The tales of King Arthur’s brave knights

[conanjaguar]

12 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Insanity is taking over this survivor. Another soul is lost.

Water... must make more water... boil more water...

Indeed. I must be sure to visit St. Christopher’s Church in the near future. All the fonts need to be filled up with holy water... so why not?

Oh, and a very quick tale, fortunately not mine! Possibly by the youngest person ever to play The Long Dark...

DAY 1: Stefan started in the Wood Lot by Orca, in warmish but snowy weather. The dead man in the little shack had a hatchet on him, but the Station was locked up tight. Stefan then made his way up to the Ranger Station.
In a freak incident, he managed to hit one of the rabbits on the way up without aiming! However, he misclicked and off it went on it’s merry way. As a blizzard was mounting, Stefan ran into the Station, finding a few assorted odds and ends, but no rifle. With hypothermia risk rearing it’s ugly head, Stefan had no fuel; not even a stick! So he blindly stumbled around in the dark, intent on committing suicide so he could start again. He fell.

Edited August 5, 2022 by conanjaguar

[Drifter Man]

4 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

Oh, and a very quick tale, fortunately not mine! Possibly by the youngest person ever to play The Long Dark...

I agree, it is important to teach them to use WASD, perhaps even before they learn to walk in real life

[conanjaguar]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:31 PM, Drifter Man said:

I agree, it is important to teach them to use WASD, perhaps even before they learn to walk in real life

Indeed it is.

[conanjaguar]

Hmmm... nothing seems to be going right. I think that I’ll take a break from ‘Loper and return to Stalker.

[Leeanda]

3 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

Hmmm... nothing seems to be going right. I think that I’ll take a break from ‘Loper and return to Stalker.

Have you thought of doing a custom loper in the mean time . Just until  you're more comfortable with it?

[conanjaguar]

8 hours ago, Leeanda said:

Have you thought of doing a custom loper in the mean time . Just until  you're more comfortable with it?

Indeed I have, but I want to get the feats.

[Leeanda]

10 minutes ago, conanjaguar said:

Indeed I have, but I want to get the feats.

Ahh I see.  .  I don't envy you the fire badge. It took me nearly three years🙂 in-between the odd custom runs of course. But I'm on pilgrim so fires aren't as necessary . 

It would be nice to get them on custom though. 

Good luck with the new run.👍🙂

[conanjaguar]

YET ANOTHER TRY ON THE KEGSTAND:

To avoid wasting another Knight on this “little obsession” of mine, I will break tradition, and present this tale in the first-person. 
Difficulty: Interloper, with two feats (Free Runner and Cold Fusion).
.
.
.

DAY 1: I awoke near the waterfall in Forlorn Muskeg. The day was clear and sunny, but the bitter cold bit through my pathetic hoodie and pair of jeans. Three questions were in my befuddled mind: 

1. Who am I?
2. How did I get here?
3. Why am I out in the weather with barely any clothes on?

I decided to put those questions aside as I trudged up the slope towards a radio tower that I had noticed, picking some cattails along the way. The tower was dead; silent. Nearby was a dead man, half buried in the snow. After overcoming my slight moral revulsion, I pried a hidden candy bar from between his stiff fingers. After checking his backpack, I was pleasantly surprised; he had a can opener in his bag! The container yielded a cotton toque. I halted briefly to enjoy the view.

After tucking the newfound loot into my pack, I continued on, making a beeline for the crashed train that I somehow knew was there. Everything seemed familiar, like I had been here before. Once inside the Poacher’s Camp, I lit a fire in the fire barrel with a flare and a few pieces of coal that I found lying around. After warming up and boiling some water, I pulled a few torches and set out for the Spence Homestead. 

