Report - W.Caravan - ... WIC edition

Chapter 10 First Loss

[Day 23]
The days leading up to today have been slightly downhill. The weather has been favorable enough and we've had some success in hunting, with minor help from me of course. Some temperature spikes have been reported, but no diseases just yet. I've thwarted most damnation scouts from finding us so we've been in peace at the very least. Yesterday I had to intervene to stop a fight emerging between the factions and tensions have spiked ever since. To witness what could be described as all of my work at maintaining optimism being eroded in 1 to 2 days was sad.

"Sir?"
"You should know that entering someones home without permission has consequences," I was more disappointed in being woken up earlier.
"We... we... uhh... we"
"Speak quickly before I beat you"
"... Someones missing," That's not good.
"Explain"
"We noticed some sort of movement and we got some extra hands to help us," He pauses again.
"And?"
"Well to put it short. Someone hasn't returned"
"... What was his name"
"Umm... B, why do you ask?"
"Need something to call him by. Leave and I'll be out soon"
"Yes sir"
I look in my notes. B didn't seem to be the type of person to desert so this seems real. Without anything to drink or eat I run out in less than 20 seconds. I run out of camp and I begin the search. No footprints and no blood. No birds staying around and no presence of anything dangerous. The night monsters struck and they struck from above. I forgot to check the time when I began and a considerable amount of time and energy had passed by the time I forced myself to slow down to catch my breath. Despite somewhere close to 1.5h having passed I wouldn't find much. I found no predators, no scraps of skin, blood, clothes. At one point I thought I had luck since I found footprints, but those led me to a dead end and only then did I actually check who those footprints could have belonged to. At that point I didn't even know if I was still in the right direction of where the poor soldier was last seen. Morning was coming soon and with the recent uptick in dissent I was ready to leave him to his fate. I had only 2 options. Either I check every tree or the 2 nearby caves. If he was carried off by something without wings then there could be a fair chance that either of these would lead to failure, but I didn't wish to come back to a breakfest bash so again I began running.
The caves offered some carcasses, but there were no signs of human remnants. As stupid as it was I began tracking the movement of birds. With my skills I chased tree tops and any recently nested avians in the hopes that any of them held the location of where the night terrors feasted. After another exhausting sprint in every direction I finally found... something. A recently settled bird family had some food prepared for the soon to be born offspring. Although It's impossible to determine the species by the blood-splattered hide and what I assume to be organs, I did find something. I'm fairly certain I found human fingernails and inside was also a little gelatinous mass that was mostly white with a dirty part around the edge. It took me a bit to realize that I was holding what was most certainly someones eye. Even if it wasn't the caravaneer I would have given up the search anyway. I grabbed the bits of skin and fragments of the bone, from which they picked out little bits of skin inside, for a way to raise morale may be to grab as many corpse remnants so they could be handed in for the bits of cash at the end. The amount wouldn't be significant, but if I do this and then deny the money then I could raise their opinion of me. And as long as it's bits of skin and bone then it won't take up a whole lot of space. On the downside this is a failure and could be detrimental to those who haven't experienced death yet, outside combat, not to mention the complaints of the extra weight.
I return to camp less terrified, but more disappointed that morning.
"Sir?"
"Dead or missing. Found something that may have been his. Get a bag and put this in, when we reach the border then these small parts might give us some extra change"
And a new day begins.

[Day 24]
Rain and cold winds. Were not yet close to the GSR, but temperatures have been dropping. I have fears of having to cross another flooded river. Soon hunting expeditions will become near daily events for not only should the prey in this line be minimal, but were also pretty behind schedule, at least by 4 days, so we will most likely be forced to turn to a carnivorous diet much sooner than would be preferable. 
An interesting development has been taking place. Some people are getting closer and looking at the cargo along with the provisions wagon. I'm fairly certain that most are from W.G's faction, but anything may happen. At the same time it could be him doing it so I take extra precautions which he will use as justification for action. Sleeping in the provisions wagon is... very low on my desires list so for now I will have to cut back on my conversations with whoever I found by themselves at camp. [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. If I succeed then this trip may go on without any infighting.
[redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted].
Additional note. The passing of B has been... forgotten. Was he important? No? Was he popular or well known? No? That's harsh even for me, but it keeps them from panicking as much so I will take it.

