The Deep Dark is scary y'all
Jan. 10th, 2023 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI finally got the "Technoblade never dies" splashtext ;_; Some previous favorites that I got included "Ph1lza had a good run!", "Rainbow turtle?", "GNU Terry Pratchett," "SCHNEEFINK IS YOU," and "Now with extra hugs!"
I finally mined some sculk blocks, veins, and sensors from the small patch of deep dark in the cave under my base. It wasn't even risky because there aren't any shriekers, but from the music alone I already know that if there were it'd have been very tense. They look cool, but I don't really know what to do with them right now. Still, nice to have.
I finished roads to ride on to two nearby villages. Not pretty, but they'll do. On the way I ran across a pillager patrol and I decided to trigger a raid so I could finally see what one looks like! I went to a small plains village I'd discovered where no villagers had a job, blocked the doors of two houses with villagers inside, and then climbed on a roof and shot arrows. It worked very well for the first few waves, the iron golems were very helpful. I was knocked off the roof twice and almost died both times but in the end I made it. Hero of the village! I visited all my favorite villages while the effect lasted, not because of the trade bonuses and gifts but because, well, I wanted to brag to my trading partners ^^ I also got a totem of undying as loot, very nice. Not sure I'll use it much, you do have to hold it and I think in most cases shields will be more convenient, but maybe for tricky parkour parts?, idk, we'll see.
By coincidence I found yet another plains village, and a ruined portal nearby. Sadly I didn't have quite enough obsidian to try for a shortcut through the nether.
I went back to my original worldspawn and marked the spot with purpur pillar blocks from the end city, just to show how far I'd come. Then I decided to go explore in the opposite direction of where my base is. I found another shipwreck and a buried treasure map, but when I finally made it there I realized that I'd already been here and dug up this buried treasure chest earlier. All in all not a very fruitful detour.
Next I decided to go back to the taiga village because I remembered seeing quite a bit of sculk at the bottom of a nearby ravine. I found some diamonds, which is always nice, but I got so intimidated by the surrounding lava and the sculk leading down into a narrow dark rift that I left. Later I realized that I completely forgot I had a night vision potion with me, that certainly would have helped, but it would still have been very scary. I didn't bring enough wool either, or a hoe.
Since Ancient Cities are often found under mountains, I decided to check if there is one under the mountain closest to my base, and mined from the cave under my base in that direction. I also tried out a minecart with powered rails for the first time in that tunnel. Maybe my first actual use of redstone, now that I think about it, apart from compasses and clocks.
I soon found a big cave full of sculk, but I decided to keep mining until I was actually under the mountain. I did that and found more sculk above and in front of me – but then I had the problem that I couldn't mine my way out without activating shriekers. I turned on subtitles because I'd read that the subtitles describe sculk shrieker sounds differently depending on how close the warden is to emerging, that was helpful and led to me turning back very quickly. I know I'm safe in that mining tunnel but the flickering darkness is still creepy.
Then I remembered that sculk is most easily mined with hoes so I wanted a diamond hoe, but I didn't want to use any of the diamonds I mined because the diamond blocks look so pretty sitting around uselessly in a chest and so I spent some time leveling up several tool smiths until one finally traded me one. I also finally have a butcher and a leatherworker in the village closest to me now, that will be convenient, and I'll add a shepherd soon.
…nooo I was definitely not procrastinating.
While also definitely not procrastinating, I bought some more coral from a wandering trader (still haven't found a warm ocean yet, sadly), grew some more sea pickles and then put those in the water around my base to light it up a bit, looks nice. At some point I really need to do some work on the entire underwater area near my base, make it prettier and explore the caves etc. Probably when I get Respiration III to put on my turtle shell helmet *shakes fist at enchanting table*
I also got another trident, nice.
I made the floor around my enchanting table amethyst blocks because it's cool; the colors from the bookshelves don't quite fit but if chiseled bookshelves also work for enchanting tables then once we get those I'll make an enchantment room that looks like an amethyst geode in my next world.
