Drop in the ocean...

     It was good to back as a three! I felt, with UOPETA in lead, we were safer than when it was just me an THEROS, although I got the impression it was because I didn't like being responsible for someone else's safety... I watched UOPETA intently, monitoring his behaviour patterns, and admiring the speed and skill with which he scoped out an area before proceeding. That was how was supposed to act, but I couldn't help but think that I was missing a lot! We continued heading practically due West the entire time, staying within the shadows of the trees. Around each corner, and behind every tree, I was expecting to see a Creeper, but there we didn't see a single one! I wasn't complaining about the lack of danger, I just felt on edge... Within an hour or so, the great grasping claw-like antennae came into view above the treeline, and a few moments later, the base of the tower revealed itself from behind the trees. UOPETA had managed to create a pathway which made sure we were facing the entrance side without skirting around the edge first, and we were able to see the guards straight away! There were three guards posted on the front entrance, but we couldn't see the other sides. We waited a few minutes to see if any would materialise, but none came. Eventually UOPETA got an idea!

"I'm going to go around to the Southern side to see if there are any more guards. We need to be careful at this stage: once we're in, there's not much of a problem, but it's getting in that's the biggest trouble..."

With that, he slunk off to the right. Me and THEROS sat there for a few moments, watching UOPETA, but after a few seconds, he completely disappeared fro view! We couldn't see any sign of him at all, which was good because if we could see him, so too could the guards! After some time, we heard a rustling, and I immediately readied my blow pipe! UOPETA's face then appeared through the bushes and I let out a sigh of relief...

"Good! Always be alert... I could have been a Creeper for all you knew... Or a guard! Pay attention to Syeonyx, THEROS!"

"Sorry, I was busy watching those guards there..."

"You should have your eyes and ears open everywhere! You never know... Right, there are no other guards located to on either the Western or Southern sides... Chances are, there won't be one on the Eastern side either, so there's only these three. Luckily for, there's three of us too! I'll take the one on the left, Syeonyx, the one on the right, and THEROS takes the centre one. If any of us miss, hopefully one of us will spot it, and take them out quickly for them... Good luck!"

     We all crept closer, trying not to make too much noise. It was still very dark, and the glare from the torches would reduce the chances of the guards seeing us! With blow pipes ready, UOPETA counted down, and then signalled to fire! We all blew violently into the base of the pipes: the guard on the right dropped, quickly followed by the guard in the centre, but the guard on the left remained standing. He looked a little puzzled at the random collapse of the other two guards... I panicked! I inhaled sharply, ready to fire another, when another sharp blast was heard from my left and the guard dropped... That was a hug sigh of relief.

"Nice one THEROS! I fluffed that one up a bit..."

UOPETA had missed!?!? I was incredibly surprised, but more so by the fact that THEROS had hit his target first time, and then taken out UOPETA's! Not wasting any more time, THEROS was the first to stand up and carefully walk towards the entrance, quickly followed by UOPETA, and then me, still in shock... Once we got to the base of the tower, UOPETA checked the guards and nodded after checking the final one.

"That was a close one... I don't know what happened... I think I went a little too wide to the left..."

UOPETA looked a little confused by the whole matter, but still continued with the mission as always. He flicked the lever and the wall slide open. He walked through, followed by THEROS after he leaned over and whispered to me:

"He was wide..."

UOPETA had already swept the room for guards or civilians, but for the third time, there was no-one here! Knowing all of the valuable data was kept in the large chamber holding the master portal, UOPETA began his way down the stairs, after checking no guards were on their way up! We followed at a safe distance, and managed to get all the way down to the bottom without meeting a single guard... Leaning over the fence, UOPETA spotted a guard down sitting down near on one of the chairs centred around the pillar, and quickly took him out. The guard slouched down in the chair, looking a little uncomfortable, but unconscious all the same. As we made our way down the final flight of stairs to the bottom, UOPETA stopped, and crouched quickly! We both followed suit, and waited as UOPETA crept slowly down the stairs. Then we heard a voice enquire a name... "Pete...?" From the railings, I spotted a woman in a lab coat walk slowly towards the guard slouched on the chair. Before she got any closer, so collapsed in a heap on the floor, unconscious.

