Bleakbane... Farms...? 10 [Stardew Valley]

Part 10: Winter Blues

Reckon we'll get a couple more in (Mon/Tues. Wed/Thurs maybe) before I'll be away for a week.

Monday, Winter Day 8, Year One

After seeing to the chickens, Illy attempts to go see Leah to give her a flower, but the festival is being prepared, so she can't get there. Alright, Illy will remember to check the calendar now (or the first time this winter...), then and maybe do some yard work while she waits.

Oh darn, it was Caroline's birthday yesterday. Typical! Nevermind. Missed Linus' birthday too.

Something called the "night market" on the 15th through 17th, hmm... And Leah's birthday on the 23rd.

Actually, nevermind, the festival starts at nine o'clock, so Illy may as well go straight there now.

The Festival of Ice!

Wow, it's ice to see Leah has been busy!

So long as art is not a bang, Illy is chill with impermanent art.

Cool?

Then snow way will Illy interrupt!

Shoulder!Alluria groans, Illy is going to be like this all day, isn't she?

Ah, the good cold days...

George seems as frosty as ever!

...

Illy is going to get her ice kicked, isn't she?

Be creative! Self-expression is really freezy-peasy when to try!

(Illy makes snow-starships.)

Oh, don't be boring Penny! What example are you setting for Jas! Oh, whatever, Illy will just let that slide. Slide? Get it? Ahaha!

Yes, Clint, it means you are so bad at it that she's taking pity on you; otherwise she's giving you the cold shoulder.

Pahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Well, at least Willy has a sense of humour about it.

Illy should probably just let it go. (Fishing never bothered her anyway...)

This is a very igloo-minating conversation.

(Shoulder!Alluria pelts Illy with tiny snowballs.)

Illy is getting cold feet about this whole affair.

Illy gives Alex-short-for-Alexander a glacial stare.

It certainly can, Hail-y! (Did Haley see what Illy did there? Did she? ... Yeah, Illy will just go now.)

Abby wins! It's blizz-ardly worth anyone else trying!

Shoulder!Alluria thinks Illy is reaching.

Icy you hiding over there, Rassy! None shall escape Illy's puns! She is an e-sleet punster!

*sigh*

Pun's over, time to fish.

Oh goody, everyone is here to see Illy suck. This is the polar opposite of what Illy wants.

Did everyone think Illy was done? Then everyone is silly!

Illy only gets the rod in the actual HOLE twice in the first minute. She catches three seaweed, and utterly fails to catch either of the actual fish, because once again, though she comes close, the stupid, stupid, stupid bar just doesn't react in any way Illy can understand. She looks like a total buffoon in front of the entire town and most especially Abby and her other friends.

Mayor Linkara comes to judge, and notes what a great deal of fish there are. Haha.

...

Illy glowers. And sniffs.

Yes, yes, Illy is really bad at fishing, we have established that. You can stop rubbing it in any time now.

And the winner is...

No surprise at all!

Yes, thank you for literally everyone in the village for watching Illy make a complete fool of herself.

Illy is sure the fish are all taunting her.

She doesn't even get to keep the seaweed, does she?

Illy, feeling utterly humiliated and miserable, fighting tears, goes home and throws herself into bed.

Winter Day 9, Year One

After chores, Illy goes to see Leah.

But her door is still locked after nine o'clock.

Fine. Illy gets it. No-one wants to see the loser. *sniff* *sniff* Fine then. She'll go to the mines, see if anyone cares.

Illy reaches down to level 110...

Well, Space boots certainly sound like Illy's cup of tea!

+4 Defence, +4 immunity! that's better than her current boots, at any rate!

Illy gets one level down, but it's too late to go any further, so she heads home to bed.

Illy wonders miserably why none of her friends ever come to see her?

At least Illy is getting better at the sword-ing...

Winter Day 10, Year One

Illy, feeling thoroughly unappreciated, does her chores and stomps off to the mine again.

She has a better day - at least it terms of not having to mine every rock to find the ladder down and...

Reaches level 120, which is the bottom of the mine!

What is her grand reward?