As I approached the Homestead, the wind picked up, blowing out my torch just as I was thinking: “Maybe I don’t need to waste a match after all”. As I was freezing, I quickly picked some more cattails and snuck past the wolves, entering the Homestead. Scattered around were the usual sewing kit, box of matches, and hacksaw, as well as the seeds of the universe in the crates. However, I found four other items that turned my happiness at having made it into full-blown elation. These were a can of peaches, a copy of Survive the Outdoors, a full jerrycan, and a Ragged Mackinaw Jacket! Overjoyed with my luck, I set about breaking crates and scrub bushes in between bouts of boiling water. Before bed, I prepared four cups’ worth of Reishi mushrooms and made tea. I ate the dog food for supper, put more fuel on the forge (organizing it as well), and went to bed for nine long hours.

DAY 2: I awoke late in the morning, with about two hours of heat left in the forge. A light fog had settled outside, and temperatures were ideal for stick gathering. This activity occupied my every waking moment; by noon, over fifty sticks were laying on the snow in front of the forge. However, after I ate the can of peaches for lunch, I noted three things.

1. My food supply was down to seven cattails, just enough to sleep all night if I starved until then.
2. Although the pile of sticks was growing, the stacks of reclaimed wood and coal were shrinking at an alarming rate. 
3. I had no idea where rabbits and deer spawned!

After considering this for a while, I decided that the best course of action would be to simply collect sticks for the remainder of the day; it was too windy to travel. I mostly stayed close to the Homestead, collecting sticks and enjoying the sunset.
However, that night, I was wildly irresponsible. I ran out for sticks with an hour left on the forge. After breaking two scrub bushes, I ran back just in time to rescue the embers! Another time, with the forge having an hour left (again), I ran out to break a single scrub bush. When I returned, the forge was dead, and I had to squander a match to get it going again. After this fiasco, I dumped the rest of my reclaimed wood into the forge and got in four hours of sleep.

DAY 3: I awoke with an empty stomach and set out for the broken Shortwave Tower. The wind was blowing fiercely, so torchwalking was not an option. Thus I guaranteed my demise at the hands of the local wolves (and I now know why it has been called Wolf Alley be previous Kegstanders). The first one noticed me almost immediately, but I was fortunate enough to bop his noggin with a rock. However, as I pushed on, his twin had killed something... a rabbit?! I attempted to sneak past, but the wolf noticed me. This time, though, my aim was not true...
R.I.W

RUMINATIONS: So, it turns out that Wolf Alley has rabbits! In future Kegstanding attempts, I should light a fire back in the cave up there, from which to operate from in by rabbit-stoning endeavors. It will also serve as a “torch station”, so to speak.

Hopefully, by doing this, I can break the “Kegstand pattern”, which invariably goes like this:
Day 1, run to Poachers Camp, warm up, boil water, pick a few cattails. Pull torches and beeline to Spence’s. At this point I will either get lost in the fog, or the wind will blow out my torch. Light forge, break crates, eat dog food, and bed.
Day 2, Run around collecting sticks; break all scrub bushes and crates. Waste a match because the forge decides to randomly go out, use all remaining wood, eat all remaining food, sleep for a few hours.
Day 3, Go out in search of food and fuel. Meet a wolf, die.

Edited August 11, 2022 by conanjaguar
Added pictures

[Leeanda]

R.I.P.  

That's bad luck.    I thought you were trying another stalker run though?  Sorry if I mis-remembered again.

[conanjaguar]

4 hours ago, Leeanda said:

R.I.P.  

That's bad luck.    I thought you were trying another stalker run though?  Sorry if I mis-remembered again.

I had tried a few Stalker runs, but I had really bad luck with wolves spawning right around the corner. I will try a Stalkerloper run next. Reason: I love to craft, but I also love my rifle.

[Leeanda]

Just now, conanjaguar said:

I had tried a few Stalker runs, but I had really bad luck with wolves spawning right around the corner. I will try a Stalkerloper run next. Reason: I love to craft, but I also love my rifle.

Won't that mess with the feats?    

Have to agree about the rifle though. I really missed it on moose challenge.

Good luck whichever way you go. 👍

[conanjaguar]

1 minute ago, Leeanda said:

Won't that mess with the feats?    

Yeah, it will. However, I’m content with Free Runner and Cold Fusion for now.

