Knicks & Knacks

A Pale Infinity

You are being sent out into the Pale for one purpose: to recover what was lost. Below, in that infinite stretch of death, is knowledge, the past, memory, and treasure. All of this is out there under the crust, buried in decades of salt.

Important Items

Water

Above everything else is water. If you don't have water out in the flats, you'll be dead within 24 hours. It is blistering hot in the day and freezing cold at night. To find any cover from the elements is a blessing from above; don't count on shade or shadow. You must always keep water with you and you must know where to find it. Look for the following signs if your supply is getting low (not once your supply is gone - you're already good as dead):

Once you are in an area you think there is water, dig. Use your short-spade to break the crust. Always put your short-spade back in its sheath to protect it. Beyond its normal use, it's also your best weapon. Heavens forbid you'll ever need to use it that way, but it'll crack through a crust crab's shell in a pinch.

Once you've found water, you'll need to clean it. Keep your two-boiler in pristine condition. Do not let the salt eat away at it. There is no more important instrument for your survival out there. Make sure you keep stock of your spark powder too - no fire, no boil! Use any dry material you have to fuel the fire; if you run out, the spark-powder will work on the salt too, but this takes a lot longer.

Bow & Arrows

The creatures out there are few and far between and none of them will get close. Use your composite bow to take down game from afar. All that practice wasn't just for fun.

Near water is the best hunting. Flocks of flamingos almost guarantee a meal, as do a pod of manatees or a raft of tar otters. If you're feeling brave, you can try to drop a crust crab or hit a mud eel. High risk, high reward. Additionally, you can try and trap brine shrimp or brine crabs, but be wary of any crocodiles. If you choose, you can always pack a cage or two, but this might be more weight than its worth.

Away from water there are fewer options - salt-hare, white fox, salt-rat, or, if you're particularly favored, wild camel or wild llama. Trapping can be of great use here, provided you are in a place of denser vegetation. Be very wary of the trapdoor spiders - one wrong step and you're dead. Look for disturbed areas in long, flat arcing patterns and avoid them at all costs.

Clothing

Layers upon layers. Keep the lightest in color layer as the outermost layer and always pack your heavy cloak for the nights. If you lose or break your goggles, you might as well have lost or broken your eyes. Don't let them leave your head. Brush off the salt build-up when you rest and do your best to keep them clean and dry. Wet clothing is heavy and the salt only makes it worse.

Map

There is no real variation out there. It's flat. After a certain point, when the mountains fade behind the wind and heat, your map is your eyes. If it gets ruined, you're dead. You will not get back home. Keep it safe and pull it out sparingly. If you are to go beyond its edges, pack extra sheets and expand from there. You've been trained on how to map, at least crudely. Trust your training.

Finding Items

Once given your orders you'll know what you are going out to find. None of you are rebuilding anything; you are recovering what was lost. This can be anything from ancient libraries to royal relics to wine cellars. You are recovering our past and giving us small victories over that damned sheet of death out there. Whatever it is, find it, pack it up, and bring it back. Don't delay, don't drag your feet - get in, get the thing, and get back. Life's better up here above it all. Upon success, enjoy the job well done, relax and unwind, then be ready to answer the call from the temple to go back in.

Dangers

Getting Lost

This should never happen if you've got your map and the sun's out. While Asmesh's presence is brutal out there, she's also your best guide. She's always out, for better or worse, cooking the crust. Trust your map.

Mud Flats

These have claimed more lives than I can count. Some of them are big enough to swallow whole wagons, team and all. And the worst part is you'll eventually run to one, because that's where the water is. Throw something heavy ahead of you if you're going to be approaching one of these dark depressions. If it breaks the crust and sinks, go no further. It's a mud flat. If you're lucky, the mud eels will kill you before the mud does. If it rains, be especially careful. It might as well be saltwater in some places.

Saltrunners

Avoid these people if you can and be prepared to kill them if you can't. If you ask me, we should've killed those criminals instead of let them loose in the salt. Banished from our civilizations, they usually just die out there. However, enough of them didn't, and now they roam the flats on their camels or crabs in groups bigger than yours will be. They'll strip you naked and leave your corpse for the buzzards. Keep your salt-tipped arrows for them; make it hurt the whole time they die. Those damned murderers deserve it.

Mirrorfolk

If it rains, you must find high ground and stay there until the water evaporates again. Do not disturb the water if you can't get away from it. If you find yourself trapped in a few inches of water, don't move, don't sit down, don't drop anything, and keep counting how many reflections you see. If there's a reflection with no person, do not look at them, talk to them, move towards them, or move at all. Pray to the heavens they leave you alone.

If you can get away from the water, then this threat is largely removed. They can't get you if you aren't in the water. You'll be stuck on your hill or mound for awhile, but you'll be safe from them. Do your best to ignore the whispers or screams carried on the wind and wait it out.

It is always wise to keep a few funeral offerings on you, just in case. Those poor souls could use the rest, if you can give it to them.

Salt Flat