The name is Walker, Sleep Walker

[Guest jeffpeng]

Just now, DarKube said:

And now you talk spanish !

That's Italian - and I actually had my wife translate that

[DarKube]

LOL! ( and sorry for everybody spanish)

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 62 and 63 - Home Meat Home

I wake up at 6 in the darkness of the trailer and read a bit. The weather outside is surprisingly mild - just -17°C FL - but considering my condition really took a beating those last few days I keep reading until noon. I get going and the moose is still / again around. Again he doesn't fit my agenda, and I evade. 

Desperately wants to become a cloak: The Moose.

Again I lose valuable condition to the cold. It's always just a bit - 1% this time - but I end up short more often than not lately. I pounce at the opportunity to look the Derailment - not that I find anything - but once I actually want to take the deer harsh winds brush up, kill my torch and I sprain my ankle turning around. What? Okay. Rose hip sip and drop some torches to get sprinting weight. I run to the camp office in winds a notch away from a blizzard - and actually make it in time. 

Inside I tear down some curtains to warm up and once the winds subside I get back on the road. Via the rail tunnel, where I make a quick stop to warm up, I get to Trapper's without further incidents. Two deer greet me home, and it takes no genius to guess what I am thinking already. 25 kilograms of moose are waiting for me on the porch, all still well above 50%.

Home Meat Home - just my kind of doormat!

I immediately have at it and for the first time in quite a while fill my digestive system to maximum capacity. Considering I left with 50 cattails and had 95 cattails at some point the measly 28 I have no show just how taxing this trip really was. I deploy my four remaining snares behind the house and turn in for the day. I've earned me some rest after the past one and a half weeks of being constantly pushed.

It's shortly before 6 when I get up. The aurora is out and the cabin is vividly lit.

Samantha!

I get to sort a few things and take stock. I count 197 (ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN) matches plus two fire strikers at 42% and 58%, which should total out at at least 30 more uses, probably more like 40. That's some firepower right there. Somehow I managed to still bring 25 cloth home, so my stock here is 48. If I combine Mystery Lake and Milton I can easily get 150 more. I have a total of 31 arrow heads and with the 9 birch saplings curing at the trailer at the dam enough of them for 84 arrows, plus 11 more maple saplings for bows. I have 5 (FIVE) hacksaws in total, all north of 80% (two of them are also at the dam), two pry bars, at 50% and 90%, a total of 3 hammers (one at the dam that is destined for Spence's, one here, one at the Camp Office for fishing), 8 whetstones (actually 9, but if I sum them up they are about 8 full), 10 sewing kits (again, 12 actually, but they sum up to 10 full), still all my flare shells, 4 stims, more antibiotics than I will ever use and enough pain killers and rose hip tea to make it really really really long. And yeah: I've got a hatchet!

TL;DR: I'm a filthy rich motherfreezer. The only thing I don't have is a good stock of non-stinky travel-food. Well. I wanted to visit Forlorn Muskeg again, anyways. And my stock of scrap metal is very limited. A few at the dam, two here. But all I'll ever need it for now is hooks and maybe some hacksaw repair in the very distant future. 

While I gaze at my treasures a blizzard is disliking heavily outside. After two hours of reading it passes, but the weather still is very inhospitable. More reading. At 4 pm I use the exquisite weather to run back to the camp office. 

 
This is just like vacation!

Right in front of the camp office two wolves find interest in me. One of them reconsiders and goes panicking, the other one persists. I still make it into the office unscathed and warm up. Then, against heavy winds, I make it to the Lake Overlook and warm up yet again. The winds subside and I "borrow" the rope, and make my way towards the dam. On the way a deer carcass offers me dinner - and I cannot refuse.

After snacking half of the 1.8 kg and keeping the rest I beeline for the Ravine - already pretty cold again. Gulping hot tea I make it all the way to the first cave, saw down the 3 birch saplings in front of it and make camp for the night.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 64 to 67 - Hubris

I wake up at 6 am to a blizzard battering the outside. I can hide in my bedroll, but it's not how I envisioned my first stay in the Ravine. What a welcome. An hour later it passes and I start sorting out things. It's mindboggling how fast I pick up stuff. Then it's 3 hours of reading and I finally get Carcass Harvesting V.

Master animal destroyer, at your service.

I sleep two more hours until the weather is approaching passable. 1 pm I head for the Ravine Basin. I deploy the rope and hop down. I find Advanced Tinder, Tinder, Tinder, the stim and the flare gun with 4 shells. The cattails at the cave are welcome to help me restock on travel food. Then I warm up at the deer carcass and get me some dinner and a new deer hide to fix my clothes at some point in the future. Fueled by a cup of coffee I climb back up, but I completely underestimate the climb and my fatigue and start slipping inches before I reach the ledge. I make it back down in one piece but my only recourse short of using a stim is spending the night in the Basin. Hell, that was closer than it had to be.

I stone me a rabbit and sleep completely exhausted.

When I wake up at 4 am a blizzard has rolled in - but the cave is much to warm. Two more hours of sleep and the blizzard is gone. At 8 am in equally clear and cold weather I attempt the climb again. 

Was that climb always that difficult?

Even fully rested I need to two-time the climb. Somehow I don't remember it being this hard. Arriving on top of the rope I am already freezing. I make an emergency fire (match, stick, accelerant) and throw in my sticks. 3% lost. Well. Incidentally there is a deer carcass right next to my fire, so there is little reason not to harvest. Sadly the deer just yields little over 1 kg, but with the rabbit from yesterday I'm at least fed for most of the day..... but then winds reduce my 3 hour fire to 10 minutes. For real?

I babysit the fire until the venison is done, but the flame cannot be salvaged. To make matters worse things turn blizzard while I am already running for the cave. Another 2% lost, and I'm at 72%. Luckily the cave is warm enough - but I am not a happy camper. Two blizzards in one day in the Ravine? When did this become Pleasant Valley? I sleep two hours, grumpy as I am, and then two more.

Then I have no choice but to make a fire again: I am out of water. It's already 5 pm when the blizzard finally subsides. I'm still grumpy. But I would be even more grumpy if I left without looting the place, right? At the train wreck I find scrap metal, a pry bar and 2.81l of lamp fuel. Nice. My cattail storage is also back to 50. I get to the trailer at the dam and pack my things. Getting out and under the bridge I'm being barked at - so it's back into the trailer and warming up a bit, keeping the flame alive. Shortly after I get going again in warm grandma fog.

The path lies straight ahead - or does it?

What follows now is a bit of a comedy. I'm not sure I can and I want to make it to the camp office - so I think: hey let's go get to the logging camp. On the way a wolf spots me, and I fire him away. As he runs ... he scares away a deer. And I get the idea... hm... why not let the wolf kill the deer? So I make my fire and lets them have some fun. But instead of hunting the deer the wolf just keeps coming and running and it takes forever for him to finally find and kill the deer - on a slope of course. I approach nevertheless, but in the dark completely miss the first shot, and have the second not kill the wolf on the spot as well. I can recover the first arrow - at least. Almost writing off the arrow I boil some water to warm up .... and then the wolf dies basically next to the fire. What a nice doggo.

Catch the stick, good boy!

I harvest and cook the wolf - but then a second one shows up. We play cat and mouse with fires and I end up dropping 4 until I make it to the trailer - again 3% condition lower. This entire condition thing is going in the wrong direction since I visited Desolation Point. I never get to the deer - but I am fed for today anyways. I quickly search the trailers - not that I find anything of value - and then sleep. 

After I get up I trash a shelf to restock on firewood and also because I don't want to leave the cabin smelly - and I have more wolf than I can eat. The weather is just a notch below blizzard when I am done .... so more sleep it is. After two hours what was a baby blizzard becomes a big blizzard. When it finally subsides it's almost 8 pm. Just marvelous. The night outside is so dark that making any advance is simply out of the question. The entire day is ultimately lost.