[Leeanda]

Just now, conanjaguar said:

Yeah, it will. However, I’m content with Free Runner and Cold Fusion for now.

They are pretty useful feats to have.   Mind you I use five feats anyway but those two are the most necessary,at least in my opinion. 

[conanjaguar]

3 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

They are pretty useful feats to have.   Mind you I use five feats anyway but those two are the most necessary,at least in my opinion. 

Indeed... except that Darkwalker will likely come in handy on Endless Night.

 

@jeffpeng

By the way, on one of your Endless Night runs, have you noticed if the Darkwalker feat makes a difference? I should imagine that it would work all the time.

Edited August 11, 2022 by conanjaguar

[Leeanda]

Just now, conanjaguar said:

Indeed... except that Darkwalker will likely come in handy on Endless Night.

  Hide contents

@jeffpeng

By the way, on one of your Endless Night runs, have you noticed if the Darkwalker feat makes a difference? I should imagine that it would work all the time.

That's one I'll never do.  I don't even know what that does if I'm honest. 

[conanjaguar]

1 hour ago, Leeanda said:

That's one I'll never do.  I don't even know what that does if I'm honest. 

It’s supposed to make you less fatigued at night, but more fatigued during the day.

[Leeanda]

Just now, conanjaguar said:

It’s supposed to make you less fatigued at night, but more fatigued during the day.

Oh right. Thanks.  Completely useless for me then. I never travel at night.

I can see it would come in handy for some people though.

[conanjaguar]

Yesterday I created a new Stalkerloper Sandbox. The settings are Interloper base,  starting at noon in clear weather. With a rifle. Simple, right?

Starting location was Forlorn Muskeg.

The new survivor is not out of the woods yet, but he should start reporting this weekend!

[conanjaguar]

THE TALE OF SIR UTHER:

DAY 1: Uther awoke in the mushroom field near the entrance to Broken Railroad. However, as it was bitterly cold, and Smokey the Bear was on the prowl nearby, he decided to high-tail it to Spence “while the gettin’ was good”. Easy, boy...
By taking a wide, swerving path to the left, Uther was able to avoid both the thin ice and that Freight Train of Hate & Hunger, while simultaneously picking over a dozen cattails and wondering if jumping on its back would be a viable way to cross the thin ice.

However, he quickly dismissed these insane thoughts and hurried to Spence, avoiding Wolf Alley by taking said long route. As Uther came up to the Homestead, however, he noticed something brown moving in the distance. A moose? No, because there were at least two of them.

I then realized what we were looking at. In an ironical twist of fate, deer had spawned in the Homestead’s backyard on the one run when I decided I would take a break from Kegstanding. Laughing slightly, nay, shall I say, insanely, as THE BROTHER had taken over temporarily, Uther entered the Homestead, finding some the seeds of the universe and a copy of Field Dressing Your Kill, Volume 1, for which there is no Volume 2. There was no hacksaw, either. 
As Uther boiled water while breaking crates, he took a break to crack the safe. Within was a wool scarf and a brand new Mackinaw Jacket! After gloating over this, he went out to pick Reishi Mushrooms, noting that a very thick fog had settled in. #$@&!
My thoughts when this occurred are not printable. Suffice it to say that the ‘Keg was intent on keeping me, whether I liked it or not. Sighing sadly, Uther vented his rage on the crates, then made seven cups of Reishi Tea. After filling up the forge with reclaimed wood, Uther hit the sack for ten hours.

DAY 2: Uther awoke with two hours left on the forge, in time to watch the sun come up over the Muskeg. Now all I need is coffee!
Temperatures were fairly nice, only two arrows down (I think flt around -15C), so Uther set out for the Poachers Camp (torchwalking of course), picking enough cattails to get the supply up to 30. After scaring off the local wolves, he lit up a quick fire in the fire barrel to warm up, boil water, and make a cup of Rosehip tea, before pulling nearly a dozen good torches and setting out for Mystery Lake.

