Copper Apocalypse Hermitcraft Season 8 AU

Chapter 3 Grian

August 21, 2021

Rations are getting low. We only have a few golden carrots left. Impulse, Doc, Cub and I are going to be going out to get some supplies. I would have chosen to take Etho and maybe Tango with me but Tango is still too weak to even sit up. With Gem still struggling with her damaged arm, I'm having Etho stay behind and watch over Tango. With Stress Coppered it will be hard to get potions. With Mumbo Coppered our food supplies will get lower. Impulse and Cub are going to get the potion supplies while Doc and I get the food supplies. We will look for any other surviving hermits while we're out just in case.

Grian closed his journal and tucked it in a chest. He opened the door of his room and closed it behind himself. Walking down the hall to the living room Grian watched Gem handing masks to Doc, Cub and Impulse. She walked up to Grian and handed him a red mask with a gold G in the middle. Grain took it and put it on.

"Thank you Gem."

Gem nodded and walked back over to Cleo and Pearl, who was working on another mask. Turning towards his group, Grian looked into everyone's eyes. He grabbed a few swords and a crossbow. While he handed the swords out to his traveling group Ren walked up and tapped Grian on the shoulder. Turning around Grian gave Ren a smiling look with his eyes.

"What can I do for you Ren?"

"I thought these might come in handy. They're iron tipped arrows, but it's not much. I also have bows and crossbows that will use these arrows better without snapping the string or wood," Ren said handing Grian three arrows and a new crossbow.

While Grian studied the arrows, Ren handed three more each to Doc, Cub and Impulse to use along with a quartz colored bow. Grian tucked them into his small quiver on his right side leg in another slot, while he placed his new crossbow into his inventory.

"How many of these do we have Ren?" G asked seeing how few arrows everyone got.

"Not much at the moment. I'm working on making more though with Zedaph. We've discovered it can pierce through copper when fired from a bow or crossbow," Ren answered.

Grian nodded then thanked Ren. He turned to his group and walked up to Doc.

"You all know what to do?" Grian questioned.

Impulse nodded. With that Grian turned and opened the piston door which lead to the outside world in Impulse's Factory. He came out first with his crossbow in hand. Everything was quiet which made it a bit scary. He pulled Doc and Cub up who seemed to struggle a bit. Impulse managed to climb out all the way by himself.

"Remember to stay together and watch out for the Coppered Hermits. I don't want to loose anymore of our friends then we already have," Grian reminded them.

They nodded and Grian signaled for them to split. Both he and Doc crept into the forest just next to the outer wall of Impulse's base, which was also next to Mumbo's. Grian stepped lightly on the grass and kept looking around. He could hear a faint grinding and screeching of metal in the distance. He wasn't too worried about seeing it wasn't near them. He looked back at Doc and gave him a nodded. The cyborg Creeper nodded back in understanding.

They finally reached Grian's Alleyway and found the entrance to the Villager trading hall. Stepping down towards the underground area, Grian was surprised to see his Villagers were alright. He took off his mask and found he could breathe without any burning pain in his lungs.

"Doc, we need to connect this to the underground base. The Villagers are all okay. See?" Grian pointed.

Doc took off his mask and gave a shock look of disbelief.

"No kidding. But can we worry about that later?"

"Yeah, just let me get the coords really quick."

Grian marked down the coords and got to work on trading with the Villagers for golden carrots. After a few hours, they got two shulker boxes full of carrots. Grian loaded them into an ender chest and pulled his mask back up.

"Let's get a few more things before..." Grian started but was stopped by a the sound of grinding metal overhead.

Doc pulled up his mask and stared at Grian. Suddenly they heard a strange metallicy voice and looked up at the roof.

"Are you sure they went this way Mumbo?"

"Of course I'm sure Keralis. I saw them come in here several hours ago. Maybe they're just in one of these buildings."

Grian looked down at Doc and silently walked toward him. He tapped on the tall hermit's shoulder and pointed toward one of the walls. Doc looked at where Grian was pointing at then nodded in agreement. Quietly opening the ender chest, Grian pulled out his pickaxe and mined into the wall. Creating a hole just behind the wall, Grian motioned for Doc to follow. After closing it up Grian started digging in one direction.

After a good few blocks of digging in the dark and blocking up the way behind them, Grian stopped and listened. The grinding sound of metal was distance now. Sighing in relief, Grian sat down while Doc pulled out a torch and lit it up. Grian closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

"What are we going to do now?" Doc asked.

Grian opened his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not sure. But I bet we could make it back to base if we dig towards it," Grian suggested.

"But how will we get there if we don't have the coords to it?"

"We can always ask someone who's there," Grian said pulling down his mask.

Doc pulled down his and glared at Grian. "Won't the Coppered Hermits see the message?"

"There's a thing called private messaging," Grian pointed out.

Grian watched as Doc opened his mouth to protest but then shut it. Knowing he won the argument, Grian pulled out his communicator and texted Etho.

<Grian>
Can you give me the coords to the base you're in?

<Etho>
Sure
(Coords because I don't know them and don't feel like making some up)

<Grian>
Thanks

Grian put the coords in and began to dig away at the stone, granite, diorite and andesite. Doc still held the torch and  blocked up the way they came from. Suddenly their tunnel opened up into the living area of the base.

"Hey guys, we're back!" Grian shouted.

Information for this chapter

Coppered:
Mumbo
Stress
Keralis

Partially Coppered:
Grian
Impulse
Doc
Cub
Tango
Ren
Zedaph
Cleo
Gem
Pearl
Iskall

Not Coppered:
Etho