Currently resting (while also trying to (fully) calm my nerves) at a place called ‘Hermit Isle’, located on Xanadu’s southern coast. Its resting areas of just watching the ocean go by.. a place of Zen much? THIS.. is also something I wanted to have back home (but didn’t know how to install it). The deed in Exo, had something similar. But this works perfectly for where I marked it out in Deedplanner. It’ll definitely require some effort (possibly having to destroy, and rebuild the East wall (and the private canal gate)).
Anyway, back to eventually finding my way in Xan. I decided to turn around and follow the coast. Now with the fact I can focus on DH -only-, I’ll be able to pay attention better.
Found something that looks like a canal, and went in the extremely narrow thing (that looks like it took many, many years of labor to bring the rock layer down to the water table.
–
Now I’m FINALLY in the fucking bay, I followed the west coast up. There I saw what Dragonshearts was talking about, with the bridges that span the bay. And holy fuck, this is possibly the most INSANE bridge work I’ve ever seen in my Wurm life!!
Nearly halfway to the deed I remembered, the person that sold me the crates (Jimbean) PMs me and asks for a favor.. of going back to Cele and participating as a listener for a sermon. For some reason, I think I still owe this guy for what he’s done for me. But after mentioning where I was (and the lack of wind), he knew it would be too out of the way for me and said he would try to find someone else. Eventually he did, and I was able to continue what I was doing.
Arrived as Sol had fully set, and gave B2 directions to get to me. And he encountered the second unpinned champ wolf (but luckily was able to outrun this one with no problem). He soon made it to me, and this is when I was forced to give him the bad news; “your adventure is done”. It’s nothing that he did ‘wrong’, it’s how BS unoptimized this game is (to where I can barely dual client anymore on this hardware(without my FPS tanking int0 the 30’s and 20’s)). And guess what? They didn’t make it any fucking better with their next update. However, they actually did a smart thing of making it optional to have these latest prettiest settings (and having it disabled by default).
Now with B2 safe in the boat, I don’t have to worry about him anymore. However, before I leave this server, I plan to buy a tent for him (and a better compass, and a toolbelt) at Glasshollow Market. Then he can be an explorer too– a far cry from only being my
cook.
But instead of going straight for Glasshollow, I wanted to see if Dragonshearts was right that his deed has road access. And if it does, then I could reposition the boat there instead. But as I was enroute, I got distracted by the deed name that a waystone was pointing South to.. the same fucking place that made me lost of trying to get here. So I wanted to see just where the fuck this deed was.
I then realize, one of the two bridges was my god damn ticket to the canal I needed to access! This fucking thing isn’t on the map, yet here it is! So clearly, the bridge was made sometime after the mapdump. No wonder I got lost! The deed itself though, is neat. It’s mostly made out of pottery brick.
A bit further east, I noticed the new infestation of unicorns (which have been bumped up in their spawn rates with the latest update).
I tried to explore the islands further East, but there was no clear way to get there. Went up this one tile mountain road, thinking there should be a decayed route (but the slope would be maintained). And although I saw what was a road, it didn’t last long. Looking at the map, there appears to be an alternate route east… but I’ll have to go to Esteron (and somehow try to take the old roads to get to it, which seems to not be possible the last time I was there). So it’s highly possible, what I see to the east is only accessible by sea, and it’s an alliance.
Instead I backtracked, and that’s when I found Hermit Isle. Since the island has mines, clearly it wasn’t manmade. Great work by whoever owns it.
—
Now heading up north on a stretch of highway not on the map (but following the catseyes), attempting to reach Dragonshearts’ deed (to again, see if he’s right), this brought me to a quite secluded (but dead) deed, between two mountains. The place is really nice, and (at one time) looked like no looters vandalized the place.
Looking back at the map, I saw where I was. And I also remember passing a road on the left as I got here. Surely that road should take me close enough to reach his place, and I went back.
This was a one tile wide gravel road, going West than North a lot (which wasn’t on the map). It almost reminded me of going back home to OR when I was living there (except, not as long of a distance). It actually lead me to the shoreline, where I saw something to the north of me. I thought I had overshot his place and tried to go south, but there were no roads along the coast. So I went to the thing to the north.. nice, I made it! Stayed inside the deed and looked at the map again (while waiting for Sol to rise), feeling a bit more adventurous. I saw it might be possible to get to Tulum next.
With Sol now up, I followed the map as close as possible, doing offroading as expected. Came up on a large desert (with a single guard tower here). Next part was seeing what appears to be a N/S road (but decayed) connecting to an actual E/W road ahead.
