My Modded Play Diary
Day 601
Meet the newest addition to my menagerie, Golly the Gastornis! Gastornis belonged to the family of what are known as "terror birds", but thankfully was only a terror to plant matter. Her enclosure is next to the Dodo one, which also got a new member. I'm wondering if I can breed Dodos for meat, though I don't know how fast they'll reproduce. Something to look into.
Day 608
My goal for the next set of days is to have a dragon. The only way to get a dragon of your own in the Ice and Fire mod is to slay a female final-stage dragon. These powerful creatures make their lairs deep underground, so normally you're reliant on luck to stumble upon one. However, the Eye of Dragons addon adds the eponymous item that can help locate them. Each eye takes a dragon heart to craft and works like an ender eye, including the chance of breaking, so I don't think it's a cheaty method at all. These past few days, I've been hunting down as many dragons as I can find to make eyes, and now I'm on a new hunt for the biggest, baddest dragons around.
Day 610
It took a couple tries to find a female dragon, and those were some fierce fights, but I finally obtained a dragon egg!
Now I just need to hatch it. Different species of dragons require different hatching environments. Since this is a fire dragon, naturally the egg needs the heat of flame.
Well, when I placed the egg down into the fire, it immediately began rocking back and forth. I'm taking this as a good sign.
Day 611
My new baby dragon has hatched! Isn't he cute. He's a bronze dragon, so I think I'll call him Alloy. I'll have to figure out where to house him, as he won't be small for long! Alloy here will have five stages of growth as he gains in size and ability, over 125 days total. I can speed up his growth by feeding him Dragon Meal. When he gets to a certain size, I'll be able to ride him! I can hardly wait.
Day 622
Alloy is going to be a whopping fifty blocks long when fully grown, so his home will have to be big to match! I decided to harvest blocks from dragon roosts to make his bed, hopefully he'll feel right at home.
I've been cautious with my baby dragon so far, even carrying him with me in a Dragon Horn when I leave the base. From my research, tamed dragons are prone to disappearing for any number of possible reasons when left alone, and this little guy was hard to get! Keeping him in a horn means he won't grow, but hopefully some Dragon Meal will help keep the process moving along.
Day 625
I needed another Nether Star, so I decided to fight the Wither "legitimately" this time. That is, in an underground area, far from my base. It still wasn't much of a fight, but at least I can say I've done it.
With this, I can craft the final upgrade to my storage remote, which will allow me to access my Simple Storage network from anywhere, even across dimensions.
Day 627
Today I decided to take on the second boss of the Erebus, the Antlion Overlord! These can be found in large pyramids in the dangerous Volcanic Desert biome.
Just getting to the boss is a challenge in itself. First, I needed to collect four scarab idols from the guardians that awaited in each corner of the maze surrounding the pyramid. Next, I had to solve a puzzle requiring item drops from the various mobs that spawned in the structure.
Then finally, the Overlord himself, a beast with 400 HP! He attacked fiercely, but I managed to slay him, and he sank back beneath the sands.
Day 629
One of the drops from the Antlion Overlord was a Soul Crystal, which can be crafted into a Wand of Animation. This nifty item can turn blocks into walking, animated companions-- Like this bamboo crate here, which functions as mobile item storage. It even comes with a name, Bamber.
Day 631
I've left the dimension of giant arthropods behind to work more on my Forestry bees. Mutating new types has been slow, and the chances for some breeds are frustratingly rare. Fortunately, Gendustry has a way to forcibly mutate breeding bees with its Mutatron machine. This process is expensive and power-hungry, so I'll need to work on upping my power generation.
Day 641
I've been hunting for a late-game Thaumcraft item, a Primordial Pearl. This is a rare drop from closing Flux Rifts with a Causality Collapser. It took several rifts, but I got one! It has a few different uses, with the gimmick that it can be used to craft multiple times according to its durability. Hopefully one of my addons adds an alternative way of gaining pearls, as those Causality Collapsers are expensive.
Day 647
I'm losing my mind. I keep hearing strange whispers-- Warnings that something is behind me, something is coming for me. I look back and nothing is there. Then one time, a thick fog appeared around me, and a ghostly Eldritch Guardian appeared. Or did he? Was it just a hallucination, my Warp-addled mind attacking itself?
Perhaps I've gone too far in my quest for knowledge and power. But I can't stop now. My research into Thaumic Augmentation has led me to believe that certain naturally occuring rift-like entities may actually be portals to a mysterious realm called the Emptiness. I found one not too far from my Nether base.
I'm not sure what's on the other side. Probably nothing friendly. But it'll definitely be an adventure.