Hoorah, it's a... Key. For... The other machine in the saloon which has a skull-shaped keyhole.

Of course it is. OF COURSE IT IS.

For a long moment, Illy considers just curling up in a little ball at the bottom of the mine. Even that victory is now stale.

Illy heads towards the adventure’s guild via the mine cart. For a moment, she thinks it is closed, but apparently not.

Her reward for killing all the skeletons is... A skeleton mask.

That was worth it.

At the saloon, the unlocked game is... Junimo Kart.

Oh, this is going to be another thing for Illy to be terrible at, isn't it?

Yes, it is a thing that requires precise click-timing that is horribly unresponsive about when it does things, and helpfully also often respawns you right next to the end of a piece of track so Illy immediate fall off and dies.

Excellent, that totally worth risking life and limb for, wasn't it?

Marnie won't even speak to Illy.

(Seriously, the speech bubble didn't bring anything up. I've had this... bug? A few times before, but it really is just adding to Illy’s misery today, isn't it?)

Illy doesn't have any flowers, but maybe Leah would like an emerald...?

...

Illy rushes out of the saloon in tears.

She can barely see through her water-filled eyes to put her stuff away before she collapses, utterly desolate, in her bed.

Winter Day 11, Year One

Illy spots that a solitary snow yam has sprouted from her wild seeds.

She decides today she will try and find that mysterious creature. It is not like she has anything better to do.

Buried in the snow by the mines, Illy finds an ancient doll. She probably ought to give it the museum, but Illy feels it is a kindred spirit, lost and abandoned and forgotten in the uncaring snow. She hugs it close.

At least Linus likes his crystal fruit.

Maybe Illy should become a hermit too.

Or is she already?

...

No. No, Illy is just... Leaving Linus. She doesn't want to bother you.

Illy takes a quick dip in the baths, hoping to clear her head.

It doesn't help.

Yes, it is.

Illy traipses back to the mine's mine cart and then heads out south. Maybe she'll visit Rasmodius. He must have some tips on becoming a hermit.

Home and bed by midnight. Illy found a lot of crocuses and crystal fruit, but it no closer to finding that... Whatever it was.

Winter Day 12, Year One

Mayor Linkara has sent Illy a present of 500g for being a good neighbour.

Illy feels a bit better this morning, now.

Perhaps today, she'll see if she can't search through everyone's houses to try and find the thing... Maybe sweep the beach as well.

Oh, worth going to see Rassy yesterday!

Illy has loads of void essences! That's another job she can do!

And her winter seed crops have come in!

Aha! Illy uses some of her winter crops to make a new round of seeds. One of each crop produces ten seeds! Illy makes 40 seeds and then goes to replant them again!

...

Al...right, then.

Rassy thinks the townfolk are afraid of him. That's sad. Probably untrue, but sad...

At least Leah will let Illy in the house to talk to her today.

Hmm. The skull key quest is still in Illy's inventory, but the games machine definitely unlocked with the mine... So maybe that's NOT all it does...

Willy, it is rather mean of you to tell Illy she needs bait on her fishing rod when YOU WON'T SELL HER ANY.

It's into night, and Illy is at the beach, so sod it, she might as well fail to catch squid for a bit.

AAAAAARGH. Damn this stupid fishing rod!

HOLY CRAP!

Illy catches a FISH! This is because it is so placid, Illy doesn't actually have to touch the controls!

And then a SECOND one, right after!

Wow. That's like, three fish (since the two she caught at the aborted fair don't count).

She tries again and catches a soggy newspaper. Time to go home. Illy is so excited, though, she doesn't want to go to bed yet, and is up until twenty to one sorting her stuff out.

Illy's foraging and crops net her a tons of money as well!

Winter Day 13, Year One

George has sent Illy some stone. How... thoughtful...?

Armed with some enthusiasm once more, Illy is going to go to Robin's and see if she can upgrade her coop. And try fishing in the mine lake pond.

*sigh*

And Maru really hates holly. Fantastic.

Illy is getting her coop upgraded, starting tomorrow!

Illy gets her geodes opened and finds new lunarite and a fire opal. These she donates to the museum, along with - very reluctantly, the ancient doll.

