Chapter V: No Turning Back

~A day has passed~

Chapter V: No Turning Back

The Maker tells Tacky that it will still be a while until he is ready to explore again and so encourages him to go in his place. Tacky determinedly takes his Enchanted Bow and heads into the Nether. He decides to put the Portal he had created himself to good use, and he emerges among the Crescent Mountains. Setting out southward, he creates torches and places them along his route like breadcrumbs so he can find his way back. The adventurer passes through several short, natural passages before beholding a spectacular sight: an enormous cavern with several large holes in its ceiling through which the rains from the storm outside pour down. He enters the cavern and takes a left, where the cavern narrows into a tunnel sloping slightly downward. After digging around a gravel formation, Tacky takes a few steps forward before being startled by (and startling) a Creeper, which suddenly explodes. The explosion causes the ceiling of the tunnel to collapse. Tacky jumps out of the way…but ends up on the wrong side of the cave-in.

At this point, Tacky cannot figure out exactly where the cave-in was, so he decides that the only way to go is deeper into the cave. Once again placing torches along his path, he quickly discovers a dark capillary of an abandoned mine. He jumps down into it and follows the corridor. When he reaches a junction, he turns the corner and comes face-to-face with a pair of Skeletons, which he shoots-to-kill. Proceeding more cautiously, he soon reaches a near-dead end with only small hole near the floor in the left corner. The explorer slides himself through the hole and lands in another downward-sloping tunnel, which he follows for a while until he reaches a wide room. Tired and somewhat scared, Tacky sets up a small camp in the room and takes a brief rest. After resting, Tacky continues on. He soon joins up with another part of the old mine and proceeds to make his way through that. Several mobs cross his path over the course of this trek, but curiously, none of them attack the boy. Tacky gets turned around several times by looping tunnels, which leaches him of some hope. Eventually, however, he comes across a narrow waterfall and has the idea to swim upward through that in the hopes that its source is near the surface. His hopes are dashed further, however, when this turns out not to be the case. Now getting desperate, the youthful explorer begins digging a horizontal tunnel from the waterfall’s source. His digging seems to go on and on until he suddenly bursts into another cave. Tacky sees light coming from around the corner, and, after rounding that corner, he finds himself on the edge of a large crater of a room, at the bottom of which are more tunnels leading into the abandoned mine and several nearby pools of lava. Not really caring about going upward anymore, Tacky descends into one of these tunnels and digs around another gravel column…and exposes another mysterious ruined Nether Portal. He is horrified to see yet another of these landmarks, especially one all the way down here under the Crescent Mountains. But after the horror passes, Tacky has a brilliant idea. Using his powers, he repairs the Portal frame and then uses his Fire Charge to ignite and activate the portal. He enters it, and is relieved to discover that he has emerged into the Nether from the exact same Portal he had used to get to the Crescent Mountains in the first place. Tacky collapses to the ground in an exhausted heap.

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Played out in-game on 5/13/2017. Written 5/13/2017.
Four years later, IT'S BACK!

Chapter IV: Making a Meal for The Maker

~A week has passed~

ARC 6: THE ADVENTURES OF TACKY

Chapter IV: Making a Meal for the Maker

While the Maker continues to heal from his wounds and to study the strange ore from Faraway Depths, Tacky decides to do something nice for his companion. Heading to The Maker’s Farm in northern Kra’an Desert, he begins the process of harvesting ingredients for a spectacular meal for The Maker. Ultimately, he roasts a chicken and bakes a loaf of bread, a couple dozen cookies, and a few pumpkin pies, all from scratch as opposed to being products of his powers. The Maker receives his meal with modesty, but he deeply appreciates the gesture from his friend.

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Played out in-game Q4 2013. Written 5/13/2017.
I had to write this one up from a three-and-a-half-year-old memory.

Chapter III: Far, Far Away

Chapter III: Far, Far Away

Tacky emerges into a dark cavern. He checks his coordinates and is (momentarily) horrified to discover that he is more than 3,600 meters west of and 2,000 meters south of the Point of Origin. He proceeds forward into the cavern, placing Torches along the way so he can find his way back. He soon notices wall sections made of sand, which baffles him. He comes to a dead end and smashes through a block of stone. Suddenly, a wave of saltwater rushes into the tunnel, which he has coined “Faraway Tunnel,” from above. Tacky swims up through the shaft of water and emerges in an ocean bay beside a desert which neighbors a taiga.

Intent on further exploring Faraway Tunnel itself, Tacky immediately dives back down the shaft, covering it with a trapdoor, and returns to the site of the Nether Portal. The young adventurer walks around the Portal’s frame and continues into the tunnel. Not a minute later, he almost falls into a large hole leading down into a pool of lava in an open area. After recovering his balance successfully, he flies down into the hole and finds himself in an abandoned mine of which the hole pierces through three levels. He lands on some stone on the bottom level and steps down into a natural cavern neighboring the Forgotten Mine (as Tacky dubs the mine). There, he finds an odd-looking ore floating in a pool of lava. He approaches the ore and is confused to discover that the ore is embedded in Netherrack. He mines a piece of the mysterious ore to take back to The Maker. Before returning to Faraway Tunnel, Tacky thinks up a name for the cavern he found the strange ore in: Faraway Depths. When he emerges from the hole in the tunnel, facing deeper into the tunnel, he is shocked to find the ruin of a Nether Portal resting in a small alcove by the hole. Now properly freaked out, Tacky teleports across the kilometers back to Maker’s Grove to tell The Maker of his adventures and findings.

