Pirates of the Long Dark


tulkawen

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Day 38

 

- Along the railway I go lalala and hide behind some bushes to let a wolf pass lalala finding yellow empty wagon lalala yer scoundrel deer don't want to run towards the trailers to be wolf bait lalala woowzer! for once the wolf's on vacation and trailers aren't blocked

- checked trailers and ran for the hydro dam. there ought to be heavy hammer there

- hmm checked the entire upper dam. i think the dam is secretly a library. keep finding books but not hammer. you'd think a big metal and rattle building would have a useful big hammer. they just have books. Neeerds!

- at least there are quality tools. btw my first box. one hacksaw at 47%

- i've taken health hammering from hypoth during this trip so i'm eating all food i find as i go along to raise health

- i knew it! there is one non-nerd after all. found the hammer at the lower dam. yay! just in time too it's getting dark

- i'm hopeful for a deer outside. dropped bedroll on the ground making sure i'm not aiming my bare butt an any wire while there is still visibility and then busted a big green crate as it got pitch dark, also got 2 cloth out of it

- slept

 

Day 39

 

- busted another green crate to make it brighter and went outside

- Aggh!! I didn't hear it at all from the dam! Mighty blizzard. Brrrr! -53C crawling along the ledge

- Got back inside. Tore up a bunch of cloths around the dam and then repaired undies

- found another wilderness kitchen and read an hour then slept an hour before venturing out

- much better! don't need to drop coal, which i don't have, to be warm next to the fire

- peel all yummies and goodies off the deer and back in I go

- it got dark and murky foggy by the time i reached the other side

- best sleep at the dam tonight hence don't want to flop into wolf's mouth in the fog

 

Day 40

 

- Left the guts to cure at the dam but have taken the hide with me.

- Waited out a cold morning. There is a wolf rubbing against the trailers anyway.

- Read an hour of wilderness kitchen and left it at the trailer.

- The cold got replaced by moderate fog once I snuck out.

- Took the route that leads along the rail tracks back to the lake cabin. Didn't see the red wagon guard wolf but it was both foggy and cold along the way.

- Once I reached the lake cabin, read the fishing book and then went out to grab all my fish from the fishing hut. Going to eat all this fish tomorrow before departing for the Muskeg forge.

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@BareSkin :D Thank you.  Though, I've been saved by heal sleep from red zone multiple times. That's something you cannot get away with in Sleepwalker so easily. I'm certainly glad I haven't ran into red zone yet. What I find easier in Sleepwalker is vigilant sleeping that includes going 2h at a time if you're doing it in the car or cave without a fire. In other mode you basically lose a night of healing when you do this.

Day 41

 

- Cold morning. Read an entire fishing book.

- It's -5C when I decide to go for it in the afternoon. Mornings are cold anyway so I can't start a long trip in the morning anyway.

- Seems the railway wolves are having a party. This one isn't there. Lucky break.

- Entered Muskeg and reached the red wagons not chased by anything. Saw a wolf in the distance that seemed disinterested and a bear in the distance too.

- It got horrendously foggy. Oh no. I really didn't want to waste fuel by getting stuck for the night.

- Started a fire at the barrel since I started to freeze at this point.

- Slept an hour or two several times, boiling water and coming out during the middle of the night to harvest some bushes for sticks and twigs.

-  It's -40C in the morning. Yuck! Wolves are howling everywhere. I don't think they're into this weather either.

- By afternoon it got to -12C but moderate fog came back. Muskeg has decided to be difficult.

- Meh this. I'm not burning up all my coal to stay full day and night.

- Pulled out two torches, stingy barrel 24% both. Meh started walking.

- Admittedly lost since I'm trying to cross via isles.

- Picking up twigs as I got along. Grabbed some cattails, but not all since I want to hurry.

- Had to stop and start another fire to boil more tea for warmth bonus and to make more torches. Those also 25%

- Eventually ended up at hunter's blind and found one accelerant.

- Kept going encountering weak ice a few times but backing off timely.

- Sprinted across some weak ice to get to the bank and reached the spot where a few ruined buildings are not far from the forge.

- Had to start another fire and check them out before patrol wolves got here. Wow not even a piece of metal. Nothing. At least the last fire gave me 44% torches.

- Got two sprains climbing the hill to take higher ground to Spencer farm. Might as well, I have 6 painkillers at 16% had to use them anyhow

- Two wolves are hanging around the forge. Cute. Got to be sure not to walk around in the fog.

- Since I had quarter of stamina left and was freezing began firing up the stove.

- Ran out of books during the trip. Twigs at lousy 60% fire starting chance and fail 6 times with my last torch that got under 10%

- Got last piece of tinder too after those fails. Used accelerant to fire up the bloody stove before I freeze since hypoth got me near the farm.

- Woot! Lvl 2 Fire Starting at last!

- Crafted one hatchet with a bit of stamina left and slept 10h. :hatchet: HUUURAAYY!! My first hatchet!!!!!

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Day 42

 

- Might as well listen to a blizzard while I craft a second hatchet. :hatchet:

- Broke some green boxes.

- The safe had money, heh might as well use tinder.

- 87% ski jacket! Nice!

- Matches. Also nice.

- Two metal pieces.

- Brown eeky fog after blizzard. Lovely.

- Craft 3rd hatchet.  :hatchet:

- Craft 1 knife :huntingknife:

- Ate 18% dog food and didn't get poisoned. Slept.

