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The caves are scary. I mean of course they are, but now they’re even worse. The abundance of cave noises leads me to believe something else is down here too.
I’ve just come back from mining. I can’t believe I’m still alive. I have yet another creature to document here now. This one was tall, loud, and kind of stupid.
The Cave Dweller: A tall, sharp-toothed creature that lives underground. Extremely territorial and dangerous.
Height- Tall
Strength- Strong
Speed- Fast, but sometimes deterred by uneven terrain
Health- Low, surprisingly
Status- Alive and angry
I enter the beginning of what looks like a very deep, terrifying cave. I’ve always hated caving. There’s nothing appealing about going down underground into a dark enclosed pit filled with monsters.
Sure enough, only a few steps in and I hear zombie groans. This is going to be an adventure.
The zombies don’t show themselves, so I keep going. The torch in my hand thankfully gives me a bit of light as I wander deeper down.
Then, a skeleton appears. The moment it sees me it loads an arrow into its bow and shoots.
I instantly remember the last time this happened to me. It hurt. So I burst into action, sprinting towards the skeleton with my shield in hand. I’m so glad I made one.
The skeleton shoots, but the arrow just bounces off my shield. I rush forward and bring out my ax. I’m plunged into darkness as I put my torch away, but being able to see will have to wait.
The skeleton is loading another arrow when I reach it. But I have time. I raise my ax and swing down hard.
Iron hits bone. I hear the crunching, the pain. It doesn’t sound like the terrible noises Midnight made that day. It just sounds normal.
The skeleton stumbles backwards, the arrow momentarily forgotten. But it’s quick to reload and shoot me once again.
I raise my shield just in time. The arrow hits it and falls to the floor. I can’t risk an injury like that again, especially not now.
Then I repeat my earlier motions, running at the skeleton and hitting it square in the chest with my ax. But there’s still enough time after the first hit to swing again before it shoots. I can see its bones crumbling. This fight is almost over.
I raise my ax for the final blow. The skeleton raises its bow in a last act of glory. It’s all about who attacks first.
I’m quicker. In a second I bring the ax down on the bony mob, taking it down. The skeleton crumbles, falling to the ground. Its bow falls as well, along with a few arrows.
The fight is over, and I escaped uninjured. I’m feeling pretty good about it considering I only just entered the cave.
Most of the skeleton is just dust now. It’s useless to me. But the bow and arrows aren’t. I pick them up. The bow needs serious repair. But still, it’s better than no bow at all. So I take them with me.
Then I plunge deeper into the cave. It’s dark and musty down here, even when I pull my torch back out.
For a moment I stop and take a look around. There are a lot less mobs here than I thought there would be. In front of me are three separating passageways. Each of them leads to a dark tunnel heading to who knows where.
I decide to take the one to the farthest right. It’s the largest and looks the most promising.
Only a few seconds of walking down the tunnel I run into a spider. It’s not a cave spider, just a normal one. It can’t poison me. But it still runs at me the moment I get close, hissing angrily.
I’m almost at ease as I run and hit the spider back to the ground with my ax. After the fight with the skeleton, this is easy. In a few lazy blows, the spider falls to the ground, dead.
I could take its eye and use it later for potions, but it’s not worth it to me. There will be plenty more spiders between now and when I actually can afford to make a brewing stand.
I keep going, down the dark and seemingly endless cave passageway. Nothing else jumps out at me. I find coal, but that;s it. There’s no iron here. I’ll need to go even deeper.
That’s when things begin to go downhill, literally. The cave suddenly drops, heading way further down than I had wanted to go.
I stare down into the deep hole, but I can’t see the bottom. All I can make out is the faint sounds of a bat coming from somewhere in the abyss.
As much as I don’t want to waste one of my torches, I throw it into the hole. I watch the light travel down, deep into the depths of the earth. Eventually it hits the bottom. I can just barely make out the unmistakable dark look of deepslate. That's very deep.
But there also looks to be an easy way down. To my right, against the wall, something resembling a staircase descends downwards. It looks almost manmade.
I breathe a heavy sigh. It’s as if this cave wants me to go deeper. It’s practically begging me to.
And I do. I need to, I need more iron. Reluctantly I drag my feet over to the strange stone staircase and begin to make my way down.
The descent is strange. The air becomes thicker and filled with more dust. It seems to get quieter, and yet somehow things echo more. I can hear every step I make. The stone beneath me is freezing cold. There’s absolutely no light down here, save for the torch in my hand.
But then I reach the very bottom of the huge dark pit. And the moment I do, something terrible echoes through the cave, bouncing off the cold walls. It’s a noise that makes my eyes widen and my breath catch in my throat. I can almost feel my heart stop beating momentarily.
I stare around the passageway, which is more narrow than the one above me. The only sound is my panicked, rapid breathing. Nothing else stirs.
If something were to attack me down here, I’d be dead. There’s only one direction to walk in from here, the only other way out being back up the staircase. I’m in the middle of some underground cage of death.
