The spotWALK, then hold an arrow (or A and D) to stroll the shore path round the lake, and FISH HERE where the water looks right: the bank itself, the landing, a jetty out over the water, or a row boat you row out and anchor over the deep. The readout names what is in reach. The Abyss is fished from its one boat.
The boatIn a boat, ROW takes the walk’s place: the boat goes ahead, hold an arrow (or A and D) to steer, and DROP ANCHOR over the water you want. By the bank the pill reads GO ASHORE: the boat moors where it is and you step onto the shore path. A moving boat scares off the fish near it, so stop short of them. A monster that tows the boat really tows it: you end up where it left you, and row back after.
Seeing the fishA fish is a shadow on the water: dark, soft, bigger for a bigger fish, fainter the deeper it swims. It swims about, comes over to a lure it likes, darts off when scared, and fights on the line; you see the fish itself only when it jumps, and on the card. The depth gauge on the left shows how deep the ones near your lure swim. Under the ice only the fish at the hole throws a shadow.
The castThe bar at the bottom is the swing’s: the meter over the pill. Drag anywhere on the water to aim. Hold CAST: the power fills and falls in the meter (the label says how far); let go to throw. The readout names the spot the cast would land in. On the ice, hold to drill the hole first; then the power is how deep the line drops.
The waitA float bait hangs its hook a metre or two under the bobber. A sinking bait goes down until it sits on the bed; the gauge on the left shows the lure, the bed and the fish near it. Tap or hold REEL to draw it in (a spinner rises as it runs). TUG, or a quick swipe up on the water, twitches the lure: the hunters look, the timid flee. A slow drag on the water while the line is out turns the view: look round the lake while you wait; a bite brings it back to the float.
The biteWatch the float. It bobs and the reel ticks: a nibble, and the fish may nibble a few times. Wait. When it goes right under with a plunge, that is the bite: tap inside nine tenths of a second (the pill and the bar flash HOOK!, the word stays off the water). Strike too early in the nibble and it is gone three times in four.
The fightThe meter is the tension: a green band, a red end, and under it the line the fish still has. The pill says what to do. REEL: hold it and the line comes in fast while the needle sits in the green. EASE OFF: near the red the drag slips and nothing comes in; let go a moment. LET IT RUN: holding now would snap the line; let it take line until the word changes. GO SLACK: it is in the rocks. Over the red end for half a second and the line goes. A jump spikes the line: let go. TUG to pull it out of the rocks (half the time the rocks win), or as a pump on a fish: a spike, and a metre and a half in if the bar holds. A taut line tires the fish; slack lets it breathe. Land it at two metres. After the line goes, the thumb sleeps a moment so a reel does not become a cast. On the Lava Sea a plain line burns through in thirty seconds, the heat-shield braid holds two minutes, and a fish on the line slows the clock by half.
The fishEvery kind keeps a depth, feeds at its hours (dawn, day, dusk, night by your clock, or the climb’s), takes its baits and lives in its spots: the shallows, the drop-off, the deep, the reed bed on the west bank, the rocks under the far shore, and the east bank’s own place. The old ones come out in the dark.
The tackleThe tackle box is paid with the shop’s credit: rods cast further and feel more, lines hold more, baits five to a pack (the grub is free and endless). Every trip’s stars stay in the credit, so the dear rods are a few trips away. The angler’s almanac, a chapter a water on the book tab, says what lives where and what to throw; with a chapter in hand the readout says it as you aim.
The tripTen casts from the front door, six from a camp on the Ascent (a kilo there is a hot meal). Every fish pays stars and XP, a first of its kind and a new best pay more, and a trip goes out as a challenge link. The Abyss is fished from a boat: the monsters under it tow the boat, so let them run on the anchor chain and winch when they tire.
