As Mark woke up, he looked in the direction of his trap. He wondered if it had worked. There was really only one way to find out. So he headed in the direction of the pit trap. He skipped all his other traps, not even looking at them. When he arrived, he thought he was in the wrong spot; there was no hole. Then he realized it had not been triggered yet, so he slowly moved back, finding a nice spot way off the trail to wait and watch.
He was excited. This time he would be there to see if the trap worked. He waited an hour, but nothing happened. Then he waited another hour and still nothing. It looked like his prey was not going to fall for this again, and he turned to head back to camp when he was startled by the sound of a snapping branch. He ducked down and inched forward toward the trap. At first he could not see anything. Then he heard another noise, maybe a bush being pushed aside.
Here it came, slowly and steadily. The beast marched down the path. It finally stopped at the edge of the trap, and nothing happened. It then took two more steps, and then the sounds started. The covering broke, and down it plunged into the pit. He could hear noises as it thrashed around. Then it went quiet, and Mark just sat there holding his breath. Then he realized it didn’t sound right. Not like before. Not like something that had given up.
He stood up and took a step towards the trap. Then the pit creaked and dirt started to shift. Something heavy slammed against the side. No, it was fighting. Mark froze; it wasn’t done. Not even close. Then he saw it: the snout of the beast stuck up over the edge of the pit. More noise. What in the heck was it doing? Then it lurched up, and its front legs were out of the hole. It dragged and kicked till its back legs were out also.
Mark could see some blood on its side. He had wounded it. Mark reached for his bow, but before he could even find an arrow, it was stomping on the ground outside of the pit. And then it gave one last snort and continued down the path like nothing at all had happened. It didn’t even look back. Mark just looked at it, stunned. The trap had worked. Sort of. It was injured but not enough to slow it down.
Mark just stood there in disbelief as it just walked away as if nothing had happened. After it was out of sight, he went over and looked at the trap. The trap had worked, just not enough. What had gone wrong? Mark knelt down next to the pit; he could see most of the spears he made had been broken. Three of the harder, stiffer ones were not broken, though. They had blood on them. Looking closely, he could see that they had pierced it. The bloodstains made that obvious. Just not deep enough to kill it, and most of the spears broke or were not strong enough to matter.
He jumped down into the pit and threw all the broken limbs out. When he got all the broken bits out, he bent down to look at the bottom of the pit. In some areas, the spears had held well; in others, they had simply fallen over. He picked up a clod of dirt from where the spears held well and examined it. It was softer; he could mold it in his hands. He picked up the dirt on the other side of the pit. It crumbled in his hand like he expected it to. The first patch of dirt was different somehow; it clumped together.
When he pushed it together, it kept its form. Mark pulled out his shovel and added three big scoops of the dirt into his inventory to play with later. He then climbed out of the pit and looked around. Then he looked back in the pit; it had worked. Just not well enough. Mark decided he needed to think about this problem. He looked down the path that the beast had followed and just shook his head. Oh well. It was time to check the other traps. He could come back and clean up the mess later.
Mark sat down on his camp chair and pulled out some of the new dirt he found. The stuff was pretty interesting. First he rolled it into a ball. Then he took the ball between his hands and smashed it. It was firm but flexible. He made it back into a ball and slowly pressed his thumb into it. When he pulled out his thumb, he just watched it. The stuff stuck slightly to his fingers as he worked it, but it shaped well, also holding that shape.
He pulled out more of it from his storage and started to make a larger flat circle. Not too thick but not too thin. He then started to raise the edges up all the way around the circle; he was pleased with himself and what he was doing. When he finally set it down, he got a system message.
[New Craft Unlocked: Crude Clay Bowl]
Ah, so that was what this stuff was. Clay. He picked up his new bowl; it looked solid, but when he pressed it too hard, the edge warped. It was not done yet. Mark placed the bowl carefully near the fire. Not too close but close enough that the heat licked at it gently. Too close, it might dry too fast and crack. Too far away, and it would take forever to dry. He adjusted it once more and then just sat to wait. He continued to watch it; after some time had passed, he picked it up. It felt different, lighter in a way. Drier, the surface no longer shifted under his finger. Not perfect, but it would be usable.
As Mark looked at his bowl, he thought about how much easier it would be to eat now. He had previously been eating like a caveman with his hands off the flattest rocks he could find. Mark then looked in the direction of his failed trap. He thought about his first attempt. It had hit it hard and knocked it down, but it had gotten right back up. The second trap worked great until it failed. He needed a combination of both. He needed to knock it down and keep it down. He could stop it. He looked again toward the forest. Now he needed to make sure it stayed down.
Okay, let’s do this. Mark walked back into the forest towards his failed trap. When he got back to his pit, he looked down into it. Then over to where his log from the deadfall sat next to the tree. Both had hurt the beast, just not enough on their own. Mark decided to combine the two traps. He first looked at the placement of his pit trap. If he could hit it hard from the side, it would push it deep into the pit.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The first task was to dig deeper and wider. Make it so that it could not climb back out. Mark pulled out his shovel and started digging deeper. As he dug, he separated out the clay from the normal dirt. He had some ideas of things to make with it. As he added a foot of depth to the pit, he realized he had a problem. The deeper he got, the harder it would be for him to get out. As he crawled out, he also made the side collapse.
