The Chained Watcher

Underground?

Oh boy, here we go

~~~

The server meeting was pretty brief, being mostly there for Xisuma to note which Hermits were planning to join the expedition this time around. Compared to last time, a lot more of the Hermits were considering joining, even if only to help with building things.

Despite the ease with which any Minecrafter can find new places to explore, there's surprisingly little to find that's actually new on any of the servers.

Heading into the hub of Minecraft, it looks like a lot of people had the same opinion. Sure, most of the newcomers were seated in the section for the Builders, but a decent amount of the more experienced volunteers had switched seats to Combat or Exploration. Grian made his way to the Exploration group, waving slightly to Philza when he passed him.

Again, there was a big timer suspended above the new portal, though this time the scene visible through it was abnormally dark. Maybe it's nighttime over there?

When the countdown reached zero, someone stood to give the by-now standard disclaimers about lack of respawn and uncertain danger, before ordering the formation of a shield wall. Some people grumbled about nothing having needed a shield wall the last two times, but most understood the need for caution in these things.

Once again, nothing of interest happened, though someone with some kind of bioluminescence went through next to light up the surroundings. As an experienced Scout, Grian went in next, and looked around to take in the spot their portal opened.

The only source of light is the glowing player, which... isn't quite right. Directing his gaze upwards, Grian saw nothing but more darkness, which isn't how a night sky is supposed to work. And the smell... It's not a bad smell, but it definitely smells like a wet cave. Minecraft never actually spawned you underground, but it seems like the plane portal doesn't have the same guarantees.

Confused noises from the other players around him bring him to another realization. If they're underground, they can't get wood, and if they can't get wood, they can't make tools. No tools means no mining, which in turn means they can't get to the surface. Stuff originating from Minecraft doesn't usually survive leaving the hub, so unless some people happened to bring some tools or resources back from the last base, they're kinda stuck.

Messages are sent back into the hub, and after a couple minutes someone manages to gather a handful of sticks and a pickaxe. There's only one pick for now, but the sticks are enough to make another with the gathered stone from the first.

The Combat squad are the ones given the pleasure of mining a staircase up towards the surface, while the Scouts suited for darkness are given the chore of mapping out the nearby caves. Of course, their current map program can't handle the three-dimensionality of it, so quick upgrades are being made to help with that.

After an hour of code-savvy people tinkering with the map program, the Scouts are finally sent out to map out the caves around them. Barely any of them actually get to go though, since the utter lack of light causes a lot of problems for most of them. The ones that do end up going are mostly bat hybrids, since their echolocation will help them not slam their faces into any walls.

Taking a deep breath, Grian closes his eyes and focuses on the ambient magic in the air. There's definitely more than was widely available back on the last world Minecraft visited, though it was in a much more inert state despite the increased density. Fewer magic users, but higher strength when they do appear.

Opening his eyes again, his gaze scans through the darkness as he allows just the faintest hint of magic to enhance them. His sight clears as the darkness appears to recede, letting him search for anything out of place. When nothing stands out to him, he pulls the magic back, and the darkness shrouds the cave again.

Finding a place to sit, he settles in to wait for something to change. Until they've got a decent source of wood, they're going to be stuck here for a while.

~~~

It took two entire days for someone to find a species of giant mushroom that worked as a wood substitute. They'd already run out of sticks for pickaxes on the first day, so the second was spent just idling while waiting for someone to find something useful.

None of them wanted to leave the portal unguarded though, so they just spent the time on their communicators in the dark. The boredom had gotten to the point where someone capitalized on it and coded a version of minesweeper they could download.

But finally, with a way to make more pickaxes, mining resumed with the players out in full force. They've also got torches now, so no more pitch black caving for them. One thing's for sure, this time they're bringing resources with them when the portal closes.

When the miners started hitting loose soil, they paused in their ascent to call up more Scouts while digging out a decently sized room. It's not much, but it's a spot they can gather before heading out into the unknown. The command to breach the surface was given, and after two entire days of caving, the players saw the sky.

And promptly blocked up the entrance. The person with the shovel motioned for silence, and removed a single block so they could see out of their underground room. Grian, having been sent up as one of the better aerial Scouts, craned his neck to get a better angle through the one block hole. All of a sudden, the initial reaction made a lot more sense.

Currently laying siege to a nearby military base is a wing of wyvern riders, raining fire down while dodging missiles and bullets. Some of the riders have staves they're holding out, harnessing the stubborn magic to fuel their spells. The magic itself isn't responding very readily to them, forcing them to have extended charge times for any spells strong enough to do anything to the base.

After a couple minutes of silent watching, the hole was blocked back up again, and one of the others said, "I don't know about any of you, but I ain't going out there until I've got invis pots and an ender-porter."

As muted explosions echo from outside, the other players retreat back down to go report, though Grian lets himself fall behind out of sight. If there's a tech-based civilization out there, he needs to know what to expect from them in terms of weapons.

Quickly pulling together an invisibility spell, he snuck into the base and pilfered one of their spare communicators, making sure it worked before returning underground. Turning it over in his hand, it looks to have a decent level of technology to it, but not quite to the point of being considered 'High Tech'.

He slipped it into his inventory, catching up to the rest of the players on their way to report the situation on the surface.

~~~