Hanging by a thread

[ilenisaatio]

Hadn't been playing for a few months, so I knew things would go... not so well. Started in the Broken Railroad on stalker. Spawned just below the hunting cabin at the base of the cliff. Wind blew from the east, so I went across ways to the maintenance shed to get cover from the wind and not having to fight against it. I started gathering stuff there, though I had awful loot luck, but by day 8, I had gathered pretty much everything in the region, and wrestled with wolves a few times, but that meant I had the materials for a wolf coat waiting though my clothes were in a pretty poor condition.

So: One last run to bring the stuff from the hunting lodge to the shed. Went around the lake clock-wise, but when I was almost to the blind, a blizzard struck. To go from bad to worse, I didn't notice the roaming bear, but the bear sure noticed me and started to come to say hi. So I was freezing, and despite being pretty tired, decided to risk the rope to get to the lodge and away from the bear. Estimated incorrectly. 2/3 of the way up, I ran out of stamina and grip. I slipped twice but managed to not fall. Hope started to rise... and not far from the top, it fell just like me.

After I came to and pulled myself up from the ground, I had survived with pretty minor injuries, considering what had happened. No bear around. But hypothermia was killing me despite the blizzard having ended and I didn't have much condition left. I couldn't stay there to warm up with the bear around, so I opted to try and head for the gate and go up the path, hoping I wouldn't pass out (had very little with me to maximize carry capacity). So I struck a flare because of the wolves on the ice. I managed to keep the three wolves at bay enough despite my condition, that I got to the gate and through. I was waiting to collapse at any point out of exhaustion, but got up the slope. The wolves up on the hill luckily hadn't re-spawned yet after I had killed them, so that was lucky. And I couldn't believe my luck when I managed hobble into the lodge and passed out on the stairs to the upper floor, instead of just outside the door.

At that point I decided to take a break. It had been a bit too tense. 😅

[ElOnTld]

Wow, that's crazy! 😅 What ended up happening?

[ilenisaatio]

13 hours ago, ElOnTld said:

Wow, that's crazy! 😅 What ended up happening?

Well, I got my gear to the shed in one piece, healed up, took the essentials and headed towards Forlorn Muskeg.As I approached the region exit, a blizzard struck, so I  made a fire  in a small spot that was safe from the wind right at the edge of the tunnel to warm up. I heated a cup of coffee there as well as the fire was dying. Down went the coffee, and I head to the muskeg planning to take shelter in the cargo car in the middle if the weather continued. And it did. Felt like forever following the tracks, not seeing much anything.The coffee wore out. Hypothermia set in.  I just pushed on, cause I knew the train car would come up eventually and that it just felt like forever. It wasn't that long a crossing.

The train car wreck was a lucky one. It had several pieces of coal and cured leather to warm up and fix my worn shoes while waiting out the storm. Boiled some water too. The blizzard passed some time after so I got to the camp office at Mystery Lake by nightfall. At that point things eased up. I visited the Broken Railroad shed some time later with lighter load to pick up the best of stuff I had there.

But that experience changed my attitude towards blizzards. I'd been half hysterical towards them despite having played 300 h at that point (370 now). Now I know they are more survivable than I thought. The main worst thing for me is the same as with thick fog. Getting disoriented. Then the other effects start to matter more. Still, I'm not taking them lightly. I just know I can push through them if I need to and I have a route with clear markers, like a road or power line, or that train track.