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Monday, November 8, 2010

Day Thirty-Two

All night I was accompanied with the hissing of spiders. They were directly above me. I had no idea how I would get out without them dropping on me. I didn't really have anywhere to run. Eventually, the sunrise begin to split the horizon like a scar.

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I had what I thought was a clever idea. Instead of breaking the glass, I would dig beneath it and swim out to a safe distance before rising to the surface. The genius of this idea seemed reinforced by the fact that I found a vein of iron just one cube beneath my feet.

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The swimming part didn't really work. The current kept pushing me back, and I could not get deep enough. Nor would I make it that far before running out of breath. Instead, I dug out a new path beside the glass and just ran and jumped into the water. I looked back behind me, but the spiders seemed disinterested. Perhaps they grew bored while I wasted my time digging.

Making a swim for it.
Just outside my camp, I found several large deposits of clay. I considered mining them, but I was already carrying around enough of the stuff.

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Moving on, I set out on the boat I had crafted the previous night.

But first, I need to make a brief stop.
Whoops.
There we go.
I crafted a new boat and was on my way. For a time there was only me and the ocean.

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Land off to the south.
Water water everywhere.
Land ahoy.
Cows on the mountain (looking north-east).
Much like the previous continent, I came to shore on the northern tip of a desert. The bulk of the desert disappeared to the south, but the occasional plain of sand and cacti jutted out into my path as I climbed the hills to the east.

Looking south.
The view north from atop the mountain.
My path east.
I followed the mountains around their southern faces. Trees were sparse and animals sparser. Perhaps the desert was slowly taking over all the land. After a while, the ground flattened out and began to funnel me into a deep valley heading north-east.

Looking north-east towards a waterfall.
An interesting monument to the south-east, pointing back west.
Oh. Hello there.
 Somehow I completely missed the tunnel leading east before I approached the monument. Through it was the tallest freefalling waterfall I could ever remember seeing. I abandoned the north-east-heading canyon and headed through the arch.

Heading through.
That is pretty amazing.
Looking north from the base of the waterfall.
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The base of the fall. Looks like the gravel fell and allowed the waterfall to exist.
I don't think I could take too many photos of this waterfall.
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Nearby I found a deposit of ore. Then, heading on, I looked north and glimpsed yet another waterfall.

Looking north.
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Looking north. An utterly breathtaking waterfall. Would be even more so if I had not just seen the other one.
I exited the northern canyon from the same path I entered it and continued east. Mere steps later, I spied several jack-o-lanterns to the north and another two deposits of iron. I left the pumpkins, but mined all the iron. Each vein was quite deep, giving me about ten blocks of ore.

Pumpkins and iron to the north.
Looking back west at the waterfall.
I hadn't realised how high up that floating island is.
I won't lie. I honestly considered quitting the nomad life right here. These floating islands, these waterfalls, this land were all stunning. I could gladly live out my days in this land, exploring its caverns. I stood still for several moments, just gazing around me and weighing up my options. I guess in the end, pure instinct got the better of me and I found myself once again walking east. Once I could no longer see the waterfall, I was happy with the decision. Looking at these pictures again now, though, I wonder if I should have stayed.

Anyway, the land narrowed after a time between mountains to the south and an encroaching sea from the north. The grass was a dark green and thickly forested.

Looking south-east.
East.
A peculiar patch of gravel.
As I inspected the gravel, I could hear the moaning of zombies. It grew louder as I moved forward. Thinking there may be a dungeon open to the sun nearby, I followed the sounds to the northern beach. I could see nothing but the moans were louder still. I dug out a single cube beneath me and found a wide cavern. I dug out more cubes and let the sun flow in. The zombies began burning instantly, but there was no dungeon to be seen.

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Between the waterfalls and now the time spent opening up this cavern, I had spent most of the afternoon.

Day nearly over.
I followed the coast east and soon came across an expansive desert.

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Camp time.
I was about to start digging out my camp when I had another idea. Perhaps I could build a tower instead of dig a hole. A commenter suggested it a couple of days ago, and I had already done it once, though not voluntarily. I was wary. More so of falling than of being ambushed by mobs. But it was not like I needed to mine resources. After today, I had plenty of iron. I decided I might as well give it a try. I created a perimeter of torches and cacti, then began building with the dirt I had excavated from the cavern.

This is either a great idea or a stupid idea.
Well the view is good, at least.
A bit roomier than last time, at least.
...or not.
At least that part of the plan worked.
The spiders, zombies, and skeletons threw themselves on the cacti all night. I did not have much to do up on my tower, but I felt safer than the last few nights underground. I just had to figure out how to get down in the morning without a creeper blowing me up...

6 comments:

  1. Build a bridge all the way east :P

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  2. You may be a lonely nomad, but at least you can sit on your tower and post to your blog.

    In the morning, the plan is simple.
    1. Hold down Shift so you don't fall off the edge.
    2. Ready your bow, have a peek over.
    3. Unleash flint-tipped fury.
    4. Return to centre of column and release Shift.

    I've been using your example shelters to give me confidence and made my own overnight excursions, so thanks! I've seen so much more now, including the mighty escarpments where the world re-generated.

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  3. I've been following your Posts for just over a month now, and you've got me hooked! Every time I start getting bored with Minecraft, I go back and read one of your day's adventures and it rekindles my love of the game. I don't know if you've ever considered it, but I would love to see a Cartography Map of your Minecraft travels! I know some people would say that it would spoil what lies ahead, so maybe if and when your adventure ends, you would show us how far your world spans! Keep up the great work!

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  4. Also that was some funky, funky land around the Day32 waterfall. I hereby declare this "Funky Land".

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  5. Do you still have glass?
    cuz if you do, you can hold shift and build a glass bridge over one of your cactus and make the creepers run into them.

    that will get you rid of any creepers without any need for arrows.

    @Arran: he already did a cartograph map. check october entry Recap: first 20 days.

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  6. awesome work, loving it!

    ReplyDelete