At midnight visibility is okay-ish and -12°C FL are probably manageable. My plan is to make it to frozen creek and then maybe to the Apparition Pond cabin. But the night doesn't comply. Wolves and bears in all the wrong directions let me end up on the Destroyed Lookout of all places - with a sprained wrist to boot.

How exactly did I end up here?

I chance two hours of sleep, half to save on calories, half to restore my wrist. When I wake up weather isn't good, certainly too bad to travel. In the cache I find - along with the rope - a granola bar. At least something. But starving isn't my concern. Freezing is, and my firewood situation is not exactly amazing. At noon I decide that -11°C FL is good enough for me - has to be good enough for me - to make it to the pond cabin. I pull torches and go - but the weather has different plans again and I make my descent in harsh winds .... and lose yet another 2%. I'm really drawing the short straw a lot recently.

In the cabin I find an old soda I must have missed on my first, brief visit so long ago. I warm up keeping the flame alive and then head towards the Pond. There I harvest. cook and eat the carcass and even take the hide and a few cattails. But again the weather freezes me over and an almost-blizzard makes returning to the Pond Cabin impossible. My only viable direction.... is Trapper's. And I'll be freezing, that much I know already. Of course my torch dies, too. If the wind turns now .... I'm in real trouble.

Not the UI I want to see.

The winds ... don't change. And I make it to Trapper's. But again I pay for it. A pretty-close-to-death experience and from 78% to 63% condition are my bottom line for 4 days of hubris, overconfidence, lack of patience, bad gambles and, frankly, bad luck. Sometimes when you got dealt a losing hand the right call is to fold. The guy that always bluffs walks poor.

I got my supplies, yes. I checked a few more loot boxes, yes. But just to compensate for those four days I have to play four other days very, very calm, collected and safe. And with cabin fever not knocking at the door, but being part of the grand scheme of things that's easier said than actually done. The big upside is that my nigh infinite food reserves were untouched for 4 days, extending their reach for the same amount, and that I have much more ground in the game "done".

Mystery lake is only the Lake itself plus the river access and maybe Alan's and Dave's to check. Timberwolf Mountain is done as much as it is worth, so is Pleasant Valley. Coastal Highway and Desolation Point should be 95% empty, except for cloth, which might maybe warrant a return to Coastal Highway if Walker 3 really gets 500 days old. Milton is also just a lot of cloth and cattails in the Basin. Forlorn Muskeg is halfway done - only the side towards Milton should hold anything worth going for. What remains is the Broken Railroad and the Hushed River Valley.

But at this point I have to accept the fact that I might never get my second ear wraps - which is actually not so bad considering I really need the satchel - and that I won't find a second pair of underwear. Even if they exist in the game, decay makes it less likely that I find them every day.

The remaining day is terribly boring and I'm kinda glad it is. I mend some clothes and sort some stuff. My arsenal of tools and resources is impressive and should I eventually settle on a retirement location moving there is a daunting proposition. But that is something so far away .... I'm not concerned with that yet.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Day 68 to 74 - A Week Off

What does a bored survivor do at 6 am in the morning? Read? No, sorry, nothing worth reading left. Prepare tea? Yeah, I had that idea before ... so there's nothing left. Sharpen the knife? It's so sharp sharpening it would mean wasting. Mending clothes? Yeah, that's a good idea. Those shoes have a few tiny ... scratches.

Yup, those shoes are now better than ever.

And now? Yeah. Exactly. Nothing to do really I .... make arrow shafts. Why not. And then arrows. I will need them - eventually - and it brings a bit of skill. At noon I make a short stroll for firewood - firewood really is Trapper's big drawback - and then it's another arrow. At 3 pm I get out and do what I wanted to do so long.... and hack this fat fir limb to pieces. Why fir and not cedar? Because while fir's burn-time-to-weight ratio is kinda terrible, you still get more burn time for your three precious hatchet percentages. So as long as you don't plan to travel with that stuff ... fir all the way.

After that it's one more arrow and then some hunting. Three wolves, all hits, none fatal. But it grants me Archery IV. It'll be a lot of work to recover them - but not today. For that it's too cold and windy.

The next day starts with crafting arrows again. I find three snares ruined - no, no blizzard. I personally am not sure about the blizzard theory, or if it is just coincidence. I craft replacements, and then go looking for the wolves at noon. I find two of the wolves, presumably where they are supposed to spawn - but no trace of the arrows. I guess all three are lost. Well. At least I've got my peace here now for a few days - and food. I can guess where the third wolf is. I quarter the two at Max's and bring them home. The rest of the day is harvesting and cooking outside at my 99% safe fire.

The third day starts again with crafting arrow shafts and two more arrows. At this point .... I am out of feathers. Two more rabbits caught, harvested and the meat parked outside. With the weather outside being most inhospitable it's more shafts, and the old, broken snares recycled. I fix some clothes until 5 pm, and then go looking for the wolf - and find him exactly where I suspected him: at his spawn point, not his grave. The arrow is also lost. I take some meat, but don't have to time to properly quarter him in -9°C FL. I return and craft more arrow shafts. 

Day four starts with me running naked into a blizzard at 5 am retrieving a rabbit and three broken snares. I recycle the old ones and craft 6 new ones. Then it's breaking up old torches, and two hours of sleep. After than I head for Milton. My target isn't Milton but the cave below it. I need some coal. 

Too bad I cannot loot whatever lies beyond there 

I got down to the cave, snipe two rabbits, and clapping them over my head the wolf shows up very soon. A direct head shot doesn't kill him, so I warm up in the cave tearing a rabbit apart. After that it's little work to find the wolf and the arrow still sticking out his eye. I maglens a fire next to him with the last bit of daylight and quarter him. I spend until midnight harvesting and cooking everything, then sleep in one hour intervals and stockpile water. 

Friday see's me climb up the rope at 5 am after leaving the water and the pelts and guts at the cave - but bringing most of the meat. I make it to the transition cave before freezing - narrowly - sprinting my backside off. The storm lantern helps me through the cave and find more coal. My total from both caves is 14. I find 3 rabbits at the snares and make it into the cabin to sleep off the exhaustion from the climb and all the sprinting. I tear my rabbits to pieces and then, at 4 pm, go to find me another fir limb. With the new feathers I find two more arrows are made, and to pass the time even more shafts. I sharpen my knife to fall asleep.

The sixth day see's me rise before 5 to collect a rabbit and a broken snare. I wait until 6 am and start working on yet another new bow until the sun is out. I find two new rabbits and then maglens a fire. I keep boiling water and cooking mountains of rabbit meat late into the night.

Perfect cooking weather

Sunday does not see me rest, but instead fix what can be fixed and my new bow finished. I retract the snares, pack a fresh whetstone and sewing kit, refuel the lamp and pack my last canned food plus some extra tea. Water for two days, my new bow, 8 brand new arrows, 2 flares, 4+1 flare shells, 2 stims, painkillers for days and plenty of firewood. I'm not traveling lightly. I'm traveling ready. 80% condition I go at 4 pm. 

My destination: The Broken Railroad.

[BareSkin]

14 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

And now? Yeah. Exactly. Nothing to do really

You can't imagine how glad I am you eventually prove that fighting impatience is part of this challenge!

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 74 and 75 - Killing Spree

I get going towards the tunnel to the Forlorn Muskeg in -10°C FL. Good enough for me. On the way I find one of my arrows - around where the wolves should have died. I understand (better than ever) that this issue is hard to fix, but it really makes the interactions between hunting and waiting inside loaded locations .... complicated. I reach the Poacher's Camp without freezing or contest.

Making camp at the Camp.

As I am relatively tired and night is falling around me, I get ready for a long stay. I collect a few sticks around the Camp and even break down two scrub brushes, but then it's pretty much good night. 

I get up at 6 am, but there really isn't much to be done until at least 12. I wait. At I warm up some tea and my last can of peaches - and continue along the tracks. Hardly out of the gates the weather turns soup. I stick to the tracks all the way until I reach the tunnel, with bears and wolves patrolling left and right from me. On the other side I find nuts'n'stuff and some firewood at an old campsite. I make it around the rockfall and over the fallen tree bridge - and make camp to warm up.

