Kermit the Timberwolf Hermit


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Guest jeffpeng

Kermit 7 / Day 36 - Where the rivers will take me

7 am, 63%, the fire is still going, and hot tea awaits me as well as green fog. No time to lose, no matter the cold. I pick up my stuff, pull torches, drink some reishi and head towards Draft Dodger's Cabin.

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I arrive without incidents. I pick some reishi and rose hips and spot a bunny. He will not be long for this world - but first I need to warm up inside. I find a granola and some beef jerky. Very welcome travel food. I make a fire outside to keep the flame alive. I put on an hour and go back in to relieve the cabin of it's valuable curtains - 12 cloth!

I manage to keep the fire alive, kill, cook and eat three rabbits, cook some tea and leave. Heavyhearted I never harvested the guts. No time, too much risk. Priorities. At least I now have 1200 calories in my stomach that will keep me from starving a while. I head back half of the way I came and take towards the river. I plan to stick to it for some time. 

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Under the bridge I make camp again. Not sure the fire is safe I don't dare to chance an hour of sleep. I know I am burning through firewood at an alarming rate, but right now all that counts is making it to the farm without losing too much condition. This way maybe I can gain some momentum for the following days and make up for the last day. Shortly after winds kill the fire, and I'm happy I didn't sleep, but I feel this might spell doom. It's a full blown blizzard before I know it - amazing. I bathe myself in tea, but it's no use. I'm freezing fast and hard fighting my way against the winds with little to no visibility. I'm genuinely afraid to get lost. Then I see it in the storm.

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What a sight for sore, frozen eyes. I enter with 52% condition. Not as bad as I had feared, but not as good as I had hoped when I took off from the bunker - and a full day late. But, and I need to stress that: Alive. Looking at my home for the next 48 hours at least I find the following: 30% peaches, two cooking pots, another can, a sewing kit, a baseball cap and some sport socks. I use the spare time and calories to tear down some curtains. I total now a lush amount of 35 cloth. With 720 calories worth of rabbit left in the belly I go to sleep at 8 pm. I try 9 hours, but I know I will wake up early. I made good progress today.

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Guest jeffpeng

Kermit 7 / Day 37 - Boring farm life

I wake up at 4:30 am, fully rested, with 75% condition. I will need to cook some water today or tomorrow as I am out and thirst is knocking at the door, but for now the toilet water will suffice. 3 liters combined should get me through the day alright. I spend the early morning tearing up more curtains and towels. I even find almost new wool socks in a drawer I had missed before. And with better light I find something I didn't expect to find at all - and frankly don't even need anymore. But I celebrate anyways.

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When I am done with my curtain tearing frenzy I have 98 cloth, enough to repair my entire gear two times over. I go to the kitchen and store some things I won't immediately need. My firewood is dwindling, but it's not like the house isn't overloaded with furniture I can break. I take a look outside, and then in the basement.

Guaranteed Matches, a rare and valuable whetstone, 71% work boots, 6 painkillers, scarp metal and another heavy hammer. I decide against breaking down the crates for now. The immediate surrounding yield nothing of value and the blazing cold weather forbids further exploration. The thing that is most scarce right now is food, even tho not dangerously. I decide to mend some clothes until weather outside is more passable.

Finally I have my first fail trying to repair the work boots. I succeed on the third try and spend a lot of time doing so. Sadly, meanwhile, a blizzard makes itself heard outside. There is nothing Pleasant about this Valley, as I use to say. I still go out and take a look at the car, but find nothing. Having no pry bar locked trunks and lockers will remain off limits for me.

Nothing else to do I keep mending clothes until it is too dark to continue. I light up the stove and employ my three cans and three pots to make some water while I work for two more hours. It's like RNGeezuz had held up all the fails until now, because now I have quite a few of them. But it's okay. I won't be able to haul all the cloth away from here anyways. When I am done it is midnight and I have stockpiled impressive 17 liters of water, and my clothing is near perfect.

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I chance my now 29% peaches - and contract no food poisoning. The chocolate bar goes as well. Finding food tomorrow would be nice. But for now it's 9 hours of sleep.

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Kermit 7 / Day 38 - Detours

When I wake up it's 10:30 am already. I'm in great shape: 85%. I'm considering putting my voyage off a day to make a run to the barn and maybe even Rural Crossroads if weather permits. I believe I remember matches being at the Gas Station. However I am not sure. It's been ages since I've been here. Finally I decide to make the trip. 7-8 hours is a steep pace, so I drop everything nonessential and get going. Sprinting across the plain trip costs me 6% condition. Within margin. I use my storm lantern to search the place.

