RPG Time! 4 (Patreon)

As the wind begins to pick up you decide the best course of action is to take shelter beneath the ROCK OUT CROP. After removing some vegetation and loose stones, you manage to wrap yourself in your cloak and find a position that is only slightly agonizing to recline in. The outcrop is small and it's difficult to stay far enough back to be out of the rain without rolling back out as the ground is pitch slightly forward. The occasional drip of ice cold water still manages to drip onto your head and worm it's icy way down your neck.

After a time you manage to fall into a fitful sleep where you are plagued by dreams of freezing to death within reach of the inn. In these dreams you stand out in the freezing rain, peering through the window. Inside the woman in your pinup photo and a crowd of beautiful female patrons are gathered around a fire, merrily drinking warm mead and singing songs while wrapped in thick fur blankets (and not much else). No one can here your cries to be let in...

You wake suddenly with a start. The rain seems to have stopped and a heavy fog has rolled in. You lay perfectly still and strain to hear. Something moves in the woods and it's very close! You struggle to turn yourself enough to peer out into the darkness. There is a snuffling sound and something very large is disturbing the underbrush as it draws nearer. In this cramped space there is no way you can draw your sword and your dagger is beneath you. Whatever it is, it sounds only feet away, too close to risk emerging from beneath the outcropping. Suddenly the pack at your feet is ripped away with great force. Your cloak is partially wrapped around it causing you to be pulled from your shelter along with it. You can sense something large looming above you but it's too dark to see. You kick out frantically and shout in a desperate act of survival. You make solid contact with what seems like the snout of the beast. There is a large snort and then the rustling of leaves and the creature retreats. You crawl back under the rock and lie motionless for hours.

Somewhere around dawn you must have dozed off because when you open your eyes again the sun has come up. You painfully unroll yourself and slowly roll out from beneath the rock outcropping. You don't have to go far to spot your pack, still lying several paces from your rocky shelter. From the looks of it, you were visited by a hungry bear last night. You pack lies partially open, some of it's contents strewn about the ground.

You swear softly to yourself as you inspect the damage. It seems you must have scared the bear away before it had time to do to much damage. Still, it either ruined or made off with close to half of your food provisions and your spare cloths are nice and damp. Good thing you purchased the better kit. The dried meat and fruit should be salvageable as long as you can dry it off quickly. You are searching around the ground and picking through the remaining scattered contents, looking for anything else that might still be usable when you spot it. Your pinup!

Lying out in the open, soaked with water and tragically smooshed, is your beloved pinup! With trembling hands, you lift in gently from the sodden grass, trying not to wet it any further with your tears. Your beautiful pinup! Curse the gods! Why couldn't it have been a leg! You could have lived without a leg, or a toe maybe! Yes a toe! That would have been a fair trade!

You gingerly hold the sodden photo up to the light for one last glance. What a goddess of a woman! Her shining eyes, her long shapely legs, her ample bosom, her mountains, her valleys, her little trail that leads to a spot marked X, her... huh? What is this? You move the photo from the light and then back again. Is there another image behind this one? Is there... a map? Is there... could there be... a treasure map! A fricking X marks the spot, epic adventure, treasure beyond imagination, (and hopefully not a dragon) treasure map! The holy grail of adventurer finds! You scrutinize the photo excitedly, and upon further examination, you confirm there is indeed a map beneath the image of your future wife. Wetting the photo has made it visible, but you still can't make out the whole thing.

"Uncurse the Gods!" you shout, toppling over as you step into a small hole in your over-excitement, causing your foot to be stuck "Gim'me back my leg!" You snap as you quickly pull yourself free and spring to your feet. A map! What could it possibly lead to? Your mind races with all the possibilities. You need to find a way to read it better. A couple idea spring immediately to mind. You could use your knife to attempt to carefully scrap away the top layer and reveal the map while it is wet. For that you'd need your dagger and a flat surface.

Alternatively, you could put the photo up to a pane of glass and make a copy with some charcoal and a sheet of parchment, that is, it the photo survives the journey to the next town. Either option could lead to the potential irrevocable destruction of both your dream girl and the map. Hmmm... There's a choice to be made.

Should you SCRAPE THE PHOTO now with your dagger? Or should you HEAD INTO TOWN, to find some parchment and charcoal and then attempt to copy the map?