ManicManiac

Fog and an absence of wolves on Mystery Lake did indeed give me a good opportunity to try my hand again at fishing. Six hours of fishing was rather profitable (especially considering I had no lures or bait). I managed to pull 8 fish without snapping my line; I think a rather lucky day. I came out with 4 Smallmouth Bass and 4 Lake Whitefish. It was definitely worth the wear and tear on the prybar... though eventually I'd like to find a hammer to serve the purpose of clearing the ice. The smell of the fish brought two wolves from skulking around near the tracks... however they turned their attention to some nearby Ptarmigans. Thank you, little bird. I didn't mean for you to come to harm... but you likely saved me from a brutal mauling. I do hope the ptarmigans return one day... I've never hunted to spooked them before, and I have no idea if they ever return or if the survivors flee and seek a new place to forage for food. Since I still wasn't anywhere near tired enough to sleep for a meaningful length of time... I decided to stay up and keep prospecting around the lake until I got tired. A purple evening sky is so beautiful... one of my favorites; so beautiful. While there may not have been any wolves on the lake... there is a bear. Since the bear was out on the lake... I did venture to take a look in its den. (Yes, that's the bear there in the distance on the left, making its way back) I decided not to go inside any of the houses... I would leave that for daylight. By the time I'd made it around the further reaches of Mystery Lake (sometime near midnight), I was finally getting tired enough to want to head back to the Camp Office. Naturally, the weather took a turn, and it very quickly became "deadly dark." I managed to feel my way along the Lake Trail and found my way back to the Camp Office. Ate some sardines and a Nuts and Stuff chocolate bar. After my last hard trek across the expanse of Great Bear Island... this slower measured approach back to the most fundamental of survival tasks almost feels wonderfully relaxed after years of pushing my limits.

@Fjällröven For regions I know very well... I do sometimes put together a playlist but I keep the volume tuned so that I still hear wind and "footsteps" easily over the external accompaniment. 🤭As I mentioned before, I don't often do that... mostly for long treks or maybe if I'm just out gathering sticks or perhaps just prospecting through houses and other structures on routes that I know very well.

I'd managed to get up sometime midmorning. I started out doing some scouting up to the Forestry Lookout. I decided I'd come back for acorns sometime around dusk. There were no wolves in the immediate area today. I decided I needed to try and take good advantage of that. I took the opportunity to survey the vista shown in the polaroid I'd found. On the way back down, I'd stopped at the Train Derailment. It was rather empty, except a solitary box of revolver cartridges. As much as I didn't want to... I'm not being so nomadic as I've been in the past. I'd have to start working on a stable food supply while working on cooking recipes. I took the time to gather up some acorns as well. On the way up to the Lake Overlook, I gathered up more sticks and birch bark as well. I kept working through a good portion of the evening. If I start sleeping in a bit more, I can maybe avoid most of the deeper cold of the mornings (at least until I can gather up some better cold weather gear). If a good opportunity presents itself... perhaps I can start some fishing tomorrow. Perhaps I can start looking into what I might need for a tip-up. 🤔

Other games worth a look: Among Trees The Red Lantern Kona

Seems to me like bad form to try and dismiss, belittle, and mock another person's feelings and options about a situation as being "wrong and/or silly" when it's really just a subjective difference of opinion. It's one thing to disagree... I think it's quite another thing to mock and belittle.

I'm excited to potentially see another new IP from Hinterland.

Whatever it is... whatever theme or subgenre... I'm here for it.

The Day The World Went Away (youtube.com) Alternative Link: Nine Inch Nails - The Day The World Went Away (Still) (youtube.com)

@Leeanda Fair point, I hadn't considered that. I think it's good science to be done... I don't like harming Fluffy in any way, so I'd like to know if the despawning is intended or not as well.

@Leeanda I'm interested to know also... I did hear something similar from @Pencil: I will eventually make my way there again as well (even if only to look for all the recipe cards). It's something that deserves more science... perhaps @Admin might be able to help shed light on whether or not this is intended behavior.

And All That Could Have Been (youtube.com) Alternate Link: Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been Lyrics (youtube.com)

Leaving Hope (youtube.com) Alternate Link: Nine Inch Nails - Leaving Hope (youtube.com)

I spent more than half the day off loading what I packed out from Broken Railroad, thoroughly searched the Camp Office, and did a lengthy sort and stow. I don't ever remember finding a container out behind the Camp Office like this before... 🤔 Wasn't much to be found on the Lake Trail or Dave's Quiet Clearing. So I decided to goat my way up above it. The fog had gotten very dense rather quickly... but I still managed to find my way back to the Camp Office. Tomorrow, I need to start looking at gathering more cooking ingredients, and perhaps start looking into what I'll need to for a tip-up.

Venison... it's just the best. IRL: easily my favorite protein.

Yeah... I think finding kill-walls in some really unexpected places is the primary reason I've stopped trying to explore via extensive goating. The most flabbergasting kill-wall is one I found on the rock formation behind the trailer at the Train Unloading Area in Coastal Highway. As a result of losing several runs over the years due to finding instant kill-walls, I don't really test map boundaries anymore. I get kill-walls to protect the extreme edges of the map boundaries... but I'm not so keen on the ones found anywhere inside what is otherwise a part of the intended playable area.

reference: Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I (tracks 1 & 2)

H.T.D.A. - A Drowning (youtube.com) A Drowning (youtube.com)

[metacontextual update] Real-life stuff has made it hard to get any sort of regular sessions in as of late. However, the chronicle is not being abandoned, and I'm looking to return Great Bear Island again very soon.

Heilung | LIFA - In Maidjan LIVE (youtube.com) Unable to find a good alternative link: Search out Heilung and their performances live at CastleFest 2017 (or anything else by this group, honestly). For those curious: Personally, I find Maria Franz' voice rather wonderfully ethereal.

The Four of Us Are Dying (youtube.com) Alternate Link: Nine Inch Nails - The Four of Us are Dying (youtube.com)

https://hinterlandgames.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

@xanna / @dave1122 Agreed... I think it's an impressive amount of house cleaning.

Thank you, Hinterland.

I think that generally speaking, in a lot of fiction the hyper-religious types frequently tend feel unsettling as their character tries to make sense out of things from a "metaphysical and supernatural" frame of mind... this usually takes shape of the "crisis of faith" trope (as was mentioned by another), or they may snap and double down in a warped form of extreme zealotry (like Mrs. Carmody in Steven King's The Mist). What's different in Wintermute is that unlike most religious types who tend to have to take time to reevaluate everything... instead Father Thomas displays a level of pure acceptance of whatever miserable circumstance the people of Great Bear Island (including himself) have visited upon them. I think it was smart of the writers to pen it that way... it implies that people like Will and Astrid are still more or less trying to come to terms with things, Father Thomas has been living through more than 10 years of the constant escalating hardship and suffering of the community he most likely grew up in. For us (or Will and Astrid since we inhabit their point of view)... the first flare was our first taste of the quiet apocalypse... for the people like Father Thomas who have been living on Great Bear Island... they've been living in what is essentially an apocalypse since the Great Collapse. So... I'd posit that Father Thomas' placid acceptance may at first feel off to some... I think it's pitch perfect for this character. And of course, then on the other side of the spectrum from Father Thomas... we have Molly. The two sides of the coin (so to speak)... one an "angel of mercy," the other an "angel of death."