Writing Hardship farm diaries

[Terdin]

My ability to write has returned. And for whatever reason, my mind kept on going through versions of the ending chapters for this novel throughout the depression. So I guess I'd better get to it, or my imagination won't leave me alone.

Summer 1
Woke up feeling great. Without checking the cards, I suspected it was the fishing I’d done yesterday. Went to check the TV instead.

Weather forecast thunderstorm. Luck poor. Livin’ Off The Land talking about the new seeds and specifically mentioning hops. At least I wouldn’t need to water my plants tomorrow, but I could only hope lightning wouldn’t strike anywhere on my farm.

I left to prepare for planting. Only the coffee bush remained of the spring crops. After some effort I had the grid laid down and planted the starfruit, melon, and summer squash seeds. While watering, I took part of the remaining grid before remembering that it might be in vain if the ground dried up before I returned from buying seeds.

Just over 1800 G from the fish. I made ten tea saplings to supplement that, and brought along the silver quality strawberries to ensure I’d be able to buy enough seeds.

I scanned the bus stop as I walked past, and made a detour when I saw a berry that had ripened early. In picking it up, I saw something behind the bus, which proved to be a bunch of grapes. Looking around gave me no clue as to where the grapes had come from. No vines in sight. Were the bats in my cave responsible for dropping it? Still musing about it I continued towards town.

Before I could talk to Pierre about what seeds I wanted, the door opened behind me with more force than I’d heard before. Morris entered and looked around at the townspeople browsing the goods. Pierre’s scowl deepened as Morris offered coupons for JojaMart and his other customers took the bait and left.

“But I can’t compete with that. I’d be selling at a loss.” Pierre stifled a moan as Morris approached.

“Isn’t it sad to find out that your customers have no loyalty,” Morris gloated. He extended a coupon to me. “Here, I have one half-off coupon for you too, my dear. You look like you need a decent meal in you. Wouldn’t you like getting more than twice as much to eat than you could afford at this grimy place?”

Pierre grit his teeth, restraining himself from doing or saying something that could make Morris take legal action against him. Then a bated breath when he realized I hadn’t taken the coupon yet.

“Aren’t those coupons only for those that have membership at JojaMart?” I asked. “I wouldn’t be able to afford to buy that, so that coupon would do me no good.” I didn’t want to reveal that I had worked for Joja.

“As the manager, I could override it for you, my dear,” Morris said with oily sweetness.

I took the offered coupon, noting Pierre’s pained breath of lost hope behind me. His anguish mirrored in Morris’ widening grin of triumph.

“That ‘my dear’ just lost you any chance of winning me over.” I tore the coupon into pieces and let them fall to the floor.

Morris’ face clouded. “I’ll make you regret doing that.” He seemed to be on the verge of saying something more, but then he stormed out of the shop.

Several emotions played over Pierre’s face as I turned to him again, relief being the foremost.

“I thought I’d lost my last customer this morning,” Pierre finally said. “But you should beware of making an enemy of them, as much as I appreciate what you did. He might sue you out of your farm and into life-long debt if you so much as lay a finger on him after this. I have to say that he may have been right in one thing though. You do look like you’re starving.”

“Probably because I haven’t eaten anything since afternoon yesterday,” I admitted. “And I can’t remember if I’ve eaten a cooked meal since coming here... Oh, I did have something hot. The tea Caroline offered to me. Don’t look like that. I have eaten, mainly raw fish and stuff I’ve found in the wild.”

While I could’ve included the Wizard’s brew into the category of warm and cooked, it hadn't been tasty enough to count as soup.

“But still... I’m surprised that you were able to turn him down. I’d have found it difficult if I’d been given that offer after a morning of hard work on an empty stomach.” His gaze went to the fresh stains of sweat and dirt on my shirt and hands.

“I ate more than enough of that kind of food while I lived in the city and my low-wage job made it the only choice if I wanted to be able to keep a roof over my head. Now... I’d like to get some seeds.”

“I’d recommend the blueberries. While each berry is worth less than the seeds, you get multiple berries per harvest, and several harvests. Hops, corn, tomatoes, and hot peppers also give more than one harvest. If you want something tasty to eat that will fill you up, you can’t do better than corn. Just roast it over an open fire, and it’s done.”

Once I’d bought what I needed to grow eight each of hops, hot peppers, and tomatoes, the money from selling the fish was almost gone. Pierre reluctantly bought the tea saplings from me, then a handful of strawberries. His hesitation vanished when he realized I used the money gained to buy more seeds. Twenty-four blueberry seeds, eight corn seeds, and one surprisingly expensive sunflower seed.

Finally I bought as many wheat seeds as I could afford when I noticed they only took four days to mature. Surely I’d get at least three more rainy days this season apart from tomorrow. If not, I’d be able to water them in the last few days of Summer even if over sixty seeds would have me running back and forth with the watering can.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Pierre asked as I put away my few remaining coins. “It will take some time before any of your crops are ready to harvest.”

No doubt relief of having earned more than his expenses battling the worries of letting an ally starve. Well, an ally for now. I didn’t know enough about him to be able to claim I’d always be that.

“I’ve got crops left from Spring. I can eat those,” I said to ease his worries.

The reminder of the many seeds I’d bought in Spring and how few crops I’d sold to him made him nod. “Or you could sell some of it and buy yourself dinner at the Saloon some time,” Pierre said.

Rather than trying to come up with more courses of action I could take, I nodded and left.

