Welcome to "The Diary of a Miner"; a blog detailing the adventures and mysteries that I, Syeonyx, embark upon in my quest to further my mining and survival skills! It'll be tough, there will be good times and bad times, but I'll always be alive to post my adventures... probably...

Day 35: Set sail towards mystery and intrigue!

     Today I woke up with an incredibly large spring in my step! I was ready and raring to go and I couldn't wait! Although I don't know whether it was more due to exploring the strange island with fire on it, or finding out if my homemade boat worked! Or sank... Well as I've always been told, I'm a kineasthetic learner, and I learn by trying... or at least learning from learning to try! In other words, I learn how not to fail... which still takes a few attempts. I took the bag I had prepared downstairs and made sure that the whole house was secure. I wasn't sure what I'd be coming back to - if I came back! - so I blocked the access to the porch by the side of the house just in case. Taking up the bag again, I managed to stop Chiron from running around the porch with excitement with a bone! Closing the door, I placed small barricades at both entrances from the stairways up to the porch, and ended up getting Chiron to go down by throwing the bone around! I made my way to the gate, unlocked it and set off down the beach to the pier! Today was going to be very interesting! Placing the bag and oars down, I tested the underside of the boat, and was relieved to notice the resin had hardened. Although had it done its job? I pushed the boat off the stands, stood it on its end and pushed it off the beach into the water! It made a huge initial splash and then bobbed a bit before settling, floating perfectly... although maybe a little too close the water line than I'd like to admit. I took the chest I had made from the side of the pier, and wedged it into the head of the boat. Time to begin I guess!

     Going down onto the pier, I managed to settle the boat, and placed the bag into the chest. It didn't sink which was a good thing but then again I hadn't got onto it yet! I had yet to close the gate, so I convinced Chiron to stay put with the bone I'd been throwing around, and I went back to the gate! I went inside the gate, flicked the switch, and then got onto the wall from the elevator! I then climbed to the top of the South-West tower and climbed into the escape tunnel. I exited the other side and replaced the wooden panels. I was very impressed as to how useful that was! I returned to the boat and placed the oars into it and climbed precariously in... It didn't sink! Another bonus, but would it get me to the other side? I was about to find out!

     After setting off from the pier, I spent 5 minutes going around in circles! But I soon got the hang of it and was making respectable time towards the island. The only problem was i had to keep looking over my shoulder to make sure I was heading in the right direction! I don't know how people with rowing boats did this! Why not face forwards but paddle backwards? I tried this method and found I was going back in the direction I came, so I kept my nonsensical musings to myself and kept rowing... in the right direction! Chiron was having a great time; sitting there staring at his reflection in the water! Either that, or he kept seeing something below... which got me worried and I seemed to gain a rather large amount of energy from nowhere and sped up! After about an hour, the back of the boat slammed into the shore and I was thrown backwards off it! A bit miffed, I stood up and pulled the boat towards shore. Chiron seemed to get the impression that he too could disembark and jumped straight into the water! After a few minutes to secure the boat and gather my bag, I turned around to look at where we had landed, and what was actually the cause of the light. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting what I saw...

     Two green tents with plastic windows and a few seats placed around a roaring campfire! I was a bit taken aback and placed the bag back down and went looking around. The tents were rather roomy inside, each with two camp beds inside, a chest and a bookcase! That meant that there was at least four people here... or at least there WERE four people here! I went outside and looked around the tents to see if they were in sight but I couldn't see anyone except some wildlife. Going back into one of the tents, I noticed that the chests contained simple survivial gear, similar to what I had brought along with me; a spare tent, a few torches, some mining equipment, food and some weapons. The bookshelf contained books about mining, which ores are precious and where to find them, books about wildlife, trees and an assortment of other survival books. These were of no interest to me at all; I was looking for a diary of some sort! After while of searching around, I found one! I settled down on the edge of the bed and began to read one of the more recent entries, but it hadn't got many at all; it seemed to be a very new diary! My main concern was whether the diary belonged to any of the crew of the ship! I read the first entry and found it was from a woman named "Amie" who was one of the members of the crew! She mentioned that there had been an incident on the ship, but that no-one could remember what had happened. They had all awoken - as if from some dream - in the camp beds on this small island with everything set up! Not a single person could recall anything that had happened, except that they hadn't got off the ship willingly! She also made reference to three other crewmen, one of which was named "Trevor".

     Amie went on to say that they had been equipped with enough to start a dig, but they didn't know why, and who had set them up. All they had been given was a map of where to begin digging and what they would find. The next few entries just made reference to them all digging. They hadn't been left with any equipment to contact HoN Co. and they couldn't find any trace of their ship. The last entry referred to a "large cavern" that they had found which after a few days of constant digging. It was how the map described and they had found a strange wall blocking the path. They were going to make a second attempt to blow the wall out using some TNT they had been left with, and the rest of the diary was blank. The last entry was dated three days ago... That would explain why the fire was still burning. Setting the book to one side, I searched around in both tents for the map; turning books out to look between pages, searching for hidden compartments in the chests and under the beds. But nothing... no trace of a map! I went outside and shouted again, but there was still no reply. The crew - or what was left of them - had disappeared... again! "Amie" and the three others had simply vanished! I went around the island looking for any trace of the dig site, but I couldn't find anything that hinted disturbed earth at all. I found a rather suspicious cave, but after a bit of exploring, it turned out to be harmless!

     I decided to try and gain a better vantage point by scaling the back of the cave and seeing if there was any more to this island. After an hour, I was at the top of the cave and looked around in all directions, but could still see nothing to hint at a dig site. I saw a small wooded area off to the West and thought that it would be the best place to start. Climbing back down again, I left Chiron in one of the tents and took my sword from the bag. I went off to explore the wooded area!

     After about ten minutes of walking, I got to the forest area and was prepared for anything! It was about the only area of interest on the entire island, and yet there was nothing around to suggest any dig site! I toured the whole perimeter of the island and worked my way towards the middle but all I managed was spending two hours going in rather annoying circles! I had seen nothing to suggest any human life had been around here at all; there was the occasional hole with a bit of coal at the bottom, but apart from that, nothing. I returned to the tents and took out my shovel. If I was going to find this dig site, I would have to dig! Although it seemed a bit random, I began at one end of the island and began to dig what appeared to be seemingly random holes in the ground! I did this all afternoon and got nowhere! It began to get dark after I began digging around the cave when it occurred to me what if the dig site had been filled in? If it had, who would've filled it in and why randomly disappear. The disappearance of the rest of the crew shows that if the site had indeed been filled in, it can't have been them!

     I've decided to settle in for the night; I've taken my equipment into one of the tents and I've decided to make use of the equipment already set up! It's not likely that anyone is going to complain! I'll try again, and see if I find anything, and if not I'll head back to the house! A whole day's worth of digging will be sufficient waste of time enough as it is!

Syeonyx signing off

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