Coming up on the locomotive I hear the desperate sounds of a rabbit - no two rabbits - and the fast moving paws of a wolf - no two wolves - hunting and catching their prey.

There's a second wolf behind that cart. Really.

I walk up, shoot wolf no. 1 dead on the spot, and put an arrow into wolf no. 2's behind god knows how. Again I make camp. I start harvesting wolf no. 1 as yet another wolf approaches and also dies on the spot.

Had planned this differently: wolf no. 3

All the while the weather gets really damn bad and my fire has to be babysit. While I do that THE FORTH WOLF barks at me - and also dies.

Kinda expected this outcome already: wolf no. 4

I make the reasonable assumption that all wolves from here until the Maintenance Yard are either dead or wounded. I keep babysitting the fire to finish two more steaks - and while I do the winds die. With falling night I get going. I'm kinda in the "let'em come" mindset right now. I haven't come to make prisoners. I have come to skill archery. The Maintenance Yard is devoid of life. I can't say I'm surprised. The second, butthurt wolf I never find, but I have a pretty good idea where he must be.

As much as I dread the Maintenance Shed at night - even more than the dam - I kinda have to make camp here tonight. I make it inside and to the fire barrel without becoming electro-cute. I still have the two rabbits the wolves actually caught, and another steak of wolf no. 1. Should I get hungry the next days.... I know where's more.

Living the apocalypse!

I make a first, quick sweep, and the notable items are a 44% soda, some lamp fuel, a second pry bar (outside was one, too), the matches, 21% beans, a cup of coffee and an issue of Stay On Target - perfect. I get stuffed and slaked, and call it a day.

[romerabr]

I like this place. You can kill 5 wolves a week, safely, from the top os the pipe behind the shed, and sometimes even the bear shows up, but can't reach you. Just climb it while you are with max scent, and wait for the target practice to begin. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 76 to 78 - Der Gott Des Gemetzels

I wake up at 6 am and tend to my inventory. I lost three arrows yesterday. Two broke - the one I found on the way here was on its last legs anyways - and one got stolen. This leaves me with six. Still good enough, I guess. I plan to make it to the cave today, which will serve as my base of operations for the duration of my stay, but for now I have to kill some time. Let's Stay On Target, right? I finish it in one swift go. A second sweep of the Shed reveals a pack of crackers and a bit of scrap metal - plus the rope and 3.44l of lamp fuel. Holy. The weather outside is not very hospitable.

Not the kind of weather you want to take a stroll in.

I get back inside and tear up some cloth - then things calm into a rather nice, snowy -5°C FL day. I leave all but one stinky behind and carefully approach the back of the Yard. I can see them coming and get back inside the small outside part of the Shed - and find out that the windows cannot be shot through. Doh! I dodge back in, exit through the back, and follow @romerabr's advice - or something very similar - and hide on the log. The result is 4 dead wolves .... and two wounded.

They kinda didn't see that one coming.

I make a fire and quarter the four wolves. Getting to the cave today is pretty much out of the question now. I hope I will recover my two arrows from the other two wolves. I'm down to four. And then ..... the big price shows up, panting, complaining and eventually charging.. Narrowly I manage to hide on the log again, and the bear gets stuck underneath it.

It's a hedgehog!

With my last firewood I quarter the beast. I have some serious work to do tomorrow. I have over 50 kg of meat to harvest and cook lying around in the yard. And no firewood to cook it. Oh boy. Despite immediate danger of aurora I get inside. I drop the bear hide in the office along with the guts. Time to sleep.

Getting back up at 8 am I need firewood. Too bad I didn't bring the hammer. I spend the blizzardy morning to break down crates. In one of the boxes... I find a sewing kit and canned beans .

So there are things in crates after all.

The weather outside is -10°C FL. I pack my first bag of bear and head for the cave. I don't think anything hostile in the area is still alive - and indeed I don't encounter any opposition. I warm up harvesting some of the meat, and then make my trip back to the shed. I find some jerk beefy and a granola in one of the pickups parked outside. I break a crate inside to warm up - and find yet another can of beans. Sadly the weather turns sour and I find myself making camp in one of the car ports. Sadly you cannot make a fire in the small outside portion of the Shed anymore.

The weather trolls me and turns nice again. I warm up a can of beans and prepared to pull the fire - but then it trolls me a second time and I start to harvest my bear bags, rolling eyes. Half an hour later the trolling continues and the winds die again, revealing warm Grandma Fog. Ah... SCREW IT! I get going. I find one of yesterday's wolves, the arrow lying neatly beside him. 5 arrows again. Good. If I will salvage the wolf ... I doubt it. 

I keep cooking through the night, sleeping intermittently in front of the fire. Close to morning I hear a lonely wolf howling in the distance. It's likely one up at the lodge - or is it? Nobody answers. At 7 am, in the brimming cold, I warm up a cup of tea and head back to the Maintenance Yard. On the lake.... I see four wolves - and they see me. I run .... into another one at the yard... that luckily takes off in panic. The freeze!? I'm confused. Their brethren died only two days ago - not even! I get into the Shed and sleep four hours. 

I get back outside and onto my log. Two wolves, both keep running away in panic. That means all six are respawned. Event the two that should still be rotting away.... or are two of my wolves here actually of the batch I nailed at the Locomotive? Probably quartering the wolves allowed them to respawn basically the next day. My position on the log is too cold to hold. I grab a few bags of meat of some sort and dodge back in. I harvest the stuff and get back out, stinky as they come, on my log. Not long before the guests arrive.

It's an invasion!

All four come. All four die.

It's a slaughter.

I grab a few more bags and get back in, harvest a bit, get back on the log and kill two more. I'm down to one arrow. I cannot keep up with this!  This time I don't even touch the wolves. I get back in, harvest a craft .... and when I am done I'm standing right next to a sparkling cable. I would so love to just squat down and wait ... but I need to get some food done somehow. I make a fire, get some wolf cooking and go get some more bear bags from outside. 

So. MUCH. ATMOSPHERE! ... and cables.

I keep cooking, harvesting and breaking crates for firewood until after midnight. My situation is a bit curious. I have all the food I need for a week and more, I have the ultimate high ground against any opposition .... but the waves come crashing just too fast and I'm running out of things to shoot with.

I got myself trapped in my fortress of meat.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 79 to 81 - Tactical Retreat

It's past 10 when I get up. The world outside is a crescendo of ice and wind, so I harvest some more bear from the bag I still got. I keep breaking crates until 4 pm. My options are ... not great. I need birch saplings, desperately, and if I am honest another maple probably sooner rather than later. Having not finished two cans of water yesterday I actually get to use my water purification tablets for the first time. The weather outside is a terrible fog, but it is warm. 

I grab my last bag of bear and get going. As I approach the cave ... the weather clears. A nearby crow storm alarms me of the second wolf that escaped two days ago - and I find my arrow right next to it - yes! I continue through the gate. My target for today is the other cave up there. I make a fire on the way with the last bit of daylight I have and The Frozen Angler just so I don't have to waste a match later. 

The warm promise of a cave.

A deer carcass and three lumps of fir in the cave welcome me. I make a fire next to it and realize that I must have left one of my cans at the Maintenance Shed. Splendid. I get the meat from the carcass, but then winds brush up and I dodge into the cave. I utilize my one can in Snowball-Mode and get my bag of bear harvested and cooked. I only now realize I brought 18 reclaimed wood. That's something to work with. 

I find a maple sapling outside of the cave - which I immediately put in there to dry.  In the shroud of night I get going and take the long way around to make it to the Lodge. Still, being a beacon of light in the night, I get spotted by a wolf. He doesn't bark, but using my Vulcan ears I hear him stalk me and put a fire down just in time. The fire fails (I used reclaimed wood) and I even get to save the firewood. I enter through the backdoor. 