Day 651
The portal led me to a dark, barren wasteland. The only signs of life are in these huge dungeons locked by strange magic that my gauntlet, charged by rift magic, could open.
The dungeon was vast, and filled with loot and Eldritch creatures. I collected keys from the various wings that unlocked further doors, until I made my way to the heart of the spire, where awaited a hulking Eldritch Construct. Slaying it rewarded me with a Primordial Pearl, and new forbidden knowledge.
I'm truly brimming with Warp at this point. I'm sure my character's practically leaking purple goo out her eyeballs. But hey, arcane secrets from a time long forgotten! That's pretty cool.
Day 656
Alloy has reached Stage 3 of his growth, which means I can now ride him! I celebrated by taking him out for a spin and incinerating some wildlife. Also made him some armor, just because. Think it looks good on him.
Day 662
I decided to fight the Gaia Guardian II, the stronger version of Botania's boss fight. This guy has more health, damage and resistance than his predecessor, but with greater rewards.
Unfortunately for Gaia, I'm basically a demi-god at this point. Slaying him earned me the Dice of Fate, which can be used to randomly get one of six powerful accessories. Mine got me the Ring of Loki, which lets me place multiple blocks at once.
Day 664
It's time for what may be my greatest adventure yet! I explored the swamps, hunting for a circular formation called a Dark Druid Altar. The hostile druids dropped pieces of a Swamp Talisman, which I gathered and reconstructed in the altar itself.
Using the talisman on a sapling grew it into a huge tree with glowing green portals in its trunk. This is my passage to a new world, The Betweenlands!
Here's the thing: the Betweenlands has a strong focus on its own progression, to the point where normal food, tools and weapons won't work in its dimension. I could still use my various accessories and the like to great effect, but I want to try something closer to a full experience.
So I've stripped my equipment and inventory bare for a fresh start! I still have some advantages. such as my inherent buffs and skills, but I'm a lot more vulnerable now than I have been for a while. Here goes nothing...!
Day 666
I came out of the portal into a dark, dank swamp. The water was a murky green; even the sky was green, with a great rift through which a bit of the Overworld could be seen.
Surviving here will be difficult, as the Betweenlands introduces several new mechanics. Tools and weapons corrode over time in the harsh environment, and even the player character slowly decays, which must be kept at bay. The same food can be eaten only so many times before it loses its flavor... and so on. It's gonna be rough.
I've hollowed out a Weedwood tree for a starting base. Thankfully, there weren't too many threats in the immediate area, just Swamp Hags (shambling bog-zombies) and Anglers (anglerfish). Normal torches don't work in the Betweenlands, so I'm using glowing mushrooms for lighting until I get my hands on the dimension's equivalent of coal.
Day 672
I'm settling in as well as I can. Decay isn't as much of a struggle as hunger. My diet mainly consists of snail flesh and "donuts" made out of swamp reeds. Delicious stuff.
I've been exploring the vast caverns that lie beneath the swamp. Betweenlands caves are full of perils and treasures alike, and I'll need plenty of ore in order to progress. I'm gonna be here for a while.
Day 690
It took a lot of spelunking, but I've got myself outfitted with Volanite equipment, the Betweenlands equivalent of diamond. I also found a Rubber tree and made rubber boots, useful for getting aross the muddy grounds of the swamp. Finally, I have a Volarkite, a large leaf-like glider that can get me down from heights safely. I think I'm ready to do some above-ground exploring!
Day 692
I found a large, rocky tower while exploring. Each of its floors held a monster spawner, with two at the top, along with a chest of loot. After I broke the spawners and began to descend, it began to crumble. With this, I guess I've cleared my first dungeon! Albeit a minor one.
Day 695
At the top of a huge Weedwood tree, I found a huge, friendly toad. Feeding it dragonfly wings allowed me to ride it.
I also found a decidedly unfriendly Chiromaw Matriarch, a flying creature that had made her nest up here. Slaying her allowed me to raid the nest, which had hatchling Chiromaws I could take to raise myself.
Day 697
Today I ventured out in search of a large circular clearing in the swamp, where sits the white-leaved Spirit Tree. I took my axe to a large wooden face in its trunk, which attacked back, spitting thorns and sending waves of roots rolling up from the ground, all while smaller faces in its roots shot sap at me. At 600 health, the large face took time to defeat, but my axe eventually cleaved through, and the tree perished. I got loot, but at what cost? I watched as the tree decayed before my eyes, the once-living grove overtaken by sludge...
Day 700
The Betweenlands has a ton of content, and I could easily spend the next 100 days there. Yet I feel like I'm winding down on this pack in general. We'll see! Either way, I feel like this next set of days will be my last in this world. I'll post more of my thoughts on this journey at the end. For now, I'm still having fun!