Creeper security

     After crossing back over to the other side - obviously allowing UOPETA to scan the surroundings first - we headed due West to the third portal location. This one was supposed to be hard to find, but Amie had provided enough information to help us locate it. It was hidden in the far end of a cave that had become flooded from a spring source that erupted after the cave's initial excavation. So all we needed to do was look for another pool of water nearby, with a partially collapsed cave. Why did they all involve water! Luckily after climbing back onto the other side of the bank, it wasn't far to the portal. It was only a few hundred metres in land, but it still took awhile to find. It was located on the rear side of a hill, facing away from us. I heard the gushing of water, and called the other two over. As we approached the sound, I saw the edge of the pool come into view. This was it. Then I stopped. I could hear splashing... What was making that noise? That could be anything... It could be a bird, or another animal... Or it could be a guard setting something up... Or a Creeper. As quietly as we could, we rounded the small outcropping, to see the cause of the splashing. It was! It was a Creeper! We all took out our blowpipes, but it had already seen us! It began to hiss at a painful pitch, and then exploded! We covered our faces, expecting to be showered with water and debris, but there was nothing... Waiting a few moments longer, we eventually looked back in the direction of the Creeper... There was nothing there... The Creeper had totally disappeared, taking a large portion of the pool with it. Even the water was gone!

"What the? What happened to the water? When something explodes, isn't there usually shrapnel too?"

Maybe... Unless it was vapourised in the explosion. That would also explain the increase in temperature nearby, and the lack of water where it had been standing... Was the explosion so powerful it could vapourise things? Such as flesh and bone...?

The other two stood in shock for a moment. I was almost expecting this... I had experienced this before... I had dug out a water trap to catch a creature that I had seen stalking my area. Then one day, I found the same creature, a Creeper, stuck inside the trap. It took one look at me and exploded! As with this, the water disappeared completely... There wasn't any steam, or a spray of water, so the water wasn't heated up or blown out. It must be literally vapourised into thin air! Needless to say, this put us all on edge, but on the up side, we didn't need to get wet to get to the cave now!

     We headed down into the now waterless pool, and towards the small tumbled down rocky area near to where it had been standing. We were all carrying our blowpipes now, not willing to risk anything. One by one, we entered into the cave, taking care not to disrupt the rubble left from the cave-in. It looked a little unstable, and we didn't want to trap ourselves in. We had all had our fair share of being trapped in rubble to last us a lifetime! As we continued along, we could see the purple light emanating from up ahead, indicating the portal was active... After moving a safe piece of debris, we were able to see into the chamber. It was similar to the ones we had found before; the walls were covered in moss and lichen, and the portal was embedded into the wall. Not only that, but there was an Affinitas cage nearby! Did that mean there were more Creepers?

     As I have volunteered to go first, I stepped into the chamber, blowpipe at the ready. But there was nothing here; only the cage and the portal. There was no sign of any Creepers of guards. I beckoned the other two to follow, and they climbed through.

"Right, THEROS. You destroy the portal, whilst Syeonyx destroys the cage. I'll keep a look out."

THEROS took out a torch to illuminate the area; the portal cast enough into the room to see by, but we would all be plunged into darkness when it was destroyed. I took the pickaxe from my back and THEROS rummaged in his bag for the stone. I began destroying the cage, taking little effort with the sharp blade of the pick head. Before the destruction process had even begun, I had destroyed the cage entirely; the miniature zombie inside had disappeared with a howl, and the flames and been extinguished. We waited for the portal to be destroyed; the rift began pulling in the sides of the portal, growing weaker and weaker as it did. Eventually the last remnants of the obsidian frame disappeared into the rift, and it finally collapsed. It was a good job THEROS had put up that torch! A minute later, the Solus stone became visible, glowing slightly. UOPETA and myself made our way out of the cave whilst THEROS picked up the stone. On to the next one!

