The name is Walker, Sleep Walker


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Guest jeffpeng

Walker 3 / Day 3 - By The Book

4 am, and it's obviously much too early to do anything worthwhile with the day - except planning.

While life here at Grey Mother's is nice an comfy for now, it won't be for long. I will run out of food quicker than I can replenish it once scavenging options are depleted. Also - even though @BareSkinurged me to patience for a reason (and rightfully so) I still need to stay ahead of the curve - or it will bury me eventually. With the curve, of course, I mean the cold.

I plan to spend the day looting a few more buildings in town. My clothes still leave a lot to be desired. Especially the lack of headgear and gloves make longer trips basically impossible. Maybe I can even make a trip to the church today. The maglens and cattails there deserve a visit, but such a trip requires the kinder weather of the afternoon hours of the day. 0600 sharp the urge to use my time gets the better of me and I get going.

I make it to the post office and find my first book. At least now I can pass time achieving at least something.

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A book about reanimating clothes from the dead and making a fashion statement at the same time.

<big_theory_part> Now why is that important? (All of this is with Sleepwalking LvL 4 in mind, and doesn't necessarily hold true anywhere else)

Time, as everything else, is a resource in TLD, especially until you reach the maximum cool down of your world. The world outside is a gear check, essentially, and how good you pass determines the amount of mobility you have, how far you can travel until you start freezing, how often you have to stop and expend firewood to warm up, etc. This gear check gets harder every day, on Interloper/SW by 0.4°C every day until you reach day 50. So if we look at the last two days: both were very successful in staying ahead of the curve I mentioned earlier.

Now if you use time for something else than achieving your most important secondary goal, improving your equipment (with your primary goal being survival) it should be meaningful in itself in some way. Mending clothes improves and maintains your attire, so that is time spent worthwhile. Reading books improves your skills, and as those save you time later and/or improve your yields, that time is spent well, too. Basically everything you do that gives you something you can use is maybe not spent optimally, but at least not wasted. Standing around doing nothing.... is wasted time. Every hour spent doing nothing "costs" you 0.017 °C on top of 125 calories - without giving you anything in return.

And here the entire calorie consideration comes into play. The thing with a lot of activities you can perform to use your time is that they also cost calories. Tearing curtains, harvesting carcasses, breaking down furniture, walking - all of that costs. Reading, crafting, mending and curiously fishing do not. They just cost the same 125 calories per hour upkeep that just staring into the dark costs you, too. So, as long as you don't have anything better to do with your time since your are waiting, for instance, for that blizzard to pass those activities are free of cost, both time and calories, and - in a sense - at least give you something for your cost of 0.017°C and 125 calories.

Other activities however are not free. Tearing curtains and breaking furniture such as cardboard boxes, crates and shelves actually cost your an additional 125 calories per hour on top. The same is true for harvesting carcasses. So harvesting 1 kg of meat by hand actually doesn't just cost you the 62.5 calories to live and breathe, but also 62.5 calories to perform the task. But also just walking doubles your calorie burn.

And finally there is the cost of being awake versus being asleep. Just being awake costs you 50 calories an hour since sleeping does cost just 75 calories - but it also prevents you from healing. So basically sleeping allows you to save 50 calories on the expense of 0.25% condition not recovered.

In short all of this kinda boils down to my internal "how I gotta play this" algorithm (working draft, of course):

  • Collect enough food, gather enough supplies and achieve goals (in this order) when daylight and temperatures permit
  • Collect additional food, gather additional supplies (in this order) when daylight and temperatures permit
  • Harvest, break and tear when waiting and if the output is needed now or in the immediately foreseeable future (example: I can foresee needing 10 cloth, I cannot foresee needing 100, basically satisfying requirements instead of hoarding, which is something I really lean towards)
  • Sleep when waiting if rest is required (fatigue bar < 50%)
  • Mend and read when waiting and daylight is available, craft (reishis etc) if not
  • Sleep when waiting and condition is above 50% if possible
  • Stare into the dark if all else fails

</big theory part>

Now that we've gotten through this .... I read an hour to warm up and leave. Out of the post office I search the truck. Searching containers does pay off, contrary to what many people say: Beef jerky and matches in the glove box. What do you say? The houses in the part of town towards Orca's yield a soda, 1kg of 67% venison (that I eat on the spot), 2 pairs of wool socks at around 30%, 2 good enough condition sardines, crackers, even more matches and of course water. I'm done with my little expedition at around noon and still have ample time to visit the church.

A short stroll to the waterfall next to the river has two purposes: getting some much needed cattails and testing the waters how far I can expect to come in the time I have. Then it's back home, eating and reading. 3 pm all winds have subsided and -4°C FL are a go signal in themselves. Sadly, leaving the house, a wolf disagrees heavily and barks me back in. I leave the house, this time crouched, and keep crawling my way to the bridge.

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I'm invisible!

Deer roam the other side of the river freely, so I consider myself safe. I find some beef jerky in one of the cars parked outside, and painkillers, a soda and a fresh granola inside the church. And the maglens of course. I even take a few books just to compensate for my substandard fire starting talents. An 80% cotton scarf will solve 50% of my frostbite risk. Outside 19 cattails greet me and accompany me willingly. 

