Bleakbane... Farms...? 05 [Stardew Valley]

Part 5: This is Illy's Jam

On through summer!

Sunday, Summer Day 16, Year One

It's raining again today. Well, if Illy can get her pickaxe back... It'd be another good go at the mines! So, Illy will leave Robin about the coop for another day.

Illy will have to find Jodi first, though...

Illy checks her crops - the wheat is done, as are more tomatoes and hops.

Illy runs into Penny on the way to the blacksmith's. Apparently Pam really doesn't like squid.

Now Illy is cooking with plasma!

Illy whips past the store to get some more wheat seeds (to be planted later, hopefully) and then swings by Jodi's house to give her the melon, for a cool 750g.

Back past the house to drop stuff off, then to the mines!

Bat swarm incoming!

No problem, with Illy's insect head!

Illy gets down to level 47, but it's getting late. (She lost a lot of time searching for the stairs on level 42.) Still, she's got a fair haul and she does what to plant those wheat seeds today.

Just done in time for bed!

Summer Day 17

After the farm chores, Illy's main job is the community centre today.

Oh double-dash-darn-it! The quality food bundle needs five gold MELONS, not tomatoes. *sigh* Well, Illy will just have to grow extra corn and pumpkins next season... It might be just a bit too late to plant a load of melon seeds...

Nothing completed, but a little bit more done.

Illy heads over tor Robin's to order her new coop.

That looks like a good spot. (And if not, she can always have it moved later, she supposes...)

Well, the store’s closed, so that means Illy can't plant a load of melons in time. Darn it.

There's so much on the beach, Illy can't even carry it all!

Well, Abby, Illy thinks you might be in luck...!

The jade Illy found in the mines is something she can donate to the museum while she's here stalking, uh, seeing Abby . Oh, a new reward, a nice painting to hang up.

Illy idly wondered about trying some fishing - Demetrius wants a pufferfish - but it's going to be too late - it's already twenty to seven and she hasn't got any space for her rod, let alone any fish! So she heads off home to unload all her fair-gotten gains.

Painting up...

Illy tries some of the larger stones with her pickaxe, but it still isn't strong enough. Another time, then; bedtime now.

All the tomatoes made Illy quite a tidy profit, and between that and the excellent foraging, Illy has made back over three-quarters of the 4k gold she spent on the coop. Neat!

Summer Day 18

Oh, that's sweet of Jodi!

Illy makes a forth chest - she's starting to run out of room, because she does like to keep a store of stuff. She then spends a bit of time looking for a suitable tree to put a tapper onto.

She... Thinks that's a maple?

Illy thinks maybe she should actually plant a tree or two for the purposes properly for later.

Illy has used up a lot of the day, so she decides to be foolish and try and go fishing. But first, she will buy the better rod and some trout soup from Willy and see if it at all helps...

Illy catches a broken CD, five seaweed, three cans of Joja Cola (well, that's new...) and four escaped fish she barely even got started on.

WAIT. Illy had a bamboo pole already, so she just wasted 500g? Thanks for that Willy!

(Fantastic. Looks like there is nowhere to sell the rods, and the only option is to trash them. Annoying. In the bin with it, then, not wasting a slot on something useless...)

Illy storms off to bed.

Well, that's SOMETHING. Maybe Illy can buy some better stuff - or at least trout soup (which gives you a +1 to fishing) will get her slightly higher while she's mostly catching junk. Hopefully, as soon as she can get some bait, she can start using the crabpots, which might be easier...)

Summer Day 19

It's raining-

-um, hello, Demetrius. Sorry Illy really sucks at fishing and couldn't get you that pufferfish you wanted.

Illy doesn't, but she will investigate shortly...

Hmm...

Difficult choice.

(Even looking on the interwebs.)

Illy decides that, on balance, she will go with the mushrooms and she'll grow her fruit later on.

(I could NOT find the cave for the life of me, I eventually had to go and look it up - it's way to the south-east. I wasn't going to waste a rain day in fruitless searching, so I reloaded, as Illy hadn't done anything of note until then.)

Straight to the mines! Illy will find the cave tomorrow.

Uh-oh...

Big slime turns into little slimes...

But, Illy's stupidly good insect head grants her success with relative ease!

Down to level 50! and Illy has some tundra boots! +2 defence and +1 immunity, which is +1 defence over her leather boots. Neat!

