Classic Deadman

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 12

I awake with the sun, and do a bit of inventory management. For some reason I drop the toolbox but keep my 8 sewing kits and 6 whetstones. The little things, y’know?

Pleasant Valley greets me with snowy pink fog that soon clears up. FLT -9C, no winds, perfect for travel. But… which way do I go? Left will take me to Thompson’s Crossing and the Farmhouse, and I think to the plane crash. So I go right.

I hike to the derelict cabins, make tea, shake off a wolf, and after another 30 minutes of hiking, I reach the point of disagreement. My gut tells me that I have screwed up; I begin to see burnt trees. Yep, I’m at the plane crash, and the weather is starting to turn sour. I have the navigational skill of a blind ptarmigan.

Since I’m here… might as well loot it. I find a third wool toque, two more pairs of thermal undies, a ski jacket, and a simple parka… I didn’t know that could spawn on ‘Loper+.

After more hiking, I find a cave with bunnies nearby, where I hole up for the night and repair my clothes. Now they are state of the badass art; two wool toques, wool mittens, work boots, two pairs of undies, combat pants/jeans combo, simple parka and ski jacket, for a +15C warmth bonus. Only thing wrong is my undershirts are rubbish, I haven’t found a single thin wool sweater yet.

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 13 / 76% condition

What’s on the schedule, chief? Well, first, I bop some bunnies to boost my calories, and then it’s walking, walking, and more walking through a 4C(!) sauna. I hug the cliffs in hope to find the exit, but eventually reach the farmhouse and collapse in the bed as a blizzard blows up.

Toby 7 / Day 14 / 76% condition

I wake up in the middle of an aurora and  read Wilderness Kitchen for two hours. The weather outside is a frigid -34C, so I sprint to the barn. The small one, I can never remember the difference between them.

After a bit of perilous plank parkour, I find a sweet rabbit hat and a pair of work gloves, which despite not really being designed for warmth are warmer than my brand new fleece mittens. About as warm as a toque, but way cooler looking

I cook and eat two potatoes and a can of peaches before I get back on track. My target: Signal Hill.

After just one sprain, I find the right path and start the last leg, taking a stand of four birch saplings along the way. Snip snip

I then hear a weird cooing sound. I ready my flares and rocks, wart for any tricks. At first I don’t see anything, and then… I see a flock of three ptarmigans! Is it a bird?

Thanks Hinterland 😁.

I manage to bop one before making my way into the radio shack just in time to avoid taking cold damage. Gobble gobble — *snap*

Macready, do you copy? Blair? Gary?

Inside I find some much-needed food, another tin of coffee (needed for Summiting), some electronic odds and ends, and a firearm cleaning kit… my fifth one of the run. Completely useless

Better take this for safekeeping… what safer place than in my stomach?

I harvest the ptarmigan, sleep an hour, and emerge once more into tropical paradise, FLT +5C in light grandma fog. Of course I forgot my sunscreen and beach blanket

And the bear is coming back, of course.  Are you sure you’re not the Old Bear, because you act like him

He’s four for four so far for spawning in inconvenient places. And it sounds like the heat has made him cranky.

I make a wide loop around him and look for that rope… it has to be around here somewhere. I pass the cave from ML and hit myself. I could have saved nearly an entire week if I had just stuck with tradition and gone through the Dam.

Eventually I somehow end up at Thompson’s Crossing. I loot the place and spend the night huddled next to the buried fire barrel to ditch cabin fever. I mean, really? I’ve spent the last four days outside.

Crom grins wickedly at me.

[FaT McMarlin]

Well if you're still going from the farm house, go up to the plane. Head up to nose and exist. Beware the wolves😂 head left and skirt right around a giant divot in the ground, you'll go towards the mountain face. Head right at the hunting blind. There might be wolves. Follow the rock face looking for a way left. You'll see a busted house and there's a bunker there to sleep in before you're accent.

[conanjaguar]

@FaT McMarlin I made it, eventually .

Toby 7 / Day 15 / 76% condition

It’s a light, -10C fog when I decide to get going. Little happens until I finally stumble upon my target: the exit!

