It’s been over a month since I last posted about Wurm Online, and I’ve got some screenshots to use up, so here is an update on how life in our little hamlet is progressing.
The local wildlife around the PCG village is generally pretty tame, a few mountain lions plus the occasional cave bug and wolf. Now that the cliff up from Glitterlake is hardly used we don’t often see goblins. Once in a while however something a little bigger comes our way. There are I was knocking up a wall to the greenhouse when Feneer past by, after him a great black shadow ran past my view. A shout rang out on local chat, Feneer was being chased by a wolf. Wolves can be a little difficult but generally aren’t too much bother, especially since there were several of us pottering around the village, but this was no ordinary wolf. There are various descriptors attached to animals based on their age and temperament, Champion is the tag all but a few players dread, the animal is greatly increased in size and it’s attack and defence are likewise heightened.
Oh the hilarity, as this great monstrosity chased Feneer through the village. He made a bee-line for the coast, not many animals can swim in Wurm so swimming out a little is a very good tactic. We all spent the next few minutes wondering what to do, wondering if we could take it on together. Knowing the result of our last encounter with a champion animal we weren’t in any rush and after a while we all just drifted back to what we were doing before the invasion. I wanted to get a few pictures for posterity, however it was too dark so I left it be. As I left it slowly climbed back up the hill and wandered into the outer reaches of the village.
A little later I decided to see what had happened to the beast, and found that it had disappeared. However the next day it returned, this time chasing Jekev back down to the coast. This time it was much lighter and I managed to get some good pictures (see above), we all stood around watching it for a while then Jekev, fresh from his brisk dip started leading it down the coast and we never heard from it again.
Jekev and Marmaduke have got a potentially impressive project on the go, they’re building and island. For those who don’t know much about the ways of Wurm, you can dig the ground and as a result the nearest corner drops a level and you gain a pile of dirt in your inventory. You can then drop this dirt on the ground somewhere, and providing the conditions are right it will raise the land. If you collect enough of this dirt you can use them for various project, what the dynamic duo are doing is collecting as much dirt as they can, and then dropping it in the ocean slowly raising the ocean floor. Already they’ve create a sort of jetty that extends out to sea for seven tiles. They’re current goal is set at ten, then they can start building the actual island.
We had a little joke that one day we could move the whole village onto this new island. Of course that would take many, many, many days of hard work, not to mention the effect it would have on the surrounding environment. Just look at what has happened so far:
But all the same, it would be a marvellous feat of geological engineering.
Farming is really starting to take off now, we know have four plots with a fifth on its way. Two of us are now getting returns on what we sow, and at least one other is getting close. Our main produce at the moment is cotton, which is potentially a good trading resource. Our next job will be to start getting more cereal crops (oat, rye, wheat and barley) and vegetables to feed our growing number of inhabitants.
Yesterday we finally got a hold of our first boat, a kind Wurmian named Grom gave an abandoned boat to Jekev. Our first trip out was hilarious, I somehow insulted our illustrious captain and he slapped. We then set sail for the deepest of waters with our ship-mate Marmaduke. No more than ten feet out we discovered Marmaduke didn’t have a fishing rod, but we decided to press on anyway. Another twenty feet out we discovered our great captain was sailing backwards, but after a quick about turn we were racing along.
The view back to land was very impressive, you could see a long way down the coast in either direction. Sailing was difficult, things seemed to be going fine but the captain was apprehensive. Then a cry rang out, ‘Clay!’ he shouted, and sure enough we could just make it out at the bottom of the sea.
We soon decided to stop and we started fishing, the boat was drifting in all directions meaning we were often interrupted before we actually caught anything. Our first few catches were very disappointing, we were getting exactly the same kinds of fish as we could get from the shore, and you aren’t constantly being interrupted there. After a few minutes though we started hauling them in, smallmouth bass, larger more impressive catfish than you’d get from land, and impressively sized Snook.
Marmaduke decided he’d head back ashore, we offered to take him back but he decided to brave the shark infested waters on his own. The distance was great, but he made it safely back to land. If we squinted we could just make him out climbing the cliff back home. The captain and I fished for a little longer but all the movement was making us queasy and catching fish was becoming frustrating so we too headed back. On the way we agreed that an anchor was needed as soon as possible, with it we could secure our position and fishing would go a lot smoother. I was slightly saddened on our journey home, completely new things don’t often come along in Wurm and I had been almost giddy with excitement during our voyage. Fishing had both met, and dashed my expectations, the fish were out there but without an anchor we could never hope to return with much.
Soon the adventure was over and we pulled alongside the jetty, the captain returned the ship to its berth and we started walking home. I shall definitely be going out again.
