Thatch, the Timberwolf Sasquatch


Guest jeffpeng

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Guest jeffpeng

Thatch 3 / Day 1 - No Dice

It takes me forever to get a TWM spawn. When I do ... it's 5 pm, down the ramp again. How high is the chance for that? I pick my 4 reishi and goat down instead of taking the rope. Why didn't I do this earlier? It should save me some decent fatigue.

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I make it down, over to the lake, and then find the Hammer in the Fishing Hut. This means that Thatch 3 is basically a stillborn child. No hacksaw on the map. I take a minute to consider taking on the challenge without a run to the summit. It would mean living in the shelter basically naked. I'm hardcore, but I see when I'm dealt a losing hand. I go find the Wolf of the North Woods. At least he should have a good day.

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Guest jeffpeng

Thatch 4 / Day 1 - A Different Take

Spawn near Three-Way-Cave. Not enough cloth on me to chance a blind run to the Summit. I go look what I find at the cave. Torch, firewood o' plenty, granola, matches. No can opener. I goat down to the ravine. I don't see this run succeeding unless I find the hacksaw at the Hut.  

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No corpse. Out of the Ravine I need to circumvent Harvey. More time lost, but at least he doesn't try to "help" me warming me up with a big hug. I make it to the fishing Hut. Driving Gloves, no hammer. Hacksaw at the Hut, yes! I make fire to warm up and get water boiling. I forget I have the torch, but succeed on first try anyways. The full loot of the hut: The hacksaw at 80% (seems to be fixed), Wilderness Kitchen, granola, sewing kit, dog food, ski jacket. I have only enough stuff for one rose hip tea. It will have to do for now. The weather outside goes nuts. Please, no blizzard!

I break a crate while I wait on the water, then cook my tea and hide in bed while I do. Luckily the weather calms down again. I pull torches and go. The night will be dark.

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I have a near miss with Harvey, but he lets me pass shouting insults in Russian. I reach the Wing as I hear silent paws track me .... I make a fire near the container, with my dying torch in the last moment. The wolf has a panic attack and takes off. I saw open the containers, take the stuff, pull torches and go. The skies clear - 105% visibility at night. What a treat!

I cross Broken Tree Bridge and make my way to the Halfway Cave - miraculously without frostbite risk. Another fire, two more cedars. I found that spending your maximum duration initially and then pull torches is better than building the fire slowly. You just warm up faster. I warm up some pork and beans and eat them while my water is boiling. Then: making coffee while preparing some more tea, and cook that as well. I extend the fire a bit to boil half a can of water and make a second coffee. I leave, fully warmed, just shy of midnight.

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Thatch 4 / Day 2 - Picture Perfect

-12 °C with my torch. What else can I ask for. I drink my first coffee shortly after leaving the cave. I reach the climb and kill the torch - it was the same flame I carried all the way from the Mountaineers Hut - drink my reishi and reach up. I reach the top easily.

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Again I hold right, then turn left. I will get the containers now again. I'm basically cooking, and I should have enough rest left. I get the containers, but it's turning so dark I light a torch again. No use making the hike in the dark. I sprain my wrist making the hike otherwise flawlessly, but I am prepared. I sip my tea, kill the torch reaching the rope and begin my ascend with about 50% fatigue.

Up on the Secluded Shelf I light my torch again, collect a few sticks, and enter the cave at 69% condition. The mild frostbite risk to my head shouldn't become an issue. At the corpse I find Field Dressing Your Kill, Vol. I, and make unreal 10 coal in the cave. I keep the fire alive while I undress. I've made good on firewood this time.

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I need 3 cloth, so the socks go, that's for sure. But tearing up 99% jeans? That hurts. I'll get a sky jacket at the top anyways plus a chance for a sports vest, and lets see how jeans and ski jacket compare in terms of bonus per cloth per repair. Jeans yield 30 % == 0.3°C per repair. The ski jacket yields 30% == 0.6°C / 2 cloth == 0.3°C per repair. So in terms of temperature per material used they are equal. And since the ski jacket is only 45% and I get to keep the plaid shirt for now .... the ski jacket goes. Hard choices! But always remember: having a choice, no matter how hard, is better than having no choice.

I get to work and leave the cave 100% warm and with a tea in hand to boot. In the cave I find Survive The Outdoors, which is a great read (or so I've heard), and some more cedar. I make my fire and sink 4 fir into it. The cave is warm in no time. I put on water, boil it, throw coal into the fire, and can now safely and warm deploy the shelter. I boost the fire to 11 hours, eat my cattails and drink, and sleep 10 hours.

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I wake up to near perfect condition, the fire still going strong. I extend the fire with the reclaimed wood from the Hut, and dismantle the shelter while I put on more water. With the rest of the fire I cook reishi tea and a cup of coffee and get going. I drink my coffee before I make the climb, and the reishi on the ledge. Fueled by caffeine the climb is breeze. Speaking of breezes: it get terribly windy and cold. 

I make a first pit stop at the cave, get the rope, antibiotics and firewood, but no lump of coal. I walk over to the plane, I'll need my rest, take the stim and make a fire there. I open the container with the crackers first to warm up and wait preparing rose hip tea so I can drop a coal into the fire. Then I open the container with the clothes. This is my loot.

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Mediocre, but it'll have to do. I find the hammer, and the matches and the accelerant exactly where they were last time. So it IS a loot table thing! I look for the fire striker .... 82%. It's all in the cards! I loot the soda&cans container, but again skip the container with the hides and medical supplies. I cook some coffee and water, warm up and eat some beans, pull torches and go. I skip the crate with the rope. I'll take the one I left in the Summit Prep Cave.

