How I got bruised by a moose in Ash Canyon.

[Fjällröven]

Hello folks, read some great stories here that really touch my gaming-heart and thought I’d give this a go! 

How a voyager learned  to look down:

Go to ash canyon they said…. It’ll be fun they said. It’s only voyager. What could go wrong? And by they I mean the voices in my head. 

 

Now, laying in a kid-sized bed tenderly nursing my broken ribs back to health in a place called Angler’s den, a place I had planned on skipping while fast-tracking it along the ledges back to Timberwolf Mountain and then the farmstead I’ve recently taken to calling home, I realize the need to take things slow on Great Bear. Especially while being in a hurry. 

 

You know the feeling. New region. Having watched turorials studied maps (cheating some would call it) you finally muster up the courage to start the trekk. You hold up in a hut at the foot of the mountain for a few days to get a short term base going. Cooking meat and boiling snow. Twig-and-cat-tail-gathering-duty. You know the drill. 

 

Further studying that map, you now know there will be three rope climbs. You grab a stim. Coffee? Nah gotta think of that living off the land achievement! You get there after spending a night and a blizzard in a nearby cave just as planned. 

 

You didn’t know the climbs would be THAT long but thankfully you make it with the help of that sweet emergency stim up the last one. No need for an uneasy shelf-night! 

Then slow crawling it to the mine exausted from that very same stim, not even bothering to look for any loot. All in your mind is that backpack and crampons. Curator’s rifle? Maybe in another life. Plus Barb’s old rifle is good enough and it’s only day 250-ish. You’ll not stay in these death trap regions any longer than necessary before day 500. So the plan: Quick in and out before the blizzards know you where even there.

 

And you do things right this time! Shoes off, no frozen deerskin boots for you from the cold pools in the Gold Mine. Easy as pie. The mission accomplished! Time to really really get the hell out of here and fast! Before the next blizzard hits and you’re caught out there with the rest of the frosties. Another greyish hobo’s corpse with a fancy backpack next to you and a frozen look of permanent disbelief on your face.  

 

Ok, the last rope climb down goes well, and oh goody it’s still a beautiful sunny day! Now it’s just a matter o… wait what was that? A buck maybe? Sounded a bit… bigger? Oh god no…. No… ok, don’t panic, dont panic. Maybe you can outsprint the creature if you get a head start? It probably won’t charge anyway right? Since you’re backing away after all and it’s not a predator. Bears seem to accept a yield easily enough most times if you manage to backtrack quickly enough? Why not a moose? Granted, I am carrying that cured and tailored skin of one of his buddies from Quonset around as an accessory but still. Survival and all that. I’m sure he’ll understand? Anyways speed and stealth is the key…  

 

Well, as you’ve probably already guessed, It turns out old man moose does mind. He minds you quite a bit. So you play a bit of dodge together, narrowly avoiding one charge. Two charges (I yield, I yield already!) and finally, realizing what is coming you finally panic, lighting a marine flare and tossing it at him hoping he’ll turn into a timberwolf or something you suppose, but he eventually catches up with you and brakes your ribs like a big ol’ piece of birch bark… 

A swede being killed by a moose… A german would never let you hear the end of it…

 

Things, go black.

 

You wake up… stumbling away… and the king of the forest shows you mercy at last and grants you a chance to get away before round 2. 

 

Ok stumbling further away now and your mind is racing. Checking the penalties: No rope climbing in a ”climbers paradise” ??!?! And no more sprinting for 120 hours.. What to do? What to do? I’m so stupid! Why why why!! I hate this game!

 

No. Calm down. THINK. 

 

That cabin on the maps! 

 

Relief as you spot it in the distance. 

 

A beacon of life in a land of death!

 

 You manage to threat a howl-barker away using that pro-interloper trick of dropping a lit torch and aming a stone and the god of winds and weather is on your side allowing the torch to stay lit this time (Thank you, Thor?). 

 

You are greatful. Bored but grateful. So many cat tails and deer! You try to leave, get into a struggle with a barkmeister, see another moose in your way further into the woods (how lucky are you?!) and realize without sprinting and climbing it just isn’t going to end well. Better to stay. Be greatful for what you have. A place to heal and rest. Venison and cat tails to last the duration of your stay (hopefully). You miss home but you know you’ll get there. No more rushing. And no more climbing down ropes without first seeing what’s waiting at the bottom end…

The End!

Stay safe out there. Irl and in The Long Dark!  /Joel

[xanna]

8 minutes ago, Fjällröven said:

A swede being killed by a moose… A german would never let you hear the end of it…

I loled 😆

[Fjällröven]

10 hours ago, xanna said:

I loled 😆

😂 Thank you so much for reading, @xanna 🙏🏻☀️

Edited February 7 by Fjällröven
Forgot to tag xanna

[xanna]

7 hours ago, Fjällröven said:

😂 Thank you so much for reading, @xanna 🙏🏻☀️

Welcome to the forum, felllow survivor