She pops home to grab her last gold leek for Linus, because she has rather neglected him.

Willy is naturally not in the shop again today, but nevermind, Illy will spend the rest of the day fishing anyway, see if she can't catch some more...

No, nothing again.

(DAMMIT Why did ConcernedApe make the bottom level difficulty so HARD? The fact that before you buy bait to put in the crab-pots which DON'T require the minigame you first have to get to level two when it's hardest. It's so stupid.)

Winter Day 14, Year One

Aha.

After seeing the chickens, Illy goes and idly prods through the bushes in the playground.

(Because I had no idea how to progress the winter mystery quest after looking basically everywhere...)

Okay.

Wait, come back shadow-thing there's no need to... Run... Darn it.

Illy will go see Abby today.

Um, DUH.

Illy and Abby so are!

Illy will tell him you're busy EVERYDAY as far as he's concerned...

Illy spends most of the day delivering gifts and talking to her friends. (Maru likes the gold crocus much better than the gold holly...)

Then she heads into the upper reaches of the mines to hunt for duggies for a bit.

She actually runs into four or five before she's done, and is back to bed just after midnight.

Winter Day 15, Year One

Neat! Though Illy will probably not want more chickens yet.

Illy thinks she ought to look at a barn next, though. But after the night market, she might find stuff she wants there.

Illy notices a bit of her fence has broken. Hmm. The hardwood fence says it lasts longer than the wood fence. Illy assumed it was just flavour, but perhaps her fences do wear out...

Big coop!

And the fences do wear out, one piece collapsed while Illy was instead, then the next one fell over while she watches it. She will replace them for now, but it looks like she will have to be very wary about that. Great.

In the meantime, Marnie's.

No, Marnie, as usual is never freaking there when you want her. Of course.

Illy decides to go out and cut some more hardwood down. As she chops down a tree, she finds Secret Note #14 - she reads it and it says someone hid something behind the community centre.

Before she goes to look that up, she clears a bit more - and low and behold, she finds #19!

Okay, this is exciting!

Right time to go look for stuff! Illy needs to find a blue house...

Leah wants a frozen tear. Illy ought to be able to provide that.

Nothing obvious behind the community centre yet, and by the time Illy has done an initial search, the night market is open. She decides to check that out next.

Jodi's house might be the one...? Illy will look later.

To the night market!

Illy likes the sound of this show already!

Where first? Left to right? Sounds good to Illy.

This is quite impressive, to say the least!

Ah, why not?

Oh, they mean... Actually fish in the deep sea.

Well, pants.

Okay, Illy catches a sea cucumber! Because it is passive it doesn't actually require Illy to touch anything! Illy is so bad at fishing that the only time she catches anything is if she literally does not have to touch the controls!

Outside, the gentleman in the turban is handing out free coffee! Cool!

The slightly shifty-looking man sells decorations. Illy is not too bothered about those at the moment.

The cloaked man will teleport Illy home for 250g using a farm totem. Useful, but Illy isn't that bothered, ta.

Then... Don't ogle, Clint?

Man selling paintings? Pass, thank you.

The caravan lady is selling her usual assortment of things Illy isn't really interested in. Since she can't use the fishing hooks.

The mysterious fellow is selling some gravestones, which are sort of cool but not really Illy's... Wait, no Abby would love them, Illy will actually take a couple at 200g each, actually. He also sells seeds, but Illy will pass for the moment, she can always buy them from Pierre.

Mermaid show time!

Well, that was pretty spectacular. But oops, it is rather later! Nevermind, Illy had better hurry home!

Maybe she should have taken the teleport, she gets in at ten to two, just before she collapses!

Winter Day 16, Year One

There, Abby ought to like that one day...!

Oh haha, Alluria, she has sent Illy some stone. Hilarious, Luri, hilarious.

Oh, that's lovely, Emily has sent Illy some cloth! That is totally going to the community centre! Ace!

Yes, that fence is coming apart. Oh, look, a woodpecker on Illy's maple tree!

Right, Illy's job today will be to knock down and replace that fence with hardwood.

