Keeping a journal.

So it's been a while since I've built anything large legitly. I've decided to build a project like Seaguard, entirely without flight or creative... Going to keep a survival log to track minecraft time on this project. (Seaguard took approximately three hours to fully build with creative, and comprised some 6000 stone brick blocks.) Here goes!

For those unaware, Seaguard is the medieval style fortress I built as a practice structure for Til's proposed New Valyria idea. It's a small fort, comprised of keep, outer wall with two towers, and a stable, smithy, farm and kitchen inside the wall. The keep itself houses the main hall, a few living quarters, and a library.

Sunny. Set up base-camp. A tiny wooden hovel on the future site of the keep. Creeper immediately investigated and kept me inside most of the night, though I got out and sheared several sheep. Collected about 20 useable pieces of wool, and got some bacon out of the deal; there were some pigs hanging around the sheep herd. Once I have some fence material, I should consider building a pen for those sheep, I believe they'll prove invaluable in the future.

Rain! Went out collecting wood today; I'll need chests for storing my goods, sticks for more tools and torches, and eventually wood for doors and beams. Found a nice forest a ways away from base camp and collected about 3 and a half stacks of logs. The wood is sprucey, as befits the cold environment of the forest. Tomorrow I plan to find a suitable site for a mine and begin digging to gather stone resources. I will need huge quantities of stone, coal, and iron; I cannot begin to imagine how long this will take.

Sunny. Established a secondary base camp as the entrance to my mine. I go in armed with torches and several pickaxes, hoping to claim significant mineral wealth from the depths of the earth. From here on I'll have little knowledge of the events of outside, as I plan not to reemerge until I have accumulated enough materiel to begin construction of a more permanent home than my little wooden hovel. In digging out an area for base, I have already begun collection.

Goods collected:
-3 stacks of cobblestone
-6 coal

Supplies:
-6 pickaxes (stone)
-8 porkchops
-54 torches

The stone walls drown out all sound except that of my breathing and the pickaxe, and I am now deep enough underground that I cannot see any natural light. Given that, the only thing driving my schedule is the need to eat and sleep, so this is what I believe to be the end of my fourth day. I encountered a large deposit of gravel early in the dig, and for a while that slowed progress to a near halt as the ceiling and walls continued to shift. However, I spent part of the day at base camp experimenting with some iron I had dug, and managed to forge a passable shovel! Armed with my new tool, getting through the gravel became much faster, and I reclaimed a fair amount of lost time. As a bonus, I found a good quantity of a natural stone in the gravel; extremely sharp and lightweight, I believe I could fashion arrows out of it, which will aid me in hunting.

The attrition to my tools is horrible; of the six pickaxes I arrived with, only two are left, and I will spend time before I sleep determining if I can use more of the iron I mined to fashion a sturdier pick. However, all that use brings experience, and I have located two veins of coal and a large iron deposit, which has left me with considerable resources at my disposal. Supplies are looking excellent, and I do not believe I'll have to leave to forage for days yet.

Goods collected:
-8.5 stacks of cobblestone
-50 coal
-32 iron ore
-one stack of gravel
-8 flint

Supplies:
-2 pickaxes (stone)
-7 porkchops
-22 torches
-1 shovel (iron)

I have discovered pools of molten rock. The heat is intense, and there is an omnipresent danger of losing my footing and plunging to my death. However, the mineral wealth surrounding these pools is nigh-indescribable! Not only have I found new sources of coal and iron, but I have also found raw gold, and a stone I've only seen in trading caravans. I believe it is called Lapis. However, the last discover may be the most precious; a unique red stone that glows when touched. I have not found much of it, but I hope it will prove useful.

The riches are not without hazards. In addition to the previously mentioned lava, I have found that there are monsters in the depths of the earth, not unlike those that walk the surface while the sun hides. My combat skills are rusty, and fighting for my life necessitated I miss a day in my log. Further, my supplies are dwindling faster; between the fighting, and hauling loads of stones up and down my stair, I find myself completely spent by the end of a day. Nevertheless, I press on with the future realization of my fortress home firmly fixed in my mind.

Goods collected:
-5.5 stacks of cobblestone
-98 coal
-32 iron ore
-9 gold ore
-78 lapis
-one stack of gravel
-5 flint
-14 redstone dust
-also some spider silk from a cave spider slain

Supplies:
-three pickaxes (iron)
-5 porkchops
-1 shovel (iron)
-56 torches
-one sword (iron)

Broke into a large vertical shaft today. Cutting a stairway into the walls was difficult, but well worth it, as I discovered large deposits of gold in addition to the coal and iron I am becoming accustomed to. Monsters existed in excess in the large open spaces, which made digging quite dangerous; and one section of the cave nearly collapsed on me when I broke the thin layer of stone holding back gravel. Full exploration of the shaft led me to a portion of my original diggings I had not yet explored; I accomplished a lot today.

Goods collected:
-16 gold ore
-65 iron ore
-111 coal
-12 lapis
-1 flint
-5 arrows
-0.5 stacks of cobblestone

Supplies:
-four pickaxes (iron)
-one shovel (iron)
-two swords (iron)
-4 porkchops
-5 torches

Comparatively small cave found, containing a waterfall. Nothing else of interest occured today.

Goods collected:
-one stack of cobblestone
-68 coal
-5 gold ore
-32 iron ore
-3 flint
-11 lapis
-mushrooms

Supplies:
-three pickaxes (iron)
-two swords (iron)
-one shovel (iron)
-3 porkchops
-81 torches