Bergbau für den Sieg! -- Minecraft succession game

[Safe-Keeper]

Day 1: in which we go ashore and get our bearings (Safe-Keeper. 1 death)
Day 2-4: in which we lay the foundation for what is to come (Safe-Keeper)
Day 4: in which we do more exploring, and meet our dear captain! :3 (CaptainHalo)
Day 5: in which we begin forging, and take the fight to the enemy (CaptainHalo)
Day 6-7: in which we go on a fishing spree (CaptainHalo)
Day 8-10: in which we begin construction of Festung Vampir (Safe-Keeper)

This has happened
While on patrol one night in foggy weather in the Atlantic ocean, the Type VII submarine U-60, nicknamed the Vampire by her crew, was ambushed by a warship, its hull ruptured by cannon fire. Most of the crew managed to escape the stricken vessel, and as the enemy ship disappeared into the fog, they made it to a shoreline they had barely been able to make out shortly before being attacked. As they clambered ashore, the fog lifted and the men found themselves standing on a beach in an unknown land, the sun rising to reveal a large landmass around them.

The skipper grumbled and scratched his beard. Either their navigator, Bernard "the blind", had thrown their sub hundred of kilometres off course during his shift, or they had arrived on a landmass that wasn't on the naval charts. He didn't know which was the most unlikely. He looked at his second in command, and his second in command looked back at him. He had to pull it together. They had to pull it together. They were in a foreign, probably hostile land without any supplies, freezing and soaking wet. They needed shelter, warmth and food. If he did not take action quickly, they would not even survive their first night...



This is what we're up to
Since I see we have an active Minecraft community here, I decided I would start a Minecraft succession game here! For those who are new to the concept of succession games, the idea is that we start a Minecraft world which and take turns playing, documenting our experience as we go (for a better idea of what succession games are all about, head over to the Something Awful forums and read some of their wild tales, particularly the infamous Dwarf Fortress SG Boatmurdered).

We will be playing Minecraft 1.2.5, and we'll use no mods. I know there are plenty good mods out there, and that Tekkit mod you're playing in the MP Minecraft thread looks exciting as all hell, but I'm deciding on vanilla partly because I have no Tekkit experience, and partly because I have found installing mods for Minecraft to be cumbersome and irritating, and I don't want this game to be hampered by CTDs and whatnot. Remember there's nothing stopping us from using mods in a future SG!

The game will be played in a normal (as in, not superflat) world in Survival mode with native structures enabled. Difficulty will be Hard throughout the game. We are at war, after all!


This is how we'll do it

• Signups: those interested in joining the succession game must sign up in this thread. Signups must include your e-mail address and your desired ingame nickname (can be your real name, Subsim handle, or something you make up for the game). If you've already played once, you may sign up to play again, but I may give new players priority over existing players waiting for their turn if the line is long. Mark the beginning of the signup post with "SIGNUP!" to ensure I don't miss it.
• Startup: I have generated a nice coastal temperate starting point and will work on this site for half a week (three days and nights) or until I have perished thrice, whichever comes first.
• Succession process: The first person on the list of signups will then receive the game save and pick up from where I left off, and play for three days and nights or until he or she has died twice, whichever comes first. At this point, he or she is to save the game and hand it over to the next person in line.
• Reader participation: For every person about to start his or her game, the community may issue one or more goals. These can be big or small, and revolve around pretty much anything, from "make a sleeping area out of wool" to "explore that cave you just found" or "make a map and explore the vicinity of your base". The current player should accept at least one during the course of his or her game. I don't recommend posting particularly big goals or megaproject challenges, at least not in the beginning phase. The focus is that they're supposed to be exciting, challenging and fun, and that they somehow fit the storyline and background of the scenario.
• Continiuity: each new player should follow the "plot" of the previous games as best he or she can. If the guy before you was building a lookout tower, your objective is to continue the construction of the tower. If previous players decided to try to get iron and craft need iron armour, you are to do your best to acquire iron armour. You get the point. You may change existing stuff on the map (remodel a house, for example), but do so wisely.
• Captain's journal: every player will document the events in his or her game in this thread. Here's the fun part: you may do so in any way you see fit! You may post screenshots, drawings, a FRAPS video uploaded to YouTube, anything you like! This will allow for both the audience and your fellow players to follow the action, and will let the players waiting in line know what awaits them when it's their turn to hit the shores.
• House rules and the honour system: it should go without saying, and I'm sorry if I come across as a Snape here, but do not cheat or grief. Do not intentionally put your house on fire, or throw yourself off a cliff, or "lose" your map in a magma pit. However, neither are you to cheat and start over with your downloaded save when you mess things up. If you accidentally set your house on fire, deal with it. We're going Ironman here. Done is done.
• Excemption from death rule: sometimes in Minecraft you die and lose your gear somewhere and die repeatedly as you try to recover your stuff. This "chain dying" is permitted in this succession games. If you die and have to get your stuff back, feel free to do so even if it means losing more lives. This is in part because it wouldn't be much for the next player in line to take over a save file where he or she either faced certain death or the loss of gear.

