…Or a feedback presented in story form on their drop rate. Totes not cannon, except for the drop rate grumping.
TL:DR summary: Frozen heart drop rates from slith are so bad, it can be quicker to farm hearts just from opening chests, killing champions/bosses and random enemy drops. Which is really, really annoying vis crafting, where certain recipes are heavily reliant on them. Written in this form just because I felt like it and it helps break the monotony of yet another frozen hearts thread.
1st Entry:
Of course the assignment went to the void, damn Korvan’s guards and damn the nightblade that wasn’t meant to be there. So now I need to get out of Malmouth, lay low and somehow find the coin to make it up to the client so I don’t loose my head. Since they’re very insistent on being compensated, the sort of insistent that promises a nightblade’s knife in your side if you don’t pay, no matter where you run to…
Fortunately one of the alchemists I get special kit from really needs some frozen hearts and will pay well for any. And since they’re harvest from slith and so are conveniently found far enough south in Wightmire this could solve most of my problems. Now just to stow away on a boat heading south and get the f*ck out of the Candlelight District before I catch something terminal. I swear this slith hole of a district has gotten worse recently, heck, even the sewer’s come off cleaner at the present. Speaking of which, I need to avoid that drunk who lives down there, otherwise he’ll talk me into submission again and check the stash in the broken pipe.
2nd Entry:
May the void take them all, just managed to get on board a boat heading south to Burrwitch, saw the weirdest thing too as I avoid being spotted. As Korvan’s gang had an arcarnist with them with green, glowing eyes giving orders. Same colour as the crystals I saw while trying to do the job. I know I’m in sh*t with Korvan, but so much so they pull in an arcarnist? What the hell is going on? Fortunately that amulet I found years back saved my arse again and so safely hidden in the hold I’m off to the backwater hole that is Burrwitch.
Scribbled poorly - Over heard the crew talking about Port Valbury - it’s all going to sh*t there and apparently people are being arrested on suspicion of being witches and sent off to Malmouth. But as far as the crew’s heard those being sent off to Malmouth are about as magical as a rock, nor are they bound in the chains the Luminari use either. Add in the other rumour’s I heard in Malmouth and from Erulan and this old thief is wondering I wondering if they should head even further south. Not that it would save me.
3rd Entry:
Made it to Burrwitch, air’s tense like a there’s a thunderstorm approaching, there’s a lot of people here to, heading south. Means I had to doss in a basement, but the company on the road to Wightmire suits me fine, since apparently the groble tribe’s have move back into the forests. Odd since the army’s meant to patrol deep inland to keep the little sht’s away, fcker’s are far too good with crossbows and now they’ve got guns. Love to meet whoever’s been selling gear to grobles because they’re too stupid to make them themselves. Can feel the old bolt wound aching already. Though if I do get a chance to fight them, this time I’ve got plenty of trick’s up my sleeve for taking them out. Might even get a decent crossbow of them too.
4th Entry:
Finally in Wightmire, got ambushed twice by grobles on the way in, but shadow striking into the pack and quickly slitting their throats, with the odd throwing blade to any witch doctors, made rapid work of the little green f*ckers. Recovered a good crossbow too, with a pretty nifty enchantment on it that summons’s poison bolts and strangely fast firing speed. Barely takes any effort to pull the bow string back, but still fires with enough force to punch through any armour in the way. Which was handy when a pack of bloody rift hounds appeared out the fog. Anyhow, now to leave the refugee’s I’ve been travelling with and find the nearest Rover camp. They’re always a good source for getting knowledge of the lay of the land, and the safest places to doss. Never stole from me either.
Refugee’s had some odd tales though, rumours of all sorts of trouble to the north, of missing people and Imperial Army being taken away from the place’s their needed. And of the Cult of Ch’thon stirring, which scares the f*ck out of me, another bad memory from my time in the army…
5th Entry:
Down to business, slept and broke bread (well, fish stew and root veg) with the Rovers and got the locations of plenty of slith den’s from them. Seems like the groble’s the army’s been slack in clearing them out and the there’s plenty to hunt for me. Should have plenty of frozen hearts in no time and hopefully wont have to head deep inland east, into the untracked depths of the Mire.