A cooking pot, 2 packs of matches, a down vest I think about keeping, the stim and the rope, of course, are the notable loot. I tear down some curtains since my stay here might become even longer than anticipated. I deploy the rope behind the house and then get to sleep. I get up at 1 pm. The weather is clear and relatively warm. 

A sunny, distinctively Canadian day!

Since the wolves are at a safe distance I take the short way out, but not before collecting on the reishi, and make it back to the cave where I maglens a fire to warm up and sleep an hour. After warming up some tea I take out into dusk. The slip of land up until and behind The Rickety Foot Bridge is free of predators - or so I remember - but it has a few chances for birch saplings. I find my first two before reaching the bridge. Weather gets windy, but stays comparably warm. I consider turning back, almost do, but then push on.

I make it all the way to the climb for which I brought no rope. I find three more saplings and another deer carcass. Welcoming the opportunity I make camp. The weather stays flaky but holds. I take all the meat, guts and hide, warm up some tea and pull torches - and make my way back. I sprain my first wrist and ankle since I arrived at The Broken Railroad, and hobblewobble back to the cave to sleep.

When I wake up after just a bit of sleep it's still night, 4 am. Since I have enough food and water for days right here there's nothing pressing me - I take my time to tear down some surplus clothing I collected at the Lodge and the Maintenance Shed and recycle some arrows and torches. Shortly before 6 am the world goes blizzard. It's not a real threat in my cave. As long as I hide in my bedroll I'm fine - so I do.

Looks more like a firestorm.

The blizzard passes on to ravage other lands at noon. I pick up my things and make my way - heavily burdened - to the other cave. Down at the bridge two wolves wait for me. I drop a gut and nail the first one. The other one takes off in panic. But more importantly:

Ninjas incoming!

This is a game changer and together with Cooking V arguably the most important perk to acquire. The second wolf returns, but he is no match for a ninja stance-ing crouch sniper. The playing field has changed massively. Since some new readers - of which there are a few - might ask here why that's so important:

Being able to shoot while crouched is invaluable since it not only allows you to sneak up on deer very closely, you can also "bait" wolves just by being smelly. They will come investigate, but they will not see you - and you can easily line them up for an easy headshot.

This doesn't mean that my arrow situation isn't still very much problematic. My arrows have 3, maybe four shots left in them.  My birch saplings are 3 and a half days away. The wisest course of action would be to take a short break and live the life of a nature fearing caveman for once - until I have arrows again and can whoop their behinds all over the place.

16 bear steaks will get me through 4 days easily and then some. My water reserves aren't as impressive - but it's not like I don't have enough firewood to boil me a swimming pool. I'm fine here. I go and get me three addition steaks from one of the wolves, but mostly as bait for later. The rest of the day I play cards against myself.

I win every time.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 82 to 85 - Retirement On Tryout

I can't say much happened today except me looking up some stats and finding out that I traveled 63% of the world in 80 days. Not quite around the world - but that's actually not even half bad. At noon I maglens a fire and cook me a bit of water.

Just the minimum requirement.

The next day I get a bit cheeky and bait in two wolves. Both die on the spot without ever seeing it coming. I've got one arrow left - at 19%. But those two wolves likely won't get up and running again until I am done curing my birch saplings. 

Easy prey.

To make the day really exiting I saw down a cedar and even take 1% damage for it. I'm born to be wild. 

On the third day I take a look for the bear. His cave is empty, and there are no bones - so he's probably still out. I make the trip back to the cave along the lake and collect a few cattails. I almost run a deer into a wolf by accident - but the deer escapes. To celebrate his getaway I eat my only piece of venison.

I actually have decided that this particular part of the world doesn't really make for a good "retirement cave". The reasons are mostly the permanent and never ending onslaught of 4 + 2 wolves + 1 bear, plus again 2 + 2 wolves if you want to leave the area and the rather scarce supply of sticks. You find a plethora of cedars, but unless you have very good clothing and the day is very warm .... you won't get any of them. It might work on normal Interloper since you can take a bit of freezing damage there, but it won't work on Sleepwalker. Food is actually good - really good. Because you'll pile up those wolves so fast you won't where to put it. But it is really hard to reliably gain high ground without running the risk of meeting a wolf on top. So ... after considering all that .... the Broken Railroad isn't it.

At 4 pm I pack my stuff, except for the food and most of the water, and make it to the Maintenance Yard, picking cattails as I go. The wolf population is notably thinned out, so my journey remains without incident. After stuffing some things into the locker outside I shoot another wolf. My last arrow goes up in flames - and the wolf actually "just" bleeds out. 

I finish the day breaking a few crates for the fun of it and cooking the rancid meat I left here quite some days ago while I sleep in one hour increments.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 86 and 87 - Into The Chasm

As soon as I am done cooking around 7 am I get to work on the arrow shafts. With a night of sleep in between it takes me until the next day 10 am to finish. Not having a toolbox greatly slows things down. When I'm done I go sorting through stuff and ... think about that 63%. It's not like I want to even try to challenge 90% in 133 day, but having a few more, like maybe 75% before retirement would be amazing. And I also have a trauma to overcome. I'm talking about the ravine that leads under the broken bridge. I get light enough, bring the rope, sleep an hour and get going.

Just looking at the waterfall from down here makes me shiver.

Down there I make camp and sleep for an hour. And already the game is screwing me over again: sharp winds reduce my fire, but after a few minutes of babysitting the winds calm down again. I find a stim I wasn't even aware existed here, and a sadly now obsolete issue of Stay On Target. At the end of the ravine I find a tin of coffee, a bandage, some firewood and this amazing beauty:

Three fire strikers in one game? I didn't even think two were possible.

With that, the stim, and 35 cattails I actually have to remedy my assessment of this Ravine not being worth the risk. Yes, the risk is there, clearly, but the loot is - or at least can be - substantial. But as I am counting my cattails the winds return in full force and my torch dies. I make it, almost freezing, to the rope, start another fire and dump the excess firewood I won't be able to bring up anyways. I also feel like spending 2 coffee for 5 coffee is still a bargain - so I warm up two. Deeming the fire mostly safe I chance to sleep an hour.

The fire is NOT safe and dies - and leaves me halfway cold when I wake up. No use in dwelling on that now - I need to get up. I gulp my coffee that strangely is still warm and start climbing. I two-time the climb rather easy and beeline for the Maintenance Yard. Arriving I get barked at, but I actually don't care, and sprint into the Shed. I even only used one coffee.

Something else that escaped me completely until just now: with having 86 days survived Walker 3 surpasses Kermit 7, which was my most successful Interloper so far with 75-ish days (and going).

Aside from that I'm happy to have survived the ravine and overcome my trauma. Being back at the Shed I'm actually not in a hurry to leave. I have food and water for at least two days, and with the time already being 7 pm I decide to call it a successful day. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 89 and 89 - Hit The Road, Walk

I spend the entire day dodging in and out of the Shed killing wolves in order to make my move tomorrow.  I kill a total of 4, and relatively late at night even make it all the way to the bridge where I find a flare and yet another sewing kit.

The next day dominated by a blizzard making "my move" very doubtful by 3 pm. The biggest problem is that I have quite a lot of ground to cover - hostile ground, to boot - between the Shed and the Poacher's Camp. On the other hand every day I spend here means more wolves respawned. As the blizzard finally subsides at 5 pm, after I replenished an arrow that was destroyed yesterday .... I leave.

 
It's to late and to cold to get going. Let's go.

What you cannot see on this screenshot is yet another wolf running around in the right field. There are a total of 4 corpses rotting in and around the Yard, and still another wolf shows up like it's nothing special. I advance slow. It's colder than I expected, I'm overburdened, and I get held up collecting reishi. But I am determined to make it as far as I can justify. Funny enough making camp I find the one "stolen" arrow from the day of my arrival.

I make it to and over the Landslide, but then several things go wrong at once. I sprain my wrist walking on a the tracks, and then winds brush up. I look for place to make camp when I get barked at. I didn't expect wolves here. I throw one my last piece of bait and walk the other off, but I have no choice but to keep on walking. Green eyes tracking me I make it through the tunnel.

