Drifter Man

Apparently yes... Normally, during an encounter, the wolf will consider any piece of meat on the ground between you and itself as a decoy it can take. It doesn't matter how that meat got there - whether you intentionally dropped it as a decoy or whether you put it down there even before meeting the wolf. Now, what was new to me there - the same mechanic is at play even when the wolf is pursuing something else. It follows the same script whether it is going after you or the deer. Except that the deer is stupid and will not use the break to escape.

I love this. "You are an interloper, sir, and I am here to show you to the nearest exit."

Day 37 Making it in one day to the Crashed Plane was perhaps too ambitious. After all, I need to procure food on the way, which is going to take up a big part of the day. My first stop is at the trailer near the transition cave. I weigh my gear and decide to take the rifle I brought in here from St. Christopher's church. At this stage of the game, the rifle can be incredibly helpful in getting wolves out of the way. And I am going to walk through some narrow corridors that tend to be guarded. The second stop is at Grey Mother's house, where I grab some ammunition. Soon afterwards I am at the Radio Tower, in ideal weather. I make camp in the cave and go deer hunting. The little lake near the Radio Tower is ideal for the deer hunt - the deer has nowhere to run away. I get the deer and add two rabbits. While processing the kills, I get carcass harvesting and cooking Levels 4. When I finish, it is too late to do anything else, and I sleep in the cave until next morning. Day 38 Still before dawn, I quickly search the small lake and collect sticks and cattails under the starry sky. Later I make some water and continue to the Crashed Plane. At the next lake I drive rabbits in front of me as bait. The local wolf bites into one and I kill the wolf with a rifle shot, which will make my trip back much safer. However, the crashed plane and Will's starting cave do not turn out to be worthwhile. Ketchup chips and a jerry can with kerosene are the only notable finds. In late afternoon I return to the radio tower. I still have a few kilos of venison that I don't want to haul through wolf territories, so I'll stay in the cave for another night and search the rest of the town. Day 39 In a warm, foggy morning, I go car to car and house to house in Milton. I am careful, but there are no wolves in this part of the town today. I can hear them on all sides, but not here. At first, it looks like I'm not going to find anything of value - a few pieces of old clothing and two doses of future food poisoning is all I can claim. But then I find the elusive prybar in the back of one of the cars - finally! And it doesn't end there. The top prize awaits me in one of the houses, neatly folded on a bed: It is in very good condition at 79%. This has been a very successful day already. I still have one steak and decide to risk carrying it through Milton. I think I have a good idea where the wolves are. Indeed, I pass through the town without incident, and soon I am ready to descend into the Basin. I make camp in the cave at the bottom the basin. That's enough for the day. I survive 8% chocolate bar and 15% energy bar, but I miscalculate: I'm full, 37 calories of the energy bar remains. Half an hour later I eat it and those 37 calories give me food poisoning. Antibiotics and bed. Day 40 Food comes first. I kill a deer right in the morning and cook it on the spot. I leave the meat behind - a mistake I will pay for - and spend the afternoon searching the basin. I had seen the moose near the HRV cave, so there is unlikely to be one here - which is unfortunate, Milton Basin makes good hunting grounds. I find the Radio Tower polaroid and some more food. Finally, late in the day, I inadvertently drive another deer into a wolf. That could be an opportunity to kill the wolf and get some extra meat from the deer, so I keep an eye on the chase. For a long time, the wolf can't get close and keeps chasing the deer around the basin. Eventually the deer comes close to my food stash with cooked venison from the morning. The wolf treats it as a decoy and grabs a steak before resuming the pursuit. When this happens a second time (after another round of the Basin), I get annoyed and move the surviving steaks to the cave. Meanwhile the wolf gets the kill. At almost night, tired, impatient and in bad weather, I miss my shot, and the wolf runs away. Bummer.

Ah thanks, Japanese was my suspicion, just the letters didn't look right. That would be a fitting thing for me to tell the undead wolf in the cave.

Exactly!