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I goat down in absolute darkness. Every step promises demise. But yet again the goat is strong in me and I prevail. I visit the Summit Prep Cave one last time, pick up the rope and go. I make a pit stop at the Secluded Cave and make a fire inside to warm up. I am overburdened anyways. I make another fire and run out of tinder doing so. I put on water and craft some. I warm up some safe 39% peaches and make more coffee. I drink a cup, pull torches and leave again. Midnight has passed just now, and the last but certainly not least part of the journey is just ahead of me.

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Guest jeffpeng
Just now, Drifter Man said:

Thatch 1 was an impressive run under such punishing circumstances, never mind the end - under so much stress, mistakes happen.

Yeah when you fight for minutes you make mistakes eventually. We're all human. It's just maddening to fall down to something that out of context appears so simple.

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Guest jeffpeng

Thatch 4 / Day 3 - To A T

The goat ahead is not hard - but risky. We're going down to Eric's Falls Plateau. Holding hard left I should be able to make it to the slide just over there. It's not far, but the fall .... is detrimental if I fail. The margin for error is literally zero. Perfect execution is warranted.

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Of course I make it. I was born for this. I feel slight horns grow on my head. My goat genes are taking over.

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The wolf spots me, but a mighty ... well at least brave rabbit throws himself in his way and saves me from making a fire. I deploy the rope, and five torches lighter I descent down to Hide'n'Seek Hill. Down there I hold straight left and avoid the wolf of the hill. I make it to the entrance of the Cave of Engines, pick up a stone and go rabbit hunting in the dark. Not long before a small black blob hops into my view. 1 for 1. The rabbit is toast. For you, my friend, I have a special plan.

I make my way through the cave spending yet another match. I find a torch and a baseball cap at the corpse. Nice! But either there is no coal in this cave - or I miss it all. Almost impossible, right? Probably I'm just to occupied with executing my plan. Before leaving the cave I tear the rabbit apart. I leave the guts and the pelt where I am, ready my flare gun and exit the cave. I make my way down to the container. It doesn't take long before the wolf joins the party.

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Little did he know it was his own funeral.

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With calm winds and enough firewood to spare I make a fire. Having 3-4 wolf steaks from day 1 (counting from days at the cave) will help alleviate the pressure of finding food by a lot in the early days. With the fire going and being too young for coal I get going to the container. Again the loot is mediocre. I harvest the wolf, and take 5 kilograms of meat. I leave a 0.2 kg and the guts. With 23 minutes left on the fire I dump another coal and I look at my clothes. I need 3 cloth yet again. 

The sports socks I have go, and one pair of woolies. The decision this time is a nobrainer. I tear them up, pull torches from the fire I dropped 3 coal into, and go towards my new home - slowly - in the cold and windy morning. I'm heavily overburdened and totally exhausted. I haven't slept since the summit. The corpse on the way yields nothing. I pop a can of soda and build the shelter. I get inside, eat a cattail, drink, and sleep two hours to get ahead of fatigue.

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For the first time since the Summit I take stock. My clothes look worse than they are. They actually yield +8°C.

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The plaid shirt will end as cloth to improve the sweater, I guess. The mittens are equal to my finger-less driving gloves, but they require cloth to repair - the finger-less don't. Everything else speaks for itself. The work boots will stay for now, but eventually make way for the trail boots. The base cap will go when it goes, so will the socks, the hoodie and the vest. The ski jacket .... maybe I'll put a second lease on life into it, but unlikely. The leather shoes ... are just leather to repair my boots and gloves. I stuff the clothes I don't need away for now. My food reserves are impressive for now.

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This plus two granolas and four sodas. That's easily 10 days of food, more if I am conservative. I used 6 matches on the way, so I am at 42. Plus the 82% fire striker, that should have ~35 uses in it .... I can make it really long just based on that metric. The scarce thing right now is firewood - 3 sticks, 2 coal. My hacksaw is down to 20%. That's a hide, maybe two it has left in it, but again: the food is worth it. I've thought long and hard about this, but saving the hacksaw for later convenience on the cost of early sustain .... doesn't feel like a good trade. I know I left the medical supplies and the hides behind, but the rabbit hides are cheap, the deer hide I might never use, and the medical supplies ... I have a bandage. If I need two I'm probably dead already. Painkillers, disinfectant and antibiotics literally grow on trees.

I've got 7 flare shells left. That's fine considering I used the one that's gone so well. 1.6l of water won't get me far, but through the day. And yes. I have my can. I have one book each for my key skills - fire starting, carcass harvesting and cooking. 10 herbal tea and 8 + 2 coffee are great, too. For Thatcher's margins I'm setup near perfection.

I use the remaining daylight and the absent wolf to collect firewood at the engine. I even spend some condition to break down a crate. I return with 4 reclaimed wood, 28 sticks plus the 3 I had and the cedar from the Chasm Cave. I get into my snow shelter, eat a wolf steak and the already open peaches I forgot to eat, drink up and sleep 10 much earned hours.

I'm very happy that I finally get to execute the full descent strategy I originally laid out for Kermit 8. I spent hours on deliberating and planning every step of the way and put a lot of time on Timbergrim in to find the right places to goat. That I eventually opted in to just kill the wolf was inspired by Thatch 1's decision to do so for firewood. Maybe I can loot the place again before the wolf respawns. In any case: I'm kinda proud. This was near flawless.

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Guest jeffpeng

I think I can make a few rather fair assumptions now about Sasquatch'ing TWM.

In 11 games I always started either above Crystal Lake aka down the Ramp, or on the hill between Halfway and Three-Way-Cave. Interloper probably deems the other spawns too easy or too close to shelter. RNG seems to favor the Ramp, but that might just be me. So I assume it's a 50:50 between the Ramp and the Hill between caves.

