N Q 6 - Part Two - Roads Go Ever Ever On....

[Kiddoo 22]

Gnat, that looks amazing.

If you won't deed it, I offer to deed it and keep it untouched for travellers.

[GnatTheGnome 7]

I have a few things cooking right now, so MIGHT be able to pull off deeding it, it all depends on some variables that are upcoming. I need to settle down and focus on my skills, maybe sell some items or something. 56 carpentry and 56 masonry don't sell as readily as, say, high blacksmithing.

[Kiddoo 22]

I really hope you do since it's your creation, but if you don't... just keep in mind my offer - and I promise to not change anything on it.

[GnatTheGnome 7]

Kiddoo, you should come down and take a look at it. I'll be off work and online in just over an hour. I'll most definitely keep your offer in mind.

[Kiddoo 22]

I will definitely come by and check it out - but I already love it from pictures.

[Archaegeo 136]

1 hour to go for entries and edits.

[Archaegeo 136]

25 min for final entries and edits

[Mayrin 86]

First off, let me say that this has been one huge, amazing adventure. When I left Pristine last week, I had no idea what to expect. I had my armor and weapons, basic tools, a couple meals, and some rags and healing covers. I had no idea what we would be expected to do, but it felt oddly like some strange "Wurm Survivor" scenario - stay alive, and maybe I'd have a chance at winning.

I was one of the initial group who left with Archaegeo from Moonshadow Docks on Wednesday night. Arch gave the order to load up, and I tried not to be nervous as I jumped aboard. The view from the crow's nest was amazing, and we were on Release before I knew it. Arch finally revealed the next portion of our quest:

[21:10:01] <Archaegeo> Now for the story, the madness behind the method....

[21:10:23] Gnatthegnome cackles. I like madness

[21:10:23] <Archaegeo> Several months ago the King commissioned me to increase both travel and commerce between realms

[21:10:38] <Archaegeo> At that time, I set up Neosophy northwest of Blossom

[21:10:57] <Archaegeo> Unfortunately, tides, shifting winds, and the sheer distance made travel from there problematic

[21:11:14] <Archaegeo> Added to that, the King provided new traders for me to train

[21:11:28] <Archaegeo> However they cannot work close to one another and still learn their craft

[21:12:02] <Archaegeo> The north was too crowded, and so, we pulled up stakes and moved, now living on the mountain above Moonshadow, at Neosophy's Crown

[21:12:16] <Archaegeo> I am here to handle the commerce side of things

[21:12:31] <Archaegeo> The rest of you, should you choose to assist, to ease the travel side

[21:12:52] <Archaegeo> We will deposit you on shore, either at the popular landing spot ahead, or to the east or west of it as you choose

[21:13:08] <Archaegeo> You will then have one week to establish a King's Wayhouse, for travellers

As we headed to the Northern coast line, Archaegeo gave us each the option to be dropped off at a small, central dock area (deeded, which would provide some protection), or somewhere along the Northern coastline to the East or West. My mind was racing at this point - I hadn't brought any materials over with me, which meant that I was going to have to find a way to obtain anything I needed here, or find a way back to Pristine and back down again for supplies. I'll admit, I nearly decided to just go back home at this point - I play on multiple servers already, and this sounded like a much larger project than I was ready to dig into. But when it came down to it, this sounded like quite an adventure, and I couldn't give up the challenge.

After carefully reading through the requirements a couple times, I decided to disembark at the small dock area. I'm pretty sure they all wondered if I was okay, or even still alive, as I stood on the docks for quite some time pondering my next move. A couple key parts stood out to me most: "to help travellers find comfort and safety on long journeys" and "dangerous areas along major routes of travel". This was my first time ever stepping foot on Release - I knew nothing at all about the geography or the people here. My first thought was to pull up the forums and see if I could find any clues - and sure enough, a certain post caught my eye. Reading through, I saw:

"There is a full highway from Spawn Lake to Lotus Landing. I have every intention of putting guard towers up along the desert near my deed to make safer travels. Even without the towers, I still get a fair bit of traffic from Sloping Sands."

