Timesink part 11: "H"

When I started planning all this, I knew I wanted there to be a series of notes left for the player. There's a delightful bukkit plugin called Courier which let's one use maps as notes. It's really very neat. It might be outdated when writable books are introduced in the next Minecraft release, but the maps are great for now.

The notes are left by a character the player never sees, and the notes are only signed "H". "H" is someone that awoke in the strange world of minecraft, and started keeping a journal. It is meant to act as both story facilitator and tutorial. God, Minecraft needs some sort of tutorial. Hey Mojang: I have an idea on how to provide a tutorial that seasoned played would approve of. Drop me a line, huh?

The more astute reader that happens to play Minecraft might be able to guess who "H" is, in the end. But let's not drop that spoiler just yet. Suffice it to say that things don't go well for "H", and they don't make it home again. They're trapped forever. (For those that have figured it out: wouldn't a tutorial as told by H be a great tie in?)

Ok. Here are some drafts of the notes written by "H". Maybe too many? The idea will be to place them in various places "H" will have stayed. So, once the player is on the trail of "H", they can follow and find more notes. In time, these notes should help the player learn how to correctly operate the gate network, build their own gates from scratch, and eventually explain what happened to these cities and, what became of "H".

If you are reading this note, you have somehow found your way to this...place. I have been here for a few days and still don't know where I am or even how I arrived here. I went to bed and when I awoke, I was standing in the center of a stone ring. Perhaps the same happened to you.

Luckily I was able to find this nearby village. In the time I have been here the locals have not uttered a single word. I wonder if they can talk.... I have tried to get information about this place using gestures, but they either don't understand, or don't care.

Or maybe they they know the answers themselves.
-H
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I've come to the conclusion that the natives did not construct the stone circles. I don't think they built this large building--I think of it as "the storehouse" because it has so many chests--either. The architecture is too different from the other buildings here. The same goes for the market square with the colourful stalls and small fountain. But if they didn't build the stone rings and the other, obviously different structures, who did? It's almost like this place was built as a place to trade with the natives. But where are the builders, and can they help me get home. 

I'm settling into my bedroom, and least I am comfortable.
-H
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What is this horrible place! When I arrived, there was a new moon in the sky. Over the past several days I have noticed the villages become extremely agitated at night, rushing into their homes and refusing to emerge until the morning. I have heard some things in the night, but didn't think anything of them. 

But tonight is the new moon and the might is full of horrors! There are things that can not be in the dark. Half rotten beings assault the doors in the village. I saw one zombie succeed in entering a home and the inhabitance.... Skeletons--SKELETONS--walk the streets, firing arrows at anyone unwise enough to go out. Green...things silently lurk in the dark and giant spiders roam the landscape. 

Through the town giant iron men patrol the streets, battling the night creatures. These robots, these golems of iron attack everything up the green creatures. 

I have fled the comforts and warmth of the guest rooms and moved into this dank cellar. 

Tomorrow I will do what I can to hide this place. And I must have weapons.
-H
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The new moon has passed and the diversity of creatures in the night is decreasing. Maybe with the full moon the creatures will be gone. 

I have fashioned a simple pickaxe and have begun looking for iron. Coal is plentiful, so I hope I will be able to build a simple furnace for smelting iron. With metals comes machined tools.
-H
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If you had told me I would be able to work diamond into tools, I would have doubted you. But here.... What is this place?
-H
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The creatures are back, but I feel safe in my subterranean home. I'm still very frightened by the creatures in the night, and dread to think about the villagers, but I also know that the strange iron golem will protect them. 

I have made a curious discovery. There are strange red stones found deep un the earth. I initially tried to mine them using my iron tools, but they disintegrated. My bizarre diamond pickaxe was able to extract them however. The ore, when struck, glows with a light of its own. My initial fear was that they were radioactive, but I do not believe so, now. Whatever these red stones are, they can be used as an inextinguishable source of light. One can also draw on surfaces, like chalk, and the red stone dust will convey power certain distances. 

