"Fitting Amie's description..."

     This was bad! Very bad indeed! We hadn't spotted any guards on the way to the tower, but that doesn't mean they didn't spot us! All they'd need to do now is to wait until we returned and they would have us! However, they weren't necessarily looking for us; UOPETA says the file states a sighting of Amie. The description given definitely matches Amie's appearance. She was seen alone, close to a cliff wall... Well she was definitely near a cliff wall at some point; the journey between the portal and the base requires us to navigate around one. As for being on her own, well she did hang around at the back of the group, both going to the portal to retrieve the glowing stone from the Nether, and on the way back. Then I remembered the time lapse between Minecraftia and the Nether. The time on the report states that she was seen on the morning we entered the portal, so they have spent more or less a day looking for her. It's a little more comforting to know that we still somehow managed to avoid them despite being burdened with the huge chunk of glowing stone. But the fact that there were no guards here meant they were either on their way back, or still searching. We had to leave now!

"Syeonyx is right; we spent the equivalent of just over a day and a half in the Nether. That would be enough time to assemble more guards and begin a search, especially in the Minecraftia time frame equivalent. The guards are likely to be finishing up at some point. We need to move, now!"

With the two reports in our possession, we left the tower in the direction of the base. UOPETA was extra cautious on the way back to ensure we didn't run into any HoN Co. guards that might be making their way back to the tower. The time we had spent in the tower itself, and the time taken to return from it back to the base had exceeded all previous records! We really needed to get back to base to try and warn the others. For all we knew, they could be dead, or cornered! We couldn't take the chance of assuming that the guards didn't know about the base, so we had to be quick!

     We've got back to the base in a very quick time; UOPETA spent a long time surveying the surrounding area for any guards that might be hiding posted around it. If they had spotted Amie close to the location of the portal we had used, they could surely track her back to this base! After eventually being happy with the lack of guards around, we made our way down into the base, locking the hatch and lowering the walkway as we went. UOPETA practically ran across with the walkway that spanned the lava channel, and we had a hard time keeping up. He began to slow down though when he saw that everyone was already assembled in the discussion room.

"Ah, good! You're all here. I've got some bad news... They've..."

"The HoN Co. guards have spotted a figure fitting Amie's description? We know. THEXIS intercepted some comms traffic that he was able to determine originated close to our base. It seems someone saw Amie and reported it in."

"Are they here? Do they know about the base?"

COLUS shook his head and went on to explain that the radio traffic had stated that a figure fitting her description had been seen close to a portal site. Backup was called in, and guards were sent in from the tower to investigate. As far as they know, the guards are unaware of the portal location close to our base, so they are likely to be searching a much wider area than we had initially anticipated.

"We can't be sure of where they are now, but it sounds like they are close to calling off the search. They haven't broadcast anything on any channel that THEXIS can detect about them finding a portal or anything hinting at the presence of our base. It means though that we're not able to move anywhere until we know where they are, and whether you can get past them to begin your operations again."

So, once again, we were confined to the base until THEXIS could tell us where the guards were, and where they were heading. It was a little irritating, but if the HoN Co. guards had found the base, it would have made the current situation a lot more difficult!

"Whilst you're waiting, come and see what we've done to the glowing stone."

----

     Despite the previous state of the stone, they had managed to do a good job! The original chunk was nearly a metre in length, and half as deep, and they had chiselled chunks away to get to the centre. OROTHO has said that the stone within the centre is least likely to break or shatter upon extraction, and will likely contain the most energy. I don't quite see his logic in that, but I trust him enough now to just smile and nod, and know everything will probably be alright.

"We're hoping that this chunk we managed to extract is enough to destroy a portal. The outside of the stone is useless; OROTHO determined that the odd discolouration is due to oxidation of the original stone surface. So to get to the stuff that works, we need to dig into it. We can get more from the centre as we need it, if such an event arises when we do, but until then it remains in one piece to prevent further oxidation."

COLUS held out his hand to THEROS, and he took the glowing stone that was positioned in the centre of his palm. It was remarkable! The stone was practically the same as the original Solus stone! The colour, the basic shape, and the odd yellow glow it would give off. It looked like it was up to the job, but we would have to wait a few hours to find out. THEXIS hadn't come through with any news about the guards coming back from patrol yet, but it wasn't likely to be too long. They had had plenty of time to search for her, and even they must have logically assumed she cannot have gotten too far from where they had last seen her. Maybe they would assume she saw them and fled. It's a logical assumption, one I would have made. I suppose it doesn't matter. I need to keep my mind on the ball and wait whilst THEXIS brings us news. At least THEROS is happy; he's able to plot the coordinates on the map. We should be ready to go in a few hours, and test this stone!

Syeonyx signing off