The Hill between caves is too far away to make it all the way to the Hut and then to the Summit in one go. Such a spawn is probably only salvageable if you have early access to coffee, which is the case in just one of four cases. The spawn at the Ramp is rather easy - you are at the Hut in no time. But both spawns cannot succeed if the loot table is the one without the hacksaw. And while the hacksaw then only has 80%, the loot table with the hacksaw at the hut is definitively the easiest one - albeit one without a maglens, but you are compensated with a fire striker.

So basically only 1 of 4 spawns on the Hill between Caves and just 3 of 4 spawns down the Ramp have even a chance of success. That's a pretty damning 50% chance that your game is basically dead before you play it. Success is in no way guaranteed - not even probable. As a regular Snowball only the 1 in 4 chance that there is no hacksaw on the map is probably an early death sentence - but @Drifter Maneven then almost made day 30.

If you have a "winnable" map you really have very slim margins for error. If you have no early coffee you cannot sprint, you cannot "forget" things and turn back. If the weather foils your plans avoiding frostbite on either head or hand is nigh impossible. That being said: Frostbite isn't the end of the world. Even Kermit 7 never regained more than 90% until the very last days. But even if you have early coffee you cannot dabble. Both ascend to and descent from demand very strict, focused play. Maybe I cannot reflect always how really tight things are. I take shortcuts where I can, I goat half the map, I play dice with wolves more often than not. Losing 5 minutes for something, especially early, costs you dearly.

Maybe that's why I like this challenge so much. You are on your toes all of the time, and the one time you are not .... the game bites you for it.

The most precious resource on the map is cloth. Cloth is so scarce, failing a repair is almost reason to cry. The other problem for especially Thatch but also in general is firewood. Thatch's early position is more tenable than in the Mountaineering Hut. But that starts to turn around at day 15. Thatch 4 has strict orders to seriously stockpile firewood. Also water: I only found a can opener once. If it is a loot table thing, or really just low percentage random I don't know yet. The one Kermit that found it was on the "no hacksaw" table. Next time I get such a table I will look it up. But being tied to one can all game long seriously limits you water boiling capacities. Wanna fry some meat? Sure. Do it on one pad, and boil on the other. Harvesting a carcass? Boil water while you do! Blizzard time? Water time! Warming up in a cave? Don't be lazy - boil some water. Every. Freezing. Time!

One thing I might try when I get the hacksaw at the hut again with a spawn down the ramp: Make the Summit without the Shelter. One coffee for each Deer Clearing climb and Secluded Shelf climb, then three coffee for the direct ascent - and down again in one go. If it's possible? I don't know - It's worth a try.

Another thing to actually salvage a Hill spawn would be to look in the Cave of Engines. If you can find a piece of cloth either on the way there or in there - you can still make a 50:50 that the hacksaw is on the summit. But if you got the hacksaw at the hut .... you threw away the game. Game theory might tell you here that taking a 50:50 is better than a 1 in 4. But just imagine making it to the Summit - and have no hacksaw :D

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Thatch 4 / Day 4 - First Day Of Business

I wake up at 3:30 am, clear skies, aurora. 

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I eat a cattail and read an hour about starting exothermic chemical reactions in inanimate plant life and then sleep another hour. When I wake up I'm at 72%. I decide to make a really quick stroll toward the rabbit run. I find no rabbit, just a few sticks and sprain my ankle out of disappointment. Having no more cooked rose hip tea the only cure for that really is only sleep. So I eat half a granola and sleep at least two hours.

7 am I make a fire. I need to stockpile water, and I want to check the other end of the Cave of Engines today. Firewood there was good last time I was there. But for that I need torches and a flame. Not even an hour into cooking a blizzard hits. Well. I might as well use the time to boil water then, right? It's 12 when the blizzard subsides. I finish the can of water, pull some torches, drink my rose hip tea and take off. In the cave I find 4 coal. So I just was blindfolded yesterday.

I visit Andre first. He's home this time, but indeed: This guy died broke. But 3 cedar and 9 sticks are nice anyways. I make it halfway to the ramp, and make actually decent loot. I return back to the cave, the flame intact, make a fire inside and warm up boiling water. I want to challenge the wolf for at least some of his cattails today.

The winds are calm. This time I don't play Hide'n'Seek. This time I play Drop'A'Fire. It takes the wolf two times to realize he's out of his depth here, and I make a full tour of the hill. On the way out I snipe a rabbit and take back into the cave, the flame still going. On the other end I make a fire again and destroy and cook the rabbit while.... exactly..... I boil water. Cooking II is my reward - not for the water, but the rabbit.

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I leave gut and pelt where I am. And while I spent 29 sticks, they were actually all spent on water and new torches. I still return home with 51 sticks, 4 coal and 2 cedars - and hadn't it been for the wind, I would have even returned with the same flame that I left with. But with 5 liters of water I don't need it anymore today. And hopefully not even tomorrow. I eat a wolf steak and some rabbit and sleep 10 hours after a successful day.

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Thatch 4 / Day 5 - Four Deer And A Wolf

I wake up at 9:30-ish, 87%. Having neglected my clothes yesterday I plan to remedy that fact today. But I actually decide to keep the plaid shirt. The hoodie will eventually die, and then the shirt still has around 50% life in it. The fleece mittens however ... they go. I tear them apart and pin them on my sweater. Nice looking, and it actually yields 0.4°C.