This gives me ideas on how to better hide my home.
-H
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I have turned my attentions to the stone circle, trying to understand its purpose. It's clear that the upright ring is composed mainly of obsidian, with a single block of lapis lazuli in the base's center. The glowing block is yet another mystery, as is the sign. Domanvisce. Is that the name of this place? Maybe some warning? When I first arrived I did not notice the water bucket that hovers. I can see it, yet can not touch it. Another mystery. This place is maddening. 

There is a button, and when I press it, an apparatus lights up, but that is all. Could the ring be a mechanism of some sort?
-H
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While exploring, I came across a statue of a sphinx to the southeast of the village. I am embarrassed I had not seen it before. The black sphinx rests upon a huge sandstone base. I am slightly embarrassed to say I began tunneling into the base. I can't really say what for. I was driven by the stories about the great treasures of Egypt. 

I immediately broke through into a large chamber. There were more of the strange hovering items, and a chest full of redstone, signs, and obsidian. I was this a storehouse? I claimed the redstone but left the rest behind and bricked up the opening. I do not know if the villages would dare loot from the statue, and I feared they might become angry if they saw the damage I had caused.
-H
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I have discovered an entrance to the mechanism of the ring! I believe it is a machine. There are a series of red stone wires drawn onto the floor, leading to and from a number of devices, eventually ending at a second sign, repeating the same word: domanvisce. It's my hope that I'll be able to repair the device, but I need to mine for more of the redstone; I used all I had found for torches.
-H
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An astounding discovery! While mining, I came across a small vein of lapis lazuli. After I had extracted it, I was cleaning one of the shards, accidentally hit it against a stone, and suddenly found myself standing at the stone ring. I thought I had gone mad (madder?) but upon making the motions like I was going set down a block, or make a redstone wire, I was again transported to the stone circle. No matter where I have gone, the lapis lazuli fragment will bring me back to the ring. Quite a handy thing to remember. I swear I will never set out without at least one fragment.
-H
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Repairing the ring's mechanism was simple in the end. There was a single wire which had broken. Now the strange current flows from the button and produces musical notes from the mechanisms. Thus far, I have only activated the machine from the interior. It grew too late in the day for me to stay out and try the mechanism. Tomorrow I will see what the ring does.
-H
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Thank god I always carry a piece of lapis lazuli with me, now. If I hadn't I fear I would be lost! Well, more lost than I am just being in this land. 

I activated the gate and it was filled with beautiful, clear water, but it did not cascade down. It remained within the confines of the ring. Another wonder. I stepped forward and touched the water and suddenly found myself in another place, at another gate! All about the outside, objects floated: earth, a water bucket, a torch, a feather, plant, egg, and a piece of redstone. Another sign hung, visible from the gate--Derclocdoman--and surrounding me were numerous buildings, all in a style unlike what I had grown accustomed. Unlike in Domanvisce, I could find no villagers.  

Hoping the gate mechanism worked, I pressed the button, the gate filled with water, and again I was transported. But not back to where I had come from; to a new land, with new structures. Each new place had a structure of obsidian, but few could be called rings. Each took me to a new place--Derclocanmith, Derclocoplandi, Dercloaer, Derclocovisce, Derclocotine--and then back to Derclocodoman. There didn't seem to be any way to return to the place I started, Domanvisce. Then I remembered my lapis shard and returned...if not home, than the place I have come to regard as safe. 

My mind is too awhirl to try and understand how these gates work. I feel certain there must be a way to return to Domanvisce using the gates.
-H
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I have taken numerous travels through the gates, and have explored the 'Derclocs'. I have seen massive castles. Strange homes on stilts, floating on water. Ancient temples. But no people. In some places I have seen iron golem patrolling, but what happened to the people they protected? 

As much as I fear doing so, I should travel though the gates for an extended time. If I am going to understand the gates and how to use them, I have to actually use them. 

If you have found these notes, then seek me out through the gates. I will leave redstone torches as a sign.
-H
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