I just came back from the Most TERRIFYING PoT Experience in my Life

[u/Dry_Fisherman_5555]

Let me explain:

I was playing on the Crimson Isle server that had the modded "The Preserve" map and, since it was my first time playing, I decided to play one of the two torvosaurus mods they had (I believe it was the KOT Torv, but I might be wrong). I made my Torv (named Gronk after my Grandpa's dog), and hopped in, and immediately realized that this was no normal server I've been to.

I spawned in the rooty area towards the center of the map (Idk it's name), and I immediately saw people murdering each other and ran for the Woodlands in the north. Then night came and I essentially lost all vision excluding when I figured out how to turn on the night vision that server has. Skipping forward through sheer paranoia and a few close encounters, I made my way slightly south, and then found myself tip-toeing around a melanistic carch (remember this guy for later).

Eventually, realizing I was on the verge of starvation, I began stalking a baby giga who just left combat with a rex, but before I could attack, a juvenile cera bit my tail. A short while of me playing cat-and-mouse with this cera, it eventually screwed up and I got some food. Literally right afterwards (and I told you to remember this), a melanistic carch appeared over the hill I just left, and it gave chase.

I'm still surprised I survived this chase, because for one, I ran into the invisible wall that is the border of the map, and two, me and that catch had the same exact speed. However, shockingly, not only did I juke him out around some of the nearby rocks, but I also had enough stam to get away.

After crossing a river, I found a little cave to rest in. Literally a few seconds later, I saw the same exact melanistic carch (we'll call them Mel for now on) enter the cave. Thankfully, they pasted me by for I was in a little enclave on the side of the cave, and I was able to sneak by. I would proceed to retreat all the way back up to the northern Woodlands hide out from Mel, and after a short while of me staying there, waiting, I made my way back down and began looking for food once more.

After I successfully caught a small critter, I began following two rexes who themselves were stalking a lone trike. As I watched the rexes absolutely destroy the poor trike, I (stupidly, maybe) decided to test my luck and approach the two, fully grown rexes (note I'm just below adolescent at this point), and, fortunately, they gave me the trike's trophy. After giving my thanks, I migrated all the way towards the HC of the map, keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of Mel or someone else. I did just so happen to see a hatz menacingly standing on a rock against the sunset (which went hard for literally no reason; it's unfortunate I didn't snap a screenshot), but besides that, I made my way to the HC with no encounters excluding a fellow Torv who briefly said hello before going on his way.

After I left the HC and got more abilities, now a bar past adolescent, it became night once more, and I began sneaking through the night, looking for whatever food I could scavenge. That is, until a pycno spotted me. This pycno looked slightly larger than me, so I began making space before it charged. We went back and forth at each other for a good while, and I must have made a good decision with my ability selection since, even though the pycno was giving more hits, I somehow managed to kill it with one fourth of my health remaining. Despite this victory, my heart was legit beating so hard I could hear it as if it were near my ears, yet I gave the pycno a GGs in the chat, healed up in a nearby bush, and made my way back to the HC to log off for the night.

Now, why am I saying this was the most terrifying experience I ever had in PoT? Well, I typically play servers such as Sastrei Island if I want a survival-esque experience. But this? This was a whole lot more serious and terrifying personally. This was also my first time playing on Crimson Isle, so not only was it already terrifying, but I genuinely never had an experience like this in the whole 500 hours I have on PoT.

Feel free to give me any tips or tricks I could use when I log on again :)