Healing others?

[Tom H]

I accidentally shot my Companion (yes, really) and hurt him so badly that he can't walk. He's telling me he's leaving in two days (clearly holding no grudge). Is there any way I can utilize my physician skill on him? Or, on my dogs, whom I've ALSO shot in the past? For the record, I'm considered a Master with the bow...lol.

If I can't heal him, how is he going to get back to his village? Should I escort him back, before the two days is up? (Which would leave me dragging my crippled dog, too)

Also, as he says he's a master with axes, why does he wield his broad knife, even though I gave him a woodsman's ax?

[PALU]

No, you can't heal either. There was a recent change of the game to allow you to heal your animals and other companions to stop bleeding (so they won't bleed out while you stand there), but that's the limit of it. I haven't tried healing NPCs, although it should be possible to try it on Njerps.

Your companion is just going to lie there until he's healed sufficiently to walk, which may take a couple of months (I've had a visiting woodsman cut down trees in my trap array, thus removing a trap from the array, and then step into the trap he could no longer detect: I think it took 2 months before he was able to walk again). Just leave him there and he'll eventually make his way back, although it's probably better role playing to move to the village before releasing him from your service (he ought to follow you, as ought the dog (even unconscious dogs follow you)). If you don't want to bring the dog along you can leash it and tie it to a tree.

Why is he using the knife? NPCs aren't as smart as you'd like...

[Tom H]

He did tag along with me. When I shot him I thought he'd be an invalid so I built a shelter over him in the woods and expected to have to maintain him there until he healed. But, when I ran back to my cabin for food, I was surprised to find he'd followed me there. Now I have to tell him to stay when I leave to check traps, etc. heh

I'm actually considering escort him back until his time is up. The problem with that is that he'll expect commensurate rewards upon release and I don't know how to determine what he'd consider a sufficient reward. I wanted to test whether or not he would be happy with some fur clothing, food, paw traps, and such.

Btw, thank you for your various replies, Palu! You've cleared up some of my in-game quandaries.

This guy is my first to reach mid-winter. I can't believe how focused one becomes on avoiding that ONE mistake that will send you back to square one. I felt it was an achievement when he trapped and killed his first bear. I don't fight bears anymore...lol. But my Companion, Grandmaster with a bow, he fights them, with a broad blade!

[PALU]

My standard payment is 50 cuts of dried meat, which probably is a gross over payment. That is in addition to any weapons requested, although those should be considered part of the payment. Thus, I typically dismiss companions when my robber killing is done and don't pay them more than I gave them initially. Occasionally someone is grumpy, and I assume that is because they dropped their weapon during the fighting mess and I picked it up when the fighting was over.

Also, be VERY careful with companions wielding missile weapons! They will try to fire at the target, and don't care one bit about you or another companion is in the way. I'm not even sure missiles have wounded enemies more than my own party, and I'm definitely sure "friendly fire" has resulted in killed party members.
I personally don't hire anyone who's got a missile weapon... The only one allowed to wield one is my character, as I think I'm sufficiently smart to not fire into my companions backs (not that arrows haven't gone badly off course, at times).

[Tom H]

No other archers? That's intriguing. It sounds like you have a bigger group than I have yet to use.

Presently, I'm a 2-dog, 1 Companion group, because for some reason every time I go into the wild to look for traders or a bear, I've been finding Njerp. I don't sweat those who have no bow. But, when I see broad blade arrows, I get concerned. The few times I've seen robbers, I've just avoided them completely. Robbers and hand-to-hand with bears are two of the things I avoid now because they're just too dangerous. Oh, and freaking wolves, too! In the Unreal World, it's best not to try to play every hand...heh.

I've paid the latest Companions off with cheap leather armor bits, some fur clothes items, a decent ax if they say they're good with one. I'd been also giving them javelins, but, your thoughts on ranged weapons will dissuade me from that in the future. I've had a few arrows zing past my head from behind.

I keep hoping that foreign traders will offer me really good knives. I don't think they carry them for trading.

The calendar says it is now in the 8th week before Summer. Where the heck did spring go? All I've seen is heavier and heavier snows!

Anyway, thanks for the advice!

[PALU]

I hire companions for two reasons only. The first one is the training course event, and the second one is for robber quests. When performing those I round up a posse where I try to outnumber the robbers 2:1 (and when I've hired the group I try to take out as many other robber groups I can, as I mark where I've encountered robbers on my map).

Javelins are not a problem, as NPCs only know how to use bows and crossbows. In fact, it's possible to game enemies to overload themselves with rocks and stones as they tend to pick those up. Generally that's not a useful tactic, but if you're playing an escaped slave who won't start with the rest of their life until the captors are dead it might be useful.

I engage Njerps, but not in spruce infested forests (too poor visibility). There's a useful tactic/exploit for taking out bow wielding ones with little risk...

I always avoid bears and wolves. I kill ones caught in traps by firing blunt arrows at them from out of their reach and by pelting them with rocks and stones.

When I see an "adventurer" on the map I try to approach them from a distance (as with Njerps) so I can zoom out and retreat if they turn out to be robbers.

UrW doesn't have Spring or Autumn, only Summer and Winter halves of the year. 8 weeks before Summer should mean you're somewhere in January (there's a calendar on the wiki). Also, I've had the ground being frozen (and thus not possible to plant seeds in it) well into June at times. It's also useful to realize that "midsummer" and "midwinter" is actually the middle of the season, not the solstices, so they're offset by 2-3 weeks.

