As long as I'm going to the Nether, I'd like to improve my armament. So, now that I have some Perdito shards, I can make a Bone Bow.

I want a little more Vis for some more Earth Arrows, so I head out and



There's an obelisk practically in my backyard, which I haven't seen before.

I'm close to level 30, so I head over to the zombie spawner to swat a few zombies. I realize the slow spawning is because there's too much light on the spawner and adjust the nearby torches to decrease it somewhat. It does help although I may do more later. I hope to pick up a carrot from the zombies but I make it to level 30 without getting one.

I head back and enchant the Bone Bow, getting Punch 1/Unbreaking III. Punch might actually be a disadvantage since it seems to scatter drops. Unbreaking is good of course. I also make a few more arrows. I've switched from using dirt for pillaring and temporary blocks to using gravel and that's gotten me some more flint to work with.

I throw some sand into the Infernal Furnace to get some more glass for the Nether. While it's roasting, I go to the complex mineshaft intersection I blocked off before, block off all but one passage, and break in.



After a moderate distance I find it staircases up through some ice. Not wanting to deal with the ice as I didn't bring the Silk Touch pickaxe, I just block it up at that point. I head back and mine out the ores and clean out a minecart chest I passed. It has some diamonds and some interesting but not too useful items like a thaumium hoe and 2 unenchanted amulets. It does have melon seeds, so that could be very useful.

I head into the Nether and continue a tunnel to the north. I tunnel just below the surface for a while, building a cobble roof above me as I go.



I encounter a Magma Cube and kill it from below, getting one Magma Cream.

After a while the ground drops down a bit. I don't see any Ghasts, so I dash out to look.



I find some Lemurite and a descent into some kind of chamber.

While descending into the chamber I get attacked by a wisp. I build a roof over me and it goes away.



The chamber is a vast field of Soul Sand - a great find. I mine up nearly two stacks. I also find some Shadow Iron. This alloys with Lemurite (great luck there) to make Shadow Steel, an improved version of Steel. However, it's only mildly superior to Damascus Steel (50% more durability and 1 higher enchantability) so only moderately useful.

I head back to drop off the new ores and the Soul Sand.



On the way I get harassed by a Firebat. Only I find Firebats are not just harassment.



Firebats explode. I've fought at least a dozen Firebats before and this is the first time it happened. As you can see, if I'd been a little less well equipped it might well have killed me.

After I drop off my goodies in a chest and recover my health, I head back to the open area to tunnel into the next hill.



I get attacked by a pack of - zombies? I didn't know the Nether had regular zombies? Quite a few of them too.

After I dispatch the zombies I tunnel into the next hill, closing it behind me so zombies or firebatsn don't sneak in. I tunnel some distance through the hill and come out to an overhang. I put in a view gallery.



Aha! One low-hanging Glowstone chandelier coming up! But, as you can see, there's an obstacle.

I switchback to staircase down to the plateau level. I build a fairly wide exit to shoot down the ghast. Unfortunately it scores a hit on me before I'm done *and* a Firebat flies in at the same time. I retreat back down the corridor to deal with the Firebat - only to discover I'd killed it early, and just couldn't tell in all the confusion of Ghast screeches and explosions and me on fire and blocks on fire.

I come back and take aim at the Ghast with the Bone bow. It fires like a machine gun - you can't draw and hold. I kill the Ghast quickly enough but it doesn't drop anything. Damage Screenshots doesn't get a pic either, so I guess the Bone Bow isn't considered player damage. Foo, would have been a nice pic.



With the Ghast gone, I dash over to collect my reward. I don't take all the chandelier; I save some for later when I'll hopefully have a Fortune pick. Mission accomplished.

Next episode: Finally using some golems.