Day 34 I am leaving Hushed River Valley today. In the morning I explore the area above the waterfalls on the left bank of the Hushed River, after processing a ravaged deer carcass near my ice cave. There isn't much to see, so I am soon on the way to the exit in a weather that is gradually getting worse. I check on the place where I saw the sleeping bear a few days ago. It is gone, which confirms it wasn't a carcass. I stick to the river and soon cross it near Offset Falls. Near the exit I want to catch two rabbits to boost my dwindling calorie store. I get one but when I turn around to find the other one, it's gone. My suspicion is soon confirmed: a blizzard has started and the rabbit despawned. I make the run for the exit cave. The meat from the deer carcass plus the rabbit are not enough to keep me fed - and I now have food for less than one day. Day 35 I get lucky right in the morning: There is a deer on the Milton side of the cave, and I get an instant kill with the bow. 9.5 kg meat, enough for 2-3 days. I get the meat out in between warming breaks at my fire, which is burning at the cave mouth to stay protected from the fire. The rest of the day is ruined by another blizzard. I do a lot of reading again. I notice that my journal says zero surveyed locations, although I have surveyed two in Ash Canyon - they are on the map. No surprise there, Faithful Cartographer and the associated game features have been cursed with eternal bugginess. Day 36 The weather is beautiful today. I want to go to Spruce Falls and search the cave that used to lead to Will's plane. I start by getting the two guts from yesterday's deer and dropping them in the cave. Then I find a corpse nearby with another rifle - I haul the weapon to the cave, too, I don't want to have it on me all day. After that I'm finally off for Spruce Falls. I pass under the bridge, avoiding the bear. Then I search the path all the way to the dead end past the cave. Nothing to see there. On the way back I wait for the bear to get on the bridge, then run around and get up on the other side just in time before the bear turns up there. I'm not interested in the content of the cars - I still have no prybar, so I would have to get back here anyway. I wish the old connections within this map - with multiple ways from the Plane Crash to the town - still existed. The map would be more interesting. I return to the transition cave in the evening and lug some gear to the trailer. The plan for tomorrow is the Plane Crash site.

It seems everyone has the same natural reaction when confronted with this bug - try to kill it

You remember! I did call one of the Ravine deer Bruno for some time. That was years ago!

You will need to educate me again. I have no idea who this guy is, what he says, or even what language he speaks for that matter. Maybe it is Bahasa or Tagalog? He does look scary though. Almost like the undead Fluffy. EDIT: it could be transliterated Japanese.

I suspected I wasn't the first one to encounter a zombie carcass like this.

Interesting things happening in your brain However, kicking bear butts in TLD is generally inadvisable. Anyway, the knight is dead. Long live the knight!

Day 32 An important milestone passes in the morning: I eat my last MRE from the Summit. The easy days are over. From now on, food will always be the first of my concerns. The day does not end up very successful or productive. I climb up to the Many Falls Vista, take a photo... ... and then I am on my way again to explore the region. I don't want to go to the second Ice Cave - a wolf struggle is likely in there, and I am tired after the climb. I decide to play it safe today. For a while I consider killing a deer with the bow, but then I decide just to keep going. Above the Hushed River I run into a wolf. I see it well ahead of time and do my best to avoid it, but it moves towards me inexorably like a homing missile. Eventually we connect, I miss my revolver shot, and grab the knife for defense. The fight is over in a split-second. I lose 6% condition, otherwise no damage, and the wolf runs away with a stab wound. I move to the cave on the river to spend the night there, eating cattails for dinner. Day 33 I go to the ice cave early in the morning. My first idea is to start a fire and wait for Fluffy to show up near the entrance. After waiting for about 1-2 hours, listening to her howling that seems to be coming from one spot only, I realize that she is not in my view, therefore she is not moving, and will never show up. So, I take a torch and go meet her in the cave. I hit her twice with the revolver but she seems to still be willing to fight, so I back off and explore the rest of the cave, waiting for her to die of the wounds. Later I come back to find her, and this happens: I erred on the side of caution and emptied my revolver into this... anomaly. I later checked in my journal that all these shots registered as hits, but they did not contribute to my revolver skill. I search the rest of the cave - I find a heavy hammer and decide to take it with me - and exit at the top end. I follow the path to the right and find the Lonely Cave, which I had already forgotten it existed: The dead guy gives me a second flare gun, 4 flare shells, matches and two cans of dog food, which I gulp on the spot. I thank him and return to the ice cave. When I pass her on the way back, Fluffy is already in her normal carcass state, half buried in the rocks. I finish the day opening the third path to Monolith Lake, via the series of root climbs. More cattails for dinner. I need to find some sustainable food, but there really isn't much around, and my cooking still is a long way from eating wolves safely.