Oh, ghosts. They take quite a bit of killing!

Illy makes it all the way down to level 55! She had found quite a bit of stuff, including a glow ring, which provides constant light! That is really neat!

Time for bed!

Huzzah! Combat level four!

Summer Day 20

It's raining again today! Illy is thinking mine again, while she can!

Can do Demetrius!

Replant the harvested wheat first, with freshly bought seeds...

Hi Abby!

Illy heads to the mine.

She gets down to level 60 - barely, and she is sure she's going to be very late tonight. Actually, no, she just makes it home and ten-past midnight.

Hoorah! Level four mining!

Summer Day 21

Oooh, neat!

Seems unlikely, Haley, but Illy might try?

Blacksmith first - Illy might pop back later if she has time to upgrade her pickaxe to steel (she's not planning to go down the mines for a day or two whatever). Illy gets coal, a soapstone and kyanite.

To the museum!

Illy's donations net her another nice picture.

Alex-short-for-Alexander threw away his shoes yesterday because they had a smudge on them.

Wow, Alex-short-for-Alexander is a massive douche.

Community centre, and Illy completes the adventurer’s bundle!

For which she gets a small magnet ring, for increasing collection radius. She has one already, so as the next stop is the adventurer’s guild, it can be sold.

Wait, no, first pickaxe to be upgraded to steel while Clint is still open - the adventurer’s guild opens late and closes late compared to everyone else, fortunately.

Illy gives Haley her flower in passing...

Illy sells all her excess gear. she debates on the crystal dagger, which is a level nine weapons, but... She has seen that daggers only attack right in front instead of an arc, and Illy would much rather stick with her sword.

Well, as Illy passes Marnie on the way to Marnie's house, Illy is not getting any chickens today...

So, back to the farm, she'll see if she can reach that cave...

No, she cannot, and it's such a torturous route she's very late to bed. Oops!

Well, that's excellent news!

Wait... Warp totem? Is that what Illy thinks it might be...?

Summer Day 22

No, not quite. It is a consumable item (boo!) that requires hardwood, two coral and ten fibre (Illy has TONS of fibre...) that warp you to the beach. Okay, but not massively useful. Maybe once Illy has the backpack upgrade and some spare slots...

The lightning rod looks interesting - it creates battery packs into batteries. Well, Illy does have one refined quartz she got from the caves, so maybe she'll make one today!

Illy has to have a quick re-arrange of her paintings...

Lightning rod in place!

Illy has to work to get to Abby today, since she's all the way up to the train station.

Emerald farm, despite being well-tended, has no-one in sight. How strange.

Okay, note to Illy's self, Haley REALLY likes gold sunflowers.

DARN IT! Marnie's ranch closes at four (what?) and Illy is twenty minutes late.

Illy goes back to the farm (after giving a sunflower to Emily) and plants some peppers, just so that the space the melons occupied doesn’t weed over too much.

She starts making some in-roads to a sensible route to the cave before bedtime, but it's quite a long jaunt!

Oh heavens, yes! She can now make her own quality sprinklers! Come fall, Illy is definitely setting up a new crop field, one that will self water!

Summer Day 23

Darn. The quality sprinkler requires both gold bars and refined quartz, so Illy is not making any of those yet...

Illy will take the melon to Demetrius today, see if she can buy chickens from Marnie, and have another go at getting to that cave - oh, actually, and pick up her pickaxe! Come to that, maybe she ought to drop her axe off of upgrade, it'll make cutting through the other logs much easier, though she might not get to the cave...

Good for Haley!

No really, having to find Illy when she's all over the place whenever Haley wants a jar opened would be a pain. Even Illy doesn't know where Illy will be day-to-day...!

Marnie, Illy is beginning to see why Mr Pator doesn't like you. Are you EVER at your ranch?

Huzzah, steel axe!

...

Clint, Illy wonders if you know gold is softer than iron and steel, right?

*sigh*

Just... Just take Illy's axe.

Illy find Demetrius on the way home to give him his melon. Then, back to the farm to hack away that route...

Another train passes through as Illy works.

Illy still doesn't get down there - she clearly needs her axe - and upgraded at that. Still, she got a fair bit of forage.

With the big rocks cleared, Illy might be able to use this now...

Time for bed...

