Hey guys, xBr0wnBear here and today I'm launching a new series called Stranded!Basically there will be a video and written portion. The video portion will be me stumbling around real-time through this little island as we uncover what in the world happened and the written portion will be "the journal" of our stranded person so it'll have a more realistic format on what is going on.This series will be interactive, there's other crewmembers on this island stranded with us and they all have a vote on what we should do so that will be you guys. Just vote here or leave a comment on the video and I'll try my best to recreate your decisions. The only rule is that it should be relatively realistic to the plight of the past episode. I won't suddenly decide to head to the moon if I don't have proper food or shelter for instance xD. Some options that I suggest will be on the bottom of the episode and the next episode will have the choice taken on top as probably the title or in the description.One other note, I'm a bit new to youtube and recording so bear with me. I hope to learn a lot with the videos I make and improve every episode from now on.I hope you guys enjoy so let's get started!
Mods: Minecraft Comes Alive + Resonant Rise Modpack
Wanna join the cast and have your adventures written about too??
All you have to do is submit your name (try to make it a real sounding name, it can be a name of any nationality in the real world. I don't particularly care I just don't want internet usernames such as XBrownBear as a person or anything inappropriate.) Then post a little biography of your character and what role he/she had before coming on the ship. You can even be one of the villagers from Ke or any other villages that I may discover etc. Also tell me what your character looks like. If I have time, I might design a little skin for it to throw onto the villager.
Episodes 1-10
Episode 1
Video Link Here: (Had some recording issues this time, I'll be improving the quality dramatically in the future )
Episode 1 - Making Shelter
June 26th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
It has been one month since we have set off from Po on a trade mission across the vast, endless sea to Erlingu, a rich land to the northwest. I have never been there myself but others have told of flying cities lifted by the wind and that the inventors of the place build countless exotic devices to solve the trifle problems of day-to-day life.As I look out into the ocean, I am enveloped by the endless blue around me. Some say that the sea to the west is endless and others say you would simply fall off the world at a certain point. For me, I rather not find out, either option seems just as uncomfortable as the other.
June 30th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
We are only half-way across the ocean according to the navigator but for some reason we've spotted land. Everyone on board is clamoring that we must have gotten lost and have headed backwards to the continent. I'll let the captain and navigator figure this out. I'm only here to organize the goods and fix anything wrong with the ship.
Oh god! Our ship is being boarded or something....The crew fights valiantly near the bow but soon they get overrun. The captain screams to hold on as I hear panic amongst the 42 members of the crew. I run to the back of the ship and I feel a sharp pain in my legs and lower torso as I am catapulted into the water. Everything around me becomes heavy.
July 1st of the 9th Year of Prosperity
I awaken to a desolate scene around me. All I can see is the remnants of the ship. I feel lucky to have been saved somehow as if some guardian angel is preventing me from dying. I wouldn't want to test fate again lest death greets me while my savior is asleep.
Using our supplies, we setup a tent before it gets dark. This temporary shelter will protect us during these warmer months until help arrives.
As darkness approaches, we decide to light a fire. There are plenty of tools available in the chest that an insightful crew member decided to bring onto the lifeboat. Who knows what would happen to us if we had no tent, no tools, no food. I'm sure we wouldn't last a week or perhaps being tested would bring out the strength within us.My eyes grow heavy as I lay in the tent, thinking about the sweet taste of the famous barbecued pork buns in Po.
Episode 2
Video Link Here: Episode 2 - Earth Wall + (Growthcraft Paddies)
July 2nd of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Everyone here is restless. We only have one barrel of salted pork between all of us to share but luckily the island seems to be rich with food. All of us went around and collected various berries and nuts until we ate our fill. One of the civilians, Jodie, on the ship made an extremely insightful comment. We were extremely fortunate to have her on board as she suggested we use some of the seeds from the foods we ate to plant them near by in case no rescue arrives in time.
July 3rd of the 9th Year of ProsperityIt was hard to get sleep. I stood awake during the 3rd watch until dawn accompanied by one of the other guards named Sho'cha. He didn't say much. He only stared into the vast frontier. I, on the other hand, twitched at every sound and chirp that I heard. The next day, we took a vote on what to do and it was decided that we build an earth wall around the area. Who knows who or what inhabits this forsaken place and it didn't help that most of us were still nervous about what had happened on the ship just a few nights before.
During the wall building I spotted some local wildlife. I snuck up on it from behind some brush and thrust my weapon straight into him. He began to thrust wildly on the ground before departing. Everyone cheered happily of what I had brought back but I take no pleasure in taking its life.Afterwards we found some old string in the chest and made some crude fishing rods. I was only able to catch two small fish but one of the older survivors caught a massive ten fish before dark.I remember everyone's smiles when he brought back the load.He simply smiled and said, "Patience, that's one thing us older folks are good at, Patience."
Episode 3
Video Link Here: July 4th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
July 5th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
After breaking our last shovel, Casey the blacksmith told us that he wouldn't be able to forge us new ones without a proper smithing area. To do that, we'd need to make a large pit and find a source of heat that could melt any ores we mined up. Luckily, the source for the material to construct the large pit was nearby as a small pond contained all the gravel, clay, and sand that we would need. Unfortunately, we still didn't have a clue on where we would get the heat source that would be required. To make matters worse, the wind started to pick up followed by intense rain. The tent buckled against the forces conspired against us as everyone huddled up inside.
The rain continued onto the next day."Come here everyone!" shouted Linda. She was the one tending the fields. Magically, all of our crops had grown overnight from the rain. We happily picked the blueberries and blackberries and harvested the rice. The taste of fresh berries was incredible compared to the salted pork that we had been eating for the last few days. A little bit worried me about how fast these berries grew and the magic of this strange place but those thoughts didn't last long as I was offered another handful of the succulent fruits.
Episode 4
Video Link Here: Episode 4 - Not a trashcan
July 6th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
During the storm last night, our tent took a beating. We decided that it was finally time to build a shelter. Being a master of the builder's guild, the group placed the responsibility upon me to design a proper house that would serve until rescue came. To do so, we would have to cross over our wall for the first time and venture into the ravine. I and the miners and a few of the guards brought some gear and set up a makeshift camp. Rey complained about being left back to guard the beach saying how bored he was just sitting around but someone needed to make sure the rest of the party who was busy farming was protected.
By afternoon, we had mined a significant portion of the required material to build the foundation of the house. Unfortunately, one of the materials, a nice limestone for the support beams was deeper down the ravine. Worse yet, there was a growling and moaning sound coming from the darkness that grew louder as we got closer to the limestone vein. Suddenly, underneath us two zombies sprung out and ambushed us. We quickly scampered up a small incline and got ready to fight. Luckily, the enemy seemed less agile and got stuck climbing up. Slashes were freely given to each zombie as they tried to climb up until we were satisfied they wern't going to move anymore.
July 12th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Almost a week has passed since I last wrote, we have been busy building our new house. Attached is a sketch of what it currently looks like. I expect it to take another week or so before it completely finishes. The men and women work hard here. Survival depends on it.
In the evening, Sheryl, the person in charge of the meager rice farm announced to everyone the crop was ready to be harvested. She was amazed that everything had grown so quickly like what had happened with the berries before. We ground up the rice and made onigiri. I haven't had any since Po. Oh how I miss the sweet taste of fresh rice cakes and onigiri and barbecued pork buns. As per tradition, everyone gave one of their onigiri to each other. I offered mine to the guard Rey but it seems he had taken the incident of being placed on guard duty as a sleight against him and openly refused it. We have enough trouble already. I can't imagine having to fight both the unknown and ourselves at the same time.
Episode 5
Video Link Here: Episode 5 - Surrounded!
July 15th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
We kept up the work on the new house. The mining and digging was backbreaking and sometimes extremely dangerous. A rockslide injured Carl the other day. He said he simply twisted an ankle while dodging a few falling boulders so we are incredibly fortunate that it wasn't anything worse.Suddenly, one of the guards shouted, "Come here, I think I found something!"We threw down our tools and quickly rushed over. Our digging had led to the entrance of an open cavern. Inside there was some weird object in the shape of a cage with something spinning inside.
Suddenly growls emanated around me and the ground opened up as zombies began spawning. I slashed at them but as soon as one fell, another rose from the ground.Nonetheless, I slow began making progress until I heard a loud metallic crunching noise. The tip of the sword had completely snapped off. Weaponless, I began taking steps backwards, using a chopping axe to keep the enemies at bay. Suddenly, one of the zombies swung his weapon at my leg causing me to tumble down the ravine.
I lay helpless at the bottom of the ravine. My body ached from the fall. All I could do was lie on the ground. Suddenly I felt more tremors as the ground erupted. The sheer terror of death gave me an adrenaline rush and I quickly stood back up. Learning from a few days ago that the zombies wern't the most agile of creatures, I climbed on top of a small mound. I used my axe until someone above threw a sword down for me after they saw my situation."I think I've found a way to stop them!" shouted Rey. Apparently everyone had come once they heard the fighting going on. Shortly after, the zombies stopped spawning and a rope ladder was dropped down for me to climb back up.