"Back in the game!"

UOPETA whispered and then continued creeping into the room. After a full sweep of the area, we found no-one else, and we went back to the woman on the floor... Bending down, I rolled her over, taking the dart from her neck, and finding a tag on her lab coat pocket... "Amie"... Where had I heard that name before...

"Odd... Why is there a civilian here now? Why have we never seen one down here before?"

I was still deep in thought, but UOPETA shrugged and went over to the table where she had come from. It was located underneath the staircase, so if the guard hadn't been there, she may have seen us!

"No idea... But looks like she was working on something big... Look, a load of new reports!"

Amie... Amie... I had definitely heard that name before now... Amie... AHA! AMIE! It was the name of one of the crew members of the HoN Co. ship that had crashed into my beach! She had wrote the diary I found at the camp near the dig site! Well it couldn't be coincidence... As I suddenly realised who it was, I stood up right sharply and noticed something else... The portals... More of the primary portals were open... But it seemed that THEROS had already realised, as he was looking at them too

"More of the primary portals have been brought online! But how? We've destroyed... How many? At least two active secondary portals... Surely the number of active primary portals would have gone down... Not up...?"

"I think I know why... These reports say they've increased their operations to activate portals... They've activated hundreds of portals within the past week alone! They don't seem to differentiate between secondary portals and normal portals though... Come on, we need to make copies of these reports and leave as quickly as possible!"

     We began the same routine of copying the reports with my camera, trying to pick out the more vital ones. Once again, I had hundreds of images of each report, each with multiple pages per report! We found reports that related to the primary portal frequencies, and hoped they would help OROTHO to determine a rough estimate of how many secondary portals were linked to each primary portal, and how many it would require to take one offline! We were already worrying as there had been an increase of three primary portals changing states! We would have to find a more efficient method of taking out the portals!

"Right, is that all of them? We need to be as thorough as possible..."

"Hang on a minute..."

THEROS went over to the desk where Amie had come from, and began searching through the drawers. He found a stack of papers, and brought them over to us. UOPETA began leafing through them, photographing them individually, whilst myself and THEROS looked through them... Then THEROS found something... Something very dangerous... Something very worrying!

"Erm guys... This report seems to detail experiments in portal replication technology... The last entry says 'Test 347: successful'... We could be way in over our heads..."

Syeonyx signing off

I don't like surprises...

     We sat in the chamber, waiting for UOPETA to contact us, but until then, we had to lay low. We had only destroyed a standard portal, but it was still part of HoN Co.'s plan, and they wouldn't take too kindly to our kind of "operation". The Solus stone had regained it's intensity again, and was casting its usual dim, yellow light around the room. If we had decided to go back to the surface and wait, we would be a considerably bigger target, but down here, although creepy, it was safer. Myself and THEROS were talking about the whole portal business, and HoN Co. in general, whilst snacking on a few bits of meat and some cookies we had taken with us. Eventually, the course of the conversation took us down the route of the conducting tower.

"When do you think we'll need to go back there?"

I didn't know... UOPETA had mentioned going after a few more secondary portals had been taken out, to see if they had made any impact on the state of the primary portals. And maybe to retrieve some more data about how primary portals can become inactive. He thought it was when either a single linked secondary portal was destroyed, or a specific number, or all of them. Well, if a primary portal needed so many secondary portals to come online in the first place, surely taking one secondary portal out that was linked to it would be enough...

"No... I meant... I meant when are we going to destroy the master portal? How long until it becomes vulnerable?"