When the king declares the rabbit season, it is the rabbit season for everyone, from the noble knight to the lowliest peasant. I'm afraid that my cycling habit (and inability to learn to work with the radial) has cost me a few bear attacks. The revolver is fine - comes up first and fast. Bow, rifle - usually you don't need them out fast, you use them deliberately, so cycling with the 2 key is also fine. The stone is annoying, being at the end, but not critical. But the flare gun... when you need it, you need it immediately - the bear doesn't wait.

Day 31 I leave again in early morning after repairing one of my two fisherman's sweaters. I immediately feel the world getting colder: felt minus 11°C, and there even isn't any wind. I take a picture from Pensive Vista and continue down the rope into the valley. The wind starts blowing hard while I am cutting through the brush (last time I checked, the brush can be bypassed on the way down, but I decide to cut the way open). I light a fire on the shelf to arrest condition loss. I drink a coffee, prepare birch bark tea and pull a torch before going to the second rope. I find that not only the short, interior climbs but also the normal outdoor rope climbs allow you to keep your lit torch - no need to throw it down anymore. I don't know how you keep a lit torch on you while climbing in practice, but whatever - this is how it works in TLD now. The winds stop again, and I head straight towards the Landslide, the same burning torch still in hand. I get work gloves and a polaroid at the end of the map. Then I turn around and walk to the Moose Overlook. A can of soda there, that's all. The winds are at work again and I let my torch die - a small mistake that will cost me an extra match in a while. Three deer are grazing in the corner near the rope to the Many Falls Vista, which I want to climb tomorrow. At Twin Sisters I nearly get squeezed by a wolf: I escape unnoticed and unharmed, but decide to start another warming fire to recover my body heat. Finally, I get to Long Shot Falls and find my fourth secret cache. Inside, a can opener, a whetstone and a copy of Wilderness Kitchen. The book is very useful at this stage of the game. The Valley Cave welcomes me a while later with a bedroll, a last resort can of fish and a copy of Stay on Target. I build a fire, make water and do some food accounting. My non-cattail supplies are dwindling. Since I've heard somewhere that ye olde wabbit seasone is open, I head out to get some. It goes well, so I can post a video here, but for full disclosure - my success with counterrabbit warfare is generally inconsistent. Even this time the second stone almost missed. The rabbits are on the thin side but better than nothing. I leave the pelts and guts in the back of the cave for future use someday. Before bedroll I finish a book and get Firestarting Level 3. Firestarting has been a bit behind the other two early skills - carcass harvesting and cooking - in part because I've found fewer copies of the book, but also because my warm clothing have not motivated me to make fire very often. I fall asleep to the sounds of a blizzard. Tomorrow, up we go.

Threading a needle, or posting a video. Many thanks - of course it was the simplest way that didn't occur to me to try. Now I can post snippets of Drifter life.

Will have to do, after the other two kills that were just like the first one... I think a bear saw me do it. P.S. I've just noticed that I'd messed up and you probably couldn't watch the video of the unknightly kill that I linked to... Here it is again: https://youtu.be/qpVid5V1BaA By the way - does anyone know how to embed a video in a post so that viewers can just click and watch? Instead of a link to youtube like this one.

Nothing is a problem, given enough force is applied I'll probably join the cohort of frozen corpses, too, in the situation.

A true knight, Sir Percival answered the call of his King, went to battle, and dyed. R.I.W. Welcome Kegstand, the next torchbearer, to the Cold Table.

I think you could open a can with a stone - preferably wearing good, tough gloves. I don't know how it would go with bare, freezing hands. I don't want to try! Especially not if the reward is 8% dog food...

