Drifter Man

Deadman 10 / Day 37 Another busy day at Trapper's Homestead. Today I needed a match again. It can't be helped, I have to cook every day. I wish I could build up a reserve of calories and only cook on sunny days, but that probably won't be possible until I can eat wolves. Taking advantage of a foggy afternoon, with a warm drink in my stomach and a torch in hand, I make another trip to the Rail Tunnel for sticks. I barely make it back before the temp bar runs out and the result is utterly disappointing: two sticks plus a torch I left behind long time ago. There are lots of branches, but I can't harvest branches. Instead, I cautiously climb the hill in the direction to Unnamed Pond and score a few sticks there. I make two more arrows and - with my first cured gut - a replacement snare. Impatiently, I run outside to place it on the rabbit run - to find another snare ruined. My effort was futile, I'm still at 7 snares. I'm curious whether I can reach level 3 archery without firing the bow - with three copies of "Stay on Target" and five arrows crafted I seem to be on the track. As much as I'm concerned about fuel, the situation is not that bad. Somehow, at the end of the day, I have 42 sticks in my backpack. High firestarting and cooking skills are both helping, my fires are almost free. Almost. What is more worrying now: I'm getting up at a later and later time. I don't have the time over the day to do everything I want. And I'm going to need more time for crafting! It is C-O-L-D!

Deadman 10 / Day 36 This morning I made a quick dash to the second rabbit run to find two caught bunnies. Adding to another two from the first one, I have something to eat for today. Sticks respawned at the cave entrance, indicating a roughly 5-day respawn rate - this may however change. Coal has not respawned yet in the cave. I reach firestarting level 4 - together with cooking level 4, which I already have, this should reduce my fuel consumption by 20%. The dash to the rabbit run cost me a tiny bit of freezing damage, but condition still holds at 81%. I make two more arrows. First guts should finish curing tomorrow. In a few days I should have enough to start crafting bow and clothes.

Deadman 10 / Day 35 Another stressful day. I started a fire at the cave entrance in a blizzard - yes, it is fully protected - and cooked everything plus a good amount of water, however at a cost of 16 sticks (after I pulled torches and recovered the excess fire). In addition, only three rabbits were caught today. The second rabbit run didn't give me any food. The first guts are about 60% cured, still at least two days before I can make more snares. I managed to steal a bit of time to craft one arrow. In the afternoon I tried to reach the area close to Rail Tunnel but quickly realized that in spite of good weather I can't make it there and back on one temp bar without fire. I aborted halfway and returned to the cabin. Unfortunately, things still look bleak. I took a hit with those 4 broken snares and in addition to having no fuel, I now have nothing to cook.

I can't kill wolves - guts are still curing, no bow, no arrows... I have a few sticks and snares and have to survive until tomorrow

Deadman 10 / Day 34 So first of all, this indoor stove has dreadful fuel economy and I'm not feeding it anymore. I'll do my cooking at the entrance to the cave to Milton. The fire should be safe there and I will get a duration bonus. Second, how many sticks do I need? Let's say I want to cook 5 rabbits and 2 liters of water per day. 5 rabbits = 6.25 kg meat = 170 minutes of cooking in a pot. Add 2 liters of water, that's 108 minutes, for a total of say 280 minutes per day. With two cooking spots (and two pots, which I have) this is 140 minutes of fire = 19 sticks per day. Not a lot - but definitely more than I can get around here. But if I make full use of the outdoor temperature bonus, I can bring it down to around 10 sticks. And I'm just a little step away from cooking level 4 and firestarting level 4 - both should decrease my needs considerably, maybe to 8 sticks per day. So when I get these levels and restock on coal from the cave, I should be fine. But until that moment, it's going to be tough. As soon as I can see outside in the morning, I grab the raw meat from my doorstep and run to the cave entrance. I drop the meat there and sleep for an hour in the cave - my temperature bar is half spent already from the short dash in the morning. Then I "match-torch-stick" light a fire and get to work. My supplies amount 20 sticks and 1 coal, I put almost everything in to stay warm. While the meat is cooking and water is boiling, I visit the first rabbit run: 2 rabbits caught, one snare broken. I'm down to 7 snares from my initial 11 in just 2 days! I return to the fire, harvest the rabbits and wait. When I'm done, I pull torches until the fire is down, go through the cave and collect sticks at the rope to Milton (I don't go down the rope). I greedily take everything - branches, torches I left behind. Return through the cave, taking more branches. At this point it's late afternoon, it's been foggy all day, and I'm exhausted. I sleep for an hour and visit the second rabbit run: three rabbits caught. I rebalance snares between the zones and call it a day. I end up at 35 sticks, not bad. But it was hard work without a break all day. Not my idea of retirement!