Once again I didn't know... I shrugged and just said presumably when all of the primary portals were deactivated, which meant probably quite a few secondary portals would need to be destroyed... My answer didn't seem to cheer up THEROS much, but what did he expect... We were facing a powerful enemy who could essentially control hordes of suicidal explosive creatures, and who would stop at nothing to finish their plans! They had killed, and will continue to kill innocent miners unless we put a stop to it! At that moment, a hiss of static erupted from the radio, followed by UOPETA's voice:

"I found the next one. There'll be a surprise waiting for at this one! Don't worry, it's a nice surprise... Head "South" to the end of the island... You can't miss it!"

"It's about time. This place is giving me the creeps, even with the portal gone!"

We stood up and left the chamber, heading back to the surface. Looks like we were heading North!

     After getting back to the shore, considerably wetter than before, we set off along the coast, carefully avoiding detection from the conducting tower. We were very close to it, within a few hundred metres or so, and any slip-up would easily be seen. It meant putting the Solus stone away in case it was spotted in the darkness. Thankfully mine and THEROS's armour was dark enough to be practically invisible against the shadows, so we would never be seen! Continuing in the opposite direction UOPETA told us, we made our way to the Eastern most point of the North side. Presumably this is where UOPETA meant by "end of the island"... As we continued, I kept a look out for Creepers and guards, expecting anything! UOPETA had never mentioned if it was a standard portal or a secondary portal, nor did he say whether it was active or not... Once we got to the end of the island at the Northern most point, we looked around for it. It was very low, almost at sea level, so it couldn't be located behind any cliffs. THEROS found a few points of interest, but after further investigation, we hadn't found anything.

"Are you sure this is where UOPETA meant?"

I took the map from THEROS and studied it. I pointed to the place we were at; Eastern most point of the North end of the map. That was what I would class as the end of the island. As I walked towards the coastline, I stumbled, nearly falling into a small hole. I hadn't noticed it before; the canopy of the trees had cast enough shadow to prevent the moon light getting to it, but now I could see it, it seemed as good a place as any. Bending down, I squinted into the hole, noticing it was about head height, and had water filled about a third of the way. Could this be it?

     I lowered myself into the hole, squinting into the darkness. I couldn't see a thing! I suppose as I was underground... I called up to THEROS and he passed me a couple of torches, which I lit and embedded into the soft mud walls. Then I saw it! Well, it was odd; it was the only part of the room that, despite the abundance of light, still remained dark. And there was only one thing I knew that did that! I called back up the THEROS to come and join me down in the hole...

"Is it there? Is it active?"

It wasn't active, but it was a secondary portal; it had the distinctive appendages sticking out on either side. This was odd; this was the first portal we had found that was semi-submerged underwater! We had found one half buried in sand, but never water! There was a splash behind me, and THEROS exclaimed "AHA" as he approached it. Digging into his bag, he took out the Solus stone, and then realised his error.

"Balls... It's the old fashioned manual way..."

He sighed, putting the Solus stone back, and throwing the bag over to me. I passed him the pickaxe, and I waited as he destroyed the first half of the portal. After what seemed like a long time, it was my turn, and the pickaxe was passed to me, and I waded over. At this point I let my mind wander. It was a tedious job, and concentrating made it worse. After what still seemed like an endlessly long time, the remains of the portal splashed into the water. I put the pickaxe back onto my back and sighed. Another one down. I don't know why - I still can't figure out the reason - but at that moment I stooped down and picked a chunk of obsidian from the water and held it in my hand... I stood there staring at it, before putting it into my pocket before wading back over to THEROS.

"Right, now how do we get out?"

Good question! I took the pickaxe from my back, hoping to use it as some form of grapple, but before I could, a face appeared at the entrance, making us both jump!

"Surprise!"

It was UOPETA!

"Need a hand?"

One by one, UOPETA helped us out of the hole until we both stood beside him, sopping wet!

"Part 2 of the surprise: we're off to the conducting tower! Check on the status of those primary portals! Get some more information for OROTHO and AMPHIS!"

