Drifting through Great Bear

[conanjaguar]

1 hour ago, Drifter Man said:

I stand up too early and one starts following me. I lead it away from his friends and start a campfire - I needed to warm up anyway. I drive the wolf away by throwing torches: the wolf runs right towards me and basically though me and the fire.

Rusty always was a bit of a pyromaniac.

[Drifter Man]

I could see the sparkle in his eyes when I poured in the accelerant 

[Drifter Man]

Day 70

I sleep until almost noon to get fully rested after having rope-climbed myself to exhaustion in the Ravine.

When I wake up, I am stunned by the silence. It is foggy and nothing moves outside. Felt -9°C, ideal weather. Soon I am on the move.

I cross the Raven Falls Trestle, the first time in this run but hopefully not the last.

Once in CH, I drop meat above Bear Creek and continue to Train Unloading. I warm up in the trailer and find some food in there. When I leave the trailer, it is still foggy, felt -1°C: almost sauna.

Then I descend along the creek until I reach Rabbit Grove. The weather clears up. I drop the meat at the cabin and continue to the Bear Creek Campground. The only thing of interest that I find there is the deer carcass. I decide to use the sunlight that has just appeared to start a fire and process the carcass while constantly being on guard against the campground owner.

Indeed, he does not like off-season guests and shows up just as I am finished with the deer, forcing me into a hasty retreat.

I return to the cabin and come back a while later. I watch the bear leave, then I pick up the rest of the deer I earlier had to leave behind. It is almost night now, time to look for shelter. I stay at Rabbit Grove overnight.

[Drifter Man]

Days 71-73

OK, I made some mistakes and the situation isn't too rosy right now. I failed to follow the basic TLD rule to make use of good weather when it happens.

On Day 71, I spent the morning still in the cabin at Rabbit Grove because of the strong winds outside. I made a bunch of repairs and ended up having clothing with a comfortable +28°C temp bonus. Around noon I left for the cabin on the way to the Fishing Camp. I avoided the campground - which was a good idea, because the bear was patrolling there again and I had some meat on me. From the cabin I headed up to the road between Unloading and Log Sort, now in perfect weather. I heard an unfamiliar sound and it took me a few seconds to realize that it is the sea. I haven't been near the sea in this run yet.

I visited the trailer and the isolated cabin near the road from Unloading to Log Sort. These structures made me remember my first pilgrim run, in which I got the old "exploration game" achievement. Back then, it took me a long time to find this road. I believe the trailer was the last interior location that triggered the achievement for me.

At the cabin, I knocked out two rabbits and cooked them at a campfire. The weather was still excellent and there still was some time left until darkness, but I decided to stay around the cabin. I still had this piece of rabbit meat I couldn't eat and I didn't want to carry it around. In addition, at that time I though about returning to the Fishing Camp next morning.

The next morning came and the weather was again perfect - Day 72. I ate the rabbit and should have gone to the sea to get more food. Instead I wasted half of the day searching the Cinder Hills mine, finding a ton of coal but not much else. When I exited the mine, the sky was already overcast and it was snowing heavily. I headed back down to Log Sort. As soon as I started a fire next to a deer carcass, a blizzard immediately blew it out and forced me to take shelter.

The blizzard raged into the night. I started running low on food: I ate the MRE I found in the Ravine Basin and made a dent in my last-ditch reserve of cattail stalks. The morning of Day 73 was again very cold and windy - I only managed to reach the mine shaft with the elevator. After I returned to Log Sort and warmed up inside, another blizzard arrived, ruining yet another afternoon.

I chose to sleep and left Log Sort at dusk, as soon as the blizzard ended. The weather was still pretty bad.

I could not see any deer outside - only wolves - and eventually parked for the night in the ice fishing hut at the Fishing Camp. Fishing seemed to be the only source of food at hand. I lit a fire in the stove - I had plenty of coal on me, so fuel was not an issue - and kept fishing until almost dawn. The result was disheartening: I only caught two trout, barely enough to put something in my stomach.

Before daybreak I finally moved through the Fishing Camp - not much food in there, old jerky and a ruined can of milk that I could throw away - and then returned to the cabin above the camp for a few hours of sleep.

