Day Fifty

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I spent my first night on land at my workbench. I made new tools; I unloaded old junk; I devoured several bowls of mushroom stew and crafted several more. Through the night, several spiders watched through the house's windows, but moreorless behaved themselves and made little noise. When I looked up from my workbench, sunlight was creeping around the village.

In return for their hospitality, I left the NPCs my trusty workbench.

Might have left a little too soon.

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The villagers were out and about early. Wading through the water, walking through the fields. Yet, they seemed not interested in me in the slightest as I stepped into the water and walked off away from the first civilisation I had seen in my long journey. For all I know, it might be the last time, too.

Goodbye, my friends.

Beyond the water was a treeless plain and, in the distance, what looked like the beginning of a desert beneath the sun.

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River slithering off to the south.

Desert ahead.

To the north, the river opened up into what looked like an ocean (though, I seem to have taken no photos of it). I floundered across ad climbed into the desert proper.

Looks like a mountain ahead.

...yep.

The northern ocean.

The desert ended before it even reached the mountain and gave way for a dense forest.

Through the forest, to the south of the spire.

Nearly fell!

More mountains ahead.

The forest gave way even quicker than the desert and left me at the base of several large mountains.

Looking north.

Up and over.

Looking back west at the woods and the spire.

And the path ahead to the east.

A plain and some lava to the north-east.

 I headed down the eastern side of the mountain and onto the plain. Now, in the past, I would have had no trouble thinking ahead and walking around the northern side of the next mountain. However, as I walked right up to the mountain, it would seem I still had my sealegs about me. I was stumped. I remembered coming across mountains in my path before, to be sure, but I couldn't for the life of me remember how I used to get past them. Back in the day. Back before the ocean. So instead, I ended up routing myself in a cul-de-sac of sheer cliffs and had to work my way up the walls.

Looking east and south as I got myself stuck.

Yep. Good job, me.

 With a shovel and a few replaced dirt cubes, I eventually worked my way out of my predicament and looked across an east-running mountain range and a southern plateau.

From whence I came.

Where I'm going.

Instead of going over the next mountains, I walked around to the south, only to be confronted with an ocean.

Ho hum.

Looking south.

So about getting down...

I jumped before I thought about it. Then, somewhere in mid-air, I wondered: what if they changed the falling-into-water mechanics in a recent update? What if it is too shallow? I had this horrible, time-freezing moment where I wondered if I had just destroyed my journey from a mindless leap from a cliff. Fortunately, I had nothing to fear, and I landed in the water with hardly a scratch.

That was a dumb thing to do.

Going east again.

The shoreline seemed too steep to be worth the climb, and it looked like the ocean wrapped around to the east just ahead anyway. I didn't want to, but it looked like I had little choice but to go back to sea. Still, I was not keen to get back in a boat. I would walk as far as possible before I crafted another wooden prison.

Rounding the bend. Sure enough, the ocean keeps going.

But look! A swamp just ahead!

I decided to do away with a boat and swam across towards the swamp.

Why hello down there.

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Sun slowly setting back to the west.

And into the swamp I go.

More mushrooms (though I strangely don't seem very hungry today).

I seemed to be on something of a peninsula, with the swamp continuing on to the north, but the ocean wrapping around the west, south, and east. Fortunately, though, yet more land was visible off to the east. It was getting late, but I decided I had time for one last swim.

Looking east.

Plenty of time.

I made it to the far shore just as the sky began to darken. I climbed the banks and, for what seemed like the first time in an age, pulled out my stone and built a pillar on which to sleep.

Looking back west at the swamp from the next island.

I made a wide platform (3x3 instead of 2x2--I've had some worrying glitches of late where the block I start a session on isn't the block I end the previous session. Don't want any late-night tumbles!) and set up my smelter and workbench. Not that there was much I needed to craft after such a trouble-free day. As the moon rose, I looked back west. I couldn't help but wonder what the villagers were getting up to.

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