I was actually going to try the pond side, but as you recommend, I'll go to the Rail Tunnel instead. I was once attacked by one of Max's wolves there so I don't trust that side. However, danger lurks everywhere. In most cases, danger has black fur, four legs plus a tail, and barks.

Thanks for the tips @BareSkin! I can't go after the wolves yet while the firewood situation is quite urgent - it's more like "how do I survive the next 5 days?". But I think I've got an idea. Actually I need very little firewood, but still more than what I can readily get right now. Do wolves enter the barn by the way? I haven't thought about the Unnamed Pond cabin as satellite base for firewood. For what I know, wildlife on Deadman does not thin out over time. I'd love to actually find that note at Trapper's one day

Deadman 10 / Day 33 Five bunnies caught, 2 broken snares. I'm back to 8 snares and guts still have a long way to cure. Sticks are definitely going to be a problem. After all my worries about food, I might not get enough firewood.

Deadman 10 / Day 32 Strategic planning was not high on my agenda yesterday when I was dodging wolves and bears in Forlorn Muskeg, so I end up without water in the morning and have to strike a match and start fire in the stove. While the water is boiling in my two cooking pots, I review and organize my resources. Firestarting: magnifying lens, 48 matches, firestriker at 77%. Clothing: dress shirt, thin wool sweater, thermal underwear, jeans, 2 ski jackets, 2 toques, 2 pairs of wool socks, 2 wool ear wraps, fleece mittens, trail boots + a hoodie I no longer wear. Material: 6 deer hides, 8 cloth, 2 cured leather, 4 cured guts, 2 maple saplings, 5 birch saplings, 14 arrowheads, but only 22 crow feathers. Tools: improvised knife at 100%, hacksaw at 96%, 2 whetstones, 3 sewing kits, prybar, hammer (a mistake - I wanted to leave it at the forge), flare gun with 6 shells, 2 flares, 7 snares. Bedroll. Medical: 3 emergency stims, 16 antibiotics, 12 painkillers, 9 prepared rosehips, 6 prepared reishi + 8 herbal tea and 2 coffee. Myself: a bit worn out by recent adventures but healthy, 81% condition. The cured guts are a surprise - I thought I only had one. I quickly turn them into 4 new snares. Firewood is a concern: I brought very little with me and the area around Trapper's doesn't have many locations for sticks. When the water is finished, the sun is already up. I check the snares to find one rabbit and one broken snare. The fire is still going, so I harvest the meat, cook it and eat it, then take a torch and search the cave. Conclusion: no coal has respawned since my last visit on Day ... (checking my old entries) .. day 25. Only seven days ago. I was quick. I sleep for most of the afternoon because of heavy fog at the homestead. When the fog lifts in late afternoon, I move to the second rabbit run and place 5 snares there. A wolf is guarding Max's Last Stand. I also collect a few sticks but there really aren't too many. As a temporary measure, I harvest a scrub brush. I repair my jeans and check the first rabbit run before bed: two more bunnies caught. I harvest them at night but I don't cook them - maybe the sun will allow me to cook next morning without having to spend a match. Cattails for dinner, then bed.