Also eventually I might try doing the floating lantern balloons from L'Manberg around my base?, they look pretty.
Then I ran out of excuses to procrastinate (and the results of a poll I made were also in favor of not putting it off any longer) so I drank a night vision potion and took a look around the sculk cave near the mountain in the hopes that I could pathfind my way to the Ancient City from there. No shriekers, some zombies and other mobs because it opens into a large cave not in the Deep Dark (imagine if normal mobs could spawn in the Deep Dark *shudders*) and no passage toward the mountain. So I went back to trying to mine my way into a cave closer to the mountain, and it took me several tries until I managed without activating a shrieker. "Warden draws close" is a scary subtitle. When I finally did get out I saw a shrieker right next to a sensor, and unfortunately the ceiling was very low so my original plan of "just walk on wool" didn't work either. So I thought I'd just sneak near, quickly break the shrieker and then jump back into my hole (which is only two blocks high so the Warden can't follow) but I wasn't careful enough and the Warden emerged. I ran back and waited fifteen minutes to try again because I thought that'd reset the shriek counter, but when I came back and activated the shrieker again the Warden immediately emerged again. On my next attempt I got even closer, but it took me longer to run back to my hole so I read "Warden takes notice," very scary.
New plan: wait until the warden is gone, break one block, run back, until I have an unobstructed path to the stupid shrieker and can finally break it. Ooh, actually I could use carpets instead of wool blocks, then I don't need more than two blocks height and the warden can't follow me! And carpets stop mob spawning, I could just put carpets everywhere, I do have a lot of wool in a variety of colors now. If the area is only two blocks high the Warden can't even spawn there, it's too tall. As you can see I thought this through very wellwhat could possibly go wrong.
It's not a perfect plan, as I found out not long after when I accidentally placed a torch on a different block and immediately the Warden emerged again. I thought I could run into my tunnel and just wait for a minute and it would dig down again, but there must have been a bat or something because it stayed out for minutes until I gave up and retreated. You can hear the Warden's heartbeat from so far away! With the way it grows faster and slower, and the scary music, it really feels like the entire Deep Dark has it out for you.
But I'll be back, and I'll make my way to an Ancient City eventually!
I finally mined some sculk blocks, veins, and sensors from the small patch of deep dark in the cave under my base. It wasn't even risky because there aren't any shriekers, but from the music alone I already know that if there were it'd have been very tense. They look cool, but I don't really know what to do with them right now. Still, nice to have.
I finished roads to ride on to two nearby villages. Not pretty, but they'll do. On the way I ran across a pillager patrol and I decided to trigger a raid so I could finally see what one looks like! I went to a small plains village I'd discovered where no villagers had a job, blocked the doors of two houses with villagers inside, and then climbed on a roof and shot arrows. It worked very well for the first few waves, the iron golems were very helpful. I was knocked off the roof twice and almost died both times but in the end I made it. Hero of the village! I visited all my favorite villages while the effect lasted, not because of the trade bonuses and gifts but because, well, I wanted to brag to my trading partners ^^ I also got a totem of undying as loot, very nice. Not sure I'll use it much, you do have to hold it and I think in most cases shields will be more convenient, but maybe for tricky parkour parts?, idk, we'll see.
By coincidence I found yet another plains village, and a ruined portal nearby. Sadly I didn't have quite enough obsidian to try for a shortcut through the nether.
I went back to my original worldspawn and marked the spot with purpur pillar blocks from the end city, just to show how far I'd come. Then I decided to go explore in the opposite direction of where my base is. I found another shipwreck and a buried treasure map, but when I finally made it there I realized that I'd already been here and dug up this buried treasure chest earlier. All in all not a very fruitful detour.
Next I decided to go back to the taiga village because I remembered seeing quite a bit of sculk at the bottom of a nearby ravine. I found some diamonds, which is always nice, but I got so intimidated by the surrounding lava and the sculk leading down into a narrow dark rift that I left. Later I realized that I completely forgot I had a night vision potion with me, that certainly would have helped, but it would still have been very scary. I didn't bring enough wool either, or a hoe.