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A whetstone, quality tools and a stim make the trip worthwhile already. High priced loot! The cured leather is a bonus. Sadly all the lockers are ... well... locked. I warm up and get going again. Stiff winds make it hard for me to make ground. I'm freezing again already upon reaching Contemplation Bridge. Whatever I'll find at the crossroads, I'll pay for it. I dodge into the first cabin I see at 66%. 0% dog food greets me with a wicked smile. I head over to the store.

84% and 74% tomato soup, 0.45l kerosene and the anticipated matches are my reward. I take a quick peek over the bridge and see two more intact cabins - but a wolf sees me. I head back, eat half a cattail and sleep for an hour. Being able to sleep where I want is a luxury I still have to get used to. After said hour I take another look across the bridge. The wolf spots me again as I am about to enter the cabin to the right. I go in, find some painkillers and leave through the other door. I yet again am playing with fire. Being barked at yet again I make it to the other cabin that's actually a real house this time.

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I leave the work boots, the dress shirt and the running shoes, but take the candy bar and saw down the toaster to give the wolf some time to get lost. Nothing else to find here, so I leave again hoping my canine friend has lost interest. I give the place a wide birth and leave through the river, circling back to the store. I warm up yet again preparing some reishi and head back. It's 5 am, but weather is basically summer (-12°C FL) and wind free, so I should make it home for dinner. I make it back to the barn, but not before freezing, and warm up smashing a crate.

From there is is a brutal march against stiff winds in rapidly cooling weather. In the end I reach the farmhouse just before a blizzards hits yet again, at 47%. I'm afraid this detour will cost me more than just the day, but the stim, whetstone, quality tools and matches say worth so loud I cannot argue. Starving and exhausted I crash into the big luxurious bed, eat my beef jerky, candy bar and the remains of my last TWM cattail, and sleep 9 hours of well earned and very much needed sleep.

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Just now, Drifter Man said:

Belated congratulations to Kermit 7! You breezed through Day 30 like it was nothing :)

Thank you! In the end it was easier than I anticipated. I guess once I recovered from the wolf attack I made the right calls, even if there was a close one on day 25. I probably would have had 10 more days in the tank for TWM spending my matches conservatively. But making the trip to HRV in the same game seemed more interesting than 10 more days of "slept a lot and then waited some more, no firewood, shucks" ;-)

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Kermit 7 / Day 39 - Live off the land, die off the land

I wake up at 5, and still have 2 more hours I can sleep fatigue-wise. I nibble on my granola bar and take them. While I do, the blizzard outside moves on. 75% condition sound good enough considering where we left off yesterday. I start the day sawing down lamps and the toaster. I will need some scrap metal eventually. I have a total of 12 pieces now. With 8 for knife and hatchet that's only one missing for my 10 arrow heads, but I would prefer more. But for now I will need to score some food. 

I take a peek outside, but deep green fog and -28°C FL despite still winds make me reconsider. -45°C air temperature are brutal. I take some time and fix my bedroll. An hour later I can at least see snow. I head south and see the place crawling with wolves. 

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So back the way I came again. I decide to head into the river and see if I can find some cattails, but harsh winds in still terribly cold weather let me reconsider that as well. Nothing else to do but chores: preparing tea, repairing the hacksaw, break some stuff for firewood. 1:30 pm I head out again - east, to kill a few rabbits. I have to go farther than expected, and I only find one before I have to head back, and still take some freezing damage. I warm up a bit harvesting the poor fella. At least this means I can stave off leaving here another day. But I realize that I am on borrowed time. I need to get going sooner rather than later.

I fire up the stove and cook the rabbit and some tea - all at once. Amazing. Why don't campfire have 6 cooking stones? But while I cook .... it's blizzard time yet again. I can't get going in the cold hours of the day because it is too cold, and I can't use the warm hours 2 out of 3 times. What to do? Frustrated I spend more time doing chores. By the time I go to bed the blizzard is still raging. Effectively all I did today was kill a rabbit and eat it to recover what I lost killing it. It's the circle of life.

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Just now, Dan_ said:

It's still interesting to read even when you stabilize yourself and get a system down, the unpredictable can always come up. 

The unpredictable can't come up when you don't leave the house. :D

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Kermit 7 / Day 40 - Making a break

6 am, 89%. If the last day yielded anything, it was recovering. I'm torn what to do. I can probably score enough cattails in the river - if I get to it - to live 2 more days here. But who says those 2 day will give me chance to leave? I should probably take the chance to make it to signal hill when I can and don't look back. As nice as the house is, everything around it is a death trap.