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My ski jacket is disintegrating as I go. And as much as it pains me .... no, it will go eventually. That makes keeping the sweater alive even more important. If I am so lucky to make it that far, eventually it will be the only piece of cloth to cover my sasquatchy chest. Defense statistics really don't matter a lot. If a wolf gets me I am most likely toast, ski jacket or not.

Weather outside looks stormy and not very inviting. I tear up my some of those leather shoes, but things don't improve. At least a quick stroll towards the rabbit run, okay? I find a rabbit and nail it. Actually weather is surprisingly warm - if I'm not in the wind. So I keep going a bit, make a few sticks and reishi, but turn around at the Halfway Cave. I return to my shelter, and read two hours about how to burn snow. 

As the weather clears up and I am still relatively fit I decide to deploy my rope up on Deer Clearing. I make it up there, take the rose hips, and aim for the cave. And look what I find!

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A flare and a box full of stale air. But also two cedar and two coal. So I guess that's still worth. I go out, harvest some more much needed rose hips and sticks. The wolf seems absent - which ironically spills disaster for the rabbit on the other side of the snow bank. I'm wrong however. The wolf is around, and it costs me one use of my fire striker and a few sticks making two fires in total. But I don't give the rabbit up.

I deploy the rope and goat down, down to 39%. I took longer than I planned for, but it's fine. I made decent loot, and I got all my rabbit skins on day 5 - I just need to harvest them. I harvest the hide of one rabbit, the other is frozen. Eat calories and sleep.

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Thatch 4 / Day 6 - Chores

6:30 am, 68%. Too early meaning too cold to go out. I put a leather patch on my driving gloves. It works. Then I prepare some tea. At 10 am I chance making a stroll to the Engine Gorge. Maybe some firewood has respawned - but the wolf has not. The wolf's carcass has despawned but he is still gone. I find some new sticks and pay quite a hefty tax for breaking a crate. I'm down to 40% once I reach the shelter.

The rationale for this is rather easy. Those crates will be out of reach once the wolf is back, and harvesting them means not harvesting sticks somewhere. 1 crate equals 16 sticks. Paying 28% condition for 16 + 10 sticks is something I will be happy about at some point. Plus I don't want to light a fire today again, unless I must. So I'm fine spending the day with light tasks that don't put me in harms way any more.

I munch two cattails and finish that brochure about how to incinerate wood effectively

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After that I take a short stroll to the rabbit run. You never know. But cold winds let me abandon the endeavor, and I settle for two sticks and a branch. It's more reading instead, this time about how to apply heat to proteins. I make another run, half to get another branch, half to get tired enough to sleep. Then it's repairing the trail boots and tearing up more leather shoes.

I actually take a last peek outside thinking about running to the rabbit run one last time, but the sky looks terribly blizzardy, so I eat my wolf steak, half a cattail and turn in for 10.

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Thatch 4 / Day 7 - Cost Of Opportunity

I wake up at 5, 70%. I was right about the blizzard - but dodged it. I will not dodge making water today, however. My reserves are depleted. Considering the last fire burned on day 4 that's fine. The aurora is out. Always a nice picture.

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One thing that came to mind yesterday: has the little path that leads to the climb down to the Engine Gorge actually firewood? I take a walk and look. Spoiler alert! it doesn't. I stick a cattail into my face and read an hour. I actually have to pick up all the sticks to count them. 86. Nice. Too bad half of them will go today. But first I sleep another hour.

At 8 am it's time for fire. I want to get going around noon. Today's target: Eric's Falls. I deployed the rope there, so it should be easy come easy go, little high, little low. I also need to put the rabbit pelts and guts into the cave today so I can make my mitts in 5 days. I actually "overcook" and get going after 2 pm. I drop my guts (actually not really my guts) and the pelts at the cave and dive into the darkness. I make my way through and kill the torch outside. No time dancing with the wolf today.

I find a few sticks and make the climb.

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Upstairs it's cattails o' plenty. Just the cave is a total failure again. I actually make good on firewood. Then I see the deer carcass. Yes. No. Yes. No. Hm.... yes. I make a fire. I won't come back, and if I actually want to make the pants at some point .... this is an opportunity I gotta take. But again the weather turns on me.

Mama! I skinned a deer! Now it's snowing in my face, and I don't know where the rope is!

Luckily it's not as bad as with Thatch 1 and I don't get blizzarded. But still. In the end I pay a match, 2 coffee, half my bounty of firewood and some condition for a deer hide, some water and 0.8 kg of venison - of which I have to eat 0.5 of to even make the climb back. Not a great call.

However ... it's not all bad. I got 18 new cattails and still come out 22 sticks plus. I leave the deer hide at the cave and reach home with 37%. With the still lit torch I make another fire and cook a last can of water and the remaining 0.2 kg of deer. Together with a wolf steak it's my dinner for the day. I turn in for 10. 

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Thatch 4 / Day 8 - Weather... Or Not

8 am, 68%. Winds, hard winds, just a notch below blizzard. Not going out there. I read an hour, and things calm down. A short look at the rabbit run yields no rabbit, and 1 stick and one branch. I finish my book about ways to make things tasty that are actually gross to warm up. Then I have an idea. Making a fire in the windproof but drastically colder exit of the cave that leads to Deer Clearing should increase my firewood efficiency by a lot. I will test this theory tomorrow morning.

The day itself however is a total bust. A blizzard keeps me confined to shelter all day - but I don't need a fire. The first opportunity I have to leave the cave .... is 7 pm. I make a quick sprint to the Engine Gorge, but the wolf is back, so that's a total no. With my wolf steaks running out .... I actually just might shoot him again in a few days. I return, eat my two rabbits and go to sleep.