I warm up for a bit in the bunker before drinking a cup of coffee and dashing up the rope. And at last… I’m in TWM.

It’s pretty much a straight line to the Hut, and I make it there with little difficulty. An hour of sleep to save and warm up, and I’m outta here. I decide to go the only way there is to go, left across Crystal Lake. Suggestion for Hinterland, can you guys hide a hockey mask in the fishing hut as an Easter egg?

I disremember much of what happened next, but it was mostly a looooooong walk to the base of… I think it was the second rope up, where I built a fire and tanked a blizzard, sleeping in one-hour increments in case the winds shifted.

Toby 7 / Day 16 / 76% condition

A cup of coffee and I’m up the rope! After a bit of nice, relaxing walking, I get scared out of my skin by a ninja wolf. I pop a flare in my panic (ouch) and wave him off before continuing to a rabbit grove and my first container! I build a two-hour fire, because I have no idea how long this will take.

Surprisingly, not much longer than harvesting burdock! I get four cans of tomato soup, some cloth, and some scrap metal.

From there, I hike to the three way cave and up to Deer Clearing, where I find little tracks in the snow.

They belong to Ptarmha Buddha, the ptarmigan who transcends to a higher dimension after I throw a rock at him and miss.I stared for a few seconds and them started laughing uncontrollably

I look for the rope, but nada! In hindsight, I probably would have found it if I looked a bit more carefully, but whatever. I duck inside the cave and am promptly taken to Ash Canyon… in a blizzard. Nope!

I rush back, leaving behind a carrot to make friends with the cave bunnies. I also not that there is no corresponding blizzard in TWM.

From there, I just wander aimlessly until I somehow reach the Wing, where I avoid the bear to saw open the container and get peaches, coffee, and herbal tea. I am dismayed to see that the Summit is even further away than it was just 20 minutes ago.

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined; It’s dusk, so night can’t be far behind; the weather is nasty; the whole world is against me. I sleep in the Forest Cave, using some of my extra cloth to get Mending level 2 while boosting my clothes to an impressive +17C warmth bonus.

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by conanjaguar
Peaches

[FaT McMarlin]

4 minutes ago, conanjaguar said:

@FaT McMarlin I made it, eventually .

Toby 7 / Day 15 / 76% condition

It’s a light, -10C fog when I decide to get going. Little happens until I finally stumble upon my target: the exit!

I warm up for a bit in the bunker before drinking a cup of coffee and dashing up the rope. And at last… I’m in TWM.

It’s pretty much a straight line to the Hut, and I make it there with little difficulty. An hour of sleep to save and warm up, and I’m outta here. I decide to go the only way there is to go, left across Crystal Lake. Suggestion for Hinterland, can you guys hide a hockey mask in the fishing hut as an Easter egg?

I disremember much of what happened next, but it was mostly a looooooong walk to the base of… I think it was the second rope up, where I built a fire and tanked a blizzard, sleeping in one-hour increments in case the winds shifted.

Toby 7 / Day 16 / 76% condition

A cup of coffee and I’m up the rope! After a bit of nice, relaxing walking, I get scared out of my skin by a ninja wolf. I pop a flare in my panic (ouch) and wave him off before continuing to a rabbit grove and my first container! I build a two-hour fire, because I have no idea how long this will take.

Surprisingly, not much longer than harvesting burdock! I get four cans of tomato soup, some cloth, and some scrap metal.

From there, I hike to the three way cave and up to Deer Clearing, where I find little tracks in the snow.

They belong to Ptarmha Buddha, the ptarmigan who transcends to a higher dimension after I throw a rock at him and miss.I stared for a few seconds and them started laughing uncontrollably

I look for the rope, but nada! In hindsight, I probably would have found it if I looked a bit more carefully, but whatever. I duck inside the cave and am promptly taken to Ash Canyon… in a blizzard. Nope!

I rush back, leaving behind a carrot to make friends with the cave bunnies. I also not that there is no corresponding blizzard in TWM.

