Day Fifteen

The sun rose slowly. As it climbed, my predicament became ever more apparent.

Looking south-west

Looking east. Zombies still not burning

Looking north-west. So many creepers.

Oh. And some pigs. Help me, pigs!

The sun was fully above the horizon now, yet the skeletons and zombies did not burn. What if Notch had updated the game overnight. What if sunlight no longer harmed them? It seems doubtful now, but perched up on my single cobblestone block my most unrealistic fears seemed plausible.

Burn, dammit!

Realistically, though, I was probably just looking over the rim of the world. Whatever the reason, the zombies and skeletons did eventually burn. All of them.

About time.

.

.

But what about the creepers...

I knew I crafted this for a reason.

I shot an arrow at the closest creeper I could see and actually scored it hit. This seemed to anger it and it crept up to the base of my tower. My line of sight was blocked by my own cubes. I could still see more creepers wandering around in the distance on all sides, but most seemed to be ignoring me. It was time to go down. Reluctantly, I chipped away at my tower cuber by cuber until I could aim at the creeper at the base.

Twang!

Once it was defeated, I chipped away more blocks until I was low enough to jump without hurting myself. I would have liked to keep my entire tower standing, as a kind of monument to my own fallacy or something, but that was not plausible. With one final surveillance of the still-visible creepers in the forest, I jumped to the ground.

Coast seems to be clear...

Aaah! Sneaky creeper!

Take that!

I took out the creeper under the tree with more arrows. Most of the creepers that had been circling seemed to have wandered off or disappeared. The rest were back towards the west and not in my path. Nearer, the morning's spoils were plenty. What I lost in a night of potential mining I now made up for in dropped arrows and feathers. Well, in reality I probably picked up no more than I had spent taking out the creepers, but it was better than nothing.

The only remnant of the horror that was last night.

There was only one thing more to do before I moved on:

All that remains of my tower.

I was too distracted to realise at the time, but this marked the beginning of week three of my journey. Not the most stable start to the week, but oh the adventures I have had so far! Anyhow, it was time to keep moving. But not without many glances over my shoulder for elusive creepers.

From the top of my tower, I had already seen what awaited me:

That looks a lot like an ocean.

...Yep.

I set down my workbench and used the nearby tree to craft a boat. While I was at it, I used my new found feather to craft new arrows, and replaced my iron helmet. It had taken quite a beating the previous night. I threw my old helmet into the ocean and let it sink before continuing. At last, it was time to leave this magical, accursed continent. I launched my boat haphazardly, clearly still shaken from the previous night.

Well done, Brendan.

It took a while to free it. Then, when I did, it was no more cooperative.

Awesome. Good job, boat.

I considered crafting another one, but did not want to waste more time setting up my workbench again. I had already lost most of the morning. In the end, I just swam out to it. 

And on we go.

The ocean was fairly expansive. Certainly not as vast as the fateful body of water I spent the night on, but it was still some time before I spied land again.

.

The body of land was quite fin, so I decided to sail around it for a time in case it turned out to be just a small island. Conscious that I always tend to the south in these situations, I intentionally sailed around the northern shore. It was a strange, unorthodox feeling.

Looking south.

 The water continued for some time ahead, but land was already visible to the north and clearly wrapping around to meet the southern land somewhere ahead of me. There I would have to leave the ocean behind.

Continuing east.

The ocean is thinning into a river...

Final stop.

I left the boat and continued up the shore. As I went, I gathered some sand to craft into more TNT with the creeper-powder I gathered that morning. The moment I crested the hill, I was presented with a rather broad cavern funneling down into a darker tunnel.

.

 I left it alone and continued east across a flat, forested land.

Hills in the distance.

I could see high hills beyond the trees. When I arrived at them, they were less hills and more cliffs.

.

 The northern side of the eastern most cliff seemed climbable without much digging, so that is the path I took. Atop the cliff was a flat plain and a view to yet another bizarre mountain.

.

.