[Day 26]
Certainly one of the more interesting conflicts of all of my former caravans just concluded.
I get called out because some people wanted me to see a fight about to unfold. Apparently someone gambled and lost and was now bitching about it. I enter the fight to see 2 angry men. I don't recognize them immediately and I'm not about to start flipping through my notes. As soon as the table is kicked towards the other ankle I intervene before the retaliatory strike.
"Alright, what's going on?"
"SIR THIS TWO FA-"
"OH SHUT I-"
"NO, YOU SHU-"
"BLAH BLAH BL-"
"OH HOW BRAVE FOR A CHEA-"
"OH SHUT IT PUS-"
"LET ME SPEAK YOU ASS-"
"HOW BOUT YOU SHUT IT CO-," I catch his opponents punch in the air.
"OH YO-," And now the punch from the other one.
"Alright, here's an idea. Tell me what happened or your both suffering"
"Sir, this cheat-"
"OH I'M TH-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP," Pretty sure some people got startled by how loud I was.
"Alright then, anyone else here been playing with these 2?"
"Umm... I did," someone raises their hand.
"I get that a game of good old risk had been ongoing, but what happened here"
"Well... G over there lost some cash and was in a dilemma about whether or not to continue to gain it back or not," Ahh the most often reason why fights break out in these games.
"And K was teasing him about his loss to make him play more. So at one point he suggested that G should bet his pillow"
"K?"
"Sir, hand on heart I didn't"
"YE, YOU DID YO-"
"SHUT UP"
"K, did you or did you not tempt an angry man to keep on playing so he would lose more"
"... I did"
"And did he lose?"
"Yes"
"G," I turn to the first one I caught.
"Did K suggest that you gamble with your pillow and did you take up the offer"
"..................." It's a shame that such bravery and determination to fight at any cost only appears in these circumstances.
"Don't make me open a case on this. I'm not a judge, but I have that right and in such a scenario your punishment will be far worse than what you will receive right now"
"... Yes, I did"
"See, wasn't so hard. G you will have push ups in the morning before we leave and for initiating the fight you will clean this room by yourself," K gives him a cheeky smile.
"Oh don't think you're getting out of this one free"
"Wait, what did I do?!"
"Tell me here people, what have all of you gamblers been betting with?"
The answers are what you would expect - food and coins. Although some others have also been betting and putting up offers of other things ranging from pillows to clothes.
"So, G isn't the only one. So then who here has gambled or suggested to gamble with any pieces of clothing, bedwear or anything that you didn't bring or wasn't served to you in a bowl," With the fear setting in the caravaneers are more willing to rat out these people.
"Tell me this, in what way is gambling illegal?"
This leads to so many theories and half-assed answers that it's clear they have no clue other than 'it simply is'.
"Even though this isn't a military caravan and thus you aren't subject to Securitys harsh rules you still have to obey the rules of ownership. Gambling is legal as long as you gamble only with that which YOU own. If you lose coins then I don't care. Now losing a meal is technically illegal, but if you're willing to starve yourself for whatever then we got some mental problems. Now the big problem occurs when we get to stuff such as pillows and clothes since YOU DON'T OWN THOSE. I read the report and everything. Every single bit of clothing you own is yours. Every bit of fiber and leather on your fingers, legs, arms, toes, shoulders and everywhere else is not yours. It has been given to you by your contractor for the duration of the caravan. With that in mind, gambling such items is illegal due to the funny definitions of ownership. Some of you here were right, gambling isn't illegal, in most places, BUT gambling with items you don't own is technically smuggling or attempting to sell stolen contrabands. So then, tomorrow we will have a couple of people going for very long runs. Sleep well tonight, you're going to need the energy for tomorrow. Good night"
This is one of the reasons why I always listen in from the outside. I knew that they were gambling and that some tried to push the limit. It was minor, but I let them go on since most refused so it gave them a chance to find the other brave idiots for me.

[Day 27]
Some worrying signs of sickness have started to appear. Along with that some men are suffering from the marching. I don't have enough herbs to get enough medication to attempt to soothe the pain for everyone here and tending to only half could lead to problems. I could potentially lead them northwards towards the river and have them make rafts with which we could sail along the river until we eventually reach the GSR, but making enough boats for all of them and the material may not be worth it in the end. So for now I will discreetly provide herbal tea to those showing signs of potential sickness and force them to sleep apart from the rest and any who have some sort of physical pains will be given some ointments, but I had to make it seem as though it was for the illness so that they don't tell everyone else. Additionally the forced quarantine will dissuade anyone asking for help with their pains.