From there, I just wander aimlessly until I somehow reach the Wing, where I avoid the bear to saw open the container and get peaches, coffee, and herbal tea. I am dismayed to see that the Summit is even further away than it was just 20 minutes ago.

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined; It’s dusk, so night can’t be far behind; the weather is nasty; the whole world is against me. I sleep in the Forest Cave, using some of my extra cloth to get Mending level 2 while boosting my clothes to an impressive +17C warmth bonus.

 

I wish I knew a good route for you to take to the summit. If you find Eric's Falls there's a good cave to rest in and a rope near by. The bear does go up that way and you've got to travel through the bear cave, like in Miners Folly, to get there though. But it's beautiful, has good amounts of killable food, bear, wolves, deer and a carcase if you're lucky. It's my preferred space in TWM to have a base away from the hut.

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 17 / 76% condition

I awake in my cave and head outside into the -30C cold. A wolf serenades me with a raucous glitchy voice, but I wave him off with a rock and make a run back to the hut, getting there mere moments after hypothermia risk sets in. No condition damage.

I sleep for an hour and organize my food stocks before going out to the lake to bag a rabbit and grab some cattails. A wolf starts chasing a deer, but alas, the deer is too fast, and I don’t get a free meal.

I head back to the Hut with the wolf on my tail. He starts a stakeout, so I cook the rabbit meat (0.9 kg, he was really skinny) and the rest of my teas and coffee, getting Cooking level 4.

My clothes are warm enough that I can sleep without fire, and that’s exactly what I do.

Toby 7 / Day 18 / 76% condition

I want to reach the summit before day 20, so I set out into the early morning fog. Nothing much happens for the first three ropes, until I reach a point where there is a… well, a very slight slope. Yes, I’m going to goat that, because it looks like it’ll take me that much closer to the Summit.

It costs me 3% condition and two sprains, but I reach the bottom still mostly in one piece.

I feel little horns sprouting on my head, the goat genes are taking over. But when I reach the rope… I find… I find… the place where I spent the night the other day. I have a good laugh at my thickheadedness before climbing the rope with a cup of coffee in my belly.
After a short walk, I make it to Deer Clearing, where I spend the night in the cave.

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 19 / 71% condition

I absentmindedly slept for 10 hours straight and lost some condition to dehydration. I kick myself, drink the last of my water, and put on another liter to boil while I explore the cave. I end up going all the way back to Ash Canyon to grab some cattails before heading back in to avoid aurora wolves. In the cave, I also stumble across a ravaged wolf carcass and a cooking pot. I harvest the wolf, of course, I’m always willing to risk parasites for a square meal.

When I get back, my fire has died and the water has boiled away, so I light it back up for breakfast and to boil 2L of water.

A bit of inventory management slims me down to 28 kg in my pack, and we’re off for the Summit!

(1 hour later)

Okay, that didn’t work. Quit and reload. A bit of inventory management slims me down to 28 kg in my pack, and then an hour of sleep so I don’t have to do it again, and we’re off for the Summit! FLT -10C and clear skies, what more could I ask for?

I have only one direction left to try, and it pays off. There is a narrow, steep path in the cliffside that I would have otherwise ignored, but I’ll try anything at this point. 

What? It leads somewhere?! I can see a rope in the distance and ptarmigans straight ahead. I manage to bag one, cook and eat its 1.5 kg of meat, down a cup of coffee, and I’m up the rope! New location discovered: Secluded Shelf. I take shelter in the cave to save.

When I emerge on the other side, the coffee’s bonus is giving out and I have 75% fatigue left, so I sleep ugh a blizzard the little cranny where so many have slept before me, harvesting a steak from the deer carcass and missing a shot at the ptarmigan.

After a short nap, it’s 9 PM. No time to make it so the summit? Watch me. FLT -4C with a torch in hand, I climb up the rope to the ledge, prepare ‘shrooms to catch my breath, and continue. And… it’s official; I have finally made the Summit of Timberwolf Mountain! The walk to the plane is ceremonial for me.