Succession game progress
Progress: we have just about fully explored the nearest cave system and begun construction of a cave fortress.
Date: November 10th, 1941 (starting date was 1st of November).
Dead: 1. Skipper killed by giant spider. The horror.

U-60 roster:
CO Karl Austerlitz (Safe-Keeper), KIA by giant spider
Navigator Bernard Schmidth (Safe-Keeper), insane (good riddance)
Chief Engineer Wilhelm Putz (CaptainHalo)
Leutnant zur See Johannes Kregelin (Safe-Keeper)

[Safe-Keeper]

Just posting to say the thread is of course open for everyone to post in, by the way, participants or not.

Playing day two at the moment, had one death already -- the Kaleun, to boot. This is not looking good for our crew. On the contrary, this is a downright fantastic starting area. It's got plenty animals, copious trees, and some majestic hills and mountains full of caves. There's a swamp nearby, too. Feels just like home for a Norsemen like myself, and I think there'll be plenty of fun to be had here.

Once I've died two more times, um, I mean, once I reach day four, I'll hand over the save file.
Looking forward to this.

[Safe-Keeper]

Day 1
CO Karl W. Austerlitz reporting
We stand on the shores of this furtive land, cold as hell but happy to be alive. We don't have many casualties. Bernard is missing, thank god, but we're missing some good men, too. They may just have gone ashore elsewhere, but I don't harbour much hope.



No time to think of them now. We need to get going. I look around again. There's a forest here, and steep hills. To our left is a small flock of sheep, and there are some pigs roaming as well. These are household animals. They can't all just be roaming around wild. There must be people nearby. If they are hostile, we will have no choice but to surrender to them. However, the first order of the day is to make fire to keep us from freezing to death. We can explore and try to find a town later.

We venture inland. As we take a closer look at the pigs, we see they are dirty and unkempt, and I wonder if they could actually be wild. Come to think of it, the sheep looked pretty feral, too. Perhaps there was a settlement here and something happened to it, leaving the animals to roam free?



My train of thought is interrupted when we find this large cave. This is fantastic -- it will give shelter to the crew from the elements, and -- what the bloody hell are those?!



In the bottom of the cave we spot three of the biggest ****ing spiders imaginable. None of us had any idea they could grow so huge. They cause us to abandon any ideas of going down into the cave. We hurriedly withdraw, and head into the forest instead.



There's apples here. We also find these red mushrooms. I take one with me, but I'm sure not going to eat it. So far we look like we've got plenty of food, though. We have cattle, pigs, sheep and apples. We won't starve. The crew makes bonfires out of some twigs and small branches, and we dry and warm ourselves. Then we go about gathering as much wood as we can carry, and make for the hills.



There are more caves to be found, one of them fairly large. We cautiously approach. We want caves for their shelter, but we do not want to run into any more spiders.



We find a small cave. It's big enough for all of us, it's spider-free, and we can easily block off the two entrances. We venture inside and get to work.





