I wrote some UnReal World references into my NaNoWriMo novel, so I'll post the excerpt here. I was also inspired to put some Dwarf Fortress reference into it because I love the fact that you can carve and decorate things in UnReal World, and I love the bizarre descriptions of engravings that come up in Dwarf Fortress. Taking the time to include this game into my story by having one of my characters sit and read Gretded's diary was entertaining and worth about a thousand words toward the word goal I was trying to reach last night.
So here it is:
Savage Wilderness
A Diary of Survival by Gretded Kiesseläinen
August 1 – Fall has just begun and I'm tired. I think I've covered 20 miles since I fled, carrying over 110lbs. of gear. I came across a river and wandered upstream. It feels like I have a cold coming on. Great. I better not get sick. I was so angry I threw my axe at a tree, which was a stupid, careless move. I was lucky I had two of them just incase. I'm not thinking too clearly because of stress caused by my situation.
My day became even worse when I stumbled upon a Njerpez warrior in the trees. I hoped that he wouldn't spot me so I froze. I had no time to find cover because he spotted me immediately, so I ran, hoping the density of the trees would slow him down. I was successful, but my heart was pounding and I almost cried and it seemed as though my situation was hopeless. I would die in the wilderness alone. But maybe my encounter wasn't unlucky, I found a trap. Perhaps the Njerpez was in the forest setting it. I dismantled it and added it to my pack. It was mine now.
I took a nap in the afternoon and it was dark when I woke, so I occupied myself for the rest of the night by picking bilberries and blueberries.
August 2 – I have the flu. This is probably not a good thing, I don't know what it'll be like on my own while I'm sick. I have a lot of work to do out here to survive and I think that will only make my flu worse. I came across a man who told me there were no settlements in the region.
It took me nearly the entire day to find a path around a lake, I wanted to continue following the river. I had a soft mushroom in my pocket that I picked up on my walk and I ate it. That probably wasn't a good idea because I got really sick. I also ate some berries but my stomach wasn't agreeing with any food I put in it and I threw them back up again. I found wandering cattle so I filled my water skin with milk and replenished myself. There were many cattle, so I killed one of them and took its skin and meat. My first strike hit home, and it was with my off hand. I wish I knew how to thank the gods for this valuable kill.
August 4 – The pain in my stomach is unbearable, I was brought to my knees and threw up while I was butchering my cow. When I was done I had to stay still for a while until I felt well enough to move. I tried to sleep but then it started raining, and I grew even sicker. I've thrown up many times today and I am absolutely exhausted and dehydrated, but for the first time in my life I'm actually grateful for being exposed to the rain. I spent the night there and started feeling better after I ate some berries, but then I threw them back up again. I managed to crawl to a tree and prepare some firewood to cook the cow meat I had gathered to at least keep myself from starving. I will occupy my time over the next few days carving bowls and mugs out of wood. Maybe days alone while recovering from my sickness will cause me to meditate about a lot of things, and perhaps I'll be inspired to start decorating a bowl or two.
August 5 – By noon my stomach ache went away and the flu eased a bit. I didn't feel as tired but I stuck around because I was still waiting for my cow skin to finish tanning. So now I'm cooking more of the cow meat and carving bowls. I've stopped throwing up. I just finished decorating my new mug with pictures of triumphant black ear mushrooms, but I ruined it, the designs look awful.
August 6 – I didn't let the ruined mug discourage me so I tried decorating a bowl. I decided to try decorating it with images of a laughing cow striking down a snake. It looks horrible. I threw them both away. My tanning cow skin's still not done yet so I'll spend the rest of the day carving things.
August 7 – I carved a mug and a bowl. The bowl is decorated with Njerpez being consumed by fire. Its carvings were no good. Into the mug I carved a picture of a flu bug, as I pictured it, being struck down by me with a javelin in my hand, by the same expert blow that felled the cattle for me the other day. The carving was beautiful so I kept the mug. My flu is worse. I think I will sleep.
August 13 – It's been a few days since I've written in my journal, but I have been very busy. My cow hide finished tanning so I packed and moved on. I selected the perfect site to settle down, close to the same region where I met the man who told me there were no villages. After certain past experiences with people I think I would rather live as far away from them as possible. I have laid the groundwork for a cottage and set various traps around the area. I love the sound of rushing water so I chose to live by the rapids. A fox came around, probably intending to raid my cellar. I set a käpälälauta-fox trap out baited with fish and caught it immediately.
My flu has been going back and forth between worse and then better, probably because of all the physical chores that I've been doing lately, but I want to be finished as soon as possible. It's fall and I eventually want to set out and collect vegetables before they disappear. Especially peas, I love pea soup. Inspired after a day of putting up two new sections of my cottage, I decorated a mug with wavy lines, to depict the flowing water that I can see from my house. I knicked the mug pretty badly and had to toss it. My second mug turned out much better. I'm really proud of it. I'm trying to take it easy, but there's so much work to be done.
August 15 – A glutton attacked me in my sleep and gashed my hip. I must be really sick, I didn't wake up from it. It's safely trapped at the bottom of a pit, now. I began digging a ditch perimeter around my house and quickly covered one of the pits with twigs while the glutton was persuing me. It's amazing that the creature didn't notice and fell into it, but I stood too close and it put a gash in my shoulder. I cut up a piece of my shirt to make a bandage for it and took care of the wound. I won't feel completely safe until my perimeter ditch is dug but for now I'm going to get some sleep. My flu has gotten worse.
August 17 – Arrrrgh! I am so mad! Something cleaned out my cellar! I have no food so I'll have to eat nothing but berries! I only hope that maybe one of my traps caught something by now. Gathering new food will probably set me back a day or two, but I must continue to take care of myself or I'll end up delaying my home's construction even more.
Good good.....stories keep the game fresh!
if the entire story is a journal of survival, I wouldn't mind reading all 50k words of it at some point.
The entire rest of the story is seriously unrelated. It has dragons and robots and aliens and a zombie and were-egrets and stuff like that.
An entire 50,000-word survival story? I wonder if I'd be up for something like that for next November.