It always happens to me, too. That's why I think there are few really long Interloper runs - lower difficulties are more forgiving when it comes to single mistakes.

I will keep you updated. As for plans, let's see first if I can actually survive at Trapper's. Can I actually get enough rabbits, permanently? Will the wolves be manageable here? Will I be able to do my daily chores outside (firewood, rabbits) without losing condition, even as the world gets colder and colder? Once I have answers, I'll start thinking about 100 day marks

Thanks! I aim for 12 snares, right now I have 7 and one gut waiting to be turned into an eight. This way I should have always at least 5 snares on each run. I'm also concerned about safety. Max is almost constantly patrolled by 2 wolves and I've seen one in the direction of Unnamed Pond. I plan to do exactly what you said - put snares back first, then grab the bunnies and run home. I may have to pay ransom to them before I start culling the wolf populations. Or get culled myself. I don't think I'll be moving past Deadman - first, I still don't know if the retirement plan works. Second, there are things I really like about it, like no cabin fever. We don't have to go to such extremes

Deadman 10 / Day 31 The morning is crisp and cold, but the cave is warm enough. I finish "Sewing Primer" and further pass time by repairing my second toque, which brings me to mending skill level 2. Great, I will die skilled. From the cave I can see wolves patrolling the path I must take today. Around midday, the winds stop and light fog falls. Weather gods are with me. I sneak out of the cave to assess the situation and as soon as I see the first wolf, I build a fire and make hot tea. I stand up and attract the nearest wolf. I'm concerned the I can only see two. Where is the third one? Hidden by the terrain to my left? My experience says that it is the third wolf that will kill you. When I'm fully warmed up, I take a torch and walk straight towards the ice, taking advantage of the two wolves being temporarily too far away to detect me. I nervously approach the edge of the muskeg. There is no third wolf. At the ice line I start a new fire with the torch, this time just to make more tea and top up my temp bar with it. The two wolves come at me again, one by one, and when the second one runs away, I run too. I make a few dozen meters before one is on me again, growling. I stop to make a fire and while I'm toying around with the settings (I want the torch, stick and accelerant, dammit), I can hear the wolf charging. I click "start fire" with whatever is there (firestriker, reclaimed wood) and stop the attack. The fire succeeds. They're so aggressive - I'm fully rested, in good condition, a burning torch in hand, not encumbered, and they still attack on sight. I let the wolves approach once more and again, when they're running away, I run. I run until I'm out of breath. I'm safe from the death squad. I pass by the High Blind (I already looted it on Day 1, so I don't stop to check) and pick an occasional cattail or stick. I make my next warming fire southeast of Poacher's camp. While I'm warming up, crows fly overhead. A change in weather? I don't believe in this old TLD adage but a change is due, it's been foggy for several hours. Bad news: the bear chose "Path 1" today and will be blocking my own path now. As opposed to the bear, I cannot choose. I try to avoid it by crossing the railroad tracks but it catches wind soon and comes at me. I cannot avoid it - it's radar is too wide on Deadman settings. Although I wait until the last moment, the flare shell misses the target. I think someone suggested to me here that I should hunt a deer with the flare gun. I can't hit a goddamn bear coming right at me. Before the rail tunnel I collect a few sticks because I'm low on firewood. The skies are clear now, whether or not the crows had anything to do with it. I realize I forgot to reload the flare gun (!) and quickly correct my mistake. A while later, nearly out of temp bar, I reach Trapper's cabin. I am home. I find a letter under the door, from the Government: Dear Mr. Deadman, We are pleased to inform you that effective from Day 32, you are entitled to a pension of 5 (FIVE) rabbits per day, permanently. Enjoy your retirement. Best, Wolfgang Wolf Great Bear Social Security --------------------------------------- I sleep for an hour in bed and then use the last daylight to place six snares at the nearby rabbit run. I'm too tired to go to the other run, and it's too cold and windy by now. Then I undress, eat a few cattails and go to bed.

