Derek found a fallen spruce tree a little way's into the forest, it was still partially attached to the trunk making a bit of natural shelter. It also had a lot of dry dead branches on and around it. He decided it was where he was going to spend the night, it would be easy to tun into a proper shelter and made gathering an acceptable amount of firewood less of a hassle. He had to make sure that enough of the branches were removed and needles cleared so they wouldn't be a fire hazard, this took some time without a cutting tool as some of the branches were relatively thick. Now he just had to get back and fill his pot and then he would start. The sky was covered by the canopy of trees making it hard to tell how much daylight he had to world with but his gut was telling him it wasn't much. He would have to hurry.

As he was making his way back to his spot near the river he started to notice that in the hour he'd been gone more and more little bugs had come out. Nothing stung him but the all too familiar mosquitoes were out in force. This further supported his feeling that time was running out. Deciding to camp away from the river had been a good call, the night would be miserable enough without thousands of the little winged leeches trying to eat him alive. He picked up his pace, trying to get his water and then get away from the bloodsuckers as quickly as he could.

When at the river Derek quickly filled his pot with water then set about trying to find a sharp or jagged rock he could use to carve his hearth board as well as something to split it with. It'd didn't take him long to find a wedge-shaped rock but it was a little too blunt to carve with. He tried to find the jagged rock he'd used to harvest the roots earlier, being swarmed by the annoying insects all the while, but couldn't find it. Frustrated and a little scared he'd have to spend the night in the dark he grabbed a smooth roundish rock at his feet and threw it across the bank in frustration, It hit a larger rock on the far bank and broke into several sharp pieces.

Shocked he rushed over to inspect the now broken stone. It had broken off a round razor-sharp flake a couple of inches across and a little less than a quarter-inch thick, a slight luster revealed by the break. It was Flint, Derek felt like a fool for not checking earlier. There hadn't been any flint or chert where he was from and heed only ever knapped obsidian or glass, It hadn't even crossed his mind that there might be actual flint nearby. he'd spent his time looking for any jaked stone he could use like a shitty rasp, completely forgetting to check for something that could make actual cutting implements. This had big implications for the long-term viability of the region, flint was too important a resource to pass up.

Realizing the forest was slowly starting to darken he hurriedly grabbed a couple of sharp flakes and his pot and ran back to little camp. If It got too dark to see before he at least got the bow-drill set made he'd be fucked. Fire not only kept him warm but it also would hopefully keep predators at bay. Speaking of predators Derek realized he'd forgotten to make a weapon. A wooden spear would have only taken him about five to ten minutes to make, even without tools, now however that was five to ten minutes he could not afford. It would have to wait until after he had a fire.

Derek split the hearth-board with the wedge stone and got to carving the notch and socket, he couldn't cut corners here, 75% of friction fire-starting was the preparation, the rest was endurance and patience. He had a few small cuts on his fingers by the time he was done the hearth-board and started on the spindle. The bow would take the least time so he saved that for last. It was almost too dark to see by when he finished the bow-drill set so he wasted no time preparing his tinder and firewood, fluffing up the junidar bark and scraping some of the birch bark into dust. He'd use the birch to catch the ember before transferring it to the junidar bark and blowing it into a flame.

Finally, with everything ready he started to spin the spindle, putting more and more pressure on it from the top using a random chunk of wood and spinning it faster and faster with the bow. Back and forth he worked the spindle as the dust started to pile up, forming in the notch he'd carved and heating up. Despite the dust forming Derek couldn't smell any smoke, nor did he see an ember forming. After about five minutes straight of this, he realized he'd made another rookie mistake. In his rush, he'd only prepared one notch. If he burned through this one he'd have to carve another, this time in the dark.

Eventually what he'd feared had come to pass as he felt the spindle punch through the bottom of the hearth-board. There was no ember. Normally he wouldn't mind too much and would just carve another notch and try again, but this time he'd have to carve it in the dark, with a flint chip. Cutting himself was almost guaranteed. But what choice did he have, not only did he need fire to get safe drinking water, something his exhausted body was demanding loudly, but he'd recklessly worked up a sweat during trying to get the fire going. Sweat was bad in a survival situation, working up a sweat when it's cold is a great way to get hypothermia. At least he wasn't wearing any cotton, that would've only amplified the effect.

