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Posted: Mar 28 2009, 01:29 PM
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The time: shortly after dawn, on a mid-Spring morning.

The place: an east-facing bay on one of the islands that lie to the north of Sorthern Northland.

The weather: misty.

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A guttural chant, apparently coming from quite a few people, can be heard:

"Harroo-hai-yayyy,
Harroo-hai-yaaah;
Harroo-hai-yayyy,
Harroo-hai-yaaah;
Harroo-hai-yayyy,
Harroo-hai-yaaah."



The prows of two large canoes, with identical 'Raven' figureheads, appear from out of the morning mist at the entrance to the bay. As the rest of those twin craft becomes visible it is revealed that they are actually parts of one single vessel, because they are linked (for roughly the middle 60% of their lengths) by a platform on which both a long cabin and and a mast with spread sails are mounted. Each canoe is being paddled by roughly thirty people... who are Ursines rather than humans. These all have red-brown fur, in quite a few cases with 'mohawk'-like crests topping their heads, and are mostly dressed in leather clothing of varying forms and colours. Several more such beings are busy about jobs on the central deck, including one who is currently looking ahead through a telescope. When the boat is about halfway from the bay's mouth to the beach he grunts something to another Ursine who is standing nearby, who steps over to a large drum and beats out a short signal:

'BOOM. BAM-BARROOM-BAM,BOOM.'

Most of the rowers withdraw their paddles from the water, leaving just a few still at work to keep the boat on course, and four groups of these -- two sets of eight from each of the hulls -- go overboard and swim ashore carrying the ends of ropes. As their vessel closes in on the beach the members of this landing party wrap their ropes loosely around the trunks of four stout-looking trees and help to haul it straight in. The boat beaches, with its prows just above the current edge of the water which -- from the look of the beach -- would seem to be the high-tide line.
Most of the remaining crew now come onto the land as well, including those from the platform as well as the other rowers. The individual carrying a telescope barks out some orders, in the Ursine language, and the crew divide into four groups...
One group continues making their vessel secure, and then begins unloading some crates and bundles which they bring out from its cabin. One group unfastens a number of wooden barrels that were fastened at points spread quite evenly around the central deck's edges, which appear (from the ease with which they can be handled) to be empty, and roll these along the sand towards a creek that flows out of the woods and into the sea a couple of hundred yards away. One group, its members bearing an assortment of bows and spears, disappears into those woods. And the remaining group, which includes the crew from the platform as well as about a quarter of the rowers, begins setting up an encampment.


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OOC: I'm assuming that _
1/ 'First contact' has already been made, a few weeks ago and in this very same bay, when a previous expedition by the Bears met some fishermen from Sorthern Northland who'd called in at these [uninhabited... and previously unclaimed?] islands for fresh water.
2/ Although neither side in that encounter could speak the other's language they did manage to arrange for a second meeting, using gestures & drawings in the sand, and a [peaceful] expedition is on its way from Sorthern Northland for this purpose.


This post has been edited by The Bear Islands on Mar 28 2009, 01:30 PM
The Bear Islands
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