I am proud of my men . They have taken our wood and fashioned two sturdy walls to keep whatever is out there away from us, and two guys who had been carpenters before the war began put together a work table of sorts in the middle of the cave and got to work building a nice door.

We shut ourselves inside, but after a while some of us grow restless. I decide to head outside for some air.



Inside a cave across the river I see coal set in the cave floor. If I can only--wait, what's that sound?

Yaaargh!

The crew watches as a spider jumps the skipper as he enters the cave. The hideous black monstrosity pounces on him several times, biting, scratching and kicking. He tries to defend himself, striking at the beast with a log, but it just keeps coming. Finally, he falls, and the beast throws itself at him. It is a gruesome sight.
Later they will ask themselves how they could all just have stood there and watched.

This concludes day one of our stay.

[CaptainHaplo]

Count me in. One question - I take it texture packs don't count as mods?

3 Days can allow you to get a lot of stuff done if you try......

[Safe-Keeper]

Great! I'll post the write-up for the rest of my game and then I'll hand it over and hope it works for you!

I chose not to play with a texture pack because my NorseCraft pack doesn't really fit the theme of this playthrough, but sure, use whatever texture pack you want!

[Safe-Keeper]

Day 2
Bernard ***8220;the blind***8221; Schmidt, navigator, reporting

Finally. I***8217;ve reached the shore. I thought I***8217;d drift around on that piece of debris forever. Wonder if any of the others made it. I just have to find them. Won***8217;t be a problem, I***8217;m a navigator after all.
:six hours later:

So I have found this valley between two hills, and inset in the hillside is this shelter.



The crew is so happy to see me, they volunteer me to go gather coal in the cave across the river with a wooden pick they***8217;ve fashioned. I feel honoured.

I wonder why there is so much blood here. Smells really weird, too. Doesn***8217;t matter, there***8217;s so many animals just strolling about, this place is obviously safe. Time to get to work.



Venturing inside the cave, I see it continues inward quite a way. There***8217;s light up there. Does it lead through the mountain?



Nope. There***8217;s a crack in the wall here and a tiny opening to the surface.
Then it just continues inward.



No way I***8217;m going deeper. This is creepy. There could be trolls or goblins or giant spiders here. I go back to the opening and mine out as much coal as I can carry. It takes time, and it is sunrise when I emerge. We use the coal to make torches that we lodge into cracks in the walls. I see most of the men have made it, but the atmosphere is gloomy. I ask them if anyone***8217;s seen the skipper.
They just look at each other.

Eventually, night falls.



Except it doesn***8217;t, really. It doesn***8217;t get properly dark here. We***8217;re in the Atlantic, in November. It***8217;s supposed to be pitch black out there. But it isn***8217;t. It's like springtime in Scandinavia. Has some kind of calamity taken place? Has there been a volcanic eruption or something nearby that is causing nights to be brighter than usual? None of us know.


It scares the hell out of all of us.


Day 3
Bernard "the Blind" Schmidth, coal miner, reporting

We emerge outside the cave, which smells of the sweat and damp clothing of nearly fourty men living in cramped quarters. We take a closer look at the cows, and decide they must be wild. They***8217;re simply too scruffy to be anything else. We haven***8217;t eaten properly for three days, and so we slaughter two of them, and take their meat and hides.

Then, it happens. From the bottom of one of the small holes in the terrain, a skeleton shoots at us with a bow and arrow. I swear it. The others in my group saw it too. Having saved no weapons from the u-boat, we run. Now the others tell me of giant spiders the size of small dogs. What kind of place is this?

The day passes in a kind of daze. We just go about our business, not saying much. We slaughter some sheep and take their wool.



As if things aren***8217;t bad enough, it starts raining heavily. We stay inside for the rest of the day. We take stones we***8217;ve collected and turn them into an oven of sorts. We fuel it with coal and use it to cook our newly gathered meat. We craft bedding out of the wool and most of our remaining wood. We turn the remaining stone into tools, a pickaxe and a sword. I am entrusted with the sword and night-time guard duty. I enjoy climbing the ranks like this. Things are looking up.