I paused right outside the door. I had two items requested by the Junimo and had promised them to give them the items as soon as I could get them. I’d better keep that promise.

On my way through the park, I spotted another new forageable and picked up a sweet pea flower. I smiled at the scent even as I tried to remember what might be the fourth forageable item of Summer. Filling all but one spot would make things more difficult for me, but it couldn’t be helped. I went to face anticipating tension of the Junimo.

No. There were just three slots to the bundle. I had all of the forageables.

There was a release of the brief increase in tension, and I slumped near the scroll as I picked up the return gift of 30 wild summer seeds. As the Junimo carried my gifts away, I looked at what remained.

Couldn’t do much about the Fall and Winter forage, until those seasons unless I had more windfalls or unexpected monster drops. I still didn’t know how or where to get moss, and I’d need more than just what the bundle demanded. I’d be able to grow the hops for the Wild Medicine bundle, but where I’d get fern or purple mushrooms for it was a different matter.

A look at the Summer Crop bundle in the pantry reassured me that I had the seeds I needed to complete that. I’d even get corn for the Fall Crop bundle... wasn’t there another bundle that required corn? I hurried to the old bulletin board despite the tension from the fish tank scroll. Ten more for the Spirits Eve bundle. Looking around at the other bundles there made me pause. I needed a tapper for the maple syrup. Blueberry and sunflower would be on its way now, but I had forgotten to buy a poppy seed. Had to get one later.

“I’d better go and plant my seeds, or I won’t be able to harvest them,” I told the Junimo before I left.

I met Harvey as I took a shortcut through the park.

“I saw you coming out of there. No rat bites?” Harvey asked.

I held up my hands to show him. “Nothing’s bit me so far today,” I reassured him. “No rat trap mishaps either. Though I might get blisters from farm work before nightfall. Nothing caught in the traps yet,” I added.

“You should eat more. Your eyes are shadowed from not eating nearly enough and from not sleeping enough. Keep in mind that farm work requires you to eat more than you did back when you lived in the city. Eat when you’re hungry, and at regular meal times. Don’t try to stick to some kind of diet,” Harvey lectured. “Losing any more weight could be bad for your health.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I promised. “I’ll try to sleep more too,” I added.

I ate a handful of salmonberries before planting any of the seeds. I needed the energy, and more, even if the extra areas I'd watered hadn't dried out just yet. Watering the regrowing crops, and adding a line for the hops that would ensure their trellises wouldn’t be too much in the way, took all of it. I had to eat more, including some left-over spring onions for bulk, before making a second scarecrow and hoeing an area near the ruin of the greenhouse for the wheat. Tending to the furnaces too.

By the time I’d planted the last of the wheat, night had fallen. I only noticed it when I started to look further than the small area lit by my glowstone ring. Out of habit I brought out the watering can before remembering that I’d decided to let the rain do all the watering. I crafted three tappers, brought them to the bus stop and fitted them to the trees in front of the bus. Since I passed through there often enough, I'd see when they were ready for harvest without missing too many days. Sure, it was just one maple and two oaks, but I felt pretty certain I'd need oak resin at some point too. If not, I should be able to sell it.

I had some energy left, and enough time to cut down a tree or two, but decided to take Dr. Harvey's advice to heart and got to bed half an hour earlier than yesterday.

 

[Gamer1234556]

Damn, this project’s still alive. I thought it was dead.

I should probably get to my novel soon. I have been falling behind reorganizing and just proofreading my stuff.

 

[Terdin]

Damn, this project’s still alive. I thought it was dead.

I should probably get to my novel soon. I have been falling behind reorganizing and just proofreading my stuff.

Just for a break of little over a month? The average length of my depressions is 6 weeks, give or take two weeks, so this one was on the shorter side, which also meant it never got really dark.

I still haven't given up on Duilin 6, Auris 5, Ina-tori 3, Nygai 3, or Necromancing Countries, despite not having touched some of them in over a year. I should be getting back to the rewrite of Duilin 2, but no, those scenes for Hardship Farm Diaries won't leave me alone unless I write them. If I write them too early though, I could run into the problem I had with Kitty. Wrote the final chapters for that trilogy in 2013 despite still being on book 2. Reached halfway through book 3 in 2016, but it took me until 2019 before I managed to connect to the ending as I had to get them from a medieval tech planet to its modern-day tech neighbor. But I knew the ending had to happen that way, and that it would slot in seamlessly with just minor editing when the main story caught up to it, because I'd written it in a fit of inspiration.

 

[Terdin]

Summer 2
A loud thunderclap woke me up. Before I was aware of my surroundings, I stood next to my bed. A more distant rumbling thunder followed. Muscles protested the abrupt movements and I sat down at the edge of the bed to stretch them and regain my wits. While the dreams had fled without a trace, the sound must’ve made me dream that Morris had decided to bomb my farm to retaliate for the ripped coupon yesterday.

My hands still shook from the adrenaline when I turned on the TV. Weather forecast sunny. Luck poor.

I petted Belle and gave her some food before heading out. It wasn’t the best day for mining and the thought of going to those freezing floors with wet clothes was not appealing. Instead I fed some broken CD to the recycling machine, and tended the furnace before grabbing the finished salmonberry jelly and adding more berries. I spent some time cutting down trees to relieve my early morning stress, occasionally checking back to tend to the furnaces and the recycling machine, before grabbing my fishing rod.

