Into the West: Let's Play Oregon Trail II

[Wreckingrocc]

Spread garlic everywhere, and eat half of it. That'll keep those vampires away.

Immobilize the elbow. That sounds unhealthy

[Fri]

We never started with any mirrors... I just checked the first page...

That explains so many things....

[Zarah]

Update! First things first, my absence: I attended a wedding in Regina this weekend, and while I had internet access, I did not bring Oregon Trail 2 along with me, so the updating had to cease. However, I had a more pressing matter to deal with...

See, when I run into interruptions in the game, such as fallen rocks, injuries, sickness, thick dust, etc. the game pauses on that screen, but I can't save the game. I have to wait until I get to a landmark/river/hill to actually save the game. So, in order to preserve continuity, I keep the game running in the background as long as I can. Unfortunately, my computer decided to update and restart itself one night while I was asleep, thus taking Oregon Trail 2 with it and any progress I had made. Now, this didn't set me back far, since I had saved at Sinker Creek Butte just prior to our little accident, but since OT2 is such a random game, having to replay anything will change our fate.

And in this case, it changed it for the better. I reloaded the game just now, double-teamed the animals, and we made down the hill just fine. No tipped wagon. No sprained elbow. Nothing at all but pure sailing. So, AgentPaper is at full-health thanks to our fate-altering time machine, I guess. Now, let's get on with the trip!


We came across a few landscapes, but they were of little note.





To make matters worse, we were running out of supplies. We had no meat, and upon stopping at the next landmark, I was informed that our water supply was Alkali. Certainly not good.



Upon arriving in Lytle Pass, one of settlers approached me with a smile. He said that the alkali water was no longer a problem.

"Great! That's some good news for a change."

"Indeed. We no longer have water."

"Son of a b—"

However, it wasn't long before we managed to find some water. Some water that was waiting for us...



Don't let its tranquility fool you.

[absolmorph]

Ford it.
FORD IT.

[tarbrush]

Like you even need to ask.

Or, alternatively, attempt to drink it dry. This may take some time.

[Flickerdart]

It's only one and a half feet. Ford it like in the good old days.

[The Glyphstone]

No, no, ve..er, we must travel along its banks until v-we find the source, then go around it that vay..way. Crossing a river is...um...bad luck, yes, like breaking a mirror. That's vhy we didn't bring any mirrors, so vw...we vouldn't get bad luck from their inevitable breaking!

Or we can ford it.

[Wreckingrocc]

Vampires can't cross running water.

Ford it.

And if you mysteriously find our chicken and/or cattle dead and drained of blood, it's not because I'm a vampire; it's because we're out of water, and I have an Iron deficiency. *Glances nervously back and forth*

[chiasaur11]

Which leads to the question.

Was the water Alkaline...

Or blessed by a priest?

[Teron]

Fun fact: "malheur" is French for "misfortune".

But, hey, I think this is just about the smallest river you've come across. I'm sure nothing will go wrong.

[Dexam]

Wait for the next ice age to freeze it solid, and for the resulting glacial activity to carve a deep inlet to the coast.

Fjord that river!

[Zarah]

The river offered little resistance to our wheels of steel. Or wood. One of the two, I can't be bothered to remember...



The landmarks were getting much less interesting, but at least we had water again. I guess everyone must have filled up at the last river, which leads to ask what might have been in the water... Probably best not to think about it.

Some time after the last landmark, I was approached by a nameless settler, who told me that the path was getting rough up ahead.

"Nonsense!" I told him. "I'm sure it's nothing we can't just roll through!"



"Oh."

[absolmorph]

I believe this calls for the usual.
Or, you could mix it up: Tie ropes to the rocks, then ford the rope.

[Flickerdart]

Keep going. The rocks are just waiting for you to slip up before they getcha.

[Zarah]

Somehow, we managed to bypass the obstruction by precariously balancing the wheels of our wagons upon some ropes tied over top of them. Don't ask how it worked, but we must have had the blessings of some kind of god to get over that. In any event, we pressed on...