"They are weak to light," explained the young knight. The whole area was lighted by makeshift torches. We went back into the small opening and found numerous artifacts lying around. We had never seen any of these devices before so we speculated the purpose of these objects and who had left them behind.
July 18th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
It took me a few days to recover but fortune was not on my side. I went to the nearby jungle to collect some wood when I felt an extremely itch develop around my legs. I looked around and noticed the three leaf pattern from the ground. Poison Ivy! I swung at it with my new sword in a fit of rage.
July 20th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
The 2nd floor is complete! I've decided a nice balcony would look good with the house. It would also serve as a lookout towards the beach in case rescue ever came. In another week, I hope the house will be completely finished. We are running low on food too. All that time spent working on the house has left us a few hands short at the farm.
Episode 6
Video Link Here: Episode 6 - Wounded and Burnt
July 20th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
There was some discontent led by Rey. He had rallied a group of us and demanded we explore inwards. Some of us implored on him the merits of our location in being able to spot a passing ship but also the unknown dangers of the island. Unfortunately his arguing had won the day; we took a vote and we agreed to explore around the walls leaving only two of us to guard our encampment.It was peaceful in the day, we gathered a plentiful assortment of blueberries and blackberries. We slaughtered a plethora of animals.
"See!" boasted Rey, "Look at what we can find out here instead of just hiding underneath our shelter. Men were meant to fight and conquer, not to hide behind walls!"
Everyone else cheered in response.After our hunt, we dragged our bounty home, each of us carrying an animal in each hand. Soon, the sun fell and it was pitch black. The wall was in sight in the distance and so we lit our torches to guide us through the jungle. Suddenly, we were encountered by a tall slender figure in the distance. We thought it was one of the encampment guards that was sent out to look for us. The figure started to approach us until we could see the white's of its eyes.As I peered into its eyes, my ears were bombarded with a sinister laugh. Like a nightmare, the phantom jumped to me and soon we were surrounded by a company of enemies on all sides. Spiders, zombies, smaller but more agile zombies, skeletons and more attacked us.
I fended off the phantom with my blade for a while. It seemed to be going after only me as I parried it's attacks. I swung my stone sword at him. Our old iron blades had all broken by now so we were stuck with whatever our "blacksmith" could forge with the rocks around us. Every hit I made on it seemed to do nothing as it darted around the battlefield. Suddenly the world went dark around me as I felt a sharp sting on my foot. I looked down and saw a small green spider and quickly swatted it away.
Unfortunately, the spider had done its work. I must admit that I panicked and started to swing wildly in front of me as I couldn't see anything. A smaller assailant suddenly appeared in front of me and then bashed my leg with a mace. I instantly fell to the ground and the world turned black.
Episode 7
Video Link Here: Episode 7 - Sadness
July 23rd of the 9th Year of Prosperity
We began constructing our smithy. It has been about a month since we were stranded on this island and there has been no sighting of anything but seagulls. To fuel our smeltery, we found a source of lava to use as heat. As I brought it back, I stupidly stumbled over a crack in the ground and dumped some of the scalding liquid onto my leg. Back to convalescing.
July 27th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
I couldn't rest for long. An elite force of assailants breached our perimeter and attacked our encampment directly. This force seemed significantly more organized than before as they approached together and wore armor with numerous runes and gems carved in. I hobbled out of my bed to pick up a sword to defend our home.The battle was fierce but we emerged victorious. As we went to pick up the dropped armor, they seemed to vanish in our hands.
Tomas, the once ship librarian, commented that these enemies are not part of this plane. Instead, they come from another dimension and only have a thin connection to this world. Thus when we kill them, they disappear back to where they came from. I asked him why sometimes they would drop an occasional armorpiece or sword and he casually explained that for unknown reasons, some beings have a stronger grasp of this world than others. They are much stronger of course as they are less limited by the transdimensional constraints that exist.
July 28th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
With the smeltery finished, everyone was excited to create the first tools. Unfortunately, Casey explained that he was unsure if we had enough heat source to make an actual tool. We would have to make molds of everything first before we could fill the mold with tools for the future.As it turns out, we were short just a bit of lava to make our first tool. I feel disappointed that my clumsiness had set us back this important step and now we would have to go deeper down the ravine in search of a new source of lava.
Episode 8
Video Link Here: Episode 8 - Cities, Shafts, WitchesEpisode 8A
July 30th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Exploring for a new source of lava, we dug into an area that wasn't natural. Wooden pillars held up what seemed like a manmade. We crawled up through the hole and looked around. Spider Webs covered the roof and the tracks were in disrepair. It looked as if it hadn't been in use for a long time. We looked into a minecart that was left behind in haste, finding a few gold ingots in there. Suddenly we heard some loud growling and some howling from the distance and decided to take our loot with our lives out of there.
July 31st of the 9th Year of Prosperity
"We forgot something," shouted Casey, "To bind the tools, we'll need some paper from a fine cane reed."
Everyone groaned, it would take even longer before we could get our new tools. It seemed like we had been cheering about our progress for the forgery to finally get started for weeks but at every step we took, there were two more left.We followed the river downwards looking for reeds that were strong enough to be used for binding.
Across the river, we could see a dark and foreboding coniferous forests with trees that seemed to touch the sky. In the future, we might setup a lumber camp there. The woods there looked like they were stocked with a strong timber that we could use to build stakes around our wall in the future.As we continued down the banks of the river, we spotted numerous buildings in the distance. I, and a few others slowly advanced. Our swords were in their hilts but ready to be unsheathed in case the villagers turned to be hostile.
"Welcome to our village," shouted an elderly man.
He had on a black silken robe and a large wooden cane in his right hand. Hobbling over, he reached out and shook our hands.
We were surprised he spoke our tongue.
"My friends, I have not seen anyone like you in my entire life. Are you here from Po or perhaps another city-state from the main continent."
"Yes, our ship crashed here during a fierce storm. We've been stranded here for about a month."
"Ah...." the elder sighed, "we thought you were here to rescue us. We have been on this accursed island since my own grandfather was your age."
Disappointment filled my emotions. We were the first people who happened upon this island since then? There would be no rescue tomorrow or next week or even next year. Possibly, there could be no rescue forever. We would be stuck on this haunted place for the rest of eternity.
"Anyways, my name is Dane, oldest member of this humble village that we call Ke. This is my daughter Jessica." She bowed to us. Her armor didn't match her gracefulness as it looked like it was taken from various enemies and just combined together and thrown onto her body.
Episode 8B
All of the villagers suddenly poured out and greeted us. Everyone was so welcoming as we were invited to enjoy a dinner feast with them all. A cow was slaughtered as the festivities began. One of the young maidens brought out a delicious potato salad while another served me a bottle of the finest wine. Dishes upon dishes were rained upon me until my belly bulged out of my trousers. I haven't ate so much food in one setting since we took off from Po. I could never forget the generosity of these people. Finally, we wern't alone. We had friends.
As dusk approached, we were shown to our quarters. I climbed to the top of the small wooden lodge and saw the most gorgeous view. A waterfall trickled down the mountains in the distance.One of the villagers waved to me as he saw me from the top of the roof, "Ay, Good night friends."I returned the gesture back as I climbed back down and fell into a deep slumber.
August 1st of the 9th Year of Prosperity
"Ay, I know what you guys are looking for," shouted Matthew, the villager I had seen last night.
He offered to lead us a short ways down the river.We set instantly, excited to finally find the reeds that Curtis wanted. A short while later, we indeed found what we were looking for. Matthew picked some of the reeds and sliced them apart into thin slices with a knife from his pocket.
As we headed back to Ke, I felt a raindrop hit my face. Soon after, the rain intensified into a thunderstorm. We grouped up into a column as we expected the undead to rise again but were surprised that we heard nothing.When we got near Ke, we heard the village bells tolling and people screaming in panic. In the distance, one of the buildings was in an inferno. An explosion rocked the house as splinters flew in every direction. We brandished our swords and rushed forth into the village. It seems that all of the undead had gathered to strike the village and that was why we didn't encounter any resistance earlier.
As I cut my way into the village, I heard a familiar voice. It was the girl who had served me the potato salad the night before. Four undead were banging against the door of the building as she frantically tried to prevent them from getting in. I charged into the group and slayed 2 of them before they turned towards me. One of them swung his sword at my legs, knocking me off my balance. I tried to parry the other zombie as I rolled around the ground, dodging their slow, but lethal strikes.I grabbed some dirt next to me with my offhand and threw it in one of the undead's eyes. It shook its head for a second but it was enough for me to disable it permanently. As I tried to pull my sword out of his now corpse, I saw the other assailant raise his sword, ready to pierce my flesh. It felt like time suddenly started to slow down. My mind became clear as I realized I wouldn't be able to defend in time. I hoped the rest of the survivors would be safe. Sorry I couldn't do any better.
Episode 9
Video Link Here: Episode 9 - xBr0wnBear the Cheater
August 1st
The door swung wide open and the young girl came out, bashing the zombie with a frying pan in her hand. She kept hitting the zombie until it stopped moving. Tears flowed down her eyes as she kept hitting the monster.