It didn’t take long to decide where to go. I was missing three fish on the Ocean Fishing bundle, and one of them was on the Quality Fish bundle too.

At the beach, I found Sebastian standing at the edge of one pier to look at the light show in the dark clouds. The sea, while normally a welcoming blue, mirrored the clouds as if someone had spilled a huge bottle of black ink into it. The pier was slick with foam and spray from the larger waves, but Sebastian didn’t seem to mind that he was getting soaked. Then again, the air and sea had warmed up a fair bit the last week or two.

Sebastian frowned when he turned towards me. “The sea is best enjoyed alone, don’t you think?”

“Depends on the situation, but I just wanted to say hello and warn you that I’m gonna fish over there.” I nodded towards Willy’s shop. “Just so you know who to blame if you end up on the hook, even if I’m not that incompetent anymore.”

He scoffed at the notion. “I’ve been able to avoid your hook even when you’ve been fishing next to me.” He returned his attention to the clouds in time to spot a magnificently branched lightning.

Only the rumbling thunder disturbed the sound of the rain as I cast my line. I caught several red mullets, a few flounders, and a couple of seaweeds along with some trash, before I caught something that at first glance looked like a tiny red mullet.

Not red mullet. Red snapper. I didn’t check, but unless there were more than two kinds of red fish, I now had one of the fish I needed.

Then something really bit, and I had to struggle with the rod. At first I thought it was an eel, because of the behavior, but the moment it put all its weight on the line renamed it tuna. I sometimes thought it would break my rod, but after a long fight I managed to reel it in. Gold quality.

I took a break after that, eating some berries to regain energy and flexing my fingers to stop their trembling. Then I cast my line again, hoping for tilapia to complete the bundle. Another red snapper, then a second tuna.

Willy emerged from his shop and made a pleased sound when he saw me fishing. He stayed to watch me work another flounder to shore.

“When can tilapia be caught?” I asked him.

“It’s too late for tilapia now. Your best bet would be in the morning. Is it for a request?”

“A private request,” I said to avoid being called a liar if he checked the help wanted board and there wasn’t any such request there.

“Good luck tomorrow, lass,” he said. “Summer’s also good for sturgeon, dorado, and rainbow trout in the freshwater areas. You could find pufferfish and even octopus here in the sea if your timing is right, but they’re mighty choosy. Tilapia is just a little easier. The other fish here at the beach are likely easier to combine with your farm chores, but beware of the area around the tidal pools. You’re not good enough to catch what lurks there during Summer, lass. Or rather, your rod isn’t good enough for it.”

His warning rankled. “Thanks for the warning. Maybe I can earn enough for that iridium rod before Summer ends. Would that be a good enough rod in your opinion?”

“It may still be a bit lacking, but if you’re skilled enough and choose the right tackle, it might be just barely enough. He’s slipped from my hook more times than I care to count.” Willy glanced over his shoulder and looked like he’d add something, then shook his head. “I’ll head over to the Saloon, just so you know.”

“I’ll catch a few more before calling it a day.” I cast my line, trying to think of what to do with the fish.

There was no time to think. Another tuna bit almost immediately and played hard to get. By the time I reeled it in, Willy was long gone.

Lightning still crackled against the sky occasionally, but not with the same frequency as it had done a few hours ago. I watched the roiling clouds as I thought about my options. There was my promise to the Junimo on one hand, and not wanting to experience the increased tension the fish would bring on the other. But they probably knew I’d caught the fish, and might get annoyed if I didn’t keep my promise.

I caught half a dozen more fish until I only got bites from halibuts, seaweed, trash, and something that kept escaping with the bait.

“I guess I can’t avoid this any longer,” I said in a low voice, not wanting anyone to hear me.

A diggable spot I hadn’t noticed earlier gave me a brief glimpse of a book before the Junimo took it away. Hopefully it wasn’t too water damage from spending the day in wet sand.

Despite my decision, I still procrastinated by going to the Saloon and at least attempt to be social.

Leah frowned at me. “You seem more anxious than usual. What’s going on?”

“I’ve been out of sorts since the thunder jolted me awake. For one thing I’ve got no lightning rods on my farm, so I don’t know how much damage is being done. Makes it difficult to relax, even if I have been trying to do that by fishing.” It was true enough, even if there was more to it right now.

My words were spoken a bit louder than intended, and the only other conversation, between Shane and Emily, went silent. As I went around to at least say hello, several of the others hoped the damage wouldn’t be too serious. Apart from Shane.

“I don’t care if lightning struck something important on your farm,” Shane said. “In fact I kinda hope it did.”

“Shane! Why do you keep being so rude and confrontational?” Emily asked.

“Why don’t you ask her why she keeps talking to me like we’re friends? She should leave me alone and mind her own business if she knows what’s best for her. I don’t want to get any more friends. Friends just complicates things,” he said to Emily.

Emily looked back and forth between me and Shane, at a loss for words.

“You may not want it, but I think you need it,” I said in Emily’s stead. “You’re right that it might not be what’s best for me, but whether I can handle it is for me to decide.”

Shane’s scowl deepened and he raised a fist.

“Now, now, Shane. You know the rules. If you start a fight in here, you won’t be welcome back until the one attacked tells me you've apologized and that they've forgiven you,” Gus said.

In the silence that followed, I left.

There was a request on the help wanted board. My eyebrows rose. Shane wanted a red snapper for making a shishkebob.

I returned to the Saloon and got out one of the fish. “Here’s the snapper you wanted,” I told him.