Having played the day by the book so far I break with my plan to return to Grey Mother's tonight and decide to use the amazing weather to make my first trip to the farm right now. I see a wolf being occupied eating a rabbit right in front of the house, and sudden flashbacks to Thatcher 4's demise remind me how volatile and dangerous misinterpreting such a picture can be. I find the keys for the farm behind the house on the farmer's corpse and sneak inside.

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Quite a mess.

I find an 84% sweatshirt, a 42% light shelll, soda, 2 peaches and crackers. The light shell receives some mending immediately before the lights go out, and after that I store excess baggage in the trunk. I will keep it here and get the things I want to get from Grey Mother's tomorrow if weathers permit. I tear down some surplus clothing and go to bed for 9 hours as outside a blizzard rages in vain.

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Guest jeffpeng
3 hours ago, forquet said:

That bear on the bridge is such a pain. I swear he is prescient; knowing which direction you are coming from and where you want to go and  how desperate you are!

I'm pretty sure you are not too far off with your assessment. There seems to be a sort of annoyance buff that particular bear has. But maybe it's just that he walks through so many narrow choke points, as most other bears roam relatively open fields. More often than not when you encounter this fella all you can do is turn around and try a different way. Plus it's so easy to get surprised by him. He is a big part of why I actually consider Mountain Town not a beginner map.

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2 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

They just cost the same 125 calories per hour upkeep that just staring into the dark costs you, too.

Oh, I've always assumed those calorie costs were added on top of the regular curve. Interesting, never thought about that, but yes if this calorie-time curve replacing the background one (like sleeping does with recovery), there actually might be some activities that costs less than doing nothing. Did you check it yourself? Worth investigating... Yes SW4+ is in favor of reading anyway (another fix of Interloper), since passing time is better than sleeping.

2 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

I find the keys for the farm behind the house on the farmer's corpse and sneak inside.

No kidding, they're not always in the truck ?!:o

2 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

I actually consider Mountain Town not a beginner map

Way too many chokepoints and jumping-from-nowhere wolves. The loot is good, but at a high price.

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Walker 3 / Day 4 - The Fool On The Hill

7 am. This house is so dark! Then again it has some of the best interior lighting effects in the entire game, especially in the morning. 69% condition mark 4% over two days. Two days's I haven't been either starving or freezing at all. Assuming I was awake at least 12 of those hours each day I feel like I should have at least 2% more. I'll keep an eye on this.

To start the day in a productive fashion I keep fixing clothes. I realize I haven't lit a fire since I started this run. The mindset of preserving matches at all cost, something that is intrinsic to me since Kermit's ordeals on Timberwolf Mountain, hasn't quite left me yet. I really have to come to terms with the fact that I actually do own a maglens now - and that I have a much wider playing field. It's almost 9 when I go take a look at the barn. Crawling, of course.

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My son's favorite place in the game: the farm with the tractor.

51% Work gloves and a pry bar are my reward. For more of a trip it's just too cold outside. I read two more pages of A Sewing Primer to warm up. At noon it's -7°C FL. Warm enough, so I figure, to make my way back to town. I travel lightly, having left most things I can spare in the trunk in the farm's bedroom. 

Making a break from the farm is time consuming with a horde of wolves patrolling the field. But knowing my limits and crouching a lot I reach town. In the two houses I left unlooted so far I make 1 can of dog poison (which I gladly eat) and sardines. I collect cattails at the pond and a rabbit. Just making my way up to the house on the hill two wolves appear out of thin air. I drop the rabbit and dodge into the house. Inside: more sardines and a granola bar are my reward. When I come back out the wolf is gone, but the rabbit is left untouched on the doorstep. I leave it there for now.

While collecting some reishi outside nice warm calm with light snow and birds singing weather turns into a blizzard of hell in mere seconds. What a shift. There goes my nice and calm evening. No move today. I decide to put in some more work into my clothing and tear up the running shoes I found at the farm and fix my work gloves to 100% with them. 

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+10°C? Utterly luxurious.

After that I fix my dress shirt as well and finally finish A Sewing Primer. I'm this close to calling myself a mending novice. Then .... I really have nothing better to do than sleep. Luckily the house has a bed. 

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Guest jeffpeng
24 minutes ago, BareSkin said:

there actually might be some activities that costs less than doing nothing. Did you check it yourself?

None that I know of except sleeping - and yes, made those observations myself, even put in some testing on another Interloper while writing this.

25 minutes ago, BareSkin said:

No kidding, they're not always in the truck ?!

There are 4 locations I know of: Body behind the house, body in the barn, in the truck or in the tractor.

26 minutes ago, BareSkin said:

Way too many chokepoints and jumping-from-nowhere wolves. The loot is good, but at a high price.

Exactly my point. The area in the triangle Trailer-Grey's-Plane is basically ninja-bear territory, the triangle Church-Farm-Orca's is urban warfare with wolves. That they put combat pants into that house is just befitting. You get abundant cloth and food, and some good loot opportunities, but for a "beginner" Milton is just a deadly and frustrating place.