Day 4
Bernard "the blind" Schmidt, watchman, reporting

After some heated debate, we decide we want to make a signal fire. We don***8217;t know where we are, but there could be ships. There could be people. The ship that sunk us may still be about. Heck, friendly u-boats could be about. We want to be seen and rescued. So we scale the big mountain across our hideout with rocks and wood. We lay down a stone base and heap up wood on top of it. We still haven***8217;t decided if we want it lit, though.

You see, things just keep getting more and more terrifying. From atop the mountain, we saw a big rock, apparently floating in thin air. At first we were sure that we had seen wrong, but two guys went down there and confirmed that yet, it***8217;s a big chunk of rock levitating a short distance over the ground. In its immediate vicinity was a desert, complete with cacti.



Then, out of nowhere, a hideous green creature on four stubby legs came silently out of nowhere and made straight for our group. We threw ourselves out of its way and it exploded, leaving a crater in the ground and giving several of us burns. That got our minds made up. We do not want to light a fire and alert any more creatures of our presence. The base and wood remains, but for the moment, it remains unlit.



We retreated into our shelter and barricaded the door. Although we are grateful to have a place to hide, most of us figure we***8217;re probably best off leaving soon. See, this is what turned up in a fissure just below our house just a few minutes ago.




Yes, that's a river of lava down there. With what could be a volcanic eruption waiting to happen right under our feet, We may be off to look for a better places to live tomorrow. Given the bizarre creatures we***8217;ve run into latelly, weapons and proper walls of stone are high on our wish lists.


---------


I have laid the foundation . We have a shelter, some basic tools and supplies, and an excellent and highly exciting and terrifying starting site. We have all types of the ***8220;temperate animals***8221;, surface coal and iron, caves, and magma right at our doorstep. This will be good. Lots of Dwarf Fortress-style Fun to be had.

Also, given that you can***8217;t really get much stuff done in four days, I***8217;m considering extending each turn to one week. Though I expect most updates will be less wordy than this one . We can try going four days on the next few updates, though, and see how it goes.

The world is saved. Awaiting signups .


Tech support:if you have a modded Minecraft version, which I suppose 99% of you do, I believe you ***8220;unmod***8221; it easily by moving ***8220;bin***8221; elsewhere for then to force an update. Someone correct me if I***8217;m wrong, I don***8217;t want to ruin anyone***8217;s install :p .

Challenges/goals:
***8226; Goal 1: we currently live in a small cave. Either build a stone house/fort or move into a bigger cave, with stone walls covering the entrance and possibly other defenses, such as a moat, magma or whatever. An iron door with some fancy opening/closing mechanism would come in handy, too.
***8226; Goal 2: if you decide to light the fire to try to signal for help, your goal is to acquire iron, make a flint and steel and light the signal fire, which is to consist of four wooden planks upon the stone base, every night, for at least a week or two.

[Safe-Keeper]

CaptainHalo, I'll need you to PM me your email address so I can send you that save file .

[CaptainHaplo]

pm sent!

[CaptainHaplo]

Day 4 - Log by Navigator Bernard.

MEIN GOTT. The Captain - walking - dead - missing an eye, moaning, trying to attack me, on fire......... What cursed place is this?

But I better start at the beginning. After checking the stocks, it was obvious that we were in need of the basic supplies to start with. We had some coal, but very little wood. Thankfully there was a forest nearby, and so I spent the a good part of the day cutting down trees and hauling them inside. The crew sure is looking up to me to do lead, but I never new being on top was so much hard work! Still, it got done, and I expanded our storage case by another trunk.

With wood taken care of, I was able to create some additional torches. Though it was late in the day, I thought exploring one of the cave systems just a bit might be useful. Sure its scary, but the men are now looking at me as the leader, and I cannot show fear. I was concerned about a mutiny.... Now I fear so much more.....

