“What should we know?” I asked.
“We can expect storms—both snow and ice. We’ll need to increase our wood stores, which means bringing down some trees and making sure the wood is protected so it has a chance to dry out. Thank gods they gave us—the employees in the game—plastic tarps to cover the wood piles, though that will onlyhelp to a degree. We need to find the root cellar for this house, if there is one. If there isn’t, we’ll need to make one. That way the pumpkins and squash and apples and potatoes will have a place to winter over without spoiling.”
“We’ll need meat, so we’ll have to hunt. Luckily, that’s something my character knows how to do,” I said. “Is anybody else good at hunting?”
Brynn raised her hand. “I’m okay with a bow. Not great, but okay.”
“I can hunt,” Geoff said. “Even though I’m a bard, I specialized with a bow.”
“Then we should go hunting,” I said.
“We’ll need a smoker,” Liesel said. “Which means…I can tell you what it needs, but I’m not that great at cutting the wood for it. Or at building it.”
“I suggest we spend a week or so getting the house and grounds ready for winter,” Ray said. “We’ll have plenty of time to adventure after that, but we want the base fortified and protected. We also need to set up some wards, now that the Syms are off their leashes.”
Liesel found a pad of paper. “Okay, let’s make a list.”
We went through, suggesting every thing we could think of for the winter.
“I noticed a few cracks in the walls of the house that need chinking,” I said.
“There’s a stream near here that has clay in the dirt. We can bring back buckets of the mud, blend it with ash, and use that for the filler,” Liesel said. “Luckily, the glass on the windows is a strong acrylic, rather than glass, so it doesn’t break easy. I have some empty jars—mostly from the displays of the homemade jams and jellies I sold. You’d be surprised with how many people went home with jelly that was mass produced, then sold with the Abarrian label on it.”
“I wondered about that,” Brynn said. “So nothing is real here?”
“It wasn’t, no. But now it is. Now it’s up to us to make this world work,” Liesel said. “We’re going to have to find more jars than I have in order to have enough for the winter. When you’re in the outside world, you don’t think about how easy it is to get what you need. But here, without fresh supplies from the outside, we need to fend for ourselves.”
“Okay, so unless we can find some apple trees, this winter’s going to be lean.”
“There are apple trees in my fields. They surround the sides of the garden area. There should be plenty of apples left that are good enough to gather.” Liesel jotted down another note on the list. “They don’t need to be blemish free. We can use all the good parts for applesauce and apple butter.”
“What happened to the main crop?” Ray asked.
“Adventurers gathered a lot of them as they journeyed past. And there are a lot of random fruit and nut trees planted throughout the area, so we can go gathering whatever we can find. Having them around allowed guests to stretch their money for food supplies, and it gave them a sense of self-satisfaction. There are also a lot of brambles, but the season for berries is long-gone.”
“Can we eat the deer and other Sym-animals, like rabbits?” I asked.
Liesel nodded. “They taste just like their real counterparts, and are just as nutritious. They also multiply like real animals. As long as we don’t hunt them to extinction, we’ll have a continuous supply of meat. There are deer, wild boar, rabbits, wild ducks and turkeys. In fact, I know there are a group of turkeys not far from here.”
“How far?” Geoff asked.
“Less than an hour’s walk. So…if you and Erenye can find them, we’ll have quick, fresh meat. After we build the smoker, we can smoke them and also make turkey jerky,” she said. “In fact, if we can manage to catch several turkeys, we can build a pen and raise them. We’ll have to cover it, though, because they can fly. At least, short distances, but enough to get away. We’ll also need venison, though. And there are wild boar in the forests. Bacon, ham…pork.”
I examined my bow and arrows. “I need as many unbroken arrows as we can find. I’m not at all clear on how to make them.”
“I can make arrows, actually,” Geoff said. “But it takes time, so yeah, conservation is the key.”
“What about fishing? I can tie flies,” Ray said.
“There are fish in the stream,” Liesel said.
“Then what’s our mission for the rest of the day?” I asked. “We should do something the rest of the afternoon. It’s only…what?” I glanced at the clock. “It’s only one-thirty.”
“You might be able to catch something this afternoon. And, Ray and Reggie, can you manage to fashion a fishing rod? I have a thin, strong twine that will work as a line. Brynn, you, Thornhold, and I can start patching up the house and figure out how to build the smoker and find the root cellar.” Liesel stood, looking at all of us.
“Okay, let me change,” I said. “Liesel, do you have a pair of trousers to use until my clothes are clean?” I wasn’t about to go hunting in a dress.
“Your clothes are clean. While you were sleeping, I scrubbed them. Well, I cleaned Brynn’s and yours. The men’s trousers and shirts are soaking and should be ready to scrub and hang to dry. It’s up to you to clean your armor,” Liesel said.
