S3 Mincraft: Styxx Ep: 7 "River of Gold"

Season 3 Styxx

Episode 7 "River of Gold"

I came back down from the Cistern because the pathway continued near the steps I had created. It wasn't long before I heard the sounds of zombies and water came from below. I waited and waited for the zombies to come, but they didn't, so I edged my way and found that the water was blocking them.



Afterward I explored and found the source of the water, but it went way back and WAAAY up. I tried to find the top, but soon it became flush and strait, and I didn't want to ruin such a perfect waterfall. So it was time to head back up and make some ladders.



Upon reaching the top, I found out why steel armor is so useful. I had the false assumption that sun = safe, and as soon as I got on the surface I heard a hissssss. Over the top of the wall I could see this hopping up to get a look at me.



What was even more stupid was to think that was the only one around. I soon got a stereo chorus of dynamite to both ears... I have no idea how I survived.



I made my ladders and I went up the waterfall. I found an open cavern quite a bit above the source, and while I was there I heard a cow doing his cow thing and going "mooo". I decided to look around and near the ceiling was some dirt, I opened up the dirt and found myself looking at my tower.



Another exit, but far too inconvenient to ever actually use. I went back down the waterfall to find many skeletons down there, but also a lavafall coming down from the ceiling.



On one side was some water, so I decided to take a ride down it. It deposited me into a room with yet another waterfall, and I was feeling adventurous so I hopped in and rode that one far far down into the earth.

At the bottom I found a room, and all around the room the floors sparkled. This water must go strait through a gold vein or something. I went home a richer man.

S3 Minecraft Styxx ep 6 Nobody is Home

Season 3 Styxx

Episode 6: Nobody is Home

I wanted to start this off with a little clarification on how the Cistern looks. I made a diagram showing that all the water rushed to the middle of the area, and fell down onto a second lower area. The waterfall is even basically in the correct position:



Anyway, a short turn away from the entrance of the Cistern, and I came to a large overhanging ledge. This ledge was distinguished by the lava spewing from one wall directly onto the ledge.



To look off away from the lava, you would only see a very large darkness, and to listen you would hear the absolute freaking out of monsters from every direction. I thought the game's sound was bugged. Anyway, I slowly made my way in the dark, I dropped down from the ledge and soon saw something new:



That's a mushroom. I do not know anything real useful about them, but now I know where one is. With the amount of water nearby I could certainly understand one being here. Speaking of which, the sound of rushing water never left my ears either.



This formation was just begging me to walk out on the edge there and look down.



I walked along the edge and placed torches where I could reach, then came back to look and see what they revealed. It was not much, just a bit of water in the darkness. The edge I was on was yet another ledge, so there was no simple way to use a ladder to get down there. Instead I circled around behind it.

The never ending noise of the creatures was very loud, louder as I searched for a way down. Suddenly I heard it. Multiple arrows, multiple "uuuhhhhhh" in a frenzy. Then I saw it. There was a small hole in the floor, and in it were lots and lots of zombies and skeletons. A stray arrow had hit a zombie, and they just went nuts at each other. It was zombies vs skeletons and I was able to watch without much fuss as they killed each other. It was a sort of crazy I had never seen before.



I killed the last surviving zombie, and I jumped in the hole. Sure enough, in the back of the little pit was an entrance out to the bottom of that ledge... the water turned out to be two rivers/waterfalls meeting together in the area.



The area around the waters was just full of random cliffs and random side caves. My direction sense was maxed. I came to a large opening and saw these amazing floating boulders in the distance.



The area behind me was not yet cleared, and so I chose not to go through to the Floating Stones as I call the new area. I reversed course and began exploring more this swiss cheese of a cave that was closer to the lava. Eventually in all the chaos a found a little reward. Just one block of each.



I looked around and saw what I thought was more lava, so I dug a clearer path. Then out the side of the lava I spotted a torch. I had seen this lava before. I made a path out of the side and realized I had gone in a circle and was now back on the lava ledge where I had started.



Now I could see where I had just been, as off the ledge the area was lit by all my torches I had used. It was truly a maze of an area.