When he was finally back on the ground, he realized he needed to build something to climb up and down from inside the trap. He also needed something to keep the walls from collapsing. He first found two sturdy long staves and put them on the ground side by side. Then he lashed crossbars to them. He made sure to get wood that was strong enough to hold his weight. He made some last adjustments and received a system message.
[New Craft Discovered: Crude Wood Ladder]
Mark gathered more wood. He needed to build a containment wall on the sides of the pit. He put his ladder into the pit and climbed down. That was much better. Over the next hour he continued to dig deeper and build a containment wall. When the pit was another foot deeper, he finally climbed out using his ladder and took a look down into it. He finally decided that if he could get it into the pit, it was not getting back out.
Mark then started to gather thicker and longer staves for the pit. He made sure they were thicker at the base, and he used his axe to make sure the end sticking up was as sharp as he could make it. He also drove them deeper into the bottom of the pit so they would not fall over this time. With the pit finally finished, he turned to look at the log he had used in his deadfall trap. It was okay, but he wanted a little bigger this time.
He went into the forest and found one that was a little larger. Not too big or his ropes would not hold it. But it was stronger than the previous one and would put more weight behind the hit. He then put up his new deadfall trap and looked at it. It was good, but he needed another improvement. Pulling out his axe, he sharpened the end that would hit the beast. If the weight alone was not enough, this should at least put a hole in its side.
Mark then covered his pit trap, making sure that it was secure. Not so thick that it would not fall, though, but not so thin it fell on its own. He then tested the deadfall a few times to ensure it had the right speed, height, and angle. Then at last he set up the tripwire. He also tested that before connecting it to the deadfall. The last thing Mark did was clean up around the area. Mark stepped back and looked at it one last time, and then he received a system message.
[New Craft Discovered: Deadfall Pit Trap]
Deadfall Pit Trap
Tier: Primitive
Type: Composite Trap
Combines:Pit TrapDeadfall Mechanism
Effect:Knocks target downRestricts movementIncreased lethality
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Oh, that was cool. He was starting to understand more. The more effort he put into something, the more the system recognized it. Mark was excited about his trap. He could not bring himself to do anything but wait for the beast. He found a spot a few trees back and settled in to wait. After two hours he was getting discouraged when he finally heard it.
The bushes started to rustle, and Mark heard the scrape of hooves. It was finally coming. Mark watched as it slowly approached. It stopped just two steps before the trip wire. Oh no, it had wised up about this spot. Maybe he should have built it somewhere else. Then it took one tentative step forward and stopped again. The anticipation was killing him. Then it started to lift its hoof, and then it all started at once.
The deadfall swung down and slammed into it hard. Mark could see that the tip had rammed into its side. Then it cried out. It then flipped over and into the pit. The ground shook when it hit. Mark jumped up and ran to the pit. Looking inside, he could see it was still alive. Three spears stuck through its side and out the other side. Without thinking, he pulled out his bow and started shooting. It was not going to get away this time. Mark’s chest was pounding. He was about to shoot his sixth arrow when the system message appeared.
[Rootback — Level 4]
Defeated
Loot Available:
Rootback Meat (x7)Thick Hide (x2)Heavy Bone (x3)Barkhide Plate (x1)Tusk Fragment (x1)
◈ ◈ ◈
System messages flooded his vision.
[Major Threat Eliminated]
[Zone Status Updated]
Control Level: 68%
Status: Established Control
◈ ◈ ◈
[New System Unlocked]
Territory Map
◈ ◈ ◈
[Level Up]
Character: Mark
Level: 4
Stat Points: +5
Skill Selection Available
◈ ◈ ◈
The forest was now silent. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath. All of the background noise vanished. Like a tension on the forest had been removed. Mark slowly put down his bow and looked into the pit. It lay motionless in the pit. He fell to the ground panting. The rush slowly faded. The background noises slowly returned. The rushing of blood in his head eased. That was a lot. He had gained a level, territory, and control.
Mark just sat there looking at the rootback. It was finally over. He finally looked at the system messages. He had gained a level, more stat points, and a new skill selection to make. That was new. He looked over the zone status message. Established control. This was his now, but what did that mean? A new system unlocked, a map that would help a lot. Mark then focused on the UI and brought up the new map feature.
[Territory Map]
Zone: Unnamed Forest Sector
Status: Established Control
Control Level: 68%
Known Locations:Camp (Center)Stream (West Boundary)Clay Pit (Resource Site)Trap Lines (Primary: West)
Points of Interest:[?] Dense Grove (Northeast)[?] Rocky Rise (Northwest)[?] Burrow Cluster (South)
Exploration Status:West: Mapped (Stream Boundary)North: Partially MappedSouth: Lightly Mapped
East: Unmapped
Zone Boundary:Defined (West)Unstable (North / South / East)
Notes:
Control reveals terrain and resources. Unmapped regions may contain threats. Infrastructure improves control stability.
◈ ◈ ◈
Mark looked over the map. He could see the places he had been were easy to see. The places he had not traveled or traveled only lightly were hazy. Just symbols and words indicating general areas. His traps were all marked out. Where he was standing was the label for the clay pit. Mark looked into the sky; the sun was setting. It had been a long day. He had stats and skills to pick, but that would have to wait.
He needed to get back to camp before it was dark. Mark looted his kill, then looked into the pit at the mess he had left behind. He would have to come back later to clean this up. As he walked toward camp, he looked around. This was his now, well, okay, 68% his. There was more out there. Now he had to go discover it.