[Tom H]

I thought that robbers had a distinctive look. They don't look like, say, vagabonds or traders.

 I have not gotten as far as a Robber quest. I've been trying to get the Forest Spirit to appear. I do the spell, drop a silver bracelet on an ant hill and stand there all night, to no avail. Bah...

Have you ever run from a robber encounter, gone into a village, and had the robbers follow and attack inside the village? I thought that was interesting. One more thing to increase my game anxiety. 

PS: Ok, Upon waking in the morning, I got a message that said 'You have Unity with the forest'. Surely, tonite the forest spirits will come! Anyway, I'll try again.

[PALU]

Robbers at a distance look exactly the same as a single adventurer at a distance, so you have to approach from a distance if you want to be able to leave robbers without being robbed (or fight).

If I remember correctly, you may want to drop the silver item beside the ant hill and push it onto the hill, although it might be that dropping might work as well.

I haven't had robber fights in villages, but I've had Njerp ones. I've also had a case where a fight involved traders, although I don't remember if it was against robbers or a single Njerp, but I think it was the latter).

[Dungeon Smash]

I thought that robbers had a distinctive look. They don't look like, say, vagabonds or traders.

 I have not gotten as far as a Robber quest. I've been trying to get the Forest Spirit to appear. I do the spell, drop a silver bracelet on an ant hill and stand there all night, to no avail. Bah...

Have you ever run from a robber encounter, gone into a village, and had the robbers follow and attack inside the village? I thought that was interesting. One more thing to increase my game anxiety. 

PS: Ok, Upon waking in the morning, I got a message that said 'You have Unity with the forest'. Surely, tonite the forest spirits will come! Anyway, I'll try again.

you have to sacrifice the silver, using the sacrificing ritual.  Not just drop it.

[Tom H]

I thought that robbers had a distinctive look. They don't look like, say, vagabonds or traders.

 I have not gotten as far as a Robber quest. I've been trying to get the Forest Spirit to appear. I do the spell, drop a silver bracelet on an ant hill and stand there all night, to no avail. Bah...

Have you ever run from a robber encounter, gone into a village, and had the robbers follow and attack inside the village? I thought that was interesting. One more thing to increase my game anxiety. 

PS: Ok, Upon waking in the morning, I got a message that said 'You have Unity with the forest'. Surely, tonite the forest spirits will come! Anyway, I'll try again.

you have to sacrifice the silver, using the sacrificing ritual.  Not just drop it.

I confess I have no idea what that is. I'll go check my list of spells, see what I've overlooked. And, I'll have to get the quest again. It lapsed. EDIT: I checked spells again. I have to assume you mean the spell for calling the spirit? Yeah, I do that, I get the part that says to use the various game procedures, ie: dropping or pushing the item. I have done it both ways, in conjunction with the spell, and spent entire nights standing on the ant hill. The silver item is always there in the morning and no spirits showed themselves.

And, the Water Spirit? Is there some specific type of rock? I used the one hex stones in the rapids and have had no success yet.

[PALU]

The sacrifice ritual is one of those you start with. You usually sacrifice food with it, so you probably know it well, just not that that's the one referenced.

Check the description of the water spirit ritual carefully. It might say base rock, in which case it has to be one described as base rock when you look at it. If it doesn't say anything, it should be OK with any single tile rock (and UrW uses rectangles, not hexes ).

The water spirit requires that you get the timing right, and I haven't gotten that ritual to work consistently. Also make sure any dogs (and other livestock) are kept sufficiently far away, as you're supposed to be alone.

The water spirit ritual can be performed without a quest once you've learned it, and I assume the forest spirit one can be as well, although I haven't tried. I don't know if these quests can be received again if they lapse, but you should be able to perform the rituals regardless.

[Tom H]

The sacrifice ritual is one of those you start with. You usually sacrifice food with it, so you probably know it well, just not that that's the one referenced.

Check the description of the water spirit ritual carefully. It might say base rock, in which case it has to be one described as base rock when you look at it. If it doesn't say anything, it should be OK with any single tile rock (and UrW uses rectangles, not hexes ).

The water spirit requires that you get the timing right, and I haven't gotten that ritual to work consistently. Also make sure any dogs (and other livestock) are kept sufficiently far away, as you're supposed to be alone.

The water spirit ritual can be performed without a quest once you've learned it, and I assume the forest spirit one can be as well, although I haven't tried. I don't know if these quests can be received again if they lapse, but you should be able to perform the rituals regardless.

Very good news, Palu! The Water Spirit is done. I neglected to GO NAKED...heh. I'll try the Forest Spirit soon. Unfortunate that I may have missed out on a new spell from that one....

[PALU]

Congratulations!

No concealed weapons! Very important! Or the water spirits just like to see those funny goose bumps...

The forest spirit spell is received from the spirit, if I remember correctly, so you may still have a chance. In my case it was a useless one, as it has to be performed on a terrain feature that's not present within a day's travel from my charcter's homestead.

[Tom H]

I've often gotten the message that says I'm at "unity' with the forest. It would be helpful to know what that means and what I've done to have achieved that status. And, my Water Spirit looked peaceful and carried a bream. So, they don't hate me and the fishing will be good? (which it isn't...lol)

[PALU]

You achieve a good standing with the spirits by sacrificing, and you damage relations by fishing/hunting and cutting trees. Fishing will be good compared to what it would be if your standing was bad, but it doesn't compensate for poor skill or over fishing.