With a crude sword fashioned from stone and plenty of torches, I left the crew and went exploring. I ventured into the cave with the opening right near the water outside our current shelter. It was late, but I was too driven to sleep. Not long after entering I was attacked by one of the strange, green exploding creatures. It hissed but I hit it a few times with my sword and it never exploded. Amazingly, the body disappeared, but there were 2 small piles of black powder left behind. I scooped them up. I came to a fork and explored first one, then the other - keeping the way lit brightly. Both ended up as dead ends, but there was much coal to be found, and a reddish, rust colored rock that I think may be Iron. In my excitement, I got kind of turned around, lost track of time and spent much of the night mining more coal. I decided to check on the other ore later, after realizing my comrades must be worried. As I worked my way out of the cave, I noticed it was dark outside, but that the sun seemed to be rising. As I neared the surface, more moaning sounds. They were so creepy, but I couldn't find the source.

As I climbed out of the cave, I noticed there was a man standing on a hill, just near our shelter. It was on a little peninsula, and he appeared to be looking out to sea. It was just begining to turn dawn, so I couldn't tell who it was. I yelled to him, but he never turned. That is when I made a seemingly harmless decision that shall haunt me for the rest of my days....

Instead of heading back to our camp, I wondered if my crewmate may be looking for a ship to rescue us. Of course! A lookout! I thought I shall have to reward my crew for this initiative. I went over to speak with him, but at the bottom of the hill, again I heard those ungodly moans. I looked around in the still, dark air and saw nothing but the shadow of the man above..... I climbed the hill, but as I got close to the top, another of those green monsters appeared - I was barely able to escape its blast. When I looked up, my comrade was no longer on the hill. Fearing he had been injured in the blast, I ran to the top, when the most horrible of sights met my eyes...

The Captain - the crew said he have been killed by a giant spider. Oh Gott were it true. But no, he stood just a little ways below me, ragged and bloodied. I started to climb down, when he looked up at me and let out the most terrifying moan. His left eye was gone, but in his right there was no recognition. His body and clothes were shredded beyond what any mortal man could bear and still live. He leered at me through his one souless eye, and began to approach me.

[img]http://i1255.photobucket.com/albums/...in/Captain.jpg[/img]

I screamed in terror and tried to back away, this was not our Kapitan, this was some evil curse that had turned him into the walking dead! As I scrambled back, I fell suddenly and the sun came over my shoulder. The Captain was caught in a beam from the sun. He made an odd noise, then suddenly BURST into FLAME before my very eyes. Without so much as a scream of pain, he retreated to the bottom of the hill, then fell or jumped into a hole that I had not seen before.

[img]http://i1255.photobucket.com/albums/...min/OnFire.jpg[/img]

Our Skipper, a zombie. Me, terrified out of my wits. I couldn't help but go see where the skipper had gone. I was to fearful to enter, but I did see one of those skeletons near the entrance. I retreated to our camp.

The men are shaken, they don't want to believe me, but I think my terror is proof enough. I don't know that I can leave this shelter now....

*While I have pictures of the Kapitan from before and after catching on fire - I have no ability to attach or post them. ARG!

[Safe-Keeper]

Photobucket is your friend.

[CaptainHaplo]

Day 5, Entry by Chief Engineer Wilhelm Putz

That sorry excuse for a navigator came running into the camp this morning screaming about incoherently about the walking dead. He refuses to leave the camp now, instead he sits blubbering about the Kapitan being a moaning zombie. He was useless to begin with, but he is doubly so now.

Our supplies are low. We have wood and some coal, but we need food. Our tools are mere stone and sticks. If we are to survive until we are rescued, then we must be better prepared. Also, we need to see if there are any more survivors, and we need a way to find our camp if we stray too far. I get a few men to help and we build a tall tower outside camp, with a torch burning so that it can be seen from some distance.

The navigator has written a log entry, and it mentions Iron. I bet the fool has found nothing but colored rocks. Still, it would be best to check out. I take the shabby tools and some torches to investigate the tunnel he exited.