Since Ancient Cities are often found under mountains, I decided to check if there is one under the mountain closest to my base, and mined from the cave under my base in that direction. I also tried out a minecart with powered rails for the first time in that tunnel. Maybe my first actual use of redstone, now that I think about it, apart from compasses and clocks.
I soon found a big cave full of sculk, but I decided to keep mining until I was actually under the mountain. I did that and found more sculk above and in front of me – but then I had the problem that I couldn't mine my way out without activating shriekers. I turned on subtitles because I'd read that the subtitles describe sculk shrieker sounds differently depending on how close the warden is to emerging, that was helpful and led to me turning back very quickly. I know I'm safe in that mining tunnel but the flickering darkness is still creepy.
Then I remembered that sculk is most easily mined with hoes so I wanted a diamond hoe, but I didn't want to use any of the diamonds I mined because the diamond blocks look so pretty sitting around uselessly in a chest and so I spent some time leveling up several tool smiths until one finally traded me one. I also finally have a butcher and a leatherworker in the village closest to me now, that will be convenient, and I'll add a shepherd soon.
…nooo I was definitely not procrastinating.
While also definitely not procrastinating, I bought some more coral from a wandering trader (still haven't found a warm ocean yet, sadly), grew some more sea pickles and then put those in the water around my base to light it up a bit, looks nice. At some point I really need to do some work on the entire underwater area near my base, make it prettier and explore the caves etc. Probably when I get Respiration III to put on my turtle shell helmet *shakes fist at enchanting table*
I also got another trident, nice.
I made the floor around my enchanting table amethyst blocks because it's cool; the colors from the bookshelves don't quite fit but if chiseled bookshelves also work for enchanting tables then once we get those I'll make an enchantment room that looks like an amethyst geode in my next world.
Also eventually I might try doing the floating lantern balloons from L'Manberg around my base?, they look pretty.
Then I ran out of excuses to procrastinate (and the results of a poll I made were also in favor of not putting it off any longer) so I drank a night vision potion and took a look around the sculk cave near the mountain in the hopes that I could pathfind my way to the Ancient City from there. No shriekers, some zombies and other mobs because it opens into a large cave not in the Deep Dark (imagine if normal mobs could spawn in the Deep Dark *shudders*) and no passage toward the mountain. So I went back to trying to mine my way into a cave closer to the mountain, and it took me several tries until I managed without activating a shrieker. "Warden draws close" is a scary subtitle. When I finally did get out I saw a shrieker right next to a sensor, and unfortunately the ceiling was very low so my original plan of "just walk on wool" didn't work either. So I thought I'd just sneak near, quickly break the shrieker and then jump back into my hole (which is only two blocks high so the Warden can't follow) but I wasn't careful enough and the Warden emerged. I ran back and waited fifteen minutes to try again because I thought that'd reset the shriek counter, but when I came back and activated the shrieker again the Warden immediately emerged again. On my next attempt I got even closer, but it took me longer to run back to my hole so I read "Warden takes notice," very scary.
New plan: wait until the warden is gone, break one block, run back, until I have an unobstructed path to the stupid shrieker and can finally break it. Ooh, actually I could use carpets instead of wool blocks, then I don't need more than two blocks height and the warden can't follow me! And carpets stop mob spawning, I could just put carpets everywhere, I do have a lot of wool in a variety of colors now. If the area is only two blocks high the Warden can't even spawn there, it's too tall. As you can see I thought this through very well
It's not a perfect plan, as I found out not long after when I accidentally placed a torch on a different block and immediately the Warden emerged again. I thought I could run into my tunnel and just wait for a minute and it would dig down again, but there must have been a bat or something because it stayed out for minutes until I gave up and retreated. You can hear the Warden's heartbeat from so far away! With the way it grows faster and slower, and the scary music, it really feels like the entire Deep Dark has it out for you.
But I'll be back, and I'll make my way to an Ancient City eventually!