Shane looked torn between several emotions. “Thanks, I guess.” His face twitched, then he pulled something from a pocket. “Here. Though I really don’t want to give it to you. I thought Willy or someone would...” He thrust it towards me, then snatched his hand away after the briefest of touches.

What he handed me was not just the envelope with the money, but also a ticket for the prize machine in Lewis’ house. And for the Helper bundle.

“Thanks...” I barely caught myself from echoing how he’d thanked me.

My reluctance caught his attention, but before he could bring himself to ask about it, I left again, this time going straight to the community center.

I handed over the prize ticket first, for a barely noticeable increase of tension compared to the fish tank scroll just a few steps away. Now there were two bundles, only needing two items each, halfway done, which was probably why they weren’t as powerful as a four-item bundle needing just one more item.

The fish tank came next. I drew a shuddering breath as I touched the scroll. Red snapper, and tuna. The tension returned to about where it had been before completing the Crab Pot bundle. Then a gold star tuna for the Quality Fish bundle. As I'd feared, it brought the tension to near unbearable levels.

As if the Junimo were trying to crush me.

I wanted to flee the mental pressure, but I couldn’t bring myself to move or speak. All I could do was keep breathing and try to get used to the feeling. Learn to bear it. Try to bring up the strength for it from the depths of my beeing, with only partial success.

“I’ll try for more items tomorrow,” I whispered when I finally felt I could bend my knees enough for walking without fear of them giving way altogether and making me faceplant.

I hurried home, too worn out by the latest experiences to check more than the closest areas of the farm for thunderstorm damage. A splintered tree seemed to be the worst of it. The remaining fish went into one of the chests.

Belle had hogged most of the bed, so I lay down beside her, not wanting to disturb her.

 

[Terdin]

Summer 3
Landing on the floor next to my bed woke me up. For a few confused moments I remained there, floor still shaking, until I realized it was an earthquake. Belle landed on me as she fled the cottage and I got a brief view of her hanging onto the door handle and waiting for the door to open enough to let her through. When the rumbling ceased, I got to my feet, hoping there wouldn’t be any aftershocks. Or worse, that it had only been a pre-shock, if that was a thing, and that the real event would come later.

I checked the TV. Weather forecast thunderstorm, luck good. The Queen of Sauce re-run showed how to make radish salad, which I didn’t remember seeing earlier. So, I had missed one. At least now I had the recipe.

I wasn’t surprised there was no mention of the earthquake, since that usually took at least a few hours to make it into the news. And that was if it was major and affecting several regions. If this was just a small local thing that was felt more because it was so close, it might not make it at all unless buildings were damaged or people got injured.

A realization struck me. There was a dried-up watercourse near the Adventurer’s Guild, courtesy of a recently built power dam by one of the daughter companies of the Joja corporation. If that was... No. Even if there was a power outage or something there, they’d put a lid on it if a reporter asked and say that they hadn’t experienced anything out of the ordinary. Maybe they’d say that it was normal with minor earthquakes because of the ground settling as the reservoir filled up.

If it had caused a landslide or something, they might send someone to clear it if it blocked a path, much like what had happened when I moved here and access to the mine and the Adventurer’s Guild was blocked.

But I couldn’t stay pondering it all day. My crops needed water, most of them anyway, and I had to gather more wood and ores. One letter. From Mayor Lewis, asking if I could find his lucky purple shorts and get them to him. The way he stressed the word “discretely” was suspicious.

Furnace and recycling machine were quickly tended to. Picking up the watering can from the chest brought the fish from yesterday to mind. Hadn’t been able to think clearly back then and left the decision on what to keep or sell to future me. Pursing my lips I put most of them in the shipping bin, keeping the tuna and a few low quality flounders. Mom had made a tasty fried flounder. Too bad she probably wouldn’t give me the recipe.

Watering made me once again wish for decent sprinklers. Those I could make would have me having to search for the crops missed by the sprinklers, and wouldn’t save me much time or effort. The coffee plant was almost ready. One or two more days.

Visiting my quarry, I blinked in surprise. It was the first time I’d seen an iron ore node there. What didn’t surprise me was that it was just as tough as those in the mine. Of the three dig spots, two yielded coal, and the last one gave me just a few stones. There were also a bunch of copper ore nodes and four geode nodes.

I went to the Cindersap Forest to get some wood, but got distracted by Vincent and Jas running to the spring onion area. I followed them and found that Vincent wanted to take Jas on a sewer exploration, only hindered to do so by the locked grate. Jas’ mention of Gunther possibly having the key made me wonder if I should ask for it, or wait and see if it was one of Gunther’s planned gifts for donating stuff.

My musing got cut short at a sound from inside the sewers. Jas and Vincent were spooked, and took shelter behind me. If I hadn’t been there, they’d no doubt have run all the way to either Marnie’s ranch, or even the town.

“Can you go see what it is, Miss Erica?” Jas asked in a tiny voice.

I briefly placed a hand on their shoulders before going down the stairs to the grate.

Something darker than the background moved. Dark enough to seem to suck any light into itself. There was an odd sound from it, and yet there were words in that sound.

“Open the door,” the creature said.

Spooked at finding I could understand its language, I ran away. The two children ran ahead of me, realizing that if it was bad enough to scare an adult, it had to be really bad.