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Walker 3 / Day 5 - Summer In The City

I wake up at 4 am. Time to prepare some reishi. I actually came to think that this house on the hill is a better staging area to move to the park office than the farm. I somehow had the dimensions of the map slightly wrong in my memory. So I will leave stuff I don't need here as I will return later anyways. It's around 7 am when I leave for Grey Mother's. I pick up the two rabbits from the porch and put them inside and let them warm up while I collect some additional cloth.

I harvest my rabbits, and then it's time to get my first fire rolling - on day 5!

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Keeping a jerry can right next to an open fire stove is always advisable.

I think long and hard about getting pelts and guts. I have no bed roll so making a pit stop at the Milton basin is out of the question. That limits the amount of time I want to spend here to two days. Then again - I should find a hacksaw at Orca's. So I could get that maple behind the church and some birches. Three days maybe. Too long for guts, but short enough for pelts. Then again.... I need the practice. Maybe I can get all of it to the house on the hill jumping cars. But spending 2:40 hours now and waste over 300 calories on that? Nope, the rabbits stay - and I leave with my belly full of rabbit meat.

Thinking about all that I realize I must have missed the hammer at the farm. Good thing I still have stuff there. I haul my belongings to the house on the hill, and then take off again. Thick green fog greets me after just 10 minutes in the house - and it was clear weathers before. Are the shifts always that sudden? Or is it a Milton special? 

-2°C FL at noon make me walk the river for cattails, from the logging area almost all the way up to the bridge and back to the waterfall. When I'm done I own an impressive 71 cattails. If we estimate a day to be in around the ball park number of 3000 calories, that's three and a half days worth of food. That illustrates the shift from Interloper to Sleepwalking very good: From 5 to 20 cattails a day.

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This calls for a Cuba Libre!

That's not inside a building. That's .... how warm it is outside. Unreal conditions. That Milton weather! I collect my stuff at the farm and find the hammer in the expected location in the pantry. I make a last quick sweep for anything I could have missed and take off again. I notice another maple at the river on my way back. Two maples this early in the game .... maybe I can actually make an early trip to Spence's before making the big tour through PV, TWM and CH? Let's keep that in mind.

I pick a plethora of reishis on my way back to the house on the hill. Effectively positive temperatures need to be taken advantage of. I gather my things and leave almost 50 sticks behind. Even then I'm almost 50 kg heavy - but the way to the park office isn't far, and I should be clear.

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Lots of light, they said. Open character, they said.

I find a soda but nothing else worth mentioning. I store my stuff and make it down to Orca's. When a deer comes running my way I get suspicious and hide. Not long until I spot the agitator, but at a safe distance from me, and far away enough from the gas station. Or so I thought.

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Has a distinctly different idea about what is to be considered food: A wolf.

I hide in the truck and pass some time preparing tea. Slowly I sneak into the yard. In the corner of my eye the wolf is making his way to the other side of the road. I should be safe breaking in. Very Splinter Cell. Inside my ninja tactics are rewarded with yet more peaches, beef jerky, a granola, 2 55% dog poison, 2 more sardines, old leather shoes and - of course - the hacksaw, 80%. I quickly sneak out of the front door and find nuts'n'stuff in the car. I slip through the gas station again, quickly check for the maple near the tunnel - but return empty handed and head for the Park Office. A funny rabbit crosses my path, but never sees the other end.

Arriving in the office the weather turns blizzard, not entirely unexpected, but quicker than I had hoped. For science I test @Drifter Man's fire spot in front of the office and it indeed seems windproof. I end up harvesting the entire rabbit and keep boiling tea until late into the night while the blizzard rages.

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Walker 3 / Day 6 - Tour de Milton

At 3 am, with 2 hours of intermittent sleep to stave of fatigue damage, the blizzard subsides and I kill the fire. Armed with resihi tea I chance the two cans of dog poison and see: I survive. Test of faith: successful! I sleep 6 hours. When I wake up it's still much to cold to venture around the map. More sleep entails.

Around noon, at 73%, it's -0°C. Summer times again. I make sure I have anything I'll need and nothing I don't and get going. First stop: the pond near the house on the hill. 5 birch saplings. Next: the waterfalls. Winds brush up heavily, and I consider to stop at the farm, but as long as I still have positive temperatures in cover .... I'll push on. Then I sprain wrist and ankle on a slope. The ankle gets treated by painkillers, the wrist is, so far, inconsequential. Another maple behind the farm - nice - and 4 more birches near hay storage. The maple behind the church ... and I start to get brave.

Will I ever return here for the trailer? Probably not. So... let's go for it now. To my disappointment, except for a single granola bar the trailer is filled with only stale air and the stench of wasted time. The deer carcass outside, however, is tempting. I put the hacksaw to the carcass, take hide and meat, and cook the meat at the trailer. Since the wind is too harsh to light a torch I start the fire with accelerant - what else is it good for? I get going - it's 6 pm already.

I make it to the pond above Grey Mother's and collect I don't know how many cattails. I make a fire by the deer carcass. Since I will need to climb down the rope I warm up some rose hip tea and wait for the deer to be warm enough so I can skin it by hand. 

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Romantic, isn't it?