...To Flagstaff Hill. I didn't see any flagstaffs around, and was understandably disappointed, but at least it was a bit of a better view than sand.



I wondered if our little rope trick could work twice in a row....

[Fri]

I now believe that you guys have some sort of destiny. You guys will be doing some important, world-changing event in oregon in the future. What is that is anybody's guess, but that's why from you guys should've died a dozen tim,es already but still alive now.

[Flickerdart]

Keep going. The longer you take, the higher the chance of horrible death.

[ZeroNumerous]

Keep going. The longer you take, the higher the chance of horrible death.

Lock the wheels first. Our wagon is the wagon that shall surf ANY VALLEY!

[Raroy]

I now believe that you guys have some sort of destiny.

Yes, Manifest destiny.

Ford that hill, you've forded the entire country, I don't see how a hill could be any challenge at all at this point.

[Zarah]

We pushed onward, down the hill with little incident. Really, we have to be getting pretty damn good at this by now. We seem to be having some pretty darn good luck...



It wasn't long after we came to a river, but I didn't want to waste time, so I immediately ordered everyone to ford it at once. There were some Indians nearby that were offering to help, but I shrugged them off. I would have shot at them, but we apparently had no gunpowder left.

Damn.



And then we came to a bloody mountain. Great. I don't suppose we could go around?

[Flickerdart]

Find those Indians and make them push the wagons. Alternately, ropes.

[absolmorph]

Tie ropes to the mountain and throw it to pull your wagons.
Then ford the air to save yourself from falling to your death.

[Zarah]

Ropes it was. I'm not sure what the other settlers did with them, since I just ordered them to "use ropes." However, whatever they did seemed to work just fine. But, of course, what goes up...



Must come down. I didn't want to waste time, and we seemed to be on a streak with our ropes, so I ordered the others to do it all again.

Amazingly enough, it worked. And we found ourselves in Doe Canyon.



"We might be in a bit of trouble," one of the settlers from the back of the train told me.

"And why is that? Things are looking better than ever!"

"We have no meat left! At all!"

"Then we eat candy."

"We HAVE been eating candy. For 1600 miles. We need meat."

"Fine, fine, I'll find some damn meat. Go fetch one of my guns. I'm going hunting!"

"Yeah, about that..."



"FFFFFFFFF—"

Well, we pressed on anyway, and no sooner had we complained about the lack of meat that we stumbled onto some wild fruit.



"This isn't meat."

"Shut up, it's meat if I tell you it's meat."

[xp194]

Ford the fruit.

That is all.

[arguskos]

Ford the fruit.

That is all.

Why are we STILL wondering what the solution to everything is?

[ZeroNumerous]

Ford the fruit.

Ford

In interest of actually getting us to Oregan: Collect berries.

[Zarah]

We kept moving. No time to slow down. But the others still managed to grab some fruit before we passed by, adding 9 pounds to our wagon. Not a lot in retrospect, but considering our supplies at the time, nine pounds was enough to rejoice about...



We soon arrived at Umatilla Valley, along with another change of music. We were nearing the end of our tedious journey!



Umatilla River. Well, okay, I guess whoever named these places wasn't terribly creative. Either way, we knew what had to be done and we forded the river with ease. Nothing would stand in our way!



"Okay, I never want to hear the name 'Umatilla' ever again. Seriously."





After passing by a couple more less-than-noteworthy landmarks, we were well on our way into the last stretch toward Oregon City. However, we couldn't start celebrating yet...



"That's it, who picks these names? Honestly. Whoever they are, they need to be shot."

"But we don't have any gunpowder..."

"Shut up."

[arguskos]

Given that the fine motor company has done well by you thus far, I feel the only true solution is to Ford(tm) as per usual.

[xp194]

Do I even need to say it?

Shame we used all the gunpowder playing Team Fortress 2... >_>

[Starbuck_II]

Whoa, we have little water and no food. Will we have to resort to canabalism?
Ford that river!