I take the stim and firestriker before sawing open all the crates. Peaches and crackers are still edible, and soda is, well, soda. Any energy bars that were here have decayed by now, unfortunately, but two tins of coffee are very welcome. I also get a second simple parka and a ear wrap, but no sweaters.

Eagerly, I approach the flare gun case. Three shells… and no flare gun?! For a second I panic, but then I spot the dead guy under the plane with something orange next to him. I build a fire and sleep after repairing some clothes.

Toby 7 / Day 20 / 71% condition

I hop down to the corpse, take his maple syrup, grab the flare gun, and shout triumphantly, my voice ringing back and echoing back from the cliffs. And then one thing bothers me… how do I get down from here? Only one thing to do… I bleat loudly; little horns sprout from my head; and I make it down to Crystal Lake after spraining everything but taking no condition damage.

I find a cairn, grab a random piece of coal laying on the ground, and collect cattails before returning to the Hut to sort through my loot. I eat two cans of peaches to celebrate and end up cooking coffee, boiling water, and harvesting/repairing clothes the res for the day.

Edited July 26, 2023 by conanjaguar
Flare gun

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 21 / 71% condition

Yes Toby, it’s another day of your miserable existence. FLT actually dropped to -0 degrees in the hut out of bed at one point. Those late loper temps…

 In preparation for the long walk, I take most of my stuff, but I can’t possibly take everything and be able to move at a decent rate. The loot goblin in me cries in pain as I leave behind 7 chunks of cedar firewood.

The weather is very nasty, -24C and the wind blowing in my face slows my progress to a crawl. I have to stop at the Landing Gear and warm up, cooking and eating a bunny and drinking herbal tea because the fire isn’t all that warm and I don’t want to use another coal.

Not much happens until I reach PV, when the wind rotates 180 degrees to blow at my back. I reach the rope, and, huddled behind a rock to shelter from that brutal wind, I have to drop three precious kg of items. Again, my soul bleeds, but sacrifices must be made. I drink a cup of coffee and head down the rope… I didn’t need the coffee, apparently. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

As soon as I touch the ground, I hear a wolf’s snarling bark. Is this the end? In panic, I light one of my precious flares and brace myself for the charge… and then I sheepishly realize that the wolf is running away from me, despite my smelliness (I was carrying a rabbit and two raw guts). Again, better safe than sorry.

I make my back down to the Point of Disagreement, finding a note about “Stims under the piano”. That’s… encouraging, I hope.

After a bit more walking, I stop to bag a ptarmigan. Bunny rabbits don’t have feathers and beaks! 

Things would only go downhill from here. A blizzard strikes seconds later, so I build a fire behind a rock, losing 1% condition to cold damage. Minutes later, the wind shifts 90 degrees. I have to finish cooking my can of peaches on the embers before I do more walking to shelter in a cave.

The blizzard lasts the rest of the afternoon! I harvest my ptarmigan and get a bit of sleep, then debate whether or it to cook it. No, I decide, I want to make a pie out of it, and it must be raw.

So… I carry smelly meat for most of the way back through awful temperatures before I have to stop for another fire, making coffee and peaches, and putting my shoes back on to avoid frostbite. As I look up from pulling torches, I realize that there is an aurora. Of course. Murphy’s Law, and all that.

I sneak past a wolf and duck into the church, finding loose boards in a piano… and inside, I find painkillers. Really? These notes need to be changed for Interloper, they are very misleading. I sleep for a bit, waking up fully rested in the middle of the night.

The aurora is gone, so I head out to the campsite I made on Day 14, thinking I have a skillet there. A wolf jumps me, and because of the stupid selection menu I can’t light my torch fast enough, since I also have to turn off my lantern. The wolf is out there… somewhere

So… I get mauled. I beat at the wolf with my crowbar, and somehow survive. Again. No blood loss, but I am down to a perilous 21% condition.

I let out the breath I’ve been holding, light my flare, and check the rim grill. No skillet, and nothing else really useful. All this was for nothing!

I duck into a nearby house and apply a stim, then sleep.