I even hunt two rabbits on the pond, and while I am at it ... let's just eat them as well. Cooking II is my reward. And now I'm seriously brave. The weather holds, and I begin to form a plan in my head. If I can actually get the guts of the deer and the rabbits ... I basically have my deerskin boots done and almost enough rabbit pets for my mitts. The greed wins over caution. "Stay ahead of the curve", a voice in my head keeps telling me. Sadly winds brush up and kill the fire while I take the deer hide. Well, then not. I take the rabbits and the hide and climb down. Yes, sometimes I do climb.

Then .... I just see the wolf out of the corner of my eye. No barks, but definitely on the prowl. I bolt, I run, I jump down the small rock behind Grey Mother's, I sprain all my limbs and slightly tear some clothing (or so the UI says) - but I make it inside. Phew! Inside the two rabbit carcasses I left behind are still intact. Well. Let's go all in. If I have one thing today in abundance it's calories. It takes me until morning to finish everything.

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Walker 3 / Day 7 - Run, Walker, Run!

7 am it's time for bed. Yeah I know. Kinda off. But for that now 4 rabbit pelts, 4 guts, 2 deer hides, 9 birch saplings and 3 maple sapling are curing downstairs. Looking at my clothes I see my combat pants lost about 10% for my stunt yesterday. That's kinda okay, to be honest. Cloth right now isn't of any concern. In fact I'm leaving most of it in Milton. I must have lost 1% or even 2% condition as well. But even that's fine. I probably advanced my overall timetable a full day.

1 pm I take a short stroll to the radio tower. I think I remember some birch saplings up there - but I'm not entirely sure. Might be from a previous run. No, I'm right. One birch sapling, plus some rose hips and even fire more cattails I missed before Fluffy knows how.

But now to the interesting question: Can I smuggle four guts out of Milton? Heading out of the house straight for Orca's, making a pit stop in a car, catch my breath, make a beeline for the house on the hill and then make it to the park office .... could just work. Risky, but if things go really south I can always sacrifice a gut. Well you never know until you try. 

First part works. I'm in a house in the southern part of Milton. I catch my breath. Now for the house on the hill. No contest. Breath, again. We're almost home free. I even pick up some of the sticks I left behind. Alright. The last part. And in haste..... I fall. Dammit! 7% condition just go, sprains, damaged clothing. Stupid, Walker, stupid!

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*#@&!

At least I make it to the office in one piece. But I'm seriously annoyed, mostly at myself. 4 days worth of recovery just blown away. Anyways! I technically accomplished my mission... so I guess that count's for something. I'm not going anywhere today, anymore. I fix my combat pants, which again took the brunt of the damage, to 100%. Mending II is my reward. Well, something worked today I guess. Repairing my sweatshirt my sewing kit gives in. That's how much I've been repairing things.

I quickly gather some firewood and .... see 2 maples standing right here. Alright. That's probably enough bows for the game. When I return home I pack my backpack for my first trip tomorrow. 6 pm ... it's time for bed.

Stupid blunder. :S

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Walker 3 / Day 8 - Learning The Ropes

The biggest problem I have is that I cannot rest in between two climbs - no bedroll - and hence have no time for longer warm up sessions. So everything that leaves here has to go straight to trappers in one swift go. Generally I don't want to make more than two trips. As 4 am really is a bit early I tend to chores.

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Best skiing weather.

When I get going in -4°C FL it's after 9 am. Making both climbs is easily done being perfectly rested - and the weather is just generous for this kind of endeavor. Traversing the cave at daytime is, as always, like walking a brightly lit underground station. Trapper's is just around the corner.

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The Mystery Lake Retirement Home

Inside I find an issue of the Frontier Shooting Guide (employing imaginary devices they refer to as rifles - hilarious!), a new sewing kit, a granola, new painkillers and a bandage. In the safe a jeans and a 97% wool sweater greet me "home". I stuff my things into the locker and get to sleep 6 hours. When I wake up warm Grandma Fog engulfs the world. I should at least make it back to the Park Office today. 

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I am the man who walks alone

I make it uncontested and again pack my stuff for tomorrow - it will be the more interesting part: I have to get a total of 5 guts past one last wolf. 

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Walker 3 / Day 9 - Fond Farewell

I wake up past 4 am. I prepare some rose hips, but then I've got nothing to do. At noon -7°C FL just have to be good enough. I leave behind just some sticks and tinder books - and a pot I won't need anymore. Better leave it here in case I come back for some cloth one day.

I plan to employ the rabbits to give me some time to make it to the second rope. As stinky as I am the wolf will track me. But hopefully a rabbit will seem more tasty. The plan works.

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Died for my sins: Ronald Rabbit

The wolf munches the rabbit so quick he is already tracking me again when I reach the cave. But I get to the second rope before he can act. Up there harsh winds make it hard for me to advance. I start to doubt that I will make the cave without freezing - but then the winds shift and actually push me towards my goal. No condition was lost today. 

I make it through the cave and to my new home. If Trapper's will remain my permanent home? I doubt it. But at least for a long while expeditions will start and end here. I take some time to "furnish" the place.

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interior design © 2018 Great Bear Hermit Dreams Inc.

