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...

I had to jinx it...

     We set off to the North East in search of the last portal of the day! An active secondary portal! It was unlikely it wouldn't be guarded. The sun had begun to sink properly over the horizon at this point, and the sky faded from a powder blue, to a dark navy. This was good and bad; it allowed us to stay hidden easier, but looking out for guards and Creepers was harder. To make matters worse, it had begun to rain quite heavily, so the whole "keeping my head and eyes still" trick didn't work so well when the leaves were blowing around on the trees! THEROS had put the map away to keep it dry, and we relied on the coast to guide us. We had to be very careful, as the conducting tower was little a few hundred metres away from the previous portal, and we had had to be careful about being seen! I think we got away with it, and once we were done, we headed off along the coast towards the North. THEROS said that he would recognise the area from the map once we got there, so I was reassured... A little...

     After just under an hour, we made it to the general area where the portal location had been verified. As the last few portals were above ground, I began searching around the trees, still being stealthy and secretive. I couldn't find anything, and there were no signs to indicate it was nearby.

"Are we sure this is the place?"

I shrugged, and pointed out THEROS was the one with the map. He studied it again, before quickly bustling it back into the bag. I walked off behind a tree to see if there were any holes when I heard THEROS call out. I rushed over to where he was standing: he had found a large hole! It led down into a dark chamber below.

"Looks like this could be it. Be careful!"

THEROS began to descend into the hole whilst I waited on the surface, keeping an eye out. then I saw it... At first I thought it was just a tree. It was still raining hard, and there was barely any light to see by except that of the moon. But there, lurking in the undergrowth was a strange, green shape. It didn't move like the grass or the leaves on the trees... In fact it didn't move at all, which was the main reason why I had seen it! As I followed the shape upwards, I saw the distinctive shape of a rasping maw, and then it began to move!

     I fumbled in my pocket for the blow pipe, sighing with huge relief when I realised I had already clipped the magazine on! I waited for it to get within twenty feet or so before releasing the dart. It stopped dead in its tracks and began hissing... I cringed, and covered my head with my hands, expecting it to explode! But after awhile, its eyes closed and it sank to the floor... That was a very very close one! I waited a few moments, the blow pipe still to my lips in case it managed to get back up. But it didn't move...

"Are things alright up there?"

I slowly put the pipe away, and climbed down the hole. I told THEROS about the Creeper and he stood there in shock for awhile.

"Really? I completely missed that. Good eye!"

It's a good job I went last then, otherwise THEROS could be scattered over a few hundreds yards of trees and grass by now!

     As we descended, we put up a few torches to see by. We knew that there were likely to be guards down here, but I'd rather see them first than the other way around! A few feet more, and up ahead we could see the notable mossy cobblestone that often indicated the location of a portal. But it wasn't that which I had drawn my attention. In the eerie shadows cast by the now visible purple light, were two Creepers! They were unaware of our presence, despite the torches casting down a small amount of light into the main chamber. THEROS stood on a higher outcropping, whilst I remained where I was and I mentioned to take them out. From my position, I could now see an Affinitas cage! There was definitely something important here that HoN Co. thought was worth guarding! We took out the blow pipes and readied them. I indicated for THEROS to take out the one closest to us, and I counted down on my fingers. 3... 2... 1...

     The Creepers dropped like bags of sand! That was easy, but there was still the chance that other Creepers would be lurking nearby... As long as the portal was still active, the Affinitas cage would still work! I slowly descended until I was level with the chamber, and I rounded the corner, blow pipe at the ready! But there were no more Creepers or other enemies of any kind. Not even a guard! Then again I had a feeling a guard may have suffered a grim fate if left with an active portal and an Affinitas cage! I put the blow pipe away, and called THEROS forward. He had the bag, and was carrying the Solus stone, so he could do the honours. The good thing about the active portals was that they took less time to destroy!

     THEROS stepped forward and placed the Solus stone on the bottom ledge of the obsidian frame. We stood back at a distance, blow pipes at the ready in case any Creeper decided to come through from the Nether before the portal was destroyed. We waited and waited, knowing it was likely to take a bit of time as it was a secondary portal. It was linked to numerous other active portals, but thankfully when it was destroyed, many standard portals would be knocked offline! Eventually, the glowing Solus stone faded from sight, and we were bathed in a sickly green light as the rift began to warp. We continued watching in case a Creeper managed to make it through, but after a few minutes, there was nothing that remained of the portal, except the indentation it had made from being part of the wall... We put the blow pipes away, feeling a little safer and we began wondering what to do with the Affinitas cage!

"Well there is no portal for the Creepers to use any more, and I doubt it had a particularly powerful range... We could leave it, but the absence of the portal itself is a hint at us being here!"

I was happy to leave it. It could still attract Creepers and other creatures, but there was no threat any more, and we were unlikely to need to come back here. Nonetheless, THEROS wanted to destroy it, so I passed him the pickaxe whilst I stood guard.

     We climbed back up to the entrance, taking the torches with us as we went. HoN Co. would know that we had destroyed a portal without even needing to come here, but torches were a valuable commodity! We began to head to the South along the coast again, back towards the base. We had managed to destroy three portals today: two inactive but one active secondary portal. That was definitely what I called progress! The rain had eased off, and I had a feeling the journey back was going to be uneventful as usual... Not that I was wishing for anything to befall us!

Syeonyx signing off

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