WELP. After jumping on in, I had the horrible misfortune of getting plopped down into a village all on its lonesome, with no other nearby settlements, capitol cities, or anythings. To my even greater dismay, nobody in town had anything needing doing; It was my plan to go kill some quest things, hunt wildlife and get a survey of the Area before heading out into boogeyman-infested wilderness.
After my foray into this challenge, the biggest obstacle I think people will have to face if figuring out where they are, where they can safely go, and how much the town they start in can actually help them.
I started in the town in the top-left corner. Lonely little place with not much going on, a few abandoned houses and some village people doing village people things. (Not singing or dancing, though)
One fortunate thing about my location, however, was that there was enough wildlife around that I managed to get the jump on a giant thrips, and secured a source of food!
In fact, the place was absolutely teeming with giant insect life. Later on, I found a giant louse as well... While insects don't make the greatest eating, I got what I needed in a short amount of time. The only other wildlife I'd seen were some elk and buzzards; both too hard to catch for me. I took to sneaking near creatures, knapping a bunch of rocks, and throwing them at it. I figured eventually I'd become good enough at throwing for it to be a viable ranged attack rather than a hope for a lucky shot.
I carried on, as you might guess from the first screenshot, to the south-east. And on the way, I found murders of ravens. And some of them were very, very big ones. I must have passed at least three groups, hoping they didn't decide I would make a wonderful meal.
One thing I noticed, was the large number of rivers which would freeze over sometimes, but be regular rivers at others. Fortunately, I never fell to my death in one or got frozen solid, but I would have to stop traveling and wade through a river fairly often, removing my blood coatings I was saving to drink later. At one point when I stopped to move through the river, I encountered a pack of (normal-sized) dingoes and managed to kill them all. Unfortunately, I can't find the screenshot anywhere.
I had thought I could jump from lair to lair as a resting place safe from boogeymen, on my way to the only other town I could find, off to the south-west. Unfortunately, time did not agree with me. On my way from one lair to the next, I knew about halfway there that I wasn't going to make it. The distance was too far with nothing inbetween but wilderness.
That night, I was beset by boogeymen. I couldn't land anything on them, and prayed for a martial trance that never came. In the dark of the night, Fen Zustashnazush Beldatur, Fen Ancientblood the Gray Spire, was slain.
I'll have the file up for the next person in line as soon as I can. Be prepared, potential adventurers- I died in the late of autumn. I've seen the beginnings of something few would be able to overcome. If your turn is soon, brace yourself.
Winter is coming.