I make it through and already freezing make camp shortly after - and manage to sleep off my wrist. I'm not overly abundant on firewood, and I don't feel confident making it to the Poacher's Camp. I think the more reasonable choice is the Marsh Ridge cave - but even that is a stretch.

I make it to the small arch near the un-deployed marsh ridge climb and make camp again. I put on 2 hours - but the fire get's reduced to 10 minutes almost immediately. Tearing up torches I babysit. 

How I can be shielded by winds but not this fire is beyond me.

I actually would love to build a snow shelter - but the game won't let me. The winds finally subside at 5 am. Somehow I wonder if I bring myself into such situations just because for the fun of it. Because... as risky and as dire as this actually is, it's just terribly immersive and actually fun to sit at your fire, feed it stick by stick, and pray with every gust of wind that it won't die. I get going in pretty dark night and not long after get barked at by something I don't see. I keep warming, and finally make a fire - and it takes off. I keep going and reach Hat Creek shortly after.

Not the safest mode of travel.

I totally randomly sprain my wrist on even ground - why? Howls from the Shortwave Tower instill fear, but I cannot turn around now. I make it to the cave - eventually. Now that I am here - I think - I can might as well get to the Basin. The reasoning for this is actually rather simple. I've already decided not to retire in the Ravine or the Lake Overlook. The three places in contention are The Milton Basin, the cave above Milton, near the Trailer, and the Valley Cave in Hushed River Vally. But in any case moving to the Basin is the next point on my agenda. Just if it is my final move is undecided. I make it through the cave and roll out my bedroll at the end.

When I get up again it's already 2 pm the next day. Yesterday cost me 6%. That's not great but nothing to worry about yet, either. The weather ... well.... let's just say it doesn't look either good or bad. I just doesn't look a lot, period.

Fine soup.

I make the small climbs and then the tour around the lake counter clockwise. I reach the cave uncontested. There is no container in the cave - which is a bit sad. I take some time to sort things and "furnish" the cave, then go and pick some firewood and find a deer carcass on the way which will serve as dinner today. While I harvest the deer the fog lifts and reveals quite a bit of food waiting to be hunted.

Food on legs.

I return home and try to stone me two rabbits on the way. Winds brush up and out of time I simply snipe them to be done with it. An arrow wears out doing so. I get to the cave, harvest the rabbits, eat a few cattails and a granola and go to sleep.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 90 to 93 - It's Hunting Season!

Beef jerky for breakfast. It's my last processed travel food - but I've still got over 90 cattails. The basin is too cold and windy to get anything done, and it's too dark to maglens a fire. Preparing reishi it is. At 9 am a blizzard breaks out and I kinda see the day flying away. It subsides not before 5 pm. I get out and decide to hunt me some proper food. I do.

Nose shot!

I quarter my no-longer-walking burger and bring my price home. I make my first fire in the cave and cook both the rabbits from yesterday and the deer. I cook and stockpile water until after midnight.

The next day I wait and sleep a lot until the weather is more permissive of my plans today. I want to hunt me some wolves so I don't have to worry about them while I hunt more burgers. Both wolves die a quick death.

Yup, that's an arrow sticking out his eye.

Basically ate the arrow: a hungry wolf.

Sadly winds and cold do not permit me to harvest them, so I warm up in my cave first. I end up taking the meat from both, but leave the rest. I don't have immediate need for more guts or new wolf pelts.  It's already 8 pm when I get out to collect a bit of firewood .... and... (m)ooooh tasty!

Now you see it!

It's the perfect angle, the perfect distance, the perfect shot.

Now you don't!

What an amazing catch! I actually didn't bring any firewood ... since I actually wanted to collect some! ... so running back and back again costs me 4% condition. But that doesn't matter. It's a big boy!

Millions of burger, burgers for me.

I quarter the moose and look at over 80 kilograms of stuff to haul. 

Ever wanted to assemble your own moose? Here's all you need for it!

Of course I haul it all to my cave, and, with a short break to collect firewood, harvest and cook it all along with a new stack of water. When I am finally done with everything one and a half days have elapsed. But ... I'm all set now.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 94 to 98 - Errand Boy Goat

The day starts blizzardy. I sit in the dark and sharpen my knife. All the arrows I made at the Maintenance Shed and all the quartering and sometimes even harvesting when it has to go quick wore it down pretty much.

I've got around 35 kg of moose left. I need approximately 3 kg - as silly as that sounds - per day. That means with the wolf that's not even cooked yet .... I have almost two weeks of food, not even counting cattails. I've got 20 liters of water. That'll last me a bit as well. Firewood .... well. I've got a few sticks and some left over coal. 

I decide to make a quick trip to the Rocky Refuge and collect on the firewood there. I also get 2 new birch saplings, 1 new maple sapling, accelerant and ..... 46% dog food: a rare specialty. When I make a fire in front of the cave to help me saw down the fir limb that's lying there a wolf keeps coming and going where I do. So .... the wolves are back. Good to know. I used the flame to cook the remaining wolf meat I've got. I really need a second pot here.

The next day starts blizzardy again. The blizzard rages harshly and I have no option to but to get a fire going. I actually want to get going towards Trapper's today. I'm pretty sure on the route: via the Muskeg. It's no rope vs 4 ropes through Milton. And I wouldn't even consider Milton the safer route. I get going at 4 pm and evade the wolf. Killing it now might just have him respawn again by the time I'm back. 

I find a granola, a spare wool toque and a ski jacket at the shortwave tower, along with a can opener and some beef jerky. At the old campsite up there I also find some firewood and a bottle of accelerant. I goat down and head for the nearby cave. Just this short stretch costs me 3% condition. I warm up fixing one of my 71% wool toques and think. I do not want to light a torch, but I probably need one for the warmth and I should use tea anyways. But I have no idea if the wolf is there, and if I have the choice between freezing a bit and getting wolfed a bit I chose freezing. I go without and find another friend of mine roaming the area at the tracks.

A possible candidate for my second bear hide?

I make it to the tunnel, freezing away 6% and finally make a fire to warm up. After that I reach Trapper's without freezing, albeit narrowly. While taking this tour I dreamed up a shortcut how to reach my cave from Trapper's - and it going to be a first for me trying it. But first I gaze at the sheer riches the cabin actually hold. That's some serious gear, even for a normal Interloper. I make a quick selection of what I deem actually useful to bring and get going again, picking up some of the still edible moose meat from the one I killed here - and get into the cave to Milton. You heard correctly. Wasn't I all against those 4 ropes? Well, I still am. And I'm not going to use them.  

When I reach the other side my torch dies in a blizzard. Well, I guess now is a good a time as any to sleep. It's 8 am when I get going again. The goat down to the cave is easy, but the brimming cold takes 8% condition from me. That wasn't planned, actually, but when I realize it's much to cold to keep going the winds are actually pushing me forward almost on it's own. I sleep and warm up for one hour. 

The first order of business is to get rid of the wolf. Last time I was here I left a piece of cooked wolf meat that actually would still be edible. Let's hope it's enough to gather the attention of our neighbor. It does, but for reasons I cannot fathom the arrow ricochets from the wolf life it was a blunt training arrow. I get back in, warm up and repeat .... and the next time the wolf comes limping, like he was indeed pummeled - but not bleeding. Much like after eating a pry bar. Very curious. He dies in any case. I warm up yet again. Then it's show time. 

That's a few meters.

Yes, I'm gonna goat that. It should lead directly to the rabbit grove on the ice right next to the cave. Hesitant if that's really a good idea I start my descent in the smallest of step, and actually I'm almost expecting to hit an insta-death hitbox. I sprain my ankle and wrist, and rightfully so .... but I make it.

I'm alive!