 

Day 43

 

- Got another knife done. :huntingknife:

- Managed to sneak out and look around to collect firewood. The double wolf patrol is perked up and vigilant.

- Went along the docks to the barn and a house buried up to the roof in the ground.

- Found a lantern and a bit of metal.

- Chanced taking a hide and meat off a deer. This drew attention of those two wolves and they both sprinted towards me. :wolf::wolf:

- Dropped meat decoy and backed off a few steps before starting a fire with the accelerant. The wolves fled. They have gotten very close to me. That was extremely dangerous.

- Collected dropped meat and cooked it. Ate it before returning to the forge.

 

Day 44

 

- Hacksawed a metal shelf at the back and more crate busting.

- Worked on the arrowheads.

- Blizzard replaced by brown fog. Yuck.

- Mad that a knife was wasted on opening dog food. I have lvl 3 skill now and don't lose calories by smashing cans. That's annoying that hatchets and knives get wasted on cans without permission.

 

Day 45

 

- Smashed remaining crates.

- Finished arrowheads and found one more metal. I should have 20 arrowheads when that's done.

- It's too late and not weather great to leave.

- In the evening went out to collect firewood.

- Got too tired running around. Didn't get started on sewing primer which I found by the bed.

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42 minutes ago, BareSkin said:

I'd be glad in you explained why you crafted this or that, and in what numbers. I never crafted a hatchet in a Loper+. I always end up with 2 knives tho, just from paranoia.

Since I'm not a great bow and arrow hunter nor can I hit bunnies with stones, my best bet to survive off the land is to settle either Coastal or Mystery Lake near the fishing cabins. Fishing is my primary mode of getting food. However to fish you have to have a lot of firewood otherwise you'll freeze in the fishing hut. Hatchet is very much a must to chop wood and I'll be using it often. I try my best to get enough twigs but sometimes you just need big logs if you want full day fires or if you're going to live somewhere for a while twigs may run out. I guess I craft two more because in the future I don't want to take a huge risk running back to the Forge if something happens to the hatchet. When my character goes fishing it's usually a one full day affair morning to evening which requires preparation of grabbing coal and lots of firewood.

Knives are used for smaller tasks like carcass harvesting or for cloth like pillows or old bedroll you have to have a knife. They're also helpful, two because what if it breaks.

My current goal for any Loper game is 100 days. My plan is running around until I get a bedroll to hide in fishing cabins while cabin fever and fish and sleep there. Then to get a hammer and run to Forge to craft pretty much everything. While I'm executing this plan in parallel I try to grab good clothes or to craft them if opportunity arises like if I'm passing by a deer and I could grab guts for fishing lines and the hide.

Obviously to craft I also need 20+ metal. So early game I try to get a hacksaw along with the hammer. I tend to carry 20+ metal to the Forge to do 3 hatchets, 2knives and as many arrowheads as possible in one go. Both Muskeg and DP are dangerous trips best minimized.

I find hatchet to be probably a number one tool in multi use so I try to grab a few to feel more secure in the future when the weather gets harsh.

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@BareSkin Starvation certainly prompts you to be creative. :D

 

Day 46

 

- Fog, fog, fog. And cold to boot -24C

- I have 23 cattails. That's not much to live on in this mode. I must return to the Mystery Lake.

- I'm also running short on sticks. Two ninja wolves are making them difficult to gather.

- Closer to noon drank some tea and grabbed a torch to get going.

- Mildly windy and around -20C The torch is holding.

- The wolves are howling, but at reasonable distance, though I had to take evasive action with one before he saw me.

- Really didn't want to stop at the red wagon but I had to because hypoth dropped on me as I entered it.

- Got lucky, my last torch was at 9% and the fire lit up in one go.

- Don't want to use coal so the temp with the sticks fire barely climbed over +1. Slept an hour for additional warmth after crafting more tea and drinking it.

- Grabbed sticks around the red wagon since I'm completely out and dropped them in to make more torches. Crafted another tea.

- With the tea and torch it's -7C

- Began walking along the tracks towards the Mystery Lake. It's not far now. For some reason decided to take a detour left to grab mushrooms and cattails.

- Warmth buff ran out as I did so and temp began to bite. It got darker and snow began falling.

- Not seeing the wolf along the railway, decided to go for the lake cabin.

- He is actually there but far down the tracks, too close to the cabin for my liking. Had to climb a hill and hypoth got me.

- Visibility dropping and snow increasing. The moon is out when I goat down the hill to the lake cabin.

- The health did take some beating but I'm home with 3 hatchets, 2 knives and 20 arrowheads.

 

*happy survivor dance* I ran, I forged, I conquered!

Edited by tulkawen
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Day 47

 

- Ventured out to the fishing hut for breakfast. all my fish is gone. I thought I had some leftover

- Turns out I forgot to check another hut next door. Found a fishing hook before running back to the lake cabin

- Repaired a new thin wool sweater from the Muskeg

- I have the arrow tips, but the saplings were left at the hunter cabin. got to go there

- The railway guard wolf is closer to the cabin but now he has wider area to cover and gives me room to sneak past him

- Grabbed two maple saplings along the way and searched an adventurer scoring a chocolate bar

- Reset the forgotten bunny snare by the hunters cabin

- Zoomed inside to craft arrow shafts since everything is nicely cured

 

Day 48

 

- I have two cured deer guts and also one older maple sapling cured

- This means I can work on the bow

- Before that checked the snare and scored a bunny rabbit

- Chopped some firewood

- Crafted two arrows and finished the bow

 

Day 49

 

- begins cold enough to freeze just grabbing another bunny from the snare

- started fire outside regardless to craft all mushrooms and cook them

- yummy two bunny rabbits are the breakfast of champions

- DING! LvL 4 cooking! Wow! I'm a great cook!

