All in all, I had to spend nearly sixteen hours just to collect clothing so I could hunt properly and the quests that I received only gave me small increments to the NPC's loyalty bar. My end game was to receive bonus reputation. Everywhere else players got paid in coin and items.
I almost regretted choosing the North.
Entering the forest I soon came across the first of my targets, a [Northern White Fox] that was digging at the ground. I had snuck up from behind as it was still clawing away at what looked to be a small hole of sorts when it dawned on me that there might be a rabbit inside.
Two birds with one find?
I'll take it.
Quickly going through the motions and drawing my bow, I release with a thwack and watch as the fox immediately slumps down from the one-hit kill. Nocking a second arrow I make my way towards the fox as I see a [Northern White Rabbit] leap out and make a dash for it.
Unfortunately it took the easiest path for me to trace and with another thwack it collapsed a moment later. Now this was hunting that I could get behind. Tying the feet of the two animals together with some twine I bought, I slung them over my shoulder and continued on.
By the end of the fourth hour as the sun started to set I returned to the village with a treasure trove of animals swaying to and fro. Not only did I collect the ten foxes but I also netted seven rabbits and leveled up twice. Excited and jubilant from my successful hunt I was soon frowning when the village elder approached.
If he wanted to take ten foxes from me as compensation for simply issuing a quest with no reward I would be quite upset. No, I would be quite pissed… I'm not that nice of a guy to continue giving things away for free.
The village elder continued his approach and waved at me with a smile, the same smile that con-artists used on their victims… I shuddered at the thought of what was to come.
Stopping just short of bumping into me, the elder patted my shoulder and spoke, "You are truly the First of the North, such a splendid hunt and in such a short amount of time. You have earned the appreciation of every inhabitant here… but we are still quite short on food…."
…Yeah.
Yeah, I understood what he wanted but he wasn't going to get the whole fox.
If he was going to word it that way and leave it open-ended then I was going to give him an open-ended type of reply, "I will share the extra meat of the foxes I have slain once I have finished skinning them, I would have no use for it otherwise." This way I was only losing 30 copper opposed to 120 copper coins… it was bearable, and kept me in good standing with the village-folk.
It was… bearable.
Eyes beaming with pride and what appeared to be genuine gratefulness the elder bowed his head as he continued to pat my shoulders. The quest had completed and he spoke up once more, "You are a blessing from the Gods just as the tales have told, with this meat I believe we can survive until the end of the month without a hungry mouth. If you are up for the challenge…" …he continued on until I received the next part of the quest-chain, slaying ten wolves.
Just like I had thought it was a simple pre-determined numerical kill-chain that just advanced up the ladder. I didn't expect much more but it would have been nice if I at least received bonus experience or something for these quests. I wasn't receiving anything at the moment and it was a bit disheartening.
Oh well, after selling the fox furs I would be 90 copper coins closer to my goal which meant I could now afford a woodcutting axe and a small ice-axe as well.
Things were looking up!
Chapter 7: A Camp Site
(Friday, January 22nd Game Day / Friday, January 8th Real Day)
Crossing the river at its shallowest point at four feet deep, I made my way to the other side of the bank and looked around. There was a small circular clearing near the base of the mountain just to my east that would serve as an excellent campsite, and was actually a location I had previously scouted during the Alpha phase of testing.
South of that location was a forest that extended for nearly a hundred miles along the riverbank and was teeming with creatures and monsters to boot. To the north was the tail end of the mountain, a rock wall that ended precipitously at the bank of the river and continuing again on the other bank.
I called it the breach.
The river flowed northwards into the sea a few miles from here, meaning there was an estuary rich with sea life within a few minutes' walk with an abundance of oysters, clams, crustaceans, fish, and birds ripe for the picking. There were even seals along the beach and on the small islands in the nearby area with whales and sharks abound.
This was the one location that I had found in nearly six months of searching the North that I believed had potential. Almost everything a person or trade smith could ever want or need could be found here.
Sure, it was undeveloped and completely raw, but that was the appeal.
These were raw resources ripe for the taking, with no established town, city, or kingdom to lay claim. And if I was right in my thinking, it would all be mine to claim. This was the First of the North's territory, my territory.
Having finally reached the location that I had thoroughly scouted during the Alpha phase I dropped my gear with joyous relief.
The first part of my journey was now complete.
The past week had been spent laboriously hunting in order to fulfill the hunting quests of the village elder and in an attempt to gather enough resources to continue to the next stage. That next stage was now here, the building phase. A player home that would allow me to settle the land and claim territory would be worth all of the effort.
A forward operating base from which to build upon into a flourishing town… that was my goal. Without time to spare I quickly sorted through the collection of items I had brought along.
There was a woodcutting axe that would double as my melee weapon, two small ice-picks for which to help me scale the mountain in a few weeks' time, a shovel to dig with, a drawknife to shave bark off the logs in order to build my log cabin, along with three sets of rope and an attached grappling hook.
In addition to my complete set of gear I also had fur clothing that covered me from head to toe. I now had leather & fur boots, pants, vest, coat, gloves, vambraces, cap, quiver, and a bag.
The weather could no longer hinder my plans. But, even so… it was still cold. As the sun had already started to set I decided to build a camp fire.
Starting a fire was fairly easy in the game as I had already learned how to use fire magic during the Beta phase; I was able to start practicing and built up my proficiency based off memory of how the mechanics worked. Knowing the mechanics in this game helped a lot, but to progress properly you would still need to learn from an instructor. Sadly, there were no such instructors in the far North. So, all I could manage was a small flame off my hand.
I basically mastered the magical equivalent of the lighter.
Go me.
With the fire built I now had to move on to the next part of my plan, the log cabin. I only had about six in-game weeks until the "Event," so I needed to keep things rolling. I decided to start surveying the trees first and found the majority of the pines to be between 6" and 12" thick and a minimum of around 30-35 feet tall.
For simplicity's sake I elected to go with a 30'x30' cabin, utilizing the average 8" thickness trees and cutting them down to match. Doing the math quickly in my head, I would need roughly 48 logs to make four walls at a standard 8' minimum ceiling. Then I would probably need at least 24 more logs for the roof if I just split them in half and laid them out to make a low hanging roof.
Those were doable numbers.
Walking around the area while looking for the prime location for my cabin, I decided on keeping it close to the river bank for now. Marking a thirty feet square with the help of the in-game in-laid schematic system, I could visually see grid lines on the game world and could alter them as I saw fit.