Now I am out of food and I am thinking that I should ration my cattails at the cost of giving up the well fed buff. Which doesn't sound like a huge problem, but with my reduced recovery rate, the starvation exploit is harder to pull off than on interloper.

[conanjaguar]

@Drifter Man

I would recommend going to loot the Coastal Townsite, and then possible Desolation Point for the Stim in the Lighthouse.

[Drifter Man]

3 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

@Drifter Man

I would recommend going to loot the Coastal Townsite, and then possible Desolation Point for the Stim in the Lighthouse.

The Townsite is high on the list because I think I can find the Holy Grail there: the second pair of wool underwear  I had been putting it off, waiting for Cooking Level 5. I'll probably have to kill a few wolves to get in and I don't want them to go to waste.

Stims aren't too important for me. It's not a deadman run. I have one on me at all times, for emergencies, plus a couple more stored around the island. But I plan to visit every location of interest in CH and DP in the coming days.

[Drifter Man]

Day 74

Clearly, the priority is food. I decide to leave early and search the ice, not stopping until I hit a deer, except when I really need to warm up. I find a deer near Jackrabbit island, hit it with an arrow, and follow it to Misanthrope's island, where I process the carcass in the afternoon despite strong winds. The proceedings of the day are captured in this video:

Day 75

I wake up at Misanthrope's and when the breakfast is finished, half of the deer is gone. I'm going to need more. It's a beautiful morning, if a little windy, so let's use well it this time.

I walk towards the road between Log Sort and the Coastal Wolfsite, where I find another deer "grazing" on the ice. I manage to send it into a wolf:

The wolf brings the deer down it close to the Wolfsite, a bit too close for comfort. I shoot it with the arrow, take note of the direction where the wolf ran off, and do a round to bring fire and sticks. Thick fog falls on CH in the meantime, so I have to approach the carcass very carefully - I can hear a bear near the Wolfsite. When I reach the carcass, there are bear footprints nearby.

I wait until I can't hear the bear anymore, then start taking the meat. Always by 1 kg, then listen for a while for the bear. I won't harvest the hide or guts in here, this place is too dangerous for that. In late afternoon the fog starts lifting and I eventually cook all of the deer. In the meantime I check the Wolfsite for wolf traffic.

I leave the cooked meat in place - I am tired and don't want to carry it over the ice with these wolves following me. I'll get back for it later. Instead I head back to search for the wolf I killed at the deer. I find the carcass easily between the islands and recover my arrow.

Day 76. Cooking Level 5.

After spending the night at Jackrabbit, I move back to the Fishing Camp with the goal of searching the rest of this part of CH, towards Rockfall. Again, I'll need some food in this place. This time there are three deer near the Fishing Camp. I hit one, which takes a long time to bleed out, but eventually I get the carcass in a good place near the Fishing Camp. I work on it until the night and harvest it completely. In the process I get Cooking Level 5.

This is perhaps the greatest skill-related transformation for my survivor - I can eat wolves and bears now, which greatly increases the available food supply. Food will get easier from now on. The second big goal - archery 5, which would let me fire the bow when crouched - is still far off.

Day 77

I explore most of the area around Rockfall in the morning. There's a car parked on a bridge leading towards Rockfall with a note on the back seat. I get in the front seat and almost fail to notice that I'm sitting on a book. I get into the car from the other side to grab it.

A blizzard soon forces me back to the Fishing Camp. I wanted to go up the Bear Creek to replenish my emergency food supply, which is down to 9 cattails and a box of crackers. Instead I spend the rest of the day reading.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Drifter Man

[Drifter Man]

Days 78-86

There aren't many exciting things happening, so I decided to reduce my frequency of reporting and present mainly the high-level situation.

After getting Level 5 cooking at the Fishing Camp, I finally moved on to the Coastal Wolfsite and cleared out its usual inhabitants. I searched the houses and settled in the cabin above the Wolfsite - my favorite base in CH and one of the few places where you don't have wolves spawning right at your doorstep.