- Being fed I'd like to travel, but I have zero trust in grey clouds and rapid snow beat

- Yup, I was right, a blizzard starts howling.

- Crafted more arrow shafts and arrows.

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Day 50

 

- this is my grand plan: go to the unnamed pond and try sticking arrows from the hunters blind into a bear since my bow is all new and shiny along with a nice batch of arrows

- read kitchen wilderness while waiting for the air to warm up

- still -25C but I'm hardly going to get better deals past day 50

- yup the bear is at the pond hanging around leisurely

- the bear makes a displeased sound upon my arrival and obediently begins walking towards me as I slowly back away to the hunters blind

- I climb into the blind and make a couple of attempts just aiming

- he's still getting closer.... closer... CLOSER!

- THWANG! The arrows buries deep into his side

- The bear roars and runs from the pond like crazy, disappearing over the hill in two seconds

- rats... is he coming back? this blind isn't exactly warm and cozy to wait in

- after a couple of minutes I decide to follow a trail of blood. there is a big splat where he got hit too

- the trail isn't very easy to see plus i need to be looking around

- i have to duck spotting a wolf on a hill nearby

- the trail seems to be running parallel to the river and leaves me puzzled once i get close to its beginning

- at some point i spot bear paw prints but they're turned in the direction i came from

- the blood trail makes an odd turn and end without the bear anywhere in sight

- well this is weird. according to the marks the bear made a circle and ran back along the same route. except i've been following that route precisely and he should have ran into me, shouldn't he have?

- while I stand there scratching my head and wandering where the bear had evaporated to, I get ambushed by bark bark

- ugh... the blasted bow is more of a hindrance than help. instead of running as soon as I hear a bark, I waste two seconds wandering if I could shoot the wolf or defend myself

- the fuzzy pile of fluff gets plastered all over me in seconds

- I heartily curse myself in a rush grabbing a knife instead of the hatchet

- My health was high when he jumped and the clothes aren't that poorly armoured.

- It was a long fight.

- For a moment he looked hesitant like he was going to disengage.

- And then he won the struggle.

 

5Yc8nnz.png
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Oh, here's you're first bugged-bear death. Welcome to the club! Died there once, harvesting a deer carcass, then suddenly the bear appeared from nowhere (underground?) and charged me. Long story short, he did die, and I did survive, cause I was nearby a fire and the attracted wolf flew away.

That's already a huge success to have survived the first part of a sleepwalker run.😃

Should you try another one later, I'm pretty sure I'll have to make a diploma soon enough!

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1 hour ago, BareSkin said:

Oh, here's you're first bugged-bear death. Welcome to the club! Died there once, harvesting a deer carcass, then suddenly the bear appeared from nowhere (underground?) and charged me. Long story short, he did die, and I did survive, cause I was nearby a fire and the attracted wolf flew away.

That's already a huge success to have survived the first part of a sleepwalker run.😃

Should you try another one later, I'm pretty sure I'll have to make a diploma soon enough!

It went better than I thought. :) I actually lasted longer than regular Loper game too so far.

That pond is very dangerous in general. It's not the first time something ambushes me near it and kills too.

Maybe I should do Deadman to make SW0 look comfortable in comparison. :D

Edited by tulkawen
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  • 5 weeks later...

@BareSkin

I've been working on another attempt at SW0, but not in as much detail in case I kicked the bucket real fast. I have a progress report since I've made it far.

Feats: Free runner and cold fusion.

 

Here is a picture of my current log.

 

5RxV78D.png

 

I started in the dark, Coastal at the Ravine entrance. While I made it to the trailer along the rail tracks, I realised I cannot loot due to dark and slept off the fatigue, but that also brought thirst closer and it was still dark when I woke.

From there I basically rolled downhill without a road to avoid a wolf. I guess I'm rather light since that went relatively safely and I made it to another trailer that was also no loot. At this point my character was thirsty without matches or water. I've lost a chunk of health before I rolled to the highway and found a nice toilet.

I spent six days exploring Coastal and found one box of matches only on the third day. Who would have thought Coastal has such matches shortage, though, the toilets were everywhere.

From there I made a trip through the Crumbling Highway with a basement stop. Through the coal mine no3 I've reached Desolation Point, all without a bedroll. To avoid being wolfed I went to Church and from Church reached the Lighthouse where I found a bed for the night.

At DP I spent a few days too and found an exciting new adventure. For the first time I got to explore Scruffy's grand Cave, where I also hoped to find bedroll. When I approached the cave I didn't know it's a closed one and built a fire next to it in case I need to duck behind it if anything toothy jumps out. Then I explored the nice cave jumping at every sound because I thought Scruffy was waiting inside. There was no Scruffy, just a big pile of his stuff. Two deer, a deer chunk and a rabbit. I build another fire and began cooking all this food. This food was very welcome because I was out. In this mode you need to eat during the day too.

