Category: One Among the Dead

Day 647:

I’m still cleaning up these hills so I don’t get murdered quite as easily, but it’s been hard work for a number of reasons. One of the biggest is that the terrain isn’t consistent. You can be cleaning up a space and think that it’s all going to be the same hill, then find a chasm to what feels like the center of the asteroid. (Assuming it is an asteroid, which is what I’m assuming. If it’s a planet, well, it’s an awfully small one from what I can tell.

That leads to complicated questions, like do I fill in the deep places with fill and smooth everything out? Or do I start from the bottom and smooth things out on the way up the hill instead?

And how are these flocking sheep able to climb these hills with no problem whereas I’m just exhausted?

Day 646:

Upon climbing the stairs out of my current sleeping chamber this morning I was attacked by six zombies, and a pony-sized spider. I took care of them but they did singe me when they got too close to the light and temporarily caught fire.

(Side note: being set on fire by flaming zombie who needs a hug is not fun.)

Not long after that, I was attacked by a band of murderers who came over the hill.

I don’t think they’re talented to sic zombies on me — plus the zombies seemed to come from this side of the river, while the murderers were on the other side — but I’m going to keep an eye out for this trend in the future.

Day 645:

I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the holes I’ve dug into the earth to mine out the valuable stone inside when they don’t go anywhere useful.

Right now I’m building stairways down because, well, if someone falls down there (even a monster), they should be able to get back up. That’s just ethical mining.

But it means I’m building stairwells that often end at the surface of a wall or the edge of a cliff, because the end of the stairwell is accessible that way, even if it’s not the ideal way to build out an area.

I’d put in floors like I do for my main chambers, but let’s face it: nobody like a mine where the floors don’t line up, so I prefer not to put in floors unless they immediately connect to other floors.

Which, for all I know, this one might. It’s only across the river from the places I’ve already dug out, so there’s no good reason they can’t connect sometime in the future.

Just not tonight.

Day 644:

I found some mushrooms growing under the trees near where I’m landscaping. They seem like the same ones I’ve boiled back in the cave, which haven’t made me sick yet. It was really telling how dark the canopy of trees make this area, though, since from what I can tell, these mushrooms only grow in the darkest of locations.

I have no qualms about harvesting them because I’ll be taking a few of the trees out anyway. When it’s that dark, anything could be hiding in the shadows, and that’s not a good way to survive in this place.

Day 643:

The only true bird I’ve seen here has been the ducken. (The nightmarish flying things that attack at night appear to have membranes for wings and no feathers.)

The place where I’m digging and clearing right now has so many duckens that they sleep on me at night. And I don’t mean like one or two curl up behind my knees like a dog. I mean I’m at the bottom of a pile of ducken. Thank the stars that they don’t poop on everything.

They are hot and they don’t settle very well so I’m constantly sweating and being stepped on and getting nudged and quacked at all night. It doesn’t make for the best sleeping arrangements. I’ve tried blocking them from the chamber but they’re getting in anyway somehow. I need to look for holes tomorrow, when I’m done clearing this area. (If I’m done tomorrow.)