwrecked, in fact. Who are you, are where are we?

if they wanted you dead they would have just killed you, not say hello.

yeah don't trust that thing, also don't turn around.

keep walking maybe with a quicker step

Stay completely still. It can't see us if we don't move.

Nothing will go wrong.

Walk and talk. Attempt to communicate with them while also scanning for safe spots.

NOPE!

Just keep walking until yo make it back to camp and start that fire ASAP.

>>636982
Pointy teeth may not be indicative of hostility, but that is some creepy phrasing. Do some standard "who are you/what do you want" type questioning.

Blow on the ember and try to set the moss on fire so you can see.

"I know exactly where I am, and that's all I have to say until we've been formally introduced."

This thing's creepy, but it's able and willing to speak your language, and it seems to think there's more to be gained (at least in the short term) by leading your somehwere than by eating your face here and now. Keep it talking, try to get it to reveal it's own background knowledge, and make a reasonable effort to keep it from deducing your own strengths and weaknesses too quickly.

Also, observe immediate surroundings for details of potential tactical significance, without diverting too much attention from the main threat. For example, is there anything heavy up there that your cutting spell could turn into a deadfall trap? Any tactical planning or innocuous preparation now, or during negotiations, is work you don't have to do during the actual fight. Think of it like studying for an exam over the course of a semester rather than cramming the night before, except there's no penalty for cheating and your grade will be expressed in terms of how much blood you walk away with. All of your own, still on the inside? A+. The other guy's? Extra credit. Best possible is if he turns out to be friendly, but whatever you do, don't flunk the basics.

Eilin 2015/05/28(Thu)16:13 No. 643755 ID: eb5c78
File 143285478622.png - (151.59KB , 600x500 , CH1-18.png )

>>636987
>keep walking maybe with a quicker step
>>636999
>Walk and talk.

I don't even bother turning around and keep walking in the same direction I've been headed. I can hear what, or who ever it is following me through the brush.

>>637075
>Blow on the ember and try to set the moss on fire so you can see.

I don't think setting the moss on fire that I'm currently holding in my bare hand sounds like a good idea...

>>637113
>Also, observe immediate surroundings for details of potential tactical significance

I can barely even see the ground in front of me with how little light there is here, much less the surrounding tree tops.

"I-I'm not lost, thank you though..."

"You are content to wander alone?" it replies.

>>636984
>Who are you, are where are we?

"Wh-who are you?"

"Why, I am a friend!"

"Where are we?"

"Even to me, that is unknown."

A hand, fingers ending in hooked claws extends from the shadows.

"Take my hand, I will make sure you do not meet your end."

>>643755
Taking its hand would involve either disarming yourself or abandoning what little light you have. It's a trap. Refuse. Tell it you don't hold hands with strangers. If it really wants to help and is worried you're going to attack it, tell it that it can either guide you to shore, or back to the fire, without touching you.

>Why, I am a friend!
I don't have many nameless friends. Or faceless ones, for that matter.

don't take it's hand

keep walking

ask it's name

Ask about magic theory. See if you can learn a few new spells from this guy.

Don't take their hand, there's much they can do if you aren't fully capable of spellcasting.

But ask for a hug

And see if you can feel their heartbeat.

i repeat, if it wanted you dead, why would it take it's time to ask you things? a killer would just stab you in the back with it's claws and you would be dead.

i therefor think it is trustworthy.

>>643781
Biiig difference between "hasn't already murdered you" and "means well."

Turn around nice and slow, look this supposed guide in the eye. Hold up the ember and moss so it's just below that shared line of sight. Use magic to create a steady updraft around your outstretched hand, aiming to gently lift the moss-ember assembly and then hold it in place. Look away, down and to the side, just as the fire flares up. The mysterious entity will be temporarily blinded by staring directly into a sudden flash with night-adapted eyes, and you'll get a better view of the surroundings for just a moment.

Assuming you're still in a forest, grab either some branch thin enough for you to confidently snap off one-handed, or a chunk of dead wood from the ground, and then catch the fire to the far end of your new club.

keep walking, don't take the hand

if you're a friend why don't you tell me your name?

>>643935
Judging from my extremely slim knowledge of fauna in this world, I don't think he has eyes to look in to.
But I wholeheartedly recommend getting a good look at him ourselves, as this daft serial killer nonsense only ever goes one way if you huddle down and try to avoid them. Give him a good stern once-over to plan our next move.