Taking everything I'd haul 53 kg around. That's just not feasible. So what can I leave? My disinfectant stays behind. I won't be able to sustain a lot of wounds anyways, and for those Old Man's Beard Lichen will suffice. While amazing tinder .... books are just not efficient enough in terms of raw firepower, quite ironic for a book with a title that has 4 words of which 3 are "Guns". Nobody needs two hammers. At least no sane person. Also a third cooking pot really is decadence. I'll leave it here on the stove in the unlikely event I will come back one fine (and cold) day. Having 10 torches is great. 2 will do, however. Those are the easy choices.

I can spare a few sticks, and while I would love to haul 90 cloth to HRV .... I know I won't. 30 will stay, at least. With enough water that still makes me haul 44 kilograms, which is a lot, but manageable ... maybe. -40 °C however is not. I repair my 82% sweater because what gives? I fail twice. Cabin fever risk strikes, and I still hear heavy winds outside. I fire up the stove yet again and cook tea. It's time to leave.

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By the time I reach the road I am almost freezing already. Signal Hill is looming over me like a promise of a better life. Howls of the wolf pack bid me farewell. Halfway up to signal hill hand and ankle gives in. I hobblewobble up there, regardless, but I'm not sure how far I'll get today. Maybe this is the time to spend some painkillers, but first I'll make it up there. A deer carcass just outside of signal hill might staying the night not such a bad proposition after all. I go inside.

95% sardines, 5 coffee, 47% peaches, a sewing kit, 60% crackers, 0.27l lamp fuel and a flare greet me inside. The work boots I leave, maybe I'll tear 'em up later. I finish my granola bar and sleep 2 hours. Should I stay or should I go? If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be boring. And probably too windy tomorrow. I drink a residual sip of rose hip tea and head for the Hilltop Colony... Cave. Hilltop Cave. I'm at 66%. 

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The picture really says it all. I'm worried I lose my way, but I am far to far away from signal hill to find my way by there either. I don't have enough sticks for a snow shelter. Things could become dire quick, but I think I know where I am and keep going. I'm right and find the cave. I hastily make a fire. Since I know I won't be going anywhere I make it a big one. I find some more crackers in the cave at 61% I'm nowhere near being tired enough yet because of my two hours of sleep on signal hill. So I decide I might as well finish my book about life form disintegration after munching some of those crackers, and then pour it into the fire. I also read a page of A Sewing Primer. Some more crackers and it's time for 6 hours of sleep.

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Kermit 7 / Day 41 - tour de force

4 am and I regained some condition - 54% now. It's still way too early to move anywhere, and I don't want to starve myself with this kind of condition and the way I've got ahead of me. The remaining crackers go into my face, and I'm off to reading some more. It's shortly after 6 am when I decide to make headway. I put on some tea and the 45% peaches, and make into -29°C FL. The weather is clear and windless, and I don't have a lot of ground to cover.

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I find nothing at the hunters blind but the cave is within reach. Minutes later darkness engulfs me. I chain torches through the cave and make a total of 9 coal - very good. At the end I pop a fire to harvest the deer carcass and pull new torches. The deer only yields a sorry 0.8 kg, which I cook and eat on the spot. Tea and coffee will keep me warm a short while. The Winding River awaits.

When I exit it's blizzard time yet again. I consider. Blizzard or wolves. Blizzard or wolves. I take blizzard. The Winding River really makes due on its namesake. In the winds it's -51°C. But due to the terrain keeping out of the wind is easy. It's the same reason that makes dodging wolves a pain in the backside.

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The cave has 23% dog food - which I leave - another issue of Field Dressing Your Kill, Vol. I and matches. I keep going. 47%. It's a terrible and terribly costly tour de force, and I already know I won't leave the dam for at least a whole day - that's why I get the cattails regardless of the price I pay. It's okay just as long as I don't have to return.

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I make it, almost frozen, but alive, at 20% condition. Soaking wet I'm totally overburdened at almost 50 kilograms. With the day being only 12 hours old I make my way through the dam. Priceless having no risk of becoming electro-cute. It's the least cute kind of cute, you know. I find another pot, a sewing kit, a torch, matches and another issue of Stay On Target before I leave the lower dam, while a plethora of locked lockers might warrant a return if I am so lucky to find a pry bar.

When I reach the upper dam I store my heavies in a locker at the exit. No need to crawl through the place. I find a 97% storm lantern with 0.9l of fuel. Time to retire mine, which so valiantly supported me since day 1. Other than that I find a flare, a 64% wool toque, which I plan to keep as a spare in case I get molested by a bear, a 35% granola bar, a bandage, and a few books. Even the safe yields... just a book. Disappointing. I take a look outside to see if the deer carcass is there. It is, but stiff winds forbid me form taking more than a pound. I pass an hour of time to warm up, get another pound, and repeat until I got it. 

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I eat like a king - and sleep like a beggar. With wires lighting up the dark. What a treat.

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2 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Taking everything I'd haul 53 kg around. That's just not feasible. So what can I leave? My disinfectant stays behind...

