The Mountain
| The Mountain | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Location |
The Mountain is the whole northern shoulder of the valley, and more of the game's progress is gated here than anywhere else. Robin's Carpenter's Shop sits on the western side and builds every barn, coop and farmhouse upgrade a save will ever order. The lake in the middle is where most farmers learn to fish, because the Carp here bite with no fight at all, and it is also home to the Legend. The mine entrance beyond the lake opens a few days into the first Spring and leads to the Adventurer's Guild past it, which together cover the ore, the weapons and the monster hunting. Winter turns the slopes into the best digging ground in the valley. New paths keep appearing, as an earthquake, a repaired bridge and a cleared boulder each hand over another corner of the map.
Area
At the start there are only two ways out, south into Pelican Town and west into the Backwoods. The rest arrive one at a time.
A few days into the first Spring the debris on the bridge north of the lake is cleared away, which opens the mine entrance and the path on to the Adventurer's Guild. Early in the first Summer an earthquake splits the rock in the north and opens the pass to the Railroad, which is also how the Spa and the Witch's Swamp cave are eventually reached.
The broken bridge at the eastern edge leads to the Quarry, and repairing it takes either the Crafts Room bundles or a payment to Joja. The Glittering Boulder sitting in the stream west of the mine entrance blocks the water, and shifting it needs the Fish Tank bundles or the panning option on the Joja form, after which panning becomes possible in the valley's rivers. Buying the Community Upgrade later opens a hidden shortcut south of the Adventurer's Guild, which comes out at the river waterfall north of JojaMart and saves a long walk home.
The lake fills the middle of the map, with a small island and a wooden jetty, and the ground around it is wooded enough to plant trees on.
Shops
Robin runs the Carpenter's Shop in the west. She builds and upgrades every farm building, sells wood and stone by the hundred for anyone short of a few pieces, and stocks furniture along with the machines that a farm cannot craft for itself.
The Adventurer's Guild stands east of the mine entrance, and the door stays locked until the Initiation quest down in the mines is finished. Marlon sells weapons, boots and rings from behind the counter and buys the same back along with Monster Loot, while Gil sits by the fire and pays out the rewards for monsters killed, which is the quiet mechanic behind several late-game rings.
The Dwarf keeps a shop just inside the mine entrance and will not trade a word until the Dwarvish Translation Guide has been assembled from scrolls dug out of the mines themselves.
Residents
The Carpenter's Shop is a family home as well as a business. Robin lives there with Demetrius, who keeps a laboratory in the back, their daughter Maru and Sebastian, who lives in the basement and comes up mainly at night.
Linus camps in his tent on the shelf above the shop, and Leo moves into the tree to the west once he leaves Ginger Island. Marlon and Gil share the Adventurer's Guild, and the Dwarf lives in the mines. It makes the Mountain the valley's quietest neighbourhood, and the one with the strangest mix of neighbours.
Foraging
Forage appears on the slopes at a modest rate, so the Mountain is a place to pass through rather than a place to sweep.
Spring brings Leek and Wild Horseradish, Summer brings Grape and Spice Berry, Fall brings Hazelnut with Common Mushroom and Wild Plum alongside, and Winter brings Crocus, Crystal Fruit and Holly. The Winter three are the useful ones, since Crystal Fruit is needed for the Winter Foraging bundle and Crocus grows nowhere warmer.
The artifact spots here are the real draw. Digging them up turns out Rusty Cogs, Prehistoric Handaxes, Ancient Dolls and the occasional Dinosaur Egg, along with clay, stone, ore and Lost Books. The spawn rate more than doubles in Winter, when Winter Root and Snow Yam also start coming out of the ground, which makes a Winter stroll up the Mountain the most productive walk of the year.
Fishing
The lake is the best teaching water in the game. Carp are plentiful and barely struggle, so a new farmer can climb several fishing levels in an afternoon without losing tackle.
Largemouth Bass, Bullhead, Chub and Green Algae are available all year. Summer adds Sturgeon and, on sunny days, Rainbow Trout. Fall brings the Midnight Carp and, when it rains, the Walleye. Winter keeps the Sturgeon and the Midnight Carp and adds Lingcod and Perch.
The lake is also where the Legend lives. It bites only on a rainy Spring day, it asks for a maxed fishing level, and the bobber has to land well out from any shore, which is why the stretch of water by the large submerged log is the spot everyone uses. The Legend II swims here too, for anyone who took on Mr. Qi's harder fishing work.
Notes
Carp are hated as a gift by everyone in the valley except Linus, who shrugs and eats them, so the easy catches that teach a farmer to fish are best sold, turned into bait or dropped in a Fish Pond rather than handed to anyone.
The Mountain is the one region that keeps changing shape all game, so a save that has not been up here for a season often finds a path that was not there before. Checking the bridge to the Quarry and the stream west of the mines after finishing a bundle room is worth the walk.
All Locations
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