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Thatch 4 / Day 9 - The Windy Forest

5 am, 86%. Freezing cold outside, -27°C AT. Perfect. I get 3 hours of fire going and get my can to work. I'm amazed. 19 minutes of melting water take 11 minutes of fire. We're near double efficiency. Why didn't I think of this earlier??

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I just might have made my situation actually tenable. I actually drop a coal into the fire to get some decent temperatures out of it. Then at 7:30 another blizzard hits. This time actually to my advantage. I boil away until noon, make my tea, pull my torches and go. Today: to the Forest Cave. I get going, not finding much firewood. Near the Broken Tree Bridge two rabbits warrant some stoning on my way back. Winds stir up again and eventually kill my torch as I cross the bridge. Then, just as I'm past the bridge, the blizzard returns. I decide to turn to the Forest Cave. It's actually more close by than Halfway Cave now.

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Making it there I stir up fire near near the entrance, dump my 30 sticks into it, get water boiling (yes, I take the can everywhere I go!) and explore the cave. Two cedars and a fir aren't much but also aren't nothing. 

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The blizzard passes two hours later. I keep the fire going while I and go pluck my reishi and pick my firewood. I spot the wolves in the forest, but they don't see me and I give them a wide berth. Altogether, 21 sticks and 15 reishi are my reward. Plus the two cedar and one fir that's a good bounty. Boiling water all the time the fire also wasn't a loss. I pull torches and go at 6 pm. While I would have loved to visit the north part of the forest and maybe even Echo Peak East, at this rate night will overtake me as it is. I find some rose hips and sticks I missed on the way in due to the blizzard. Come Broken Tree Bridge, winds are stirring up yet again. Three blizzards in one day? Can't be - can it? 

I don't wanna chance it more than I have to, so the two rabbits have their lucky day. Not for long, fellas. Enjoy life. Sprinting away my last rest I actually make it home barely freezing, and carrying the flame from the Forest Cave. But I don't have use for it now. My water reserves total 6 liters plus a belly full of water. That's decent and would be enough to skip two days. I eat my last wolf steak, complement it with a cattail, and turn in for 10.

A blizzard starts just when I close my eyes. I don't care.

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Thatch 4 / Day 10 - Idle Talk

I sleep in, 11 hours total. My baseball cap explodes while I do. I sew the scraps onto my sweater and surprise! It's as good as new. Who would have thought. Sadly my wool toque will now take more damage as it doesn't have the baseball cap doing it for it anymore.

I don't kid myself. My clothes are not getting better. This time even the Rabbit Mitts won't grant me an extra cloth - I already collected on that using the driving gloves. I also don't have a lot of ideas where to look anymore. Echo Peak West could be an option. Echo Peak East would be unlikely - but desperation is the desperate's business. The corpse near the Pleasant Valley exit could maybe have something - if it's there, and even then the chance is slim. Plus it's a far cry from here. Same goes for the corpse above Death Bowl - for new readers: That's the depression up on the hill between the Wing Forest and the Mountaineer's Hut. The cave below Andre's Peak could theoretically have some loot - but just very theoretical. We're talking single digit percentages here.

Deer skin pants would be so good in my situation. But making them .... an almost impossible feat. Not because of the hides - that's doable. But crafting them would entail a 24 hour trip. Done repairing and deliberating I find myself in yet another blizzard. As I have ample water and can pass it away in my shelter I do, tearing up my last pair of useless shoes along the way. 4 leather left, plus 2 in the damaged work boots, plus one from the gloves that will eventually go. More than enough.

Munching cattails I read, but the blizzard just won't go. When it finally does, it's already 5 pm. Well. Good a day as any to kill those two rabbits. With the wolf gone food becomes a topic again, but not yet a concern. I return with not two but three dead bunnies as I make one additional one on the run next to home. None of them sports more than 0.9 kg. What's wrong with those rabbits? I harvest the meat and some parts, but then it's time for dog food, half a granola, cat tails and sleep. 

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Thatch 4 / Day 11 - The Scientist

7 am, 100%. Hilarious! It's the first morning that's too cold to just sit idle in my shelter. Sadly the bedroll bonus does not apply passing time. But I do it anyways, losing some heat, but no condition.

My firewood reserves are 28 sticks, 4 reclaimed wood, 7 coal, 5 cedar and 1 fir. That equals 152 sticks or 20.9 hours of firewood. Assuming we'll get at least 50% additional burn time out of the outdoor bonus, we're looking at 31.3 hours or 23.5 liters equaling 11 and change days of water, plus 2 days of water I have left right now. Why I bother you with this math? Just to show you what I go through every other day, at least. Not bad for Sasquatch, hu? So with the food I have just hunkering down here would keep me going at least 10 days. But hunkering down isn't my style.

I don't want to make a fire today, again, so that limits my radius of action. Making it through the cave is out of the question. I'd just get lost and then light a fire anyways. The path all the way to Broken Tree Bridge is picked clean, everything behind that out of reach. The Engine Gorge yet again is inhabited by a wolf I cannot pass easily. Flaring him again .... actually an option. But it would require a fire to harvest him, so I can still do that tomorrow. Plus my guts in the cave won't be ready before tomorrow 3 pm, so day 13 should be my first trip to the Hut. That means tomorrow is an excellent day to flare the wolf, and recover most of the day. That means today my only feasible course of action is .... to visit Deer Clearing. But for now it's too cold for that - so chores it is, and an hours of sleep to regain some rest for the climb. Why I bother you with those considerations? Just to show you what I go through once a day, at least.

 1 am I get going, finally.

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I find the wolf having at a Derrick McDeer. No idea how long he's going already - and the murder of crows overhead suggests some time - I pass. Only then I see the bear. I slip through between the two of them. I end up playing catch with the bear.

