Wrapped in Furs run

[Hotzn]

Day 17: In the morning, a blizzard is blowing, I have to wait it out. It stops with 12 hours of daylight left. Stepping outside, I see a deer carcass not far from my doorstep. Delighted, I want to check it out, but hear some barking nearby. Again, I am unable to locate the wolf, so I turn around and slip back in. An angry growl shows me I barely made it. After an hour of rest, I try again... woof, woof! Back inside. Another hour of rest and back outside. The wolf has gone... and so has the deer! Come on, did I sleep that away?

Frustrated, I visit Max at his Last Stand and find another hatchet. Sigh. In the grove next door, I set up my 3 snares (found the third in Trapper's) and return to Trapper's to do some wood foraging (stack up for later visits), clothes harvesting and repair. Towards sunset, I venture to the grove to check my snares - nothing. Returning inside, I make 12 litres of potable water before going to bed.

[Hotzn]

Day 18: I sleep a little into the day and step outside with 11 daylight hours remaining. And step right back inside, as a blizzard is just about to start. One hour later, it has calmed down, so I can run over to the grove and check my snares - nothing. Turning back, I am confronted with a situation where I can chase a deer into a wolf. This could get me more guts to make more snares... hmmm... but what about the wolf? I have a torch on me and so could probably scare it away. I could get venison, leather and guts in return, and I could harvest them today, if no blizzard comes up. Or... I could try and knife the wolf, track it down and get its pelt, and even more meat and guts. However... I would likely have to harvest into the night, I would be wounded, I might become encumbered. Hmmm... better go for the safer route and use the torch...

I approach the wolf as it is tearing away at the poor deer, burning torch in hand. The wolf jumps up, growling, and comes for me. The flames stop it in its tracks. I swing the torch, shouting, and the wolf runs off, yelping. Good. More than 8 kg of venison, 4 leather and 2 guts are waiting for me to take them here. I start with the guts, which are a priority for the goal of this run (need rabbits for the mittens). As I have collected them, I hear a familiar growl... verrrry close. I try to remain calm, staring at the harvesting menue. I finally click "back" to face my nemesis, and then I understand why it has not yet attacked me: Because the moment I look up... my torch goes out. HRRRWOOOAAARRRR! Stab, stab, take this, hideous fiend!

Whatever I do during this wild clickfest, I do it well: wolf runs off, bandage stops bleeding at 82% and hardly any damage to my clothes. Maybe a lucky hit to an artery. Am I mistaken, or is the wolf running away quite slowly? Is it actually limping? I don't know, maybe I am imagining things. I watch where the wolf is taking off to, then harvest the remaining deer, dump everything at Trapper's and follow the wolf. It starts snowing and the blood trail disappears, but luckily I spot something a black lying in the snow behind the first ridge. Yay! I harvest the complete wolf and take everything back to Trapper's. There are even 4 hours of daylight left.

After harvesting some redundant clothes and sorting things around, I do an evening check of my 3 snares in the grove. One is triggered and... has a rabbit in it! I harvest it and run back inside. What a day! Being completely exhausted, I fall into bed right away, all my wonderful loot spread on the floor...

[Hotzn]

Day 19: A quick morning check of my snares shows two of them triggered, but no rabbits. I collect them and place all 4 (made another one this morning) closer to Max's Last Stand. Then it's back to Trapper's and to a lot of meat cooking. Crafting another snare (no more guts left now), I want to check my other 4 between the grove and Max's, but a blizzard starts and chases me back inside. One hour later I reach them to find nothing. None have been triggered.

I watch a deer wander around for a while and discover some lichen right behind Trapper's (nice addition, these weren't here in v200 if I recall correctly). Then it's dinner and off to bed...

[Hotzn]

Day 20: A blizzard forces me to sleep a little into the day. Then a snare check between the grove and Max's: all 4 triggered, no rabbits. I move them a little further towards Max's and add a fifth one. Then a blizzard forces me to return inside. Two hours later I re-emerge and watch a wolf and a deer wandering around near Trapper's. At last the wolf starts running, and I am eagerly anticipating it to take the deer down. However, what the wolf has detected is not the deer - it's me! While it's running up the walkway to the hut, I dash for the door. Only barely make it.

Sleep one hour just to make sure and peek out again. The wolf has gone. I run over to Max's to check my snares - none triggered, nothing. Walking back, I see another deer-wolf situation. Chase the former into the latter and am faced with the same question as last time - scare away the wolf to harvest the deer, or try to kill the wolf? There are 6 hours of daytime left, hmmm... I go for the riskier route this time! HRRRRGWRROAAAAR! Stab, stab! The wolf runs off, but got me down to 43% this time. I patch myself up and follow the blood trail, but a sharp wind picks up and the trail disappears. Damn! I search a little in all directions the wolf could have gone and am lucky! I harvest the wolf and want to return to where the deer is lying, but I miss the direction and get lost. To make matters worse, I run into another wolf and have to waste a flare to avoid another fight. Then I find the way back, harvest the deer and return to Trapper's as night falls. Clothes are in OK condition, I now have 2 wolf pelts, 4 more guts for snares and lots of meat! Things are looking good so far.

