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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Day Forty-Nine

Land!

I was so excited to get out of my boat and go to shore. I did not even wait for the zombies to catch fire; the moment it was light enough to see my surroundings, I went ashore.

Waiting for the sun.
From whence I came.
Up we go!
Oh man. Oh man.
Goodbye, my trusty boat.
And off we go!
Before me was a steep-yet-climbable hill crowned in conifers (or so the Minecraft Wiki tells me they are). I passed a herd of sheep as I climbed towards the trees.

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Looking back north-west as I climb.
And into the trees.
The forest was thick and, as far as i could tell, quite wide. Through the trees directly ahead of me I watched as a pack of wolves took out some sheep. I kept a wary eye on them, but they seemed disinterested in me.

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Continuing through the forest.
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The forest continued for some time. As I progressed I passed several more packs of wolves darting to and fro. Some came up to me, but none attacked. Still, I kept my sword handy just in case. I didn't want to make the first strike and anger the rest of them, but I didn't want them sneaking up on me, either.

More wolves.
.
 Coming over a hill, I hit a river slithering off to the north and south.

Looking east across the river.
And winding back up to the north.
As I trekked on past the river, I noticed for the first time how my hunger was dropping. Sitting in my boat for a week, I had not needed food at all. But now, walking constantly, it was dropping fast. I already had a rather plentiful store of mushrooms, but I kept an eye out for more as I would certainly be eating much more stew every night now.

Easy there. Just want the mushroom.
I kept walking and the forest kept going. Occasionally the trees were so dense I had to punch through the trees, but overall it was a fairly relaxed walk. I wasn't complaining. As long as I didn't have to get in another boat the forest could go forever for all I cared that morning.

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.
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Treeshrooms!
Eventually, the trees parted and made way for what I first feared was another ocean. As I got closer, though, I noticed the murky water and overgrown weeds of my first swamp.

Swamp ahead.
I could either head off to the south and through the swamp, or fast track across the water to the greener land on the other side. I chose the latter and waded out into the water.

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A tree half-in and half-out of the swamp.
.
Muddy ground where I came ashore.
And some brown mushrooms!
Looking south towards the swamp.
I climbed up a hill away from the water and found myself on a vast, open plateau. Although, another forest of conifers was visible to the north.

Looking east.
Another forest to the north.
And a river slithering back towards the north-west.
I followed the river east, with the forest halting on the northern bank. Then, as I crested a hill, I saw something I have never before seen. Sure, I had never before seen a forest of conifers or a swamp before, either, but this was different. This was so unlike anything I had ever seen before that I actually stopped walking and just... looked.

It was a roof.

.
Oh. My. God.
I had found a village. Civilization. But more than that, after walking for forty-nine days, I had found people. As I came down the other side of the hill, I could see one in the watchtower, bouncing up and down. Other shapes were moving beyond the windows.

I was ecstatic. I wanted to run forward and embrace my new friends. But were they even friendly? I had no idea. I forced myself to proceed slowly and keep my sword drawn. The person in his watchtower continued to bounce.

As I came by the first door on the right, a person in white opened the door and came out to greet me. Without an invite, I walked right into his house. I was inside a house. How novel!

Greetings!
 Back outside,  I walked down the main (and only street) and checked out the rest of the town. On the left was a smaller house with two more folk in it.

The house on the left.
The main road.
Next, on the right, was the watchtower I had seen from outside town. I climbed a ladder to the roof and met with the bouncing watchman.

Greetings!
Looking off the eastern side of the tower, I saw that beyond the well, the town continued out into a lake.

Looking west.
I went back down and explored this wetter side of town, where the locals seemed quite content to step out of a house and into the water.

.
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I was so thrilled to have found this town. To have found these people. I looked east at the continuing expanse of grass and trees, and I didn't want to move on. I wanted to stay here. With the silent people.

Fortunately, as I had these thoughts, the sky above me grew darker.

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I would stay in the village for the night. And, for the first time in forty-nine days, I would be safe in the knowledge that I was safe. I went back to the first house, with the person in white. They seemed to have no qualms with me staying, and I watched the sun set from the safety of their home.

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Several times over the past few days I have been tempted to stop this journey in one way or another, but never did I expect this. Never did I expect to find others. Now I have, and now I want to stay here, in the safety of the village, away from the vast and lonely expanses. In the morning, it will be my fiftieth day of walking. A fitting number, if any, to stop walking.

But I only just started walking again. After my week at sea, I was keen not to stop so soon. In the morning I would leave the village behind, I was already sure of this. But oh how my answer might have been different if one more week of walking passed before I stumbled upon this village and its content residents!

I would just have to enjoy it while I can.

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4 comments:

  1. Keep going on mate! This is getting more interesting with the updates! I acknowledge that this cannot continue forever, but more would be certainly sweet.

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  2. What an excellent update. I'm sure if you continue, you'll find another village to settle down in if you want to end it that way.

    When you mentioned your decreasing hunger bar, I became seriously concerned for your safety and the possibility that you might starve. It would be a terrible way to end the journey. (Illustrating what a good job you've done getting me so invested in the story).

    On the topic of food, I find it funny that you appear to have found a village with no wheat farms. And if you're not aware, you can use bonemeal to grow a planted mushroom into a gigantic one, which will drop more mushrooms if you harvest the blocks.(This makes me hopeful you will come across a mushroom biome- I haven't found one yet in any of my games.)

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  3. Great stuff! Interesting how much more challenging your quest will be with the adventure update.

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  4. So, a week ago I restarted playing Minecraft as well, even starting a new world (after the old one was a year old - the new stuff is too much to ignore, I had to start over). I haven't seen a village yet but the oceans are vast these days.

    Anyways, a great read, this day. Having been following you since day 1 I really enjoy you returning to form!

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