Smokey was a bit of a problem, getting in Uther’s way on multiple occasions.As Uther was exhausted by now, he and the bear kept up a steady pace, until Smokey decided to mosey along to the right. A fierce wind was picking up, and before Uther reached Trapper’s, a blizzard had started.Half dead from cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Uther entered Trapper’s, immediately lighting a fire (mistake #1), and using a piece of birch bark as tinder (mistake #2). After a quick look aroun, he slept for 10  hours

DAY 3: Uther awoke shortly after sunrise, to a light fog and extremely mild temperatures (flt -4C). After organizing his gear (hammer, prybar quality tools, 35 cattail heads!) somewhat, Uther left Trappers, noting the moose grazing in the distance.

After a short torchwalk to the rail line, while licking up birch bark along the way, Uther had his first run-in with Rusty, who was overly enthusiastic at the return of his master. However, as we had no time to play, Uther drove Rusty off by throwing him a rock to fetch.Hey there, Rusty! Nice doggie! Go fetch!
Aside from this brief incident, the rest of the hike to the Camp Office was uneventful, and Uther soon greeted the Prince of The Forest before ducking inside. 

A brief search of the Office held no surprises, except for sneaky bullets! The steward is indeed a scurvy knave!
The chief counselor was not there, so Uther took the liberty of lighting up the stove, using ANOTHER piece of Birch Bark as tinder! After brewing and drinking a cup of Birch Bark Tea and a can of soup, Uther set out for the Lake Cabins. It was soon apparent that Rusty had gotten there ahead of him and organized a welcome committee.
After the first scout spotted us, the pack moved in.However, after Uther waved a rock in their general direction, Rusty’s compatriots turned tail and ran, hurling insults over their shoulders.

Uther spent the rest of the day searching the Lake Cabins, finding only a few books, a tin of sardines, a package of ketchup chips, and a few more cattails. Supper consisted of the found food and a single cattail stalk; and so to bed.

RUMINATIONS: Ah, sweet ruminations. How I’ve missed you!
I think that Uther will finish with the looting of Mystery Lake, and hopefully find a hacksaw in the process. Then, we can move all the loot and a few saplings to Trapper’s, and then head back to Spence for a quick forging run. I’m thinking that two knives, a hatchet, and a half-dozen arrowheads should be enough for now. After all, we can always return to forge more. Finding a rifle somewhere along the line would be nice.

Then, we can attempt to summit Timberwolf Mountain for the revered, all powerful Distress Pistol and commence with some serious surviving!

[Guest jeffpeng]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:30 PM, conanjaguar said:

By the way, on one of your Endless Night runs, have you noticed if the Darkwalker feat makes a difference? I should imagine that it would work all the time.

In fact I never tried. But I guess it would - it's probably there for exactly that reason, because otherwise it's hardly a good feat.

[conanjaguar]

6 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

In fact I never tried. But I guess it would - it's probably there for exactly that reason, because otherwise it's hardly a good feat.

You should do a little TLD science; give another Ciaran a try, using that feat.

[conanjaguar]

DAY 4: In the Lonely Lake Cabin, Uther awoke bright and early to extremely cold temperatures, a light fog over the lake, and... the cawing of nearby crows! Confused, he chanced to look up, to see that the crows were directly over the cabin! Something clicked in my brain here.

Uther went around back, and, sure enough, there was a dead guy with a rifle. With 87% condition, to boot! Elated at this find, he made the long trek back to the Office, avoiding Rusty and arriving around noon. Entering the Office, Uther disdained the use of a match, instead warming up gradually by breaking chairs.

After about three hours of this activity, a tired Uther (mistake #3) set out for Trapper’s, ignoring the bitter cold and rising wind (mistake #4). About halfway there, Rusty barked! However, he was nowhere in sight, so... I did a bit of quick thinking and had Uther spin around 360 degrees with an aimed rock, scaring him off at almost the last possible second. Uther said hello to Max and continued on the long last mile.