There. Illy will leave the top, since she might want to put the barn there.

Right! Next, frozen tear for Leah, see if Marnie is about, then see if Illy is right about Jodi's house and the secret note...

WOAH ducks are expensive!

*sigh*

Okay, Illy will buy one. (She can use the incubator Robin fitted and slowly grow some more!)

The duck will be called Catherine, after Catherine Foundling, who is awesome. (Even though, Illy admits, she is a little bit Evil.)

Illy's first attempt to follow the secret note finds nothing by just stepping. Then she has a long think -

(I looked up just enough for it to say "walk until you are stopped by an obstacle," which to be fair, I'd never have thought about.)

- and tries a different approach.

Which still gets her nowhere and then the night market is open again.

Illy still doesn't see anything she particularly wants.

She watches the mermaid show again - she's interested to know if it is different every night (it isn't). But now the painting is a nice one of the mermaid... Well, go on, Illy spends all her money on random stuff, so maybe she will this once.

Illy stays until eleven, doing a tiny spot of fishing (just trash) and getting loads of free coffee.

Huh, coffee is worth 150g. Nice to know, Illy likely gonna sell the rest of it tomorrow!

Winter Day 17, Year One

There, the mermaid picture looks nice above Illy's head.

Well, if you like snow, Illy guesses?

Oh, how sweet!

How lovely!

There. Illy is not sure what this actually represents of Leah's feelings, but she assumes it is good...?

Clint wants an iron bar. Okay, FINE.

Rassy's birthday? Maybe he'd like some solar essence? If not, Illy will take him some of her copious amounts of jam.

He does! Great!

Illy steps out, then forgot she wanted to talk to him for a moment.

But he's nowhere to be found. But.. he was right her-

Azurella's perfect arse, Illy wishes Rasmodius would stop doing that!

That's why Illy was interested, she grew some ancient fruit this past year - she even made one of them into some lovely jam!

What, right now? In winter? Illy would love to know how to do that. No, she's not being facetious, tell her! Please?

Books are awesome. (Even if some of their purpose has been replaced by the internet for looking stuff up now.)

Illy is moderately surprised at that. She would bet Abby would find a lot of this stuff interesting, actually.

You are never too old to learn, Illy says. And as she is An Old Person, clearly this is great wisdom.

You mean like... Magic or the laws of physics? Illy is pretty grounded in both, actually...

Sure.

SWEET! Don't worry, Rassy, Illy will be careful!

Aw, that's sad. Illy must definitely come to see Rassy more often. He is definitely not icky, unlike some other boys Illy could mention...

It's not that Illy is against males (she's maybe 75/25 on the spectrum?), it is that pretty much all the romanceable boys here are... Kind of smegheads and don't seem very interesting.)

Illy goes back and goes to Clint's to drop off the iron bar and crack a couple of geodes, which yields a nice jasper for the museum.

To the night market!

Okay, caravan lady on water, Illy will take a perch for 165g. (So maybe that was pointless, doesn't seem to have a use in the community centre, darn...)

Well, as the other shops don't have anything Illy wants, she is too!

Sam hates working at Joja mart, but wonders how else he can make money in this town.

Uh, farming, fishing, foraging, mining, getting free coffee to sell... Sam's options are hardly limited, are they?

Illy can have a free coffee every ten minutes. Suits Illy...! She spends the rest of the day, standing around the pier in the snow, getting coffee, before heading home at eleven.

Yeah, Illy knows YOU ogle the mermaids, icky dude.

Winter Day 18, Year One

Hmmm... What might Leah really like...?

(Illy bets Leah gets a lot of combined birthday/feast of winter star presents, poor girl.)

Illy squirrels away one of her gold crocuses.

She pops up to give Linus a nice leek, and then heads back to town.

After a bit of searching around, Illy finds a solid gold statue of Mayor Linkara behind his house.

(Yeah, I ended up looking at the solution, since the instructions made no sense. I guess one rather obvious thing is that the secret notes might not have been updated by the map changes from the mod; certainly, the instructions directions didn't lead Illy anywhere, even when starting from the end point!)

