Chapter 106: Chapter 106

“New toys?” said Kelser as the excited purple haired Cota ran away to look for his friends. “Why don’t I get any?”

I shrugged. “You never asked. I guess I could spare some time to show you a board game after I’m done making toys for the smaller kids. Might even show it to the elders. Having something fun to do might help with the anxiety of moving to a new place.”

The place where we’d settled was a long, open field just a little while from the large River Teg. The Oko and Imm tribes usually settled closer to the river, but I figured a farming settlement wouldn’t want to be flooded too often. Speaking of farming, I’d asked the elders to gather all the fruit seeds, tubers, and grain seeds they could find. We’d go over ways to cultivate them at a meeting later tonight, which was also when I would be asking the elders to share important survival techniques and crafts.

I went to my tent, which I had insisted be somewhere near the middle of the encampment rather than on the outskirts like last time, and gathered some of the things I was planning to share in the meeting tonight. I asked Kelser to grab some bones and clay, and went back to the place where I’d met the little boy, Cota.

“So what kind of toys do you like to play with, Cota?” I asked.

“Monsters and spears!” he said. He’d gathered a bunch of smaller kids, with at least a few of them being from other tribes.

“Alright, then lets shape this clay into a monster and bake it with some fire magic,” I said as I passed the clay to Kelser, who gave me a look for pushing the job on him. “And I’ll take this twig, put a rock on the tip, and there you go, a spear!”

Cota wasn’t impressed. Apparently, his spear back home was more impressive. I figured I could make something nicer with copper, but the native copper mine was over a week’s walk away from here. We would definitely send some people to gather more of it soon, but for now, this copper was precious. Instead, I chiseled the ends of some monster bones and decorated the bottom with some stones and clay.

“You know what, I don’t think I can make a spear as good as yours,” I said, raising a hand before Cota could complain, “but, I have something new for you to play with. This.” I showed him the makeshift bone and clay sword I’d been hiding behind my back. “This is a sword.” I swung the sword around a little. I’d kept the edges dull, so the kids wouldn’t hurt themselves, but it still looked impressive. “It’s like a spear, but you can use it from all sides. See? The edge goes all the way! Great heroes of legend used swords to kill huge and scary monsters. Why don’t you give it a try?”

I handed the sword to another kid, who had been eyeing it with more fascination than Cota. I suspected Cota was still going to complain, since what he actually wanted was his toys from back home, not the things I could make him, but by giving the toy to another kid, I made Cota feel envious. Soon, he was asking to try the sword, just like the other kids, and after he’d given it a try, he asked that I make a special one just for him.

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By this time, Kelser was done with the monster figurine, and it came out quite well for a prehistoric toy. I made a few monster noises, and although I was sure the kids didn’t actually buy it, they did the thing that kids do to force a little fun. They pretended like they were terrified, and swung their tiny swords around like they were brave heroes, risking their lives against an awful monster.

I made a few more swords, while Kelser made some figurines since we knew the one they were playing with right now would break soon, and after we were happy with the toys we had made for all the kids, I gave them a little assignment. I told them to go to all the tribes around the encampment and gather as many kids as they could. They had to bring all of them to the same spot tomorrow, when I’d make even more toys for them! They were playing happily by the time I left with Kelser.

At this point, Kelser was grumpy, so I decided to work on the board game. I wanted to introduce games like chess and backgammon, since I liked playing them myself, but figured I should start with something simple. And so, I grabbed a flat piece of wood, leveled off any bumps on its surface, and prepared some charcoal from the campfire. I was seated around the Roja tribe’s campfire, since their camp was still the closest to my tent, and had a bunch of Roja tribesmen peering over my shoulder to see what I was doing.

I used the charcoal to make a large square, inside which I made a bunch of other squares. I filled in alternating squares with the charcoal, and prepared two sets of differently colored pebbles. I sat Kelser down on the ground next to me and on the other side of the board, and explained to him the rules of checkers, as I knew them. After a few questions, some coming from the spectators rather than the player on the other side of the board, we started to play.

Naturally, I won easily. I didn’t gloat, however, since Kelser clearly still didn’t know how to play. It took a few more rounds for him to get the hang of it, although he still couldn’t beat me. Since the spectators looked eager to join in, I told Kelser to come help me make another game, and let the other tribesmen have a go at it.

I wondered if I should make backgammon next, since it was one of the oldest games from my Earth, but decided to go for something else instead. Somehow, the setting seemed to fit this new game better, in my opinion. I took another piece of wood and made some more squares on it with charcoal. This time, the shape was a little less regular. I made six squares on top in a rectangular formation, and a bridge of two squares coming out from the middle of the bottom of the formation. I then made twelve squares in a three by four formation, with four going down with the bridge and three width. I colored in all eight squares in the middle column running over the bridge, and prepared another set of differently colored pebbles.

I drew small rosettes, as best I could with my charcoal, on a few of the squares, such that each player had two on their sides and their was one on the bridge in the middle. Then, I shaped a piece of clay into a dice, quite unlike the dice from my Earth. It was a four-sided dice, which was actually surprisingly easy to make, and I had Kelser prepare it with his fire magic. I made a couple more for good measure. Once the dice were ready, I marked the corners with small charcoal arrowheads, and explained the rules of the so called Royal Game of Ur to Kelser and the spectating humans.

The Royal Game of Ur was an instant success. Unlike checkers, which did not seem to rely on chance, the Royal Game of Ur was a mix of chance and strategy. It was also an intense game, with twists and turns, and a lot of drama. It was possible to knock out pieces by landing on them, to be stuck unable to win because you needed to roll exactly two but couldn’t do it for several turns, or you could be up by several pieces but suddenly find yourself being trounced by a kid half your age. I lost the second game I played with Kelser, and the red haired kid almost lost his mind with happiness.

I made a few more sets of checkers and the Royal Game of Ur, promising to make some more board games the following night. I grabbed one set of checkers and the Royal Game of Ur, and dragged Kelser away from the fun to accompany me at the elders’ meeting. I had to go back and grab elder Kezler too, who was crying over having to leave his streak of undefeated wins at checkers.