I lose 2% more before reaching the cave - but that's still alright. I'm at 78%. I cannot afford to suffer that much for each of the 2-3 more runs I will have to take, but for now I'm in the clear and back home alive. The goat in me has prevailed yet again. I painkill my ankle and sleep two hours. Then I sort out my stuff, eat, pack water and go again. I make the run to Trapper in record time of just over 4 hours - but again pay 6%. I turn in and sleep.

When I wake up at around 8 I collect all the matches I left here - and count. 214 matches, and 3 fire strikers t 80%, 56% and 32%, that's about 60 more fires from fire strikers. Essentially we have 270 or so fires we can still make without the sun. I load up - and go again. I finish the run with 60%, and again a sprained ankle. As it's too late to make the trip to Trapper's before nightfall when I am done organizing stuff I give myself the day off.

You might as yourself if this tour de force is really necessary. And probably it is not. But as you might have noticed already.... patience isn't my greatest virtue. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 98 to 103 - Paintings, A Short Vacation - And Winds

I kinda misaligned days, so the last entry actually was "just" day 94 to 97.

I get going around 4:30 pm. I don't plan to return for at least week, and you will later see why. But my destination still is Trapper's. The sun is out, so I jump on the opportunity to make a free fire for once. At Marsh Ridge I decide to look for the stim @Drifter Mannoted, and find it after mere moments in the burnt out camp I remember to have visited before the moment I see it. Of course I've been here. I just never "noted" the stim consciously as they simply aren't as important in other game modes. I also find crackers and and issue of A Sewing Primer. Valuable loot. Since I have a light source I make it through the cave to warm up, and am greeted by a fiery canopy once I emerge.

A sky like an oil panting.

I feel like I need to lose a word here - off topic - about the art and looks of The Long Dark. Often times people, especially ranty buyers on steam, criticize the "bad" graphics of the game. While I agree that you feel that the engine and textures are quite old by now, one has to simply acknowledge that photo realistic graphics were never and will never be the goal of this game. The world you navigate in The Long Dark is strangely surreal and bleak, and then again just stuns you in awe with its colorful beauty. Most of the time you feel like you are walking through a painted landscape some lonely hermit dreamed up on his canvas. Even the animals are like drawn with thick strokes and rough pencils.

The Long Dark wouldn't be what it is if we were walking a photo realistic world. We wouldn't be able to bear the sheer weight of what we are seeing and experiencing. But it's not a comic style of art, either. It is unique in its own way. Much like an oil painting, like I said, and much like a painting - like art - it takes time to understand and taste to learn to love it. I wouldn't want it any other way. As from a technical standpoint: I am happy that I can play this game on rather mediocre hardware (FX 6300, 1050 Ti, 1080p) without any concerns for frame rates, input lag or any other technical related stuff. It just works, and it works well at the best settings I can give it. And while I am a developer myself, I am extremely happy every time I just don't have to deal with such things outside of work.

I make camp at the nearby cave for about an hour and leave into a starry night. A wolf finds me and I fire him away - but after leaving my fire he again tracks me and I keep going as long as my lit flame permits, then again make a fire, also to warm up. While I do, harsh winds brush up, from exactly the wrong direction and I find myself caught at a fire that is very much unprotected should the winds shift.

Pinned down in a storm.

When I get going again it's way past 1 am. The winds have subsided, but the night is -20°FL cold. I won't get exceedingly far. Halfway between the tunnel and Trapper's I make camp yet again. I reach Trapper's at shortly before 6 am, deploy 4 snares I brought and eat some ancient moose meat. 3 hours of sleep seem earned. I undress as I won't be needing my clothes for a few days.

My plan for the next days is to capitalize on a few factors: I haven't been indoors for ages longer than a few minutes. So I should easily be able to hunker down here for 5 days. I've still got a lot of meat stored outside and water for a week inside. And I have work to do with a lot of arrows to be crafted. Plus: Mystery Lake still holds some treasures I haven't exploited yet. The Lake and the river hold a plethora of cattails, and most of the cabins are unlooted - plus Alan's and Dave's. All in all I won't be back at my cave at the Milton Basin for over a week, maybe two.

Getting back up at 9 I get to work on arrows. I have feathers for 14, arrow heads for 19.... and don't get me started on shafts. I spend the entire day inside, all the way until it gets to dark to work.

The next day - my 100th - is equally uneventful. Having run out of feathers I convert some of the saplings to shafts and finish A Sewing Primer in one swift go. Three rabbits get torn apart after dark. 

The next morning I finish the remaining arrow shafts I can craft save the two birch sapling that still need a day of curing. Even without including them I've got a total of 69 shafts. Plus some back at the cave. Running out of arrows really is a "Day 500 Problem". I craft another bow to finish the day, destroy three more rabbits for good measure and sharpen my knife back to condition.

Another day in the cabin is spent crafting two more arrows, harvesting another dead rabbit and sharpening my knife some more.

Day 5 at the cabin starts with crafting lines and hooks and ultimately fishing tackles, plus 6 more arrow shafts from the newly cured saplings. I tear up some of the surplus clothing stored here and mend a few of my clothes. 

At 6 pm, after a blizzard has passed, I get rolling: To the Camp Office. Halfway to the tunnel - as I am taking the long, safer route - I warm up and again get pinned down by emerging winds.

Not the same screenshot!

My fire is even less well protected this time and gets reduced eventually. Tearing up my 30 or so torches I babysit the fire. At least I get rid of a few of them now, they have been seriously piling up. At the end I've got 24 sticks. If I use them well that's six and a half to eight hours of fire out here. So that's not really the problem. The problem is that if a blizzard develops .... I'm screwed. At midnight the sky clears a bit, but the wind persists. The waiting game continues.

At 2 am the winds turn so that I believe I can reach at least the tunnel without my torch dying in the winds. In fact they change again when I do, so I can continue towards the office hugging the hills to the right. While I do ... wrist and ankle give in once again and the aurora shows up to celebrate. Hiking up the hills and goating down to the lake trail I make it to the office - just in time before freezing.

Almost looks like someone is home.

There's nothing left to do but get some sleep.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 104 to 108 - Teach a man to fish ....

When I wake up my limbs are back in working order, but for the first time ever I am facing cabin fever risk. I pick up my hammer and leave for the lake - it's time to put those fishing books to a bit of use. Until midnight the amount of fish I didn't catch is overwhelming. Then, finally, already committed to this way longer than I planned the first small, then the first big fish comes up and I can stop nibbling away my cattails.

Until 6 in the morning I only catch one more small fish. I guess you know the saying: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish  ... and you trick him into fishing until he is out of firewood. Good lolz.

I sleep a total of 4 hours in the hut, but my firewood reserves are exhausted by now. I keep the hammer which I initially had planned to leave behind and make my way around the lake to the first cabins - oh which only one is standing. The moment I enter a blizzard takes hold of the outside. I'm trapped. With cabin fever risk at 1% I wager two hours of sleep, then, while I still got light, trash some furniture to solve my firewood problem. Two more hours pass and I get going again.

I collect firewood on the way to the second triplet of cabins - of which all three are present. All I find are a lot of books and some old shoes. At the lone cabin I was before, that I remember. I loot cattail island and turn into another fishing hut to warm up, sadly not before slightly freezing a bit. Heavily disappointed with my fishing yesterday I try again. A bit like a gambler that thinks "now that I lost 10 times in a row all I can do is win, right?"

Again until 6 my yield is the same: 2 small ones, a big one, hardly enough to keep up on calories. I sleep four hours in the hut. When I wake up it's blizzard time. So ... well... what else would I do but keep on fishing? Two more small ones and actually a really big one .... and I get going at 6 pm. I make it to the camp office before freezing - again with nice aurora music. 

Canada!

My belly is full, yes, but I burned ludicrous amounts of firewood for it. But I still don't quite want to give up on it. Maybe .... longer fishing sessions really are beneficial? We'll see. 

I sleep a total of 11 hours. The weather outside is so bad I cannot hope to get anywhere - so I break easy furniture ... and later harder. Fueled by salty crackers I head to Dave's at noon - and find nothing, except that it's so cold I have to make a fire if I want to return without freezing. I sleep an hour, pull torches and continue to the cave above. 