This is perfect! A market in progress, with a road that's dangerous for travelers?! It's like Lotus knew I was coming and posted this just to get my attention. I sent him a message immediately, telling him about my project and asking if he thought his area would be suitable for (and accepting of!) my plans. He proved to be very pleasant and helpful, and after talking to him about the area some more, I was looking forward to seeing the area for myself - it sounded too good to be true.

Now, at this point, I was still stuck on the Northern shore with no materials - except for some iron, as a friendly local was nice enough to lead me to the nearest iron mine. I realized that I was going to need both tools and materials to get this project done - so I loaded up my husband's character (back on Pristine) with a handful of tools and a few materials, and set him off for Release in our little rowboat. I didn't make it down to the desert until Thursday afternoon. On first glance, I realized that it could certainly use a safe place to retreat. I explored for a bit, getting a feel for the lay of the land, and then headed back to the boat to gather up our few supplies and get started on a cart - when I suddenly realized I was being chased by a crocodile. I'm wearing armor luckily, traveling pretty light, and have nearly full stamina, so I figure I can easily run it off to the nearest deed. Turns out, the nearest deed was quite a bit farther away than I thought. I hit the deed line as I ran out of stamina, and somehow managed to crawl through the deed until I found an unlocked fence to hide in. I had 8% health left, and was incredibly glad that I hadn't left all the cotton on the boat while I went exploring! While a near-death experience might have scared some folks away, to my crazy mind, it really made it completely clear to me that I'd found my spot.

After talking to the local alliance some, I chose a spot directly off the main road on the desert side. There are several deeds within local range, and it's possible to drag hostile critters off to those deeds if you're on a horse or in a cart, but on foot you'll run out of stamina before you can ever reach them (as I found out quite well in this last week!). Lotus has a gorgeous marketplace planned on the water on one end of the highway, but most of the foot traffic to get to it will need to use this very dangerous road to get there. Both sides of it are lined with scorpion and crocodiles mainly, but in my week here I've also seen bears, goblins, spiders, hell hounds, and hell scorpions. Since there is already a market planned nearby, our primary focus was to assist anyone wishing to travel through this area. Given that we're also working near the edge of the desert, we also didn't want to touch too much of the natural hunting ground found within. So our plan focused on providing shelter to any traveler who might need it, while having a minimal impact on the nearby environment.

=============================

The project itself:

The Willow Tree Inn is a three-story, 3x3 house located at the highest peak of the major highway through the desert. On the first floor, there is an oven and an FSB in one alcove, equipped with some food and a frying pan. In an adjacent corner, a table and two chairs rest, waiting for weary travelers to sit down and enjoy a meal. In a second alcove sits a forge and a large anvil, with a BSB full of wood scraps nearby. The BSB also contains some cotton and materials to make healing covers with - perfect for those who have narrowly escaped the nasty critters outside. On the second floor, there are 4 corner rooms, each containing a bed and a large chest to store items in. In between the rooms are balconies overlooking the desert - and what a view it is! Since the house is at the highest point in the road, it you can see quite a distance in any direction from the third story lookout point. In addition, it can be seen from either direction, so anyone running for their lives can see that there's a safe house ahead. Just in case a nice run through the desert may have dried you out some, there's a conveniently-located well just a few tiles from the entrance. For those looking for mail access, there's a 30 Courier mailbox located immediately outside the front door of the inn. A sign out front proclaims: "Travelers Welcome!"

The crowning achievement of the Willow Tree Inn is the 50ql guard tower behind the house itself. I can't take full credit for this on my own - while a guard tower was always part of my project, we didn't think there would be enough time left to finish it before the competition ended. Wednesday morning, the entire alliance banded together and we were able to finish the guard tower in six hours this afternoon, with enough time to imp it afterwards! The guard tower sits immediately behind the Inn. Surrounded by several willow trees, the guard tower and Inn work together to form an oasis-like safehaven in the middle of the desert.

After the competition ends, I've made an arrangement with a nearby deed owner to pass along the writ so that he can keep the Willow Tree Inn maintained for any future travelers to make use of its services.

