The final day, and I’m writing this from back home in Oceanside Retreat on Indy. My trip is now on hold until February 8th(two weeks from now). So this final day ended with a bang of exploring the biggest thing of the server (that was literally right under my feet), shown to me by one guy..who built all of it.
Logged in next to the guard tower (except next to my tent instead of inside of it). I expected to see a family of trolls awaiting my login, and then immediately smash my brains out with their clubs(perhaps it was a nightmare). Thankfully there was no hostiles around me. Packed up camp and got back on my horse.
But looking around also revealed something else, that I didn’t see at first. I saw this welcoming area. It looked…perfect. It looked like it was speaking to me, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about how nice it looks. Marked it as a potential, and as a potential reason to reconsider moving to Deli. Plus it already has a guard tower.. AND it’s not near any other deeds!
The only issue I see, is it has that highway infront of the area. So if I wanted an interior boat dock? That’s out of the question. I would have to get approval by the GMs in order to alter the road. That sucks. 😛
After going over that, I went over the map and saw that following this coastal lake road will get me to where I was teleported. More mobs tried to complicate the journey, but once again they were dealt with.
Finally reached the road. All it took was just going up north, and I reached roads I remembered traveling on foot(of Day 1). I even got my revenge on some of the mobs that chased me. There was also two trolls around where I had teleported in. Thank goodness they weren’t there when that thing happened.
So after exploring that, I felt there was only one last thing to see before it was time to go home, and that was this interesting underground road system on the map to the West of Mystic Lake. I had no idea it would be so, so much more than just this.
The way to access it was to go back south, and just follow the coast of Nightmare Lake to a town named ‘Wolf’s Den’.
Reached it, and saw the entrance. It wasn’t like the two mine entrances I saw with the colored tunnels. Lighted my lantern, since I’ve been used to lamps in mines not being lit (and no one really bothers to do it due to how fast they burn through their fuel).. anyway, I went in. I was expecting to see signs pointing to these tunnels. Halfway in, I did. However, there was a West tunnel that didn’t have a sign. Feeling adventurous, I turned right and followed it. This thing is ridiculously long(ladies.. 😉 …Erm, yeah. Sorry for the Az reference there).
Killed two lava fiends who were lurking in the tunnel(an Aged and a Venerable) and continued on..and so did this tunnel. Soon the tunnel had another long tunnel splitting off of it. Getting fed up with no direction, I turned back around and went to the signs. Arriving back, I tried to use the ones listed on the map.
The one that goes East to the lake, stopped way short of what it showed and ended in an area I have NO idea where I’m at. Wow. What is going ON HERE?! Why is the map so outdated??
Went back and tried to follow the South tunnel. This ended at a route going East and West… WHAT THE FUCK?! Anyway, decided to follow this ‘Wonderland’ sign(going West and following another sign South). This.. led me to this; a humongous underground cavern… I would say 5x the size of the mine to the north of my deed in Indy.
Confused as fuck on where I was, I saw this guy named “Theshawv” in local and asked them of where in the hell am I. After a bit of time, the guy responds (yet mainly responds in PMs).
What he said, blew my fucking mind. First off, he said the reason these other tunnels I saw that weren’t on the map, is because it’s not been worked on “since last year”. And as much as he told the person to change it, he never did. Then, he mentioned how it was “a very ugly picture of my tunnels“… WAIT. HE built ALL OF THIS?! That’s right! 😮
He has built, a huge underground network of tunnels right under Deliverance(which he calls his fast travel network)! WOAH. And here I was impressed of Renny’s work. Asked him how long he’s been working on this, and he says 5+ years. One guy, doing all of this. Fucking unbelievable. I wonder if his real name is Santa Claus, and this is what he’s doing when he’s not blowing minds being able to deliver toys to all the children in the world in one night.
He asked if I’ve seen his actual deed, Wonderland. Told him I dunno where it is as I felt semi-stuck down here. Didn’t realize I was directly under his deed. So he met me underground and let me topside. It’s so good to see daylight again!.. except it was getting dark. Gave me a brief tour of his place. Not bad. In the middle is a huge multi-leveled (but definitely incomplete) structure that he calls a castle.
Then he asked if I wanted to head to Deli Keep using the tunnel system. He also told me, below the deed has a secret lurking below it; a huge boat parking area. …DUDE!! Yes, I wanna see it! I did not expect to complete exploring the server like THIS!
Followed him through his extensive network of tunnels, his horse being much faster (and able to keep up with its speed) than the one I’m using. As he’s telling me where every tunnel goes and where all the exists are, I decided to do a side-project to figure out why his horse is sustaining its speed(besides him obviously having WoA on the horse’s horseshoes) by asking in CA HELP while I followed him.
Was told that WoA helps, but it doesn’t really help with the ‘fleeting’ ability a horse can have from needing to recharge. I then asked what else could I add that would help any horse be even faster, and was told the saddle also needs it (and how the QL matters as well(50-70QL or higher would give the best boosts)).