Well, such a beautiful thing ought not to be hidden...

There! For everyone to see! (Well, Illy wasn't going to put it on her farm, that'd be creepy. Now if ABBY made a gold statue...!)

Well, that's just great! all the fish Illy has caught are totally useless for the community centre.

Illy finds a stone juminos statue behind the community centre after a lot of searching.

(Again, I had to wiki, since you had to use the pickaxe, and funnily enough, wandering blind behind a building waving a pickaxe is not something I'd have considered. It was difficult enough knowing what I was supposed to be doing...)

Good a place as any. To Rassy's! Actually, before that, Illy wants to check her kitchen and see if there are any new recipes she hasn't looked at yet. Not really; but Illy dumps her fish in the fridge anyway, aside from the silver herring, which she will sell.

Ha, Illy thought Rassy would really like solar essences!

Illy heads home and cuts some more trees down before bed.

So, there IS some reason for making different types of jam...

Hee. Illy earned 5700g for the coffee....!

Winter Day 19, Year One

Oh dear, Illy may have goofed...

Illy's winter seeds have come in. Illy reckons she could get another round in, actually before winter is over.

There. But Illy's neat fence is collapsing as she watches. Oh well, she'll let it go for the moment. Perhaps in might be better to replace it with stone paving or something.

Okay, Illy will try and get that barn erected today. She demolishes the upper fence ready.

Illy changes her mind about the placement. She's going to expand the fences grass field, actually, and the gate will be put back where it was (since the barn's door is on the left side).

But before that, she'll pop to the quarry for a bit.

Right, that is the animal yard now reconfigured. She also makes a couple of sprinklers and puts a rarecrow down. She is planning to have a little bit of a flower garden near the bee houses, since she's heard that is good for them.

She cuts down more trees below the crop field, and then head to bed.

Winter Day 20, Year One

Illy does her chores, and the feels at a bit of a loose end. Once again she has timed it perfectly to the day in which Willy is not freaking there, so she won't be able to maximise her fishing. So, she'll wander around for a bit, towards the beach and maybe fruitlessly fish there today.

Yeah, Mayor Linkara's statue is gone, and a rotted planet is in its place.

Abby has been daydreaming a lot lately, but she won't tell Illy what about.

Shoulder!Alluria gives Illy a double thumbs up.

EMPHATIC NO from Illy.

(Even Bleakbane agrees with that one.)

Also, pot, kettle, missus green hair...

But purple is so much cooler.

Oh, it's Evelyn's birthday. Have a silver crocus, Evelyn.

Mayor Linkara isn't home, but Illy can see his statue in his bedroom...

Illy has a good day on the beach! But maybe she should start saving some ordinary coral, as that can be used for deluxe speed-gro. But she will need to put some tappers on her trees first...

By the time she jacks it in, she has had the best fishing day she's ever had, catching a sea cucumber, a sardine and two herrings. This is not due to some sudden burst of competence, however, and more to do with the fact that the far left of the pier is where the easy fish appear.

Can this please be enough to get Illy to level 2 fishing now?

YES, FINALLY!

Now Illy can craft BAIT, she can put those crab pots to use at last!

Winter Day 21, Year One

Okay, today's jobs - got to Clint and have a tool upgraded to gold (Illy thinks pickaxe), go to Willy's and see what she can get now (she can craft bait herself, hopefully) and put those crab pots down!

Robin, you're... Literally ten feet behind Illy. You could have just shouted!

Okay, it will have to wait for Robin to finish on the barn first, apparently, Illy can't talk to her at all.

Catherine is full grown! And she has laid a duck egg, which will go right into the incubator!

Better rod, Illy will have that, thanks... And four trout soup, while she's at it.

Illy forgot the crab pots and she needs bug meat for the bait.

Oh, you get 5 bait per bug meat. Well, that dozen bug meat should keep Illy busy for a good while!

You know what Elliott? Have a silver crocus. You are always polite to Illy, and you are the least smeggy of the boys, even if you are a bit Pegasus from Yugioh Abridged.

Crab pots armed! Yes, it's a bit of a walk, but Illy is half-hoping she might get lucky and get a squid. She has no idea what she might catch, but it's a start, right?

