The Defector’s Hideout
Tales from the Crypt #3
Rewinding to 2018. Freshly freed from my thesis and the grind of undergrad, I was ready to trade academic survival for digital survival — though I had no idea I'd soon face a deserter in Don't Starve Together.
It was September, and I had a bunch of friends who had some free time. Although this was quite the eclectic group, most were, to differing degrees, gamers. None, however, had reached the same level as a pair of brothers.
Their names were Henrique and Ricardo, but they were best known for their nicknames.
Henrique was usually called Montanha (which is Portuguese for Mountain), probably due to his height and broad, intimidating physique.
Ricardo, on the other hand, was just called Ricardinho: his given name with a diminutive suffix, although he was never a short person. A bit underwhelming, I have to say. I’ve always wondered why the lack of nickname synergy between the brothers. They should've been called 'Mountain and Volcano,' but alas, Ricardinho's moniker lacked geological grandeur.
Anyway. These two were a force to be reckoned with, amassing a copious amount of online hours in a myriad of different games. They were especially fond of MMORPGs, but capable of excelling at any video game genre.
Whenever the group wanted to play a new game, it was always a good idea to check if the Geological Brothers had already played it (I don’t care if Montanha is the only one with a geological nickname, I’ll just call them that for now on). It was great to follow them into a new world, as they were usually knowledgeable in the games, giving us tips and easily coordinating team efforts.
One of these games was ‘Don’t Starve Together’, by the Canadian video game company Klei Entertainment. With a dark, cartoony and quirky world full of puns and danger, the game posed an arduous challenge to our group. In ‘Don’t Starve Together’, the characters need to survive by managing 3 stats: health, sanity, and hunger. Foraging, hunting, preparing food and building structures is already a lot to juggle, and it only gets worse with deadly creatures and weather hazards.
Since the game was so hard, the Geological Brothers were perfect for the job. They checked all boxes: they had a lot of hours in the game, knew a lot about it, and were willing to play with us. We entered the game’s world and followed our duo of leaders.
Everyone had their own character, their own specific set of tasks. One member of the team, however, was quite frustrated at how the headquarters were being run. This person was Gabriel. I won’t get into the specific of how he got this nickname, but we called him ‘Bolinho’: ‘little cake’ is a direct translation. Bolinho was usually calm, not speaking too loudly and having a relaxed stance. He was always a level-headed guy, but one day, he lost his cool.
One day, during a game session where everyone was gathered on a voice call, he just blurted out all of his complaints. He ranted about our resource management and poor base organisation — though most of it sounded like nonsense — and went radio silent. He didn’t even answer our thoughts on his complaints. His character vanished, taking all the items he'd been hoarding.
After one hour, we even thought he had left, so we checked who was still in the voice chat; he was there, but muted. We ignored him and kept playing as normal.
Just as we thought the drama had passed, one of the players stumbled upon something shocking. He called us all to check it out, and described his location. We followed.
We found Bolinho — the traitor had built a shabby little outpost after defecting from our group. A quick inspection revealed just how dire his situation was: no food, weak gear, and a character teetering on the brink of starvation and madness. Feeling both pity and a bit of secondhand embarrassment for his failed rebellion, we left some food behind as a gesture of goodwill. Honestly, that probably made his defeat even more humiliating.
And just like that, Bolinho faded into legend — his failed rebellion forever etched into the chronicles of our gaming sessions.
— The ghost who haunts deserters, especially those who can’t fend for themselves,
almoghost.exe (or André Almo if you’re feeling serious) 👻
Yo, that's me dude!
the quiet rebellion of a cocky unskilled survivor, poor bolinho