Heard some more disturbing rumours and tales from the rover’s too, of mutated foxes causing forester’s off to the south to become sick and running off, of rover bands being hunted or vanishing. And that the wendigo’s are stirring in Ugdenbog again, making me very, very happy I didn’t take the road south. It was bad enough when I patrolled through there in my youth in the army and what I heard about the raid to clear out that old Arkovian pile deep in the bog still gives me nightmares. That and I avoid going to Barrowholm, place should have fallen into the bog years ago and last time I had to pick up something from there for a client the place just crept the voids out of me. I swear I heard an inhuman scream last time I was there and I’ll admit Scorv scared the f*ck out me. Something’s seriously wrong with that place.
6th Entry:
Cleared out 2 dens today, no f*cking frozen hearts and I reek of slith. So much for an easy job. Did get a small pile of jewellery though, they really seem to love it. Nothing top notch, but it’ll sell well enough.
7th Entry
Spent the last two days clearing out a hundred plus slith, including a matriarch. 1 bit of a fcking frozen heart for all that trouble and I swear the stench of slith is embedded in my very skin. Fcking off to Devil’s Crossing for a bath and sell nearly all the loot I got. Found a pretty nice dagger though, makes it less exhausting to shadow strike and improves the effects of the poison I usually use on my blades. Also, which fcking god thought giant mosquito’s were a good idea? The regular sized ones are bad enough as the bites I’ve amassed show, but the giant ones are another fcking matter. Saw a bunch of them suck a bone rat dry horribly quick. Died quick to to my groble crossbow too when they turned their attention to me. So much for the slith sent hiding me.
8th Entry:
Devil’s Crossing - rough, but they have baths and a bed and a f*cking inquisitor visiting. Turns out the rumours about the foresters was more than rumours according the scuttlebutt in the tavern. Creed cornered me too before he left, said he detected my lucky amulet. Didn’t take it though, but said it’s old and a lot more powerful than I though, but not enough to end up in a Luminari Vault, unlike his. Queer thing his amulet was. Anyhow, chuckled when I told him I was hunting slith for frozen hearts, joked I’d probably have more luck in the Asterkan Mountain wilds, but thanked me for dealing with the local slith problem and chucked me some coins for my good work. Did look worried for a moment when he realised how bad the infestation had become though.
As for the money issue - sold off the loot at the local general store, Harry was very happy with with the haul of weapons, since for what ever reason his usual supplier from Malmouth hadn’t delivered, and with all the monsters about, the locals are hungry for weapons. Especially guns or crossbows. Tried to offer me a big chunk for the Slayer (stupid name I know), but I’m not parting with it for love nor money. Too damn handy for punching holes in threats from a distance. Still need more hearts though, so off to the eastern side of the Burrwitch road to hunt again.
9th Entry:
Found a bunch of cave systems, more surface dens and a track further inland with the promise of more bloody slith. Claimed couple of hundred odd of the damn things, and now have 2 complete frozen hearts. So 2 down, 18 to bloody go. And of course, half the parts dropped from stuff other than slith. Starting to think the whole claim slith a good source of frozen hearts is a f*cking myth.
10th Entry:
[water stained] Rain, rain and more rain, routes are all flooded out and I’ve been stuck on this hill for a couple of days so far. Did bag some more slith though, since they love the flooded mire and thought I was easy prey. No hearts though, but more rings.
11th Entry:
After 4 days I can finally get the f*ck off this hill. Bagged a bone rat too and smoked it with fresh Wightmire herbs and spices for field rations that make my army days ones taste like ash. So don’t need to hit Devil’s Crossing for supplies. Flood cleared out some of the rock’s and tree’s blocking access further inland and with all the local slith otherwise extinct for the moment, inland I go in my now mad seeming quest.