Ooh, Illy has not been in Elliott's cabin before. It's neat!

It's very nice. Illy is a bit confused as to why Elliott has a huge grand piano in his shack, and why Elliott is, in fact, in a shack, when he gives off all the impression of being someone who ought to be stupidly rich.

Oh, Elliott is a WRITER. That explains a great deal.

No, most of Illy and Elliott's prior conversations have been about him having sand in his shoes and hair care.

Illy is not sure how that would help that much, to be honest.

Aw, they thought Elliott should play children's card games instead?

Well, if you count fanfiction writers, the signal to noise is about right most of the time, actually. Not that Illy reads a lot of fanfiction, of course, nor would she ever write a big long story about magical technicolour talking space-goats based on that one telly show. Which is, unrelatedly, really good, well animated with great characterisation and is really clever ('cos goats are clever, you see). Elliott should totally watch it, it's ace.

(Shoulder!Alluria also likes that show, because there is a lot sex in it, because goats.)

What... were they talking about again?

Well, sure.

Uh... No, actually, come to that, Illy's life-story would probably make a good story, though Illy would prefer it if it skipped to the part where she went to magical Paladin school honestly. Even if it turned into one of the harem-y-sort of things like those eastern animations...

(Ed: Lots of planets have an east.)

Illy likes the sci-fi because they have starships in them, but honestly, she loves when a bit of all three come together.

(Alluria is not that keen on romance novels, by-the-by; when the story focuses on the romance, rather than being part of it, it underlines how unrealistic they seem to her; there are a few ones that she does like though, but they tend to be fantasy ones that have something else to them.

Shoulder!Alluria, meanwhile, is not fussy what Illy reads, so long as there is plenty of sex.)

It is a bit surprising, isn't it? But the reason for Illy's fascination with starships is a looong and complex story...

A fair bit, yes.

Has Elliott watered it a lot? Does it get enough sunlight in here? Have Elliott tried plant food?

Illy has a good look over said plants and does what she can.

Interesting...

Interesting...

Illy heads to the mine pond. Maru isn't about, so Illy abandons the idea of giving her and Leah flowers today, and instead settles in with her new rod and trout soup to see if things are any better...

They are not, at least not significantly. Whilst Illy might be marginally closer, she still fails to catch anything apart from algae. Back to the pier next time...

Winter Day 22, Year One

Willy, sending the note about new stock was pointless; Illy was there to buy the rod yesterday, and she's not paying you for bait given she can craft her own now. The time for that was BEFORE she could make her own...

Oh, that's nice, Evelyn has sent Illy some bread!

Placement of that sprinkler was not good... Illy will have to move that, she thinks...

Illy first goes to Robin to give her the hardwood, a nice flower and price up the next upgrades. A deluxe coop will set Illy back 20k and an improved barn 12k. That said, the deluxe coop allows rabbits, plus an auto-feed system that will save Illy some work... goal for spring, then?

Marnie is, as per usual, NOT THERE when Illy wants to buy animals.

Illy goes to see Leah - and she's not home either!

Illy heads to the beach.

(And the game locks up, and the controls cease responding, though I did hit the save key as it seemed to work, so here's hoping or... This could be very bad...)

Illy blinks. She is back in bed, and it is 6am. Timeloop again, apparently... Though she still has all her beach salvage and her chores are done, so...

(Well, it could be worse...)

With her new-found time, Illy goes to see Rassy and give him another solar essence, and then back home to pick up some bait for the crab pots - and back to the beach! Actually, the beach via the mushroom caves, Illy hasn't been in a while. She does pick up a load of forage on the way!

The crab pots yield... Crab, mussel, oyster. Huh. Probably not surprising in hindsight. Illy reloads them anyway.

Okay, they don't seem to want to take any more bait, so whatever. Illy will go to the left pier and spend the rest of the day fishing.

The improved level up is noticeable in the bar is slightly larger, but this still doesn't really help. Illy at least catches about another four fish before it is time to go home to bed, so there is that...

Rain totem...?

We shall leave that mystery for next time!