Eilin 2015/06/14(Sun)22:54 No. 648573 ID: eb5c78
File 143434767810.png - (65.22KB , 600x500 , CH1-19.png )

>>643759
>don't take it's hand

>keep walking

>ask it's name

>>643758
"I don't have many nameless friends."

"Names are for those that we call friends, which is something I'd like for you to be. Let's start anew, make some amends. Give me your name, and I'll tell you what to call me."

...give him a nickname, Like Lin or something. Also keep walking

turn around see what this thing is

>>648573
First name should be fine. Only a full true name has power, right?

>>648573
call me mick.
no real names.

...dangit, I just noticed mister smiles is talking in rhyme. That's never a good sign.

Well, except his first line. That one stands out as a non-rhyming outlier.

Hmm. 5 fingers on a clawed hand, large mouth at Plover head level. That's enough to rule several races out, but not enough for a positive ID, unless I'm being dense.

Eilin, unless you're familiar with any lore of monsters or magic that can harm you with your name, you might as well give it to him.

>>648636
I'm thinking with the shape of head his teeth suggest, the poofy floof around his claws, the lack of eyeshine, and my totally not stalking all the layridin art ever made, he may just be a lazuhrek. A tall bugger to boot.
But Eilin probably hasn't seen any of those things. A name should be mostly safe, a first name more so.

>>648573

Since this guy/whatever hasn't outright killed you there must be some reason for not doing so. but this is shady as fuck. How about this, it takes time to make friends. friends should trust each other but that's because friends have things to trust each other with. so how about you tell him about you AFTER you can get into real light and see his full form.

Ask him if he can go to the beach.

Then go to the beach.

Ask for beach balls.

I don't like that phrasing. It has you "giving" your name to it, while in return only receive direction on how to address it. It's not a trade of names.

>>648695

Very much this.. getting creepy overtones of 'names have power' from this one. Whatever you do, do not give your Real name.

>>648636
>Well, except his first line. That one stands out as a non-rhyming outlier.

Nope, it rhymes with 'end' from the previous update. Between that and the true name thing mister grins would seem to have entirely too much control over the direction this conversation is going.

>>648839
"Me" doesn't rhyme with "end".

>"Are you lost little one? You have no light? Lucky you! I can see fine, so come, trust me."
That's the first time he speaks, and line that seems disconnected from the rhyme sequence.

After that it's abab rhyme by post, with alone / unknown, friend / end; friends / amends, be / me.

Eilin 2015/07/11(Sat)16:49 No. 655127 ID: eb5c78
File 143665857618.png - (96.66KB , 600x500 , CH1-20.png )

>>648632
>call me mick. no real names.

"My... my name is Mick."

"'Mick,' a charming name indeed... Aiden... is what you may call me."

>>648575
>turn around see what this thing is

I turn around quickly, trying to bring the faint light of the ember to bear so I can see what this thing is, but it's not there! I didn't even hear it move through the brush!

>>648692
>Ask him if he can go to the beach.

"Ca-can you... go to the beach?"

"A simple task, if that is what you need. Take my lead, and away we'll be!"

>>655127
Have you even been hearing it follow you?

I have a feeling nothing will change in this confrontation until you either attack or accept its help. So far all we have on it is that it's kinda creepy.

I say ask it to hold your bottle for you, then take its hand.

ask how he can lead if he always stays at your back?

do not give it your bottle!

Well okay then ask to see what it looks like, first.

Eilin 2015/08/05(Wed)15:45 No. 660492 ID: eb5c78
File 143881471553.png - (156.73KB , 800x600 , CH1-21.png )

>>655131
>Have you even been hearing it follow you?

I've been hearing it move through the brush following me before.

>>655133
>ask how he can lead if he always stays at your back?

"Ok, Aiden... if we're going to the beach, how can I follow your 'lead' if you stay behind me?"

"What you speak rings true, if I am behind what can you see? Leading from the front will do, and I am so pleased that you trust me."

...you don't really need to take its hand. Tell it to lead on. You will follow.

Also remark on its many teeth.

Tell him you're not comfortable being around people with too many teeth

and it'd be better if he just left you alone after he's pointed you in the right direction

Well. We decided to trust it to lead us somewhere. I suggest we trust it and take its hand.

Ask him if he has the common decency as a guest to go where you invite him and move where you instruct him to

Or if he is a pervert who wants to stare at your back all day.