Why hadn't he mentioned this before? If he had told us that, we could have met him there... Then it dawned on me... About the same time UOPETA informed us of the reason:

"If someone is listening in on our communications, then the last thing we want to tell them is that we're heading over to them! They would be ready for us and we wouldn't stand a chance!"

It was what I had realised a little too late. He had a point. We had to be careful about EVERYTHING we said over the radio. One wrong word, and we could end up nose to tip with the end of a guard's sword!

"Right then, let's be off! you two will be dry by the time we get there so don't worry about leaving a trail. Hope you still have your blow pipes!"

I tapped my pocket and THEROS nodded. UOPETA began to lead the way and we followed close behind. Back again as a trio! This was how I liked it!

Syeonyx signing off

Day 95: Round 2!

     I really needed that rest! Out of the three of us, I was the last to wake up, which wasn't surprising. But what was surprising was that I found out UOPETA had already moved out to find the first portal! However, as no-one had come to wake me, I assumed he hadn't found a portal yet... I had a quick breakfast/lunch meal and then I joined THEXIS and THEROS in the communications room just off the library.

"Good to see you're awake! We might be needed soon, so liven up!"

I was intrigued to see if UOPETA had been using the reverse compass code to transmit his position to us, along with his next intended destination:"

"Oh yes, he did that before he even left the base! As he went out he said 'I'm off to the first one to the South' and turned and winked at us! Let's just hope he keeps it up. And that you guys remember to interpret it correctly when you're out there..."

"Nothing yet though... He's been to three and found nothing. Two of them we've fully crossed from the map as there is no way a portal could be there, but the other he says was located near some cliffs. It could be anywhere around there, so we'll have to conduct a more thorough search at a later date. For now, he's off to his fourth, which is to the South. True South that is..."

I nodded in acknowledgement and left them to it. THEXIS would come and find me when I was needed, otherwise THEROS would know where I was. For the time being, I was off to see AMPHIS and see if he had catalogued all of the data yet! We never know; there might be more for him in a few days or so...

     When I got to the upper floor, AMPHIS was hidden away behind a desk stacked with papers! It looked much like a scene from those cartoons, only the papers weren't at odd angles.

"Not a word..."

I couldn't help but laugh! AMPHIS had either heard me, or seen me through a slit in his paper fort! There were maps and papers, and hundreds of polaroids littering the floor. AMPHIS had managed to fill two report folders with information, and was working on his third, all entitled "Portal technology". I joked that if he liked photos so much, I could give him another hundred or so to add to his collection when we went back to the conducting tower!

"It's not funny! And it doesn't help when OROTHO keeps coming down and reading what I've put, and wanting me to change the wording to his exact likeness. I keep saying I'm paraphrasing, but he wants a direct quote! Besides, hasn't UOPETA called you and THEROS out yet? He left ages ago..."

He had been gone for some time, and it was already mid afternoon... I didn't know how long UOPETA was going to be gone before he decided to call it a day... Maybe he would wait until he found a portal first!

"Yeah, that sounds like UOPETA. Doesn't like leaving empty handed, that one... Still, it's a very good manner to take this situation in. The whole world is at stake, and we seem to be the only ones who are trying to stop it. Then again, I doubt anyone else knows about it..."

I agreed with AMPHIS... We were the only ones who knew about the real side of HoN Co., not the fabricated, fancy, all-smiles version the public sees... And to think I fell for that seven years ago... Anyway, my mind back on the present, I said my farewells to AMPHIS, and went to find THEROS.

     I'm bored now... I went to find THEROS over two hours ago... Since then, THEXIS has informed is that UOPETA has been to two more places, and still not found a portal. The last thing THEXIS told us was UOPETA was going to try something drastic... Me and THEROS looked nervously at each other... "Drastic"? What did that mean? We didn't have long to wait; about half an hour after THEXIS told us that, he returned!

"UOPETA's found one! It's on an island, to the East of the conducting tower! It's a bit of a way, but he definitely found one. Oh, and there are no Affinitas cages or Creepers this time. He thought you'd want to know..."