"It's ok...it's dead"
I tried to console her but she kept attacking the now lifeless being before out of energy, she collapsed to the ground before I too passed out.
August 4th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
"Alright, it's time to start smelting!" shouted Curtis.
He ordered everyone away. Clashes of metal could be heard as the rest of us kept busy working on the chores.A few hours later, the blacksmith called us over.
"There wasn't enough lava to build all the tools we needed so I decided to specialize. Hammers will be the most important in terms of getting new resources so there's one for all of you.
"Everyone grabbed one of the newly-forged hammers. I swung it around. It was light and easy to use. The handle was ridged so that it was hard to loose your grip.
"Take it easy there! If you want to swing wildly, I actually have something special I made for you."
He went to the table and handed me a rapier.
"I know you trained in the Royal Academy back in the day so I crafted this specifically for you.
"I took the weapon from his hand and admired the flawless craftsmanship.
It was perfectly balanced and as I swung it, it felt weightless.During the afternoon, we decided to go back into the mine shaft with our new tools. The hammer increased our mining efforts 9 or 10x! As I descended deeper, looking for a new source of lava to craft more tools. I spotted two of the tall dark slender figures once again. They seemed intelligent as they whispered to each other something perhaps sinister. Behind a rock, I snuck up onto one of them and pierced my rapier through its body. As the other enemy turned towards me, I dashed up to it and stabbed the being repeatedly until it fizzed away into thin air.
As I went deeper into the cave system, I felt intense heat coming from one fork. There must be a large source of lava there. I called the rest of the group and we headed in that direction. As we got there, I felt an evil trying to penetrate my brain. I was instantly filled with an image of me throwing my hammer into the lava pool among everything else in my possession. All I could see was the figures of those long black figures trying to take over my mind.
"Diamonds!!!!" shouted Jane. The loud scream woke me up. I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself down.
The day ended as we brought back a gigantic load of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and all sorts of metals. Every muscle in my body ached as the sun descended.
Episode 10
Video Link Here: Episode 10 - Easter Shepherding and Kitties!
August 11th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Now that our situation was more stable, we decided to recapture some of the livestock that we had lost after the ship collapsed. The wall would have to be temporarily broken to funnel the new animals in but that was a minor sacrifice. With our new armor and weapons, we would be able to defend ourselves from any surprise attack.Over the hill, I saw a group of four sheep. We tried to chase after them but they simply ran away.Anne had a smarter idea, "You arn't gonna get them to come to us by scaring them away!" She slowly walked up to them with some wheat we had farmed and lured them over. Magically, they all turned to her and followed her. With some effort, we eventually were able to secure them into a pen that we built the day before. Using the same method, we also were able to secure two breeding pigs in another pen.
August 12th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Today was a break day. We celebrated our survival since crashing onto this island almost 6 weeks ago. A lot had been done but still a lot more was left to be done.As I took a walk past the wall, I heard soft mewling coming from the brushes. I advanced cautiously into the underbrush until I saw two, small kittens hiding underneath a bush. I tried to approach them but they ran away from me. Learning from Anne yesterday, I took out a small fish sandwich that I had packed for my lunch today and threw a few chunks of fish onto the ground near me.They looked at me with frightened eyes until one of them, a dark black cat with snow colored paws, approached and took a bite from the ground before rushing back underneath the brush. The other cat stared at me before coming out and trying to grab its own share. I threw another piece onto the ground and then instantly, the black cat jumped out and snatched it. They kept mewing to me until my entire sandwich was literally a chunk of bread left with no fish inside.I started heading home after that, saying good bye to my newly made furry friends. As I exited the jungle, I heard mewling and some light paws against my legs."You want to come home with me? Well you'll have to earn your share catching all the mice that eat our grains ok!"Both of them meowed happily and I took them with me as I climbed over the wall back into the house.
Episodes 11-20
Episode 11
Video Link Here: Episode 11 - Starting Buildcraft
August 13th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Journeying into the forest in search of more, fine lumber, we came across a weird stone monolith. As I stepped in to examine it, Sean grabbed me and slashed at a wire on the ground. A volley of arrows flew past where I would have been a second later.
"Best be careful, you never know what's in these places especially on this curse'ed island.
"He sheathed his sword and lit a torch as we explored deeper inside. We walked carefully and examine each step, I slashed at a different string in front of me. A large boulder fell in front of me.Eventually we ran to a set of three triggers.
"Wonder what these are for? Is it safe to pull them?" I asked.
"Possibly, or possibly not." He shined his torch on some etchings on the wall.
"A bit strange, but I do believe this is ancient Udorian language. They must have been the original settlers of this island but they haven't been around for thousands of years. Perhaps we will find more remnants of their civilization else where.
"He pointed to the triggers, "Pull the left trigger down, the right trigger and then raise them up in the reverse order. Don't touch the middle one. I think you won't like to find out what surprise lies there."I followed his instructions and I heard a large crash in the entrance. We walked back and saw a pair of stairs .As we climbed up, we reached a chest and inside found what appeared to be an extremely ancient book with some bones in it. A skull laid on top of the bones. I opened the book but I was completely baffled by the words scribbled in it so I handed it to Sean.
"Not sure, it'll take some time. We should head back though; it's getting late. I'll let you know what I can figure out."
August 14th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
"Men! and Ladies, of course too," I have been able to scrape together enough iron and other metals in the last few days to come up with a present that should make our efforts a lot easier.All of us stood in front of the giant pit that led to the giant lava pool if you went down the seemingly endless ladder. He threw the weird contraption next to the pit and hit a switch. It stood there motionless.
"Urgh," he groaned, "One sec, he set down some other machines and plugged in various wires between the lot" It still remained silent.He kicked it in frustration. Suddenly the ground shuck around us as if there was an earthquake. Dirt and rocks flew everywhere as we all dove behind the nearby acacia tree.
Unphased, Curtis continued to hook up a few more hollow tubes and then connected it into a large basin. The rocks and dirt started to now fill the basin in a ordered fashion. A small drill worked without anyone operating it as if it was magic. It belched out dirty smoke as it burned the coals that Curtis had placed inside one of the structures.
"This here is the prototype 1.0! We'll have all the building material we need." he boasted proudly. The rest of us cautiously got up before the machine stopped working again.
"As I said, prototype!"
Episode 12
Video Link Here: Episode 12 - I'm Back!
August 21st of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Hamawsh reported to us that the animal breeding was going extremely well. The constant rain in the area made it easy to collect water for the animals and for our own use. We slaughtered our first grown cow today and had a feast over fresh berries and rice. Every part of the cow was used. The bones would be used to make lamps. The fat was for candles to light us through the night and protect us from those that would harm us. The meat became our food and the skin was tanned and made into leather to serve as carrying bags during our expeditions into the wilderness.
"A rider in the distance!" shouted the guard. As we stopped the festivities, we hurried to gather our weapons and don our armor.
"It's Matthew!" Everyone was relieved that it was a friend. We invited him to the feast as we let him into the encampment.
"I bring dire news my friends. While foraging, one of our scouts discovered a large castle in the distance near your village. You may have spotted before but I believe this is a fortress of our mutual enemy."Everyone looked at him with intrigue and listened to his words.
"This structure has a large portal on top of it. Whatever it's purpose could not be beneficial to us. I think we should try to take control of this castle and find out what the portal is for.
"A vote was taken and unanimously it was decided to go ahead with this plan on first light tomorrow.
August 22nd of the 9th Year of ProsperityA
s we walked across the drawbridge, we heard a sinister laugh come from inside. About ten of us, including me, entered the castle. There seemed to be no defenders."Look, a rusty old chest. I wonder what's inside," shouted Matthew. He opened it, "Diamonds! So many Diamonds."
As he reached in to grab some, the chest suddenly clamped down and pinned his arms inside. A large crunch followed by a blood-curdling scream came from his voice as his arms were broken from the impact.The torches that lit this foreboding place suddenly went out. As we desperately tried to free Matthew, an army of skeletons and zombies came rushing down the stairs straight at us.I shouted to Rey and Cassius (a volunteer from Ke) to protect the entrance and for the rest of the group to help Matthew out.We slashed our way up the stairs as we repulsed the enemy.
As we got to the 2nd floor, we noticed a cage with a trapped zombie in it."I know of this, this a spawning locus where the enemy teleport in. I brought this for a reason." He took out his pickax that was strapped to his back and hit it as hard as he could. The locus shattered into a billion shards. Immediately, the zombies and skeletons simply vanished as if they hadn't existed at all. The chest that had trapped Matthew released him but his injuries remained. In place of the chest was a book with mystical characters on it.
Eventually we reached the top floor. The ending was a bit anticlimactic. We expected to find the leader or something up here but instead it was just the portal. It was already dusk and it began to pour. The entire castle was ours now, at least for the time being. Nothing spawned out of the portal so we thought of it potentially benign now that we had neutralized the castle. It looked as if we could head into it still but we decided against this risk for the time being. Our stomachs were growling and we had one injury. We sealed the portal for the time being by encasing it in stone and headed back to our home.