Though acres of blinding fur trees I trekked, hoping to reach this road. Got lost a bit, but I was able to orient myself in the right direction. Soon I discover the road.. with half of it already decayed itself. There’s also this deed in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with accessible pens (including one with a champ black wolf that I swear wasn’t penned). I could literally walk in and kill it if I wanted to, but decided against it. Though I would assume the person that owns the deed, has probably set the perms to prevent me from doing so.
–
The next step to get to Tulum, was to go up this mountain. This would prove to be my ultimate downfall (that still somewhat shivers me to the bone.. which is NOT good, and it proves I do not have what it takes to live like a nomad). 20 minutes in, and I felt horribly lost.. to the point I’m whining how I just want to go home and this was a mistake. I wanted to contact a GM just to get me down from here.. I’m serious, and I nearly did it.. if it wasn’t for myself stopping me and saying I would be wasting their time. Night came, and fog built, making it even harder on me to know where I’m coming from or going to.
Tried to get ahold of myself, and studied the map. All I wanted to do was fuck trying to get to Tulum and get back down from where I came from. North and East was the ticket. I tried going down, but there were 40 and 50 slopes all down the fucking hill. I went back and forth, trying to hit a ‘weak point’ that I could easily get my ass back down.. nothing!
The only way I could see, was unhitch the bison and push the cart down the hill. No sooner than a few minutes later, a ven troll pops up. I tried to fight it, but I knew I was fighting a losing battle.
So I threw down my tent. But instead of worrying about myself, I was more worried about the bison. I knew when I die, they would run away. I tried to re-hitch them as fast as I could, but I was too fucking ‘busy’ dealing with the damn troll to do that.
It killed me, and I tried to find the tent as the respawn point. I was getting deeply concerned as it wasn’t showing up in the list, but I eventually found it and respawned, knowing I HAVE to get my bison back ASAP.
The troll was right there on my corpse, and gave chase. I tried to lead it away to give me time to loot my corpse, but my mouse hand was shaking with pure fear and I couldn’t click right. The troll would not go away, but at least I did find my bison not too far from where I had died.
Then I had an idea to run away from my tent as far as I could, to lead the troll far away from my corpse (and my bison), and let it kill me. I had 5% health left, and I said “just kill me now”. And it was like I could hear the troll laughing and taunting me (as it took awhile before it killed me again).
Once again, I picked the tent as my respawn point. The idea worked, and I was able to calm down my mouse hand to get everything out of the corpse and re-equip my gear and items. I ran over to the bison and re-lead them back to the wagon, and continued to push the wagon down the hill. I could feel my nerves were pretty shot, and any remaining feeling of adventure was out of my system.. all I wanted was to get the FUCK off this mountain.
To say I felt like an embarrassment ‘to my kind’ would be an understatement, but I told myself “it’s just a game, you can get your skills back up at the impalong, it’s not the end of the world that you died” and tried calming down. I’m also glad at myself for coming up with that brilliant idea to lead the troll away from my corpse.
Started slipping and sliding as I continued to push the wagon down the mountainside. Then one time I saw the wagon was tilting upwards, and I thought of re-hitching the bison. Got back on, and was able to FINALLY get down the fucking mountain! A few minutes later, I see the road! YES!! THANK. FUCK!! Now down at sea level (and back in familiar territory), it was quite hard to focus as I felt mentally exhausted. I literally wanted to hop off, get on the ground and kiss the cobblestone (for existing when I needed it the most)! I logged out, waiting for Sol to rise (while counting my blessings).
At the same time, this almost made me physically upset at myself for the way I acted up there. Soleil wouldn’t be like this. He can handle it. He knows that skills aren’t important to keep intact. But then again, maybe he was trying to hide his own fears from me (though I seriously doubt it from the tone of his words). He knows it’s “just a game”… I have yet to ‘learn’ this, with how fucking spoiled my life is.
Sol has risen again, and I somewhat feel better. I realize I’m not out of danger yet, but I know how to get back. And get back I did, all the way back to the main roads, and went straight back for Hermit Isle, to (hopefully) collect the rest of my remaining thoughts.
I honestly don’t know what the fuck to do now. My fear of dying in a video game is just so fucking strong, that I can’t control it!! I nearly LOST MY FUCKING BISON!! This shit keeps going through my mind ever since what happened!
Half of me just wants to stay here (where it’s safe and secure, with guard towers making sure not a single troll will lay a finger on me). But the other half.. *sighs* the other half wants me to get back up, forget about what happened, and continue. But.. I just don’t know right now.
I feel like I need a hug, telling me “everything’s going to be OK”.. that’s seriously how pathetic I am right now.