Thaumcraft requires a lot of different materials. I assume this is deliberate; the main difficulty in "survival" Minecraft is actually collecting materials, not dying, because you can't really die in "survival" Minecraft.

First I need glass. Well, I'd passed through a sand layer digging down so I just go back up my dropshaft and dig up a stack for smelting.

With the glass and some magic shards and extra gold I'd already dug up I can make a Thaumometer. This lets you discover and collect magical "aspects" you need for research. I scan a bunch of things downstairs, but find rather little. Thaumcraft has a complex ladder of aspects and you have to discover some before you discover others and it's hard to get started even though I've played before.

Another thing I'll need for research is scribing tools; basically ink and quill. For this, I'll need feathers, ink sacs, and clay, none of which I have (the feathers I got on my first big expedition went into arrows). Time for another expedition.



I've been trying to grow an autumn sapling for looks but it's come out too small. I chop it down and replant.

My plan is to try to find an inland route to where the chickens were. If I'm lucky, I may hit some on the way. I'll likely find a river or lake with clay and squid.

Shortly after I set out, I find red mushrooms. So, now that food is no longer an issue, I can make mushroom stew. Whatever.

Heading west, I encounter an autumn forest - possibly associated with the one near the coast, although there's biomes in the way. Biomes do occasionally get "split up" by processing. It's next to



My first Birch Forest M in survival. It's a good biome in vanilla, with the taller birches, but in the context of all the Highlands biomes and fancy trees it's a little disappointing.

I reach the Steppe where the chickens were and find a relatively easy way through, avoiding any high hills.



The Autumn Forest in the distance is where I found the lava pool and fought the forest fire. These steppe formations are rather extreme and unrealistic for my taste. I liked the Steppe mountains better in the 1.6.4 version - the 1.7 "amping up" of terrain variation seems to have affected them.

Shortly I find a few chickens and start breeding and collecting eggs. My plan is to gather eggs and bring them home that way rather than with the tedium of long-distance herding.



The Steppe is littered with cave entrances, some rather dangerous. I also find an exposed lava pool three blocks down  - that would be a nasty fall!  I assume this is associated with the large exposed cave near where I found the chickens.

I find chickens and start breeding them and collecting eggs. I thought it would be really fast and easy but it turns out to be rather slow. Much as with my leaky chicken ranch in my last journal it looks like a lot of chickens but chasing them down is very time-consuming.



I get some uninvited visitors wandering up from the cave complex too.



The Autumn Forest looks nice from the overlook. Maybe I'll set up a bunch of season-themed bases - winter at spawn, autumn here, spring and summer where inspiration strikes me. For future fulminations.

Eventually i have a stack of eggs and head back. I go a little further inland hoping for a suitable river.



And find one. Very attractive, although climbing down is a slight hassle.

It does indeed have both clay and squid, so I collect plenty of both.

I see a faint glow in the air and investigate with my Thaumometer -



Finding my first Aura node! With Tempestas, which is rare in nodes (I've never seen it). It's not particularly useful to have it in a node, but it's still neat.

With all my expedition goals completed, I head home. I arrive just before dark and snooze before making a round in the farm. But in the morning when I head out -



A baby zombie ambushes me as I head out the door. I also hear some adult zombies, but don't see any. I scout around for a place he might have come from but can't find one. I guess it just managed to spawn before I got to sleep.

After some farming, I get ready to set up a chicken coop. After my last journal I'm not going to use fences, which seem only a slight impediment to chickens (they're tolerable for bigger animals). So it's going indoors. I consider building it down on the mining level but I don't want to listen to the clucking. So I decide to dig it out partway down the shaft.



I build it in the chalk layer so I'll have a white material for a future winter-themed build.

I dump in the eggs and get about 6 chicks, which is really lucky. I'm not going to bother with a more elaborate ranch for vast quantities of chickens as I don't know I'll have a use for them.

Downstairs I make my scribing tools with vials, quill, and ink:



One more item towards starting research.

Next episode - collecting the aspects, and starting research.