But there’s literally nothing here. Not even the usual zombie. So what the hell was that noise?
I can’t just stay here, I’ll die eventually. So as much as it nearly makes me throw up with fear, I head down the tiny deepslate passageway.
Not even five steps in, another strange noise occurs. It once again bounces off the walls and makes me stop dead in my tracks. This one sounded close by.
Nothing but me moves. The dust itself is lying still in the undisturbed air. I need to stop being so paranoid. These must be natural noises.
My fears are soon pushed to the back of my mind, because at the end of this tiny passageway is a large vein of iron. My eyes light up. Iron! This is perfect. Maybe this day will finally begin to go my way.
I rush over to the ore and pull out my pickaxe. It doesn’t take more than a minute for me to mine through the whole vein. I end up with six pieces. I’ll smelt those later and make a bit of armor out of it.
Then I turn to the side. Where the tunnel ends, a huge cave begins. My jaw drops. This place is beautiful. It’s huge, with a tall ceiling and numerous bats. There’s a lava pool to my left, and a few stalagmites to the right. I can already see more iron, lit up ever so slightly by the light of the lava.
Right next to the iron is something that makes me gasp out loud. Diamonds, real diamonds. There’s at least two, from what I can see from here. I am definitely going in there. I could be rich in the next few minutes!
I take one singular step. Something in the large cave goes crashing to the ground, maybe a rock. A terrible, inhuman scream bounces off the walls.
My blood runs cold. I stop where I am mid-walk and just stare. There’s something down there. It’s waiting for me. It’s not a normal mob.
That noise… That wasn’t a natural sound. I want to go back to the surface, where I can see. Forget the iron. Forget everything.
I turn around and go to leave. But then I have to stop again. Midnight is in the passageway. Or- her face is. She’s slowly stalking towards me, just two eyes and a grinning mouth full of strange teeth. I begin to back away. That’s odd. She’s never done this before.
She just keeps slowly moving forward. I know eventually she’ll reach me. I don’t know if she’ll choose to attack considering I have no idea where her body is, but I don’t want to take the chance to find out.
The only other place for me to go is the large cave. That’s where that scream came from. Something even worse than Midnight’s stupid little eyes could be down there.
But I also want those diamonds. Maybe I won’t be attacked, by some random chance. It’s worth a shot.
Midnight is very close to me now. So just to be funny I wave goodbye, before heading down even deeper into the depths of the world.
Now almost the whole cave is covered in deepslate. Bats are everywhere. But there are almost no mobs other than that. This has been happening to me a lot lately, so often that I seem to forget they exist. Maybe Midnight scares them off.
I finish my descent into the strangely beautiful underground world by tripping on a rock and falling a few steps down. I hit the ground hard. It hurts a little. Typical me.
But now I’m down here, and it’s huge. I can’t even see where the cave ends in either direction. It’s more of a ravine than a large cavern. Everywhere I look, there’s some type of ore. I’m absolutely overjoyed.
What’s even better is Midnight didn’t follow me down here, and I haven’t heard any strange noises in a few minutes. Maybe whatever else was in here went away. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself so I don’t panic.
I dust myself off from my stupid fall and run towards the nearest iron vein. This is going to be great.
~~~
Some time later, I’m deep in the cave. I already have an abundance of iron, along with six diamonds. This is going way better than I thought it would. The mobs have started to come out again, but I hardly even notice them. I’ve lit up a lot of the cave.
Then I notice one particular part I haven’t explored yet. It’s a smaller cavern than the large one I’m in. It’s pitch black in there.
But the lure of even more than I already have, mingling with my curiosity, is too much to ignore. I instantly grab my pickaxe and head into the dark passageway.
But I find out soon enough that I should have taken what I already have. The moment I enter the smaller cavern, the noises start up again. Coming from somewhere behind me, a scratching sound echoes off the cave walls.
I stop and turn around. My heart is beating fast. That sounded like something big. What can scratch against stone like that?
My first thought is maybe Midnight did it. She has huge claws. But she’s usually very quiet, minus the Nether experience. I don’t think she’d do that.
The noise happens again. I look around, frantic with panic. Midnight, it was only Midnight, I tell myself. Fuck the obvious, I can’t let myself panic. Besides, maybe it is her.
I turn to the rest of the passage I haven’t explored yet. There’s coal on the wall further down. It’s not iron, but I do need a few more torches after exploring such a large cavern. I head over to mine it.
But I shouldn’t have gone this far. I should have just turned around. The thing that’s been making noise in this cave does not want me here, and it finally reveals itself.
When I round the corner of the small tunnel, he’s standing right there. I freeze. Two wide, golden-white eyes are staring at me from the darkness. My heart starts beating rapidly. I take a big, shaking breath.
It’s hard to see the creature in the dark. But he’s tall, much taller than Midnight. His strange skin looks brown, almost. He’s got a strange muzzle with- you guessed it- a mouthful of teeth. His arms are long and thin, ending in strange claws that nearly touch the floor. The poor thing looks half-starved. But he also looks angry. His mouth is open in a snarl as he stares at me.