I also asked them about how this loner horse tends to be ‘fast'(23-25km/h), then goes ‘slow’ (16-20km/h) when on a flat road, and how it can suddenly drop down to going 12.24km/h without warning. This is because the horse does get hungry after long journeys, and to either feed it a crop or stand on a grass tile for it to graze for it to get back up to speed.
Yet I feel like, what’s the point(for exploration), when we can’t bring our horses cross-server? Though I’m sure people would argue of all the reasons there would be a point(such as getting around that specific server better).
Another thing I could do when it comes to these trips, is to bring enchanted horseshoes and a saddle to whatever horse I choose, tame it, equip it, and then find another horse to tame to untame it. That way the horse would be -technically- mine on that server, and I would get the best speed.
That would work. How well, remains to be seen.
Again as I’m doing this, I’m also following the guy on a slow horse. The journey ends upon reaching a cave-in. Thankfully there’s another way there. Followed him outside. It’s dark and my lantern is the only thing I can see. Suddenly as I’m trying to say something to him, the game starts to lag hard and disconnects me. Screaming at my cable modem to NOT be the reason, and it’s not. 15 or so seconds later, I’m able to log back in. Tell him I got D/C’d and he said it was “a hard crash”. So he too had the same thing happen to him.
Had to dismount, re-lead and ride in order for the horse to move again. He did the same thing, and I continued to follow him. I told him I’ve already been to the keep, but we were mainly going to see the underground boat dock.
He gave me a history of the keep, saying it took three years..to surface mine it. Woah! This keep was surface-mined?? Said it was one big rock face many years ago, showing me proof of the SW side of how high the slopes were. That’s nuts. He said the price for doing it was 2g, and four guys were working on it for a year. This is why it pays to hang out with one of the locals who knows the server like the back of their hand.
Found the tunnel entrance to the keep, also on the SW side. How did I not see this earlier?? He told me to mouse over the wall and I would see a boat, and I definitely did. This is..unbelievable. We headed back down into the caverns. Had a troll and a black bear to deal with. Good thing this guy can handle trolls. After the troll dies, his client crashes for about 15 or so seconds, but manages to reconnect before his character disappeared. So we head down another level and saw a huge cavern, exactly under the keep. He said that this is one mine level under the keep. …How in the heck is the keep still standing? Wouldn’t it had caved in? Yet I forget, this isn’t real life.
Mind blown. This one guy, did all of this. Either he’s insane, or bored as hell. The guy also had to AFK for about 15 minutes, saying to feel free to look around. And so I did, running around this huge underground parking lot.
Saw a lava fiend on one of the sides of the cavern, which I quickly engaged (but took five minutes to kill). Managed to see one of the boats down here. Where’s the exit for them, I wonder? I’d love to get my Knarr under here.
While he was away, I continued to ask about a horse’s speed in CA HELP. They mentioned earlier that weight also plays into how fast it will go. Asked about bardings(armor for a horse) and if they affect weight. From what I’ve seen, bardings are typically used as a cosmetic feature. Not everyone uses them. Was told Cloth is the lightest, but provides no protection.
He finally came back, and showed me the actual docks. It had a higher ceiling, and he told me to look up and I would see the foundation of the deed. And yes, there it was. He said “it took many months to dig this myself”. Fuck, man. If Renny saw this, he’d drop to his knees infront of this guy and say “I’m not worthy”. And all I could say to him was “This is mind-blowing, Theshawv. Fantastic job.” I meant every word.
He lead me back out of the tunnel system to show me the Stadium. Having already been there, I thought “why not? Let a local show you around on this final day” and followed him to the East entrance of the thing. He said that a friend owns it. I thought of asking whom, but I would had probably said “Ah, I don’t know him” or something.
As we’re getting ready to head up (in the darkness), the borrowed horse is acting like a 4-speed again. I asked if he would examine it and he did. And…it’s a 4-speed (who acts like a 5-speed at times). He said “they have speed bursts and then go slower for awhile”. And this is when I brought up the whole ‘wish I could bring my horse cross-server’ thing again, also adding about what I was told with “it would kill the horse market”.
His reasoning is “data base and breeding issues prolly more liek it”. There’s also another thought that popped up in my head. How would deed ownership of a horse even work cross-server? Your actual ‘deed'(your contract of ownership of the deed) stays back when you go cross-server. So with that, how will people know if you owned it on another server? Though I imagine it would be simple as “It has been branded and belongs to the village of Oceanside Retreat (Indi).”
Anyway, checked out the Stadium (again). But he actually showed me areas I didn’t see, such as a ‘chariot racing’ area(aka horses attached to a large cart). WOW, that would’ve been FUN to watch! I do remember in one section of Xanadu (the deed, not the server) has a race course. But I don’t think it was ever used. Checked out the PvP arena. As I’m going around it, I stumbled into a secret mine door on one side of the arena. He’s as surprised as I am, and follows me in to explore it.
Found the ‘mini-arena’ that I thought was a joke, and he was amazed it existed. How can he not know about this? I thought he was one of the locals.
Anyway, we made our way out, and he said that’s all he knew he could show me. He didn’t even know about the Oak Highway. Wow. Mmm. Whatever.
