Starting the Tower

Entry 5 Day 3

I awoke at about noon, and realized I had much to do with little time to accomplish it. I started by clearing the brush away from the edges of the depression outside and leveling off the ground in a couple spots. Once I finished with that, I began building the walls. I had enough stone to build a large ring around the lip of the depression and to shore up the rim of my hole's entrance making it impossible for enemies to fall onto the ledge and attack me in my sleep.

The smelter was also finished with the iron ore of the previous night, so I sat down for a bit and shaped the metal into armor plates, which I then attached to my clothing with some plant fibers.

With the walls about 7 meters high, I began clambering down from them to place a ladder on the inside up to the top to make building easier. Once the ladder was placed I realized how dark it had already gotten. I started up the vines on the wall to my hole when I heard a hiss below me. Everything was a strange blur before I could get my bearings and realize that it was an ambush. I rose to my feet and drew my stone sword, ready to fight. When everything came into focus, I realized that the entire bottom of the wall, and the vines along with it, was blown open. Some small debris still crumbled from the top of the hole. I noticed it wasn't high enough to damage my entrance, but I was imperiled. I saw a small rise that I built the wall a round and began climbing it toward my entrance. Behind me I heard a low groan as one of the undead sought my flesh. Above me I saw a dark shadow creeping down my wall toward me. I mounted the rise just in time to see the eight red eyes of the giant spider as it leapt toward me.

It's fangs gnashed at me and scuffed my armor plates. Once its first rush attack subsided I lunged at the beast with my sword, scoring a deep strike in its side. But as the creature lurched in pain, my sword snapped in two. Only the jagged end of the sword in hand, the spider mustered it strength and lunged again at me, this time high to catch me off balance and cast us both into the depression to be the dinner of the undead. I would not have it and knelt down just in time to let the creature pass just over my head. I thrust upward with the jagged hilt and buried the short end of the sword in its underside. It squealed and curled up as it flew high and landed on the floor of my hole.


Below, the undead were beginning to make their way up the rise and were nearly to me. Atop the rise I saw that it did not connect to my hole's entrance. Earlier, I knocked it away to prevent enemies as these from reaching me at night. Now I had to get past my own security measures to safety. I strode to the edge of the rise to gain some distance, rounded and sprinted toward my hole. Around me the decaying hands of the undead gripped the top of the rise as they climbed toward me. Just as I was leaping from the edge, the head of a zombie popped up to grab at me. I planted my last foot firmly on its skull, the brittle bone buckling under my weight, and threw myself toward the entrance to my hole. The threshold crashed into my ribs and I grabbed at the cobblestone floor for a grip. My fingers caught hold and I hefted myself up. I lay on the floor of my hole for a moment, catching my breath while the undead groaned at me outside.

Once I regained myself, I grabbed the corpse of the spider and dragged it toward the entrance. I noticed it was very hard to drag and realized that a length of web was dangling from its bulbous abdomen. Dropping its legs, I went to the web and began pulling it. I procured a good length of web, which was about a quarter-inch thick and might serve as a good rope. It wasn't quite enough to do anything with yet, but perhaps if I hunted down more of these creatures, I would be able to create something with it. Perhaps a bow?