For (many!) more images of the inn itself (both inside and out), and the work while it was in progress, please see the whole album here. (Warning, I took nearly 200 screenshots and I haven't sorted through them yet. There's a LOT to see.)

=============================

To the folks in the nearby alliance: Thank you all so much for everything you guys did to give us a hand on this project. You all listened to my crazy ramblings about building a house in the middle of the desert, and were willing to let me build the house itself, and to help me position the guard tower in such a way that it would let you build more along the road later. Every one of you helped us locate the materials we needed to build, and we couldn't have done it without you. Abrem and family - thank you for letting us join your deed (and alliance!) for the duration of our visit, and for giving us open access to anything we might need on your deed. You guys have been amazing hosts to us while we worked on this. Lotus - thank you for listening to my initial plan and putting me in touch with other folks in the alliance to make sure everyone was okay with a random building going up! I never would have found this spot had it not been for your post. Earwicker - there's no way we could possibly have gotten that guard tower up today without your hard work attaching pieces. Amazing! Zabba - thank you so much for your help in finding materials, and the delivery of a few last-minute touches. You guys have all been amazing, and I am so sad to go back home to Pristine tonight after hanging out with you all for a week! Regardless of "winning" or "losing" this competition, this week has been wonderful, and I hope to come back and visit you guys again soon!

Edited March 28, 2013 by Mayrin

[Kiddoo 22]

Amazing job, Maryin and Brian too...

You guys really put me in trouble whom to vote for...

I really don't wish to be in Archaegeo's shoes right now...

Edited March 28, 2013 by Kiddoo

[Mayrin 86]

Squeaking in at the last minute! Turns out that sorting through 200 screenshots is WAY harder than anticipated.

[Archaegeo 136]

Time. No entries or edits past this time marker. I will start the voting thread shortly

Edited March 28, 2013 by Archaegeo

[conmcb25 378]

Good thing I got screenshots taken last night... someone rolled through and stole everything not nailed down. Writeup incoming as I get time at work.

As for the theft.. well, ONE of my party happens to have spent some time leveling the tracking skill... Pretty sure we know who it was... I'd caught the person snooping around once before and he logged off the minute I logged on. Said person has tracks less than a day old all over the place, including where our carts were parked.

That was my anvil and Gnat shared with me the prime suspect. I know who you are and where you live. Just thought I would mention that

Now to happier subjects all three are excellent entries, I'm slightly biased but the voting on this should be very interesting

[Corwen 164]

I can not tell you guys how impressed i am with ALL the projects. Whoever wins this has more than earned the Cog i have waiting as grand prize, and i am proud to have played a small part in the finale.

Arch, You are one of a kind and are one of the many players on Pristine that make living on that server so great.

Tayne.

[Archaegeo 136]

Please go here to vote:

http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/78381-n-q-6-part-three-the-results-show-your-vote-matters/

There will be a 2s prize for a lucky voter, see the post for details.

[Hordern 2,177]

awww, minus points for no before and during pics Maryin Pity as that's a really nice little bolt hole you set up

Edit, it's all good, just found the lin with all your other screenies

[Mayrin 86]

awww, minus points for no before and during pics Maryin Pity as that's a really nice little bolt hole you set up

If you follow the link in my write-up, there are about 200 before and during pictures too.

[Hordern 2,177]

Lol, you must have posted that as I was editing my post

[Mayrin 86]

Haha, probably. Glad you found the link! There were just way too many; I took screenshots from the time we left Pristine until the time we got back, and I couldn't pick which ones to post.

[BrianFullblade 79]

Cool I have ppl already starting to come around and check out the area and they are talking about settling there since I got all the roads built. I am building guard tower to add to the area since the deed behind it not active I think the guards will soon be gone.

[Kiddoo 22]

I've checked today all three entries again and all I can say is that they amazed me once again. Really, extraordinary job for all three of you!

[GnatTheGnome 7]

I'm glad I was able to deed my entry eventually. I'm moving forward to set it up as a marketplace. Might even rip up some of the crop space for more market stalls if the demand exists.