I am surprised. Now I'll picture this is what happens every time I'm 'smashing open' in the game

Days 28-30 Quick exploration of HRV. The weather is the usual HRV stuff: max strength wind most of the time. The difference from Bleak Inlet is that this same wind would blow all the time there. HRV at least gives you a break. But right now, the wind can only slow me down - the air temperature is not low enough yet to truly bite. That's why I am taking on HRV early on, after all. Day 28 gave me a blizzard at first, but weather improved in the afternoon and at dusk. I searched parts of the right bank of the river, killing two more unsuspecting wolves and stealing their rabbits. Another blizzard rolled in at night while I explored the first ice cave, which takes three cold showers in a row to enter from the river. I found two secret caches, one on the way from the transition cave to the river, with some clothes and the other one in the ice cave, with food. The clothes would have been great stuff on Interloper but only scrap value to me. Day 29 saw me searching most of the left bank. I found a bear lying in an unexpected place and thought it might be a carcass. I tiptoed closer and could see it breathing. Bears sometimes just fall asleep in a random place. I tiptoed away again. No need to wake him up. After nightfall I used the same ice cave to get to the Monolith Lake area. I noticed that the short interior climbing ropes now let you keep the torch, which is nice. On Day 30 I woke up early, before dawn, and found that it is foggy outside at felt -3°C. In these ideal conditions, I cut the path open to the Signal Fire, which was on this side of the map. I found the satchel of course, allowing me to reach the full 45 kg carrying capacity. Also, the Mackinaw Jacket (again, great for Interlopers, only scrap cloth for me), ammunition (including a flare shell, my fifth), some food (including MRE) and tools. I spent the rest of the day combing through the surroundings of the lake before making camp at Pensive Vista. Near Peak Cave I found a third cache, this time with rifle ammunition, a firearm cleaning kit and a copy of the Frontier Shooting Guide. Tomorrow I plan to descend into the valley. The day after that, get back up on the other side. Then the remaining ice cave will be the last main point of interest. The one that is inhabited Edit: one more shot I took at Monolith Lake in early morning:

You know what, I wondered why anyone would put a dog food can inside the doghouse. The dog knows what it is but can't open it. It's animal torture!

Based on just one observation, I actually think that bears respawn in the exact place where they died 50 days earlier. I suspected that, but I don't mind having the extra cloth

Ah, I must have mixed up Rusty and Rufus. But I shouldn't want to meet him anyway, I stole his food in PV.

Day 27 I leave the house before dawn - the aurora is out and I want to check on buffer memories in the Credit Union and the Post Office - I don't remember seeing any from these places. A green, glowing wolf patrols further down the road. I get a piece of a diary of a woman named Anika Longmire and a journal note by one Chris about a package from a faraway place called Toronto. Must be somewhere off-map. Maybe we get this Toronto region one day. The search of Grey Mother's house yields decent amount of food in sub-decent condition, plus some clothing. I tear down the cloth in the storage room and am rewarded with a cured maple sapling. Thanks @Zaknafein. I set out towards St. Christopher's church in late morning. I search the cars along the road but cannot get into the trunks yet... still no prybar. The canine guards are on leave - the church is mine. I look for Ryan Smith's grave but can't find him, so I pause next to Emily Camp's. I notice that the occupants of the marked graves were all awfully young. I find Ryan Smith buried across the road later. The church has 8% dog food and a rifle in 87% condition. Maybe I should eat the rifle and use the dog food against wolves. I'll take the rifle to the trailer and drop it off there for later use. As for that 8% delicacy, I'll save it for supper. The weather is perfect and still no wolves are around. I knock out two rabbits near the transition cave, cook them and take everything inside - the meat will be for breakfast. I don't plan to continue into HRV today - it is late and I am too tired. Instead I boil some water and read books in the cave before bedtime. Supper: 8% dog food, 23% granola, 20% nuts'n'stuff, 34% little fish in a can, 37% granola, all courtesy of the town of Milton. No poisoning. My survivor is blessed with an iron stomach.