I follow it and he has done something right, for one. The cave is well lit. No "monster denizens" to be seen - though I admit I was one who saw one of those arrow shooting skeletons. Having grown up near the Black Forest, I know there are things which we cannot explain. All the more reason to prepare!

Well what do you know - it IS Iron. I quickly chip all I can from the first vein, then continue one. There are 2 others I find, and have a good solid load when I leave the cave. I give the iron to one of the machinists who did an apprenticeship with a blacksmight as a young man. He says its good quality and can be smelted. Maybe enough for some crude protection. He starts to work right away.

It is still daylight, and I saw a few of those wild bovine near the camp. Stone isn't good for weapons, but my oversized stone knife is big enough to make quick work of about 4 cows. They are quickly cleaned and the leather meat hauled back to camp. Thankfully it isn't far and the crew helps with gusto - they are excited about the food. By the time we get back, the machinist is hard at work. He has what looks like some leggings and a hauberk, with some shoes and a helmet cooling. Fast work! With all that, a man might have some protection from the crazy creatures roaming around.

We eat a good meal, and I take a quick nap. When I wake, the "armor" is cool enough to handle, I put it on. Sure, I look odd and its heavy, but this might just help me avoid getting killed. Our new "blacksmith" used all the Iron we had. Still, he says if we can find more, he can make better tools for us. Something to think about.

Its dark now, but I think I will go out and check the tower. A few of the men warn me about monsters in the dark, but I haven't seen anything in the day, so maybe now is a good time to see what might be out there. I check the tower, its a good beacon for now, just not big enough to be seen from too far. Well, for now it will have to do. Our rescue beacon will be much bigger.

As I stand on a small hill, I look around in the dark and see two giant spiders.



Rage lights in me suddenly, the Kapitan died because of these creatures. Recklessly I run down the hill and attack them. They hiss and spit, trying to leap upon me.



Revenge is mine! They fail to even damage me, and I have avenged the Kapitan. Their carcasses yield some fine silk string. I return to the camp for rest, adreneline crashing has me tired.

[CaptainHaplo]

Day 6, Entry by Chief Engineer Wilhelm Putz

I wake the next morning as the men feast on the leftovers from the night before. We have some food, but we will definitely need more. The problem is that if we hunt all the nearby game, we will soon have nothing to hunt. Growing food is time consuming. It may be something we try in the end, but there is an ocean nearly right outside our door. If only we could fish....

Inspiration hits me. The silken string I got from the spiders last night! I quickly fashion a fishing pole and head out. I spend the better part of the day fishing.



Success comes quickly. Strike after strike and I soon have a nice string of fish to fry. With all the wading in the shallows, I notice some clay. With my shovel I soon have a large load to take back to camp. A late lunch of fish, the men experimenting with the red clay, and I have a hours of daylight to go. Looking out of our camp, I see the two caves in the side of the mountain. Perhaps its time to check them out.

I search first one, then the other. There is some coal in one, the other is just a large open cavern Still, the exploration takes time. I fix some torches up so we can see inside if we climb up. As I exit, I marvel at the beauty of the moon rising behind the hill that sits atop our camp.



As I head back to camp, I put two torches up where we last saw one of those skeleton archers. Perhaps it will be the next place to be explored.

************************************************** ********************

This ends the 2nd 3-day period. Who else wants in on this? I have the save ready to email. So PM me if you want to play it!

[Safe-Keeper]

Since there are no other applicants, I might as well have a turn again. Just send it over to oyvindsw@hotmail.com.

[Safe-Keeper]

After having played another turn, I'm increasing the play time of each player from 3 to 4 days and nights. Gives you more time to get stuff done.

- Day 7 -

Leutnant zur See Johannes Kregelin reporting.

Has it really been a week already? It is amazing how much time has passed, and how we have all coped -- and, more importantly, how so many of us have survived the week.

When dawn breaks, we'll have to get to work again. I, too, am highly curious as to what’s inside the caves around us, but we’ve decided the first order of the day should be the building of a larger and safer home.