 

Just when I thought life was good, I'll warm up by the fire and have a full stomach before travelling to Hibernia when I ate a chunk of deer and got a food poisoning. Then I found out that I have no mushrooms to cure the food poisoning. Since I still had some raw meat and didn't have time to cook it, I just ate raw meat to avoid wasting calories. I was poisoned anyway. Then I picked up the rest of the meat and began travelling away from Scruffy's cave with my stamina already getting close to the red zone.

 

I figured I'd curve around Scruffy's cave and climb the hill, but turned out that hill could not be climbed and I had to go around where the wolves were. Wasted precious stamina and got hypoth too.

 

When I peeked around the rocks, I saw four wolves on the ice between me and Hibernia, and a bear also heading our way. That was great combined with low stamina, poisoning and hypoth.

 

Since I was trying to sneak around the circumference, all four wolves got spooked by the bear and all of them pinballed into my direction. I used the two pieces of meat to decoy, both 900 cal, and ran like crazy in weird zigzag line. When I did so the bear also got pissy at me. No idea how but I ended up on the bank not near Hibernia but near the bear cave, which was actually good because that's where the mushrooms were. Grabbed those and then headed for Hibernia where I started a fire and had mushrooms tea. Somehow I ended up not dead with all that adventuring.

 

I managed to craft a hatchet and a knife and arrowheads before leaving DP. I went back to Coastal and spent a while living there until I managed to make fishing rods. I can't find the screenshot anywhere, but I went fishing and received THE BIG ONE! achievement. That's right! I caught a 5kg fish on Loper!

 

Day 16 I left Coastal and travelled to Mystery Lake in search of a bedroll. I've been able to obtain a lantern and a bedroll along with other necessary tools. By day 24 I looted ML and went back to my Coastal base.

 

Day 28 I travelled in the direction of the Pleasant Valley through the coal mine. I crossed the top part of the map in a straight line and reached the waterfall cave, top left corner of the map. From there I went for the submarine hatch to rest before the important climb and on Day 29 I entered the Timberwolf Mountain.

 

Day 33. After much adventuring and getting my butt into wolf trouble, I have reached the Summit!

 

MiLFXG5.png

 

I am super pleased because I really wanted that as an extra bonus challenge in case I do pull through 100 days.

 

Carrying away all the stuff from the Summit on Loper is rather easy since there isn't a lot of it. I lived on Timberwolf until day 45 making one return trip to carry some stuff into PV submarine. While I lived there I survived on fishing.

 

Also, along the way I hit day 500, but I can't remember which exact day or where. This is very exciting because now I have the ability to use the new Feat.

 

CdmeiWL.png

 

At present I am located at the PV Farmhouse, waiting out a blizzard on Day 49. I have not decided yet whether I'll hit all the big PV loot spots and return to Coastal or hit all the big PV loot spots and move to ML.

 

My character is looking good. Cooking, fire starting and fishing is lvl 3, carcass harvesting and mending are lvl 2, the rest is 1.

ya26qtv.png

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

My adventure continues after all this time. :hatchet:

My survivor climbed Signal Hill and from there checked the Winding River for harvestables and loot without entering the Hydro Dam. Meanwhile, a couple of deer hides and guts cured.

Upon return to the Farmhouse, I crafted deer skin pants, as well as a bow with lots of shafts. I had feathers too. The only ingredient missing were the arrowheads. At this point I ran into a doozie because I've began this run all the way before the update and for the life of my couldn't remember where I've left those arrowheads. Most likely the Coastal since it was my temporary main base, I've decided. As I finished crafting the pants as well, the cabin fever snuck up on me nastily and my choice to travel was solidified.

 

It was past afternoon and heavy snow was falling, but since the weather has been either blizzard or snow, and it wasn't too cold (only -28C) I was going to take it. I didn't get very far, only to Heartbreak Bridge, when I saw a barn and a deer beside it. The thing with PV is that I always struggle for food greatly. You need to walk a thousand miles and freeze half to dead before finding even a skinny rabbit. My entire game were 11 cattails, which is fairly miserly in this mode.

 

It only takes 14 mins with hatchet to pry the meat off and then I can cook it in this shed and warm up, I figured. Before full sunset, I should be able to make it to the big Red Barn. As I started grabbing the meat, Pleasant Valley has decided to remind me that this is PV where the weather is either trying to kill you or REALLY trying to kill you.

 

The blizzard jumped my bones. Oh well, only 14mins. I went inside the shed and built a big fire to combat the temperature. The meat cooked nicely and it could have been a passable night, except the wind changed direction and blew out the fire viciously and it made sure 9mins left so I couldn't pull out a torch or drop another stick in to get one. I retreated to the opposite end of the barn and built another big fire. Then chanced sleeping an hour since fatigue was nipping a bit, and woke up full bar temp drop with a blown out fire and another change in the wind direction. I ran back to my previous fire spot and built another fire only to have the wind change direction again and try anew to murder me. I chanced peeking outside and considered running back to the Farm as it wasn't far, but the chances were almost non existent to even follow the road. It was a deep night already and the blizzard was -58C.

 

k98zDqG.png

 

So I went back to my fire spot number two. At this point I had no more accelerants or good sticks for fire building, just reclaimed wood and a firestriker. The fire failed 7 times to start, then it did reluctantly. I threw all of my remaining wood into it only to discover that even with the tea buff the temp is -2C and of course there wouldn't be a single stick around the barn even if the storm tears down tonnes of them away from my location. I am doomed to stumble around in the blizzard after all, I've decided.