12th Entry: (4th wall note - this isn’t in the game obviously)
It’s been a good week of hunting, got 10 out of the 20 frozen hearts I needed, but mostly from other sources than slith. Killed hundreds of as I ranged far inland to the deeply forest foothills the are the eastern edge of Wightmire, but all for a handful of heart pieces. Bagged a lot of rift hounds, grobles and even half-trolls though next time I’ve avoiding trolls completely. Bastards are far too resistant to poison and the battle took a hour+ and ended with me jumping up on it’s back and cutting off it’s damn head. Luckily meet some Rovers so had a safe spot to doss and recover. Along with trade with them for food and some replacement armour, since the fight with the troll stuffed my chest piece after I caught a glancing blow from it’s axe like club. They also told me off an old Arkovian fort in the foot hills that guarded a gold mine of all things. Apparently infested with the undead, but after the Crypt job I know the which poison to use to cause their bones to crumble and with the Slayer I can punch through the undead knight’s armour. As the frozen ones apparently drop frozen hearts.
Otherwise I’ll have to head south below Devil’s Crossing and follow the river to the east inland, to were a swamp rich in slith apparently is. And I am utterly f*cking sick of smelling like them and the route’s a pain to do apparently, so void it, I’ll go check out this fort.
13th Entry:
[some blood stains] Sh*tting Nobles that was fun, haven’t had to fight that hard in ages, though would have died if not for my lucky amulet, got injured by what seemed to be a golem made of bones and my arm guards and gloves are beyond salvaging, but looks like I might have some loot that’ll fit. Bagged the rest of the frozen hearts too, but completely out of bolts until I scavenge some of the now truly dead undead. And damn was this place full of undead. Seemed like a whole legion of Arkovian’s here, but noticed more civilian looking ones, particularly in the mine itself, combined with all the home stuff lying around, it’s almost as if they could have fled here for safety. Didn’t see any gold ore though. Might need to ask the Rovers, if I run into them again, what this place’s history was. Bagged plenty of loot too, including a blade that seems to shift in and out of view. No idea how to use it, but should be worth a chest worth of coin. Now to get out of here and back eventually to dear old Malmouth and the comforts (and taverns) of the Steelcap District. Need to rest though for a day or 2 first.
14th Entry:
Heh, turns out the new gloves are enchanted to spit ice spikes, got a shock when they did when I was hunting bone rats. And it turns out if you have a whole lot of frozen hearts together they can be used to freeze stuff, so hello possible portable stash of frozen, fresh food! Even if it is just bone rat or the odd snake and fish.
15th Entry:
Sh*t, the Rover camp’s been recently attacked, all the wagon’s are in ruins, but there’s no bodies except for a very mutilated and mutated corpse freed of it’s head. There’s a sweet, rotting smell in the air too and I can see a strange green glow in the distance coming from one of the small hills in the Mire, with drag marks and blood stains leading that way. Same green as that Arcanist’s eyes where glowing, what the void is going on?
16th Entry:
[blood, water stains] In the dark, in driving rain I snuck up to the hill top. What in the void did I see up there?! They were raising dead rovers back like they were undead, with the same sick green glow involved, coming in tendrils from cluster of crystals. Watched in total shtting horror as one of the living rovers I know from the camp was subjected to the tendril while alive, except instead of becoming a shambling thing, what resulted was like they were taken over and they spoke with a voice that was not their fcking own.
So of course I dove into it.
Stupid me.
Survived though, the things are all dead this time, the crystal cluster destroyed and the possessed left headless. Only 3 rovers survived and I’m f*cked myself from a stab wound to the side, though a rover women thinks she can heal me with royal jelly balm. Rovers said the things called themselves Aetherials and that they claimed they’d taken over the empire with their Glorious Dawn. What in the void is going on?
Going to put this journal aside now and sleep and hopefully wake up in a couple days still alive, but somehow I don’t think I need to worry about Korvan or the client anymore, but probably no one now wants these damn hearts either. F*ck.
Well that was kind of fun to write and yes, last run I did I gained more than half the frozen hearts I got from random drops from things other than slith. Got 3 pieces from slith, 15 from other sources, despite finding and gibbing every slith I could find. Though the RNG gods did smile on me and I had crazy good legendary drop rates, up until I decided to run Loggy for some blood. Right, need some bloody lunch, since this distracted me from that and get in some more frozen heart/slith genocide farming.