In the next few days I searched the roads and slopes between Log Sort, the Wolfsite and the Abandoned Lookout. For the most part the weather was helpful and the only threat was from the bear.

After this I moved on towards Commuter's Lament. I searched all major locations in CH, except the elevator mine shaft, but did not find the Holy Grail. My last hope was the car near the Lament. Unfortunately, it only had a rifle on the back seat, useless to me at this stage.

Upon arriving in Crumbling Highway, I shot two wolves patrolling on the ice and made camp in the cave near the Arch. On the next day I searched this small region end to end. For the several hours I was walking around, I could not hear a single howl, and I dropped my guard. The punishment came soon:

This was my second wolf brawl in this run, and the first that was somewhat serious. I took a moderate hit to my condition, which would take two nights of sleep to heal - I reduced wolf condition damage in the custom settings, so the wolves should be a bit more damaging than on stalker but not the usual interloper terminators. My clothes did not suffer any damage.

Later I found the wolf carcass and, having taken some more meat for myself, I passed through the mine to Desolation Point. Next day I visited Katie's corner and eventually parked in the No. 5 mine as my next temporary base, to wait out an afternoon blizzard and to heal at night.

[Gooner77]

Another wonderful piece of storytelling (and this time with video!). Ever thought of taking up streaming? 

[Drifter Man]

On 8/17/2022 at 3:39 AM, Gooner77 said:

Another wonderful piece of storytelling (and this time with video!). Ever thought of taking up streaming? 

No, that wouldn't work for me, but it's great to hear that you've been enjoying the story.

I'm finding (again) that these long runs with reduced difficulty are hard to translate into interesting writing (or video). It's mostly just walking from one place to another...

[Drifter Man]

Days 87-91

One thing is certain: the Holy Grail is not in Desolation Point.

I crisscrossed the small region, visiting all the major and minor locations. Stone Church, No. 5 mine, Hibernia Processing, Broken Bridge, the Riken, Lighthouse and whatnot.

I observed the local wildlife. From the last run, I remember that DP is fairly easy to handle. One bear and two wolves at Hibernia, joined by a third at night - when you kill them, they will not reappear for a long time, maybe 20 days. Two other wolves that move between the Stone Church and the Lighthouse - same story. Meanwhile, the weather is mild. DP is a friendly region for interlopists, even though food can get a little scarce.

I got to Harvesting Level 5 while processing a wolf near Hibernia. I paid a visit to Scruffy - I used my usual hyper-careful tactics and waited a few hours for poor Scruffy to die:

I noticed that poor Scruffy was limping after the hit - I haven't seen this animation for a long time, but I remember that wolves used to slow down limp before dying. After processing Scruffy, I searched the cave - it had a rifle and some food as well as Scruffy's own miniature branches. As far as I know, they can only be found in this cave.

But no Holy Grail! Back in No. 3 mine, ready to leave, I realized that I am being tested. Soon I will have to answer the fundamental question of The Long Dark: How far will you go to get a second pair of underwear?

I recounted the few places remaining where it could still be.

• Echo ravine - the cave and one container I did not open in the early days, when I ran out of hacksaws in TWM
• A bunch of other places in TWM - the Echo peaks, Forest Cave
• Ash Canyon - the ravine that leads to Shattered Cove, the wolfy passage between Angler's Den and the Long Falls, Foreman's Retreat and Homesteader's Respite
• Anywhere between the Long Curve and Three Strikes in PV
• Anywhere the Lonely Homestead area in PV
• Random bunker in PV (good luck finding it if you don't know where they are)
• One of the lockers that I left unopened back when I had no prybar - also in PV
• The elevator mine shaft in CH
• The cars on the Spruce Falls bridge in MT
• Blackrock and Bleak Inlet - two regions I'd prefer to avoid at this time.

Still many difficult places.

Day 92

Today I went for a long walk. I crossed Crumbling Highway and passed through heavy fog to the coastal house above the Wolfsite, my base in CH. The weather was holding, and I continued upwards, past the Abandoned Lookout and though the Cinder Hills mine to PV. It's always a temperature shock when you arrive in PV from the warmer regions near the sea - and PV welcomed me with bad weather straight away.