I hate those things with a passion, if you need a bottle that big I'm pretty sure the wound demands a surgeon, not a bandage. :D

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Kermit 7 / Day 42 - home turf

After a total of 12 hours of sleep I wake up with 43%. Not planning on starving the entire day either, the rest of the meat vanishes miraculously in my mouth. Short on water I take some more of the toilet water. It's got that special flavor. Today isn't a day for great deeds and dangerous endeavors. But I will still take a look at the trailers outside. My hope of having escaped the endless onslaught of blizzards is harshly disappointed.

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One trailer yields decent peaches at 64%, the other a pair of obsolete jeans. Cabin fever risk makes a return. All that time hunkered down at the farm in Pleasant Valley takes vengeance - at probably the worst of times. But I have a contingency in place. At least the blizzard subsides. Using the calories I have I finish A Sewing Primer which grants me Mending II. I'm low on firewood, so while carefully monitoring my cabin fever risk I brake some crates. With 20 pieces of reclaimed wood in the backpack I head for the Ravine. I had originally planned to make that trip after acquiring a rope, but I will sleep in the cave tonight. Weather is more than just favorable - 13°C FL despite stiff winds.

There are very few places in the game I feel more at home. Having spend months dwelling in the Ravine every stone, every branch yells a happy hello. I reach the cave and only freeze for a few seconds making the fire. Outside a banquet is waiting just for me. Not only a 1.3 kg deer carcass, also a bunny offers himself to me near the climb I sprinted to to "acquire" some fatigue. I'm happy and well fed yet again. I sleep.

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Just now, Karl Grylls said:

no Fluffy?

No Fluffy!

Just now, Dan_ said:

I hate those things with a passion, if you need a bottle that big I'm pretty sure the wound demands a surgeon, not a bandage.

I dawned on my on TWM already that just picking a few OMBLs would be beneficial over carrying 0.7 kg of disinfectant. But believe it or not: I never got to it. And yeah. I find it had to believe I would sustain more than one wound and get away with it. Typical Stalker item. It's for brawling with wolves.

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Kermit 7 / Day 43 - Burdens

After sleeping off 12 hours again I awake at 11 am, 58 %. I harvest the gut from the bunny and leave it here. I plan to transfer the fire to the deer carcass and get guts and hide, but harsh winds foil my plans. Sad. I hide all the meat in my tummy so wolves can't smell it. Me smart. I start to realize that my initial planning was good, just the timetable was terribly off. I lost 2-3 days in PV, now already one in Mystery Lake. I won't be at the Trailer in Milton in just 4 days. More like 14. But that's fine.

Back at the dam I tear up the old lamp. Encumbrance is a serious issue for me. I leave most of my cloth and scrap metal behind for now, as well as a few other things, among them: my coal. I will have to make the trip to the Ravine again and plan on collecting on this stuff then. But for now my main objective is making it to the Camp . It takes me another two hours to harvest the river next to the dam for cattails and sleep off the cold. It's already 5 pm.

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I keep the high ground until I reach the derailment. Nothing there. The rest of the way to the camp office is uneventful as expected. I arrive at 38%. Inside I find a 27% granola that immediately gets eaten, yet two more cooking pots, a pack of tea, matches, Wilderness Kitchen, scrap metal, pain killers, 0.35l lamp fuel, a 1% wind breaker, which I fix right away, afraid it could evaporate any minute now, a sewing kit and the bedroll.

I'm way too well rested to sleep a significant amount of time. Luckily the aurora lends me a hand and I get to read a while. It's almost midnight when I turn in for 6 hours of sleep.

 

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Kermit 7 / Day 44 - No Lake for old fishers

I awake at 6 am and prepare tea until I actually can see anything. Then it's organizing and most importantly: shedding some weight, and if it's just for now. While I do a blizzard begins his reign of the outside world. So repair the wind breaker some more. About the windbreaker: It's a piece of clothing I wouldn't even consider on Stalker, since, well, yeah it's basically a big wolf battle royale, but now with my main objective being evading the few wolves I find .... it's pretty darn amazing. Especially since I lost the other piece of clothing for the other upper body I had. I spend however 7 tries for 4 successes. And my sewing kit from Pleasant Valley goes into retirement. There must be some other kind of variable to RNG here I am not aware of. Maybe it's like with torches? If anybody knows - please, enlighten me!

I keep doing my chores and even find a whetstone I missed yesterday. That's a total of three. More than just decent. It's again already past 4 pm when the blizzard subsides. Seriously needing water I head out to the lake. I will try and see if I can't hit two wolves with one flare - figuratively speaking.

