Day 145: Watchers

Day 145:

I’ve mentioned that the East Entrance emptied out into a chasm.

I didn’t even know the meaning of the word, comparatively.

I mined out the ores and stone in that chasm only to find that I was looking into an even bigger chasm. Like much bigger. Perhaps kilometers.

There are two challenges to exploring it. The first is that I’ve once again dug out into the middle of it. I’m at least 30 meters above its base.

The second is that it’s filled with giraffe-corgis. I lit a torch and could see them huddled together in an opening across from where I’m standing, a little further south of me. I could see five. I don’t know how many more there are.

If I could have remote detonated them, I might have exploded the entire cavern, if not set off an earthquake.

It’s an odd feeling, seeing semi-sentient bombs salivating over the sight of you.

A sketch of a tunnel leading to a tall thin (rocket-like) chamber with steps crisscrossing it. At the bottom of the chamber a stick figure is shown discovering that they are now staring into a much larger chamber, that has stick figure horror corgis standing on the bottom and on ledges on the inside of the giant chamber.

Day 144: So much, so spread out

Day 144:

In an effort to give myself a shortcut across my mine, I started digging a tunnel to connect two outlying areas.

The result: I came across an area I previously dug out but never marked as finished, and that’s because it wasn’t finished. I’d left a huge granite deposit in it. I don’t remember why I abandoned it — sometimes all the tunnels start to look alike — but there’s enough granite in it for me to retire.

Which is why I’m now digging it out so I can mark that mine empty.

And then I’ll go back to my shortcut.

Which means I’m hauling granite around the long way every day because I am an idiot.

ps. I ran out of coal sticks, so no sketch today. Will make more tomorrow. Too tired tonight.

Day 143: Canaries in the skeleton mines

Day 143:

I’m finding that it’s just as hard for zombies and skeletons to wade through a mess of duckens as it is for me. But the duckens like me.

So I have a second reason to fill all my mines with duckens: they trip the monsters. Well, except for the giraffe-corgies, which just blow up and take the duckens with them. But at least I can hear them coming.

If any of these creatures had verbal languages, I’m pretty sure I could’ve picked out the curse words by now just by having so many birds around.

Line sketch of a zombie with its hands on its hips standing in the middle of six duckens as if wondering how it got into this mess.
Me too, skeleton. Me too.

Day 142: So this is my life now

Day 142:

I’m way underground, digging through to what looks like a giant chasm, and I’m attacked by zombies.

Child zombies.

Wielding potatoes.

I had to kill child zombies who were trying to kill me with potatoes today because if I didn’t kill these little six-year-old monsters they would have kept going until they killed me and we all know a six year old has more energy than a nuclear power plant.

I’m not saying I’m the best at what I do. I’m not even saying I’m a good person.

But when a child tries fervently to kill you with a potato, well, you can’t help but doubt whether you look scary enough to protect yourself, you know?

Thinking about making some kind of mask, is what I’m saying. Maybe disguise myself as a cow.

Nobody tries to kill cows with potatoes.

bad sketch of a child zombie with both arms in the air, wielding a potato as a weapon

Day 141: Sunlight

Day 141: I’m digging up through multiple levels of my current location just to get some sunlight in. No matter how diluted, pure sunlight seems to drive away the monsters here faster and more reliably than anything else – even fire.

That means a lot of staring at the map and going “ok where will I not hit a wall as I dig straight up?”

Sketch of the author holding a map inside an underground chamber. There's an overlapping underground chamber directly above the author's head, as she looks up and contemplates digging straight up. Should she do so, she'll dig into the above chamber's wall.
Me, most of the time.