Episode 13 A and B
Video Link Here: Video Link Here: Episode 13a - Minechem and Bricks!!!
August 24th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Unfortunately, it seems that our efforts to stop the zombies and skeletons attacking us during the dark didn't work out so well. After taking over the portal, enemies continue to spawn out of nowhere, attacking us and hindering our efforts to survive in this cruel, unforgiving land. Rescue is still out of sight. We still have spotted no ships in the distance as we continue to look towards the endless sea for our salvation.
August 25th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
In an effort to complete the house despite the lack of clay for building materials, Enjay announced the completion of some new devices."All objects in this world, including you and I are made of essential elements." He adjusted his glasses to prevent them from falling off his face. "With the microscope, we can peer into what each object is made out of."
"Afterwards, we can break these objects into the smaller elements."
Enjay pointed to one of the machines as he inserted a brick into it. Loud crunches followed as vials that he had placed into the machine slowly filled up with a liquid."
As you see, we have obtained Kaolinite which can be broken further down into aluminum, oxygen, hydrogen, and silicon." He then grabbed the 4 vials and inserted it into the other machine. It sucked the elements out of the vials.
The machine started to vibrate gently at first, but then more violently.
"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked."Trust me, I am the best court scientist of Po! I have conquered all of the known sciences!"
"The only reason he's even with us is that he turned the ambassadors from Liang into pigs after a 'demonstration' that ended up almost setting the entire city ablaze. Afterwards, he suddenly appeared on our ship's dossier," whispered Curtis.
I took a step back from the machine.
"Ding!!!!", the machine ringed. Suddenly, a brick launched out of the machine, flew past where my head would have been a moment ago, and out the window.
Episode 14
Video Link Here: Episode 14 - Cactus and Lava Pump
August 27th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
In our effort to secure binding material that could properly enclose tubing necessary to transport fluids such as lava, we decided to venture down the mighty river. The men of Ke dub this river, "The Dainaka River". It uses meanings from the old tongue where Dai represents the immense size of the flowing body of water and Naka represents how it is central to their livelihoods as it irrigates their crops and brings in new nutrients.
As we approached a great turn in the river, we encountered a unique monolith just standing there. It was in the shape of a man and was clearly built out of wheat and hay. It stood about 2 or 3 person's high as it stared down upon us.
"I had some time to talk with the people of Ke during the last expedition," said Tomas. "I believe the people of Ke built this as an offering to the river gods for a good harvest and to avoid calamities. Before modern Po, it was more traditional for people to build totems and monoliths to the various deities that roam the world. Given that they are descendants of our ancestors shipwrecked here many centuries ago, it does not surprise me that they hold onto these traditions still.
As night approached, we reached a vast desert. In the night, the temperatures dropped rapidly as we setup a campfire. We kept on our armor and wrapped our capes around us to keep in the warmth.
"Here we can find hopefully materials that can bind our pipes to hold fluids." exclaimed Curtis, "We shouldn't stay here for long though. As we all know, night is a dangerous time on this island."
I volunteered to lead a few of us on a search party with Curtis while the other half of our group stayed behind to ensure our rear guard. After a few hours we stumbled upon a strange plant that had arms. It had sharp spikes covering it.
"Hmmm, this plant looks interesting." Curtis took out some tools and carved off a chunk of the plant. He scraped the spines off with a knife and then ground up the plant in a mortar. The green paste had a fragrant odor as it was ground up.
"Give me a second. It has to dry."
Suddenly loud clashes and shouts sounded in the distance.
"You're out of time!" I shouted.
He wrapped the paste around the pipes and poured some fluid through one end of the tube. It flowed out the other side without leaking in between.
"Take the whole plant and let's go!" Two of us with leather gloves uprooted the plant and began carrying it as we ran back to the campsite.
August 28th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
As we reached the campsite, we saw a large host in the distance.
"You missed out on the action" came a familiar voice. It was Matthew with a group of soldiers from Ke.
We all sailed back to Ke and reached the village in time for breakfast. The villagers treated us to some eggs and toast before we set off. It seemed as if the garrison had grown significantly since the last time we were here. Men and women had all taken arms in defense of the village. While leaving, we saw a group of new recruits shooting arrows at dummy targets and others practicing with wooden swords.
August 30th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
It took a few days but the pipe system was setup. We lowered a rope ladder down to the bottom so that we could climb down into the heart of the island in case repairs were necessary. Pipes were connected to a pump which was powered by the generator we had built before. As we waited, we slowly saw red liquid climb up the pipes and enter the receptacles that we had designed to store the molten lava.
Although home was far away, we had a little bit of modern life going for us now. Everyone cheered as we feasted on a roasted pig. For me, I lied simply on the ground, staring into the stars as I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.
Episode 15
Video Link Here: Episode 15 - Magical Crops
September 7th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
"So uhh....you're sure that's not going to set the house on fire right?" I asked, remembering to take a step back.
"Absolutely, I was the one who originally patented the design for a more efficient furnace powered by red fluid back in Po!" exclaimed Enjay as he inserted a raw porkchop into the device. "I mean I had to make some adjustments given our lack of parts."
"What were you missing?"
"Oh! Well since you asked, I'll let you know. Luckily there's nothing to important that we are missing. In fact I rewired the thing to make it a bit more efficient of anything. I just had to take out the cooling from the rear but that's not a necessary component."
Cooling?!?!?! My brain started screaming as I tried to unplug the machine. Enjay parried my approach as a well-done pork chop flew out of the machine and into his hands.
"As I said, an unnecessary part but I do recommend that we don't keep it running all the time...."
"So I hear you have a new development as well." I had recently been elected leader of our motley crew so it suddenly became my responsibility to approve of our new designs at the colony.
Sheryl opened both of her hands to show me two objects. The object in her left hand was a shiny piece of dirt while in her other hand was a glowing blue liquid inside a small glass container.
"The land here is more magical than anywhere I have been to. Back in Po, it was only a myth on whether non-organic objects could be grown from the Earth. At the Academica, many attempts were made at doing so but they all ended in failure except for one minor success."
"Oh and what was that success." I asked inquisitively.
"Well you see, the necessary catalyst back in Po which we called 'essence' allowed our work to bear some fruit but unfortunately Po was not gifted with plentiful resources. The last mining operation, I decided to take a look at our stores and found a pile of green stones ready to be discarded as waste. I immediately took this large group of rocks for myself and started working on this project." She mixed the glowing dirt into the bottle of azure-colored water. Suddenly it become a distinct greyish mushy solid.
"There you have it, given enough time our brick shortage can be solved. The possibilities are endless on where this can go. The only problem is the long growth time of these rare seeds and how we are now limited to the amount of catalyst we can find."
Episode 16
Video Link Here: Episode 16 - Magical Crops
September 20th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
(Norman's Perspective)
"You know, drinking is..." Sheryl began but got cut off before she could talk any further.
"I know, I know already. It's bad for me but you see. I don't really care. It stops the pain at least." He took a swig from the canteen. "This berry wine stuff from Ke isn't too bad. I've tasted better but it does the job."
Sheryl sighed, "Well at least be useful and throw me those seeds since you're next to the chest. These things take forever to grow."
Norman opened the chest and grabbed two small bags: earth seeds and water seeds. He then walked over to Sheryl and handed it to her before taking another sip of the wine.
"Thanks," she laughed, "At least you saved me from walking 10 steps."
"If it was 11, I wouldn't have done it. I see you here all day long just brooding over these plants. Why are bricks so important anyways, we could have built the roof out of any other material."
"Well, Bear and Curtis made that decision. Bricks are what we use back in Po anyways."
"Psshh!" he spat his wine on the ground. "Bear's just a bookworm from the capital and Curtis is a simpleton. Figured that those two couldn't come up with any original ideas. You're not much better just sitting here watering these plants all day."
"Well tell me then, oh wise one. What I should do instead? Let's see that big brain of yours come up with a better idea."
Norman set down the cistern onto the wooden chest. He walked over to the plants and examined them. He ripped off a leaf.
"Hey! Don't do that!" shouted Sheryl.
"See, you're like Bear, another bookworm from the capital with no real experience in how to actually grow plants. These plants arn't growing so well because they require a special fertilizer, not just this dirt that you threw a bunch of seeds in. The leaves are brittle which show that the whole plant is unhealthy. No worries though...you're lucky that I went on that raid up that fortress and I spotted something interesting that could serve as great fertilizer material."
He walked back to the wooden chest and grabbed the wine and placed it against his mouth but no liquid came out.
"It's empty..." he whispered underneath his breath.
October 1st of the 9th Year of Prosperity
Bear's Perspective
"Who knew Norman out of all people would be the one who solved our brick problems. He's an observant person, I'll give him that. Didn't think that hellish place could be so full of resources that we could use back home" as I spoke to Curtis who was elected vice-leader of our group.
"Guy's just some drunk but I'll admit, I was a bit surprised myself. I guess I'll 'forget' to lock up the wine barrels today, not that those locks could ever stop his fingers." Curtis laughed as he examined the structure.
