Valheim never ceases to challenge me, even after hundreds of hours…

Had quite a struggle in my single player world yesterday. I was doing a no-portals run. Found this insanely huge mountain with the Moder summon on it. Super steep (unclimbable) slopes like 75% of the way around. It takes 15-20 minutes to run from the base to the summit on the portion that is climbable. I’d brought everything needed to make a base to mount my attack on Moder – I was wearing partially upgraded fenrir armor. Built a base in a ruined castle somewhat near the summoning spot. Had my comfort up to 14 or so in there. I was exploring the mountain when I slipped down one of those steep slopes and died from the fall damage.

So I respawned in my mountain base, near the top, naked, with no cold resist gear or potions… at least a 5 minute run through steep mountain terrain from my body. In retrospect, it was exceptionally poor planning on my part; lesson learned to always bring a backup cold resistance item whenever building a bed in the mountains.

If I’d destroyed my bed there and died again to respawn at the Boss Stones, I would have been a very long run from my main base deep in the Black Forest, and then a Very long sail back to this mountain. I also didn’t have any wood in my chests or even a spare hammer to begin breaking stuff down to get some supplies. I did have in a chest about 30 Fenrir hair from a Frost Cave run. I would just need 5 wolf hides to make a Fenrir chest piece with a sweet Cold Resistance buff.

First step: punch some walls in my base until I collected 3 wood and could make a hammer. This honestly took like 10-15 minutes of solid punching. After making a hammer, I destroyed my wolf rug and got the four hides. I cautiously ventured outside my little base and was able to break down a nearby stack for 50 wood. I was able to craft a finewood bow from the materials in my chests. I had plenty of spare obsidian arrows for my upcoming Moder battle… now all I needed was a single wolf to spawn nearby (in range of my campfire), and I could shoot it and make my lifesaving piece of armor…

So I waited… and waited… and waited. For 2 full day/night cycles, no wolf ever showed up. I began to despair, and think it might be faster to make the long trek back from the Stones after all.

Then I hear the faint sounds of a stone golem battling something in the distance. Using the last of my stone and wood, I create a string of 7 or 8 campfires to get myself close enough to the golem where I could then see a wolf hide lying on the ground nearby. I make a mad dash from the warmth of my last fire, and with my health ticking away in the freezing cold, I’m just able to grab the hide and make it back to my fire and thence to my base. The rest, as they say, is history…

I love this game.