 

And then.... there was silence... I looked up and saw no more slanted curtain of snow. The temp by the fire reluctantly went to positive 2 degrees sipping minor warmth into my bones. I let it warm me up and in the middle of the night followed the highway to the Red Barn hoping I won't get lost in the dark. Back to the Farmhouse was surely a hungry death.

 

2dAQKmq.png

 

At long last, the dim outlines of the barn, almost indistinguishable in the heavy snowfall, appeared and the truck felt like the most comfortable bed ever. However, the cabin risk fever had not gone away as I entered and rose once more for taking this luxury when I gathered my many possessions, even if the load was much lighter after burning all the wood, and I moved on.

 

The snowfall was heavy again like the previous day, but no other obstacles appeared in my way. I heard many wolf howls far in the distance. I found no food at all in the rural store and crossed the bridge past a small house on the left towards a fire barrel. The pesky wind won't be able to extinguish this fire! I gathered the sticks around the area along with six cattails by the river and mushrooms and built a fire. It seemed the healing would set in at last when another blizzard attacked me. Without coal, the temperature next to the barrel dropped to -18C. The blood cabin fever risk was still clinging to my bones. I checked my inventory, discovering enough items to build a snow shelter. In the middle of the night I ran out of firewood once more and the barrel fire went out dropping the temperature in the shelter into negative double digits again. I sighed and ran for the small house nearby. At least the cabin fever risk diminished to 4%.

 

When I woke up next morning, the following sight greeted me.

 

Ls1ZQu8.png

 

Believe not this beauty for it is deceiving. The air was -39C. I followed the highway towards the connecting Coastal mine. A small cave before the road takes a sharp turn uphill appeared with a single bunny, the first I've seen in days, hopping around. A very skittish bunny. After the update, I found it easier to toss rocks at them, but my skills are still abysmal. I barely caught him. Snowflakes began falling from the sky. The cave had three coal, giving me lots of happy. I cooked the bunny and heard the unmistakable blizzard howl. Luckily it was short lived and allowed me to resume course to the mine in a few hours all warmed up.

 

The following day found me hungry and rapidly taking big leaps down the hill towards the lake and fishing huts. Two teas left in my inventory weren't going to last long enough to plough a hole in the ice. At least I combed through the mine and found more coal than I could carry. In five hours of fishing caught two small ones and got a sad. Either the fishing was nerfed or after sixty days in the game the sustainable resources are starting to dwindle. Spent a blizzard night in the same hut enjoying all that toasty coal and fished some more, this time filling my belly enough to get moving. My stomach was near empty too and I kept eyeing the deer scattered across the ice thinking how I have this nifty bow I'm carrying around, but no arrow to take them down.

 

I searched trailers, I searched houses, I searched the orca gas station barely dodging a moose, a bear and a wolf all parked by its entrance. It has taken me a few days of wandering and scant fishing to realise that most likely I had carried those arrowheads to Mystery Lake since my long term plan had been gradually moving there once I assembled essential stuff at Coastal.

 

The trail up to Dodger's cabin and the Ravine treated me friendly and with a good amount of food: cattails, rabbits and deer were fair game. I also found birch bark and counted it as a usable resource. I had started this game before it was introduced, but now that it's here it seems a folly to ignore. I spent a night in a cave as the sky turned pink and the evening descended.

 

GnkxFgM.png

 

At the entry of ML I was greeted by another Moose hanging out by the HD river. Once more I wished to have my arrowheads to test my luck. I searched the trailers, searched the main campground cabin, eventually moving across the map to Trapper's, my last hope. The arrowheads have evaporated. I found none in ML or Coastal. Sighing and prompted by a half empty stomach, I scraped together few metal pieces and after another blizzard headed for the Muskeg.

 

The Muskeg was half foggy and half heavy snowing as I weaved a complicated path across, eventually ending up at Spencer's with 9 metal pieces on hand. Hurray, I was going to shout and then remembered that my heavy hammer, two of them in fact, were left behind in Pleasant Valley. Running around the barn just in case proved useless. There was no heavy hammer in sight.

 

Here I paused, scratching my head on Day 70.

 

There I stood by the furnace warming up and contemplating how I had left my bow in ML due to weight, heavy hammers in PV and here I was with the metal pieces at Muskeg.

 

I've read a survival book, found by the forge, until nightfall. Spent the night at Spencer's. And headed for Broken Railroad the following morning, hunger taunting once more.
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The Wolfy Railroad greeted me appropriately. There were two wolves guarding the locomotive. I had to activate the flare gun to shoot myself out of a tight corner. Upon the maintenance yard approach, from the top of the hill, I spotted two wolves hanging around on the left side of the premises. I crouched behind some snowdrifts on the right hand side and then used sprint to fly inside the shed.

 

Having searched the place the following day, I discovered five metal pieces. No hammery hammer or hacksaw. At least 17% sardines didn't poison me and there was another very nice can of beans at 81% It seemed in order to make the arrowheads I was doomed to visit the hunting lodge.

 

Sneaking out of the maintenance yard was a hairy affair. My stamina wasn't eternal and the yard wolves were more than happy to tag the lake wolf team to chase me until they got metal fence slammed into their faces.