I was about to call it a day and head back to the tower, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark spot on the lava ledge, about 20 feet up. I got up there and found a little cave leading off in the distance. For a moment I thought I had stumbled on yet another area I had been before. I thought I saw a torch in the distance.



Only it wasn't a torch. The sounds of the monsters had once again started up, and now I realized that I had my first "dungeon".

In Minecraft there are little areas of cobblestone, with chests inside this room. In the chests are random goodies, some of which can only be found in "dungeons". In the middle of these rooms is what I had thought was a torch, but was actually a monster spawner. A little cage of fire that spits out creatures. I prepared myself for a battle!



But was let down :( there were no creatures spewing forth from this cage, and so I was able to put torches around to neutralize it. I grabbed the gun powder and iron from the chests and was about to make my way out when I realized... the floor was green. The cobble stone had a different graphic, there was moss on it! So my real treasure indeed was some decorative building material.

S3 Minecraft: Styxx Ep 5

Season 3: Styxx

Episode 5: The Cistern



The last time I left my mines, I realized how much of a hazard it is for me to get to the surface quickly. Also, I haven't built some stuff in a good long while, so I decided to organize the upper parts of my mine a bit.



I started out by making the natural steps near the top a little less natural. I added steps that do not require me to jump while going up them. I did not have to widen the cave all that much as the natural formation was rather nice to begin with.



Next I chose a spot to make a platform right before the really large hole in the ground.



I made a series of these platforms, and even cut a new pathway to the alternate exit. What I realized though is that in my speed tests on getting out, that the platforms will still dangerous, perhaps even more so as you can see in this next picture. I'd fall and not stop till the very bottom.



So I went back up and I constructed some fences, and I bordered my platforms.



Part 2: Let's head back down

I was mining a bit of redstone I had found in a little hollow, when I came across some lava.



The more I cleared, the larger and larger the lava lake seemed to be.



At the end of this lava lake, I came to an area that seemed to split. I could go up, or I could go forward. I decided to fashion some crude steps and head upward to see what I could find.



The rocks up here were very loose, much of it was gravel. I hugged the sides and eventually made my way to an opening.



This room was absolutely full of water. The more torches I placed, the more water I saw. There was no less than 4 waterfalls in this room... and a a zombie.



The zombie chased me all around the room, I couldn't get to a good spot to stop and defend myself. Sometimes I swear a zombie's arms are twice as long as they seem to be. I got knocked down in the water... and and got swept away. Then... while in the water I fell, 30 or so feet into another body of water. What I had found is that all the water in the top collected and drained in a large waterfall into a 2nd room below that had even more water falls!



I named this room the cistern, and after watching the zombie fall after me and drown, I decided to head home and dry my clothing.

#2 Weekend Talk Break

I guess over the weekend I'll continue to do just a written post about whatever.

I have spent the past month underground trying to explore this cave system. Quite frankly I am almost burned out on being underground. I have an amazing cave system, but I got to the bottom of the lake around Halloween and I am still exploring the cave now on Nov 20th. The lake is just the true entrance to this cave system. Every 3 caves down there I find, one is a hub with 3 more caves. Its literally never ending. I'm going to do some illustrations(coming up around episode 7) to try and convey the look and size of this cave system.

I still have lots of cool stuff to show you, but I think I am going to just have an extended season 3. I want to change gears with Season 4. I am not sure what I will do yet. I have not done any extensive building, so I may do that soon. Build myself a bit of a cozy home somewhere. I'm just worried that if I am getting sick of the cave, you guys might be as well.

On another note:

http://pickthatsword.blogspot.com/

That's another player doing a text and picture blog. Please support our art craft by check his out.

S3 Minecraft Styxx Ep: 4

Season 3: Styxx
Episode 4 "Lake of the Damned"

The time has come.

I put up my fishing pole and my other gadgets, and I prepared to go back down into the darkness. I killed some pigs and cooked up some food. I shined up and put on my armor.



I've started trying to organize the cave a bit, I have an insanely good sense of direction, but I also have an insanely strong need to organize. So the first thing I'm doing is adding signs, and each sign will have torches arranged like this so I know it in the dark.



