Be warned, this is a true story.
It was a fine April Saturday. My friend and I had decided to play Haven and Hearth together as it had become somewhat of a weekend ritual for us. After harvesting our crops and making a bit of progress on our isolated settlement, we came to the conclusion that it would be nice to try and find some other players. He and I have been playing the game for quite some time now but have managed to stay completely in solitude. All the settlements around us have been abandoned or raided by travelers.
It was around that time that I had started to get involved with / read up on some of the forum politics. Yes, I was a noob player, but that didn't mean I couldn't be interested in what was going on in the community. During my studies, I had come across two locations that would surely have settlers active and would also be safe: New Brodgar, and the Sevillian Community Market. Since Sevillian was closer, we chose to travel there.
We meticulously planned our route through the waterways of Hafen and packed our crates with some of our most valuable items in hopes of trading for leather. I understood the dangers of this world, and that there was a sea of malevolent players that wouldn't hesitate to strike down a couple of wandering hermits for a couple of laughs. We created a plan incase of some sort of player attack, and then we were on our way.
There was a certain magic to it; two young travelers on a quest to find kinship in a world so big they could never hope to see it all. On the way we passed settlements with crops like gold, towns bigger than we had ever seen before. We battled foxes, ran from bears, and discovered rare objects the likes of which were mysterious to us. On and on our adventure slithered through dim forests and wild plains.
All of this just to meet up with some friendly players and maybe make a few trades if we could. As we neared the Sevillian Community Market, excitement filled the air. Finally, our four hour quest was coming to a close. What strange things lay on the shores of this great place of commerce? There was no telling.
Upon our glorious arrival, we see two players. One on a black horse, the other on foot. We hopped out of the boat, unloaded our cargo, and greeted the gentlemen with fine praise.
"Good day!" I say in the chat.
"hi
" the gentlemen on the black horse says.My friend and I walk a bit closer our new acquaintances, ecstatic that we were actually talking with other players. Strangely, the player on foot begins to run away from us and towards our cargo. The player on the black horse inches a bit closer to my friend and I. Before I process what's going on, it's too late. The player has loaded our badger hides into the boat and is already rowing into deep water. My gut reaction is "HOLY SHIT NOOO!" and we both run towards our stolen boat. The player on horseback comes up behind us, and before we even reach the shore, slaughters us both.
We have lost everything.
. Lesson learned. It's just a game though so there's no reason to be upset especially when I knew we were making a risk. Permadeath is what makes this game so awesome. Thank you for the tip!