Ruminations

It would be so easy just to give up; to lay in the snow somewhere and die with dignity, I think to myself. However… I recall those immortal words. “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.” And as I Mutter them over and over again, a desperate plan begins to take shape. I will make it back through CH via the mine. From there, I will make a beeline to DP and the lighthouse stim, as well as checking Hibernia, because it’s supposed to be worth it. Then, back through CH to ML and on to FM for forging.

Now that I think about it, though… it makes more sense to go back to ML and get my hammer before doing all that. Might as well do my forging at the Riken.

”It’s impossible”, you say?

No… it’s necessary.

And if that fails… well, I already know what I want to do for my next run.

Edited July 30, 2023 by conanjaguar
Blizzard

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 22 / 34% condition 

The stim worked it’s magic, it seems. A Pleasant Valley Blizzard (TM) lasts all day. I spend time repairing my battered clothes (the ear wrap in particular went down to 3% condition), organizing my 40 kilograms of assorted loot in preparation for the long marathon to come, and then crafting improvised insulation by the light of an aurora.So. Much. ATMOSPHERE!

Toby 7 / Day 23 / 34% condition

I cook me a bowl of porridge before setting out just before noon. FLT -30C and wind blowing in my face, but at least I can see where I’m going!

A wolf barks as soon as I cross the bridge, but I “walk” him without using a precious flare. Presently I arrive back at Cinder Hills, where I do some inventory management. This involves:

• Eating 15 cattails
• Repairing my hacksaw to 100% to get rid of the scrap metal I’m carrying
• Dropping my toolbox
• It hurts my soul to drop the prybar, but a wolf struggle equals death right now.
• Taking 14 pieces of coal

I am just barely hovering at 34 kg carry weight, and off we go through the mine, emerging in CH, with clear weather and -4C FLT. I down a coffee and hop between trailers, scaring off a wolf on the way back to the Ravine.

I cross the Bridge of Death safely, harvest meat from a floating deer, and check a cave for tomato soup and a granola bar. After some contemplation, I lift my ban on birch bark tea, I’ll need every edge I can get at this point.

After more hiking, I end up spending the night in in that cave with a rope, where I gorge on venison and cook… well, a lot of tea. I down five cups of BBT for dessert.

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 24 / 68% condition

That BBT was really effective, I can see why Deadman purists despise the stuff.

Nothing much happened today, I just finished the walk to ML, crafted three Snares inside the Dam, said hello to Rusty, and spent all night cooking in the Camp Office. And oh yeah, and ptarmigans apparently spawn right outside the Office!I bopped one and crafted a second piece of insulation.

 

Toby 7 / Day 25 / 68% condition

I munch a ptarmigan pie and mosey along to Trappers’, thinking I have cured sapling there. If I did… I couldn’t find them. Since the weather is nice, I decide to get moving on to FM, stopping first on the little shed to brew hot coffee. I also find matches in the backpack. Well.

I down my coffee and start on my way… and then… GRRRROWWWRRRR!!! Sheeeeeeee-it

A bear?! Apparently ptarmigan pies are smelly enough to attract some furry friends.

I shoot the bear in the face with the flare gun and he drops dead mere feet in front of me. Steak and salad tonight

I reload the gun and quickly get a fire going, two fires, actually, and spend the rest of the day barbecuing him. The smell of roasting meat attracts a salesman who doesn’t go away. Pretty soon high winds rise and an aurora comes out… but I don’t know when to quit. What could go wrong?

In the wee hours of the morning, I get thoroughly chewed on… but I survive. Again. With 21% health. Again. Three out of three maulings on Interloper is just incredible! I bandage my bleeding wound and make my way back to the cabin with the wolf hot on my tail.

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 26 / 21% condition

A very lazy day. I went through the cave system to Milton to grab some coal, set up my Snares at the rabbit grove, smashed some furniture, and cooked most of the bear meat. I get halfway to cooking level 5 before getting exhausted and going to bed after downing some more BBT. Of course I get cabin fever risk because I’m such a lucky guy.Break the window… breathe deep of the cold air… get out of this cramped cage!!!

Toby 7 / Day 27 / 39% condition

I wake up in the late afternoon to clear skies, low winds, and a -2C FLT. Can… see the sky. Must… get… moving. Cliffs… closing… in.

