Allay Bay
Part 28 ~ 17 January 2026
Played: 9 May 2025
Today's project brings us to another location that I've labelled on the map but haven't properly mentioned by name – depsite flying over it many times to get to the mesa! Just southwest of Elaville lies Allay Bay, an oceanic region that takes its name from the nearby pillager tower and the allays housed there. We'll be adding a shiny new feature here, giving meaning to the name, and making good on a promise along the way.
I'm playing a bit fast and loose with the timeline today, because I actually broke ground (well, seafloor) on this *before* I got tired and went off chasing turtles. But it's a good reminder that the Minecraft experience isn't linear, and it's okay to pause something and come back to it later!
I picked out a nicely-aligned spot, installed a conduit, and raised a ring of dark oak pillars up to the surface. I then went around the coast spamming torches to make sure nothing was going to wander in. (I promptly got distracted by a cave that I felt compelled to light up completely...) Next, I made a gangway out of amethyst blocks, gathered from the geode excavation near my starter house. These blocks give off a cute little jingle when you walk on them, making it a perfect complement for our music-loving sprites :) Also there's another geode in the pit right next to this build, just in case I ever need more. Aaand at this point I got tired and took a break.
~ 11 days IRL and a different episode later ~
Okay, I have time to play again (oof) and an idea of what to build. Time to bust out the sphere generator again – and this time, we're building the WHOLE sphere, not just a dome. I started building my sphere out of light blue glass, to match the colour of the allays, before realising it blends in with the ocean making it barely visible. Yeah, that's not gonna fly. Not to worry, I have Universal Crafting installed so I can recolour my glass lol.
Take two – this time in sparkling white! I made the size of the sphere such that the bottom dips just below the water's surface, while the centre is level with the flat surface of the land. The sphere tool tells me that this took over 1000 blocks, which I find hard to believe, but then again I always underestimate the amount of blocks I need for builds in this 3D world so it's probably right. The librarians totally paid off with this one.
Okay, now what? Just a sphere by itself is a bit plain. I was winging this build and toying with a couple of ideas as I built it (again – totally okay! Don't feel pressured to play a certain way!) One idea I had was to house the sphere in a boat-like structure, forming a kind of ark. Buuut that's a bit of a stretch for my builder skills right now. So I went with a simpler, geometric approach and wrapped the axes of the sphere in wood – dark oak, to match the structures where I found the Allays. I brought the walkway up to the middle level, then added a door in the front and a sneaky trapdoor at the bottom for submarine access.
Now to bring the allays to Allay Bay. The first two were pretty simple – just whack a few pillagers, break the cage, and lead the two blue pixies into the ball. Is this really freedom? Well, it beats being surrounded by pillagers, I guess. I tried to make them feel more at home by decorating the enclosure with their favourite purple crystals.
So, about that promise... What was it again? Oh right! I promised to go back to Movie Mansion and rescue the allays there! Here they are, in the dungeon room in the corner of the ground floor. There's nine of the little cuties here! Since I did such a thorough job of clearing the mansion earlier, there's nothing stopping me from just popping the doors open and walking them out of here. Taking allays on leashes is like holding a big bunch of baloons :D
Unfortunately, my plan to bring them home this way hit a snag – literally – in the trees outside the mansion. Then I remembered that allays will follow you if you give them an item to carry, so I made them all hold dirt blocks and set off – on foot, so the team could keep up – for home. The journey was remarkably peaceful and I took in some sights that I don't usually get to see – like the back of my starter house. Did I mention there's a little balcony at the back?
I made the final approach through Elaville, where the allays met my menagerie of cats, then onward to the glass orb where I put the leads back on to squeeze everybody through the door. With everyone inside, I added the final touches of storage – and a jukebox, which I took for a spin (haha) with my rare creeper-dropped music disc.
I dub this the Fairy Sphere. It's a reference to fairy rings, which are commonly formed by the growth of fungi, but in folklore were attributed to – among other things – dancing fairies! And true to tradition, we gathered inside, put on some C418, and danced through the night...