On my way up there winds come up again and kill my torch. I quickly snipe me two rabbits, but find nothing at the cave but a bit of firewood. I consider staying the night, but decide against it - and live to regret that. On the way home the winds turn on me and to make matter worse my ankle gives in once more - and when I return to the camp office I'm freezing and starving and 6% condition are lost. I sleep four hours.

It's 9 pm when I decide to give fishing a last try. I put on enough fire and eat enough calories for 5 hours of uninterrupted fishing. Let's see. A small one and two big ones. Hm. Not totally bad I guess. 

At 6 am, after cooking a bit, I enter my second fishing session. Two small ones - and I conclude: nope, it doesn't make a real difference. I will put more research into this matter as it always bothered me, but for now I conclude that 5 short sessions are as good as a long one. I keep going deep into the night, and it's almost 5 when I'm back at the camp office.

Was this successful? Not really. I guess unless you have fishing 4 or 5 it really isn't sustainable.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 109  to 111 - Victory Lap

All that's left for me to do is travel the river. But is that worth it? I'm not sure. Then again..... short of the Hushed River Valley and a bit of the Forlorn Muskeg: What else is left? Well, guess I'll go.

It's cold, and windy, and I'm freezing much faster than I expected to. To make matters worse I meet a wolf at Alan's. Having no time to play games I gamble - ironically - and let him charge.

I win.

I end up warming up for an hour, then taking 2 steaks and warm up another hour while cooking. I make my way to the dam, collecting more stray cattails, and make camp next to the bridge - again slightly freezing. I sleep an hour next to the fire, then make it into the Dam. At least I know the aurora is out.

Not the best place to explore when it's aurora time!

I spend the night breaking crates and sawing down a few light fixtures - and sleep a bit.

When I get up at 9 I saw down a few more easy targets (fixtures, control boxes, lamps) and recycle some torches until 12. I get going in bright skies and even maglens me a fire and boil some tea to maybe not freeze for once - but then get assassinated by a sub-blizzard. Making camp I finally achieve fire starting V.

Master arsonist!

I make my way through the river and at the point it splits up to Alan's I gather four birch sapling - as if I didn't have enough - I left here when I passed through yesterday. Having firewood for 24 hours on me and a lit flame whatever could I do with it? Right ... let's fish some more. I'm so close to Ice Fishing III. Almost through the night I succeed with my second fish.

Still sucks at fishing.

Not that it has any effect. In 18 hours of fishing I catch 3 small fish. That's just not worth it. I return to the camp office. I pick up the rabbits I sniped at the cave above Dave's, harvest them and eat them along with the two fish that were still lying on the porch. Tomorrow it's back to trappers. Mystery Lake ... is done.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 112 to 114 - Summer of '113

I begin the day to the satisfying sound of breaking torches. Then it's tearing the remaining curtains and fixing some pieces of clothing. The sky is clear, so I make a fire behind the office and warm up some tea, but when I get back out to collect the sky.... is already cloudy again. Anyways - on to Trapper's.

A wolf spots me immediately after leaving, but it's one of those that get the creeps from my wolf skin vest. Smart boy. I pass through Deadfall and reach Trapper's without contest. I decide to use the so far favorable weather and make my penultimate trip to he Basin. I load up get going. I reach my current home without anything to report - except the occasional sprain. I guess it's hard to make THAT goat without it.

I sort through things. My current collection of arrows includes 26 brand new ones, and two mildly used ones. I've got 8 stims - only the one from the plane is missing. I've got 3 new bows in store - plus the 50% one have on me and two more around 50, one here, one still at Trapper's. The only positive thing about my fishing expedition is that I've got another liter of lamp fuel - now 8 in total. 75 cloth should get me somewhere as well. 19 scrap metals aren't overwhelming, but should be enough for now. Maybe - just maybe - I'll return to the dam for more one fine day. 127 cattails should get me through everything that lies ahead - especially considering the Hushed River Valley is a legit cattail farm. And I haven't even collected here in the Basin yet. 12 mostly intact sewing kits plus 6 more fishing tackles also shouldn't wear out in the foreseeable future. Roughly 6 whetstones ... also will keep me going some time. And I still have all my 12 flare shells.

Just a bit of stuff. Maybe hoarding ain't so bad after all, eh?

With nothing else to do, I go to bed.

I wake up at 5 am and prepare a few rose hips and reishi that have accumulated over the past few days. I realize that I brought my third hammer. Hu. Should I ever go fishing again I will need to remember to bring it. My rabbit skin mitts have worn down to 66% so a repair is more than warranted. Same goes for my 76% deer skin pants. It's not like I'll use those hides for anything else than repairs. Then.... blizzard time. I sort through some more stuff, then sleep a bit.

At 4 pm the weather calms down so much it's almost summer. +1°C with my torch! Unheard of. I take off to Marsh Ridge. 

Behold the Summer of Pacific British Columbia, Interloper Day 50+

Knowing the temperatures won't hold forever I make headway. I cannot cross through the radio tower as two wolves are patrolling the area. I head down Hat Creek and straight for the Poacher's Camp. There I meet two wolves. One is a panicky one anyways, and the other I fire away - but winds start to brush up. I make it past and actually consider exploring the area south to the tunnel as it should have the abandoned camp - but two wolves in the area let me reconsider. Maybe at some point very much later in the extremely distant future .... I make it to Trapper's in little over two hours - without stops or freezing. I pack up, eat as much of my ancient moose as I can, and head into the cave. I probably won't return.

Farewell, Mystery Lake, Farewell, Trapper's Homestead.

I make it through the cave but then mess up the goat down to the cave below Milton. The damage is mild, 6%, but still. I guess such things just happen every 50 to 100 days ... Exhausted and with sprained limbs I make camp in the cave. 

When I wake up at 6 am summer has ended abruptly - or at least taken a hiatus. It's blizzard time again - but it doesn't last. It's still -20 °C FL afterwards, and -33°C FL in the wind. Any travel is out of the question. At noon things look dramatically different. -12 °C should be good enough. I approach my beloved suicide goat. On my way down my ankle dies again. Well. That's fair. With any luck I won't have to take that one again. I painkill the ankle, but still take some freezing damage while I quickly deploy the three snares I have on me at the run. When I reach home I'm at 74%. That's less than I hoped for, but I gotta work with what I have.

Again I sort through things. At 4 pm it's -4°C FL. Not quite yesterdays record temperatures, but good enough to saw up a fir limb and deploy my other two snares. A scout of the area at sunset reveals a lonely deer and no wolves. We'll see to the deer tomorrow, and then .... well, lot's of cattails left. But other than that a few more days of vacation are in order.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 115 and 116 - Hunting Season? Hunting Season!

I get up much too early, so I prepare some tea. Been a while since I had so much to actually prepare. My boots took a hit yesterday - so I repair them as well. It's much too cold to hunt deer - but warm enough to collect rabbits: three of them. That gives me something to do - and something to bait wolves with. 

At noon I venture out in windy weather and one-shot one of three deer "grazing" on the ice. It's too windy to make a fire to support quartering it, so I get my arrow and return for now. An hour later the weather is better but still snowy, so I decide to shoot another deer. The arrow breaks and the deer runs, wounded. While attempting the third deer a wolf enters the scene and my arrow goes wide. The deer runs and the wolf suddenly likes me quite a lot. I get a piece of rabbit and wait for the wolf to come. The first shot also goes wide - the second is a win.

Just at this moment the sun comes out and grants me a free maglens fire. In the end I quarter the wolf and both deer - and even recover my arrow.  I take me deep into the evening to gather all of the quarters, but in the end I get them home. I just shot almost a week's worth of food on a single day. Not quite, but pretty much half a moose - not that I would be running out of moose anytime soon.

Burger time!

I harvest everything - and when I am done the next day is already dawning.

