Vincent the Vainglorious Interloper

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13 / Day 18 / The Long Walk

The blizzard continues until evening. I pass the time in reading and crafting some fire-hardened arrows before heading down to Quonset. The wolves get playful but I brandish my bow to frighten them off before ducking inside. I thought there was another hacksaw here but no luck. Sigh. I take a short nap and decide to head on through Crumbling Highway.

The hike there is mostly uneventful, except for some phenomenal screenshots I get of the foggy view from the coastline (I’ll try and share tomorrow) and some wolf action. Presently I stumble across an abandoned house and spend the night in the basement…the weather is too nasty to continue.

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13 / Day 19 / Black Gold

Wouldn’t ya know it, a blizzard lasts until late afternoon. I grumble and pass time, watching my already thin food supplies stretch even more for little gain. In case of an emergency, I have enough jerky, chips, and crackers to last a day or two… sort of an iron ration.

The blizzard goes away eventually, leaving behind it heavy snow and a bone-chilling -20C FLT. BRRRR! Still, I have a vague idea of what to do and where to go and I’m reasonably confident I can get there without taking too much damage. A warmup fire is necessary but otherwise I’m right: the entrance to the mine connecting to DP is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. The only problem is that we can’t do any of that in TLD, so I settle for walking.

Once in the mine, I gather up a whole bunch of coal (20+ pieces) as well as a handy prybar and a lantern before emerging to nasty weather. Too nasty for travel. At a loss for anything else to do, I light a fire outside the entrance and boil water all evening, grabbing a few snaps of the aurora that later comes out.

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13/ Days 20-24 / Memory Hole

It's been a while and I've completely forgotten most of the details of the next four days. I do remember that I looted all of DP's major spots and found some food, killed a deer the Hotzn Way, got a second Mackinaw Jacket (sweet!), found a third stim (sweet as well), and also found an insulated flask in the safe in Hibernia! Which is where tomorrow will begin...

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13 / Day 25 / We've Gotta Get Outta this Place!

I awake early in the afternoon to light fog; ideal traveling weather. And travel I must if I'm going to get out of here. In terms of food I'm down to a few boxes of crackers that I won't touch unless it's an emergency...

Fortunately an opportunity presents itself as I hike along the ice in the direction of the exit. A wolf happens to take down a deer just a few meters away as I'm sneaking by. This is too good to pass up; I light a torch and wave Wolfie away from his kill. He left me 6.6 kilos, kinda skimpy but I'm not going to complain. I take all the meat just before a blizzard blows up and leaves me scampering for cover.

Fortunately I find a handy abandoned mine nearby and duck inside. Since I'm here, might as well loot it, so I do. I find some coal, a 'noller bar, and a prybar. After a short nap I poke my head back outside and the blizzard is gone, so I light up a fire and cook the rest of the venison.

After that, I play a hunch and check up the slope. Sure enough, there's the church! I make my way there, stoke up the fire barrel, and call it a day.

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13 / Day 26 / Bear du Jour

The weather is medium fog and temperatures are warm when I awake in the early afternoon. Perfect for travel. I munch on some venison, make a hot tea on the fire barrel, and set out on the long trek back to Coastal Highway.

The trip through the mine and Crumbling Highway is terribly boring; despite having two stink bars I don’t run into a single wolf. Once I get to Coastal, I make a warmup fire and pull some torches before continuing. I see the bear on the ice and give him a wide berth.

Presently I come across the Townsite itself. Then I hear the unmistakable snuffly roar of a grumpy bear. No time to run. I ready my bow and curse silently to myself as I search for my hunter. There. He’s already charging. I let fly an arrow for a good head shot, but he keeps on coming. I’m readying my second when he’s on me.

When he’s through with me, I bandage myself, grab my bow and knife off the ground, stim up, and take off at a sprint for the nearest shelter for further damage control. Ol’ Grumpy ate one of my toques and my gloves, as well as shredding one pair of jeans. It’s still intact, though. And I’ve got infection risk, lovely. I check my first aid items and wouldn’t ya know, I don’t have any antiseptic! Grumbling, I down an herbal tea, sleep until infection sets in, take my antibiotics, and sleep some more.

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13 / Day 27 / Payback

I awake in the late afternoon and munch the last of my deer meat... which is probably the reason I got mauled in the first place. I then repair my jeans and head outside. My journal tells me that I have killed one bear, which is one more bear than I had killed before yesterday. The body has to be around here somewhere...

I see a big black lump on the hill road leading to the watch tower. A big black bump that I don't remember seeing there before! How convenient of Ol' Grumpy to drop dead just a few meters away from where he chewed on me! I light a fire and cut away his hide, four guts, and six kilos of meat. There's no way I'm ever going to eat the whole thing!

By the time I'm done, the moon is high in the sky. I head back to Quonset, munch a bear steak, and call it a day.

[Leeanda]

Congrats on the bear kill.... That'll teach old grumpy to eat your clothes😊

[conanjaguar]

17 hours ago, Leeanda said:

Congrats on the bear kill.... That'll teach old grumpy to eat your clothes😊

Hopefully the next one will have learned his lesson too .

