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...

Last leg of the journey...

     From where we were, it was a bit of a trek to the South, and it had begun to grow dark; the sun was dipping into the lower half of the sky, and we were worried we would be plunged into darkness soon! Before heading off, THEROS decided to remove the four portal locations from the map by following the legend at the bottom. Black circles showed existing secondary portals, purple circles showed existing standard portals. Crossed out versions of these meant destroyed portals of the respective types. It was a simple system, but it enabled us to see our progress first hand, and was an efficient catalogue of our successes! From what I could tell, OROTHO was right about the secondary portals being closer to the conducting tower; a ring had almost formed around it of the currently destroyed ones. Who knew how many were left, but I could guarantee there would be more further out away from the tower.

After the current experiences with Creepers - especially our most recent one - we were more vigilant than usual. UOPETA wasn't taking any chances, and he refused to move on until he knew that we weren't being followed, nor were we walking into a trap. Needless to say, the journey took longer than expected, and before we even got close to the area, UOPETA insisted on performing a preliminary sweep of the area. I had to agree; the last thing we needed was a group of guards of Creepers coming in from behind once we had already tasked ourselves with the destruction of the portal. Once UOPETA was happy, we moved closer to the location, still cautious about what could be close by. Unlike the other occasions, we had no trouble finding the portal this time; right in the middle of where we found on the map was a cave that led through to a small tunnel, which emerged out the other end, onto the other side of field. I could see now why UOPETA was being so cautious; if we went straight in to check on the portal, we could be closed in on both sides, with no direction to retreat back to! As for the location of the portal, we couldn't tell. There was no glowing from the Solus stone, which suggested one of two things; either we were in the wrong area, or, more likely, it wasn't active. Good job I still had the pickaxe then! As we ventured into the cave, THEROS took out a torch and lit it, casting a flickering light into the mouth of the hole. Shining the torch a bit, we eventually found the portal. It wasn't active, and it was partially buried in gravel... Obviously HoN Co. hadn't found this one yet... Either that or they just hadn't activated it... Or maybe we had managed to take it offline by destroying enough standard portals! It didn't matter. As long as we destroyed this now, we could stop it becoming a medium for the portals to transmit the iter waves.

     UOPETA went out towards the other entrance to the cave, whilst I stayed with THEROS until the portal was destroyed. Once again, we took it in turns to chip bits away. It was of sturdy construction, but a lot of effort and time, and it was no match for us! After some time, the last remains of the portal tumbled away into dust, and we called UOPETA back over. Meanwhile, THEROS crossed off the last portal from the map, and rolled it up before putting it back into his bag.

"Is that the last one?"

THEROS nodded.

"Right then. Next we go back to the base. We talk to THEXIS and get an idea as to the location of these search teams. We've been lucky so far; they might've returned by now, but they don't seem to be. Maybe our luck will hold out and we'll be able to get there and back before they do. For now though, let's concentrate on getting back to base without being spotted."

UOPETA took the lead again, ensuring we were safe the entire way back. We weren't safe yet. The most dangerous bit was going to be ensuring we got into the base without being spotted.

----

     We made it back without any further mishaps; at one point I did think UOPETA had the impression we were being followed again, but he was just being extra cautious around the base entrance. We've been debriefed, and AMPHIS has a copy of the map. Our next task is to head over to the conducting tower for two reasons: 1) To check on our progress in terms of active primary portals, and 2)To find more data about other secondary portal sites. Amie has informed us of a location within the tower where we can get that data, so we'll be more organised this time.

"THEXIS has been monitoring the radio almost non stop since you left. He has a good idea where the search teams have been, and with some help from AMPHIS, he's been able to plot some points. Luckily, it still seems like they're fanning out to cover a wider area. THEXIS has managed to find a rough estimate of how far they are willing to search. All of the guards in the area have been alerted, including the ones at Syeonyx's old house. This means they're willing to extend as far as possible until they meet. Then they'll go back on themselves towards the tower. As far as THEXIS can tell, they're close to that point now. If you move out more or less straight away, you should get there by the time the two bands merge. They should be heading back towards the tower as you finish, but you'll be within the search perimeter by the time you get back to base. They should then pass by the base and return to the tower. Everybody clear? Good. You three get going. It's dark now so you have the advantage, especially where UOPETA's concerned. He's a pro in good lighting conditions. He's a master in the dark! Good luck. See you in a few hours!"

Syeonyx signing off

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