Unable to sleep, I venture into the wilderness again, even though it is night. Lighting up our surroundings like a christmas tree was supposed to give us a feeling of safety and keep the monsters away, but I fear it is attracting them instead, like moths to candles. They seem to understand there's fresh meat to be had in the direction of the lights. We'll keep fighting them off, though, there can't be that many more left.



The walking dead wear ordinary clothing, and they look like they have been dead for years. Our first guesses were that some kind of sick Allied experiment had taken place, but judging by how there’s also skeletons afoot, with no meat left on their bodies, I guess whatever happened here took place a long time ago. If this is the result of some kind of research project gone horribly wrong, it happened long before the war began.

What scares me is that we've been here a week without anyone coming to pick us up. The Destroyer sunk us within swimming distance of this island, and you would think they would have sent someone to capture us a long time ago. Many of the men theorize that we have ended up in a different word, which would explain the strange and terrifying creatures we have encountered. I hope it is not so.



At least the zombies have all been unarmed so far, and they don’t fight well, they just come at us with their arms outstretched. Even unarmed, we kill them easily. With our crude stone tools, they go down even faster. We’re still adamant we won’t eat their meat, though. It reeks of rot and mildew and would probably kill us if we ate it.

I decide to head down into the mine opposite from our makeshift home, in part because we need stone if we’re going to move house. I take out some coal, but leave most of it be, as we don’t need more right now. I also find more iron, however. It will come in handy, our “blacksmith” will be able to turn it into weapons, buckets and tools.



I end up spending quite a bit of time in the cave network, because I get lost and can’t find my way out. Signage might be needed. We could make signs easily out of wood and write on them with coal. It would help us navigate the tunnels far more efficiently, and also map out hazards for each other.

Enough dawdling. We have big plans, and need to get to work. I have our “smith” throw the iron into our oven. The ore is turned into an iron sword, a bucket, and an iron pickaxe. That should make our clumsy mining attempts a lot more efficient.



Meanwhile, those of us capable of doing heavy manual labour or guard duty climb up in the mountainside to the big cavern with our cobblestone. The cavern will be our new home.

We fortify the back entrance.



Then the front.



Then, when we dig out coal from the ceiling, we find an opening that leads to one of the "side cave" entrances. This is great – it will be our main entrance, allowing us to block off access to both the other openings. Our blacksmit even believes that given enough iron ore, he could fashion a crude iron door.

We work throughout the night, heaping rocks upon rocks. In the morning, our stronghold is taking shape. We christen it Festung Vampir.



- Day 8 -



Dawn, day eight. Our sick and wounded surprise us when we return. They have put blocks of clay in the oven and burned it into small bricks. We reckon we could use these to fortify our new cavern home.

We designate the entrance of the Spider Cave our quarry, and spend the morning taking out stone. Then we spend the rest of the day building our new mountain fortress. Rain pours down the entire day.

This wall will keep the creeps out, but not the cold and rain. We need to either seal the opening off completely somehow, or build structures inside the cave out of stone or wood. Wood might be a better option than stone, as wooden structures will be easier to heat. We could also experiment more with turning sand into glass.

Either way, tomorrow we will probably have to head back to the forest and get more wood – we have very little left. We’ll also have to decide if we want the existing hideout for anything, or if we should take it apart to provide materials for our new home.

- Day 9 -
We get the wood gathering done today, and also planted some new saplings that will grow into new trees some day. We then get back to work on our new fortress. We fortify the "side tunnel" entrance with bricks and a wooden door. It’s agreed among us that a door made of iron should be a high priority if we come upon another vein of iron ore.

We fill the cavern with torches. They make the dark room a bit cozy and also provides a little bit of warmth as we huddle up around them.



Then we get to work sealing up the entrance a bit, and we also add a walkway on the inside of the wall.



It still doesn’t look nearly as visually appealing from the outside, but it’ll keep us safe. We can always work on making it prettier in the future.

[Safe-Keeper]

I'm wondering if we should call this one off due to lack of interest. What do you say, Halo?
Edit: I'll email the save to you and whoever else wants it.