The structure stood as a foundation of how in this dangerous landscape, we were able to carve out a little home for ourselves.
Comments for Episode 1
Let me know what I should do next. Some options involve digging an earth wall around the area, who knows what dangers lurk ahead, diving for more chests or flotsam, go out hunting for food, setting up more permanent shelter or whatever else.
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
I decided to expand on the various characters in the journal by designing unique skins for them and writing a little bio. It's not exactly a survival episode but it is relevant to the topic and hand and I hope it adds a little bit more immersion into this survival journal.
Sheryl the Hardworking Naturalist
I decided to expand on the various characters in the journal by designing unique skins for them and writing a little bio. It's not exactly a survival episode but it is relevant to the topic and hand and I hope it adds a little bit more immersion into this survival journal.
Sheryl was the soft-spoken naturalist for the city-state of Po before she crash landed with the rest of the group on the island. With her gorgeous auburn hair and her fashionable yellow bow, she received a lot of attention back at the Academica but she was usually locked in her lab thus thwarting the ambitions of many a suitor. Now she works day and night trying to improve these strange magical plants that could be the source of unlimited resources on the island but so far has only found limited success. Her boots are covered in mud from the constant strolls down the fields but she wouldn't have it any other way.
What she looks like:
SpeedArt Video:
Comments for Episode 2
Episode 2 is out. All the episodes will be linked in the main section above for easy access.
With the food supply good for the short term and a primitive earthen wall built around the area for some minor protection against the unknown, what should be done next.
Some options I thought about would be checking more of the flotsam, exploring the tropical forest around us, obtaining metal for tools, expanding the farm, building shelter, etc.
Leave a reply either here or on the video with some suggestions. I'll consider whatever ideas my fellow stranded have.
As always, thanks for reading / watching the video ^__^
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
Hey guys, it's a bit of a shorter episode. My internet was down all day so I wasn't able to get much done unfortunately. Nonetheless, I wanted to submit something anyways when the internet came back at 2 AM xD. No worries, I don't sleep. Please leave a comment if you guys are enjoying this and let me know what you think our stranded survivors should do next
Thanks for reading and watching the video. <3
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
i like your series!
it's pretty unique in that it's in the first person kind of as a real journal.
i think you should start on your house though, your "people" must be tired of just camping at night all the time.
Glad you like it. And since you were the first person who suggested an idea, that'll be tonight or tomorrow's episode ^__^.
My goal is to make this as interactive as possible so whatever you guys suggest within reason, I'll try to do :).
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
This is a good read will have to watch episodes when I get home?
Are they voiced over with what is written in the journals?
The episodes are a little bit more of my "real" personality. I write after I make the videos usually based on what I plan on accomplishing for the episode. Unfortunately some of the events from the written journal are a bit difficult to recreate in game without at least a cast of other actors haha.
For instance, in the earth wall episode and farming, I really am doing that in the video (skipped ahead the more grinding parts) but I talk semi in character if that makes sense and since I've using quite a few mods, I also try to explain the mods I'm using out of character for those that have never seen these mods before.
Long story short, the videos and journal is a bit different in terms of how I'm talking but the background plot behind it is the same for both.
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
Tonight's episode is up ^___^
It was a bit amusing if you watch the video to the end. I tried to rationalize why my onigiri was rejected in the journal haha. But anyways started to work on the house and the mine. Also manned up against some enemies for the first time in the series. Let me know any comments about either the video or journal and what you guys think our survivors should focus on next.
Thanks for reading/watching
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
Hey guys, thanks for reading/watching as usual. I think today was a bit more of an adventurous update so check it out and leave a comment if you enjoyed it and what you think I should do next!
Today's episode was just a bit of fighting and stuff. I couldn't play much this weekend so I tried to make it up with a bit more story telling than usual. I hope you guys enjoy ^___^
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
Comments for Episode 7
We finally start getting our smeltery setup for Tinker's. Unfortunately, I find out my little misstep earlier cost me from getting what I wanted. Back down that ravine here I go!
Thanks for reading and watching. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions or anything you want to say. A like always makes my day ^___^
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XBrownBear - Barely Professional Youtube Noob specializing in Building, Dying, and Playing.
Come Check it out ^__^
Very nice journal. I adore your style of writing, and your house looks amazing. Sadly, I couldn't see half the pictures (my computer, as fast as a rock).
Mods: Minecraft Comes Alive + Resonant Rise Modpack
Wanna join the cast and have your adventures written about too??
All you have to do is submit your name (try to make it a real sounding name, it can be a name of any nationality in the real world. I don't particularly care I just don't want internet usernames such as XBrownBear as a person or anything inappropriate.) Then post a little biography of your character and what role he/she had before coming on the ship. You can even be one of the villagers from Ke or any other villages that I may discover etc. Also tell me what your character looks like. If I have time, I might design a little skin for it to throw onto the villager.
Video Link Here: (Had some recording issues this time, I'll be improving the quality dramatically in the future
Episode 1 - Making Shelter
It has been one month since we have set off from Po on a trade mission across the vast, endless sea to Erlingu, a rich land to the northwest. I have never been there myself but others have told of flying cities lifted by the wind and that the inventors of the place build countless exotic devices to solve the trifle problems of day-to-day life.As I look out into the ocean, I am enveloped by the endless blue around me. Some say that the sea to the west is endless and others say you would simply fall off the world at a certain point. For me, I rather not find out, either option seems just as uncomfortable as the other.
We are only half-way across the ocean according to the navigator but for some reason we've spotted land. Everyone on board is clamoring that we must have gotten lost and have headed backwards to the continent. I'll let the captain and navigator figure this out. I'm only here to organize the goods and fix anything wrong with the ship.
I awaken to a desolate scene around me. All I can see is the remnants of the ship. I feel lucky to have been saved somehow as if some guardian angel is preventing me from dying. I wouldn't want to test fate again lest death greets me while my savior is asleep.
Using our supplies, we setup a tent before it gets dark. This temporary shelter will protect us during these warmer months until help arrives.
Video Link Here: Episode 2 - Earth Wall + (Growthcraft Paddies)
Everyone here is restless. We only have one barrel of salted pork between all of us to share but luckily the island seems to be rich with food. All of us went around and collected various berries and nuts until we ate our fill. One of the civilians, Jodie, on the ship made an extremely insightful comment. We were extremely fortunate to have her on board as she suggested we use some of the seeds from the foods we ate to plant them near by in case no rescue arrives in time.
Video Link Here: July 4th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
After breaking our last shovel, Casey the blacksmith told us that he wouldn't be able to forge us new ones without a proper smithing area. To do that, we'd need to make a large pit and find a source of heat that could melt any ores we mined up. Luckily, the source for the material to construct the large pit was nearby as a small pond contained all the gravel, clay, and sand that we would need. Unfortunately, we still didn't have a clue on where we would get the heat source that would be required. To make matters worse, the wind started to pick up followed by intense rain. The tent buckled against the forces conspired against us as everyone huddled up inside.
Video Link Here: Episode 4 - Not a trashcan
During the storm last night, our tent took a beating. We decided that it was finally time to build a shelter. Being a master of the builder's guild, the group placed the responsibility upon me to design a proper house that would serve until rescue came. To do so, we would have to cross over our wall for the first time and venture into the ravine. I and the miners and a few of the guards brought some gear and set up a makeshift camp. Rey complained about being left back to guard the beach saying how bored he was just sitting around but someone needed to make sure the rest of the party who was busy farming was protected.
Almost a week has passed since I last wrote, we have been busy building our new house. Attached is a sketch of what it currently looks like. I expect it to take another week or so before it completely finishes. The men and women work hard here. Survival depends on it.
Video Link Here: Episode 5 - Surrounded!
We kept up the work on the new house. The mining and digging was backbreaking and sometimes extremely dangerous. A rockslide injured Carl the other day. He said he simply twisted an ankle while dodging a few falling boulders so we are incredibly fortunate that it wasn't anything worse.Suddenly, one of the guards shouted, "Come here, I think I found something!"We threw down our tools and quickly rushed over. Our digging had led to the entrance of an open cavern. Inside there was some weird object in the shape of a cage with something spinning inside.
Suddenly growls emanated around me and the ground opened up as zombies began spawning. I slashed at them but as soon as one fell, another rose from the ground.Nonetheless, I slow began making progress until I heard a loud metallic crunching noise. The tip of the sword had completely snapped off. Weaponless, I began taking steps backwards, using a chopping axe to keep the enemies at bay. Suddenly, one of the zombies swung his weapon at my leg causing me to tumble down the ravine.
I lay helpless at the bottom of the ravine. My body ached from the fall. All I could do was lie on the ground. Suddenly I felt more tremors as the ground erupted. The sheer terror of death gave me an adrenaline rush and I quickly stood back up. Learning from a few days ago that the zombies wern't the most agile of creatures, I climbed on top of a small mound. I used my axe until someone above threw a sword down for me after they saw my situation."I think I've found a way to stop them!" shouted Rey. Apparently everyone had come once they heard the fighting going on. Shortly after, the zombies stopped spawning and a rope ladder was dropped down for me to climb back up.