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Three wolves patrol the lake towards the the river access. I wrap around, skip the first hut, and make it into the second, picking up cattails on the way. With Cattail Island unoccupied I pounce. I make it back to the hut, put on 4 hours of wirefood in the bot pelly, put the pot I brought to use and get to work ont the ice hole. 

What entails now it relatively tragic, but I actually expected as much. It's interloper after all. I spend all my firewood in the end and catch 2 fish - a big one and a small one - and once I return, in a blizzard to make things worse, it's already 8 am. I made 24 cattails and 8 liters of water, but I won't return fishing until I read that book I found at the farm house. Belly full with fish I go to sleep for 8 hours, so I can at least use warm weathers in the afternoon and evening tomorrow.

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Kermit 7 / Day 45 - In short

4:30 pm, outside sounds quiet, 53%. Time to make a pit stop at the Lake Overlook. I've still got 950 calories worth of fish in my stomach. Weather is -10°C. Decent enough.

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By now I have forfeited any plans of making headway quick. I didn't account for the increasingly bad weather, but at least I am now close to day 50 - it won't get that much worse. I make a decent amount of firewood getting up there. In the cave another storm lantern greets me, along with yet another issue of Stay On Target. I sleep an hour in the cave just to warm up.

I get the rope and annihilate the rabbit up here. The Timberwolf Mountain Rock Sniper has lost nothing of his impeccable skills. Back at the camp office at 7 pm it's already too dark to see much, so that's it for the day already. I don't feel like "just" 3 pound of rabbit justify spending a match just now, so I am content with just harvesting the poor fella and leaving the meat on the porch. I eat 3 cattails and sleep 6 hours.

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Kermit 7 / Day 46 - Home Turf II

I wake up 4:30 am, rested, 60%. The aurora is out but too dark to read. Time for chores in the dark. I eat another cattail and sleep a bit more. When I wake up harsh winds outside make taking a peek futile. This early and this windy I can expect -40°C FL or worse. I take the hammer to some furniture. While doing so, at 10 am it's blizzard time again. The good thing: if the weather acts out now and fast enough, I might have something of the day after all.

I find a can opener I missed. I wonder how I missed it, but it isn't of any importance. At 1 am the blizzard subsides. I take a peek outside. Still too windy for my taste, so I keep at it. At 4 am with 25 pieces of reclaimed wood I am satisfied for now, eat some cattails and read an hour as I hear winds subside. I look at the clock. 5 pm feels like it's a bit late to make a trip to the ravine. Then again: I won't get good weathers often. Now is probably a good a moment as any. I pack some firewood and the rope and go, torch in hand.

Traveling on the Lake Overlook Hill I don't expect any unforeseen run ins with wolves. I pick some cattails upon reaching the dam bridge, but there are yet much more to be had here. I'm freezing, but I decide against a pit stop at the dam or the trailers. I want to get that fire all the way to the ravine cave. 

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I reach the cave down to 37%. I notice how little I use teas to keep warm to save matches. Maybe I need to rethink my strategy there. I've got 64 matches, and using a few of them would save me some decent amount of condition here and there. I warm up at the fire cooking said tea. Being warm now and with a hot cup of herbal tea in hand I decide to quickly visit the derailed train. 

I find 2.11l liters of lamp oil in a jerry can, antibiotics and a bandage - not too shabby - and even make a few cattails on the way back. Then I finally make my first birch saplings. I didn't want to waste my hacksaw on them in TWM while I didn't expect to ever put them to use anyways, and simply never had the opportunity in Blizzard Valley. Three of them I get. 

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I return with the fire still burning bright. I eat 5 of my impressive 39 cattails and sleep 9 hours.

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Kermit 7 / Day 47 - Just one word: Flare shells

I wake up at 6 am, 65% but no water. The fire is still going and I intend to keep it that way. I quickly get some water boiling. I put my last cup of coffee - which I saved for exactly this occasion - to warm up and sleep two more hours. I unburden myself, pull torches, take my tea and coffee and go. 

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I walk fast, but I don't sprint. Sadly winds blow out my torch. But whatever. I cower next to the rock to dodge the harsh winds and deploy the rope, then head straight down. Winds strip away all my heat quickly, but there's no returning now. 

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4 shells, a second gun, a book about shooting rifles that don't exist and another stim! I get to the cave to warm up. I strike down the rabbit, but winds prevent me from making a fire at the deer. I go inside and sleep a while on the bed that this cave harbors. After 4 hours trying to wait out the winds the weather turns actually worse than better and afraid I'll be trapped in a blizzard down here I leave the deer and make the climb. Winds blow in the most unfortunate direction. Again I will pay. At least I get to keep my coffee.