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Played out in-game on 10/4/2013. Written 10/4/2013.

Chapter II: Fortress of Fire

Chapter II: Fortress of Fire

Tacky finds himself inside a small chamber, in the center of which are the stairs that he has just come down. Ahead of him is a corridor; behind the stairs is another corridor. The young explorer decides to take the latter corridor. Before he can reach the end, he finds himself faced with a spinning mass of fire. Suddenly, the mass begins firing fireballs at Tacky, and it becomes evident that this is actually a sentient being, which Tacky coins a “Blaze.” Leaping out of the way of the fireballs, Tacky fires four arrows into the Blaze before it falls to the ground and its flame peters out. He continues along the corridor until he emerges out into the open. He observes the fortress-like nature of the structure he is in, and he also spots numerous Zombie Pigmen and Skeleton Warriors patrolling the walls; several Blazes float near the ground in the distance.

Tacky continues along the wall, slaying any creature that gets in his way, until he reaches a corridor. Walking down this corridor, he quickly discovers that the corridor has fallen apart not far in, as it simply drops off. The young adventurer creeps up to the edge and sees a ledge to the right on the other side of a gap in the fortress—perhaps another fortress?—that leads into another corridor. Tacky takes a running leap to the other side and continues his expedition.

Eventually, he finds himself in a dark, narrow corridor. He is startled when he walks straight into a wall of Netherrack; he has reached a dead end. He turns around and heads back to the previous corridor junction and takes another corridor. Tacky realizes that this part of the fortress was built into a nearby mountain of Netherrack, or at least its construction into the mountain was started but left unfinished. He quickly reaches another dead end, turns around, and heads down the third and final corridor at the junction. As soon as he does, a horde of Zombie Pigmen, accompanied by at least four Blazes, bursts around the corner with obvious intentions: eliminate the intruder, Tacky! Tacky quickens his pace into a sprint, running for his life until, as he is shocked to discover, the corridor drops off just beyond the shore of the lava ocean. A second later, he realizes that there is a small Netherrack island nearby and makes a quick decision. Before the creature horde can lay its hands (or fire) on him, Tacky dives off the corridor, pushing off with all his might so that he may reach the island.

Tacky lands, shaken and bruised. He looks up to see a lone, active Nether Portal standing in the center of the island. Since he has no other way off the island, anyway, he steps into the mysterious Portal.

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Played out in-game on 1/13/2013. Written 1/13/2013 and 9/20/2013.
Sorry for the extremely long wait!

Chapter I: Return to The Nether

~A month has passed~

ARC 5: INTO THE NETHER

Chapter I: Return to The Nether

Tacky is taking a relaxing boat ride in Great Lake south of Faradesia Forest when it begins to storm. He quickly rides to shore and begins running toward Maker’s Grove. Out of breath, he enters The Maker’s Hut. Inside the hut, The Maker is sitting on his bed, writing a book; he has spent the past month in The Maker’s Hut, recovering from his burn wounds inflicted on him at the “hands” of the Endlord. The Maker gives Tacky a gift, a Nether Star, as thanks for taking care of him over the last few weeks. Grateful, Tacky accepts the shiny Nether Star and waits for the rain to subside before bidding farewell to The Maker and departing from the hut. He is walking in the direction of The Maker’s Mine when he slips and falls on the wet grass, letting go of the Nether Star. Horrified, he watches as his Nether Star flies through the air and into the Nether Portal beside The Maker’s Hut. The boy gets back up and (carefully) runs into the Portal in pursuit of The Maker’s gift.

After emerging from the Portal, Tacky finds himself, of course, in The Nether once again. He leans over the edge of the plateau on which he stands, and he sees the Nether Star falling fifty meters into the sea of lava, a sight that devastates him. Bummed out, he decides to mope and vent in The Nether and so begins walking towards the small cave in which the Distant Forest Nether Portal could be found. Inside the cave, he makes a left instead of the right that would take him to the Portal and just keeps walking. A few minutes later, he realizes that he does not know where he is. In an attempt to get a better view of The Nether so he could possibly spot a familiar area down below, he flies up to the area above him, avoiding two lavafalls coming down from above. When he lands, he looks back down and does not recognize anything. Tacky proceeds forward in hopes of finding another hole or ledge to look down into, and he soon begins to recognize his surroundings. After he looks up, it clicks in his mind why he is getting déjà vu because he sees a whole in the Netherrack ceiling that goes far. He flies up through the hole, and his suspicions are confirmed; he finds himself on the barren, stone roof of The Nether, Y-coordinate N128. But something is different this time; it is not entirely barren. Near his hole, Tacky finds the ruin of a Nether Portal, similar to those that he and The Maker had been seeing in other parts of The Nether and in Faradesia. What makes this one suspicious is that it looks old and ruined but it had not been there during his previous visit to The Nether’s roof. He makes a note of this ruin’s coordinates in The Maker’s book of coordinates and heads back down the hole.

Tacky continues walking and walking and walking, lost but hopeful that he will find some clue as to his whereabouts. After what feels like thirty minutes or so of walking, he comes to a structure made out of Nether Brick that seems to continue on into the Netherrack mountain he has been walking along. A walkway leads into the mountain, while a set of stairs leads down into the structure itself. Equipping his Enchanted Bow, Tacky begins to descend the stairs into the massive structure.

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Played out in-game from 12/31/2012 through 1/1/2013. Written 1/1/2013.
Happy New Year!

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