It took me a few days to recover but fortune was not on my side. I went to the nearby jungle to collect some wood when I felt an extremely itch develop around my legs. I looked around and noticed the three leaf pattern from the ground. Poison Ivy! I swung at it with my new sword in a fit of rage.
The 2nd floor is complete! I've decided a nice balcony would look good with the house. It would also serve as a lookout towards the beach in case rescue ever came. In another week, I hope the house will be completely finished. We are running low on food too. All that time spent working on the house has left us a few hands short at the farm.
Video Link Here: Episode 6 - Wounded and Burnt
There was some discontent led by Rey. He had rallied a group of us and demanded we explore inwards. Some of us implored on him the merits of our location in being able to spot a passing ship but also the unknown dangers of the island. Unfortunately his arguing had won the day; we took a vote and we agreed to explore around the walls leaving only two of us to guard our encampment.It was peaceful in the day, we gathered a plentiful assortment of blueberries and blackberries. We slaughtered a plethora of animals.
"See!" boasted Rey, "Look at what we can find out here instead of just hiding underneath our shelter. Men were meant to fight and conquer, not to hide behind walls!"
Everyone else cheered in response.After our hunt, we dragged our bounty home, each of us carrying an animal in each hand. Soon, the sun fell and it was pitch black. The wall was in sight in the distance and so we lit our torches to guide us through the jungle. Suddenly, we were encountered by a tall slender figure in the distance. We thought it was one of the encampment guards that was sent out to look for us. The figure started to approach us until we could see the white's of its eyes.As I peered into its eyes, my ears were bombarded with a sinister laugh. Like a nightmare, the phantom jumped to me and soon we were surrounded by a company of enemies on all sides. Spiders, zombies, smaller but more agile zombies, skeletons and more attacked us.
Video Link Here: Episode 7 - Sadness
We began constructing our smithy. It has been about a month since we were stranded on this island and there has been no sighting of anything but seagulls. To fuel our smeltery, we found a source of lava to use as heat. As I brought it back, I stupidly stumbled over a crack in the ground and dumped some of the scalding liquid onto my leg. Back to convalescing.
I couldn't rest for long. An elite force of assailants breached our perimeter and attacked our encampment directly. This force seemed significantly more organized than before as they approached together and wore armor with numerous runes and gems carved in. I hobbled out of my bed to pick up a sword to defend our home.The battle was fierce but we emerged victorious. As we went to pick up the dropped armor, they seemed to vanish in our hands.
Tomas, the once ship librarian, commented that these enemies are not part of this plane. Instead, they come from another dimension and only have a thin connection to this world. Thus when we kill them, they disappear back to where they came from. I asked him why sometimes they would drop an occasional armorpiece or sword and he casually explained that for unknown reasons, some beings have a stronger grasp of this world than others. They are much stronger of course as they are less limited by the transdimensional constraints that exist.
July 28th of the 9th Year of Prosperity
With the smeltery finished, everyone was excited to create the first tools. Unfortunately, Casey explained that he was unsure if we had enough heat source to make an actual tool. We would have to make molds of everything first before we could fill the mold with tools for the future.As it turns out, we were short just a bit of lava to make our first tool. I feel disappointed that my clumsiness had set us back this important step and now we would have to go deeper down the ravine in search of a new source of lava.
Video Link Here: Episode 8 - Cities, Shafts, WitchesEpisode 8A
Exploring for a new source of lava, we dug into an area that wasn't natural. Wooden pillars held up what seemed like a manmade. We crawled up through the hole and looked around. Spider Webs covered the roof and the tracks were in disrepair. It looked as if it hadn't been in use for a long time. We looked into a minecart that was left behind in haste, finding a few gold ingots in there. Suddenly we heard some loud growling and some howling from the distance and decided to take our loot with our lives out of there.
"We forgot something," shouted Casey, "To bind the tools, we'll need some paper from a fine cane reed."
Everyone groaned, it would take even longer before we could get our new tools. It seemed like we had been cheering about our progress for the forgery to finally get started for weeks but at every step we took, there were two more left.We followed the river downwards looking for reeds that were strong enough to be used for binding.
Across the river, we could see a dark and foreboding coniferous forests with trees that seemed to touch the sky. In the future, we might setup a lumber camp there. The woods there looked like they were stocked with a strong timber that we could use to build stakes around our wall in the future.As we continued down the banks of the river, we spotted numerous buildings in the distance. I, and a few others slowly advanced. Our swords were in their hilts but ready to be unsheathed in case the villagers turned to be hostile.
He had on a black silken robe and a large wooden cane in his right hand. Hobbling over, he reached out and shook our hands.
We were surprised he spoke our tongue.
"My friends, I have not seen anyone like you in my entire life. Are you here from Po or perhaps another city-state from the main continent."
"Yes, our ship crashed here during a fierce storm. We've been stranded here for about a month."
"Ah...." the elder sighed, "we thought you were here to rescue us. We have been on this accursed island since my own grandfather was your age."
Disappointment filled my emotions. We were the first people who happened upon this island since then? There would be no rescue tomorrow or next week or even next year. Possibly, there could be no rescue forever. We would be stuck on this haunted place for the rest of eternity.
"Anyways, my name is Dane, oldest member of this humble village that we call Ke. This is my daughter Jessica." She bowed to us. Her armor didn't match her gracefulness as it looked like it was taken from various enemies and just combined together and thrown onto her body.
"Ay, I know what you guys are looking for," shouted Matthew, the villager I had seen last night.
He offered to lead us a short ways down the river.We set instantly, excited to finally find the reeds that Curtis wanted. A short while later, we indeed found what we were looking for. Matthew picked some of the reeds and sliced them apart into thin slices with a knife from his pocket.
As I cut my way into the village, I heard a familiar voice. It was the girl who had served me the potato salad the night before. Four undead were banging against the door of the building as she frantically tried to prevent them from getting in. I charged into the group and slayed 2 of them before they turned towards me. One of them swung his sword at my legs, knocking me off my balance. I tried to parry the other zombie as I rolled around the ground, dodging their slow, but lethal strikes.I grabbed some dirt next to me with my offhand and threw it in one of the undead's eyes. It shook its head for a second but it was enough for me to disable it permanently. As I tried to pull my sword out of his now corpse, I saw the other assailant raise his sword, ready to pierce my flesh. It felt like time suddenly started to slow down. My mind became clear as I realized I wouldn't be able to defend in time. I hoped the rest of the survivors would be safe. Sorry I couldn't do any better.
Video Link Here: Episode 9 - xBr0wnBear the Cheater
The door swung wide open and the young girl came out, bashing the zombie with a frying pan in her hand. She kept hitting the zombie until it stopped moving. Tears flowed down her eyes as she kept hitting the monster.
"It's ok...it's dead"
I tried to console her but she kept attacking the now lifeless being before out of energy, she collapsed to the ground before I too passed out.
"Alright, it's time to start smelting!" shouted Curtis.
He ordered everyone away. Clashes of metal could be heard as the rest of us kept busy working on the chores.A few hours later, the blacksmith called us over.
"There wasn't enough lava to build all the tools we needed so I decided to specialize. Hammers will be the most important in terms of getting new resources so there's one for all of you.
"Everyone grabbed one of the newly-forged hammers. I swung it around. It was light and easy to use. The handle was ridged so that it was hard to loose your grip.
"Take it easy there! If you want to swing wildly, I actually have something special I made for you."
He went to the table and handed me a rapier.
"I know you trained in the Royal Academy back in the day so I crafted this specifically for you.
"I took the weapon from his hand and admired the flawless craftsmanship.
It was perfectly balanced and as I swung it, it felt weightless.During the afternoon, we decided to go back into the mine shaft with our new tools. The hammer increased our mining efforts 9 or 10x! As I descended deeper, looking for a new source of lava to craft more tools. I spotted two of the tall dark slender figures once again. They seemed intelligent as they whispered to each other something perhaps sinister. Behind a rock, I snuck up onto one of them and pierced my rapier through its body. As the other enemy turned towards me, I dashed up to it and stabbed the being repeatedly until it fizzed away into thin air.
"Diamonds!!!!" shouted Jane. The loud scream woke me up. I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself down.
Video Link Here: Episode 10 - Easter Shepherding and Kitties!
Now that our situation was more stable, we decided to recapture some of the livestock that we had lost after the ship collapsed. The wall would have to be temporarily broken to funnel the new animals in but that was a minor sacrifice. With our new armor and weapons, we would be able to defend ourselves from any surprise attack.Over the hill, I saw a group of four sheep. We tried to chase after them but they simply ran away.Anne had a smarter idea, "You arn't gonna get them to come to us by scaring them away!" She slowly walked up to them with some wheat we had farmed and lured them over. Magically, they all turned to her and followed her. With some effort, we eventually were able to secure them into a pen that we built the day before. Using the same method, we also were able to secure two breeding pigs in another pen.