Perhaps my lonesome insanity was just festering in some strange, pretentious way, but there was something, I don't know, 'majestic' about how the single tree stood atop the isolated strand of rock, like one spindly entity. That doesn't make sense, but the point is it looked really cool. More importantly, though, the structure formed a hole, so I had to walk through it.

Conveniently placed stairs.

moving through the hole and up the stairs, I found myself on level ground that followed the sheer southern side of the mountain. Seriously, what is with all the sheer cliffs these past few days?

.

Around the rear side was the most awesomely cliche formation I had seen thus far: a cavern hidden behind a waterfall.

.

How could I resist?

I widened the hole and went inside.

The cavern went on for some way back to the west.

And to the east was another way out.

As I should be heading east anyway, I opened up the passageway and headed towards this second waterfall and exit.

.

Right beneath me was another cavern going deeper down. A lip of stone was sealing it off from the water.

Hmmm...

Teehee.

I had had my fun. It was time to move on and get back on track.

Looking east and south past the second waterfall. Its flow continued for some time.

.

Looking back west at both falls.

Almost immediately, I found myself surrounded on three sides by sheer cliffs.

Hmmm....

Hello there... (looking north)

There was sunlight shining through from the other side of the tunnel. Perhaps it would lead to a way past the cliffs? Only one way to find out. Except, perhaps not right now:

Already?!

The darkening sky caught me off-guard. Surely the day was not already over. I felt like I had made hardly any ground. Regardless, I would not be caught out after dark again. I swiftly dug into the northern cliff and made camp. The tunnel, and whatever was beyond, would wait until morning. As I placed my workbench and my furnace, I could already hear the spiders and creepers outside.

Safer than last night, that is for sure.

Day Fourteen

Time to move on.

The last hours before dawn, I could here zombies and skeletons outside. I wasn't sure if they were downhill on the grass or directly above me in the tunnel. Last thing I wanted was to knock out the wall and have a zombie land on me. I stood back as far as I could as I opened my cave up to the morning.

No zombies yet...

I walked out of the cave backwards, sword in hand. The tunnel was empty. I crept to the ledge and looked down. Sure enough, a zombie and a skeleton were both trying to jump up at me. But both were on fire and dead moments later.

.

Burning zombie arm.

So on we go.

I worked my way down to the beach and pulled out my workbench to make a boat.

Wait. I'm missing something...

 ...and then I realised I had no wood. Whoops. The closest trees were back up the hill, so instead I decided to follow the beach north. I looked back at the baffling mountain one last time.

Goodbye, crazy mountain I once thought of as friendly.

Moving on, the ground was relatively flat for a time. The ocean followed me to my right, and several mounds rose to my left like giant termite mounds. Ahead east, what looked like a tall tower appeared on the horizon.

Mounds to the north.

Mountain ahead.

As I neared it. though, it became apparent that the vertical shaft was floating free of the mountain behind it.

.

The dirt bridge to the right of the mountain is cool, too.

.

I was temped to head north and get atop the mountain just to walk across the dirt bridge, but getting to it could take some time. Instead, I turned to the south where it looked like I may be able to walk around the mountain.

More sheer walls. Looks like a Mario level. South, though, was a way around.

Beyond the mountain was smoother ground with rolling hills and the occasional mountain to the north.

An easy stroll.

A deep valley to the north.

Some more cliffs, but not blocking my direct path.

And yet more easy going.

The day went on like this for some time, and I made good ground. Then I came across a small cavern beneath an overhang and, for the third time since leaving home, spotted the telltale mossy cobblestone.

The cavern is beyond the small pyramid-hill, center-left.

Just a quick look...

Dungeon!

Two chest and a spawner. But no mobs?

I drew my sword but did not move any closer. There were no mobs at present, but they could spawn any moment I made a deal with myself: if they were zombies, I would take them out and attempt to get to the loot; if they were skeletons, I would flee. I simply cannot take on a single skeleton without losing a lot of health. I held my sword and waited.

