While my first attempt at getting the blacksmith was unsuccessful, I would not allow that to detour me from a second attempt. There were also some other areas around me I wanted to explore.
After recovering at my flame altar after my first major defeat, I decided to do a night run of the decaying castle like a structure that is not that far from my encampment. There were a couple of creatures lurking inside, but nothing I could handle.
I also found a chest and a few items I was able to break open for some random loot. Nothing major, but at this point, I really need anything I can get my hands on. I would in a rather short amount of time need to expand my encampment out to fit my ever-growing needs.
Once it became daylight again, I gathered up the nerve to head back down the road and into the enshrouded area. This time I stayed on the road and did not take a single step off, no matter what was attempting to lure me from my path. I understood my time there was rather limited, and I just wanted to make it to the other side at this point.
After descending for a short while. Along with walking what felt like forever along a winding flat road. The grade of the path started to go upwards. I was met with a steep incline that I needed to use some metal meshing on a cliffside to get up.
The road then went further on and even forked at one point. There were some small structures as well. Nothing interesting inside any of them, so I just kept walking. While my intent was not to get distracted by anything, I could not help myself.
At one point, I started to hear this strange buzzing sound. Then a swarm of hornets dived at me. I started running for my life further down the road. After taking a few hits, I made enough distance between the hornets that I was able to duck into some bushes, and they lost track of me.
At this point, it became clear I needed some kind of armor. I ended up making a ragged shirt. While it would not do much for it. I at least wanted something to cover my chest from all the hornet stings I had suffered. I also knew at some point I'd have to pass by the nest of them again at some point to get home. Something I was not looking forward to doing.
At the end of the road was a rather strange building that had a light glow coming from it. Inside this pod, which looked like the one I had awakened in myself. The blacksmith was inside. I broke him out, and we headed home.
This time I did not stay on the road. I detoured a bit off the path with the plans to sneak up to where I think the nest of hornets was. Sure enough, this time around I spotted up in a tree the nest. I snuck up on it and gave it one giant wack with my weapon. It split open, and they came charging at me. This time, however, I was ready, and I gave the swarm one giant swing. I killed enough of them that the rest flew off, not wanting anything else to do with me.
The rest of the trip home was rather uneventful. I headed back into the enshrouded area, down into a valley. I then came back out the other side unscathed. Anything that had taunted me before was long gone.
Once back home, it was clear the hut I had set up for myself was not going to be enough. So I knocked it down and started to build a bit of a bigger building. While it felt like I made it way too big for just the two of us. I was told others needed to be rescued as well. I had no idea how many were out there. I at least wanted a bit enough space for a couple of them.
I slowly started to further explore the area around me. That is something I'd come to enjoy doing a lot. There would be some massive dungeons and amazing-looking areas to discover as I ventured into more dangerous areas. For now, things were rather peaceful. With perhaps just a wolf or some hornets being my biggest worries of the day.
By daylight, I'd go out mining stone or cutting down further trees. At first, it was just around where my encampments were. There was a way to upgrade my flame to give a wider area of protection where I could build within. It also seemed to provide some kind of further protection from the enshrouded areas when I was in them.
In getting enough materials, what I felt like was enough to start some smaller buildings. I decided to go back into the enshrouded area. I could see from the cliff that I was in a deep red area of it. Needless to say, it drew me in wanting to know why that area was so deep red.
Before reaching that dark red area, I discovered another like me. He was much higher level than I and had a lot better gear. I was offered some safety to stay at his flame altar for a while. While many times I'd go off on my own adventures. Many times, I'd tag along in whatever was the latest area that would get me killed after taking a hit or two. It would always be some kind of rewarding adventure, just a costly one at that.
We noticed a bright red coming from a large structure within the enshrouded area and decided to go check that out first instead. It ended up leading down to a massive underground chamber. I had to climb down a few ladders and steps to get to the bottom.
Inside ended up being a boss named Fell Thunderbrute. He was also protecting some kind of giant mushroom-like structure, which was causing the red glow in the area. I charged at the boss, and after taking a single blow, I ended up pulling back a bit to recover some health.
After that point, I mostly just charged at the boss to get a single blow in before retreating, dodging, and running around. It was clear I lacked the kind of gear to take any kind of real attack from this boss. All that matters in the end is that he was defeated.
After that, we chopped down the mushroom that the boss was guarding. The area turned a bright blue, and the enshrouded fog that we were fighting in disappeared from the surrounding areas.
While this was a red area, it was not the one I was going after. So I set forth alone again, back to what caused me to enter the enshrouded area in the first place. Not even seconds after entering the deep red fog, I was dead. I awake at a flame altar again sometime later. It’s clear dark red fog is deadly, and I'd be doing my best to avoid it moving forward.
Final Thoughts
It was great being able to enter the enshrouded area a couple of times before getting killed again. It’s clear I need to be careful of any red areas, but as it became apparent, they could also indicate a boss location. At least now I have the blacksmith and can make some better items once I get the materials.
Information
Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about Enshrouded.
Disclosure: A review copy of the game was received for free.
Disclosure: This content was written during early access.