I munch a bear steak and a ptarmigan pie for breakfast and get moving. Time to forge!

Rusty’s gang welcomes me as I reach the exit to FM, but I wave them off with the flare gun.Wolves? Who cares about wolves?! Trees… closing in. Must… get… to… Muskeg!!!

 After a bit more walking, I reach the tunnel, pick the first ‘hips I’ve seen in a week, and make the transition to FM, where the weather holds!Gahh… the walls! THE WALLS!!! There… is… no… escape…

I gather cattails on the way to Poachers’, where I take the flare find… a hacksaw where I have never seen a hacksaw before. Nice and sharp… but… THE WALLS! MAKE THEM STOP!!!

I’m still warm, so I continue on my way without making fire. And of course I’m chaining torches, it’s a ceremonial thing that’s mandatory in the ‘Keg.

I have to fend off more wolves, but I soon reach the Bunkhouses unharmed, just as winds rise so much that torch walking is unfeasible. I climb the slope to the Lambda Bunker without spraining anything (!) and check inside. Please, please, no more walls! I beg you!

It’s empty, of course.

I make the goat back down to the Homestead, grab coal from the outbuilding, where I find a lantern. Interesting, they can both spawn simultaneously.

I head back with plenty of warmth left, still a bit cabin feverish.Don’t… please! No… more… WALLS!!!

In Spence’s itself, I find MATCHES!!! Walls of the locker… walls of this shed! Walls, walls, WALLS!!!

Hacksaw, matches, lantern. All I need is for the Bunker to be stocked, and this loot would set a pure interloper Keg without a bedroll for at least 50 days. Saying that, of course, this is probably a freak of RNG that won’t repeat itself but once in a thousand times.

I crack the safe for maple syrup, sleep three hours without fire, and light up the forge. Then… I remember that I don’t have any scrap metal with me! Doh! I harvest the lantern, one of the hacksaws, and saw down the metal shelf to get enough scrap metal for 10 arrowheads and a knife.

This is a sleepless night; I eat my peach pies to stay awake whilst I forge.
*sobbing* The WALLS!!! PLEASE MAKE THEM STOP!!!

Edited August 3, 2023 by conanjaguar
tHe WaLlS aRe CoMiNg

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 28 / 41% condition 

I awake very much cured from cabin fever, and with a bit of a condition boost from BBT. I just spend all day cooking tea and repairing clothes in the aftermath of my late-night forging session.

[conanjaguar]

Toby 7 / Day 29 / 41% condition

I awake with the dawn, do some inventory management and repairs, and set out for BR. It’s -12C FLT and clear, perfect for torch walking, which I do. Fortunately. I think I racked up a dozen wolf close encounters in about five minutes, those things are persistent! I did manage to get enough breathing room to take some screenshots of the sunrise, though. Absolutely breathtaking.

In BR, nothing much happens. I have to stop and light warmup fires every few minutes, because it’s now -23C, and make tea/coffee because I’m too stingy to spend two pieces of coal for a fire that I’ll spend 20 minutes at, tops.

I also have to wave off some wolves and botch a goat (losing 1% condition plus two sprains), but besides that I make it to the Maintenance Shed with nary a scratch.

I loot the joint for some coal, matches, two cotton toques(!) and a surprising amount of food. I read an archery skill book and boil water, then bed in the “outside” office.

Toby 7 / Day 30 / 41% condition

Day 30 means victory! I celebrate by dying in a glorious wolf struggle. Okay, that wasn’t actually the plan. I wanted to fire off my flare shells from the Hunting Lodge and then fade peacefully into the long dark. Unfortunately, the dreaded Day 30 Overconfidence(TM) kicked in, and a wolf got me while I was lighting a torch to wave off another wolf.

Epilog

Another day, another challenge complete . I’ll probably come back to this at some point… but for now, I’m happy with what I’ve achieved.

[Leeanda]

Congrats...  🤞🎉.     I know it wasn't quite the ending you wanted but still .....  

Typical Murphy in a nutshell.....😁