We are trying not to speed run our Valheim experience, but there is also very much a tension that drives us forward to unlock the next thing.  So we got out there quickly to fight Eikthyr on our first weekend out because we wanted the staghorn picks so we could start mining copper and tin to create bronze and some of the nice things that brings.

Given some of our past mis-adventures… I remember running naked through the woods in the rain to get back to my corpse while Eikthyr chased me in that first run at him two years back… this fight went rather smoothly.  I got up front with spear and shield and tanked him while Potshot and Bung, whose new character is Stinky, hit him with arrows.  It all went by the numbers.

Eikthyr down before we knew it

Looking back, I guess our second run wasn’t so bad, but this third time seemed especially mild, in part because his altar was in an open field so we were unconstrained and unobstructed in the fight.  His fearsome lightning antlers did not sting us as they once might have.

We ran back to our base and created the pickaxes so that we could start mining right away.

And… perhaps mining isn’t the most enjoyable activity in Valheim, and being in a rush to start might seem curious, but the fruits of that labor, the bronze end product of those efforts, were what we desired.  So it was into the Black Forest and those first few copper nodes on the periphery, to dig around them and find their full extent before breaking them down and hauling them off.

The clatter of all that banging away with pickaxes… speaking of which, the staghorn picks are not very durable, but you can repair them at a basic, covered crafting table… always brings out the neighbors, including the trolls.

Trolls are a known quantity to us on this third run.  You can see that we were already wearing some trollhide armor in the picture above… I have a full set on, all the better to sneak… but the first order of business with the first load of copper and tin was to make a bronze axe so we could harvest birch and oak for fine wood, which in turn meant fine wood bows, a significant upgrade which made dealing with the trolls that much less of a burden.

Kiting a troll out into an open meadow, fine wood bow drawn

Meanwhile, the small boat from the OdinShip mod I mentioned in a previous post made hauling the ore back down the coast to our base all the easier. (I have a review of mods set for later, including one we have added since that first post.)

We were well and truly into the bronze age once more.  The initial trickle of bronze was allocated to important things.  As noted, the very first bronze item… once the forge was build, which requires copper… was the bronze axe.  And for a day or so we had just the one, which we shared and kept in a chest in the middle of the base… until somebody forgot to put it back when they were done (yeah, that was me) and more were made.  But we had enough bronze by then for everybody to start upgrading tools and weapons.

I went for the bronze mace, the headache on a stick, all the better to smash skeletons and greydwarves in the Black Forest, though I eventually built up a bronze spear as well, for those times when you need to get straight to the point in a stabby sort of way.  (Throwing the spear though… that I need more practice with.)

We also had our first epic corpse recovery… and our first death by the dreaded deathquito.

It is hardly Valheim without such adventures.  Our first epic deaths in the game also involved the plains and deathsquitos.

Potshot was out exploring in the Hercule, the fishing boat from OdinShip, when he came through a fog and up hard against a stretch of plains biome, where the deathsquito spotted him and gave chase.  He got away from shore, but we had to team up to get back to his boat.

So we took a one of the small boats up that way, stopping at a stretch of meadow a short sail from his corpse to build a portal… just in case… before getting back to his corpse and abandoned vessel.

The first of no doubt many such rescues

Exploring further from there we stumbled upon Hildir, the OTHER vendor and sister to Haldor.  She is new since we last played.

Finding Hildir’s camp

Hildir, who spawns in meadow biomes far from the initial player spawn point, has a set of cosmetic items for sale… something to do with the gold that does start to pile up once you buy all the needful… as well as a set of quests you can finish to unlock additional items.

There is a map on the table before her that, when examined, puts the locations on your map.  Those locations are dungeons with a non-transportable, heavy reward that you can bring back to her.  That will give us something new to do as a group.

Our main base has also been expanding.

The base in the bronze age

We have to get to iron to have stone walls, but you can just see a moat has been dug around the perimeter… curving around the unchangable zone that the trophy henge represents… we may have build a tad too close to that… in an attempt to at least slow the invasions.

Not that the occasional invasion was so bad.  To start with, before Eikthyr, it is just the animals of the forest attacking, which is like having groceries delivered frankly.  More please.  Even after Eikthyr the greydwarf attacks were almost like a supply run.  We just sit out there with bone shields and a big stick and collect up the remains, which is generally wood, stone, and resin.

Eventually though the trolls will be invading, and the house of sticks is only marginally better that a house of straw when the big bad trolls come knocking.  We need bricks… or stone… for that.

We will get to that.  We have to slay The Edler first and then start in on exploring the swamps.

In the mean time, our base has a bit of charm.  Potshot built a location for our beehives that looks like a huge flower.  You can see it in the image above, but here is a closer look.

The bees are happy

Then, around back, we now have docks suited to our boating needs.

Places to tie up your boat

Now if the wind would just blow where we needed to go rather than obstinantly in our faces on every trip, we would be set.  But that skill comes later.

