DISCLAIMER: The Furship Chronicles narrate the adventures of our gaming group as we playtest the Age of Animus Storytelling Game. Bunwick is played by Frank, Emeraldine Fiera is played by Melanie, Raz is played by Steve, Wilhemina is played by Fab and Zouly is played by Lyne. The interactions you read are not straight transcriptions of their conversations in the game (My memory isn’t good enough to remember them all) but rather my interpretation of their characters as they played them in our gaming session. I hope I do justice to the fun we had playing.
The morning air was still crisp when they finally reached town. There had been frost on the ground when they woke and broke camp.. No doubt there would be a snowfall soon. They all agreed it would be good to sleep in a warm bed tonight.
They noticed a large crowd of furs gathered together in the town square. From the look of it, the whole town was there. Nervous murmurs were rippling through the crowd. Something wasn’t right here. Before they had a chance to ask what’s going on, an elder badger stepped up to address the crowd.
“Attention everyone, attention. As you have already heard, sometime last night, there was a break-in at the storehouse. Unfortunately, the news I have to give Is grim. The bandits cleaned us out. There’s no food left. Constable Copley will be taking statements from anybody who has any information that will help. Requests for aid will be sent out. In the meantime, we ask that all furs be conservative with their food stuffs. That’s all for now.”
The badger stepped down and tried to make his way through the crowd of furs who were obviously distressed by the news. They watched as the townsfurs blocked his passage and started swarming him with questions.
“Well what do we do now?” Bunwick asked of his companions as he eyed the commotion.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry,” Wilhemina answered.
“I don’t know that the locals are going to be that open in sharing their food.” Zouly noted somberly.
“I noted there’s a river that runs by here,” Bunwick said, “We could try to catch some fish?”
Raz rubbed his chin, “In this season?” It was a little warmer than when they’d started in the morning, but not by much, “I don’t know…”
Zouly shrugged, “Well we have to try something! C’mon…” he hopped off towards the river leaving the others to follow him.
Raz spoke up, “What about the…?” But the others had already started to follow the frog. He sighed and went after them.
* * *
“So who has some fishing gear?” Raz asked the others. The four furs stared blankly at each other. The wolverine rolled his eyes, “Perfect.”
“I can make a spear,” Bunwick offered. He quickly found a stick that was long enough for his purposes and gnawed on the end to sharpen it. “With this, I should be able to catch us some lunch in no time.”
Zouly watched as the beaver moved towards the river shore, “Be careful close to the edge, Bunwick,” he warned. “The grass is slippery.”
Bunwick turned his head to address the frog, “What?” But it was too late. He lost his footing and toppled into the water where he floundered around for a few moments until his friend held a paw out to help him climb back to the river bank.
As Bunwick stripped out of his tunic to dry it, Zouly looked around, “Where’s Teeper?” The others looked around as well, but the groundhog was gone.
* * *
The cat sat further along the riverbed eating a sandwich. She’d just come from the town as well. When the news hit about the robbery, she decided to make herself scarce before eating her meal. Things weren’t dire in town yet, but she still didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. She was so focused on her meal, that she didn’t notice the groundhog approaching until he was already at her paws. “Hello there,” she greeted the newcomer.
The groundhog didn’t reply. His clothes would have been considered dapper once. Now, they were frayed and dirty along his belly, as if he’d been walking on all fours for days. His eyes lacked the twinkle of other awakened animals. What had happened to him?
“Don’t you speak?” the cat asked the groundhog again to no response. Then she noticed that he was looking more at her sandwich than he was at her. “Are you hungry?” She tore her sandwich in half and pawed it to him, “Here you go.”
The groundhog quickly gobbled up the sandwich and smiled at her expectantly. “That’s it!” she told him, “No more for you. Shoo now!” But he wouldn’t budge.
“There you are Teeper!” the cat looked to her left and saw a small frog approaching. “We’ve been looking for you.” He called out to his companions who were still searching, “Over here! I found him!”
The cat addressed the frog, “His name is Teeper? He wouldn’t say anything to me.”
The frog nodded and explained, “He’s been scared wild.” He then provided a quick account of their night at the Bridgeside Inn. Raz, Wilhemina and Bunwick, who had taken the time to pull his tunic back on, arrived as Zouly was reached the end of the story.
“Phantoms?” the cat exclaimed when he was finished, “I wish I’d been there to see them!”
“You say that,” Raz observed, “But I speak for us all in saying that we’d all have been much happier not to have seen them ourselves.”
Wilhemina sniffed, “Not me!”
“You slept through the whole thing!” Zouly snapped.
“So?” Wilhemina retorted, “Just because I didn’t see the phantoms doesn’t mean I’d be happier if I didn’t see them!”
The cat listened to them bicker before noticing that the beaver hadn’t said anything yet. “What’s with him? Did he get scared wild too?”
Bunwick had noticed her sandwich and was staring at it quite intently. His mouth was watering at the sight of food so close he could touch it. He realized that the others had stopped talking and were all looking at him. He blushed behind his fur, “Uh sorry…I was just noticing that you…had a sammich.”