I paused when Marnie’s ranch came in sight, recalling I had come to gather wood. Got about a dozen trees, but working my way towards the Wizard’s tower rather than returning to the spring onion area. One tree proved to have a strange blue box hidden in its branches. Then a tree dropped a book: Woody’s Secret. The subtitle was “How to get more wood from felling trees” which would help a lot and let me leave more of my tree brethren standing.

Glancing at the tower, I went to sit behind one of the larger bushes, not wanting to let the Wizard see me just by looking through a window. He’d probably hid it in that tree hoping I’d cut it down, so he could watch me without having to resort to a crystal ball or a mirror, or whatever means he had of spying on me.

I repeatedly tried telling myself I wanted to read it and take my time learning its information, but I couldn’t help but brace myself. My hopes of avoiding the experience I’d come to expect were quickly dashed. As soon as I opened the book, pages turned on their own and it flew into me. Once my lungs stopped being paralyzed, I gasped for air. Despite the axe on the cover it hadn’t been nearly as bad as the Monster Compendium experience.

My knees were wobbly as I stood up. No more wood gathering for today. It wouldn’t be safe. Recalling the earthquake, I went to check on Marnie.

“The earthquake? I did notice a rumble, but it didn’t shake all that much,” Marnie said when I asked about it.

“I was sleeping on the edge of the bed to avoid disturbing Belle,” I said. “Not the first time I’ve done that.”

Marnie nodded. “Or it was more of a landslide and you were closer to it than I was. How’s the cliffs on the farm looking?”

“Nothing’s fallen down since I arrived,” I said.

“Then the farm’s in better shape than you. You should eat more. Farmwork’s hard work,” she reminded me.

“As is tree felling to get enough wood for a coop,” I added. “Was too shaken up this morning to be able to eat anything, but I’ll get something when I return home.”

“You’d better.”

I ate a few salmonberries as I returned to the farm, then one of the flounders, leaving some for Belle. Enough time remained in the day to visit the mine. Even if I didn’t get to the next floor with an elevator, I could get some ore. The stuff I’d gathered went into the chest. Enough wood to build a coop now. But not enough money, and maybe not enough stone.

A dig spot in the backwoods gave me another book. Fortunately just a lost book, whisked away by the Junimo. Why they couldn’t just bring the books there as they found them, instead of hoping I’d spot them waving at me and then bring it, was beyond me.

My thoughts went to the community center. The way the tension increased and vanished as the bundles were filled. Were they somehow feeding off of my effort? Some kind of magical symbiosis maybe. Hoeing the dig spots didn’t wear me out more than preparing soil for planting, so they couldn’t be feeding off my physical energy. Was it the mental energy spent in locating the spots? It was the only reason I could think of.

Reaching the plateau where Linus had his tent, something was off. It took me a while to realize why. There was a gap in the cliff to the north. No debris from a landslide or rockfall. I braved the gap, looking up at the cliffs flanking the stairs. It seemed almost as if an earlier rockfall had been reversed. Or had the earthquake just been one heck of a dynamite blast? That would explain why there had been no aftershocks.

Up the stairs was a scene I somewhat remembered. The train station, looking abandoned for a decade or more. The rocks among the weeds made me suspect that was where the mass of stone had gone. And there was another building, a bath house, or maybe even a spa. I went to check.

The interior was rundown. Cracked tiles, cracked paint and plaster on the walls, and I left footprints in the accumulated dust from the years it had been inaccessible from town. No-one seemed to have stopped at the train station to visit it either. The lights were still working. That was a good sign. With what I could see at the women’s side of it, I renamed it a spa. It wasn’t just somewhere to go to swim a few lengths and get clean.

I sneaked through the changing room, past the showers, and felt dirty for not having washed up before going into the “swimsuit only” area with my clothes on. I had to bring my bikini on my next visit, and maybe store it in one of the lockers. But it would be of no use if the pool had been damaged enough to drain it of water, or if it had become all slimy and stagnant. Would I have to do something to restore this place too?

I needn’t have worried. The large pool was full of steaming water, smelling slightly of sulfur and cloudy with minerals. It had to be fed by a hot spring. I quietly left before anyone else came to investigate, or worse, take a dip, and went to check on Linus, and on Robin’s family.

“At first I thought it was someone pelting my tent with stones again. Then the ground shook real bad.” Linus shook his head, whether to signify that he could not find words, or because he wanted to forget the experience. “When I finally dared to get out, the road to the train station was open again.”

Robin was helping Demetrius tidying up after what had happened. The smell of various chemicals stung my nose.

“Is it bad elsewhere? We’ve been busy here,” Robin said. “You should’ve seen it this morning. Glass shards everywhere. Floor bubbling with chemicals. We had to open the windows for several hours before it was safe for anyone but him to be indoors. He's got a hazmat suit.”

"No, you were closest to the epicenter," I said.

“Need to order more laboratory goods,” Demetrius said. “Beakers, retorts, flasks, and not least test tubes. Need to replace the chemicals I lost too.”

To my relief he didn’t name them. Acids and bases were probably just part of it. Solvents for extracting stuff from soil or plants too, no doubt

“It would be a lot better if you didn’t,” Robin said. “How many times have you managed to cause minor fires, only contained because I realized the risk of that ahead of time and used flame-resistant varnish on the ceiling?”

I left them to it and went to the mines.

Floor 65
The cold felt worse than it had during Spring, and made me glad for my warm boots. At the same time the chill was welcome for the first few minutes. Just one slime, and it only took me a few rocks to find the way down.