Looks like we were off then! We headed to our rooms where we had the equipment ready and waiting. I didn't like the sound of it being on an island though... Was that the "drastic" bit?

     We found the place UOPETA mentioned. It was on an island, and we both got very wet getting to it... It wasn't deep enough to need to swim across, but the lower half of me is drenched! It's also very dark; night settled in as we were making our way across to the island, and UOPETA has already told us he's heading over to the "South East" to find the next one. Luckily I know what he means... I just he knows what he means! The portal was obscured from view; partially because it was on an island, but mainly because it was deep beneath the surface of the island!

     We made our way down the rough steps, towards the eerie light that was being emitted from below. With the total lack of torches, I didn't need a second guess to know the source of the light! Despite what THEXIS said, I was still cautious. UOPETA had said he hadn't seen an Affinitas cage down in the chamber when he found it, but did it mean he already knew it was there, or didn't want to tell us? More logically, it was likely to have been placed there by HoN Co. guards who intercepted out transmissions. THEXIS had even admitted that he could have intercepted out communications... So... We got to the bottom of the chamber, and before us was an active standard portal. It was also embedded into a mossy cobblestone wall, but thankfully there wasn't a Creeper of cage to be seen! THEROS dug out the Solus stone, which glowed brightly in his hand.

"Another bites the dust..."

     After the last of the crumbling obsidian vanished, and the rift closed inwardly, we stood there in total darkness for some time. After awhile, the Solus stone made itself visible again, and THEROS bent down to pick it up.

"Now what? It's dark, do we head back to base?"

Now... We wait... For UOPETA to call us again...

Syeonyx signing off

Day 94: A well earned rest, and then back to work!

     We got back pretty late last night; after destroying the final portal for the day, we headed back going along the quickest, but safest route. It took a little longer than usual as I had to ensure the path ahead was clear before continuing, but we eventually got back. UOPETA had already arrived, and had been back for a good hour or so.

"Good to see you're both still in one piece! How did it go? Any unexpected problems?"

It had gone well! Surprisingly well, except for the random Creeper appearance! It had been above the hole where we had found an Affinitas cage, so that was likely why it was there... I told UOPETA about the Affinitas cage and he looked shocked!

"There wasn't one when I was there! Are you sure?"

"Very! I smashed it to pieces! Are you telling me that it wasn't there when you found the portal? How far down into the hole did you go?"

"I went all the way down! I found the opening, ventured down and found the exposed mossy chamber with the secondary portal embedded into the far wall. No sign of an Affinitas cage or any Creepers!"

That was worrying... That meant someone knew we were coming, and hoped the Creepers drawn from the Nether would either kill us, or at the least put us off... That, or UOPETA was lying, although I doubted it very much! UOPETA seemed to be thinking the same as me though:

"Looks like we may need to be more careful in the future. If the Affinitas cage was put there between me finding it and you destroying it, then someone was obviously able to hear our communications. We'll have to use a code of some form... Come on, you better tell COLUS and the others... THEXIS might know something..."

And with that, having arrived and back in the base for less than five minutes, we were bustled over to the rest of Lone 7. I just wanted some sleep!!!

     COLUS sat there for a moment, looking thoughtful...

"Is it possible that someone from HoN Co. was able to place an Affinitas cage between UOPETA leaving the portal location, and Syeonyx and THEROS getting there...?"

"Well the call logs between UOPETA and Syeonyx from the second portal and the third portal give a rough estimate as to how long it took UOPETA to get there... Taking into account that Syeonyx and THEROS are not as experienced as you in scouting and reconnaissance, it is likely they took a little longer... So... Yes... That gave anyone plenty of time to put one down there, especially when you consider how close it was to the conducting tower..."

This was worrying; it meant that HoN Co. could intercept out communications and monitor them! They could probably even prevent specific communications being received!