Catching my breath on the ledge I'm experiencing the full brunt of -28 °C FL. I'm almost certain this will mutate into a blizzard at any second now. Coming up at least the winds now favor my direction of travel. I leave the rope. I won't need it any more. I'm down to 48% when I reach the cave. I decide to read the rest of The Frozen Angler in the warm part of the cave. 

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Maybe now I will have some luck fishing. Weather outside never turned into a blizzard, but conditions still forbid travel. I prepare some tea I found down in the gorge. Only then I light up a fire with the book about guns. The Frozen Angler goes too, as well as most of the firewood I brought. I know I could sleep in the back of the cave, but with so much time spent inside the camp office I want to stay ahead of cabin fever. I boil some water while I wait for the rabbit to be harvestable, harvest it, even the guts, eat it and some cattail, drink and sleep 9 hours.

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Guest jeffpeng

Kermit 7 / Day 48 - about doing snow

When I wake up at 7 am - with 71% condition - a blizzard is in full effect. Freezing snow. My fire still has two and a half hours left in it officially, so in fact almost 4. I sleep another hour and a bit.

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I spend time boiling water and cooking tea. When the blizzard finally moves on my fire is down to 18 minutes and it's almost noon. I pack up, take even the rotting rabbit and the fresh gut - along with the narrowly cured gut I left here 5 days ago, and get moving. -17°C FL are a breeze!

I plan to get both guts home somehow since I will need some fixing for my rabbit mitts and actually want to try trapping again once I reach Trappers. The rabbit carcass is to throw off any wolf I might encounter. With 32 kilograms of burden I also want to make a stop at the dam and collect on some goodies. I take a look back at the Ravine. Thoughts about making my retirement here flash my mind shortly. But Kermit has a different destiny. We won't be seeing each other again, old friend. Farewell.

Being barked at the rabbit carcass goes right when I enter Mystery Lake. I will have to leave the other gut at the dam. Dam-it. All I leave behind at the dam is a pot, some books and a boatload of torches. I get all the cloth and scraps but now total a dangerous 45 kilos. Unless I find a pry bar in Milton I don't plan on returning. Probably even then I won't. We'll see.

Deep foggy snow gives me hope of evading the wolf. Despite freezing I collect on some more cattails. If I really don't return I don't want to leave all that food here, especially not cattails. As things clear up I see the Forest Lookout and plan to make a trip there tomorrow.

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Just before I enter the camp office winds kill my torch. What a waste. Luckily the rabbit outside is still good for a few days. I enter at 47% condition. 

I total 24 scraps and 61 cloth, with at least 10 more cloth to be had right here at the camp office. I read an hour about Cooking, then the winds outside subside once again. Still fairly rested I contemplate what to do with the rest of the evening. Weather outside is splendid and I feel like I need to use that, despite sub-optimal condition. What you can do do today won't kill you tomorrow as they say. I take toward the Forest Lookout.

Two rabbits play joyfully in the grove. I plan to join them upon coming back down from the Lookout. I make the ascent quick and uneventful, and arrive barely freezing. I find the expected hammer, which I plan to leave at the camp office in case I make an unexpected return one day and need to do some fishing. Another blue toolbox, a book about setting fire to innocent plant life, the sewing kit I deem guaranteed by now, another one in the emergency box and canned food poisoning that will stay right where it is. 

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I warm up hammering down two benches and make my way back. Harsh winds brush up so I will be paying for this again. Tomorrow will be a quiet day again, I guess. Losing condition fast I skip the rabbits and head home on the shortest way I can. I reach the Camp Office at 33%, but feel like I actually got snow done today, so I'm fine with that. 4 cattails and a cold herbal tea to recover some condition and I'm out for 9 hours. 

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Guest jeffpeng

Kermit 7 / Day 49 - Plunging into the deep

I sleep in and wake up after over 10 hours total. I'm back at 69%. It's still too dark to see anything, so I lantern down and take a hammer to a chair. Interesting. Too dark to see, but lit enough to hammer. Winds announce less than stellar weather, but I take a peek outside regardless. Clear skies let me overlook the lake. No wolves I can see, so I gather up firewood, and make a "sprint" against the wind towards the first hut. 

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This little exercise costs me 7% condition alone. A good indicator on how harsh weathers have become. Making a hole in the ice takes about 45 minutes with the hammer, so I put on some water. A cedar and one reclaimed wood are found in the hut, but nothing else. Something I notice only now: Fishing takes less calories than "existing" per hour. Standing around takes 150 calories, fishing takes 125. And that's not 150 plus the 125 for fishing - it's 125 total. While mildly helpful in starvation games, this might be some interesting information for game modes that prevent starving like sleepwalking (wink @BareSkin).

