Merrak

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Posts posted by Merrak

  1. Day 331
    Mountain Town - Great Bear Island
    Location: Cave south east of Picnic Area

    I've covered more ground in the past 16 days than I've done at any point in the past. Looking over my notes, I'm roughly 90% sure I've mapped out the majority of Great Bear, excluding the Far Territories.

    Most of the supplies have made their way back to Timberwolf Mountain...though I'm bringing back more than a pack full of gear this time around.

    Then north-west is becoming inhospitable. I stepped out of the Orca Gas Station and was surrounded by a pack of wolves that were prowling the area. I would have dropped all of them if I had the ammo...damned wolves.

    Speaking of, I'm in need of a resupply. Ammunition is getting low, so it may be time to head back to Blackrock to forge more bullets and arrowheads.

    I need some rest. It's been at least a month on the go, working out this map project. Honestly, I'm beginning to question my own sanity...

    Signed, Meriel

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    • Upvote 2
  2. On 3/26/2023 at 5:30 AM, DrWho42 said:

    henlo merrak! welcome to the wild erness!

    Thanks DrWho! Glad to meet you. :)

     

    On 3/23/2023 at 12:03 PM, xanna said:

    I imagine that combating boredom and finding motivating goals are the hardest challenges at that stage. I hope to find out myself this year - the new content is helping with that.

    This entire run that I'm doing started as a challenge to myself. I was previously terrified that if I went to certain zones I would most certainly die immediately. Someone on Reddit gave me a really fun "getting started" type of quest to point me in the right direction, and it was actually quite perfect. I've felt better about this run than any one previous to it.

  3. Day 315
    Forlorn Muskeg - Great Bear Island
    Location: Old Spence Family Homestead

    So...it's come to this? Writing in a journal to keep my sanity.

    Damn it Meriel...you couldn't make it one entire year before you started to feel yourself crack?

    I was holed up at Old Spence tonight while I continued my trek to sketch out important locations around Great Bear when I saw the most vibrant Aurora I've seen in...well...as long as I can remember anyway. I'm thankful this old camera is still holding up. I'm not quite sure what I'd do if I couldn't capture these moment when they happen.

    The wolves were on the prowl, one even made their way inside the Homestead while I tried to sleep last night.

    My archery skills are improving...as long as I don't "overthink it". Nock, aim, release Meriel. It's not that difficult. I've hand to settle too many conflicts with the preditors through knife fights. If my focus was better, I might just land a kill shot more often than I do now.

    Tonight, however, the quiet, starry sky above feels as though Great Bear is attempting to reassure us that this hellscape will come to an end sometime soon. Maybe I'm wrong...but I'd rather that than to know outright that we have no way of destination.

    I'll get through this. I have to...

    Signed, Meriel

     

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  4. As someone who's played Fallout for a good portion of my adult life...this game fills that "explore, gather, return" gameplay mode void that most games leave behind. I think of is the same way I do with Fallout...I'll bring everything home and when I'm fully stocked and can no longer find anything useful to me...I'll wait out the apocalypse in the solitude of my little hut.

    As I roam Great Bear Island...every new can of food or tool I stumble across means I can spend just a little longer out in the harsh environment. The desire to see what's left to bring home outweighs the need to survive.

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  5. I've been pretty selective when I decide to fight/harvest. On larger prey, I typically try to get them to run away. I have 5 caches at TWM around the Hut, and 4 of them are for food. I wait until the caches start getting low before I resume hunting.

    On the other hand, if I'm traveling zone to zone...I'll often hunt wolves for meat. Plus, gives me a chance to level my archery skill.

  6. 6 hours ago, xanna said:

    Great to have you here. Good luck with your 500 days! What day are you on at the moment?

    Just over day 300. But I know better than to be confident. I'm sure if I really, truly wanted to, I could ride out the 500 days by passing time...but what fun is that?!

  7. Hello everyone!

    Look forward to meeting quite a lot of you, I'm Merrak! I picked up The Long Dark in 2017, and it has been in my rotation of games ever since! After playing for so long, I finally decided to get more involved in the forum here. I'm on the older side of the age groups in most games, married, and currently finishing up my Master's Degree.

    In Game: I've unfortunately never got far into the Wintermute story, but Survival has always been my thing. I typically stick to either Voyager or Stalker difficulty. Currently working on "The Will to Live" 500 Day Challenge, Faithful Cartographer, and Skilled Survivor.

    Other Games: Typically, if I'm not playing this, I'm cycling through the Fallout series (currently 4 and 76), Skyrim, ESO, Forza Motorsports 7, Forza Horizon 4/5, or Project Zomboid.

    • Upvote 3
  8. 34 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

    Any rope bridge. My player meta-knowledge knows they're perfectly safe as long as you walk straight. You can even hit them at a full sprint safely. But the audio and visual feedback says "This rickety rope bridge is falling apart under its own weight, hasn't been maintained in probably 50+ years, and you're going to just trust your life to it. Sure. OK. Yeah. Great idea. Hey, guy on the ground who obviously fell off the bridge, is this a good idea?"

    So this is just visual? Is there any real threat of falling off the sides of the rope bridge when it sways?

    As for my favorite creepy spot, the bear cave in the North East corner of Ash Canyon! The scattered bones everywhere and the fear of not knowing if the bear is in that cave or wandering around.

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