Today was a break day. We celebrated our survival since crashing onto this island almost 6 weeks ago. A lot had been done but still a lot more was left to be done.As I took a walk past the wall, I heard soft mewling coming from the brushes. I advanced cautiously into the underbrush until I saw two, small kittens hiding underneath a bush. I tried to approach them but they ran away from me. Learning from Anne yesterday, I took out a small fish sandwich that I had packed for my lunch today and threw a few chunks of fish onto the ground near me.They looked at me with frightened eyes until one of them, a dark black cat with snow colored paws, approached and took a bite from the ground before rushing back underneath the brush. The other cat stared at me before coming out and trying to grab its own share. I threw another piece onto the ground and then instantly, the black cat jumped out and snatched it. They kept mewing to me until my entire sandwich was literally a chunk of bread left with no fish inside.I started heading home after that, saying good bye to my newly made furry friends. As I exited the jungle, I heard mewling and some light paws against my legs."You want to come home with me? Well you'll have to earn your share catching all the mice that eat our grains ok!"Both of them meowed happily and I took them with me as I climbed over the wall back into the house.
Episode 11
Video Link Here: Episode 11 - Starting Buildcraft
Journeying into the forest in search of more, fine lumber, we came across a weird stone monolith. As I stepped in to examine it, Sean grabbed me and slashed at a wire on the ground. A volley of arrows flew past where I would have been a second later.
"Best be careful, you never know what's in these places especially on this curse'ed island.
"He sheathed his sword and lit a torch as we explored deeper inside. We walked carefully and examine each step, I slashed at a different string in front of me. A large boulder fell in front of me.Eventually we ran to a set of three triggers.
"Wonder what these are for? Is it safe to pull them?" I asked.
"Possibly, or possibly not." He shined his torch on some etchings on the wall.
"A bit strange, but I do believe this is ancient Udorian language. They must have been the original settlers of this island but they haven't been around for thousands of years. Perhaps we will find more remnants of their civilization else where.
"He pointed to the triggers, "Pull the left trigger down, the right trigger and then raise them up in the reverse order. Don't touch the middle one. I think you won't like to find out what surprise lies there."I followed his instructions and I heard a large crash in the entrance. We walked back and saw a pair of stairs .As we climbed up, we reached a chest and inside found what appeared to be an extremely ancient book with some bones in it. A skull laid on top of the bones. I opened the book but I was completely baffled by the words scribbled in it so I handed it to Sean.
"Not sure, it'll take some time. We should head back though; it's getting late. I'll let you know what I can figure out."
"Men! and Ladies, of course too," I have been able to scrape together enough iron and other metals in the last few days to come up with a present that should make our efforts a lot easier.All of us stood in front of the giant pit that led to the giant lava pool if you went down the seemingly endless ladder. He threw the weird contraption next to the pit and hit a switch. It stood there motionless.
"Urgh," he groaned, "One sec, he set down some other machines and plugged in various wires between the lot" It still remained silent.He kicked it in frustration. Suddenly the ground shuck around us as if there was an earthquake. Dirt and rocks flew everywhere as we all dove behind the nearby acacia tree.
Unphased, Curtis continued to hook up a few more hollow tubes and then connected it into a large basin. The rocks and dirt started to now fill the basin in a ordered fashion. A small drill worked without anyone operating it as if it was magic. It belched out dirty smoke as it burned the coals that Curtis had placed inside one of the structures.
"This here is the prototype 1.0! We'll have all the building material we need." he boasted proudly. The rest of us cautiously got up before the machine stopped working again.
"As I said, prototype!"
Video Link Here: Episode 12 - I'm Back!
Hamawsh reported to us that the animal breeding was going extremely well. The constant rain in the area made it easy to collect water for the animals and for our own use. We slaughtered our first grown cow today and had a feast over fresh berries and rice. Every part of the cow was used. The bones would be used to make lamps. The fat was for candles to light us through the night and protect us from those that would harm us. The meat became our food and the skin was tanned and made into leather to serve as carrying bags during our expeditions into the wilderness.
"It's Matthew!" Everyone was relieved that it was a friend. We invited him to the feast as we let him into the encampment.
"I bring dire news my friends. While foraging, one of our scouts discovered a large castle in the distance near your village. You may have spotted before but I believe this is a fortress of our mutual enemy."Everyone looked at him with intrigue and listened to his words.
"This structure has a large portal on top of it. Whatever it's purpose could not be beneficial to us. I think we should try to take control of this castle and find out what the portal is for.
"A vote was taken and unanimously it was decided to go ahead with this plan on first light tomorrow.
s we walked across the drawbridge, we heard a sinister laugh come from inside. About ten of us, including me, entered the castle. There seemed to be no defenders."Look, a rusty old chest. I wonder what's inside," shouted Matthew. He opened it, "Diamonds! So many Diamonds."
As he reached in to grab some, the chest suddenly clamped down and pinned his arms inside. A large crunch followed by a blood-curdling scream came from his voice as his arms were broken from the impact.The torches that lit this foreboding place suddenly went out. As we desperately tried to free Matthew, an army of skeletons and zombies came rushing down the stairs straight at us.I shouted to Rey and Cassius (a volunteer from Ke) to protect the entrance and for the rest of the group to help Matthew out.We slashed our way up the stairs as we repulsed the enemy.
As we got to the 2nd floor, we noticed a cage with a trapped zombie in it."I know of this, this a spawning locus where the enemy teleport in. I brought this for a reason." He took out his pickax that was strapped to his back and hit it as hard as he could. The locus shattered into a billion shards. Immediately, the zombies and skeletons simply vanished as if they hadn't existed at all. The chest that had trapped Matthew released him but his injuries remained. In place of the chest was a book with mystical characters on it.
Video Link Here: Video Link Here: Episode 13a - Minechem and Bricks!!!
Unfortunately, it seems that our efforts to stop the zombies and skeletons attacking us during the dark didn't work out so well. After taking over the portal, enemies continue to spawn out of nowhere, attacking us and hindering our efforts to survive in this cruel, unforgiving land. Rescue is still out of sight. We still have spotted no ships in the distance as we continue to look towards the endless sea for our salvation.
In an effort to complete the house despite the lack of clay for building materials, Enjay announced the completion of some new devices."All objects in this world, including you and I are made of essential elements." He adjusted his glasses to prevent them from falling off his face. "With the microscope, we can peer into what each object is made out of."
Enjay pointed to one of the machines as he inserted a brick into it. Loud crunches followed as vials that he had placed into the machine slowly filled up with a liquid."
As you see, we have obtained Kaolinite which can be broken further down into aluminum, oxygen, hydrogen, and silicon." He then grabbed the 4 vials and inserted it into the other machine. It sucked the elements out of the vials.
The machine started to vibrate gently at first, but then more violently.
"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked."Trust me, I am the best court scientist of Po! I have conquered all of the known sciences!"
"The only reason he's even with us is that he turned the ambassadors from Liang into pigs after a 'demonstration' that ended up almost setting the entire city ablaze. Afterwards, he suddenly appeared on our ship's dossier," whispered Curtis.
I took a step back from the machine.
"Ding!!!!", the machine ringed. Suddenly, a brick launched out of the machine, flew past where my head would have been a moment ago, and out the window.
Video Link Here: Episode 14 - Cactus and Lava Pump
In our effort to secure binding material that could properly enclose tubing necessary to transport fluids such as lava, we decided to venture down the mighty river. The men of Ke dub this river, "The Dainaka River". It uses meanings from the old tongue where Dai represents the immense size of the flowing body of water and Naka represents how it is central to their livelihoods as it irrigates their crops and brings in new nutrients.
As we approached a great turn in the river, we encountered a unique monolith just standing there. It was in the shape of a man and was clearly built out of wheat and hay. It stood about 2 or 3 person's high as it stared down upon us.
"I had some time to talk with the people of Ke during the last expedition," said Tomas. "I believe the people of Ke built this as an offering to the river gods for a good harvest and to avoid calamities. Before modern Po, it was more traditional for people to build totems and monoliths to the various deities that roam the world. Given that they are descendants of our ancestors shipwrecked here many centuries ago, it does not surprise me that they hold onto these traditions still.
"Here we can find hopefully materials that can bind our pipes to hold fluids." exclaimed Curtis, "We shouldn't stay here for long though. As we all know, night is a dangerous time on this island."
I volunteered to lead a few of us on a search party with Curtis while the other half of our group stayed behind to ensure our rear guard. After a few hours we stumbled upon a strange plant that had arms. It had sharp spikes covering it.
"Hmmm, this plant looks interesting." Curtis took out some tools and carved off a chunk of the plant. He scraped the spines off with a knife and then ground up the plant in a mortar. The green paste had a fragrant odor as it was ground up.
"Give me a second. It has to dry."
Suddenly loud clashes and shouts sounded in the distance.
"You're out of time!" I shouted.
He wrapped the paste around the pipes and poured some fluid through one end of the tube. It flowed out the other side without leaking in between.
"Take the whole plant and let's go!" Two of us with leather gloves uprooted the plant and began carrying it as we ran back to the campsite.
As we reached the campsite, we saw a large host in the distance.