My success however was very limited. 3 small and 1 big fish for fishing until 5 in the morning, while I eat two of the small ones on the spot to save condition. At least the day wasn't totally wasted. With blizzards outside most of the time I still used the day rather well, and without accumulating cabin fever risk. It's a dinner for kings, eating half of the big fish and drinking some water. 8 hours of sleep must suffice.

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Kermit 7 / Day 50 - A quiet anniversary

77% are decent when I wake up at 1 pm. Weather sounds nice outside. Maybe today will be a productive day? I dare to hope. I realize I forgot to leave the hammer at the hut. Well - next time. The pot stayed there at least. I dump the fish outside and take a look. -18°C. Not great, but good enough. I go inside, warm up some tea while I finally cook and immediately eat the rabbit to starve a bit less today, take a torch and leave towards the Lake Trail. 

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Dave's Cave yields nothing. I make the hike to the area above. Sadly I find no maple or birch sapling, only a rabbit which has to suffer my wrath for that. Interloper Karma punishes me with a sprained wrist and I take to the cave. To my frustration the torch dies while failing to make a fire. Well then. I warm up harvesting the rabbit. I actually had planned to explore some of the lake cabins, but with a sprained wrist and an uncooked bunny that suddenly sounds like a bad idea. But I get Carcass Harvesting IV. Which is very nice.

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Harsh winds strip away 5% of my condition, but I make it home with 72% of it intact. I dump the rabbit meat on the porch and take the rest the fishes. I repair one of my wool toques that is at 51% again and prepare some rose hips. Quietly I celebrate my 50 day anniversary on Great Bear with some fish and sleep.

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Kermit 7 / Day 51 - Gran Turismo 

I wake up at 5 am. 98% percent condition sounds almost too good to be true. But it's dark and I have nothing to do. After a few more minutes of sleep and some staring in the dark I finish Wilderness Kitchen. After that it's actually bright enough to see something. Not starving that time I'm at 100%, a first since I started down the ramp on Timberwolf Mountain. I take two cured guts and craft two snares. With the outside being quiet at 10 am I risk a peek.

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Green fog and -27°C FL doesn't feel too inviting. I decide to read two more hours. Survive The Outdoors it is. My fire starting skill is still stuck halfway at level III. Even deeper green fog but 20°C FL prompt me to warm up some tea - I also cook the rabbit, but leave it here for tonight - pull torches and again head for the Lake Trail. No detours this time.

I reach the lake in no time, without freezing and carefully, keeping an eye on the lake as good as I can, approach the first cabins. All three are intact - almost unheard of. 

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The first cabin yields nothing of value. Especially not the singular rose hip. Who the hell stores a single rose hip? The second provides me with beef jerky, the thirds with two books and 0.1l of lamp fuel. At the second site only one cabin is intact. Accellerant and a worn hoodie, but nothing truly exiting. As I exit the fog has miraculously lifted. The wolves patrol cattails island probably unaware their treasure is gone already. But it will forbid me to look into the third fishing hut. A murder of crows that I can hear but not see makes me alert. Should the bear be on the prowl?

If he his I can't see him. Probably a corpse on the lake, or a deer the wolves got. 60% running shoes and a 45% simple parka in The Lonely Lake Cabin. I collect on a few cattails on the deep end of the lake and head for the last fishing hut. I make a fire with the flame I still carry from warming up tea to warm up and pull new torches. A whetstone, a sewing kit, another issue of The Frozen Angler and a pack of herbal tea are ultimately the reward for my trip. I sleep one hour to warm up.

I warm up some tea while I pull high quality 42% torches. I know some people frown upon this, and personally, from a balance standpoint, I'd like to see some cost to this, too, but Kermit doesn't care. I make it over the hill to the Northern Access. I actually consider making a trip of the river, but the onset of sharp winds let me reconsider. There's such a thing as overlooting a place, and that would be it. I'm well cared for and I spent much more time than I planned for here already. 48 cattails don't lie. I spend the remaining light to begin fixing the parka. I will eventually replace my windbreaker with it. But I will keep it as well as the running shoes. At some point being able to make quick runs in light clothing might come in handy. The hoodie, however, just goes.

Eating the rabbit and a cattail it's time for bed just before 9 pm.

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Kermit 7 / Day 52 - Strategies aka "I can't say no"

That I abandoned any kind of timetable at this point is obviously apparent. I spent much more time than I wanted. For several reasons.

One: Weather. Being confined to doing nothing, especially back in Pleasant Valley, really hurt my pace. And if I didn't let it confine me, I paid for it dearly, like the tour de force through winding river, and paid recovery time on the back end.

Two: Bad assumptions. Too many Stalker things still dominate my planning. I still make assumptions about ways and weather that are not realistic. Also that I can't just go and shoot my way through - or if push comes to shove punch my way through - makes things not particularly faster. And last but not least: I don't have two wolf skin vests on day fifteen, I have a Ski Jacket and a Simple Parka on day fifty. That's the kind of reality that still takes getting used to for me. 11 more days, and I actually break my Interloper record of 63 days, and that was basically just playing hide and seek on Mystery Lake from back before when Vigilant Flame was a thing.