This must be the Cave Dweller. I’ve heard hundreds of stories about him. He brings the caves to life in a way everyone would rather forget.
I keep my eyes on him. This didn’t work with Midnight, but it seems to work with him. I’ve heard many of the creatures classified as “dwellers” seem to freeze when looked at.
We stare each other down for an eternity. I’m panicking. There’s nothing I can do other than let him attack, or I’ll be here forever. But I really, really don’t want to find out what he does.
Eventually I take a deep breath, and look away.
Movement from the corner of my eye sends a bolt of panic through me. I look back up. The Cave Dweller has moved closer to me. He freezes again when I look back up.
I don’t want to do this anymore. I turn and run for the larger cavern in hopes I can shake him off over the rocky ground.
The Cave Dweller’s screaming erupts behind me. If I thought Midnight in the Nether was loud, I was mistaken. The incoherent, loud wailing coming from this creature makes me run faster than I knew I could. I’m in his territory, and he’s mad.
I burst into the large cavern and scramble up the side of the wall wherever I find footing. I can hear him following close behind, his claws scraping the stone as he chases me with something next to excitement. He’s still screaming. This guy’s got quite the voice.
My hopes of losing him on the rocks don’t quite work. I suppose he’s used to it considering he lives down here. When I look behind me, I yelp in surprise. He’s right there, his claws just missing my back.
I have to get away. There has to be a way out of this situation that doesn’t result in my death.
I see a light up ahead. I’m not sure if it’s one of my torches or lava, but I take the chance. I run towards it.
Making it to the top of the rise, I realize it is a torch. The way out is nearby! I just need to follow the trail of manmade light.
Some skeleton’s arrow goes flying past my head. I can’t afford to stop. In fact, I barely even notice the deadly pointed blade until it hits the ground next to me, quivering a little as its momentum is abruptly stopped by stone.
I run by it. So does the Cave Dweller. We both keep going. He’s screaming, I’m internally screaming.
Then I see the little passage I came out of that leads to the strange dropoff. It’s high up. There’s a way to climb the wall, but it’ll cost me some much needed speed.
Apparently I had slowed down a little while thinking of a way to get up there, because Cave catches up to me. Suddenly his angry wailing is right in my ear.
I turn around, barely having time to take a breath. He’s in my face, that large mouth wide open. His long, skinny arm swings up, and he drags his strange claws down my arm.
I stumble, gasping in shock. That hurts. I feel my vision start to swim a little. Blood hits the floor.
Then, amidst all the confusing screaming and pain, I remember I have a shield. A spark of hope flies through me.
Letting Cave back me into a corner, I hold my shield up. It blocks his next attack easily. Ha, stupid creature.
Cave doesn’t seem to be happy with this, and he lets out a specifically loud wail as he hits my shield again and again. He’s trying so hard to kill me.
My ax is in my other hand. I raise that too. Maybe I can land a few hits on this guy. He most likely won’t go away otherwise. I need to scare him off.
I take a big risk and lower my shield the next time he hits me. I swing my ax. Cave yelps in pain. I’ve hit him right in the side.
Then I raise my shield again, because he’s not giving up. He tries to hit me once more.
We do this for a little while, seeming to fall into some sort of strange pattern where the goal is death. Cave scratches at my shield, and then I raise my ax and hit him. It’s starting to become exhausting more than scary. His screams are hurting my ears.
It’s a wonder this poor creature hasn’t given up yet. There are marks all over his body. His blood is on the cave floor.
But the moment the thought crosses my mind, Cave backs away. His screams turn to whimpers as he turns and runs in the other direction. I watch in stunned shock as he disappears behind a rock pillar.
The cave is absolutely silent now. Nothing stirs. I stand there, blood all over the ground, breathing heavily with adrenaline. That was… interesting.
Then I realize I probably almost killed him. I nearly did it! Maybe this job isn’t impossible after all.
I hardly even notice the long scratch on my arm as I walk away from the scene of the attack. My mind is filled with plans, new ideas, and happiness. I can do this.
Perhaps it’s time to get out of here though. I’m rather tired of the dark, underground world. Besides, I have plenty of resources now.
Pulling out some food, I munch on that with high spirits as I make my way towards the exit. My wound will once again heal over time, and now I’ve made a great new discovery. These creatures are vulnerable in certain situations. It’s almost like they forget how to attack when given a specific scenario. Cave never tried to go around my shield when I backed myself into a corner. Maybe it’s similar for Midnight too. I’ll have to try it.
I make it to the strange dropoff and begin to climb the staircase. Not even any mobs appear as I climb back up into the surface world, as if they too are celebrating my success. Tomorrow is going to be a good day for me, and a bad day for the creatures I’ve come to kill.
Additions to the Cave Dweller: He is very loud. He hates me. But he seems kind of simple-minded.
Warnings:
- Don’t go mining often
- Don’t ignore the noises
- Don’t forget a shield