"Is there anything you can do to the radios that would encrypt the signals or something, THEXIS?"

"If I had access to the right equipment, yes, easily... But there's just no technology available to do that... The only thing I can think of is to encrypt the information sent at the communications level, rather than the transmission level..."

"You mean speak in code?"

"Pretty much... It wouldn't necessarily have to be complicated, as long as it wasn't easily understood by anyone eavesdropping... There are numerous ways we could do this... Erm.. Split the map into quadrants, and give grid references when a portal is found. Maybe even turning the map 90 degrees to one side and then drawing the grid..."

That would get complicated, I could tell... I put forward the suggestion of something that seemed reasonably simple and very confusing to whoever was intercepting! Instead of stating the direction via standard compass points, reverse them! North becomes South and vice versa, East becomes West and vice versa, and so on... North East would become South West... It was simple!

"Well it's up to you three at the end of the day... As long as you can establish a system which you're all comfortable with, I'm happy as long as it stops you being tracked... I don't want to have to eliminate the use of radios just because of the danger issues!"

"I'm fine with the reverse compass points..."

THEROS nodded too. It was settled then! Instead of stating a true compass direction, the opposite was given instead! Hopefully that would lead anyone listening in to the "correct" location whilst we went to he portal! It might take awhile before they cotton on to the truth, but by then we can implement a new system. It would be best to rotate the coding system regularly to ensure our movements stay known only to us! We finished the discussion with the portals we destroyed:

"We managed to find a standard portal, inactive, and two secondary portals, only one of which was active..."

"That's a very good start... After one more day of this, we may need to revisit the conducting tower and determine how it has effected the primary portals. If you can, try and retrieve more data from there. OROTHO is trying to determine how a primary portal becomes inactive. Either a single linked secondary portal is knocked offline, which in turns deactivates the corresponding primary portal, or a series of secondary portals need to be removed. Find that out, and we may be able to plan our attacks more efficiently. We might even be able to choose which portals are the prime targets, rather than taking out every one we find! It's all about time at the moment! The faster we can achieve this, the sooner we can rid Minecraftia of that Master portal, and put pay to any of HoN Co.'s plans! Right, are we all clear on the next few day's agenda? Good! You three, get some rest. You'll need it tomorrow! THEXIS and AMPHIS, come with me..."

We all stood up, bowed towards the centre, and then headed off in the required directions.

"I can't sleep at the moment. I'm too awake! Coming back from a scouting trip always makes me alert! You guys going to get some food before you hit the hay?"

"Nah, I'm straight off to bed..."

I was with THEROS on this one! I was exhausted! I could sleep anywhere, but my bed was calling me...

Syeonyx signing off

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

Two portals down, but no sign of a Creeper...

     We set off to the North in search of the portal that UOPETA had managed to confirm the presence of. The first scouting trip turned up nothing, but we haven't eliminated it from the map altogether. We'll continue with the normal routine until all of the major suspects have been taken care of, and then we'll revisit some of the dismissed ones. For now though, we had a confirmed portal to destroy! UOPETA had only said it was a standard portal, but anything is better than nothing! It might not take down an entire array of portals, but it's a start... I've stuck rigidly to the methods that UOPETA taught me; hiding under trees, remaining in shadows until I know the way is clear. One particularly helpful tip he told me was to not move my eyes! As mad as it sounds, it works! As any area we search around in is a natural environment, there will be loads of moving objects: plants, trees, animals etc. By moving your eyes and head, you reduce the chances of seeing anything. If you keep your head still and focus on a specific spot, you'll be surprised what your peripheral vision will see! I've already taken my blow pipe out countless times, but on each occasion, it has either been a tree or an animal! I suppose I need to refine that skill now so I only react to real threats!