Summer Day 24

Alluria has sent Illy a letter about how she read in the paper about Illy's amazing farm. Neat.

Dangit. Illy was going to but some more wheat to fill the gaps in the last four days of summer, but, of course, it's Wednesday, so the store is closed.

Okay then, Marnie...!

Illy buys some brown chickens. She names them: Jubilee, Pixie and Mercury. Illy doesn't know how many she can get in a coop, but that's all she can afford at the moment.

Illy looks in the forest near Marnie's for some forage, but finds a grape (which she gives to Leah as she passes), and the heads to the beach.

Uh-oh, Haley is looking upset.

Was it Alex-short-for-Alexander? Did he do something? Illy doesn't have a shovel, but perhaps her hoe will do. Or Illy could take him down to the mines or something, if it would help?

Oh! Okay, Illy will help search, she has excellent Perception and Search skills!

Illy suspects Haley may not be quite that shallow...?

Seriously, Illy is great at finding stuff on the beach, Haley!

Yeah, Illy thought it sounded like something really important that couldn't be simply replaced.

Hah, Illy is the best at this!

Yeah, Illy is just that good. She told you, didn't she?

It is no problem, Haley. This is what Illy does!

(Shoulder!Alluria is very pleased...)

Illy grab some more beach salvage, before heading off. Clint can't open geodes while he's working on Illy's tools, so that's a nuisance.

Though perhaps as it is the end of the season, tomorrow, Illy ought to get him to work on her hoe as well, actually...

Anytime, Haley!

Illy makes a warp totem for the beach anyway, to keep one on hand in case she needs it.

Chickens!

Time for a bit of construction work - put up a fence and build a mayonnaise machine, since eggs will hopefully be coming long soon.

Little bit of fishing to use the last time before bed (more junk!)

Summer Day 25

George has asked for some hot pepper. Lucky Illy kept one by for exactly this sort of thing!

Illy sorts her chests out a bit better, and makes them more organised.

As she heads out on her rounds, she runs across Maru. Maru is talking about building a robot someday.

You go, Maru, make that robot! Have a flower!

Pepper is delivered - George is grumpy as usual.

Steel axe! Illy leaves her hoe for upgrade. She can now upgrade her watering can too, but a) she'll need more copper bars and b) it would be better to wait until winter or autumn when the rain should be more regular.

Illy gives Penny and Leah flowers, and then heads back towards the farm, via the beach and then Marnie (to give her a flower, Illy needs those shorts. Actually, you'd have thought Marnie would have picked them up by now, really, wouldn't you?)

Hooray, Marnie is now close enough friends with Illy to let her into her bedroom to take shorts and read all her secret love letters!

It's fine, Illy is going to be a paladin of the goddess of love (and sex), so this is totally her territory.

See, clearly Mayor Linkara is helping Marnie over her bereavement of her presumable husband. Nothing at all wrong with that, at all. Good for them, Illy thinks.

Back to the farm, more route-making and...

OHH! Is that the cave! Darn it, Illy missed it in the dark all those times, she thought it was down that ladder - that, having cleared the big dead log, she can also look down.

Plenty of mushrooms...

And even more down the ladder in this clearing, wherever it is...

With a full load, Illy goes back to bed.

Summer Day 26

It's raining again.

Illy checks on the chickens. They look a little thin? Whoops. She thought the hay was self-dispensing, but apparently, she has to take it out of the dispenser and put it on the side.

It might have helped, Illy though, it at any point, it had ever said that...

Okay, so maybe after Illy delivers the purple shorts, she might take a quick trip down the mine, then...

Hi, Mayor Linkara, here's your pants that were in Marnie's bedroom!

Illy gives the mayor a look and then a high-five.

Illy heads out to the mine.

She had another good day - with plenty of luck on the stairs, she makes it all the way down to level 70!

And gets a master slingshot. Wooo.

Illy gets back just after midnight.

Summer Day 27

Oh, Illy wouldn't miss it for the world...!

Illy goes to Clint and gets her hoe, plus opens the three frozen geodes she found yesterday. They are stone, a fairy stone and an ocean stone. Neat.

Huh. Illy finds her collection screen not only tells the information about the stones (saving her the time of having to go to the exhibits), but it also tells her the value of all the stuff like crops she's been selling. Duh. Useful. (Illy already knows she can access the community centre screen from her inventory, but the lists she can tick off are more useful to her...!)