I don't know - I haven't spent much time there yet. I haven't seen any scratch marks though.

I avoid the edge of the map - it's a wolf alley between the second cave and the rail tunnel. I prefer to cross the ice around High Blind and Poacher's Camp. But stalker wolf density can change things. I believe Interloper is wrongly presented in the custom mode as having "Very High" density - actually it's just high or medium. Well, on Deadman it is intentional. Stalker wolf density, Interloper wolf killing power.

Deadman 10 / Day 29 First thing in the morning, I make decisions what to leave behind. I drop some saplings I found (one maple, two birch) and decide to drop all 20+ sticks. I'll be able to get some on the way to Spence's. I collect my snares (three rabbits caught, but I don't take them) and when the weather is good, I take the rope down from Marsh Ridge to Muskeg proper. I manage to avoid wolves up to Spence's but at the destination I find at least three of them patrolling at the gate. As I sneak around, I end up nose to nose with one of the wolves and have to resort to the flare gun. In the end I take the long way around via Bunkhouses and reach the homestead from another side. I get barked up as I'm entering the safe building and also begin freezing, because my maneuver took longer than expected. Impatiently, I feed all my firewood (an accelerant) into the forge, which warms up very slowly. In the end I freeze down to 81%. I make some water in the cooking pot I brought with me and craft a few arrowheads. The homestead is almost empty because I looted it on Day 1, but there's still the safe. I break up the crate blocking it and open the safe to find... ...yes! It's not a game changer, but it's a rare piece and I'm happy I found it. I get back to the forge to craft, while aurora gives me light for my work. To put a limit on my excitement, the forcing the locker reveals vast emptiness. Deadman 10 / Day 30 When I'm finished with the work, I have a knife and 14 arrowheads, but I'm half-tired - I didn't get much sleep. Still, it's afternoon and the weather is light fog, and I may not get good weather tomorrow. I need to move. The first wolf barks at me soon after I leave the homestead. It follows me stubbornly but I shake it off at the Bunkhouses. It's there where the second wolf attacks. I try to shake it off but corner myself between a rock and weak ice, so it's the flare gun again. Before I find my way forward, the same wolf is back after me again. I get rid of it by jumping down a low cliff, only to meet face-to-face with another wolf, and there goes my third flare during this expedition. When I compose myself, I realize that this place - normally safe as far as I can tell from my Interloper experience - is swarming with those killing machines. I've been constantly on the run since I left the homestead and couldn't pick almost any sticks, so I have few things to start fire with. And I'm tired, it's getting late, so I sneak through to the cave on my right, picking up a few sticks on the way. I have more than 40 cattails, 9 coals, 8 reclaimed wood, I'll be fine. I still have 3 flare shells with me and 4 more at Trapper's - I wish I didn't have to use them but that's what they are for, after all. I'm so close to retirement, so close to my rabbit run at Trapper's Homestead. Wolves, please, let me leave, let me live, tomorrow.

Deadman 10 / Day 27 I dodge a morning blizzard in the cave by taking advantage of the passing time mechanics and light a fire only when the sun is up, to cook the venison from yesterday and prepare hot tea. Soon afterwards I climb down the second rope and arrive in Milton Basin. @BareSkin is right, this is a cattail paradise on any difficulty. While taking cattails left and right, I keep one eye around because there are moose marks on trees. When I reach the cave, I start another maglens fire and warm up. The winds are strong, so I choose to sleep for an hour. Good choice: the winds stop and give way to fog. Wolves patrol the part of the basin on my right, so I take the left and walk straight through the moose area. The moose is not around, which makes things easier. I use this perfect weather and take everything - cattails, reishi mushrooms, rosehips, sticks. I'm hugely overweight when I reach Marsh Ridge but I still take the opportunity provided by ideal weather and search the area. No moose marks here, I am safe. I find the stim and "Sewing Primer", some mushrooms and a deer carcass. I place my 4 snares at the rabbit run and return to the cave to sleep. Deadman 10 / Day 28 The idea was to move on to the forge but I got distracted by the abundance of food and stayed at the Marsh Ridge all day. I processed two deer carcasses (2.7 kg + 1.1 kg) and three rabbits, plus I now have over 40 cattails. With full stomach and a stash of cattails I'll be good at the forge. Assassin wind attacked me while I was starting a fire (clear, still winds turned into maximum strength during the firestarting process, killing the fire immediately afterwards) - so I'm at 84% now due to a bit of freezing damage. Plus two stims with me and a third left back at Trapper's.