 

Catching my breath and freezing I dragged my feet uphill, hoping there won't be a moose. I made a great stop at a small cave and made a fine meal of a deer by its entrance, plus a caught bunny. The hunter lodge wolves were also hungry to meet me and once more I made leg, slamming another door on the hairy muzzles, at the dying brink of the sun entering safety.

 

As hungry as those wolves were, I was hungrier. Since the moose was on vacation, I made myself comfortable in the middle of their lake, making bbq of their deer the following day.

 

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There were going to be no arrowheads. The lodge had no heavy hammer. My best find were wool socks. A can of peaches hidden in the corner was at 4% Since even hunger wouldn't prompt me risking it, I departed, heading back to the small cave as I hoped to find another deer in that direction down the path. One of the lake wolves followed. He crossed the tree bridge and entered the cave behind me. It took a couple of fires to drive him out of this enclosure. Once that was over, I did indeed find another deer and spent a good night at the cave.

 

There were three guts still not cured at my little cave. Sneaking them out proved non doable as three wolves were guarding the wooden bridge. I left the guts behind and snuck along the cliff edge, mountain goating down to the river and attempting to circle around them.

 

But the wolves saw through this clever strategy and gave one hairy chase. Once my stamina ran out, I used fire accelerant. This is where they pinned me down, all three taking turns sneaking up on the fire. As soon as one runs, there is another, preventing me from doing the same. Eventually I made another fire several steps back to make distance between me and the lake.

 

Suddenly, a deer shot past us and one wolf redirected taking it down only a few feet away. Annoyed by their harassment as well as thinking close hungry future, I went on the offensive and advanced with a torch. The wolf dropped into defence stature and growled. I started another fire, forcing him on the run. More logs and coal were added gleefully for a very big fire.

 

The wolves began howling pitifully, out of the forest came a fourth wolf and kept trying to sneak up on my back as I continued prying large chunks of this deer off. I cooked two when a blast of cold wind took out the fire and a blizzard swept away all wolves like a tidal wave.

 

Gleeful and laughing into the freezing shards of the wind, I grabbed two cooked deer pieces and ran for the maintenance shed. Met by no one.

 

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The blizzard kept strong the following morning. An idea snuck inside my brain that while I hadn't cooked them, I had managed to remove four 1kg chunks of deer meat before the weather set in. These four raw pieces were on the ground for the taking. Since I am braver than wolves when it comes to blizzards, I sprinted out. Trading minor health and clothes damage for great meals, I pounced on the meat and dragged all of it away in one go.

As the wind beat savagely against the maintenance shed, the barrel fire cracked merrily, roasting the meat. In the evening, when I stepped to the outer office to refrigerate my meat, the front yard wolves came with a bark to peek through the door.

 

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While I was temporarily safe with plenty of resources, I was also sieged. Two front yard wolves, three lakes wolves with the bear and the most dangerous ninja wolf in the forest behind the yard. That forest has so many stumps, logs, small hills, grass and protrusions. Spotting him is next to impossible. I only hear him once he barks and run hopeful it's not into his awaiting mouth.

 

As I was briefly safe, I threw the torch at the wolves through the window and took delight in them scuttling off. The torch shone prettily in the dark.

 

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The thoughts about the deer kept dangling around in my head. Unless the wolves got to him there was still 2.7kg meat calling out to my stomach. Finally, I braved sneaking out of the yard and climbed a slanted tree to survey the area. There, I spotted that sneaky ninja wolf. Nose to the ground, he ventured right for the fence and disappeared inside the backyard, shutting off my escape route.

 

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A pack of crows captured my attention. I went to investigate in hopes it wasn't a bear. The find was a deer that still had 0.7kg meat left. I made fire next to it, eventually moving on to my initial target. As I wandered how I could return and get past the ninja wolf, I was looking at the lake visible between the trees. There seemed to be no wolf activity. Once the deer was cooked, I ventured out to investigate. There was a bear wandering around the lake, but all tree wolves have suspiciously disappeared. Oh well. The opportunity presented itself to grab all cattails from the half of the lake not occupied by the bear. Then my thoughts went to the guts curing inside the little cave. Without the arrowheads, I sure needed many fishing rods.

 

Hurray, hurray! The guts were cured indeed! I ran past the hunter lodge wolves again, warmed up and deployed a rope from a rock that led to the bear cave. Ignoring the wolves, I looked into the mesmerising distance and admired the hues of the late afternoon.

 

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I slept a night at the cabin, shredded lots of curtains and climbed down the rope. The lake trio pack was still missing. Getting around the bear, led me to another deer and a solo wolf taking some interest in guarding it. Can't pass by 0.9kg of meat. Once that was cooked and the wolf was left scowling, I advanced along the lake gathering cattails, when I saw the ninja wolf coming down the path from the maintenance yard. Yessss! I hurried to use the free path, but that bugger saw me from great distance and gave chase. The yard was far enough to deplete the stamina bar. The snapping teeth were right on my heels when I crashed inside the barn side entrance.

 

Once two pieces of the deer meat remained I arranged and rearranged my inventory, eventually giving up on a couple of useful items in favour of lighter load, even though there was still too much weight.

 

On day 81 my survivor peered out the outer office door and with the baited breath listened for any stray footsteps hidden in the wisps of wind. Nothingness. I regarded each snowdrift and stood on my tiptoes to peek over the nearest snowdrifts. Seeing nothing.

