beat the lava boss. easier than i thought. used 3 small energy drinks, a cooked fish, and my valiant wolf who fell to the ogres.


entered the winter dungeon thing...some bee almost killed me and my pet in the first room...so i got out of there.


fixed the runeys...a bit...planting stuff in the field was rather hard as everything had just had stumps rocks everywhere, as well as the fact that plants had started to wither(including stuff i had planted in a dungeon!!! wtf is that about). i put my wood chopper/stone crusher pets back to work and they had the field cleared in just a couple days

Told ya. But death has never been so adorable!

I've noticed that for the first seven days of each month the runeys DON'T kill each other: in fact, in each zone they multiply by one per day. And of course, they NEVER die out in your homestead, no matter what.

Keeping that in mind, you can survive the winter easiest like this: on Fall 30th, make sure there's at least one of each type of runey in each zone. By Winter 8th, there should be a minimum of eight runeys in each zone. At that point, you can either leave them be, and hope the ecosystem lasts the winter, or play it conservative, and harvest all but one runey (total) from all the zones (making sure to add one runey in any zone which lost its last survivor).

When Winter 30th comes, go back to adding one of each in each zone, and take it from there. It'll take about a minute or two for each day, but it will get you through the winter with enough runeys to seed a better Spring.

I will tell you my story.

I have been working to be able to get the barn. I set myself back because on the first Holiday, when Kross wasn't in, (I would like to add that six-day weeks have thrown me off but at least this puts an clean number of weeks in every month) I bought a small Forge. I had wanted to be able to improve my weapons, and it took a bit to realize that the Blacksmith wouldn't. So it was on me. I intend to buy recipe books to help me with my forging soon, but for now the basic stuff that I have will do nicely.

Anyway.

I'm saving up for the barn. I had timed it nicely - I had about 800G in pocket and more than enough lumber stored up. Not a lot - the axe is still hard to use - but enough. I would go up to Whale Island at 10 AM, as soon as I was done with my garden, and I would fight there, collecting loot until I was tired. I would go to the bathhouse to rest, and then charge as deep into Whale Island as I could before 4:30. At that time I would warp home, deposit my loot, then get my payment at 5 and go pay Kross to build the barn. After that? Well, I guess I'll find out how long it takes a barn to be built, but I hope to test out which monsters I could tame.

I go in, using my broadsword because it has the best damage/RP ratio of all my weapons at the time. I water the patch of potatoes I have there on the first level, and run in deeper, avoiding weak enemies. I know that in the second area, where I smashed the boulder for the hot spring, there are stronger enemies. If I can beat them, I am bound to get better loot.

As I'm exiting the first level, I smash some rocks, picking up more iron and scrap iron. Maybe I'll upgrade my tools soon, I think to myself. I'll probably upgrade the watering can first, but the axe would be after that so I could clear out the stumps on my field. The hammer after that.

I go into the second level, and fight the first set of monsters there - my last time through I wasn't strong enough to face them, but I've gained a level since then (now level 5) and I can handle them with some artful dodging. Defeating the first group gets me a levelup, completely replenishing me. Apparently I won't need the hot springs after all.

I charge in deeper, cutting through groups of the enemies with abandon. I eat my Squid Sashimi, and this gives me the strength boost I need. They're strong, but I'm stronger, and they give enough experience that I never need to leave to heal. When I get to a sealed door, I'm level 8. I'm much more powerful than when I walked in. And there's still plenty of time to get home and deposit my very valuable loot.

But I go deeper.

I come to the Whale Island Fin area. I remember, as I walk in, that I think I'm supposed to find Iris around here somewhere.

Then I see the sheep.

I remember what I've been told: sheep are terrors early on, and I'm only at the beginning of my second week. This will be a very bad day if I am not careful. I approach them with caution, because I am too brave - perhaps too stupid - to know that I should fear them.

It does not take long to see that they are too strong for me, my broadsword only hitting them for 1 damage at a blow, but they are slow and ponderous and almost entirely nonthreatening, in spite of their strength. Given time and enough RP, I could beat the lot of them. I still believe that, even now.

Something in me makes me curious - I already have the brush. Is it possible to tame a monster without a barn? How many strokes would it take? If I can't be sure about any other monster type having the potential to be tamed, can't I be sure that sheep has it? I tried. I tried to brush one.

I should run - I know that Lara would be very angry with me if anything happen. My health melts away like snow in a desert. It goes so fast I don't even notice. If I noticed, I could have run. By the time I realize it? It is already too late.

I wake up a day later with Lara staring me in the face, as pissed as I had thought she would be. She tells me not to overwork myself. I don't try to correct her.

I lost my pride, though not my loot, and I am at half health, though I have all of my stamina. But those sheep took something from me - sending me from 3 PM on Monday to 10 AM on Tuesday. They took my time. Time is the only resource I have, the only resource that matters. I could have started building my barn. It could be one day closer to being finished. I even had less time to fix up my crops, now.

So I warp home. And I water my plants - I'm up to five plots, now, of various vegetables. I go about my business.

But before anything else, I go inside, and I take my iron with me. The forge is put to use for the first time. I take a hammer of wood and make it a thing of iron. I take a can full of marks and I make it whole. I take an axe that is old and I make it like a thing new, shining and brilliant and sharp, as it should be.

I lost to those sheep. But I will return to them soon, with an iron vengeance wrought in fire. I will bide until then, build extensions to my home and expand my field and sharpen my tools further. I will grow strong. When the time comes, I will return. Those sheep took my time from me, you see.

When I come back, I will be taking one of them home with me.

Man I was tired when I wrote that. I switch between past and present tense constantly.

tl;dr version: screw sheep I am gonna whoop some sheep ass

It was bloody brilliant either way. You definitely belong in your field, Khuutra.

It's fixed up now, in any case.

What's a good level for tryin to duke it out with those stupid sheep?

And how do I get the blacksmith to sell better sword? And Danny to sell better seeds, so I don't have to keep buying exclusively from Erik?

For the sheep, I was butchering them at level 8, but that's because I had better equipment (equipment > level in this game). You're on the right track by buying the forge so early.

The blacksmith doesn't sell a better sword for quite a while, and even then it's a crappy one. Forging your own is much, much better: I believe you should have access to copper by now, which gets you the second tier of blades (your attack goes from +5 to +15, which at this point translates to a very noticeable increase in Death-Doling Capacity).

Danny...without spoiling anything, don't count on his shop to ever be worth visiting. And the rival shop doesn't sell vegetable seeds, just flower seeds, so Erik will be your veggie man for a long while.

P.S. Plant those flowers ASAP: they're necessary for the best equipment, but they also take months (yes, plural) to harvest.

Lord.

All right. I have one (1) piece of Copper, but finding more shouldn't be too hard. I assume I need to forge my own armor, too?

I was very disappointed when I found out Ganesha wasn't marriage material. I mean, she has a kid, sure, but I can handle that responsibility! It's not like the little guy doesn't already know how to work a forge.

Checking the manual was very disappointing. I am offered nothing but girls when I want women.

Yes, your armor is mostly all you. You can buy some decent stuff in the early game, but that only gets you so far (through the first dungeon, in fact).

As for Ganesha, you and Lolita should start a club. Of course, you have to remember that she's probably not that much into 16-year old boys. Same story with Rita (although she's married too...>_>').

But you've got thirteen bachelorettes to choose from! One of them must be appealling! I mean, Lara and Tabatha at least looks like they might possibly sorta maybe-at-this-angle be legal...