Gritting his teeth he got to carving the second notch, he couldn't afford to fail this time. If he didn't get a fire going there was a real possibility of freezing to death, depending on how cold the night got, even with his new hemp kilt. Despite being extra careful he cut himself twice as he made the new notch and set it back up again. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally. The stress of the situation was wearing on him but at the same time, it focused him. He knew he could do one more attempt but he was too tired for a third, his arms simply wouldn't listen to him by then. He started to turn the spindle once again, building up a new mound of dust on top of the old.

He settled into a steady rhythm, focused entirely on the task at hand. Finally, after about a minute he smelled smoke. It was working, but he couldn't stop now. Smoke meant an ember was near, not that it was here. Faster and faster he worked the spindle, furiously spinning it until finally he stopped and carefully put the bow away before gently lifting the board to reveal a small red ember glowing dimly in the night. A wave of relief washed over him and he collapsed onto his back, breathing heavily. He'd give it a moment to grow before he transferred it to his bundle of tinder, now that the ember was formed the was no need to rush.

After taking a few moments to recover and let the little ember glow Derek carefully transferred it to the tinder bundle, slowly waving it back and forth to give it some air before he started to blow on it. Gently at first but more and more forcefully as the ember grew and smoke billowed from the bundle. After a few tense moments, the bundle burst into flames. As quickly and carefully as he could he set down the burning bundle and started feeding it progressively larger twigs until he had a proper little fire.

Launching himself to his feet and letting out a whoop of victory Derek celebrated his achievement. Starting a friction fire was always satisfying, but starting one when your life was on the line was made him ecstatic. A second wind filled him with energy as he put some larger pieces on the fire, Building it up.

As he started to come down from the stress and excitement the stinging pain of his cut-up fingers started to become more and more pronounced. Though the bleeding had mostly stopped he was still worried about infection. There wasn't much he could do about it though, he hadn't seen any plants he knew he could use and he didn't even have soap to wash his hands with. The best he could do is rinse them off and try to keep them clean. With any luck, he'd find some pine sap in the morning that he could use to seal the cuts. Derek was sure that there must be something nearby he could use but he wasn't about to start slathering his hands in random plant stuffs.

The fire was good enough now for him to boil his water so he set the pot on the fire and got to thinking about how to spend the night. He knew that he didn't have enough fire to last the night so he'd either have to wrap up and hope it didn't get too cold or go out in the dark and gather more firewood. Both had their risks. If the night was too cold he risked hypothermia, his kilt could only do so much. On the other hand, if he went out to get more firewood in the dark he'd be seriously risking an injury and be leaving the relative safety of the fire. Beasts didn't like fire and hopefully, the light and smell of smoke would spook them off. That reminded him that he didnt have a weapon yet, not even a walking stick. Deciding that however, he was going to be spending his night, being unarmed wasn't an option, Derek stoked the fire so it would last a while without his tending and went off into the woods with the larger chunk of flint to look for something workable he could use as a weapon. He did a few circles around his camp, each time moving a bit further away until he found a sapling of some sort that he figured was good enough. He'd have time to get a better weapon together later, for now, he just needed something. Using the chunk of flint as a crude hand ax he took a few minutes to fell the sapling, which he then dragged back to the light of the fire. The section he wanted was about 4 feet long and a bit thicker than his thumb along most of it, It wasn't the straightest thing, nor did it seem the hardest but it would do for now. Derek spent the next hour carving a spear while sipping hot water as the stock of firewood dwindled and dwindled. Once the “spear” was done Derek decided that he'd just tuck himself under the fallen tree, wrap himself up as best he could and rough it through the night, hopefully getting some sleep. Mind made up, he stripped all the junidar bark from the sticks he had left and layered it out under his improvised shelter to use as bedding. He fed the fire until the last of the wood was used up then wrapped himself up and crawled into “bed”. It was going to be an uncomfortable night, but he resolved to be better prepared for the next.