 

I began walking in this stillness. Moved past the cars, looking this way and that skittishly, reached the gate and stepped past its bounds. Encountering nothing.

 

Safe? I thought. And that's where a furry farewell wolf wagon came rushing down the mountain slope like an avalanche, covering the distance between us in seconds. Another wolf sprung up from a snowdrift, cutting off my escape route to the truck.

 

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The battle of the big fire, tossed torches and flare gun shells went on for a while until my survivor miraculously rolled inside the truck. Three wolves went meh and trotted away in search of an easier breakfast that doesn't shoot fire bolts. The other two made themselves comfortable patrolling the truck and peeking into the windows. Eventually, something down the tracks caught their interest and as they moved to sniff it out, I popped a flare and jumped out of the truck at full sprint. Both buggers saw that and gave chase, stalking me all the way past the locomotive where I eventually lost them by jumping over a fence.

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My survivor climbed the avalanche barrier promptly and headed towards the Muskeg, trying to get home in one piece.

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The Muskeg greeted me with a bunch of snow and a wolf chasing me down the railway line. A started fire quickly convinced him to take a hike. From then on my survivor took her time gathering cattails and ducking out of wolf and bear sight, eventually starting a warm up fire inside the red wagons.

The day was in decline when she continued her journey towards the Mystery Lake. The sky turned green calling for an Aurora.

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Dusk calling closer and closer, I hurried to cross the boundary into the ML, advancing down the tracks where a welcome party was already waiting for me. I scared off the wolf, but the troublesome furball fled in the direction of the lake cabin, prompting me to dodge him again until I finally slammed the cabin door shut. I had left ML with four flare gun shells and one loaded. I came back with an empty inventory and one last shell inside the flare gun.

ML cabin didn't have much in terms of food, but it was rich in cured deer pelts and most importantly many guts. The fishing huts were right there.

I spent the next day trying to fill my belly, and wasn't entirely satisfied, having caught two 450 cal fishes in five hours. Tired, when I headed for the small lake cabins at the end of the day, a blizzard swept in and took a stab at getting me lost. Go figure which way to go in this even if the cabins are really close by.

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The following day, fishing was a lot more successful and I even had one fish leftover. It was tempting to remain at the camp office and fish for twenty more days. Yet, I couldn't help but be ill at ease about the previous day experience and couldn't entirely rely on fishing, knowing that I've never gotten those arrowheads done. Not to mention, the coal pile was under twenty pieces, while the days grew colder yet.

 

After short consideration I took off in the direction of the Hunter's Cabin. Having snuck past a few obstacles, my trip was short and soon I was ready to push onwards to the wolfy lights of the big city - Milton. I viewed its picnic area from the other side of the cliffs ready to head down the rope.

 

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At the bottom of the rope, I caught and skinned a couple of rabbits, taking shelter in a cozy cave. Having gathered a few mushrooms around the area, I saw the hint of Aurora in the clouds and admired the view off the cliffs for a brief instant before collecting more sticks. Aurora meant wolves. A big fire was due for the night so none of them would risk venturing into my cave.

 

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The following morning I found no sign of wolves. The weather was glamorous. Heading for the rope, I spotted two rabbits begging to be eaten, thus the climb was postponed to catch them and cook them.

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I chuckled and hippedy hopped in glee when the last cooked rabbit piece promoted me to become the master of master chefs! I am the best cook ever in this frozen wasteland! The first thing this glamorous cook did was eat a pack of 0% sardines found on the cave floor.

There was a newly appeared wolf waiting not far from the cave entrance, but I just laughed at him as I snuck by. I had skinned and laid to cure four rabbit pelts and four guts, dealing with all the stinky stuff prior to his arrival.

Without much further ado, I grabbed onto the rope, fully resolved to face the dangers of Milton.

Edited by tulkawen
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I didn't stay in Milton long. More like passed it by on the way to the Hushed River Valley. The Orca gas station was guarded by three wolves. This meant, I literally crawled on my stomach all the way to Milton, somehow ending up on top of the hill where a solitary house stands. That's where I spent the night. The risk had paid off, my inventory was filled with zero percent peaches and dog food from the gas station, plus one more can at the house.

 

I rather welcomed a -66C blizzard next morning. I had been eaten too many times beside this house by wolfy residents. I rolled down the hill as fast as I could, trying my best to end up in town and not at the river. As short as my trip was to the nearest house, I still almost turned into icicle.

 

Reinforced by a couple of hours of sleep and better weather, I ran across the bridge to Church, pursued out of town by the local population. With only a short stop at the trailer, I proceeded to the connecting cave system and the wondrous sights of the Hushed River Valley, beautiful and deadly.

 

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My aim was to gather cattails along the Stairsteps lake and return with a filled stomach, however, the change in weather and encroaching cold pushed me to seek shelter in the depth of this wilderness, eventually finding a secure cave surrounded by thistle. There I spent a number of nights, surveying the area and harvesting, well aware, that I was running past the 80th day. Some night were blizzards and some filled with stars.

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Soon the area was depleted and while thinking about the comforting lights of Milton housing, my survivor also sought food more plentiful at the HRV than a few stale cans at the city. Eventually, she stealthed away from wolves that began appearing regularly and closer to the cave each day, and followed the river and up the rope. Another open cave greeted my survivor, meanwhile, the wolves have taken down a deer.