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I already suspect some residual mini-stinky in my backpack, but apparently he just likes to follow me around. In the end he never got close enough to be any real danger. When I make my wrap around along the cave the wolf is still having at the deer. My retreat is safe. I sprain my wrist goating home, but nothing else, and reach my shelter at 62%, but also 50 sticks and some rose hips and reishi richer. As a rule of thumb: I need 20 sticks per day. So 50 sticks is two and a half days worth of firewood. I call worth.

The remainder of the day is chores and organizing stuff, looking at things and thinking through options and scenarios. Was this an exciting day? Certainly not. Was it a successful day? It was, within margins of expectation, but on the plus side. It's crackers and cattails for dinner. Then it's sleepytime.

Nobody said it was easy.

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Thatch 4 / Day 12 - Candle In The Wind

4:30 am, 87%. It's too dark to see snow - so counter-intuitively: I read. I know, makes no sense at all. But I play the game all the ways it let's me play it. I keep at it munching cattails until 7 am, sleep another hour and pack my stuff. Sticks, a lump of coal, my dead rabbits and raw meat. Calm weather. It's go time. Today the wolf dies. Again.

Coming up on the trail the wolf smells me all the way up here. I sprint down, plant a decoy (why didn't I drop the guts??) take a step back and crouch. I wait, aim half a barrel width above the wolf and fire.

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I'm getting really good at this flare gun business! I make my fire and just hope the weather will be kind to me. The wolf only yields 3.5 kg of meat. But I'll take it. I had hoped for a fatter specimen, but you play the hand you're dealt. While harvesting the wolf I get Carcass Harvesting II.

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While I go winds brush up, but the fire is protected for now. I leave only the hide as I will sadly never get to make a vest out of it. It's a shame. The winds change direction but the fire stays alive. As long as the draft isn't coming from the Engine Gorge .... it should be able to keep going. I keep feeding it stick by stick and keep cooking. I know when I now try to carry the flame to the shelter .... it'll die on the way.

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When I run out of meat to cook I make a quick run for sticks and find my share - but get almost stuck in the winds that are so strong I can hardly move. When I finally decide the winds have died down enough and that 7 liters of water are plenty, it's 7 pm. The fire never died. I take my torch and go to the cave. I pick up 4 cured guts and pelts, drop the new guts and the one pelt I have, and get going home.

Now that I have Cooking II one wolf steak is all I need for dinner. I punch in 10 hours of sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day.

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23 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Survive The Outdoors, which is a great read (or so I've heard)

It's an absolute blast! I read six copies in one of my runs.

19 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

One thing I might try when I get the hacksaw at the hut again with a spawn down the ramp: Make the Summit without the Shelter. One coffee for each Deer Clearing climb and Secluded Shelf climb, then three coffee for the direct ascent - and down again in one go. If it's possible? I don't know - It's worth a try.

It should be possible - I've heard people have done it. Day 1 summit fuelled with coffee.

 

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Thatch 4 / Day 13 - Graduation Day

It's 7 am, I am a hundred percent. Weather clear, cold and orange - but calm. It's the day.

Against usual rules I get a fire going. If I want to make it to the Hut I need to get going early, meaning I need canned heat. I cook 3 cups of coffee, two teas and tomato soup for the way, take plenty of firewood, two metal scraps just in case I have spare time, a lump of coal, lots of food, sleep an hour with the fire keeping my stuff warm, take the flame and go. If all goes well I'll be home for dinner.

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Goating down the Ravine is just routine by now. Going fast, but not running I make my way through the Ravine while tea keeps me warm. At the mouth of the Ravine Harvey is near his den, but at a safe distance. Quickly I take to the safe hills.

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I find time to gather some firewood and even a few cattails. The rabbits, however tasty as they might be, would be suicide. They know they are safe and taunt me with their tiny little plushy tails. I enter the Hut, and it is slightly too cold for me to be here. Well - that's what the firewood is for!

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I put on 5 hours of fire, get my water boiling and start working in ~45 minute increments. When I am done it's just past 5 pm. I'll celebrate later. I have a bonus objective to accomplish. I put on more fire and head out. To the Bay Of Cattails! I sprain my ankle on the way - but yet again I am prepared. I sip my rose hip tea and keep going. I make the full bay plus the cattails towards the hut. The Wolf of the Lake is absent doing whatever. I don't care, I'm just glad. 

I return to the hut, grant me 12 minutes boiling tea and cooking beans at the fire, leave behind 2 guts and 2 scrap metals and get going. And yes: I take the can.

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Just past 6 pm into heavy snow but calm winds I make my retreat. Harvey will be a problem. He blocks my slide down to the Engine Gorge. In fact I have to make haste to cut him off before the Ravine at all. I take the long, safer path and avoid playing hide and seek with a wolf and a bear in low visibility. I get to the Ravine uncontested. From here it's just walking.

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Being still pretty warm and rested I decide to take this opportunity to take a short look at the "cavelet" under Broken Tree Bridge. A rose hip, a cedar, some sticks. Well. Not worth, but at least I know nothing is here now. Harsh winds set in, but I can hug the rock face for now. Only the way through the Engine Gorge will be a pain. I save my breath for that, then run against the wind, and pass the rotting wolf. I'm basically home free. I make it.

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With 71% condition I'm well in the green. The mitts are secured, I have 47 cattails now, I recovered at least half of the firewood spent today - most of which went into water - I have materials for fishing tackle already at the hut, and I kept all my coffee - all with just one match. And I've still got my can. Making the pants doesn't appear totally impossible right now. Just hard.

It was a good day. I devour two rabbits and sleep.