"You missed out on the action" came a familiar voice. It was Matthew with a group of soldiers from Ke.
We all sailed back to Ke and reached the village in time for breakfast. The villagers treated us to some eggs and toast before we set off. It seemed as if the garrison had grown significantly since the last time we were here. Men and women had all taken arms in defense of the village. While leaving, we saw a group of new recruits shooting arrows at dummy targets and others practicing with wooden swords.
It took a few days but the pipe system was setup. We lowered a rope ladder down to the bottom so that we could climb down into the heart of the island in case repairs were necessary. Pipes were connected to a pump which was powered by the generator we had built before. As we waited, we slowly saw red liquid climb up the pipes and enter the receptacles that we had designed to store the molten lava.
Although home was far away, we had a little bit of modern life going for us now. Everyone cheered as we feasted on a roasted pig. For me, I lied simply on the ground, staring into the stars as I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.
Video Link Here: Episode 15 - Magical Crops
"So uhh....you're sure that's not going to set the house on fire right?" I asked, remembering to take a step back.
"Absolutely, I was the one who originally patented the design for a more efficient furnace powered by red fluid back in Po!" exclaimed Enjay as he inserted a raw porkchop into the device. "I mean I had to make some adjustments given our lack of parts."
"What were you missing?"
"Oh! Well since you asked, I'll let you know. Luckily there's nothing to important that we are missing. In fact I rewired the thing to make it a bit more efficient of anything. I just had to take out the cooling from the rear but that's not a necessary component."
Cooling?!?!?! My brain started screaming as I tried to unplug the machine. Enjay parried my approach as a well-done pork chop flew out of the machine and into his hands.
"As I said, an unnecessary part but I do recommend that we don't keep it running all the time...."
Sheryl opened both of her hands to show me two objects. The object in her left hand was a shiny piece of dirt while in her other hand was a glowing blue liquid inside a small glass container.
"The land here is more magical than anywhere I have been to. Back in Po, it was only a myth on whether non-organic objects could be grown from the Earth. At the Academica, many attempts were made at doing so but they all ended in failure except for one minor success."
"Oh and what was that success." I asked inquisitively.
"Well you see, the necessary catalyst back in Po which we called 'essence' allowed our work to bear some fruit but unfortunately Po was not gifted with plentiful resources. The last mining operation, I decided to take a look at our stores and found a pile of green stones ready to be discarded as waste. I immediately took this large group of rocks for myself and started working on this project." She mixed the glowing dirt into the bottle of azure-colored water. Suddenly it become a distinct greyish mushy solid.
"There you have it, given enough time our brick shortage can be solved. The possibilities are endless on where this can go. The only problem is the long growth time of these rare seeds and how we are now limited to the amount of catalyst we can find."
Video Link Here: Episode 16 - Magical Crops
(Norman's Perspective)
"You know, drinking is..." Sheryl began but got cut off before she could talk any further.
"I know, I know already. It's bad for me but you see. I don't really care. It stops the pain at least." He took a swig from the canteen. "This berry wine stuff from Ke isn't too bad. I've tasted better but it does the job."
Sheryl sighed, "Well at least be useful and throw me those seeds since you're next to the chest. These things take forever to grow."
Norman opened the chest and grabbed two small bags: earth seeds and water seeds. He then walked over to Sheryl and handed it to her before taking another sip of the wine.
"Thanks," she laughed, "At least you saved me from walking 10 steps."
"If it was 11, I wouldn't have done it. I see you here all day long just brooding over these plants. Why are bricks so important anyways, we could have built the roof out of any other material."
"Well, Bear and Curtis made that decision. Bricks are what we use back in Po anyways."
"Well tell me then, oh wise one. What I should do instead? Let's see that big brain of yours come up with a better idea."
Norman set down the cistern onto the wooden chest. He walked over to the plants and examined them. He ripped off a leaf.
"Hey! Don't do that!" shouted Sheryl.
"See, you're like Bear, another bookworm from the capital with no real experience in how to actually grow plants. These plants arn't growing so well because they require a special fertilizer, not just this dirt that you threw a bunch of seeds in. The leaves are brittle which show that the whole plant is unhealthy. No worries though...you're lucky that I went on that raid up that fortress and I spotted something interesting that could serve as great fertilizer material."
He walked back to the wooden chest and grabbed the wine and placed it against his mouth but no liquid came out.
"It's empty..." he whispered underneath his breath.
Bear's Perspective
"Who knew Norman out of all people would be the one who solved our brick problems. He's an observant person, I'll give him that. Didn't think that hellish place could be so full of resources that we could use back home" as I spoke to Curtis who was elected vice-leader of our group.
"Guy's just some drunk but I'll admit, I was a bit surprised myself. I guess I'll 'forget' to lock up the wine barrels today, not that those locks could ever stop his fingers." Curtis laughed as he examined the structure.
The structure stood as a foundation of how in this dangerous landscape, we were able to carve out a little home for ourselves.
Let me know what I should do next. Some options involve digging an earth wall around the area, who knows what dangers lurk ahead, diving for more chests or flotsam, go out hunting for food, setting up more permanent shelter or whatever else.
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I decided to expand on the various characters in the journal by designing unique skins for them and writing a little bio. It's not exactly a survival episode but it is relevant to the topic and hand and I hope it adds a little bit more immersion into this survival journal.
Sheryl the Hardworking Naturalist
I decided to expand on the various characters in the journal by designing unique skins for them and writing a little bio. It's not exactly a survival episode but it is relevant to the topic and hand and I hope it adds a little bit more immersion into this survival journal.
Sheryl was the soft-spoken naturalist for the city-state of Po before she crash landed with the rest of the group on the island. With her gorgeous auburn hair and her fashionable yellow bow, she received a lot of attention back at the Academica but she was usually locked in her lab thus thwarting the ambitions of many a suitor. Now she works day and night trying to improve these strange magical plants that could be the source of unlimited resources on the island but so far has only found limited success. Her boots are covered in mud from the constant strolls down the fields but she wouldn't have it any other way.
What she looks like:
SpeedArt Video:
Comments for Episode 2
Episode 2 is out. All the episodes will be linked in the main section above for easy access.
With the food supply good for the short term and a primitive earthen wall built around the area for some minor protection against the unknown, what should be done next.
Some options I thought about would be checking more of the flotsam, exploring the tropical forest around us, obtaining metal for tools, expanding the farm, building shelter, etc.
Leave a reply either here or on the video with some suggestions. I'll consider whatever ideas my fellow stranded have.
As always, thanks for reading / watching the video ^__^
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Hey guys, it's a bit of a shorter episode. My internet was down all day so I wasn't able to get much done unfortunately. Nonetheless, I wanted to submit something anyways when the internet came back at 2 AM xD. No worries, I don't sleep.
Please leave a comment if you guys are enjoying this and let me know what you think our stranded survivors should do next
Thanks for reading and watching the video. <3
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it's pretty unique in that it's in the first person kind of as a real journal.
i think you should start on your house though, your "people" must be tired of just camping at night all the time.
Baseball, then Minecraft.
Glad you like it. And since you were the first person who suggested an idea, that'll be tonight or tomorrow's episode ^__^.
My goal is to make this as interactive as possible so whatever you guys suggest within reason, I'll try to do :).
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Are they voiced over with what is written in the journals?
The episodes are a little bit more of my "real" personality. I write after I make the videos usually based on what I plan on accomplishing for the episode. Unfortunately some of the events from the written journal are a bit difficult to recreate in game without at least a cast of other actors haha.
For instance, in the earth wall episode and farming, I really am doing that in the video (skipped ahead the more grinding parts) but I talk semi in character if that makes sense and since I've using quite a few mods, I also try to explain the mods I'm using out of character for those that have never seen these mods before.
Long story short, the videos and journal is a bit different in terms of how I'm talking but the background plot behind it is the same for both.
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Tonight's episode is up ^___^
It was a bit amusing if you watch the video to the end. I tried to rationalize why my onigiri was rejected in the journal haha. But anyways started to work on the house and the mine. Also manned up against some enemies for the first time in the series. Let me know any comments about either the video or journal and what you guys think our survivors should focus on next.
Thanks for reading/watching
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Wait, never mind. I had time to watch one of the videos!
Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
RTG plus - All the beautiful terrain of RTG, plus varied and beautiful trees and forests.
Better Forests Varied and beautiful trees and forests, in modern Minecraft.
Resonant Rise + Minecraft Comes Alive
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Hey guys, thanks for reading/watching as usual. I think today was a bit more of an adventurous update so check it out and leave a comment if you enjoyed it and what you think I should do next!
Thanks ^___^
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Thanks for reading and watching guys!
Today's episode was just a bit of fighting and stuff. I couldn't play much this weekend so I tried to make it up with a bit more story telling than usual. I hope you guys enjoy ^___^
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We finally start getting our smeltery setup for Tinker's. Unfortunately, I find out my little misstep earlier cost me from getting what I wanted. Back down that ravine here I go!
Thanks for reading and watching. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions or anything you want to say. A like always makes my day ^___^
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I agree with this person.