Floor 66
One greenish rock near the ladder attracted my attention. Jade. Hunting down the monsters and gathering the iron kept me warm. Prioritized getting all the iron nodes before going down despite the stairs showing up before then.

Floor 67
A darker than usual rock gave me another jade. A quick search proved no monsters, no ore, and the ladder out in the open. Both a frustration and a relief. Just as I was about to go down, a screech heralded a bat. I waited for it to attack, netting me four bat wings. How it was possible was beyond me until I turned over the now wingless body and made myself feel guilty for killing it. A baby bat had been clinging to its mother’s fur. Wiping away tears before they froze on my cheeks, I reminded myself that it had been the one that chose to attack me, not the other way around.

Floor 68
The cold was deeper here, soul-chilling. Moments later the reason showed itself as a ghost floated through a wall. This one only dropped some gold ore. The chill grew less severe. I chased down most of the monsters, but as slime dropped a staircase and one path was too rock-strewn to bother with, I didn’t search the floor all that thoroughly. The bat on this floor just dropped one wing, which was a relief. Got some coal from a bag near where the stair dropped. Not too low on coal at the moment, but with the furnaces, and the need for more preserves jars, they’d come in handy.

Floor 69
The first part reminded me of a floor in the first 40, suggesting there might be a room with barrels and boxes somewhere. The blue slimes I encountered in my search for that room were annoying, yet I couldn’t ignore them or they might kill me. A tackle from one almost gray slime made me cry out from how hard it hit. Upon killing it, the reason was obvious. It had eaten, or absorbed, some stones. Then I found the room I was searching for, guarded by another slime. Several barrels and boxes broke as I fought it, dropping frozen geodes, amethysts, and frozen tears, in addition to iron ore. The ladder was out in the open in the room beyond the treasure room.

Floor 70
Seeing proper walls down in the mine made me wary. For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to believe the miners had built them. The treasure chest held a sturdier slingshot. I threw away the sap I’d got from the slimes to fit it in my backpack. A faint clattering sound came up from downstairs and I fled to the elevator, not wanting to see what was below this late in the day.

Ran all the way home after putting the slingshot away and making sure I was bringing home a full load, including the bat wings this time. Barely remembered to fill the furnaces with iron ore and give the recycling machine another broken CD before going in to get ready for bed.

 

[Terdin]

Summer 4
Woke up to the rumble of distant lightning. Despite having a bad wake-up for the third day in a row, I felt better than expected. One or more of my skills had to have increased.

My eyes widened as I checked my crafting recipes. Lightning rods. Just what I needed.

I ran out to check the crafting materials chest. Just enough to make six lightning rods, and I silently praised Yoba that I’d thought to bring the bat wings from the mine chest. They were quickly made and placed along the edge of the cliff, forming a partial fence. I went back inside to check the TV.

Weather forecast, sunny. Luck was in my hands. Livin’ Off The Land mentioning fish that could only be caught during Summer.

It could be an idea to go fish, but recalling some of the stuff I’d heard elsewhere years ago, most of those Summer-only fish could be difficult to catch. On the other hand, the newly opened railway area did give me a large space that seemed perfect for tree planting, and mushroom logs once I found enough moss for making some. Though maybe I should start with just a small area to see if anyone protested. With my most plentiful seeds so it would hurt less if someone else took them down for being planted without permission.

I checked my crops. The coffee plant had beans for me to harvest. Four of them. I quickly replanted them, then grabbed the pine cones and some stones. Left most of the stones though. Thinking things through again, I went inside and got my bikini, then checked the shipping bin. 3821 G was a good bit on the way to upgrading the axe.

All the way to the train station I thought about my layout. I needed space for the mushroom logs, and the trees needed space too. I planted a first line, then made cobblestones to place around them so they wouldn’t spread seeds before I could fill the spaces with logs. Feeling a bit greedy I made a wide avenue that I could line with logs. It was tempting to go with just one line of trees flanked by wide avenues, but the description by the recipe said that more trees were better, so I alternated the avenues with one-space alleys.

I ran out of stones for the cobblestone area before I had filled in the area in the upper left corner, so I got more from the rocks. Despite summer rains being generally warm, I still got chilled. With the spa so close, I went in after I’d finished my test area.

The water in the pool felt almost unbearably hot against my chilled skin as I stepped in. I relaxed there, near the stairs, wishing someone else had braved the rain to take a swim so I had someone to talk to. And yet I was happy to have it all to myself for now. It was probably for the best. Anyone of the townspeople might try to make me change my plans.

Finally I felt warmed through and ready to face the frozen depths of the mine. Said hello to Linus and Sebastian on my way past.

Stepping out of the elevator on floor 70, breath making a cloud in front of my face, I remembered why I’d fled earlier. I shifted my grip on the insect jaw sword, hoping it would be enough for whatever was down there.

Floor 71
My answer to what was down here came sooner than I’d have liked. Walking skeletons, the former inhabitants of these long-buried buildings no doubt. The one that approached me was more than enough. At first it seemed like my weapon barely gave it pause. Then it collapsed in a pile of dust and a few bone fragments. The two bats and a blue slime were a lot easier on my mind. I gathered what I could of iron, a frozen tear, and a couple of frozen geodes. When I found the stairs leading down, I hesitated. Not for long. If I wanted to be able to take the elevator past these floors, I had to take the long way through first. I didn’t want to have to do it more times than I had to.

