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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Day Forty-One

After dreaming he traveled across the world to attend GDC and then back to Australia to begin writing a thesis, the nomad woke up as the sun was rising on Day Forty-One. The mountain to his east blocked the view of the sunrise, but it wasn't long before slithers of red light crept along the northern and southern horizons.

Looking south from my pillar.
The only mob I saw all night, waiting for me to come down.
I took care of the creeper with my bow as the sky lightened. I scanned the trees for more creepers or flame-engulfed zombies, but could see nothing. I placed my sign and started the day.

.
Continuing up the mountain.
Snow on the leaves. A sign of things to come?
A little patch of snow powdered the summit of the mountain, but did not continue down the opposite side. A spider watched me from the shade of a tree, but seemed content to let me start my decent.

Spider in the trees.
Not as much snow as I expected...
Starting my decent.
The mountain declined gradually at first, making for a leisurely morning walk. Thought, it wasn't too last. Before long I hit a sheer and sudden drop. Beyond was a tree-filled valley and, beyond that, was the ocean.

Drop ahead.
The path ahead... if I can get to it.
I took a few careful steps onto a tree, thinking I could climb the leaves down to a safe distance. But I missed a gap in the folage and took a tumble. The damage was minimal, though, thanks to my armour.

Ow.
Guess my fall could have been worse (looking up and slightly to the north of where I came down the hill).
Moving on.
I stuck to the base of the valley as it hooked around slightly to the south. I hit the ocean in a small bay and was about to set out my workbench in order to make my boat when I heard zombies. I looked around frantically, but I was not being attacked. The moans were coming from somewhere beneath me. Though, in my vigilant panic, I spied a gathering of brown mushrooms just to the north. I plucked them (all while the disconcerting moans continued) and continued on to the coast.

The eastern bay.
Mushrooms to the north.
Cave entrance near the mushrooms. I kept an eye on it, but saw not a single zombie, but I certainly heard them.
Continuing east, to the north of the bay.
The coast, again.
And off we go.
I sailed out past the small islands and into the open ocean. Though, it wasn't long before another island blocked my path. I decided to try to go around it. My choice was wise; the island turned out to be deceptively small and I was able to sail on for some time.

Island ahead.
I think I will go around...
A good choice.
I kept sailing for some time until another island rose up before me. This one seemed more substantial so I pulled ashore. Snow peppered the waterfront. Perhaps the earlier hilltop snow was a prediction for this day afterall.

New land.
Cows of the new land!
More hills ahead.
I trodded into the snow and over the hills.

Up and over.
X-TREME MOUNTAIN PIG
And down the other side.
Beyond the hill. the snow was intermittent, covering mountaintops and stretching across plains in patches between long stretches of grass.

Spider looming in a cavern at the base of the hill. Think I'll stay out of that one.
Continuing east, through snow and grass.
A large snow plain, stretching off to the south.
And a plain of grass, stretching east. But more snow is on the horizon, atop the hill.
Beneath the foothills of the next mountain was a straggly assortment of caverns. I walked precariously over them and circled around the southern side of the mountain, continuing across the flat land on the far side.

.
I ain't climbing that mountain...

...but sheep always have to do things the hard way.
The flats beyond.
Although I went around the hill, I must have climbed higher than I had realised as before long the ground began to decline again. After a slight decent, I found myself passing one of those bare, stone hills that I see from time to time. Beyond that was a small forest through which I could spy another ocean.

Walking down and east, stone hill to the right.
Looking back west at the stone hill (and the setting sun).
Through the forest...
...to another ocean.
The sun was low in the western sky, but it wasn't that low yet. However, I did not feel much like crafting another boat and heading across the ocean. Tonight I would make camp early. I was further persuaded by a small island just off the shore, to my north.

That looks nice...
I swam out to the island and began making my tower. The sky was still blue when I was finished, but it had been a long day. It was nice to relax and watch the sunset for once, rather than missing it in a frantic race to safety.

An early night.
And up we go, unto tomorrow.



16 comments:

  1. Woo! Still marching east! I think your nomad would get great benefit out of the new Beds. Cake might be a challenge, though, even if you can grow wheat with bonemeal and milk 3 cows on the run!

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  2. keep going man! plenty of us still get excited when we get an update in our rss feeds :D

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  3. I agree with Jellyfish. Build yourself a bed (3 wools and 3 wood planks) and you can skip the night. But be sure to build a larger platform.

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  4. You'll need to update to 1.3 or better to make a bed. Maybe you should test it out in another save... if you sleep in a bed in the wrong place you'll get a monster right next to you. It's hard to think of a worse place to be than stuck on top of a skinny tower surrounded by creepers with a mob right next to you! Oh, and spiders might climb up your tower anyhow. Build an overhang on each side to stop them.
    Great job! Keep going!

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  5. Hey all.

    I have considered making beds, but as this started as something of a perma-death experiement (ie, if I die, it is all over), I feel that using a bed would be 'cheating'. Sleeping in a bed sets it as your new spawn point, yes? If I was to do that, I would be cancelling out Minecraft's natural 'perma-death' mechanic of sending me waaaaaay back to the start. So I am not going to be using beds as they would change the way I play.

    On a side note, thanks all of you for still coming by and reading this blog despite my very stretched-out updates! I really appreciate it!

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  6. Nope, the spawn-point thingy with the beds is not yet implemented. It only skips to the next morning BUT not at dawn but at the point where every mob catches fire. You might lose a few minutes of light if you use a bed.

    From me too: Good to be reading this as it is still going. Great blog!

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  7. also, keep all bones you find as if you come across a wolf, you can tame it so it follows you and helps you kill mornin' creepahs!

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  8. Also, how long until he reaches the Far Lands?

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  9. It's worth noting that if you destroy a bed, then you won't spawn back at that location. You could ritually dismantle the bed each morning to prevent accidental non-perma-death.

    Also, have you considered making a Cartograph G render of your journey thus far? I'm sure a lot of us would like to see how large the map has gotten.

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  10. Love that you are still posting! I understand your decision about beds, but what are you going to do about climbing spiders?

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  11. Have you stopped completely? It's july and there has not been a single post..

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  12. We'll just assume the nomad had a heart attack in his sleep and died. He hasn't posted in months!

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  13. Please bring this blog back!

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  14. Man, it sucks to see this series die out so early on. Brendan was such a talented writer. Oh well, he probably had other things to do, and eventually just didn't have time to work on it or something. :(

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  15. Damn shame, I really enjoyed this blog. Oh well.

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