Day Nine

 Wasting time rearranging my inventory, I heard a cow moo. I dug away at the wall, peered outside, and sure enough it was time to move on. I packed up my workbench and furnace, left a pile of coal and stone and dirt in a chest, placed my sign, and set off.

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A nice view to wake up to.

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Exploring this valley before moving on did not cross my mind until I was well on my way. A pity, as I had precious few hours before the sun set the previous evening. It was a decision (or un-decision) I came to regret as the morning progressed and the terrain grew stubborn in its mundane-ness. There is really nothing worth reporting from the first few hours of the morning. There were hills and forests, but nothing particularly fascinating or new. Still, for the sake of full disclosure, here are a few pics before I get to the exciting adventures of the afternoon:

Leaving the valley behind.

Some trees...

Some more trees...

Some hills...

Some more hills and a camera-shy cow. Hello, cow!

As I said, not the most fascinating morning of the trip. But then I reached the coast, and the day got a bit more interesting. A sand bank connected the continent to a southern land not on my path, but the sandy beach also wrapped around to the east. I worked my way down off the hill and followed the coast.

Looking south.

The ground rose again to my right (the north), with several chasms gouged out along the way.

Looking north. Perhaps the ocean level has sunk?

I was forced back off the beach for a time as the land rose to a high, narrow bridge.

A straightforward path.

Across the far side I descended back to the coast. On my way, I walked by a hole. Absentmindedly, I peered into it. Sand. No big deal. But mingled amongst the sand was another kind of block: cobblestone. As I had only encountered such an occurence only once (if you could even call that an encounter), it took some minutes before I comprehended what this was. A dungeon. A dungeon half exposed to the surface beneath some sand. I could clearly see the treasure chest from where I stood on the grass.

Intriguing...

I considered just leaving it. Nothing could possibly be in that chest worth the risk of death. But then I heard the moaning of zombies and had an idea. Pulling my trusty spade from my inventory, I set to exposing the entire dungeon to sunlight. 

I was pretty proud of this idea, if I do say so myself. Any zombies that spawned would instantly catch on fire. While I was considering just how clever I was, I dug out the block I was standing on and fell into the dungeon, right beside a zombie. 

Well that was stupid.

He was on fire, but this did not prevent him from hitting me a bit before he died. I hastily dug a staircase back up the sand, and with a bit more care, continued to expose the dungeon.

The final result.

The chest held nothing worth taking. Though, i did take the pig saddle in the vein hope I would one day be able to use it. The zombies did not continue to spawn, however, and I refused to go back down to break the spawner. As I turned and began to walk away, I almost felt bad. These zombies would be spawning forever, (un)living a brief life of burning agony. But considering the times zombies have nearly ended my adventure, I wasn't going to loose any sleep over it.

Moving on, I soon found myself back on the sand and progressively running out of land.

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A sand bridge I actually get to walk across!

Back west, the sun is getting low...

Sure enough, I eventually ran out of ground altogether. The afternoon was getting on by this stage, but it still seemed too early to set up camp. Instead, I set down my workbench and crafted a boat. Surely I would still have enough sunlight left when I landed at the next continent to dig a small cave. I set sail and maneuvered my way around a series of little islands. A larger continent was visible to the south, but nothing was appearing on the easter horizon.

Little islands.

Southern lands.

I pushed on, but no continent appeared. The sun was now perilously low.

Okay. This isn't funny anymore.

At this stage. I should have just pulled up to one of the small islands. But, no, I was convinced the next continent would be just over the horizon. Any minute now...

Hmmm....

This... This is not good.

An ocean. A literal ocean. I could not see land in any direction now, and the moon was above the horizon. All those past 'oceans' I had traversed were mere lakes compared to this. Back west, the sun was now submerged beneath the water. I was out of options. I had no choice but to sit back and pass the night in my little boat. Can zombies swim? I have no idea. I refused to sleep a wink. Instead, I spent the entire night looking north, south, east, west, and north again. I would not let any swimming monsters of any kind ambush me. Occasionally I would look back up at the moon as it crawled tortuously across the sky.

The longest night. Ever.

Impatiently, I nudged the boat forward now and then, but did not want to risk running aground in the middle of the night. To the south, I could just make out a bank of sand. Also, movement:

Not sure if you can see the creepers, but there are two of them! :s

At this stage, it is fair to say I was freaking out. Two creepers! Could they see me? Could they swim? Could I swing my sword while in the boat? I've never fought from a boat before; I have no idea! The moon still had some way to go across the sky. I spent the remained of the night with my crosshair centered on the two creepers as they waddled back and forth in the shallows, certain that if I looked away for even a second they would dive into the ocean proper and explode beneath my boat.

For future reference: I am not getting in a boat in the afternoon if I can not see my destination.

To be continued...