To finish the day I catch two rabbits behind the cabin and take them to the barn - and wait watching three deer roaming around. It takes mere moments until barks sound across the plains. The wolf hunts his deer as expected, and I stir up a fire to get rid of him. He quickly finds another deer, and I repeat the game. Sadly the weather turns from good to much too windy instantly, so I have to leave the carcasses for now. Hopefully I can recover them later.

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Such carnage. Very wolfed. Wow.

The third deer even gets killed by yet another wolf, but I cannot steal that one, sadly. For now, I have to turn to the cabin. I sleep in short intervals to wait out the weather that develops into a blizzard fast. It's 11 pm when I head back out and get to work on my first deer. It should take until morning to finish just the first one.

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Walker 3 / Day 10 - A Day At The Butchery

When I get inside from my first deer I save the flame, put on two hours plus of fire and boil some water. Then it's 2 hours napping - and right back out for the second deer near the Milton Cave. Only then I realize that the deer lies too much on a slope to directly harvest and cook on the spot. I put the hacksaw to it, but have to turn back in rather soon. Getting all of it will take time. I warm up an hour in bed and head out shortly after midday.

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All of this had a face once!

It takes me until midnight to harvest the second deer, the deer carcass and the two rabbits - all in full. But in the end the little "Deer Destruction Derby" I staged provides me with almost 20 kg of meat, and I now total 13 guts, 5 deer hides and 7 rabbit skins. That's enough for my mitts, my boots and my pants plus the beginnings of a small rabbit farm. I kinda deserve my sleep this day.

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Walker 3 / Day 11 - Quiet Life

My work isn't done yet. Over half of my food outside still needs cooking. But first it's time for some firewood. It's 9 am, I'm at 71% again and I got a busy day ahead of me. I don't find a lot of sticks before I have to turn back, but manage to saw down the 5 birch saplings that have been begging for it since the day I first got here.

An hour later I decide to get an important point on my agenda done instead of running circles around the cabin: Reach the camp office to collect that bedroll. I reach Deadfall without running into any security personnel, but I spot it close by. Eventually the wolf sees me.

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Wants to get to know me better - much better: A wolf.

I cannot shake him loose, and he's still on my six when I enter the camp office. What a persistent fella. In the camp office it's loot day: whetstone, Wilderness Kitchen, 2 more pots, tomato soup, pain killers and of course the bedroll - at 89%. I make my way back along the tracks, picking up some firewood, and then back to Trappers from the Rail Tunnel to Forlorn Muskeg. After coming home I search for more firewood.

The sun never comes out. At 6 pm I turn home and decide to have my big cooking session tomorrow, as early as possible, and if the sun doesn't show by midday that I will spend a match on it. As a final order of business I invest my first cured gut into a snare and deploy it behind the cabin. 

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Walker 3 / Day 12 - Fortune Favors The Bold .... ?

I get up at 4 am, but there isn't much to do until 7. My snare has a rabbit, so I get it and keep myself barely above starving while passing some more time. After harvesting the rabbit, at 9 am I decide that I can't wait the whole day. I need food, and I will need my 70 something cattails later. It's cookin' time. It's almost 5 pm when I am done, and I'm 9 k venison richer. That doesn't even include the staggering amount of meat I ate right from the pot. And it's good I used my match. The sun never showed - again.

It's late in the day, but I kinda wanna get something underway. It's a bit unusual, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. I don't have a lot of scrap metal - 4 to be precise - but I also don't need a lot of scrap metal right now. I will find some one the way to Spence's, and technically 6 or 7 metal are enough. For now I just need a knife and a few arrow heads. Every day I wait will make this first trip harder. Right now my clothes are good enough so that I should be able to traverse most of the muskeg in relatively favorable conditions. If I get going now, I can reach Poacher's by nightfall.

My belly so full I can hardly walk I get going.

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Foggy.

I reach the tunnel without attracting the nearby wolf's attention. On the other side I beeline for the camp. As much as I want to pick all those cattails I really want to avoid the ordeal Kermit 7 went through on his visit to the Muskeg. I need to stick to my timetable. I find 2 scrap metal, the flare, some coal, a sports vest and a granola at the camp. I'm early. 7 pm. I start to run numbers in my head. How fast can I make it to Spence's and would I still have sufficient daylight. The weather is clear, warm devoid of wind. If I .... make haste and maybe jog a little for a change.... I can make it. Oh I will be so mad if I die because of this. I keep going and put some spring in my step.

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Into the fire.... I go.

I skip high blind and basically cut through the open range. Wolves and bear in safe distance I reach the shed without contest an hour later. On the last meters the wind suddenly decides to try and ruin my day, throwing all the weight of the world against me. 

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So.... SLOW.

I make it, but not without losing my warmth for a brief moment. Immediately I sleep an hour to warm up and then one more while the warmth of the bed permits this without starting a fire. After that it's time to light up the furnace. I wait until I can drop coal into the fire, and then explore the barn. A simple parka at 66%, combat boots at 46%, Survive The Outdoors, a whetstone, the matches, a new hacksaw, beans and jeans in the safe ... and two cans of dog poison, 29% and 56%. At this moment I realize I must have left my scrap metal in the locker instead of bringing it. Well. I'll just pretend I did that on purpose to use it for hooks and repairs later. I guess I'll saw this shelf down then.... Now totaling 9 scrap metals with the 4 from the shelf and the metal I found along the way I'm in the clear. But it's past midnight already.