Three and most important: I can't say no. I have so much loot it almost feels like an early Stalker run by now. And I paid for all of this loot in dear time. Just hauling it around takes massive amounts of planning and patience.

So, taking all of that into consideration, I don't think that my initial plan of making it to Milton from the Basin is still viable. The immense time it would take to haul all this stuff up two ropes from the Basin is probably bordering a week. Plus I have to get it there first - through Forlorn Muskeg, no less. Just not feasible. I wanted to avoid fighting my way through the Milton urban warfare area, but considering the alternatives (spend forever or leave behind half of my stuff) it seems like the best move. I mean I just could leave half my stuff at Trappers and make a return at some point when I need it. But on the other hand if I get it there I can get it to Orca's, and then I can also get it to the Trailer near HRV, and then I can also get it to Monolith Lake.

In any case the first order of business S H O U L D be moving to Trapper's. I don't plan on visiting the Broken Lookout or the logging camp. To much of a detour for too little expected loot. Making the River run for cattails and wrapping around via Alan's is tempting, but do I really need to do that? I might run into a wolf that can be hard to avoid, and if I die for that I'll be hella mad. I'm still undecided. I weather today is really really great .... I just might. But I have to be able to make it back in a day. You see, there I go: I can't say no.

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Kermit 7 / Day 52 - You can (not) advance

5 am, 100%. Splendid prerequisites for a successful day? We'll see. Weather outside sounds windy, and it's again too dark to do anything for two more hours. That's what I miss about TWM. There I always could at least see while I couldn't do anything. How that is better? Well, I don't know. After breaking a few torches I surrender and stare blank at the dark for an hour. At 6 am it's brights enough to read (even though I don't see how) and I continue my read of Surviving The Outdoors. Maybe one day they will issue a follow up guide "Surviving The Indoors" in which they talk about how to combat cabin fever. 7 am, time to get an early bearing on the day.

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Green Fog, -34°C FL and actually -48°C air temperature. That's pretty damn hilarious. But since the winds stopped there is hope for a clear day again today. I go back in and get ready for light travel. Light travel means hacksaw and storm lantern stay home, as well as everything else that actually has no immediate use out there. I know the hammer is heavy, but if I really have to dance with a wolf again it's my only shot at survival. In the end I bring my burden down to 26 kilos. Still a whole lot remembering TWM times. But I already total just 8 kilograms just in clothing. How times change. After that I finish my book about setting things ablaze. I'm just shy of Fire Starting IV now.

11 am the weather is just made for skiing, calm winds, -22°C FL. The Southern River Access is clear. I warm up tea and get going. Yes, I can't say no after all. Spending a day for potentially a week of food is just too hard.

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Winds stiffen as I go, but I am not deterred - yet, at least. When I enter the access I see the wolf just in time to dodge - but he is in my way of 4-5 cattails, so I drive a rabbit into him. With him growling to protect his pray I collect - yeah, that ballsy. He let's me go, but I have no idea how to deal with him on the way back. I also lose valuable time and halfway through the river I am freezing. My torch is still lit.

Reaching the northern access I curse myself. 5 birch sapling - no hacksaw. I will have to return yet again, I'm afraid. I make haste towards Alan's. The hunter's blind yields nothing, and Alan's a fail as well. Another wolf - or is it the same? - spots me, and I employ the same "Take the rabbit, not me" trick. I make my way back. Not meeting the wolf at the Southern Access again it probably was the same. I arrive with my torch still burning - but at only 68% and with sprained limbs. If the 18 cattails were worth the condition is up for debate. If they were worth the risk I think not. 

Not willing to give the day up at 4 pm - basically the best part of the day - already I light a fire in the stove and take two sips of residual rose hip tea. I warm up tea and pack both lantern and hacksaw. Once warm again I take back out, this time through the hills of the Lake Overlook. -11°C FL. Ain't getting better than this. I randomly lose the flame with the torch being stuck under a branch. Meh!

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No wolves at Train Unloading? I risk a peek but find nothing of interest. At the Northern Access I run into the moose, but evade him narrowly. How would I like to bring him down, but it's not worth my universal wildlife deterrent cannon shells. I've deliberated long and hard about this, but I now I have actually a future I want to hold on to my flare shells for defensive purposes only. I get the birch sapling and enter the trailer next to the dam at 58%. A costly day, but who knows, it might turn out to be worth it in the end.

Having nothing to do I smash the two chairs, then eat and drink and sleep 9 hours. 

 

 

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