Cave exploration gone wrong

[mongoljan]

HI! I'm new to this game and wanted to share a small story about caves.

I recently made my very first pickaxe and decided to explore the world and find precious minerals. I entered a cave and found some brown coal however that wasn't enough for me so I went deeper. There was a big hole with seemingly no bottom. I carefully dug a pathway through the rough stone and descented into the darkness. The cave was bigger than I thought. I followed a long and winding path until it stopped at a fall where some water was flowing even deeper. I tried jumping to the other side but unfortunately I landed in the water. My torch went out and I did not have anything to lit it with. It was pitch black.

At that moment my ancestral memory kicked in and I felt something I haven't felt for a very long time while playing games. I was scared.
I thought I was gonna die in this cave with all my tools and loot. After checking if there was anything else I could do (which maybe there was I don't know I'm new) I decided to retrace my steps from memory. It took me a good while but when I finally reached the light I was relieved.

This story might look like nothing but the cave sounds, the darkness and the risk really made an impression on me. Simple stories like these is what makes me remember and enjoy games.

Do you have any small stories that made an impact on you?

[Echo Weaver]

On 8/25/2024 at 3:27 PM, Mongo said:

Do you have any small stories that made an impact on you?

I'm sorry there weren't any replies to this thread. I would love to share more moments like this.

I can't believe you made it out. That's impressive. Was it actually completely black, or could you at least see when you were running into something?

I realize this is an oldish post, but just in case you're still around.

[mongoljan]

On 10/25/2024 at 4:06 PM, Echo Weaver said:

I'm sorry there weren't any replies to this thread. I would love to share more moments like this.

I can't believe you made it out. That's impressive. Was it actually completely black, or could you at least see when you were running into something?

I realize this is an oldish post, but just in case you're still around.

I took a break so I'll be replying to an old reply under an even older post, which is fun.
It was completely black I had to go back with the help of my memory, sounds and vibes.
Still probably the most vulnerable I've ever felt while playing a game.

[LadyWYT]

On 8/25/2024 at 2:27 PM, mongoljan said:

Do you have any small stories that made an impact on you?

Well...recently I enlisted my hunter friend's help in keeping the nasties off my back while on an iron mining expedition. Neither one of us had armor and the ore was at a nexus of cave tunnels. Hunter got beat to a pulp fighting off the monsters, but it wasn't the monsters that did him in. He would have been fine had he not come running around the corner and spooked me. I was just a tad bit fast on my reflex with the falx, though thankfully the revival mechanic had been added to the game and I had bandages.

[Bruno Willis]

On 8/26/2024 at 7:27 AM, mongoljan said:

Do you have any small stories that made an impact on you?

I had a sort of similar experience, riding home on an elk after dark. I didn't have a light source on me, but once I got through the forest it was plains all the way home. It got too dark to really see, so I was using the mini-map to navigate, I thought I'd gotten through the forest, and suddenly I wasn't moving properly. I couldn't understand, the map said I was out of trouble, on the plains. I got off my elk and 'felt around' at the blocks around me. "aged firewood." "chains." 

I keep sticks on me at all times, and I had a bit of straw, so I made a torch, placed it and lit it by feel with a fire starter, (after a lot of sweat and fear and trouble) and found out I'd ridden down a steep hole into a ruined quarry. I don't know how my elk fit through some of the passages. I left my elk in the ruins, and carefully made my way up, fought drifters, and then found some bismuth. Great, I thought. I'll grab that while I'm here. I'd recently turned cave ins on, and was crushed to death by the ensuing rockfall. 

I found the mouth of the cave again later, found my gear and got my elk out. I'd ridden into the cave almost as soon as I'd ridden into the forest, but it had been too dark to notice. 

[Tuxflop]

The first time I ever encountered locusts:

I was out foraging for cattails in the forest when I found a cave. I got overeager and walked in, but didn’t realize until it was too late that I went too deep and unwittingly dropped down a 2-block-high stone ledge I could not climb back up. I didn’t bring my pickaxe, nor any blocks. I was trapped in this cave. Fortunately, I had torches. So with no other choice, I went deeper inside.