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A nightly visitor.

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Walker 3 / Day 13 - The Embers Of ... ah not again. Just build that stuff already.

I craft my first two sets of arrowheads (rhyme MC Walker at the mic) but then have to take a nap to keep my eyes open. When I wake up it's already 11 am. I get to work immediately and once I am finally finished at 7 pm I'm the proud owner of my very own knife and 12 arrow heads. 

I'm torn weather to stay or leave. I could probably make it to poachers, but I'd have to stay the night in any case. Visibility is not good, and I am overburdened and two thirds exhausted already. No, leaving would be a probably detrimental call. 

I break some planks and then fuel the fire for 12 hours. Munching cattails I go back to bed. Forging days are always "short to report". Bear Coast.

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Walker 3 / Day 14 - Calm Waters, Cold Feet and Stinky Dog Food

I wake up at 6 am. All that working while being fed and warm brought me back to 76% condition. In terms of condition Sleepwalking LvL IV is basically deadman with a free stim every 8-10 days. Which, yeah, is really luxurious in comparison. I definitely have to give deadman a real try after Walker finishes his adventures which hopefully isn't too soon.

I have a lot of time to spend. I don't want to mend clothes because all I brought are 6 pieces, one of which is now part of my knife, and 5 which are my ultimate emergency snow shelter parts. But I can scrap the sports vest and the surplus jeans I have to actually fix my newly acquired simple parka. After that I finish Survive The Outdoors in one go and gain Fire Starting II.

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I can now burn things without setting my self on fire. Most of the time.

At 1 pm it's still foggy as hell, but warm -0°C FL. It's not perfect, but it might be the best it gets. I munch my beans and get going. Just leaving the fog lifts a bit. Good. Being in much less of a hurry this time I plot my route via high blind. Time to collect some cattails on the way out. At the blind I find another scrap metal and Field Dressing Your Kill, Vol. I. The weather clears and remains calm. I should have a clear path to the Camp. Arriving I decide to take advantage of the favorable weather and get to Mystery Lake directly. There is no good reason to stay the night here.

Winds brush up when I approach the tunnel and suddenly I get prompted with frostbite risk. What? My boots and socks are frozen solid. Well ... good thing I have combat boots in my backpack. I leave the muskeg with 92 cattails. 42 more than I brought.

The way home to trappers is dominated by dodging winds where I can and fighting them where I cannot. I'm not entirely confident that I can make it back without freezing, but turning back is not an option and making camp something I want to avoid. It smells like blizzard.

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Home Sweet Home.

I reach Trapper's in time. I collect a rabbit at the snare, redeploy it, pick up 2.5 kilograms of dinner from my porch and head inside. As little as actually did happen today, as much could have, and I am happy to have made the trip to and from Spence's in just over 48 hours without incident. I have spend so much time outdoors that Cabin Fever won't be an issue the next three to four days. I have all the time and resources I need to craft my bow, some arrows, my deer skin boots and pants and the rabbitskin mitts. And I have enough food so I don't have to worry for that either. I should be able to begin my big island tour in three days from now.

To have a last bit of thrill I decide to chance the 29% dog food. It tastes like death, but I survive. Time for bed.

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Walker 3 / Day 15 - Couch Potato

I get up before 5. I begin the day preparing tea, but 0600 sharp it's bow time. After 4 hours of work I go outside to make fire. I will need some water. I maglens A Sewing Primer and carry the flame inside. Two more hours later and 4 liters of water richer I peek outside again to find a rabbit in the snare. That snare already paid for itself 3 times over. I harvest the guts of the two bunnies I have now and leave the meat for later. Then I finally have my bow.

It's not like I could do anything with it yet, so arrows are warranted. I don't have any tools yet, so a few will have to do for now. I don't have many feathers anyways - just 9. First I harvest and cook the rabbits. Cooking III is my reward along with some nice calories.

I get to finish a singular arrow before it is too dark. I bring my knife back into shape and sleep.

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Walker 3 / Day 16 - More Couch Potatoes

I wake up shortly before 6 am. Eat, drink and then it's back to work. Two more arrows. That makes a total of three. It'll have to do for now. Then it's time for the mitts. I finish them in one go.

It's 3 pm when I take my first look outside. My daily rabbit awaits, and the snare still won't budge. Amazing quality. I harvest the gut on the spot but leave the rest for later. I take a look at my guts and realize I won't be able to craft both the pants and the boots with the cured guts I have. I will need additional fishing tackle so that won't be enough. Since my work boots are actually decent I decide to roll with the pants. I know many people aren't a big fan of the pants..... but I am.

I work while a blizzard keeps shaking the house. I get about 4 hours done ... then the light fades again.

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Walker 3 / Day 17 - A Field Full Of Couch Potatoes

I wake up before 5, fully rested. My snare outside is still intact - but empty. I use the time in the darkness to harvest the meat form yesterday's bunny. Just for practice I even harvest 2 rabbit pelts. Carcass Harvesting III proves it worth.