The blizzard broke out as I was nearing the End of the Road. Fortunately I was right at the nearby cave and took shelter in there.

My plan is to continue via Derelict Cabins () to TWM and to search the few remaining places there that could still have the Holy Grail.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Drifter Man

[conanjaguar]

@Drifter Man

Keep it up!

By the way, are there any regions that you have not extensively snowballed?

[Drifter Man]

22 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

@Drifter Man

Keep it up!

By the way, are there any regions that you have not extensively snowballed?

Well, I only ever snowballed in TWM. Other regions that are suitable for snowballing are HRV, FM and I would say even Ash Canyon would work, although it has a loading screen cabin. I briefly tried HRV but it didn't work well for me...

[Drifter Man]

Day 93

I wake up early and use the starlight to read a few chapters in a book for pyromaniacs. Another long day awaits me. With the first rays of sunlight, I start a fire and make a few liters of water plus a cup of big moose kicks to kick me out of the cave.

It is still early morning but light fog falls soon and the temperature is tolerable. I inspect the car and corpse at the End of the Road and make my first warming break at the Derelict Cabins. A second break comes in the bear cave on the way to Misty Falls, which in my run has no bear.

Near the road bridge I notice a wolf patrolling near Point of Disagreement and realize that this is another place I still need to check out.

At Misty Falls I choose to continue towards the bunker without a stop in the cave. The crest of the hill on the way can be treacherous, so I ask a rabbit to test the waters for me:

I don't get to recover my arrow. After a warming break in the bunker, I go searching for the wolf in the general direction of the blood trail, but only run into a bear. In the end I give up and return to the climb.

A couple hours later I am at the Mountaineer's Hut, safe but hungry. I end up eating the MRE I found inside Scruffy's cave - that didn't last long. Fortunately, I find a deer on Crystal Lake, and as the last thing of the day, I drive it into a wolf and get a wolf-deer combo. Food shouldn't be a problem for the next few days while I'll be visiting the places I skipped in the first days of my run. Mountaineer's Hut is the perfect base for my plans.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Drifter Man

[conanjaguar]

8 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Well, I only ever snowballed in TWM. Other regions that are suitable for snowballing are HRV, FM and I would say even Ash Canyon would work, although it has a loading screen cabin. I briefly tried HRV but it didn't work well for me...

Perhaps when/if Uther finally fades, I will give snowballing another go... on a separate thread, of course, to avoid wasting precious knights.

[Drifter Man]

On 8/20/2022 at 7:27 AM, conanjaguar said:

Perhaps when/if Uther finally fades, I will give snowballing another go... on a separate thread, of course, to avoid wasting precious knights.

Yeah go for it - knighthood is not required for snowball status

[Drifter Man]

So, I kind of abandoned the run in TWM. There's one thing I'm not happy about in my setup: weather variability. In regions like CH it is ok, but in TWM the weather goes wall to wall several times a day. I don't like that. Maybe I'll try the opposite - minimal weather variability. 

[conanjaguar]

1 hour ago, Drifter Man said:

Maybe I'll try the opposite - minimal weather variability. 

The risk of that is that if the weather gets bad, it will stay bad for a while! But, I guess that’s good, eh?

Edited August 24, 2022 by conanjaguar

[Drifter Man]

On 8/25/2022 at 12:15 AM, conanjaguar said:

The risk of that is that if the weather gets bad, it will stay bad for a while! But, I guess that’s good, eh?

Yes, that's the idea - it would be challenging in a different way, and more suitable for a long run game.

Just couldn't get around to playing TLD recently. The new run will have to wait

[Hotzn]

On 7/2/2022 at 10:03 AM, Drifter Man said:

At the time of writing, the survivor is just 4 days old and not yet out of the woods, but he is ready to start reporting  I should alert Professor @Hotzn of the Royal Academy of TLD Sciences, in case he finds the time to log in here in between his conferences and invited speeches.

+1 for the alert.

[Drifter Man]

On 10/6/2022 at 2:32 AM, Hotzn said:

+1 for the alert.

You're always most welcome here. I'll let you know again if/when I launch another survivor with public reporting