Fifteen minutes later, a cold, tired, hungry Uther with 10% condition entered Trapper’s Cabin, lit a quick fire, boiled water, cracked the safe for a can of peaches, cooked and ate that, and collapsed in bed for ten hours.

DAY 5: Uther awoke a long time before the sun rose. Not content to merely pass time, he went out into the cold night and bopped a nearby rabbit. He took it in and harvested it, then cooked it, ate some of it, and went back to bed. After his snooze, Uther awoke around noon to the sounds of... a blizzard raging outside. There went my plans to go to the Trailers, Lookouts, and eventually the Carter Hydro. 

So, Uther passed time by reading his various books, organizing his base, and making water. Thankfully, the blizzard was a fairly short one, and soon Uther went back out, bopped another bunny, and repeated standard preparatory procedure, as defined in Field Dressing Your Kill, Volume 1, for which a Volume 2 shall never be printed. 
...
Going forward by about two hours, Uther is currently warming himself by the fire while cooking rabbit meat and making Birch Tea. It is almost sunset, and we don’t plan to do anything else, except maybe pick up sticks. The current ruminations stand.Stay warm out there everyone!

[conanjaguar]

DAY 5, PART 2: Well, my original plans for the rest of the afternoon bit the dust. As it was only -6C outside, Uther went to harvest the dead deer in the shed. Boy did that ever not work out!

First, upon reaching the carcass, I remembered that I needed fuel to thaw it out. So, Uther turned back to get some coal, when... BARK!!! So much for that. Apparently Rusty had sent one of his friends down, with his regards.

Without thinking, Uther brought up his rifle, and BANG! The wolf’s charge was halted, and it ran off, bleeding badly but not yet dead.

Determined not to let the bullet go to waste, Uther followed it as far as the Deadfall Area, but then lost it. However, another wolf came out of the blue (or should I say out of the white?). After numerous fruitless attempts to
“Live the Hotzn Way” by having the wolf attack a nearby deer, it finally settled for a rabbit that I had seen first. At least I got a free shot... which I completely botched, giving the wolf a free throat shave, but otherwise doing no damage. Uther watched in disbelief as the wolf ran off into the distance, and then went to pick up the rabbit and his shell casing. (Personal note: I need to be better about that)

However, the wolf was not done playing; it ran back down the hill, and, driven to a blood mad frenzy by the smell of all the meat I was carrying (Mistake #5), immediately adopted a charge stance. In a panic, Uther raised the rifle, closed his eyes, said a short prayer, and squeezed the trigger.I hit!!!
However, even though temperatures were fairly warm, it was windy. So, Uther built a stick fire behind the shelter of a nearby tree and commenced with the harvesting. He only got three or four kilos of meat off the carcass before it froze solid, and the sun began to set.

Paranoid now, Uther began torchwalking (or torchcrawling, as he was exhausted and overencumbered) in the direction that he thought would have led to Trapper’s. However, he sprained everything on that first hill, and night brought a thick fog. Great...

Somewhere along the way, Uther got turned around, and, in a haze of pain, he reached the train tracks, going left because it was evident that the Camp Office was nearer than Trapper’s. Looks can be deceiving.

The long walk was absolutely tortuous! The thick fog brought back Darkwalker flashbacks, and Uther found himself panicking at every little sound... which, considering my little brother (not that one) and sister were arguing over my head and THE BROTHER was playing Call of Duty, meant that he was panicked the. Entire. Time. The snapping of his bones now and then did not help, and several times I swore I could see something lurking in the fog. This is the closest thing to a horror experience that TLD has given me so far; even the Darkwalker was not this frightening. Attached are some screenshots of this nightmare hike.

Finally, Uther collapsed in the Camp Office bed, and slept a fitful sleep for ten hours.

[Leeanda]

That's a run of bad luck. But yet again you're still alive and kicking.👍🙂

[conanjaguar]

2 hours ago, Leeanda said:

That's a run of bad luck. But yet again you're still alive and kicking.👍🙂

If a wolf actually makes contact, it will take more than kicking to survive... Uther needs to go and forge ASAP.