Continuing to work on the pants the weather outside is basically a permablizzard. Not that I care excessively much while I live the life of an indoor dweller. I'm done at 4 pm, but since the blizzard just won't stop I get some fishing tackle done. And then I see that one additional gut indeed has cured. So I would actually have all I need for my boots.

Making the boots will take 20 hours with fishing tackle. I wouldn't be able to finish them before the day after tomorrow. But I would have an amazing head start in terms of gear. I get started. What the hell. It's not like I don't have 120 cattails in the trunk. But before I get to work I look after my snare.

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Delivers every day: The Unkillable Super Snare!

I leave the rabbit for after dark and get working on my deer skin boots. After one hour my sewing kit just dies. Time to break some fishing tackle. With 14 and a half hours left the lights go out again. I tear apart my bunny and go to sleep. 

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Walker 3 / Day 18 - 50 Shades Of Potato

Yeah I worked a lot, broke a fishing tackle, ate some cattails and a bunny was outside too. Hooray.

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Just now, BareSkin said:

I am too. You often find yourself with decent boots (only 1 spot) but one more pants spot to fill even if you already have the nice Combat ones.

My point exactly. I've never seen two combat boots in one game - and even then I tend to value protective stats very high, even if the gear is heavy and bulky. I prefer being a warm tank over being a cold runner.

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Walker 3 / Day 19 - Reise, Reise

I finish my deer skin pants at 7 am. I'm as ready as I'll ever get.

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They call me "The Cute Bandit"

Except for a blizzard there is very little I have to fear from day 19 weather. And with 25% protection there even is a reasonable chance I'll survive a wolf - not that I plan on putting this theory to the test. My snare outside is broken, but that's fine. It gifted me five rabbits. I cook up my remaining rabbit meat, store it in my face, and then pack what I need and leave what I don't. 3 arrow heads and two birch saplings come with me. The hammer stays. I sleep to more hours and get going at noon.

Almost at the tunnel nice slightly windy weather outrages into a blizzard instantly.

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Trainspotting.

I make it to the tunnel and light a fire before I start to take freezing damage. The time is spent warming up some peaches, and boiling water while reading 4 hours in Wilderness Kitchen. It's almost 6 pm when I get going again, but I am still committed to make it to the dam today.

I skip everything on the way, even cattails. I quick peek inside the trailers in front of the dam grants me old wool socks and a sewing kit. Very good! Leaving the trailer a wolf barks at me from somewhere, so I dodge back in, kill my lantern, and crouch back out. I never see the wolf, but he also never spots me again. Ships in the night. The deer carcass outside the dam is sadly missing - I'd hoped for some free food for dinner.

Inside the dam I skip most of the place. I take the lantern and plan to retire it for fuel later. The safe yields 20 useless Canadian Dollars - not that they would have been less useless if not Canadian, just saying. I find a blue toolbox by accident and keep it. In the lower dam an issue of Stay On Target begs me to take it with me. Who am I to disagree? I make a quick check for the whetstone and the quality tools - and find both plus a wool scarf. Then I retire the lamp as planned and actually use my bedroll for the first time.

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Walker 3 / Day 20 - Nothing Pleasant About This Valley

7 am. I have neglected to document my condition lately. Pretty much because there hasn't been happening any notable damage to it since I face planted back when I made my escape from Milton. 94% are as surprising to me as it might be to you.

I spend some time reading. I don't feel like running into a windy morning without a way back into shelter. I finish Wilderness Kitchen, and start Stay On Target. I actually decide that I have the time to give at least the lower damn a closer look, and I find another sewing kit, a down vest and this here:

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Distilled Canadian-ness.

Really? Those lockers never have ANYTHING. Well except when they have something. Amazing find. It's not only stylish as hell, it's also - as far as I am aware - the best jacket you can find on Interloper. I cannot stomach retiring my beloved light shell, but I also don't really need it anymore. It stays behind together with the blue toolbox. The down vest however goes as do the wool socks. 

It's past 12 pm when I open the door into the unknown. Of course I stumble into a blizzard. I hide behind the staircase and think about what to do. Then I realize that I cannot start a fire up here on the dam for some reason. I cower down a fire steps down the stairs, throw my accelerant into the fire and some sticks with it. The blizzard stops minutes later, but I still need to warm up first. What a way to start the day. I read a page in Stay On Target, pull torches and go.

The upside on exiting to a blizzard: the wolves stayed home and all those cattails are mine. I even take some meat from the deer carcass. 3 more maple sapling come with me too. No idea where I want to drop them off. Probably at the Farm in Pleasant Valley. In the cave I find a new bottle of accelerant and another Issue of Field Dressing Your Kill, Vol. I. I make it to the transition cave without further incident.

About this cave: I don't know why, but I always feel this cave is different from most other caves. It's brimming, as if a soul was inhabiting it. It's a unique cave and - I don't know why - the attention to detail seems to be higher than in other caves. Maybe that's because of all those cairns. But there's something special about this place. Although ... that doesn't keep me from harvesting the deer.