The cat looked down at her food, “My word, are you really all that hungry?”
Raz nodded, “Our carefully packed rations expired last night. We were going to eat in town, but with the robbery there’s no food to spare for strangers.”
The cat nodded, “I thought that under the circumstances, eating my lunch in town might attract a crowd, so I came here.” She smiled wryly, “It looks like it didn’t help.”
Bunwick spoke up again, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to share a corner of your sammich would you? I was going to catch some fish for our lunch, but it’d be ever so easier on a full stomach.”
The cat pawed him the rest of her sandwich, “Here you go.” She then reached into her sack for two more which she split evenly amongst the others. They all eagerly accepted the offer.
Raz smiled and took a bite of his half of sandwich, “This is most generous, Miss…”
The cat smiled brightly, “My name is Emeraldine Fiera!”
Zouly stared blankly at her, “Seriously?”
Bunwick elbowed him, “Be nice!” He smiled to Emeraldine, “Pleased to meet you, I‘m Bunwick and these are my friends, Raz, Mina and Zouly,” he gestured to each in turn, then looked back to the cat, “Emeraldine Fiera…that’s certainly an unusual name!”
The cat nodded, “I know right? I picked it out myself! A girl has to keep a little mystery about her!”
Wilhemina huffed, “Hey! I’m the mysterious one around here!” When the cat didn’t respond, she went on, “It’s right there in my name, Mysterious Mina Weasel! So you see we don’t need any other mysterious girls!”
“Oh I’m not mysterious!” Emeraldine assured her, “Only my name is!”
Mina narrowed her eyes at the cat, “Well…alright then!” she said grudgingly, “But only because you shared your sandwich!”
They all set to eating their bits of sandwich then. When he was done, Bunwick rose to his paws, “Okay! Time to catch us some fish!” He held up his spear with fierce determination as he marched to the riverbank.
Emeraldine watched him curiously, “Is he really going to catch fish with a spear?”
Zouly snorted, “Not likely. The only thing he’s going to catch is a cold if he falls in again.”
They all watched as Bunwick peered into the cold water, searching for movement to reveal his prey. A ripple in the water caught his attention and he stabbed at it with his spear, “Aha! Gotcha!“ With pride, he pulled it out to inspect his catch. His smile disappered when he realized that instead of a wriggling fish, there was an old leather boot on the end of his spear.
“Hopeless!” Wilhemina sighed. “Stand back and let a professional fisherfur work!”
Only Emeraldine seemed impressed, “You’re a professional fisherfur?”
Wilhemina looked a little sheepish, “Well, no..” She then stood up proudly, “But it’s a known fact that weasels are born catchers of fish!” She stripped out of her dress so that it wouldn’t get wet and then waded into the water, “You just watch!” And with that she dove beneath the surface.
Everybody sat and waited quietly as seconds passed. Zouly was just about to open his mouth to make a pointed comment when Wilhemina resurfaced with a fish between her teeth. She spit it out onto the riverbank, “That’s one!” She dove back under.
Raz, Teeper and Emeraldine rushed then to the bank. Zouly followed more slowly, muttering under his breath. As the others watched Mina’s progress more closely, Raz grabbed the fish that was flopping around in the grass and tossed it in a basket.
Twenty times Mina dove and resurfaced. Each time, she had a fish caught between her teeth. Satisfied, that that was enough for now, she climbed out of the river and stared smugly at Zouly, “Toldja I could fish!”
Zouly ignored her, but the others were quick to congratulate their irritating friend. “Good job Mina!”
Raz held out the basket full of fish, “So who wants to cook these up?”
Emeraldine raised her paw, “I’m a pretty decent cook, or so I’ve been told.”
Raz pawed her the basket, “By all means!” He let her clean and gut the fish, while he and Bunwick went to get some firewood. In no time at all, the wonderful smell of fried fish filled their nostrils. The sandwiches had been good, but they were all still hungry. They immediately ate half of the collected fish before they were finally sated.
“What brings you to Lancton, Emeraldine?” Bunwick asked as he rubbed his full belly.
Emeraldine looked pensive, “Hmmm…I’m not sure really. I like to travel. I just pick a road and see where it leads me.”
Raz raised an eyebrow, “You travel for no reason?”
Emeraldine gave it some more thought, “Well, I like to try new foods, so I guess there’s that.” She added, “I don’t think I’m going to find any in Lancton though.”
“Probably not,” Raz agreed.
“What about you all?” the cat asked, “Why have you come to Lancton?”
“We were hired to deliver a package to Constable Copley,” Raz answered. He looked to his companions, “Speaking of which, we really should head back to town and find him.”
“Why don’t you come with us, Emeraldine?” Bunwick suggested, “It must be lonely travelling by yourself.”
Emeraldine thought it over. “I guess I could follow you for a while,” she agreed.
Everybody but Wilhemina looked pleased, “Just remember who the mysterious one is here!”
Zouly rolled his eyes. He was about to respond when Raz cut him off, “Enough dawdling. We need to get back to town!” He led the way and the others followed him back to Lancton.