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Thatch 4 / Day 14 - Plans

When I wake up it's 6 am, I'm at 100% again. Looking at my new mitts I see my ski jacket at 8%. If I ever want to repair it .... the next 2-3 days are the time. But my toque and ear wraps are also in dire need of attention, sporting 44% and 32% each, so, realistically ..... the ski jacket is doomed, and so is actually my entire attire. Entire attire, I like that. Anyways: the mitts just stave off the inevitable. Deerskin pants would not only be a massive improvement to the jeans, they would also free up a cloth. I practically have no choice but to go for them except I want to write off day 30. It's time to use my hacksaw.

But for now it's finishing my book about vertebrate disassembly and preparing some tea and sleeping a short while longer.

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How much will I get out of this baby? A hide? Two? Maybe even three? I don't dare to hope. I have two deer carcasses in safe waters. One near the other Deer Clearing Climb, one near Broken Tree Bridge. I get going just shy of noon. It's gonna be a sprint.

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1.4 kg of venison. Hm. Do I really want to leave that? I don't. I get a fire going against plan. Just as I do, winds intensify. What's it with wind and deer? But.... the fire holds, I get 1.4 kilograms of venison, cook most of it on the spot, make my water, get the hide and don't even end up an ice cube. The guts stay. Never .... take the guts.

I make it back home and need to warm up. But I don't want to kill the flame. So .... it's another fire at home to warm up. 

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Cooking on a fire while hiding in a shelter is just the pinnacle of sasquatching. I know I keep repeating myself, but Vigilant Flame gave The Long Dark so much more depth, flavor and vibe. (And since you Hinterlanders are hot for positive feedback, here it is @Raphael van Lierop:)) I get my tea boiling, drop my deer parts and take off towards Broken Tree Bridge. But stiff winds make any advance a hard proposition. I run against and cross the wind until I reach the Halfway Cave, and almost consider turning back, but decide against it. I can hug the rocks until I reach the deer but I cannot make a fire in these winds. I finally find a spot that is protected, but it's too far from the deer. I drop my coal I always have on hand and warm up. I'm willing to wait and see if the winds change.

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Eventually .... just before the fire dies... they do. I transfer the fire to the deer, dump my second cedar today and the rest of my sticks. I keep boiling away, yes, but I will need to overcompensate the next few days. I get 0.8 kg of meat, the hide, and get to keep my hacksaw yet again. When I finally take back home it's already 9 pm. The night is cold but calm and clear, but I sprain my ankle. Snow.

It's warm enough, so I suffer through it. Rose hips are actually not in unlimited supply for me. I even hobble wobble down to the cave to hang the deer skins to dry. In three days I will have enough skins and guts ready to make the pants. So .... day 18 will be the next, this time really big trip to the Hut. Everything I do until now should be leading up to it. Three days to prepare.

It's gonna be a sprint he said. I'll use my hacksaw he said.

Was today a success? Well while not according to plan at all, actually it was. I have 2 kg of venison I didn't plan for, I achieved my objective of fast-tracking the ultimate sasquatch achievement manifested in deer skin pants, and I didn't pay a lot of condition for it. While I spent much more firewood than I wanted, I only used one match, and the fires all burned outside. I have an impressive nine liters of water right now. Technically that's enough for the trip already - but I will stock up again once more, maybe in a blizzard. All in all the day was way better than I had planned for it to be.

10 hours of sleep are well earned.

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Thatch 4 / Day 15 - The Mathematician

I wake up at 9 am, which is actually not a bad thing. I'm in tip-top shape. If I told anyone that I've been living in a hole in the ground in a windy cave on a deserted mountain populated by anorexic rabbits and murderous ninja wolves for the last two weeks.... they wouldn't believe it. Especially not because I'm basically wearing a selection of ruined rags. But here I am running circles around the mountain.

I tear up burned out torches and such that are not good enough to use anymore, and also retire my driving gloves. And then I've got nothing to do. I decide to make a sprint - for real this time - down to the Engine Gorge and collect on firewood, maybe even a crate. I can allow to spend some condition. The wolf carcass is gone.

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It's very likely I'll have to kill him a third time before I can execute my play for the pants. I make quick work, but still pay 20% for 4 reclaimed wood and 12 sticks. I turn home and warm up.

While I do I reevaluate the way I weigh clothes and their worth of repair. So far I've pretty much neglected wind proofing. The reason for that is that while you can dodge wind, you cannot dodge the cold. Then again: the times temperatures really matter for me, most of the time, are the times I actually travel. My cave shelter is warm and cozy, at least for now.

One metric that mostly eludes me is the actual durability of an item of clothing. Some clothes degrade faster than others. So while short-term the warmth per repair ratio is better on some clothes .... long term things might change significantly. Being worn on the outside my ski jacket only lost 16% over 13 days, while my vest lost twice as much being worn on the inside. Another, maybe more comparable example: being worn inside my underwear lost 46%, my socks lost 31%. I'll spare you the amount of number crunching I did. In the end I didn't find an easily deductible metric how clothes exactly calculate their durability.

All I know is that my ski jacket probably deserves a repair more than I thought - and my underwear less than I thought. I have suspicions that this might indirectly relate to the amount of time you need to repair an item, but not enough data to confirm.

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Long Story short: My Ski Jacket gets a repair. The plaid shirt goes, and so does the vest, prematurely. The reasoning here is mostly that if I count the 0.3°C per cloth twice because of the wind bonus, the ski jacket is a winner. If I now take into consideration that it has lost roughly half as much durability as all the other outer layers I wear, the value doubles again. On the other hand my underwear seems to just die all on it's own, so the 0.4 °C per cloth aren't for long. In any case: if anyone has reliable information on this..... I'm very much interested in this topic. I never spent this much time thinking about this. At some point you always get all the cloth you need, albeit in PV, CH, ML or MT. Here you don't.

