A "Wild Update"
Part 8 ~ 2 July 2025
Played: 19 March 2025
Two very different adventures today!
Adventure 1 took me to the mesa biome that I'd spotted in the distance a few days earlier. But I'm not here (yet) for the gold, terracotta, or mineshaft loot – I'm here for what's UNDER the mesa. You see, where the mesa meets the savanna, between the mountains, is an opening in the ground. A short way into this cave is a water source. And following it down, allll the way down (and taking the right fork), leads to... an ancient city! Once again, this seed delivers. I call this site the Shrieking Hole.
Armed with a stash of lovely purple wool from my new farm, I splashed down in the corner of the sprawling structure. Let me be real with you for a bit: this place gives me the CREEPS. It's not the emptiness; I'm used to that in these endless blocky worlds. It's those infernal SHRIEKERS. The sheer NOISE of them is so overwhelming, it sends my whole body into a panic. Even my vision goes dark for a moment. I never knew a sound could do that to a person until I discovered sculk caves. So why would I venture in here? It's the only place I can get Swift Sneak. So, I gritted my teeth, crouched down, and tiptoed from one loot building to the next. I tried to tactically block the shriekers with wool where practical, but I hit a few dense clusters of sensors and shriekers that couldn't be disabled without triggering one. When that happened, I had no choice but to take a deep breath, brace for the shriek, and hack away at as much sculk as I could during the cooldown. I held my nerve long enough to loot a dozen or so chests, and got everything I wanted: Swift Sneak 3, and... well that's the only essential thing really, but 6 enchanted gold apples is nice too I guess :D
Adventure 2 began at the exit from the Shrieking Hole, where a pair of horses grazed on the savanna hillside. That's right, we're making horses a thing in this playthrough! Yes, I know the elytra makes them completely obsolete, but travelling on horseback is just... more interesting. I genuinely do love flying around, but it does detach you from the world and your builds. It's complicated. Anyway, I'm on a mission to tame every horse in the land and find the fastest one. With the help of my horse-stats-o-meter, I found one on the way home with a green reading for speed, so I slapped my one diamond horse armor on it and rode out northwest into the sweeping plains.
While searching the plains for the world's greatest racehorse, I came across three villages. Village #1 is precariously placed on a hill surrounded by river – and also extends down INTO said river. They may need saving from the Drowned. Looks gorgeous at sunset though! Village #2 to the north occupies a neat waterside spot, and features a house that generated right over the water, with paths that form a bridge. Village #3, way out at -2000Z, marks the end of the plains and the transition to cold biomes – and another ocean. It's here that I spotted snow and ice for the first time on this world.
The results? 2000 blocks travelled (one way, on one axis), dozens of horses tamed, and the fastest horse turned out to be from just across the river from my village. Well, dang. Though I did find a couple with way better jump height in the far-flung plains. I'll see if I can bring one home (through the nether?) and breed up a mount that combines the best of both. Mercifully, I'm on the version just after they buffed horse stats from breeding, so I have some chance of success!
