[2020] Notes after getting the keystone with a campfire and a box

Purges are annoying. Small brain time: avoid purges by changing server settings. Big brain time: avoid purges by never building a base.

So, I wanted to get the keystone without ever having anything that would be considered a "base". So no benches, wheels, cauldrons, beds, etc. Ultimately I allowed myself only three placeables: a campfire, a bedroll, and a box.

I won't give a long write-up, because it wasn't exactly a complex plan: buy a T3 fighter from Flotsam, cook gruel, grind grind grind, acquire components, build keystone. But here are some random thoughts:

• The next step after getting the T3 fighter is to outfit it. So, I repeatedly killed the four inhabitants of Wightwatch Lookout until I had assembled a full set of epic Cimmerian Steel armor for my thrall. She was never in danger after that, because I had plenty of time to run away if a battle was going poorly.

• Healing wasn't available (no cauldron), so I prioritized Vitality and relied on constant consumption of my stack of insects (which were plentiful due to all the gruel I was making).

• I farmed Unnamed City bosses after armoring up my fighter. This was incredibly boring. She could solo most of them, but it was 10-15 minutes per kill. I did this long enough to get Gauntlets of the Brute, the Exquisite Silk Shirt, and the Predatory Blade. This is the kit I took into the volcano. Most of my weight was consumed with the cold-resist gear I used to make the trek over the Temple of Frost, so I had no other armor. Ice and waterskins kept me cool in the volcano.

• I'd been spoiled in past games by my legendary flawless Zenobian Raider armor. Even full epic cimmerian fur and the Legacy of the Nordheimers couldn't keep the frostbite away in the far north. Fortunately I had made several runs of the Sepermeru chests to assemble a stack of firewaters.

• I had thought I'd use the box as a sort of micro-base, to leave bulky things as I went into dungeons. It turned out to be unnecessary, as I used virtually nothing from it.

• The altar of chaosmouth is one of the few places in the game where items can be stored, so it became my temporary holding place for items I wanted, but didn't want to carry.

• It could be done by a similar process with no placeables at all, but it would be even more boring. Gruel can occasionally be found in Sepermeru, so carefully dole out one serving to the fighter per level, and otherwise let her fight unbuffed.

• I shouldn't have bothered with the Temple of Frost at all. I forgot that that isn't the path that leads directly to the Well of Skelos. I should have gone through Dragonmouth or the High Way.

• I activated the keystone at level 56. It was just painfully slow building up levels without all the free journey steps that a base affords.

Overall it was pointless and boring. 10/10!