[Hotzn]

Day 21: Morning check of the snares: one triggered, no rabbits. Hmmm... caught only one rabbit overall so far, but on the other hand no snare is ruined. It seems catching rabbits has been nerfed heavily, and I like that. Before, one could rely almost exclusively on "rabbiting", and there was an overabundance of useless rabbit pelts. Now they are much harder to come by, which also makes the rabbitskin mittens more valuable. Good move, devs.

The rest of the day is spent cooking meat and making 10 more litres of water. Then it's off to bed.

[Scyzara]

I go for the riskier route this time! HRRRRGWRROAAAAR! Stab, stab! The wolf runs off, but got me down to 43% this time. I patch myself up and follow the blood trail, but a sharp wind picks up and the trail disappears. Damn! I search a little in all directions the wolf could have gone and am lucky! I harvest the wolf and want to return to where the deer is lying, but I miss the direction and get lost. To make matters worse, I run into another wolf and have to waste a flare to avoid another fight. Then I find the way back, harvest the deer and return to Trapper's as night falls. Clothes are in OK condition, I now have 2 wolf pelts, 4 more guts for snares and lots of meat! Things are looking good so far.

Following a wolf with 43% health... that's really daring! I'm glad to hear everything turned out well.

[toebar]

Day 5: During the night, I have terrible nightmares of knives and hatchets pursuing me through the forest. They jeer at me, shouting things like, "Fool! You overlooked us! We were everywhere! Denyo or Scyzara would have spotted us right away!"

lmao.. this is an excellent read, please continue!

[Hotzn]

Thanks for the feedback, Scyzara & toebar. Yes, following the wolf with 43% was a bit risky. However, the wolf was badly hurt since I stabbed it many times without the force bar being fully charged. I guessed it would not have much life left. The really risky thing was losing my direction when returning (the wolf itself was lying in a fairly safe spot).

[Hotzn]

Day 22: With 12 hours of daylight left and -9°C outside, I go to check my snares (I now have 9). 5 of them are triggered, but as I am about to reset them, I see a wolf-deer situation behind me. Wolf takes down the deer right behind Trapper's, behind the ridge. I draw the wolf into a handfight, it runs off, bleeding. Having bandaged myself and stitched up my clothes, I give pursuit (condition is 63%). However, it starts snowing and the trail is lost. I spend hours looking for the wolf, but cannot find it. I return and harvest the deer, getting back inside at nightfall. I go to bed without resetting the snares. I must heal...

[Hotzn]

Day 23: The morning is a bit cold, I sleep it out. With 11 daylight hours left, it's -8°C eventually. Time to move. First, I check the snares. All 9 are triggered, not a single rabbit. Luckily, none are broken, so I reset them all. Then I decide to take another look for that wolf from yesterday. I check beyond Max's and roam up to Tunnel Collapse. Of all places this is where I get caught in a blizzard. Camp Office or Trapper's? I decide to return to Trapper's, since all my meat is there, and make it back there just when I start freezing.

After resting for an hour, the blizzard has died down.

[Hotzn]

I guess I am more or less on the safe side for the time being, with lots of food and supplies at Trapper's and more at Camp Office. It might be tedious to report in detail how exactly I go about to gather my rabbit pelts and - maybe - more wolf pelts. I will occasionally summarize several days when I have achieved something significant from now on.

What this run has shown me so far is that starting in PV is possible, and that knife & hatchet are crucial tools and more important for long term survival in the game than the gun.

[Hotzn]

I blew it. I. blew. it.

I will spare you the details, they are too painful. Let me just say that I found the gun at the derailment, and that 5 wolves, a torch, the gun, three blizzards and 3 campfires were involved before I died from a wolf attack in pitch darkness at Tunnel Collapse, and that I violated the basic rule which goes: Stick to the plan!

Don't you just have to love the game (and the devs) for creating an environment where you have to make plans and follow them through? I died again, but have only myself to blame. This game is great.

[Majales]

I feel you, bro

[bethany]

I blew it. I. blew. it.

I will spare you the details, they are too painful. Let me just say that I found the gun at the derailment, and that 5 wolves, a torch, the gun, three blizzards and 3 campfires were involved before I died from a wolf attack in pitch darkness at Tunnel Collapse, and that I violated the basic rule which goes: Stick to the plan!

Don't you just have to love the game (and the devs) for creating an environment where you have to make plans and follow them through? I died again, but have only myself to blame. This game is great.

This definitely sounds like you went out in a blaze of glory. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself! Thanks for sharing the run!

[toebar]

ah, too bad. thanks for the story though

[toebar]

You mentioned early on in you run diary that you were uncertain if the bird calls fit in... did they grow on you?

[i'll declare now that I'm biased, since I supported this addition previously] I was away all last week and got in a car crash on the way home , but I finally got a chance to play. I was only in CH, but I liked what I heard there. The calls were very chickadee-like --slightly harsh, not sweet melodies. They weren't all that common and felt they fit in pretty well with my winter wonderland experience..

It's possible I haven't heard them all, and/or that there are there are other calls in other areas that you felt were out of place.

[Hotzn]

@Majales, hinterlandbethany & toebar - thanks for the feedback!

@toebar - actually, playing further I got the impression that birdsong is used sparsely, so my "Spring impression" kind of faded a bit. I quite like it now. It would be cool if birdsong was a sign of absence of danger. If birds would stop singing if a wolf or bear was approaching. Have to study birdsong closely in the game. And... can we see the birds which are singing? Has anyone seen one?