     We neared the area that UOPETA had found, expecting to see a tunnel, or underground cave, maybe a hole in the side of a cliff. but instead we found a small pool of water with an overhanging tree. After a few moments, we found the portal. Like UOPETA had said, it was only a standard portal, but it was also inactive! It didn't really matter as I had decided to bring my diamond pickaxe with me anyway! Destroying a portal the hard way was time consuming and tiring. The sun had begun to sneak into the lower half of the sky as well so to speed things up, we decided to take turns. THEROS started out by hacking at the portal, whilst I stood back and kept watch. Just because it was a standard portal didn't mean it wasn't being watched by someone! Besides, I was more concerned about UOPETA's sighting of a Creeper! That's the last thing we want stumbling through towards us through the treeline!

     After half the portal was destroyed, I took over and demolished the remaining obsidian. After a long while, the remaining chunks of obsidian fell into the water, and the dust blew away on the wind.

"One down... Innumerable portals to go!"

I clipped the diamond pick on my back, and we began the wait. There was no point in us moving anywhere until we knew whether UOPETA had found another portal or not. Same as it was pointless to head back to base, only to be called back out minutes later. Instead, we sat in the shadows of a copse and had a snack. We needed to keep our strength up because who knew how long we'd be away from the base! It was still rather bright considering the position of the sun in the sky, and we were beginning to wonder if we were going to get a call from UOPETA before it got dark!

"If UOPETA's doing this systematically, then logically the next one will be to the South East. We'll have two options: take the long route and avoid the conducting tower, or skirt around the edge of it."

As I was in charge of safety and security, I thought that the best bet would be the former. But thinking about it again, we didn't really have time to waste. We could head straight South East and avoid the conducting tower. It was risky, but much faster. THEROS began to speak again, but UOPETA called us on the radio at that moment!

"Found the next one. Head to the conducting tower and continue East until you reach the coast. Once there, head due South and you can't miss it! It's a secondary portal, but it's inactive. Another good find! See you in a few hours!"

I confirmed the location with UOPETA and we set off to the secondary portal.

"South East! Just like I said!"

     Another boring journey despite all the hype caused by the Creeper sighting. I had begun to think we would almost definitely find one, especially if UOPETA had sedated one! But we managed to skirt around the treeline surrounding the conducting tower unnoticed, and we made it to the ringed location on the coast.

"Where is it then?"

That was a good question. The portal wasn't active, so we couldn't rely on the sounds of the rift guiding us, nor could we use the Solus stone!

The problem with the maps was they were only accurate to a certain degree. Pinpointing something as small as a portal on one was rather difficult. I was also beginning to wonder what landmarks around this place had made it a suspected location for a portal! It begun to get dark by now, and we were worried that we wouldn't find it! If it wasn't active, it wouldn't give out any light either, so finding a portal constructed of a purple/black stone in the dark was practically impossible! The last we wanted to do was to light a torch to find it! That would be suicidal, especially as we were so close to the conducting tower! We spent nearly half an hour looking for it, expecting to see a hole leading underground again, but there was nothing.

"Do you reckon... Do you reckon it's underwater?"

I hadn't considered that... Would that even work? Could a portal even operate underwater? Well we hadn't had any luck finding it so far, so we had nothing to lose. Setting the bag down, I waded out into the water, peering into the water for any sign of a dark material. I couldn't see anything... Turning around to face the land, I shrugged at THEROS, not having found anything yet. Then I saw it... It was on land, but it had been obscured! It was facing out towards the water's edge and was concealed by a small bay with an outcropping. From above you wouldn't even see it!

     We repeated the procedure for this portal, only I went first this time. I was cautious about it getting dark on us whilst we destroyed it, and I didn't entirely trust THEROS to keep guard. The time before, he had spent a lot of the time examining the map instead of keeping on duty. If anything happened to us, I wanted it to happen on my watch! Just as we finished off the last of the secondary portal, the sky began to darken. We had timed that perfectly! Now what? Did we head back to the base, or did we wait for another portal confirmation. The radio went off, giving us our answer:

"Found the next one! It's to the North East. This'll be the last one for the day, and then we'll head out. Keep your eyes peeled. This is an active secondary portal. There are bound to be guards nearby..."