He asked me if I needed anything before he headed back home, and I had to ask for some meals. Yet when I checked my fat layers, I was still “Very nourished and has a good reserve of fat.”.. WHAT?? As many time as I fasted, I still have all of my fat layers?? Still, I thanked him so much for the tour.
He said he had some food back in his place if I wanted to stop by, and I thought sure. Told me to follow the North road out of the keep and follow it going East..all the way. Felt like quite the journey, and I had to ask him a few times if I was still going the right way.
Stopped for a bit, waiting for him to respond. He said someone named ‘Subie’ is coming towards me to give me something. So I waited and someone stopped behind me and gave me three meals that I’ve never seen before, called “butter fowl curry”. Really good QL, too. Thanked them and they ran off. I’m looking all around to see this person, but all I see is someone running off on an identical black horse. I thought it was the guy at the time (and this ‘Subie’ is a ghost, or a GM).
Continued east, following the road. I had the meals, but I wanted to get a better look of the guy’s deed. Again, I thought I was lost after passing by the sunken farm. But I kept going. And sure enough, it did lead me to his place. I managed to get a better shot of the castle, including a really cool, high bridge I wanted to check out.
And the view from the top? Really nice. 🙂
Then I took one last photo of his castle, before I felt it was time to return back to my boring Wurm life back home.
Getting back to where my boat was, I had to follow the road I just went down, back west, and then I took a north route that should lead me there. And…my god. Deliverance, said goodbye to me in its own way. With scenes of very little trees for miles, beautiful rolling hills that look like out of Skyrim, realistic-looking highways, and farmland. Best. trip. EVER!! 😀
This is clearly the server’s way of waving goodbye, and to come back soon. I..am in tears of just how BEAUTIFUL everything looks! Again..this is what keeps me playing Wurm. These…stunning images of high resolution greatness, and how well-preserved the area is. Bravo, Wurm devs.
Made it back to my boat. As as Sol set for this final night on Deliverance(for me), I followed the coast south in my boat to put the horse back in its pen where I found it, incase someone else needed a good horse. Got a bit sidetracked as I was near the Deli-Xan border. There’s two ‘border islands’ here, where you could literally go between the servers on foot. That’s definitely not something I’ve seen before.
Stopped at the SE flatraised area, mainly because I saw the word “Market” on one of the buildings here. Parked my boat and got out. Didn’t know this was a trap laid out by a single hellhound who nearly got me if I hadn’t thought quickly and managed to pull off the Ride option on the horse before it attacked. Killed it with some damage left over, but nothing that couldn’t heal up on its own.
Went around the flat area, and didn’t encounter any other hostiles. I also something else in my Event log; ‘[23:35:41] You will soon leave this island, and end up on Xanadu.’
This is nuts; being this close to the server border on foot. This undeeded town was falling apart. Not even a guard tower, so I’m thankful it wasn’t a troll that was here.
Seeing how there was nothing really of interest, I got back in my boat and continued on. Passed by the infamous mountain I went up and over, and the guard tower that literally saved my life from so many trolls. I also passed by Dragontooth Peak. Stay awesome there. 🙂
Night fell as I arrived where I found the free horse pens. I thanked Kalilcloud(the horse) for getting me through the server(which he shaked his head twice at me about having a good time here).. ohh fuck you, just get in your pen. 😛
Put the horse back and got back in my boat, and plotted a course for Independence(the first Freedom Isle server).
Going north along the East coast(to get to the NE corner of the server), I saw all three of Wurm’s moons in the Eastern sky(with Jackal starting to dip below the horizon). Couldn’t fit them all into one picture as Seris wanted to be a little bitch and not be close to Valrei.
As I approached the NE coast, I had to fight a NW gale by going inland a bit (to not accidentally travel to the wrong side of Indy). But soon I reached a point I felt was enough to head due East.
.
Finally back in Indy, Village chat is now active(indicating I’m back on my home server). Sailed back home in the dark with no issues. I hoped to make it back by Solrise, but that didn’t happen.
‘[00:31:34] You enter Oceanside Retreat.’ welcomed me back as I parked in my boat dock. My home is not much, but it’s still home, and I own all the land around it and don’t have to answer to a GM to do anything.
Put everything back in my coffin and hung the chain armor back on the armor stand that saved my life countless times. The journey in Deli is something I’m not going to forget for a very, very long time. The peaceful farmlands. The rolling hills. The trolls trying to club my brains out. Lovely. And I managed to go up 30 levels in Fighting. Impressive.
Exploring Deli started off really nice, then it got messy with being teleported to an unknown location and kchat acting like they had no idea what I was talking about, then even more messy with the ‘hyper-spawning’ of mobs(in reality, I was just in a really bad spot at the time). And if it wasn’t for B2 having his own bank account and mailing me my gear, I don’t think I would’ve had the fun I did of exploring off the beaten path.
I can’t wait to visit the other servers. I only hope they look as good as Deliverance did (or even more). And that temporarily concludes my ‘Freedom Isle server mega-exploration trip’.
Until February 8th, at least. 🙂