There were Bowtorns down there, and a deep dark pit that I certainly didn’t want to fall down. It didn’t take long, however, until I saw what looked to be some kind of brownish ore. Maybe iron? But then I looked at it closer: oxidization. Then, green lights started to appear, and for the first time I saw a skittering swarm of robotic spiders run after me. These were the locusts I had heard about—and I had no armor to protect me from them.

I had to fight a lot of locusts in that cave. I didn’t think I was gonna make it out. I was hanging in there with about 10% HP when I came up with a plan; I used the cattails I had gathered to make a .5 block tall basket, and then gathered stones to create a 1.5 block tall dry stone fence. The two blocks together allowed me to climb up the 2-block ledge I had fallen down, and I escaped from the cave.

[BlackMoonHowling]

I had a very similar experience in cave once. I had heard moving water so I went to investigate near a ledge but came at it too fast and fell into a pool at the bottom of an at least 13+ drop. Was a newbie at the time and had no way to get another torch light as I didn’t bring extra anything with me. I couldn’t get back up so I decided to wanted deeper in to the cave and wound up a shivers meal. Genuinely one of the most tense moments I’ve ever had in a game

[Maelstrom]

In one of my first (maybe even my very first) long term worlds (I had a half dozen short term worlds I cut my teeth on which weren't intended for long term play) I got the depressing end of a featureless cave.  No ores, no ruins, nothing but rock, water and darkness.   Well, at the bottom of a deadend I hear some drifters bemoaning their loneliness and figure I'm close to another cave.  So I start digging towards the moaning and find the only salt dome I've ever found.

[OBAMFSpike]

On 8/25/2024 at 1:27 PM, mongoljan said:

Do you have any small stories that made an impact on you?

Well then, why yes I certainly do. Matter of factly its vaguely similar to your story, however much more macabre. 

You see, I am well into the steel age on the server I play on (Vintage Armisteros) and also have optics (NIghtVisionGoggles). I mine A LOT.

So there I was, mining. 

Silly me. I forgot an extra temporal gear to charge the goggles and when they went black I found myself in a hell of a conundrum.

So I mine quartz veins a lot as ive unlocked gold and silver and rather enjoy stacking it high in the vault under my tower. I mine the quartz in a simple pattern that allows me to expose every block of the vein without mining every block. This permits cherry picking ores from the drift and leaving unwanted minerals as they lay. 

Welly welly WELL!!!! BORAX!!!!! This involves a not so straightforward approach to pinpoint the valuable ore and this is when my optics batteries depleted and this is when my fight or flight instincts kick in and viola!

So I retrace my steps and hear a shiver. Well crap. Now I get to fight the baddies and I can't see.

But they never come to me. I can hear them all around me. But I can't move far. Only three blocks east and west. I remained calm the entire time. Figured id mine my way out into the light as I happened to be mining in a shaft that dropped straight to mantle from surface. A great place to gain some gears and the like. Why I was diving into the cave to begin with when I happened upon the quartz vein.

So then my pick breaks. Night Vision down. Can't see. Can't move. 

Its alright. I'll kill a baddie and get a gear and fire up my optics and all will be well. 

I died in that hole of starvation. I sat there for two hours waiting for someone to log onto the server before finally dying. 

I could hear baddies all around me. But never did they touch a hair on my dumb head. I sat there and starved as I waited for a thread of a hope of something or anything. 

So I come back to the point of my death. (Thankful for an extra boat and the ability to travel quickly tens of thousands of blocks.) And come to my grave and I see why ive died. I was certain I was mining forward. But no. Straight down. Into my own grave. 

Silly me. This is where ive learned the command self MDK

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, OBAMFSpike said:

Silly me. This is where ive learned the command self MDK

In case of future occurrences, you might consider wearing a temporal gear amulet or Forlorn Hope talisman. Either one will emit a faint teal glow, which should be just enough to get you back to safety.

[OBAMFSpike]

Such excellent advice indeed. XD