The near death of Brodich Saltborne

[saltmummy]

This is not for the experienced, it is simply a cautionary tale about overestimating your abilities and what you are prepared for. A short tale for those who are newer and greener to this game than I.

I set out after reading that it was a blood moon today thinking to chip some rubble in the hopes of finding that most elusive of items, the arcane amethyst. Such a find would prove a windfall for my small lakeside town. Perhaps serve as a rainy day fund for future endeavors or wasteful spending. My first task, once I was in the mine, was to create some rubble. The person who does the mining normally doesn't really play very much anymore (at all), as he is busy with real life. So I have to do it myself. After lighting a fire to see where I am going, I begin chipping away at the walls near one of the exploratory tunnels and create a healthy little pile of rubble. After working through it and stashing it in one of many stockbins set aside for holding the cast offs for sifting, I suddenly encounter a material much darker. I've seen hard stone in other peoples mines, but though my villages mine is extensively dug, we have never found hard stone. I set up a small wood pile next to the walls, as I have been told to do, and leave it to burn while I work my way around the dense bedrock. I take the time to read up on mining and what I should expect once the stone has softened sufficiently. I know about the cave down mechanics, but I want to know what kind of damage I can expect to take and the hazards of working in the lower depths. A while later, the woodpile burns out and the bedrock is ready to be cleared. I feel that I am ready, and have completely forgotten the blood moon outside. I remove the rock, and to my surprise, a cave appears the instant the tile is gone. I thought it was a chance based system and in no way expected the passage to appear on the first tile I removed. What's more, I didn't take any damage. Confident now, I decide to take the passage down. I expect a few bats. I expect one to latch on while the rest fly about aimlessly. I expect to kill the others while the one at my neck kisses at my neck like a desperate lover. What I don't expect is what actually happens. The first bat latches on, as planned, but the rest do not spend their time flying about ignoring me. The lot of them crowd around, a blood starved cloud as I struggle to fight back. In almost no time at all, nearly 300 blood is reduced to 0. I KO, and then notice the blood moon. The bat at my neck is no longer a desperate lover, but a baleful succubus. I must remove it, I can't. Not while knocked out. I am mere moments from respawn, and when I do this demon clinging to me will come with me to the outside world. Away from the safety of the mines, it will take my life. I hold ctrl and click at the bat furiously in the hopes that I can dislodge it upon waking up and make my escape before it leaves me a drained husk, forgotten among the flowering cotton under the blood red sky.

Sometimes, Salem is cruel. On this day, Salem chose kindness. I respawn, and the bat is thrown from my neck, it soars across the fields to the far corner, and I make my escape, bouncing between the rows of cranberries and pots of tomatoes. I fitfully search for food, anything and I find argopelter jerky. The bat is not idle though. It flies in my direction and I manage to get a single bite of the jerky and recover a small fraction of blood before it engages. My timing has to be perfect or it will once again have the better of me. One stomp is all I'll get. My hands are shaking, I tap the one key, and there is the loud crunch of bat beneath the foot of my toon. In my panic, I hit the one key again and stomp. The bat is already dead, and immediately I imagine Brodich (my character) Furiously stomping the lifeless body of what he must see as some kind of demon imp.

The bats are now gone, I have wiped them out. I am not a nub to this game, but neither am I a veteran. Nublings of Salem, take heed of my tale. Do not take senseless risks and make stupid decisions under the eyes of the blood moon.

[Rockyjacknoman]

Dude thx for the tip! I just started this game not to long ago and that itself is lifesaving as I am mining at this moment

[TotalyMeow]

A riveting tale of greed and redemption!

[Reviresco]

That would have been a Chiropterable way to lose a character.



...I'll see myself out.

[Dallane]

10/10

[lachlaan]

The combination of late night gaming and decision making and the ease with which you can derp up in Salem is a deadly mix indeed. My first cavedown moment I had overestimated my blood levels going to only level 2, and KO'd so hard from insufficient phlegm no less, not blood drain o.O Alas I had a bit of junk in my inventory that I should not have had on me at all. Good to hear the blood moon hasn't made another casualty! As a mummy you're already undead, after that I think totesdead is the next stage D: