Day 35 - Building

Its been a week since my last entry.  I've been doing a lot of building recently.  I managed to make a staircase out of cobblestone down into the ravine.  If I ever encounter monsters down there, it'll be very handy being able to simply sprint all the way home.

As I intended when I first got the late blacksmith's place, I finally added to my living space a fair bit.  I haven't furnished it yet, but it should afford me a less cramped working area and more storage, something I'm running critically low on.  I've also made it accessible only by ladders; should any monsters find their way past the wall, it'll be nice to have something of a panic room.

Also, as an extra defensive measure, I've lit this place up like a proper town.  Should any monsters make it inside the walls, they'll have a hell of a time sneaking up on anyone in the dark.  It'll also make operations in the night easier, like my visits to that house whose nasty secret I haven't yet been able to divine...

Day 28 - Exploration

With the wall complete, I think its high time I explore that jungle I saw so very long ago.  Well, it hasn't been that long, but it certainly feels that way...I don't know what it is about this place, but time seems to drag on forever here.  Anyway, I found some apples today, as well.  With a little luck (and a little gold) I might have the start of some very useful minor magical items...

It looks foreboding on first sight, but this whole area's been completely devoid of monster activity for some time now.  I don't know if Rutsah is real and he's holding them back, or if there's just something about this place that makes it almost invisible to the bastards.  Either way, it should mean an uneventful foray.

Managed to find a little coal, not very much, but it should help with smelting metals and so on.  Upon initial inspection, this jungle is unfortunately barren.  Little more than trees, vines, and water.  Unfortunate, I was hoping for something more useful, maybe some fruit.  But, alas, I found no such thing.  This time.

Day 25 - Completion!

Finally!  The long nights of work have paid off!  The wall, such as it is, is complete.  I've even managed to install some ladders around it to permit entry and exit, thankfully, monsters aren't smart enough to use ladders, so I'll be allowed egress and ingress, but they won't, and the zombies won't be able to beat them down, like they would a door.

The harvest was today, and we got quite a bit of wheat out of the deal.  I have to say, honest, hard work isn't that bad once you get into it.  I've even managed to get a small sugar cane farm going, as well.

Through use of strategic, temporary holes in the wall, I've managed to lure some animals within the confines of the village.  They should be a good source of meat, wool, and leather.  Of course, I've not been able to lure in a pair of cows yet, so leather will have to wait, but I've managed to get a few pigs and some sheep.

Also, and I must keep this secret, I've managed to break into the abandoned house from below.  I've hidden my tunnel as best I can, as well, to ensure the villagers don't find out.  The place was totally empty, save for a lone torch.  I don't know why they say its cursed, but this place does make me feel uneasy...I could swear I heard faint whispers when I closed my eyes in this place...

Day 17 - Preparation

Its been three days since my last entry, and I've made a lot of headway, now that the villagers have agreed to help me.  While they still dare not leave the village, they at least help build the wall I started so long ago.  Due to our combined efforts the formative wall is almost complete.  I even managed to climb atop a tree in the nearby jungle the catch a view of the work thus far.  I have to say, ramshackle though it may be, its rewarding to see my efforts finally paying off.

In my efforts to gather the supplies necessary to finish the wall, I've dug quite the tunnel into a nearby hillside.  Its so long, in fact, that it reaches all the way to the other side of the hill, exiting near a small cave that I've yet to explore.

In an effort to make this village more self-sufficient, I've begun harvesting some nearby sugar cane.  I've been doing this off and on for a while now, to help me keep up with this journal...paper won't make itself, but this will be necessary if I am to find a way to bend magic again.  If that thing I encountered on the Night of Hell is any indication of what's to come, I'm going to need enchanted gear.  Lots of it.

With the wall nearing completion, I turn my attention to that abandoned house in the village.  I saw some villagers nearby, and heard hushed conversation regarding some kind of "curse."  This has me curious.  Rutsah's laws be damned, I'm finding a way in there.  Perhaps a tunnel...

Day Fourteen - Finds and Answers

I still can't believe what I found yesterday...an abandoned mine!  I had to be careful, I didn't want to come across a Creeper and run the risk of causing a cave-in.  However, I managed to find two incredible things.  Gold...and diamonds.  I didn't find much of either, so I can't use what I have yet, but this is certainly promising.

I finally managed to get some talking done with the village elder today.  What he's told me not only disturbed me, but created even more questions than it provided answers.  Apparently, they are tribals of a sort, but they're very civilized, one of many things they owe to their god, Rutsah.  Rutsah teaches a philosophy of total pacifism, which explains why I've never seen them wield weapons or take up arms against monsters.  These things are considered abhorrent, and they do not fight when the monsters come, because Rutsah tells them when they're coming, and when to hide.

I'm not sure whether to commend them for adherence to their principles, or admonish them for their foolishness.  To them, this explains why their doors are left undamaged from the zombies' relentless assaults, and the hole was from one of the villagers who was foolish enough to ignore Rutsah's warning of an impending invasion, and met a bloody end at the hands of a Creeper.

It isn't just their god and his apparent protection that raises questions, though.  The elder went on to tell me that I was one that was prophesied long ago.  An outsider who was not of Rutsah's way, who would take up the sword, axe, and bow to fight those who would prey on his people...and who would, one day, lead them to utopian greatness.  How I'm expected to do all this is a mystery, but for my work on the Night of Hell, I've since been proclaimed a hero...a hero of prophecy.

Something tells me there's more, though...the elder became very evasive when I asked him about that thing I saw that night, the thing that nearly killed me with almost contemptuous ease.  He only said this, "It is an envoy of The End."  Whatever that means...

Day Twelve

The past four days have been an endless, back-breaking affair.  The Creepers were especially vicious, and did a lot of structural damage, and really messed up the roads here.

Even with all our labors, the repairs are patchwork, at best.  We've had to fill the holes with whatever we could find: dirt, gravel, sand, stone...even had to cover some in wood just to shore things up.  The villagers say we'll be safe for some time, yet, but I don't trust that.  The attack that did all this damage to start with came out of nowhere, and there hasn't been any monster activity since.  Something's wrong...and we're going to need a bigger wall.

Day Seven - Aftermath and Pickup

I managed to survive the night.  I don't know how, but I managed it and managed to protect these kind people from horrible fates.  The village infrastructure, however, is a lot worse for wear, and there's a lot of Creeper damage.  I still have yet to find out what that thing was...and there's something else strange in this pile of strangeness.  Zombies were bashing at the doors all night, I fought them off, and killed at least two score of the monstrous things, but, in the morning, I looked at the doors and there was no damage.  Not even a scratch.  What's up with this place?  What the hell's going on?

The villagers said that repairs will begin tomorrow.  I can understand their hesitancy, the night's been harrowing for all of us, and I doubt any among us got any sleep.