     From where we were, it was a short distance West South West. The sun had begun to retreat into the lower half of the sky, with the light maintaining for now, and we wondering how easy it would be to find the portals in the dark. I suppose if they were exposed on the surface and active, pretty easy. But the last two were supposedly buried beneath the earth... However, almost all of the secondary portals we had found so far had some form of staircase leading either up or down to them. That or they were in or close to water. I had to admit, there was a lot of the water element to each of these portals.

"After this one, we're off to the South, more or less. It'll be a distance, but it shouldn't take too long. My guess is we should have this one destroyed before it gets dark, and we should hopefully get to the last before nightfall."

That was if we didn't run into any trouble... We had encountered one Creeper, but it had dealt with itself. Making our way towards the fourth portal, I began to think about the cobblestone walls... Often when we found a secondary portal, it was embedded into a cobblestone wall covered in lichen... Was this normal? I suppose there was a trend if you took into account the amount of water nearby; lichen grows in moist areas... But was there a connection between the moss and the portals? Could the moss originate from the portals? Nah! That was a stupid idea. There were probably hundreds of varieties of moss, all native to this land. Although it was odd we had never seen it anywhere we had found water before. After an hour or so, we came to the location of the next secondary portal. UOPETA confirmed that he had followed the directions carefully, and THEROS said the landmarks matched up... So where was it? It was a flat plane with a large collection of trees... It found it hard to find much, what with the tree cover creating dense shadows, and the retreating light. However, I was struck by one point of interest, and went over to find out. I had my blowpipe ready, just in case. It was a group of trees, three, in very close proximity, with an odd dirt hill practically encasing the trunks... Circling them, I eventually found out why... I called the others over. I think we found it!

     Like the one on the sandy island, this portal seemed to be buried deep beneath the earth. Oddly enough, the layout was very much the same; a short staircase going down and then a branch off to the left, twice! Both times we ended up going back on ourselves, but down. We had to light the way as we went, but when we cam to another turn, this time to the right, we heard scuffling... We all stopped, and UOPETA motioned to stay put while he went on ahead. Once he was level with the turn, he looked at us and motioned us forward. There in the chamber was the next secondary portal, along with an Affinitas cage and two Creepers! Without even thinking, I held my blowpipe to my mouth and exhaled. Luckily, UOPETA was quick with the follow up, and both Creepers fell more or less at the same time.

"We have to be quick!"

THEROS put the stone on the portal whilst I began to smash the Affinitas cage to pieces. UOPETA kept watch over the two sedated Creepers, and the exit. I pummelled the remains of the cage into the floor, and stood watching the portal, as did THEROS. Then, without warning, a strange green object began to emerge from the portal! It was a Creeper! It was trying to come through! I readied a dart, but UOPETA put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back.

"No, don't do it. There's no point. Look!"

He was right... The portal can already begun to collapse, and the rift had warped to the putrid green colour. The Creeper seemed to be stuck in the centre, unable to move. It's face poked from the rift, hissing and spitting as chunks of obsidian flew past it into the rift! We stood in horror for a minute, watching as the portal got smaller and smaller until the last remnants of the portal disappeared. With a last prolonged hiss, the Creeper fell forward, motionless as the rift closed! THEROS quickly took out a torch and lit it so we could see the Creeper, but when the light reached it, we knew there was no danger. The Creeper had been torn in half; when the rift closed, the other half of its body had remained in the Nether. It's head was left lying on the ground... What now? Then, unexpectedly, the head burst into flames, and we leapt back in case it might explode... It didn't... The fire eventually died away, leaving the blackened remains of the Creeper's head...

"Maybe... Maybe the remnants of the chemical in the bloodstream reacted with a trace amount of adrenaline... OROTHO did so it reacted differently under pressure; if it was contained, it would explode violently, but if exposed, it would just burn..."

THEROS was right. I remember OROTHO saying that. We had just had a lucky break. A VERY lucky break! We all turned to leave the chamber, a little shaken from what had just happened... I don't know about the other two, but I felt rather sorry for that Creeper...

"Come on... One left to go..."

Syeonyx signing off