When I get back up it's already 1 pm. The weather is passable so I finally take a trip to the Hermit's Cabin. I actually make two trips because I just can't pass all those cattails. At the cabin I find nuts'n'stuff (who knows? maybe my last?) and some firewood plus more tea. I get home and warm up a bit, only to take back out and sprain my ankle. That concludes this day.

[DarKube]

What is this bloody bag ?

[Guest jeffpeng]

8 hours ago, DarKube said:

What is this bloody bag ?

You can quarter wildlife instead of harvesting it on the spot. Those bags - along with guts and hide - is what you get. You can transport those bags, and then harvest them there in safety.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 117 to 122 - Time After Time

By the time I could have gotten something useful done a blizzard hits the Basin. So there really is nothing to do but chores and fixing my bedroll that is degrading at an alarming rate. 

The next day I lure one of the wolves that respawned in with being terribly stinky and put him down in my crouched ninja stance.

Had something else in mind: a wolf.

His friend follows a few hours later after I've taken the meat from the first wolf - but nothing else.

Wasn't really eyeballing an arrow: another wolf.

In conclude the day making another sprint to Hermit's, and collecting some more tea and a birch sapling. Maybe I'll get to the second wolf tomorrow.

The next morning I maglens a fire and get to cooking the piles of raw meat I've got. I finish everything I've got and then boil a new pile of water all the way until morning.

Getting a bit of Cave Fever I decide I want to do something with this day. While I am not yet sure when or even if I am going to move to Milton - either the cave up there or the trailer - I want to kinda prepare the middle cave in between the climbs to be suitable as a half-way point, meaning depositing my second spare bedroll plus a reasonable amount of food, water and firewood - and if it's just for my Hushed River Valley expedition and the trip back to the plane. I sort things and wait until 2 pm, then take off. 

I achieve my goal, but sprain my ankle on flat ice making my way back. Since the weather is unusually warm again at -2°C FL I painkill the ankle to make use of the remaining day and explore this part of the Basin. I make it home before freezing, having looted a good amount of tea and cattails, warm up, and then even get to harvest three more kilograms of wolf meat. While doing so I am eerily surprised by a blizzard - but escape to the cave before freezing just in the nick of time.

The next day I aim for a bit more. I pack up supplies to make arrows and a few other things and again head for the climb at noon. I also bring my tools and weaponry as I want to take a peek at the farm after all this time. I make the first climb, and then rest two hours. I make it to the ledge, leave some emergency firewood and water. Interestingly goating down from the farm looks very much doable from here.

I've done worse.

On top I sprain my wrist for little reason. Well. I'm rather exhausted anyways. I sleep off the wrist, but when I wake up the world is pretty dark and cold. Breaking a plank outside is all I get done.

When I'm fully rested at 5 am my biggest immediate problem is actually water. Reluctantly I fire up the stove with the little firewood I've got. I apparently left a pot here, and with the 4 cans I've got on me (two were actually meant for the climb cave) I at least don't loose out on efficiency too much. I break 4 more planks while I boil water, so that should keep me going a while.

Cooking at the stove I get thinking again. My main reasoning for primarily living in a cave is firewood efficiency. At trappers cooking outside was far more efficient due to having the same amount of cooking spaces but twice the amount of fire duration. At such a stove, however .... I have the indoor cooking duration - but up to three times the cooking spaces. Plus a real bed. The only issue here .... cabin fever. So I would need a house that has a safe & easy to reach cave nearby.

There are four houses in the game with a stove.

• The Hunting Lodge. We covered to some extend while Broken Railroad is a bad idea. A cave, however, is nearby, and just living there would be somewhat tenable if combative with hunting the wolves for meat. But the layout of the house is terrible and it is terribly dark even at day. That's several no-nos.
• The Farm in Pleasant Valley. While probably the biggest and arguably best house in the game, everything around it just sucks. You have good opportunities to hunt, but you can't 3 out of 4 days because of blizzards and a cave is nowhere near.
• This here, the Paradise Meadows farm: Cave down a rather steep climb. Not exactly my idea. Plus the house is dark. Hunting is actually good and wolves can be spotted from farm away. It would do.
• Grey Mother's. The cave near the radio tower is easy to reach and warm enough and even has a rabbit grove. The trailer isn't far off, and there's even another cave. The only problem is the wolf population - but as everything else is in steep decline the wolves have become much less frequent as well. If I'm careful ... it might just work and actually turn this into an advantage. After all my slogan is: Wolf, deer, moose, bear - I simply do not care. I eat everything that had a face.

I'm kinda shocked to say this .... but as an endgame hideout .... Grey Mother's has its appeal. I will think about this a bit more.

When I'm done boiling water it's about 9. I get out, and spot a wolf on the prowl. Crouching I get the drop on him first, but the arrow breaks and the wolf runs wounded. With temperatures still being arctic I cannot pursue and have to turn back in to warm up. Half an hour later I find the animal obviously wounded, but not bleeding. Like suffering from blunt force trauma. I finish it of easily, but the arrow again just bounces off. This an adamantium wolf? Hell. Still to cold to do anything I have to turn in yet again.

What was arctic before turns just silly cold for midday. -25°C ? Alright. I nibble cattails and wait. And hour later things look much "better":

Light, warm, fuzzy broccoli soup.

Approaching the dead wolf I get barked at again. Not even seeing the wolf at first I retreat to the barn, where I finally lose him. I sneak back out and pursue, ninja stanced. He isn't long for this world.

Not wanting to brag .... but that's some accuracy.

I take 2 steaks from the first wolf and have to turn back in to warm up. Getting back out I harvest the rest of the first wolf, and meanwhile the sun comes out, which allows me to make a fire next to the second one and harvest him as well. I carry the flame inside and cook both wolves, eat and drink up, leave the remaining meat behind and make my way back to the climb. I've established a tenable position up here - that's enough for the moment.

Goating down to the cave works as anticipated. But I feel like it's one of those "easy but risky" goats that really make you pay if you mess them up. Goating the second climb isn't much harder either, and should be much less punishing if it went wrong. Good to know - this will save me a lot of time in the future. I pick up three rabbits passing the run and return to my cave safe and sound.

I conclude the day harvesting the rabbits and contemplating my next steps.

[romerabr]

In the farmhouse, you don't need a cave. You can sleep on the porch, from the kitchen's Door. No cabin fever there. 

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Walker 3 / Days 123 to 129 - The Missing Week

Waking up to a bright and shiny morning I kinda made up my mind. The Basin is great and all, but for true endgame max-days survival Grey Mother's just holds too many advantages. As yesterday has shown hunting wolves really isn't the problem with my archery skill. And not too far from Grey Mother's there are opportunities for deer, a moose and even a rather reliably huntable bear - if such a thing exists. Food will not become the problem, and with 50% better firewood efficiency I hope firewood will not either. The cave near the radio tower will be my cabin fever hideout. 

So, the agenda is revised yet again - but that's sorta what kind of person I am. Every plan is followed - often times meticulously - until a better option arises or new information or experience tips the scales between alternatives. I will test the waters at Grey Mother's for a week or so to see how "pacified" the area really is, but moving up the rope is a necessity in any way. If Grey Mother's shouldn't prove tenable against expectations, the farm clearly is a position to comfortably hold and so would be the trailer or even the cave up there. In hindsight hauling everything down here maybe wasn't my greatest idea ever, but then again hindsight is always 20/20, as they say.

I spend the entire week hauling stuff up the rope, in mostly favorable weathers, and except for 3 new birch saplings, a victory lap around the Basin and two wolves catching arrows with body parts that were clearly poorly designed for that nothing of importance happened - so I spare you this very repetitive and arguably boring part of Walker 3's story.

Important is that on the evening of day 129 I've transferred my belonging - of which there are some by now - to the farm and that any subsequent decisions where to make my final stay are now no longer affected by any ropes. I'm enjoying near perfect health again, and while I didn't bring most of my food supply in meat, I'm not facing immediate shortages - and don't expect to too soon.