 

Vincent 13 / Day 28 / Déjà Vu All Over Again

It’s late afternoon with a -9C FLT and a light fog when I awake. My parasite risk from that first steak has cleared by now, so I munch another one for breakfast and set out for the Fishing Camp. The trek is uneventful save for an encounter with a wolf who wants some bear meat and gets waved off with my bow.

When I get to the cabins, I am amused to find a ruined Smallmouth Bass that I left there at least three weeks ago. The real thing I came for, however, was a wool scarf and a bunch of saplings. I snatch them up and camp at the nearby workbench to use up the rest of my arrowheads. I have eight arrows when I’m finished; enough that I don’t have to be stingy about using them anymore.

[conanjaguar]

TFTFT Part 5 drops tomorrow, expect me to jump right into Misery Mode . I won't stop with Vincent, though...

Vincent 13 / Day 29 / Rabbit Groove

I awake in the late afternoon to clear skies and -8C FLT. Perfect for travel! I decide to hike up to Bear Creek and Rabbit Grove (groove) to gather cattails and shoot poor, innocent, fluffy, defenseless bunnies with arrows.

It takes me a few shots to get the hang of using the bow but presently I bag two of the critters, as well as picking 20 cattails. I see bear footprints of the snow but I don't see Ol' Grouchy around. Pity; I need a second bear skin to make me a coat.

The weather begins to turn nasty so I duck into the cabin and spend the rest of the day harvesting bunnies and repairing my clothes.

[Leeanda]

Monster lol...  R.i.p. bunnies

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13 / Day 30 / Be Vewy Vewy Quiet, We’re Hunting Wabbits!

The weather is clear and temperatures are cold but tolerable. I hike through the Ravine and pit my archery skills against the local bunnies; I manage to get four at the cost of two broken fire-hardened arrows. Not bad.

Unfortunately, I spent so long on the bunnies that I am unable to make it out of the Ravine before dark, so I hole up in a cave for the night. By chance it’s a cave where I’ve already stayed and left behind some water and sticks!

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 13 / Day 31 / Wolves can Climb Stairs!!

I’ll jump into Misery mode tomorrow or the next day… currently Steam says it’ll take 23 HOURS to install a 1.2 gig update!

I finish the journey through the Ravine and duck into one of the trailers at the Dam to catch a quick nap and warm up. From there, I decide to head up to the Forestry Lookout because… why not?

The Logging Camp gives me a ‘noller bar and a flare. From there I somehow make it up to the correct lookout tower and don’t sprain anything to boot! However, Rusty notices me and follows me all the way up to the tower. I thought I was safe up at the top, but no! Rusty knows how to climb stairs!! I panic for a second and light a torch just in time to stop his charge. And they say they took Fluffy out of the Dam because her pathfinding got screwed up!

I check inside the tower for a can opener, a flare gun(!), and a cooking pan. Ok stuff but I’ve got all that and more back at Trapper’s. Getting there will have to wait though, right now a blizzard is blowing up outside. I eat as much as I can without breaking into my iron ration and call it a day.

[conanjaguar]

After I installed the update, my PC refuses to even start… so Misery Mode isn’t gonna happen until that’s sorted… typical Murphy! Fortunately I have a few days' backlog to get through...

Vincent 13 / Day 32 / Archer Style

The weather is AWFUL when I wake up; FLT is -21 and it promises to turn into a blizzard at any moment. Fortunately I don’t have far to go. I easily goat down the cliff and bag two bunnies with my bow. I get Archery Level 2, nice!

From there I continue on to the Camp Office. There are some ptarmigans outside that I decide to hunt. They are hard to hit! I manage to kill just one; I miss two more completely, and another one gets hit but the arrow bounces off…

Grumbling, I check the lakeshore for some cattails and then head into the Office, where I spend the rest of the day cooking and harvesting my little critters.

[Leeanda]

Sorry to hear that...Have you filed a report?  

[conanjaguar]

9 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

Sorry to hear that...Have you filed a report?  

Nah, it's probably just a freakishly-timed coincidence...

[Leeanda]

5 minutes ago, conanjaguar said:

Nah, it's probably just a freakishly-timed coincidence...

Well if you can't get it going and everything else starts working then please consider filing one😊

[conanjaguar]

57 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

Well if you can't get it going and everything else starts working then please consider filing one😊

I will .

Vincent 13 / Day 33 / Beginner’s Luck

From the Office, the hike to Trapper’s is quiet and uneventful besides gathering some birch bark and sticks. I am on the lookout for the bear and moose but neither one shows up… however, I am surprised to see a few deer on the property. That’s good news, I need food… but that can wait.

I duck into Trapper’s and check my stocks. So that’s where I left my hacksaw, in the safe! Silly me. I also have about 60 cattails, some coal, and a whole bunch of sticks stored up. I could hole up here for a while if I had to.

Cabin Fever risk comes in the night. Since visibility is good outside, I decide to do a spot of night hunting. I approach a doe at the edge of the woods, aim for a second or two, and then launch an arrow at her. She drops to the ground with a grunt. I am impressed with myself; that was a good headshot from a range of about 30 meters - much more than my usual rifle range of FOUR meters. Unfortunately, she died on a steep slope without much cover and the wind is rising, so harvesting her now would be tricky. I decide to wait for tomorrow and hope for better weather.