We are trying not to speed run our Valheim experience, but there is also very much a tension that drives us forward to unlock the next thing.  So we got out there quickly to fight Eikthyr on our first weekend out because we wanted the staghorn picks so we could start mining copper and tin to create bronze and some of the nice things that brings.

Given some of our past mis-adventures… I remember running naked through the woods in the rain to get back to my corpse while Eikthyr chased me in that first run at him two years back… this fight went rather smoothly.  I got up front with spear and shield and tanked him while Potshot and Bung, whose new character is Stinky, hit him with arrows.  It all went by the numbers.

Eikthyr down before we knew it

Looking back, I guess our second run wasn’t so bad, but this third time seemed especially mild, in part because his altar was in an open field so we were unconstrained and unobstructed in the fight.  His fearsome lightning antlers did not sting us as they once might have.

We ran back to our base and created the pickaxes so that we could start mining right away.

And… perhaps mining isn’t the most enjoyable activity in Valheim, and being in a rush to start might seem curious, but the fruits of that labor, the bronze end product of those efforts, were what we desired.  So it was into the Black Forest and those first few copper nodes on the periphery, to dig around them and find their full extent before breaking them down and hauling them off.

The clatter of all that banging away with pickaxes… speaking of which, the staghorn picks are not very durable, but you can repair them at a basic, covered crafting table… always brings out the neighbors, including the trolls.

Trolls are a known quantity to us on this third run.  You can see that we were already wearing some trollhide armor in the picture above… I have a full set on, all the better to sneak… but the first order of business with the first load of copper and tin was to make a bronze axe so we could harvest birch and oak for fine wood, which in turn meant fine wood bows, a significant upgrade which made dealing with the trolls that much less of a burden.

Kiting a troll out into an open meadow, fine wood bow drawn

Meanwhile, the small boat from the OdinShip mod I mentioned in a previous post made hauling the ore back down the coast to our base all the easier. (I have a review of mods set for later, including one we have added since that first post.)

We were well and truly into the bronze age once more.  The initial trickle of bronze was allocated to important things.  As noted, the very first bronze item… once the forge was build, which requires copper… was the bronze axe.  And for a day or so we had just the one, which we shared and kept in a chest in the middle of the base… until somebody forgot to put it back when they were done (yeah, that was me) and more were made.  But we had enough bronze by then for everybody to start upgrading tools and weapons.

I went for the bronze mace, the headache on a stick, all the better to smash skeletons and greydwarves in the Black Forest, though I eventually built up a bronze spear as well, for those times when you need to get straight to the point in a stabby sort of way.  (Throwing the spear though… that I need more practice with.)

We also had our first epic corpse recovery… and our first death by the dreaded deathquito.

It is hardly Valheim without such adventures.  Our first epic deaths in the game also involved the plains and deathsquitos.

Potshot was out exploring in the Hercule, the fishing boat from OdinShip, when he came through a fog and up hard against a stretch of plains biome, where the deathsquito spotted him and gave chase.  He got away from shore, but we had to team up to get back to his boat.

So we took a one of the small boats up that way, stopping at a stretch of meadow a short sail from his corpse to build a portal… just in case… before getting back to his corpse and abandoned vessel.

The first of no doubt many such rescues

Exploring further from there we stumbled upon Hildir, the OTHER vendor and sister to Haldor.  She is new since we last played.

Finding Hildir’s camp

Hildir, who spawns in meadow biomes far from the initial player spawn point, has a set of cosmetic items for sale… something to do with the gold that does start to pile up once you buy all the needful… as well as a set of quests you can finish to unlock additional items.

There is a map on the table before her that, when examined, puts the locations on your map.  Those locations are dungeons with a non-transportable, heavy reward that you can bring back to her.  That will give us something new to do as a group.

Our main base has also been expanding.

The base in the bronze age

We have to get to iron to have stone walls, but you can just see a moat has been dug around the perimeter… curving around the unchangable zone that the trophy henge represents… we may have build a tad too close to that… in an attempt to at least slow the invasions.

Not that the occasional invasion was so bad.  To start with, before Eikthyr, it is just the animals of the forest attacking, which is like having groceries delivered frankly.  More please.  Even after Eikthyr the greydwarf attacks were almost like a supply run.  We just sit out there with bone shields and a big stick and collect up the remains, which is generally wood, stone, and resin.

Eventually though the trolls will be invading, and the house of sticks is only marginally better that a house of straw when the big bad trolls come knocking.  We need bricks… or stone… for that.

We will get to that.  We have to slay The Edler first and then start in on exploring the swamps.

In the mean time, our base has a bit of charm.  Potshot built a location for our beehives that looks like a huge flower.  You can see it in the image above, but here is a closer look.

The bees are happy

Then, around back, we now have docks suited to our boating needs.

Places to tie up your boat

Now if the wind would just blow where we needed to go rather than obstinantly in our faces on every trip, we would be set.  But that skill comes later.