2017 - A moose odyssey

Dan_

By Dan_
in Survival Stories

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Dan_ Pathfinder

Dan_

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Hello!

I'm a pretty new player, but I've been reading some survival stories lately and I'd like to try my hand at least once. 

I've never ever seen a moose in game so I would like to push myself towards that glorious cloak and satchel, to that end, I've set up a simple rule: 

I'm not allowed not craft ANY clothes, except moose equipment. 

This stems from the fact that as soon as possible, I get mittens, boots and pants done really quickly, and a wolf coat a week after getting the bow, so there's little incentive to go after the moose on the established runs. This will also push me towards FM and TWM with minimal clothing, which will also be a challenge for me.

Also, english is not my first language, so I apologize in advance for any miscues!

Enjoy! :) 

 

The wide ocean is framing the gradient of blue and purple in the sky, the game is quick to confirm this is Desolation Point and slighly spoil the feeling. I'm sitting behind little island, just before dawn. 

Hating spawning in DP as much as I do, I swiftly cobble together a plan to be at Coastal Highway by the end of the day. I understand this is very hard on your survivor stamina-wise, specially without caffeine, but having lost a pretty good playthrough on which I was very conservative I'm kinda warming up (lol) for a riskier playstyle. 

There's a maple sapling and a deer carcass on the opposing edges of the island, but I havent' got the means nor the desire to get both right now. Cold and creaky as ever, the Ryken awaits, only to reward me with a measly bottle of acelerant, a very suspect looking tin of sardines and my favourite brand of dog food. Obviously it is banged up as it has to be and will be below the twenty percent threshold as soon as I hit the sheets. Nice.

I head outside to visit the deck, not only to loot the corpse and the wheelhouse container, but also to take a panoramic view of my surroundings. Dawn greets me, painting the skies in a beautiful mix of orange and purple'ish pink, there's only deer roaming the ice and a seemingly clean path towards the abandoned whale processing facility. As soon as I jump down the deck and make the loop towards Hibernia, cutting winds start blowing and slowing me down to a crawl. Frostbite risk rears it's ugly head just before I finish looting the boats by the dock and enter the trailers. I got a whetstone and some dog food off this little trip and head inside the main building.

Interloper gives you pretty limited clothing at the beginning but damn, it is really cold inside. I hit the bed just to warm up for a while to stop the condition loss and hurry up myself to conduct a quick and dirty search, I find some food, the obligatory matches and score some gold with another twelve pack at the file cabinets by the office.

In the engine room I get both my first and second tools, a hacksaw hanging up on the wall is quickly scooped up and I get a new prybar from the safe, I guess they didn't want anyone forcing lockers at this the place, but there's nobody here anymore so I can get on with the proceedings. Got antibiotics and some eating goodies from the upside-down boat, a fishing hook and another whetstone near the metal tables. Despite my enthusiasm, the lockers didn't produce a single item, so I pick up the torch from the corpse upside the catwalk and leave to hit the last trailer and cars on my way to the mine. 

The back trailer gave me nothing and as time was limited, I didn't bother to rip apart the carboard boxes that were laying on the floor. Outside, I got nothing from both cars, and as soon as I was reaching for the door handle of the frozen sedan ( are they Ladas?), I hear the distinct sound of crumbling snow and a grunt very near. The bear is there to pay me a visit. I'm not sure if the pathing was messed up, but it kept circling the car leaving me no chance for an escape. It is properly cold outside and the thermostat reads -10C, I've got no choice but to wait until it leisurely walks away to a safe distance, which it does after a few minutes. That costs me a good chunk of condition, but I crouch out of the car and head to the mines.

Inside the cave, I finally allow myself to burn a match, the brand new torch will get me through the whole cave and then some. A fire and some water awaits my thirsty survivor at the end of the way. I hit up the first lootable "room" and bam, sixty freaking six percent condition firestriker! I'm probably gonna get killed in a stupid way in this run, the game is giving me everything so I can ruin it with a string of bad decisions. I finish looting the mine and light a fire to cook up some water and heat up a can of tomato soup for that juicy warming up bonus. I grab a lit torch(as well as three other unlit ones) to further increase the heat bonus and specially for the wolf deterrent effect, plus I've got some acelerant so I can quickly whiz up a fire to scare an inquisitive wolf if need be. On the way to the transition cave, I cut two maple saplings and some old man's beard. I do not have a bandage and in my current state a struggle isn't really survivable, but I take the lichen anyway. The torch survives this last little outing, so I feel good about saving another match.

My trip through the transition mine goes by very fast as I ignore all the coal and make haste towards the end, got another prybar off the poor soul stuck at the grates. It's the single most versatile tool in the game and it's condition decreases really slowly as far as I'm aware. I can harvest it for metal or let it sit at a fishing hut for ice breaking purposes.

The wolf gauntlet goes on flawlessly, no dog in sight as I hit the Harris basement and make smooth sailing towards CH, the wolves must have been hanging out near the ice, scheming to prey on unwary swimmers that will never come. I'm already taking freezing damage and my condition is hovering around 28% by the time I finish looting the car and harvesting the birch saplings at the edge of CH. 

I stop and listen for wildlife, a nearby deer gives me some insurance so I step on the ice and make my way to misanthrope's. Halfway there, a dark silhouette emerges from the distant fog, a wolf is directly between me and my goal, ugh... I turn back and hop on the road again, this little sprint evaporates my remaining stamina so I can't run any more. Walking past the burned down waterfront cottages, I slide back to the ice aiming for jackrabbit this time. The bear is walking around to my left as I head for the middle fishing hut, it provides me with some relief as it insures me from wolves and I'm not threatened by it. I head up the hill and prepare for impending doom, if there's a wolf over the crest I'm as good as dead. Condition is at 18% as I safely make my way through the door. I've spent only a single match and made it safely in a day, I think I owe myself my supper and some shuteye.

To be continued...

 

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Timber Wolf Pathfinder

Timber Wolf

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Greetings, @Dan_!  :)  I look forward to hearing the rest of your story.
 

On 12/19/2017 at 1:34 PM, Dan_ said:

The bear is walking around to my left as I head for the middle fishing hut, it provides me with some relief as it insures me from wolves and I'm not threatened by it.

Excellent observation!  It can be very helpful to utilize the different behaviors of the wildlife to your advantage. 

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Dan_ Pathfinder

Dan_

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On 19/12/2017 at 8:25 PM, Hotzn said:

Nice read, please do continue. :)

Thanks man! I'm willing to follow with the story but I haven't touched that run after the first day. I will surely revisit it, but I want to be a little bit more careful with this one and avoid fading away before reaching the goal.

23 hours ago, Timber Wolf said:

Greetings, @Dan_!  :)  I look forward to hearing the rest of your story.
 

Excellent observation!  It can be very helpful to utilize the different behaviors of the wildlife to your advantage. 

To be honest, I did learn a lot from many many threads around here, yours and selfless specially. You have my sincere gratitude my friend :)

These tiny little things are what make this game so special to me, the sound effects, ambiance and animal behaviour. It really makes you feel a part of the world and gives the sense of escapism we so much need in this time and day. 

Speaking of Timberwolf, I've managed to summit for the first time today! It was only the fourth day of my playthrough, I got a bedroll from the picnic area in PV and went for it. I did summit twice in pilgrim, just to get the path right but it was my first time in any meaningful difficulty. Nearly fell from the rope at Secluded Shelf and had only 3% condition when I slept inside the cave. Had no coffee but with the bedroll it's really doable. Got an 80% condition firestriker, what a deal!

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