Deadman 10 / Day 26 The morning is cold, as I expected. I start a fire in the pot belly stove to make some water. I eat my last cattail and soon begin starving. I do a stick run and later collect two rabbits from the snares. I cook the rabbits and half-fill my stomach. The thick haze would be too dangerous to navigate but by midday, when I wake up again, it lifts up a bit. Later I get a clear, windless day. I reach the river and drop the hammer and scrap metal on the ice - I don't need them for my plan right now. I spot a carcass in a place I didn't know there could be one, carefully approach it and harvest the meat under protection of a fire. The place is heavily wolved and two of the beasts approach my fire while I'm working. I continue upstream, collecting cattails. When I reach the waterfall at Milton, I carefully climb up with the intention to pay a visit to Grey Mother. But as I approach, I see wolves cross the road and the intrepid Drifter Man loses heart. There's no way I can make it there and out of there in one piece. I turn around and sneak out until I reach the river again. I forfeit the matches, food and clothing (possible combat pants?) from Grey Mother. I choose to keep my life instead. On the way downstream, wind starts blowing. I make another warming break, then collect my hammer and scrap metal and continue until I reach the rope to Milton Basin. The wind stops again, so I'm still able to get 1 kg meat from a carcass above the rope without fire, drop some water and sticks to reduce load, and climb down to the cave just before the temp bar runs out. In the cave I count my calories: 31 cattails plus 1 kg venison. We're starved down to 85%. I have two pieces of cloth with me: I use one to repair a toque and keep the other for the knife I want to craft.

Sorry about that I was waving a flare in the dark, looking for the assumed barrel, so I missed the stove I didn't expect to be there. I hope to snatch a few on the river from Milton. But Deadman reduces the amount of plants to about one third of what one finds in Interloper. Which makes cattail paradises less paradise-y. It could help next time! I prefer managing my load to looking for sprainy detours, but it's always good to know there are options.

Thanks! It's there. I must have missed it in the darkness. Good to know I'm safe if things get too cold.

Deadman 10 / Day 25 Not great, but it's a start. I take it to the cabin, harvest the gut and meat and discard the rest. The weather is bad but initially this shouldn't be a problem. I move with the raw meat to the cave, light a torch and pass through to the other end, picking up coal along the way (it has respawned since my first arrival over 20 days ago). At the end I start a fire, cook the rabbit and make coffee - I have some ropes ahead of me and want to be fit to climb. On the other side I find a few cattails on the way to the first rope. I notice a wolf on the way down and make sure I avoid it. I reach the cave between the ropes (soda, matches) and start a fire, still with the torch from the cave, just in time as a blizzard is breaking out outside. After sleeping for 3 hours in my bedroll, the blizzard still rages on, but at least the direction of the wind promises that I should be able to stay sheltered by the rocks on my way to the next rope. With the help of hot reishi tea, it works - I reach the picnic area office (or whatever the non-loading screen building up there is called) before my temperature bar runs out. Inside I find another soda. The bed is warm enough to protect me against the cold in the blizzard. Two hours later the blizzard stops. The winds are still strong and the darkness is nearly complete. But I have no choice - I must find food next morning. With the help of a flare, I make my way to the map post/sign post near the parking lot (I don't know this map well and don't have time to read the location names - I'm sorry for the unclear descriptions), place 4 snares and return. All the way down and back up I'm hoping that no bonus wolves spawn in this area at night. 4 Days of Night? Hahaha... THIS is a challenge. No badges, no food, no joy, just cold. It's a bit unnerving though to find that there's no way to start a fire inside this building. I had the impression that there was a fire barrel inside. It's felt 5°C now, plus 5°C bed bonus, it's going to get very cold in the morning. Advice anyone? How do you keep warm in the park office building above Orca? Out of food, been starving for parts of the day. 87% condition.

