Day 131: Job half finished...

     After further discussion, we put the strange occurrences with the doors and opening secret room down to faulty wiring; I had to admit, the age of this place was enough to induce these types of glitches, especially with the lack of maintenance. It just meant we would have to be careful about using them if that was the case. However, I wasn't still one hundred per cent convinced, but I kept that to myself. I still think AMPHIS feels the same way too, but with me, UOPETA and THEROS setting out tomorrow, I won't really have time to talk to him about it. Hopefully we will have forgotten about it by then...

     Getting up early, me, THEROS and UOPETA wanted to set out as soon as possible, and make a head start on the portals. THEROS had managed to append as many portal locations to the map as he could, but with the day for us to set off here, the amount we had would have to do for the moment. In the meantime, AMPHIS is going to translate more of the books, allowing us to come back and instantly add more to the map. I was thinking that we would need some form of tent to sleep under, like the one I had back when I was trying to find this house, but UOPETA assures me that it' not necessary.

"Provided we have a fire set up in a location that's sheltered from view, we can settle anywhere really. However, I think any type of cave we find should be a port of call first if we're close enough."

If we could find a cave halfway between SERVERE's house and the rest of the portals, then great. It wasn't necessary, but it would shorten our day somewhat having to come back to it. However, camping out directly under the stars, and exposed would allow us to go on a little further without us having to retrace our steps each day. I suppose it would depend where we start. Judging from the map, we'd head North, clear the portals on this small island, head over the ice that bridged the gap to the other side, and work our way West. Then we would head North again along the Western side, and then head East to the far right corner of the map. Once we've done that, we'll head back to the house and pick up more coordinates. It's likely that we'll repeat the same journey, so wherever we can, we'll take out any and all portals we find along the way, regardless of whether it's on the map or not.

"We better set off now then if we're to get a good start..."

UOPETA finished briefing AMPHIS on the protocols when night fell; no visible light son in the house, retreat to the library etc. etc., and we then headed out of the door. It would be a few days, maybe a week before seeing this house again. As soon as we stepped outside of the mossy walls surrounding the house, I felt on edge again, and realised how safe that house made me feel.

     Great... It's raining... Again... Almost as if on cue, the rain began to pour as we left the house far behind. It wasn't long before the house was completely concealed by a rapidly engulfing mist and fog, that seemed to appear from nowhere, and suffocate the flat fields and plains before us. From where we were, we would head off to the North East, where the first portal was located close to a small pool, from the looks of the map. We just hoped it would stop raining by then, but we didn't have high hopes for that. We were fully prepared for almost any eventuality apart from rain; blowpipes for guards and Creepers, and there was the glowing stone from the Nether to destroy the active portals. Failing that, I had my diamond pickaxe for those portals not activated, but I doubt there were going to be many of them. SERVERE seemed to only mark the ones that were active as he didn't possess the Solus stone at the time to destroy them, nor did he know of the stones present in the Nether. So we were only likely going to need the glowing stone, but it didn't make sense to leave the pickaxe behind. Aside from those things, we had a few rations, with the hopes that we could procure more along the way (THEROS had this idea of attempting to fish in the large body of water to the North), the sleeping bags and blankets, torches and obviously the map. I was talking freely to THEROS about SERVERE, and what he was like back when everyone knew him; as we were still traveling on flat open plains and fields, UOPETA's scouting job was considerably easier, even with the rapidly descending fog. At one point though, he did stop us, and spent a few minutes squinting into the rain...

"UOPETA? Have you seen something? Are there guards up ahead? Creepers?"

"I don't know... I saw... Something... I thought I saw... Never mind..."

Me and THEROS were a little freaked out by this, and THEROS probed further. We wanted to know exactly what UOPETA had seen, regardless of how outrageous it could sound.

"It's nothing, probably... It just looked like there was a small patch of grass where rain wasn't falling... It was probably a trick of the light or something... Let's move on, we're close to the first one."

UOPETA moved off ahead, whilst THEROS turned and gave me a worried look. I was freaked out by this as well. 'Rain wasn't falling...'? What did that mean? It was raining everywhere around us! There was nothing in the sky or close to the ground to obscure it... We joined UOPETA, and THEROS confirmed that we were within a few metres of the disclosed location.

"Spread out, and search the area. It could be anywhere, so look for any underground access routes or surface caverns."

I went to the left, whilst THEROS went right and UOPETA continued on ahead. After what UOPETA had said he had "seen", and now that we were apart, I felt unnerved, and removed the pickaxe from my back. Feeling the handle between my hands made me feel a little bit more secure... But not a lot...

"I've found it! I think..."

Me and UOPETA went over to where THEROS was, and stood where he was standing, only to see a small portion of the portal. Well, this wasn't what we were expecting at all...

"Yes, that's a portal all right... Well, what's left of one. It seems SERVERE might have managed to destroy it after all... Maybe it wasn't active. Either way, he didn't destroy it completely. Syeonyx? If you could do the honours?"

Moving forwards, I struck the obsidian forcefully with the head of the pickaxe, sending sparks flying, despite the almost torrential downpour. After a few more strikes, large chips of obsidian began to ping off in different directions, scattering into the pool close by. I continued this until there was nothing left but obsidian fragments, which I kicked into the water...

"That's one down... I suppose... On to the next one..."

UOPETA began to lead the way off to the North East again, whilst I remained with THEROS as he crossed off the first portal from the map. It wasn't technically a start as it wasn't a whole one, but it felt good to be back into a stable routine again!

Syeonyx signing off