The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 5 – 05/01/22 – 393 Days, 9 Hours, 3 Minutes and 49 Seconds to go…

Day 5 started with the confirmation of something I had guessed – Monty and I don’t ‘do time’ in the same way! 😅 I fired up my Switch, a little giddy at the thought of crossing the [broken stair] but was immediately brought back to earth with a bump, seeing as the stalactite was still hanging from the ceiling. 😒 Really glad I didn’t wait around for it to fall last night – I’d have been knackered this morning!

Well, with that revelation putting a kybosh on my plans for the play session, I decided to head home and give the instrument a little go. Let’s see if we can’t get a little better today, eh Monty? And so off Monty went, shuffling his way home, and after an entirely uneventful journey, entered the [Hall of the Mountain King]. Taking a look at His Majesty for the first time since the wacky dream, I realised that the old man drawing water didn’t bear quite as much of a resemblance to the King as I had first thought. Hmm, maybe I’m going off the rails with this idea. Am I becoming a conspiracy theorist after just four days of this? Sheesh. I’m not willing to entirely give up on the theory but it might be a good thing that I’ve had my expectations checked early on.

Heading into [our room] there were no changes to report and so set Monty off with the horn for a few tries, in the hopes that he might come up with something.

Attempt 1 – 🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵

Attempt 2 – *slightly higher pitch* 🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵

Attempt 3 – 🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵-🎵

…so I guess we’re on the ‘blow the same note six times’ stage of musical learning 😅 Clearly Monty wasn’t ready for any progress yet, and with absolutely nothing left on the agenda, I thought we could go for a stroll in the [Endless Halls], which Monty corrected me should be called the [Halls of Eternity]. That is a little more grand, in fairness.

Upon arriving, I thought we could make this a bit of a deeper foray into the Halls and see if there were more goodies to be had further along the corridor. I set myself a timer for 15 minutes and sent Monty inside, thinking that I’ll turn him around once the alarm goes off. I don’t want to waste my session entirely down here. So off he went, his little feet slapping on the polished stone of the Hall as he walked into eternity. I’m not going to try and jazz up the events here – it was literally walking in a straight line with zero change of scenery – but with that said, it did turn out to be a fruitful stroll.

Monty collected six blank pieces of paper to draw on, loose pages from two books and entirely new book as well. The jewel in the haul though was a taxidermy horse head that Monty mused would ‘give him another face to look at’. Bless. So with all that picked up, I sent Monty back home again, eager to see what books he’d found and admire the mounted head hung up on the wall.

For the first in what I assume is going to be many occasions, I can say that there was nothing to report about the journey home. I’m going to get bored of typing that over the next year, aren’t I? Stepping in the door, I saw the horse head hung proudly above the entrance and looked fab. I couldn’t have chosen a better place for you myself.

Moving over to the bookshelf, I noticed a volume titled ‘Thoughts’. I had seen this one the last time I looked at the shelf, but I think it was blank (or almost blank) when I checked it out… This time there were eight pages, each containing what seemed to be Monty’s musings about different things we’d run into so far. Ah, an in-game progress log – this will be handy, for sure. I won’t bore you with all of the specifics, but there were definitely a few things worth talking about.

• While discussing the King’s 400 day slumber, Monty mentions that ‘at least my birthday will be a bit sooner’ His birthday? I’m definitely going to have to check this as often as I can – I’d hate to miss it
• Monty had made an entry that said “I wish I could dream of another place”, which had since been crossed out, and he goes on to outline the dream scene. In his description he reveals that the old man is blind and that the child is a troll. Definitely worth keeping in mind, should more references come up. He also wonders whether the place exists for real, or only in his imagination. What an interesting thought…
• He also writes that the “cave is full of hidden places”… Perhaps there’s more to the areas I’ve seen that meets the eye – I’d better keep my eyes open when we’re shuffling around
• One particular entry made me a little wide-eyed – in it, Monty describes feeling the presence of a “great darkness” lurking in the caves, and questions where it is and if he can overcome it. So far this has not been an experience of overcoming anything except boredom – I seriously hope we don’t run into any ‘darkness’, great or otherwise
• Monty goes on to talk about painting too, saying “I definitely need more pictures on my wall. Especially… lice pictures.” Lice pictures?! What the hell, man?
• And lastly, Monty confirms that “luckily I don’t need to eat, but it would be nice to grow some pretty mushrooms.” Grow them here? Or in the mines? Maybe I need to bring a ‘shroom back here?

And so, with the notes skimmed and ready to be mulled over, I thought about making the place comfy for the night. But first… let’s draw a picture of a louse, since that’s what the little weirdo wants. 😆 Monty scribbled out a pretty decent louse picture in red clay and I hung above the bookshelf. He didn’t mention it, and the entry in the book didn’t change, so who knows what that’s about? 😅 Maybe he needs more than one? We’ll do another one tomorrow and see.

Finally, before ending my play session, I had Monty prepare a fire and sit down to read more Moby Dick. Time was ticking over at six times speed now, so that stalactite would be the first thing on my agenda next time I check in…

NOTE FROM EDITOR

We published a piece on 05/01/2022 titled “The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 4 – 04/01/22 – 394 Days, 8 Hours, 33 Minutes and 53 Seconds to go…“ in which we inaccurately described “Girlfriend” as “Uninterested”. I would like to say that I am sincerely sorry for this mischaracterisation and set the record straight in saying that Girlfriend is, in fact, interested. I apologise for any upset caused by this inaccuracy. 😘

Continue reading: Day 6