Deadman 10 / Day 24 My original plan was to take the Lake Trail to Camp Office, then to Rail Tunnel and from there to Trapper's. But then I realized that I could use the rope at Western Access for a shortcut. And as hard as it were the day before, now that I was incidentally almost out of water and low on firewood, reducing my load to 30 kg was not impossible. Once the heavy fog outside lifted a bit, I headed over to the rope, climbed up, warmed up in my bedroll in the cave up there, and moved from there to Rail Tunnel. I didn't meet a single wolf from there to Trapper's. Home welcomed me with cured guts and hides on the floor. I collected them, put the hides into a locker, dropped maple and birch saplings instead, and made fire in the stove to boil water. While the water was getting ready in the cooking pot, I made four snares and placed them on the rabbit run nearby. If all goes well, I'll have something to eat next morning. Starved down to 88%, I ate most of my remaining cattails and went to bed. My current stock includes 6 deer hides, 3 guts, 7 snares (I ran out of reclaimed wood while making them), 2 maple saplings, 5 birch saplings, 2 whetstones, 3 sewing kits, flare gun with 10 shells, 9 pieces of scrap metal and a hammer to use at the forge... I hope to come back alive to actually use all this stuff. It's good to be home but I'm leaving tomorrow again.

Deadman 10 / Day 23 A blizzard rages outside the cave until midday. I sit at the fire, reading a book and eating all my remaining food except one cattail, which I choose to leave for the evening to mitigate condition loss during sleep. When the winds stop, I take a torch, drink hot reishi tea and move to the exit to Mystery Lake. After the transition I switch the torch for the flare gun. The wolf is still at the trailers but it's walking away, so I cross the bridge and avoid it by using the other bank of the river. Soon the snowing stops and I get a beautiful day, but the state of my calorie store prevents me from enjoying it. There is no wolf at the hunting blind, but no deer carcass either. I start a fire to warm up and make more reishi tea. The hunting blind gives me a prybar, finally, but no food. I try the rabbits again but they fear my fire and keep running around like crazy. I decide not to waste the time and the weather on them. Instead I return to the river and walk downstream, collecting cattails on the way. Normally I wouldn't choose this path - the bottleneck at the lake access is almost always wolved. But the place has cattails and it's the shortest route to the lake, so I take it. When I meet the wolf, it's occupied by a rabbit. I get the brilliant idea that if I shoot it, it won't bother me. I get as close as I dare, knowing that I don't have time - they're quickly done with rabbits. Of course I miss and of course the wolf runs away in the direction I don't want it to. A minute later I'm forced to shoot again. If I left it alone and just passed quickly, I would have saved two flare shells. The part of the lake close to Camp Office is wolved too, I see at least 4. If they're here, maybe the other part of the lake is safe? I walk around the cattail island in the middle and no, there are no wolves around there. So I spend the rest of the day collecting cattails and looting the fishing hut and cabins. I end up with two tomato soups and around 20 cattails altogether - my problem is solved for tonight. I go to bed, starved down to 89%.

Always shoot for the stars!

Yes, I was trying it at about this distance. I notice the fingers are about one rabbit apart, and that the rabbit is slightly to the right of your hand. I'll keep it in mind for next time. It used to be really easy for me but for some reason my success rate has gone down lately.