I went all the way down to the blocked in wall I made, and I opened it. So far I was able to edge my way in, and I saw no monsters. I also did not hear any, so I started looking around.



The area I called Lake of the Damned looked a lot less damned than before. Last time, if you haven't read the post, I killed almost 10 creatures before building a wall to block them from coming. Now, I see nothing... well not nothing actually, a beautiful room full of waterfalls.



Some redstone, that's exciting. Some lava at the end there, meeting the lake. I hear that's how Obsidian can occur. I do not have any diamond though, so its not very important.



I crossed the water towards the waterfall on the far left of the screen shot before this one. This screen shot is me behind it. Some iron here, so I started digging and found a cave that lead a bit farther back.



Its hard to tell from the pics, but I'm now behind the lava that was in the other pictures. I get back here and there's some really nice ore, and on top of that I figure I can get a really nice picture of the room from back here. I get in position and see this:



Yep, that's a creeper! But its not getting into the water. It doesn't actually see me, so I pull my bow out. Now, you non-players don't know this, but a creeper takes 5 arrows.. this one died after 2. Weird, he must have fallen from somewhere and injured itself.

So I decided I should get something for this non-climax of a situation. I left a room full of undead, and I return to find a half dead creeper. So I start mining the red stone behind the waterfall. I then came to some mud, I figured what the heck, I'll see how close I am to the adamantite(unbreakable bedrock).



I find some! and I'm just about to turn back and return home, when I see a new sort of sparkle in the dark.



DIAMOND! The rare of rare, diamond is the best material for items. It can even break obsidian. Obsidian is so hard that creepers can't scratch it. I am able to get just a handful of diamonds. Now with the most valuable substance in my bags, I decide I need to return home and put them in a safe place.

Here are my rewards.



That's a ton of redstone.

S3 Ep3 Minecraft: Styxx "Boo Update"

It was around this time that the "Boo" or "Holloween" update came into the game. I know many of you come from the Minecraft Forums(Blogger tells me such), but I know a handful of you are from my Facebook page. The game is still being made, so every so often we get updates, Holloween was a huge update.



In my last adventure I had actually found some gold! At the time there was nothing useful or practical to make with such a rare commodity, but in the Boo update they added this!



This my friends is a watch! If you have not made one, or you think gold might be too precious to waste on something like this, I say you are WRONG! I had my doubts, but now that I have it, I love it. It is a simple circle where 1 half is black for night, and one half is blue for day. The best part is that if you're waiting on one or the other, you have a good estimate on the time left... in case you weren't watching the clocks in real life.



I figured while I was at it, I would make one of these as well, a Compass that always points to your spawn point. Your spawn point is where you go when you die. By sheer luck my spawn point right outside the utility shack near Fort Lookout. So I did not think I would want this... I don't make mile high towers or beacons to help me navigate, I like that I can get lost. I may find another function for it later though, so I feel good having one.


You may have also noticed a richer green in the grass in my latest photos. The Boo update added "Biomes" to the game, and one of those changes is that grass is many different shades of green depending on the climate of the area. I can now find things like tropical rain forests, deserts, tundra and iced over blizzard terrain. I plan on exploring soon and seeing what I find.

Speaking of terrain, I worked a bit more on my river. Its kinda boring to talk about, so I'll spare you and just show you 3 progress images. The last image is of "cane" or "papyrus" that I started growing. From 3 little reeds near Fort Lookout, I eventually grow a nice size stretch of the stuff... use for it revealed later.



Another weird addition in the Boo update is a parallel world called "The Nether". Seeing as I do not yet have any diamond, I can not really get to this new dimension of horror yet. In an update much much later, I am sure I will, but we're talking a long long time.

Something I will show you is this!



The fishing poles have been updated to work! And now there is a fishing game! Fishing is mainly for food at the moment. The line and hook is a physical thing you throw out and it sticks to something or drifts in the water. When it is in the water, it might bob and jump under the water. You click to pull it in and you might have caught yourself a fish!



Another fun thing you can do is catch creatures by throwing it out and hooking them. You can also tug them toward you. This sets up some fun stuff for the deviant minded of us to do. Like... make a pit full of fire.







Good fun.