Hi Victor.

Who is this Susan? Illy has not met her - presumably she's the one on the big farm north...?

Illy sees Penny and Jas and Vincent heading to the playground. Penny seems miffed by all the undergrowth, so Illy goes and clears a load of it off the park. Little bit of community service for everyone.

Yah, funny how being fed works wonders, right?

Illy goes to the adventurer’s guild, as she has some gear to get rid of. She found two pairs of combat boots yesterday (+3 defence) and elects, after some research, to sell one and replace her tundra boots with the other.

Back at the farm, Illy prepares for tomorrow - being Sunday, it's gift giving time again.

Oh, hey, wow, the tapper has finally made some maple syrup!

Illy uses it to finally make a beehive, as she's been wanting to make a Deadly Bee Weapon for absolutely ages...

Illy considers making another one, but she's awfully short of copper bars. She's going to have to take a trip to the upper levels of the mine for some more, since the ice caves (level 40 and down) only tend to have iron ore.

She does plant a pine cone and an acorn, though, so she will have one of each tree in a sensible location to put tappers on later - by the entrance walk, so she will see whenever she walks past.

Illy grabs three various gold fruit, just in case she needs them for tomorrow, and then goes to bed.

Summer Day 28

Mayor Linkara has sent a letter to Illy with his recipe for spaghetti. When Illy gets a kitchen...

Jellies floating past the beach at ten o'clock tonight. Well, that's more time than Illy thought she had...

Wow, they grew fast! Eggs, at last...

Illy puts one right in the mayonnaise machine.

She takes her last harvest - dang it, those last hot peppers haven't quite come in. Illy hopes the ancient seed won't die when the weather change to fall, that would be very disappointing, it's been growing steadily.

Illy completely fails to while away the day fishing, because fishing is stupidly hard.

(Seriously, if you are not a twitcher (and am I EMPHATICALLY not, I don't touch platformers or stuff like that with a barge pole and I hate QTEs with a burning passion), and playing on a mouse and keyboard, it's basically impossible. I have a REALLY good mind to go and find a damned mod. It doesn't EVEN give you time to practise, the bar vanishes so fast, you can't even make any kind of attempt to practise, because if you make a slight mistake (which you will) you lose before you can even work out how to correct it. The game BADLY needs this supposed "beginner's rod" in the next patch. Especially since, of course, fishing gets EASIER the higher level you are and the more stuff you have. Talk about backwards difficultly curves. Easily the worst part of the game.)

Grumpily, Illy heads to the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies at the beach.

Again, Illy is a devil, Her perception is EXCELLENT.

Ooh, Illy knows, but enough about Abby, how 'bout them jellies, is Illy right?

Maybe, but Illy kinda likes eerie.

After talking to everyone, Illy settles back. Soon they will launch the candle-boat and the jellies, presumably seeing the light, will come to investigate.

Illy knows that large migrations frequently attract predators, and this is sort of the exact instance where a surprise boss monster would attack if she was playing Final Fantasy or something, so she keeps a steady grip on the hilt of her sword.

Off goes the boat...

Oh, well, there's a jelly, Illy doesn't see what...

Ohhhh.Oooooooooh.

That is a lot of glowing jellies.

Look, there's even a special one like a boss monster one right in front of Illy!

Yep, Illy thinks, nature is awesome.

Illy is a little late to bed that night.

Autumn Day 1

Illy checks the chickens, collects the eggs and goes to assess the damage.

Good, good, corn and ancient seeds are still growing.

Illy puts a new chest in-between the beehive and mayonnaise machine - this one will be used for animal stuff (and honey.)

Illy goes to the store and mostly empties her funds buying seeds. She buys a bit of everything. She notes she ought to try and get some of the fruit trees in this month, so they will have time to grow before spring. Sadly, she won't getting any apples or pomegranates this year (unless she can buy some...), since they fruit in autumn, and it takes a full month for them to grow. Darn.

Illy quickly does her gift rounds to Abby, Haley, Emily, Penny and Leah and then heads back to the farm for a lot of planting...

Oh, Andy wants some Joja cola. Well, Illy has fished some of that, at least. It can't be any worse for being in water, right?

Back to t'farm.