Floor 72
More skeletons. Two closer and one in the distance. This time I saw them before any of them saw me, and I tried to get the attention of just one of the first two. No dice. One of them threw some kind of bone at me, and busy trying to fight the other skeleton I couldn’t parry it. It hit me in the ribs harder than I’d thought possible for something thrown by something that didn’t have muscles. My shocked cry echoed between the walls.
Once the first two were down, I noticed the third hadn’t moved. Sound obviously wasn’t what got their attention. It had to be body heat. I took out a few rocks that blocked my path. It didn’t move. Then I got close enough for it to notice. By now, the initial shock and scare had started to wear off into a numbness. For all the Spirits’ Eve horror they were, I had fought ghosts earlier.
No iron ore on this floor, but there was an aquamarine stone, and an odd-looking mineral node that dropped a diamond.

Floor 73
Two more skeletons. While I wasn’t as scared of them now, I still wished for a better weapon, so I wouldn’t have to hit them quite as many times before they went down. The warmth from the bath had long since left my body. My right arm ached and my clothes felt like plate armor made out of thin ice. There was no going back though. Even the residual warmth from a sunny summer day wouldn’t be enough to keep me warm down here. Plenty of iron ore though, even if each node didn’t yield much, and three frozen geodes appeared as I searched for the stairs.

Floor 74
No skeletons in sight. I hurriedly looked for the stairs down. Just one more floor. Then I heard a clacking from behind a corner, making me jump a step back and get hold of my weapon just in time as a skeleton came out of hiding.
Took some rocks, and a tenth frozen geode, before I found the stairs. I looked at the clock. Had to go. Was too late in the day to attempt to reach floor 80.

Floor 75
Seeing only ordinary rocks around me, I ignored the further reaches of this floor and stepped into the elevator as soon as it came to life.

While it was too late to go further in the mine, it wasn’t too late to hand in the diamond, and to say hello to people that were still at the Saloon. My promise to the Junimos hurt in the wallet. A diamond was probably worth a lot, but there had to be more down in the mine.

The rain felt warm now, thawing my clothes and rinsing away the melted ice. Made me realize just how chilled my skin was.

As soon as I stepped inside the Community Center, I was hit with the tension from the fish tank scroll. It made me want to flee, even to give up my attempts of restoring the place entirely. I willed myself to walk through it and go to the boiler room. Adding the diamond to the treasure hunter bundle made it increase in tension. Yet it paled in comparison to the fish tank. I had to go fishing tomorrow, and try to get a tilapia and maybe ask Willy when and where I could get the other fishes the Junimo asked for.

I leaned against the door for a long minute after I got out of the Community Center, letting the rain wash my face, even if it also soaked my clothes further. Definitely didn’t want a lot of questions about what had spooked me. I was probably still pale. Then the answer to that came to me. I could mention the skeletons. They’d been scary enough at first.

The rumble of not-distant-enough thunder heralded the rain increasing in intensity, and I fled towards the Saloon.

“You’re soaked!” Emily said before I could close the door behind me.

I looked down at myself to give me a few seconds. “Is it that obvious?” I asked facetiously, pulling at my shirt to keep it from clinging too much.

At his usual table Willy laughed heartily enough that Clint joined in.

“Good to see that you’re not staying inside because of the thunderstorm, Erica,” Willy said then. “Caught anything good lately?”

“No, but there are a few fish I’d like to ask you about. When can tiger trout, sturgeon, and walleye be caught?”

“Those be somewhat tricky fish t’be sure. Sturgeon can be caught at this time of year. Easiest during the day, though with the right bait it’s possible at other times too. You won’t see tiger trout or walleye until Fall. Ask me again then. Now, if you want really tricky fish in Summer, you want to fish at the dock by the tidal pools, like I told ya the day before yesterday. Why be ye asking?”

I paused for a second. “Dad asking me about them in a letter, something about Grandpa... Patrick, having mentioned them way back when,” I lied.

Willy brought out a pipe and filled it.

“No smoking in here,” Gus warned him from behind the counter.

Willy put away his pipe again with a sigh. “Old Patrick... He was one fine fisherman and a friend of my old man. He caught a good many o' the fish around here. Not sure if he ever caught any o' the five legendary fish around here. Probably not. If he did, he di’n’t brag of it. My old man did catch a few o' them, though never the Legend. Didn’t know you were related to old Patrick.”

That was a side of Grandpa that I hadn’t known about. Every time my family came to visit, he’d been busy with the crops and the animals. Then again, the time he’d spent with us was probably the time he could’ve taken to go fish.

“Thanks for telling me about the fish, and for telling me about a side of Grandpa that I didn’t get to see as a child.” I went over to Shane.

“I don’t want to talk right now,” he said in response to my hello. But there was no anger in his voice, just tiredness.

He was, however, looking at how my wet shirt clung to my skin. Made me glad it was thick and dark enough to not reveal more than my figure.

“Just wanting to enjoy the view?” I asked a bit sharper than intended.

Shane tore his eyes away from me and stared into his mug instead, blushing at having been caught. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

I ignored his predicament and went over to Leah. She usually left earlier than most of the others.

“How’s the farm holding up?” Leah asked before I could say anything.

“It’s going well enough. Harvested my first few coffee beans this morning. Replanted them. Should get at least a couple harvests from them. Depending on how soon the next harvest is, I might plant those beans too.”

“You’re gonna make your own coffee?” Leah asked.

“Once I’ve got a keg or two, probably. Depends on how many beans I end up with, since I want to save what I need for planting next year. How’s things going for you?”