 

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While the wolf was persuaded by fire to abandon his dinner, he employed helping paw from another wolf and together they kept peering over the nearest snowdrifts and waiting for the night to fall.

 

I've taken and cooked as much as I could from the deer, but the night prompted me to return to the shelter of the cave, except, it turned out to be a challenging enterprise. As soon as I began walking away from the fire, torch in hand, I heard multiple growls from various directions, more the creepier because I was surrounded by minor hills and unable to see the source. Eventually I started another fire to keep the threat at bay. Yet, growls in the dark continued. The risk was taken to back away with the torch from the fire, hoping to reach the cave and not stumble right into a wolf.

 

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Eventually I was safe and pleased having taken a lot of meat from that deer, yet, one could never be too safe in the long dark and I had to keep moving day to come.
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I've eaten lots of deer meat and journeyed to the Monolith Lake. The trees around it bore the markings of a Moose, yet, as I claimed a cozy cave behind a waterfall and spent a few days climbing peaks around the area, Mr Big Shot never showed up.

 

The cave I found belonged to another survivor a real trooper who could beat wolves with rocks since there was a wolf pelt and guts on the cave floor and another dead wolf in the cave. Though it seemed man and wolf have traded the fatal blows and sadly this man no longer was able to share his survival story with me. To my delight, the filled belly prompted the well fed buff to appear, very useful hence I found another prybar, a hacksaw, and wolf skin pelts, the space for my inventory was overflowing quite a bit.

 

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I intended to return to the cave where I had left the unfinished deer by taking a long climb down the rope, but on the way a blizzard had overtaken me. Stumbling and disoriented, I bumped into a cave system still unexplored. I got drenched by the inner waterfall and found a hidden cache that had three clothing items, most useful since my last two cloth pieces were used up to repair my bedroll, while some clothing items had dropped under 70% I've been at HRV for a while, coming past day 90. Then joy of joys, I suddenly saw another wolf on the cave floor, this would be a 3rd wolf pelt for someone who had no arrows to hunt any wolves!

 

Having taken the pelt, my survivor moved on. Eventually discovering a different cave exit. Up on the hill not far from the entrance there was another dead wolf! Four pelts is a jacket, I thought merrily and skinned the wolf by a blazing fire. The morning was bright. Having climbed up some roots and then hacked my way through a line of bushes, I soon saw the rope and a way to circle back to my deer meat cave. But, first I had to collect my wolf skins left to dry.

 

The fire where I had cooked the wolf was still burning. I approached hoping to find warmth, but instead found disaster. My foot slipped and I stepped into the fire. My survivor screamed as I valiantly struggled to get away from the burning flame. STUCK! I jerked this way and that trying to get away as my health plummeted alarmingly! Finally, the stones entrapping me let me go and I stumbled away with forty percent health. Luckily, there was rosehips tea and bandages in my inventory to sooth the burn. Hissing in pain, I stumbled towards the cave and hid inside to build another fire for more rosehips tea brewing and then worked on repairing my damaged clothes and health. It would have been foolish to perish so close to my goal.

 

It was best to not move from the spot and hideout until my health was better. Though the winds yet grew colder, each day bearing -40C temperatures, I sensed a change in the winds, a slight hope. Perhaps, the weather was throwing it all out there, a test of endurance, before it would grace us with the first stirrings of spring. I certainly hoped so. I waited.  

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34 minutes ago, Swales said:

Love those free wolf pelts in HRV. I'm really enjoying this adventure log, I hope you keep it up! And good luck on the long climb back from 40% health.

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the read. :)

HRV has so much valuable stuff tucked in various corners, including moose satchel, though on easier modes, and you do need a hatchet to find it all, but it's so worth the time exploring.

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Having licked my wounds sufficiently and eaten a good portion of the cattails stock, I climbed down the rope and went back to the deer cave. Some firewood had to be left on the cliff due to all the stuff I've been carrying.

 

Dropping off most wolf pelts to cure, I relocated the deer meat abandoned in snow by an extinguished campfire around the lake, which luckily hadn't been nommed by the plentiful wolves that were sneaking around.

 

The following morning I moved past the lakes. The wolves were absent and the crow calls announced another visitor in the area, strolling around early morning and feeling more comfortable than I was with the -40C temperatures.

 

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Not wanting the risk of running into the noms inclined wildlife, I went back to the cave where I built cozy fire. Comfortable and protected by its blaze, I took a seat on a cured wolf pelt and looked at the valley beyond.

 

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Yes, the feeling was penetrating down to my bones, the spring was coming. I saw it in the blue-ish mist thinly veiling the air and in the sway of the plucked rosehip bushes.

 

My mind drifted, forging new plans. I will soon undertake a perilous journey back to Milton before the rivers and lakes become unfrozen and block the way out. At the trailer, I will craft a fancy wolf jacket. Perhaps, I will find a hammer in one of the Milton corners. I will descend into the vast ravine and emerge in the Muskeg to forge those arrowheads once and for all. If not then the spring will be warm enough to undertake the dangerous journey to Pleasant Valley where I could reclaim my two hammers. The Desolation Point forge is just at hot. The seasons will cycle back to another winter and I will meet it again, better armed and better prepared.

 

With these thoughts the evening spread its shadowy wings over the Hushed River Valley and I went to sleep. There I met my 100th long dark night.

 

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@BareSkin

Good Ser,

 

Challenge Completed! 😊

 

100 days SW0 :peaches:

 

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