"Off to the next one then..."

Syeonyx signing off

On call all day

     And so I play the waiting game... Again! Me and THEROS are waiting on UOPETA who has gone ahead to scout out the suspected location of a portal. He has a copy of the map, and he's headed off to a location close to the conducting tower. We settled on the idea that the secondary portals are most likely to be closer to the conducting tower, as logical would suggest. There's no point having secondary nodes miles away linking portals together which could be closer to the master portal themselves! Meanwhile, we wait for UOPETA to confirm or deny the presence of a portal there. If there is, we go out with another radio set to a different frequency band, and destroy the portal. UOPETA moves onto the next one, contacts us as to whether there is one there and then moves on again. Once we've destroyed a portal, we contact THEXIS and move onto the next one, if there is another one. If there isn't we shadow UOPETA until he finds another. We need to ensure we're at least one portal location away from UOPETA at all times to reduce the chances of getting caught, and we need to limit our communications back to THEXIS as well. The last thing we need is to inform anyone overhearing where our base of operations is! We can't guarantee anyone is, but it's better to overreact now and laugh about it later than take chances and pay for them later.

"UOPETA's coming up to the first location now. You might want to prepare some supplies."

I thanked THEXIS, and I moved to my room where I collected some basic supplies together. This time I was going to take my diamond pickaxe in case we come across one that isn't active. THEROS is getting provisions ready as we don't know how long we'll be out there for. If we can make two to three portals a day, we will drastically increase our chances of taking out the master portal. Doubtless though we'll attract unwanted attention, so we'll need to be more vigilant when we go out. We won't have UOPETA to guide us, so I'll be the one in charge of safety and security. It's a big responsibility, but I feel like I'm up for it. I've been watching UOPETA closely and I know all the precautions. I think the only problem I may have is my sense of direction! Luckily I'll have a cartographer with me! He can ensure we're going the right way, and I'll make sure we're safe...

     We got a message from UOPETA a few minutes ago saying he had reached the suspected location. He says there are no landmarks nearby to suggest it's underground, nor can he find it above ground. It's possible that there isn't one there are at all. We're leaving it for now; THEROS has ringed it with a different colour to indicate that it may require further investigation once the definite ones are destroyed. UOPETA's now moved on to the next one. It'll be another few hours before we hear any word from him, and it's already getting towards the afternoon. I feel a bit like a fireman; constantly on duty, but not always in action. You have to be ready and prepared to go at a moments notice! It's been suggested to us to get some rest if we need it, but I wouldn't be able to sleep even if I did! I hope the next location is has a portal, and we can destroy it.

     We just received a message from UOPETA saying he'd run into a Creeper! We feared the worst, but he says he managed to tranquilise it before it saw him. He asked us to pass a message on to OROTHO to tell him the sedative works just as well on Creepers! We're not going to because we know his reaction. Although the fact that we've encountered a Creeper now is odd... We don't see one for weeks, and now one randomly appears. It wasn't near a portal.. Maybe it passed from the Nether and decided to go for a wander... Who knows... All I know is that's one more thing to look out for when we get called out.

     It's not started to get dark yet, but UOPETA has called us out! The second location he checked does indeed conceal a portal. He says that there doesn't seem to be any resistance nearby, but then again it is just a standard portal. Well, a portal is a portal; the more we destroy the better! We've been briefed by COLUS again to go over the procedure. We know the drill, and, speaking from my point of view, I'm more the happier to get out there! I want to feel like I'm doing my part! We stopped off at the lab to retrieve the blow pipes and darts from OROTHO. We're taking a spare magazine this time, so we have the capacity to take out at least twelve guards of Creepers... Or a mixture. I have a feeling though we'll be seeing numerous Creepers on this journey. Just because HoN Co. don't use guards to secure a portal doesn't mean it's not being guarded... Off we go!

Syeonyx signing off