Alright, so, it turns out the wagon idea may have been a bit ambitious for my current set of tools and skills. The good news is that my failed wagon can easily become a sled. The bad news is that, thanks to my focus on the project and in an effort to avoid attracting attention, I spent four days chopping wood, nailing rough boards together, and eating nothing but berries and wild garlic mustard. I really need to figure out how to trap some kind of animal. Even just a squirrel trap or something, if not for now than for my trip when I won't even have the option of stealing food. I guess I'll bring some spare wood and hope I can figure it out along the way.
In other news my attempts to lay low have entirely failed. There are now a whopping two patrols at night and everyone just seems a lot more on-edge. I don't know if the hardware store just has good inventory control or they've found something else to blame me for but I don't want to find out. I'm leaving tomorrow. I could set up projects for myself and timelines and things it would be nice to have but then I'd never make it out. I need a hard deadline or I won't end up doing anything productive. I already wasted more time than I had to on a terrible sled. Until then I need something to hold water, especially if it ends up being more than three days to the city.
I've got nothing to skin for a water skin, I don't think there was any leather or plastic in the town, and I don't know how to make a barrel. The way I see it I've only got two good options outside of spending way too long trying to hollow a block of wood out. Either I can steal something like a bucket or I can.... Huh. Normally I'd try and think of a more complicated plan but no. I'm about to go steal some buckets. I can't make something like that in a day. I can't do much in that direction in a week. Lets see how this turns out.
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As I run through the woods, a triumphant but quiet cry of "oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck" on my lips, I almost can't help but wonder if this is some sort of punishment. A form of karmic justice for my hubris in attempting a quick and easy solution where I, as an engineer in training, could have used a more complex one. It seems that while my brilliant plan to grab the bucket and run was successful it didn't have nearly enough failsafes and backups to allow me to carry it out without bumping a rake and knocking over everything else in that barn. Nor was it planned well enough to avoid targeting the home of a very angry old pony with what looked like a proper army helmet. I assumed being far from town in the middle of a big orchard would make it less likely to get a big response but shows what I know. Fortunately I think I have the endurance advantage on account of not being a horse so I should be able to lose her eventually. I'll just have to think of all the little scratches the branches are making on my arms and cheeks as souvenirs of my time in this weird little town.
I left the sled packed with my stuff since I was planning on leaving anyway. Lets just hope it stands up to being pulled this fast. Once I'm out of town there's a small river coming out of the haunted forest where I can fill my stomach and bucket for the journey ahead. I know you're not supposed to drink from rivers since you never know what's upstream but it seems clear enough as of the last time I looked.
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Well it turns out the branches were a mistake. Dragging a sled through the woods is difficult. Running through the woods with a sled weighed down with heavy, high-friction branches that get caught on everything is hell. At this point I don't know how long I'll be able to walk tomorrow without my calves trying to rip themselves apart. The river seems fine though. The water was cool, refreshing, and slightly tingly. That last one is maybe a problem but all the common poisonous plants I can think of right now either don't have a taste or have an absolutely horrendous one. At least I've gotten far enough out of town to cut the branches. I must be what, about a mile or two down the road? The city still seems problematically far away but it can't be more than what, about 50 miles? That's doable. I hope.
That just leaves planning what to do along the way. I can't walk 24/7, especially now, I don't have any big projects I'd like to make along the way, and boredom is a fate worse than death. Currently my first priority during my suddenly extensive downtime, beyond just setting up a simple deadfall trap, is getting some way to defend myself. A pocketknife and a hatchet are both fine but their range is abysmal and if I get attacked it could easily be a monster or something with a proper weapon. My plan for the first night is to try and make a spear but that's easy and again, I have a lot of time. That's why my next project is going to be some kind of projectile weapon. Ideally a bow but I'll need to figure out rope making so maybe a spearthrower in the shorter-term? Oh, and some kind of wheel. It's not a huge priority but damn would it be convenient. Pulling this is harder than I thought. I kinda feel bad for those reindeer now. You'd think the rode would make it easier but it turns out that all the leaves are way easier on the wooden rails than the dust and rocks of a proper road surface. I'd switch from the road to the grass next to it if it didn't have so many bumps and ditches. That's convenience, though. Arming myself is survival.