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 166: Nearing The End

     Feeling well rested despite the lack of sleep we had been getting over the past couple of days, we woke up with the sun again, eating enough to sustain us through the day before we reached the base. We had easily covered the majority of the journey by now, with only a short distance to go. Once there we could get into the base, ensure we take whatever we need to survive the journey through to The End and then head up through the entrance of the iron mine to the shack SERVERE had been using. From there we could use the secret tunnel that led through to the portal which would be activated when we placed the five Eyes of Ender into the appropriate places. We hadn't been told any more than that, so we assumed that was all that was required of us; the portal would activate, opening up The End dimension for us to cross over to, and converse face to face with the Endermen. Then we would take the Keystone from The End back through the portal and down to the conducting tower, where we would end it all!

"Just think: in less than a day's time, this could all be over! HoN Co. would be defeated, and their immoral actions revealed to the public. We would have helped out an ancient race of intelligent beings and stopped the world from being overrun with the evils of a hellish dimension!"

"Woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've got a LOT to do before then, and every minutely detailed step we take is going to be fraught with danger! We'll have HoN Co. at our heels the entire time, and we can't say for sure where the allegiance of these Endermen lies. It's best to remain vigilant the entire time from now on."

Destroying all trace of the fire without attracting an nearby attention, we picked up our bags and continued on our way. We had all changed back into our Lone 7 armour; I don't know about anyone else but the guard uniforms and lab coats felt creepy to wear. They felt wrong... Being back in my standard armour was comforting, even though it changed very little. We had also re-assembled the four rifles, and myself, UOPETA, COLUS and THEROS had them ready to use at any point they were needed. We hadn't run into or come across any guards as of yet, but we knew it was early days yet, and once we had the Keystone, getting into the conducting tower was going to prove to be the toughest obstacle of them all. HoN Co. would have just lost any leverage they possessed, and the only way to get it back would be to heavily guard the one place we needed to get to. As we continued East it was likely that hundreds of guards and Elite soldiers were being put into position in and around the tower to prevent us getting access to it.

"Look! Off to the North! That's the tip of the conducting tower! We're close!"

We all looked off to the North where COLUS was pointing, knowing full well that the sight of the tower meant we were close to home. It also meant we were close to the base entrance that was just a little South from the tower. We had decided against using that point of entry for fear HoN Co. having found it. If they had, they may well be guarding it, or worse, leaving it open for us to fall into a trap. The best option was to set straight for the main base entrance and work from there.We would be able to get to the iron mine quickly as well if anything went wrong from then on. Soon we could see the huge cliffs that acted as the mighty walls blocking the base entrance from prying eyes, even from above. The entrance itself was ingenious; relying on a platform that could be lowered down into the pool it crossed and become completely invisible. Even with the platform raised, it would look like a simple piece of terrain.

"We've got trouble. Everyone stay low and keep quiet..."

We all slowed down, and readied the rifles, checking the magazines were loaded properly the springs in working order. The last thing we needed was for the rifles to break on us at such a crucial stage. As we were close to one of the huge cliff walls, COLUS stopped us, and pointed forwards. Through the tree line we could make out the beach area that surrounded the pool where the base entrance was hidden. However, posted around the entrance and the pool were quite a few guards, at least four or five. It was hard to tell with the amount of foliage in the way, but it getting inside was going to require a lot of concentration.


"I suppose it was just a matter of time until they found where we were. Luckily we weren't at home when they did, or things would have got messy. How are we going to deal with this?"

"UOPETA, you head around to the right and scope out the area. See if you can spot how many guards we're dealing with. Once you're sure, return to us so we can formulate a plan."

UOPETA nodded once, and quickly dashed off to the South, hugging the tree line so he couldn't be seen. At one point even we lost him; there was no movement for a few moments before he suddenly came dashing back.

"We've got five guards; two at the front of the platform, one near the entranceway, one off to the left on the hill and another way off ahead close to the iron mine."

"Are you one hundred percent positive?"

UOPETA nodded again.

"Right, well it seems we may not be able to get into the base directly through the entrance. We'll need to get through to the iron mine and work our way from there. We can get into the base from there. If we move off to the right and take out the guard closest to where we want to go, we may be able to slip past the others, provided he falls cleanly and isn't seen by the others."

We all made our way across to the right, setting up position where UOPETA had dashed off to moments before. We only needed to take one guard out, but we needed to make sure the other guards weren't watching. UOPETA set up to take the shot, whilst the rest of us with rifles kept watch on the three guards most likely to spot him going down. We waited for some time, tracking their movement and hoping they would each turn away roughly at the same time. We spent nearly an hour tracking their movement, but they remained rigidly stuck to their exact patrol route each time. There wasn't a single time when one guard wasn't looking at another. But we had worked out one flaw with their patrols. The guard closest to the iron mine, and the one on the far side at the hill only looked at each other at the same time, whilst the other three rotated in sequence. That meant that we'd need to take out the one on the far hill as well at the same time, leaving the three in the middle. If we timed it right, we would hopefully take them out without the others noticing, or at least causing a big enough distraction to get into the mine. UOPETA gave the countdown, while COLUS sighted the other guard. At the end of one, two simultaneous sounds of springs uncoiling informed us that the darts had been let loose. The two guards dropped.

"Go, go go..."

We all made a mad dash for the iron mine, knowing full well we wouldn't have this chance again. True to our suspicions, the three guards in the middle noticed the unconscious one on the hill on the far side, giving is us plenty of time to get across the rocks to the entrance. While they remained distracted, we opened the wall, hurried inside and closed it behind us. Luckily there were no guards in this part, which indicated they either had no reason to guard it or hadn't found it yet. If they'd found the base, it was likely to be the former.

"Okay, let's get into the base. We should be able to..."

"Change of plans. It's too risky to try that. Now that they know something is going off, they'll be on full alert. We'll just be making it easier for them if we went back to the base. No, we should head straight to the shack."

Heading up the stone steps, we headed off to the shack, hoping we wouldn't bump into any more guards. We would have to hurry to ensure that we remained out of sight as the security would likely tighten within the next hour or so.


---


     We've made it! It's taken a little longer than expected, likely due to getting slightly lost along the way, but we managed to reach the shack without running into any more guards. It didn't seem that they had found the shack yet either, which meant we had some leeway in terms of time. We headed inside when we were sure it was clear, blocking the door behind us with a series of bookshelves. Once inside, we settled down, relaxing for the few moments we could.

"Right, from here it's down that tunnel and through to the Endermen structure. I suggest we rest up here for a bit longer so that we're in good shape when we get there. We should also leave the bags here so we're not too heavily laden with stuff we don't need."

Amie had begun to leaf through some of the books on the shelves, and it seemed contagious as everyone else had started doing the same thing. I had forgotten what was down here, but it had been here that we had learned of the alternative method of destroying the master portal. THEROS had found a few pieces of paper, which, upon further inspection, he found to be a map of some area that SERVERE had obviously drawn long ago. It didn't pose any use to us though...


Syeonyx signing off

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