It takes Illy the rest of the day and night to set up. She puts a load of corn around the quality sprinkler, and a scarecrow at the requisite 6-radius. (Scarecrows have a radius of eight squares, but that means that a radius of six should be enough to tessellate without any gaps.) The rest of the seeds go in the older field.

Autumn Day 2

Great, it's raining! That saves Illy a lot of extra work!

Illy spends the morning instead going to down the mushroom cave and clearing the autumn debris. Luckily, she remembers to check the calendar today - it's Penny's birthday, and Abby's on the 13th. Illy whips back to the farm - maybe Penny would like some of Illy's nice spice berry jam?

She does! Neat!

Illy catches Andy with his evil sea-waste cola, but whatever, he's happy, the poor schulb.

Illy spends the rest of the day foraging and takes a quick trip to level 35 and down of the mine, just to gather some copper ore. She also finds a bomb, which... Is a thing? (Illy has half-a-dozen cherry bombs she keeps forgetting to take down the mine to blow up rocks with too...)

She has found just enough stuff - three wild plums, a hazel nut and a black berry, she can complete another bundle tomorrow.

Time for sleep!

Autumn Day 3

Marnie has left a note for Illy to please bring her some amaranth? Illy will do so, but her plants will have to grow first.

Illy takes a moment to appreciate her sprinkler.

Holy crap! Illy's ancient seed has born ancient fruit! And it looks like it will keep fruiting! Fantastic!

Sebastian wants a common mushroom. Well, that won't be hard, Illy is really not short of mushrooms..!

Abby wants to know if Illy is growing pumpkins on her farm, and to save one for her. Illy absolutely will do that!

Illy even finds a mushroom as she goes to get a couple of geodes broken, and Sebastian is happy.

Illy goes to the community centre and completes the Fall foraging bundle!

And gets a packet of thirty wild seeds! Yay, even more things to water!

Victor's mum has notes on illegal wine fermenting, apparently. The mind boggles.

Illy plants the seeds, cuts down a couple of trees in her way, and then calls it a night.

She watches the telly for a bit and learns how to make a radish salad. One day, Illy will have a kitchen...

Autumn Day 4

Dear old Gus has sent Illy some pancakes!

After the chores, Illy is at a bit of something of a loss, so she does a wander around town; maybe she'll get to the beach today for some more foraging, or perhaps to the mines to try and get some more copper.

Illy has no idea.

Beach, the mine. Maybe Illy will go down to new levels...

SKELLINGTON!

(Why does that remind Illy of someone she knows...?)

And now the mine is a haunted dungeon. Illy is slightly concerned where this might end up...

She gets down to level 76 before calling it a day.

On the way home, Sebastian informs her that his room would be less depressing if it had a window.

He literally lives in his mother's basement. You'd have though, Robin-the-architect, would have made a house with more upper stories...?

Illy also got a ghost fish! Neat. Huh, that's in the speciality bundle with pufferfish... Maybe pufferfish live in the mines, not the sea...? (Not that with ILLY'S fishing skill it matters...)

Oh, nice!

Yeah, scout requires luck, Illy is gonna stick with fighter, which is, after all properly paladin-y anyway.

Autumn Day 5

It's raining again. And without any pressing urges, Illy is thinking mine again!

Hmm, Clint is after more copper. Maybe Illy will have a dive at that later, after she's got down further.

Illy makes her way down and reaches level 80!

Firewalker boots! +3 defence +3 immunity!

Illy is going to enter hell here, isn't she?

Yeah.

The heavens is that?

Illy gets to level 85, which is not bad. She'll have to get Clint's ore tomorrow.

Good news, though, she finally has enough gold ore to start making gold bars!

Oh, decision time again...

After a lot of thought, Illy decides on geologist, because the higher-up skill choices are better. Though is seems there is not a lot in it...

Autumn Day 6

Demetrius has sent Illy a bream! Excellent! Illy is definitely making a community centre trip today...

Illy will need to make a quick trip to the mines for Clint's ores, but that should not take very long. In fact, that's Illy's first job after watering.

It doesn't take long at all and Illy turns them in for inspection.

Right, back to the farm, Illy needs a gold bar!

Gold bars take a long time...! Illy also forgot to get Clint to break her geodes. She does manage to drop off the spare gear she found at the adventurer's guild; but by the time the gold bar has finally done, it is too late, the community centre will have to wait until tomorrow.

Next time!