...and waited. Nothing spawned for quite some time. Perhaps the spawner was broken? I took one hesitant step forward. I heard the bow 'twang' before I even saw the skeleton. That was all I needed. I bailed.

Run!

I ran quite far, looking over my shoulder constantly for an army of skeletons that I was certain would be following me. It would not be an exaggeration to say my heart was pounding. Skeletons are serious business when you can't afford to die. I moved on.

The ground continued to be flat and green and hilly. It was quite nice, but doesn't make good adventure juice. After a while, though, i spotted this mountain to the north, pocketed with little caves.

Kinda cool.

But I didn't explore it. I kept on walking.

Looking east, down a hill.

Back west up the same hill. Sun is getting low.

In the distance I could see a lake on the horizon. But closer, and far more exciting, was a whole gang of chickens! Or ducks. People seem to disagree on this.

Hey guys! There were more behind the tree, too.

Approaching the lake.

Before the lake, I found a shaft sticking into the ground. Fortunately, I didn't fall in. But I did get close enough to have a look:

I see iron...

It had been some time since I found iron. I was not running out (I still had at least 50 ingots in my inventory), but I would like to replace my armour and tools soon enough. I looked back west at the sun.

Plenty of time... right?

I decided I would be fine. I jumped down into the shaft. I walked along for a while and placed some torches, mostly to ensure no zombies ambushed me again, but also to check for more potential iron veins. Alas, I found none. I did, however, find a crevasse leading down to a deeper cave. I decided to leave that alone.

Deeper down is not my way.

Just get the ore and get out of here, Brendan.

The sky was darkening as I climbed. Surely I had enough time to find a camp site...

...Okay. Perhaps not.

I was growing anxious. It was getting darker by the second now. I rushed down towards the lake, looking for some cover.

Nothing here...

Ah-huh! A small cavern! (looking back south and west)

I rushed for the small alcove, desperate to get underground. I almost dived in without looking, but luckily had the foresight to place a torch first.

Hmmm....

The 'alcove' was a deep shaft going straight down. This would not do. I needed somewhere small, secure, safe. I turned back to the lake.

This is NOT good.

I was beginning to panic. The moon was up proper now, and I was still wandering around the grass like a stupid cow. I was considering just digging straight down into the ground when I heard the sound I had been most dreading: a twang.

Skeleton in the water!

It was too late. The mobs had found me. I started to flee back north around the lake. I could hardly see. I got stuck on a ledge I could not jump up, and a creeper exploded right behind me, denting my armour and taking me down to three and a half hearts. I got myself unstuck with the help of a torch and rushed on. I could hear skeletons, zombies, and spiders behind me. Another creeper was bobbing up and down in the middle of the lake. An arrow flew past me. 

I was screwed. Completely screwed. Even if I found a cavern now, I could not seal it up before the mobs overtook me. Could I just keep running all night? Doubtful. Before long a skeleton or creeper would surely ambush me from the front. And in the dark I would probably trip and get myself cornered in a ditch. I really had no options.

There was one other option, though. Once I was certain I had put some distance between me and the skeletons, I quickly opened my inventory. At first I couldn't see them and thought I had left them at my last campsite but sure enough, there they were: 25 cobblestone blocks. I quickly set them to my hotkeys and ran on.

 A bit later I stopped, looked down, and started building. I raised myself on a tower 15 blocks high, jutting out in the middle of the forest. And there I sat for an entire night as the moon passed slowly overhead and the mobs congregated around me. They knew I was here, I didn't doubt it for a second. At any given time I could see a dozen zombies and skeletons, and half a dozen creepers. 

It's dark, but you can see them if you look closely.

At least when I spent the night in the boat I was able to keep moving forward slowly. Here, I could not move at all. I stood perfectly still on my single cube, watching the moon and watching the mobs. It was going to be one of those nights...

.

Go away! Go away!

.

Waaaaah!

At last! But what to do about all the creepers...