Day Six

The loudest night of the journey thus far, the fifth night was. Skeletons, zombies, spiders, and creepers were all accounted for outside my little den. I had not considered the previous night that by camping in the western side of a cliff it would be later in the day before the sun eventually appeared to burn up the mobs. But burn they eventually did, and the spiders calmed down. But I still had one problem remaining...

Ssssssssssssss!

Through the glass, I could see at least three Creepers. I toyed with the idea of digging through to the other side of the hill but decided that would take too long. In the end, I broke the glass and let them be funneled in one-by-one. I managed to take out two, but the third one exploded. Fortunately, though, I was far enough away to avoid damage. I stepped outside only to be greeted with yet more hisses.

While capturing this screen, another creeper blew up behind me.

Two to the north and two more to the south. I freaked out to some extent and lept away from the mountain and back into the gully. One more exploded, taking out a tree, but I managed to keep the rest at bay, losing only my nerves. Seven creepers! Little wonder the night had been so noisy. 

The aftermath (You can see yet another creeper's feet in the upper-right corner).

Anyway, with that done, I could finally begin my day.

In memory of the lost tree.

The sun was already high (a recurring theme of this adventure, it seems) when I finally set forth. The cliff was sheer so I rounded the mountain from the south. On my way, I slew a couple of benign spiders wandering about. The incident with the creepers had me thinking that it was time I started carrying a bow, and I would need the spiders' webbing.

As I made my way east through a narrow valley, I could see more cliff-faces and crazy mountains ahead of me. Most significantly, I saw a hole.

I'm a sucker for holes. They always look so cool.

I'm not sure why, but I decided I had to walk through that hole. Perhaps I was getting bored or fidgety, or even going a little crazy. Regardless, that was my current mini-goal: to walk through that hole.

As I finally clearing the mountain I had slept under, I began to appreciate the next one more and more. Not part of a larger mountain range, this monument stood alone. 

.

So on I trekked, my crosshair firmly placed on the blue sky in the center of that hole. Clearly, I had forgotten the last time I made this mistake.

Ow.

I began to curse myself for not watching where I was going, but then I looked to my right and saw the waterfall.

.

Don't fall...

This waterfall was perfectly vertical from where it exited the rock, all the way to the bottom of the shaft. Fascinated, I decided to work my way to the bottom. I could just see the lava at its base and thought perhaps, if I was lucky, I might find some diamond. Okay, I didn't really think I would find diamond, but it was worth a try. I chipped away a stairwell that circled around the shaft. Everything was going fine until about two-thirds of the way down when I accidentally chipped out the block I was standing on and started to fall.

I think I actually closed my eyes and waited for the hissing sound of my inventory going up in flames. This was it; I was going to fall in lava and this entire adventure would be over. But it was not to be. Whether by luck or fate, I landed in the pool at the base of the waterfall and not in the lava. I didn't even take any damage.

Looking back up.

Staying away from the lava...

Save a few blocks of coal, the entire expedition had been fruitless. I dumped some dirt and built my way back to where I fell and climbed back to the surface.

It's still an awesome waterfall.

Out of the shaft, out of the cave, and out of the hole I originally fell in. I looked west and saw just how fruitless my day had been: the sun was setting behind the mountain I had slept under the previous night.

Not the most constructive day, that is for sure.

Night fell and I had not even walked through my hole. Instead, I found a cavern entrance beneath it and built up a wall to block out the night.

Should have collected more sand to make more glass.

I put down my workbench and my furnace and got to work on my bow. To wrap up a day of stupid mistakes, I made the stupidest mistake of the entire adventure thus far: I didn't check the caverns behind me before beginning to craft. I didn't even place a single torch. I could hear zombies, but presumed they were all outside. 

I was in my inventory when it attacked. Worse, I was halfway through rearranging everything and for reasons I could not explain, my sword was not equipped. I lost two hearts before i even knew what was happening, another two as I frantically scrolled for the sword that wasn't there, and yet two more before I finally took the zombie out with my pick. I was practically dead: my armour was destroyed and the little health I had left was flashing. Cursing myself for being so stupid, I equipped my sword, ate all my mushroom stew, and inspected the rest of the cavern, placing far more torches than were necessary. I couldn't exaggerate how angry I was at myself for letting one zombie almost destroy me. This had not been a good day.

I returned to camp, confident I was alone. I used all my remaining iron to replace the armour the zombie had destroyed. I was back to full health and an acceptable level of armour, but I had no more iron and no more food. I would have to rectify that the next day.

I chipped out some of my wall and checked if I could move forward yet.

Soon...

Minutes passed and the night grew louder with hisses. I was convinced I had found the native country all creepers come from, and I was eager to leave it as soon as possible. I removed another block, equipped my new bow, and got ready for the sunrise, promising myself I would not repeat the foolish mistakes I had made this day.

Bring it, creepers.