Outside warm Grandma Fog basically begs me to keep going, despite hauling almost 3 kilograms of raw meat. My target for now is Hilltop. I don't dare make it all the way to Signal Hill reeking like a butchery. Moments later anything else is out of the question anyways as Pleasant Valley's broken weather algorithm assassinates me once again and turns a perfectly nice evening into a murderous snow hell. How, I ask the Fluffies, how?

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Technically a Grandma-Blizzard.

On the picture you can see the "Hilltop Crackers". They are always here. Together with the crackers up on the Summit they are the only "static" crackers I know of. So if you ever find yourself in dire need of crackers - this is the place to be. I eat them together with my scavenged venison and read a while. It's already midnight when I decide to stay the night in any case. Wolves howling not far from here make a nightly excursion not the most enticing prospect. I put the coal from the cave into the fire and sleep.

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Walker 3 / Day 21 - Caught A Lite Sneeze

The fire still has over three hours of life in it when I wake up at 7 am. Crows announce a carcass outside, so I go looking - and find a deer. Free breakfast. I take my hacksaw to it and return to the cave. I cook my meal and sleep three more hours before I get going at 11 am. The weather is windy.... again. Wolves were keen to make their presence known all night, and indeed they are close.

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Objects right in front of your face appear exactly as close as they are.

I drop a fire and the wolves bolt. The fire fails and I advance .... but the wolves are already back - so I repeat the game. Being out in the cold I keep the fire and warm up. But I see myself in a bit of a predicament here. I'm low on firewood, it's cold, and the wolves don't seem to want to migrate somewhere else. I warm up peaches and tea, and recycle torches. Then suddenly I hear wolves run away in fear much farther away then they should. It takes me a second to combine two and two. When I do I jump.

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The enemy of my enemy is actually not my friend at all.

Wolves on the left left side, wolves on the right side, bear in the middle ..... and you're not here. (Who?)  Well. Through them then. I let the bear come, come, COME and then take the path right between the one wolf on the left and the two on the right. I lose the wolf on the left, one of the both wolves on the right runs into the bear and gets a panic attack again, but the other one I cannot shake loose all the way up to Signal Hill. That I take mild freezing damage really isn't the problem. I make it out alive - this was a close call.

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Every step you take, every move you make....

Sewing kit, coffee, another mackinaw jacket, a flare, sardines, peaches, wool socks, bandage, 0.14l lantern fuel but no matches. I was, until now, sure they were guaranteed. But apparently they are not. I retire my simple parka to save on some weight. I'm heavily overburdened. When I leave the bear has arrived at signal hill. So even though I had planned to goat down anyways - now I have to. If he ate the wolf? We will never know.

Quite the goat-god I make it down without problems, but not quite the brains-god I start to question my decision to head out in -15°FL weather quite quickly. Halfway, with the farm already in sight I gopnik down behind a tree and make a fire.

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Staying cheeki breeki.

I warm up for an hour and get going in sub-blizzard weather. It's just around the corner, yet it is so far. I head for the basement against winds that just turn against me everywhere I go - but I make it. I find the matches, a whetstone, another hammer, The Frozen Angler, a 16% t-shirt, painkillers and more quality tools. The loot list from the farm is finally a can opener, peaches, three pots, a sewing kit, 3.41l of toilet water in total, driving gloves, a ski jacket I don't need any more, another bandage, more antibiotics, more painkillers, sport socks, beef jerky and a sweatshirt.

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We haven't had one of those in a while.

I have to seriously sort stuff out after that. I will return to the farm on the way back from the Summit, so I can leave a lot of things here even if I don't want to drop them permanently. I spend some time deciding what I will take to the bunker tomorrow and what not. I will have to shed some weight there as well. After that there's not much left to do other than sleep. It's been quite the day.

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Walker 3 / Day 21 22 - Yah Serious?

I wake up after 5 and head for the basement. There I wait until 6 and make shafts out of the two birch sapling I brought, and a forth arrow with the feathers I found. I get back to the house and leave the quality tools with the other stuff. I hope I won't need them on the mountain. I gift some attention to my clothes until noon and can squeeze out some more warmth.

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-8°C FL aren't great, but I take it. I see the bear leaving the premises as I go. That one has a particular interest in me it seems. I run to the river and make towards Draft Dodgers. Playing without maps I tend to stick to those easy-to-find and easy-to-follow landmarks. I'm pretty sure I'm not making the most optimal decisions all the time navigation-wise. For instance I know that some of my routes on Timberwolf Mountain are actually detours. But I find my way (and rarely ever lose it) and that's probably how you would navigate in the wild without GPS. Another point is that I don't really know my way around Pleasant Valley. I know my way through it. All I ever want to do when I am here is leave as fast as I can.

At the cabin I find a granola which I eat on the spot and some tools - which I leave. I warm up in bed and get going again. I want to leave this hell hole today. But the hell hole doesn't want me to leave and throws yet another blizzard at me hardly 10 minutes after I leave. I have no way other than to turn around. I sleep in one-hour increments and try to wait the blizzard out - but it doesn't budge. When it finally does ... it's midnight.

Woah. Really.

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