I actually spend ages just looking and crunching numbers. When I'm done repairing my ski jacket ... it's past 5 pm already. I make a trip to the rabbit run to maybe cash in on some free food. I actually meet a rabbit, but he dodges my rocks with ninja reflexes 3 times. Hilarious! The forth rock gets him. I run home, harvest the little fella, and gain Carcass Harvesting III.

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Then it's my 22% granola bar and some venison for dinner. 8 hours of sleep entail.

 

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Thatch 4 / Day 16 - Against The Current

I get up a 5. Nothing else to do and planning a trip through the cave I make a fire at the "outside campsite" and stock water. I also cook all of my coffee and lots of tea - doing so I get Cooking III - and get going at noon. Getting into the cave I take a look a the hides. I made a miscalculation. Deer hides take 5 days, not 3. That delays the pants until day 20. Not a deal breaker. But it shifts the timetable against my favor.

I make it to the other side and stand in awe.

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What to do? Turn back and sit it out? Make camp and get cookin'? I'm torn, but eventually light up. The blizzard passes in under two hours and I finish warming up and get going, and keep the fire going and water boiling. I make quick work picking up sticks towards the ramp, but sadly return just moments too late to cash in on the water. I warm up boiling another can, and then pull torches and run around Hide'n'Seek Hill.

I circumvent the wolf swiftly and make good, measured haste around the hill. Then the wind intensifies yet again, and my torch dies in the wind while I'm sprinting against the wind just to move. I'm grumpy. Losing two matches for this I want to make it count and end up breaking down the two crates at the place where the container is missing. Sure I pay a hefty tax, but at least I'll come hope bearing gifts.

I eventually return home 9 pm down to 33%, but the equivalent of 77 sticks richer than I left with. Consuming another kilogram of wolf I go to sleep 10 hours.

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Thatch 4 / Day 17 - Walking A Beaten Path

Back to 65% I wake up at around 7 pm. The things I can do to spend time have pretty much reduced themselves to breaking torches. I've got all tea prepared I can, and I am out of books to read through.

I'm "down" to 31 matches. Considering my fire striker still has 80% that's quite luxurious. Firewood isn't quite as opulent, but it's roughly enough for 10 days. Food: 13-15 days. 8 liters of water in store. Those are the most important metrics I go by. Munching a cattail I sleep another hour and a bit. I need my rest today.

Seeing that my match condition is quite forgiving I will make a trip to the Secluded Shelf Cave. Two weeks after my last visit it should have some coal I can collect on. Traveling exceptionally light I get going in clean and calm but freezing cold weather.

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Making the hike to the rope to Secluded Shelf is mere routine by now. But harsh winds brush up and batter me all along the way up the rope. I decide to look for firewood on my way back and warm up in the cave first. Inside I light a torch and start looking. Four coal on my first pass. I make camp at the end of the cave and warm up shortly getting some tea going, then pull some new torches and exit to the Summit Plateau. 

Out here every stick possible has respawned over the past two weeks. I vacuum clean the entire plateau, including some reishi and even a rose hip bush I had shunned on my first visit. Remembering how I thought I would never return here I am looking up to the Summit once again. But no, to the Summit itself there is no way.

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On my second pass through the cave I collect on another 6 coal. Ten coal in total marks this run as a tremendous success. Trying to make a fire at the end of the cave to warm up yet again something happens I though impossible this late in the game: I run out of tinder. Then I remember I dropped a lot of cattail heads at home a few days ago. Grumpily I actually craft ... tinder from a stick. 

I boil my tea, and get going again, making it down the rope and down the hike easily. Down there I run into a rabbit that taunts me to kill him, but I pass not wanting to play catch with the wolf again. Before even freezing I reach home. I made firewood worth over a hundred sticks today. It won't get much better than that. Totally exhausted from all the climbing I eat some venison and sleep 10 hours.

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Thatch 4 / Day 18 - Business As Usual

I sleep in and wake up at 6 am, back to marvelous 94% condition. I seriously contemplate what I can do with the day. Tomorrow it's probably Engine Wolf Day again as the day after my biggest journey since the Summit Ascend is set. But today.... what's today? It's been a week since I was up gathering firewood on Deer Clearing. Probably that's a good idea.

I prepare some tea and then it's a lot of passing time plus two more hours of sleep. When I finally get going it's 1 am already, but earlier in the day it's just too cold to make meaningful progress. Even now it's -16°C FL. Up after the climb I sprain my ankle. Bad timing. Another sip of rose hip tea goes. Again .... I see Derrick McDeer being eaten by the wolf.  

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Yesterday he was fine, today he dies again. How long shall I stay idly by and watch this? I think about making an end to this slaughter of innocent deer, but I don't have much firewood on me and the wind isn't really promising me a good harvest. My impulse for vengeance only goes so far that I will act on it for good food in return. Let's stick to the plan for once.

I clean the area in one big sweep, making real haste knowing the wolf is occupied. 45 sticks richer I return home at 68%, well within the green zone. I prepare some reishi I plucked along the way, and recycle some torches. As a last order of business I make a quick run to the rabbit run ... but run into no rabbit, just a few sticks. That's already it for the day, and all that is left is to finish the remaining pound of wolf plus some venison and sleep.

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19 hours ago, Dan_ said:

Already a flare-gun legend of the frozen north, fantastic shooting!

I'm still amazed that someone can take something - like a stone, an arrow, flare gun - and actually hit targets consistently.

Not to mention moving targets. At night. With a weapon that is inherently not designed to hit anything.

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