There was a pause before she answered. “Fairly well. There’s decent enough forage, and I usually go down to the tidal pools for inspiration around this time of year. There are some beautiful shells there now, and the corals are intricately shaped. I might even show you some of my sketches if you catch me in the right mood down there.”

“I hope you will show me some of your artwork some day,” I said.

Leah got to her feet. “I’d better get home if I want to get dry before I go to bed.”

I went over to Clint, catching him shooting a glance towards Emily before he noticed my approach.

“I have been meaning to upgrade my axe, but between needing new seeds and all... And the lightning rods I made today kinda ate most of my supply of iron bars. I’ll get around to it someday soon,” I promised. “I got enough iron ore from the mine today to replace what I used. Not really expecting to run into skeletons though. They spooked me.”

Clint’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve reached pretty deep,” he said. “Unless, of course, they’re going outside of their normal haunts.” He paused. “Pun not intended.”

I was sorely tempted to ask how deep the mines went, so I knew what to expect. But what if the whole mine thing was considered an initiation rite? They wouldn’t let the initiate know. Wasn’t an adventurer supposed to be able to handle the unknown? The elevator might be controlled from the guild house, letting Clint and Marlon go to floors deeper than I could.

“Floors 71 to 75,” I said in a low voice when Clint raised an eyebrow.

Clint nodded. “That’s the beginning of their floors.”

There was a hint of relief in his voice, as if he’d been worried he’d be called in to help beat them back to where they “should” be. He’d also taken care to not reveal too much. No hint of how many floors the skeletons haunted.

I briefly looked into the side room. Empty, as I’d figured it would be. There had been no clack of colliding balls from the pool table and no murmur of conversation.

“Want something hot to eat?” Gus asked.

“Thanks, but I’m saving up for upgrading my axe,” I told him.

“You should get something to eat,” Emily said, concern in her voice. “Surely you can wait a day longer with upgrading the axe. You’re all pale, and...”

I tried to laugh it off, intending to mention the skeletons, then winced at a stabbing pain in the side. “Ow. I think one of the monsters in the mine bruised a rib with that attack. Not enough to bother Doctor Harvey with," I added. "Should’ve healed by tomorrow without any treatment since it doesn’t hurt with normal breathing, and I’ll eat some of the stuff I’ve foraged."

“You’d better,” Emily said to my back.

Rather than foraged stuff, I ate a carrot when I got home, wanting to give my stomach a bit more to work with, and felt the weariness lift more than if I’d eaten a salmonberry. Curious, I prodded my ribs, and failed to find the sore spot that had been there. Seemed like it wouldn’t be all that difficult to sleep tonight after all.

 

[Terdin]

Got sidetracked by a much later scene.

Summer 5
Lay still for a few seconds, relishing in having woken up in a normal way for once. The previous three mornings had been awful. Birds were twittering about outside. Didn’t stay in bed for long. Crops needed watering... apart from the wheat. I just needed two more rainy days and they’d be done without any input from me.

Went to check the weather forecast and my good mood disappeared. An anomalous reading, whatever that meant. The green-tinted computer failure shown on the screen behind the meteorologist was ominous. Checked the fortune-teller show. Neutral luck. Didn’t make me feel better about either today or tomorrow. Was it some kind of hurricane or other weather that would prevent me from going outside tomorrow? How would my crops fare? Would my house be sturdy enough? At least I didn’t have any animals, apart from Belle, to worry about.

Ran out to water the crops, and got distracted by the lightning rods. Five of them had produced batteries. I needed one for the boiler room. It stayed in my backpack. The other four went into the materials chest.

Straightening from that, I noticed I had mail. A rectangular box with a card attached.

-Erica!
I made you a little treat this morning in the saloon. Dig in!
Your friend, Gus.

I opened the take-out box. A portion of spaghetti, complete with a sauce that made my mouth water just from the smell of it.

My eyes teared up and what he’d said to Linus of not wanting anyone to go hungry came to mind. Gus didn’t have to do that. I wasn’t that strapped for money that I needed handouts. But I would eat it. After watering my crops.

Nothing had ripened yet. But they were growing well. There were green berries on the coffee plant, which could mean they’d be ready to harvest tomorrow. If I could go outside, that was.

Watering done, I sat down on one of the footbridges, took off my boots, and dangled my feet in the water as I ate the spaghetti. Too hungry to go look for my kitchen utensils, I ate it with my bare hands, not caring that it got a bit messy. To my pleasant surprise it was still a bit warmer than body-temperature.

I sucked most of the sauce from my shirt before washing it in the small river. I had to try and catch either a tilapia or a sturgeon... I’d try for the tilapia first. It should still be early enough in the day, unless I made too many detours to greet people on the way there. Oh, and better get those geodes too and see what I got from them afterwards. And the blue box with the question mark.

A barely audible screech made me look towards the cave. I hadn’t checked it for a few days. Maybe I had better do that too and see what the bats had dropped for me before the fruit rotted away. An apricot and a peach, along with some salmonberries and spice berries. Two more gifts for the Junimo.

At most exchanging hellos, I made it to the beach before noon, and met Alex on his way back to town.

“Hello, Farm girl... Erica I mean. Did you get yourself some new pants? You must be doing something right. Er... As much as I’d like to spend more time with you, I need to go open the ice cream stand. It’s my part-time job during summer. Hope to see you there.”

I made a wry face behind his back as I realized that my trousers were a bit looser now, confirming what everyone had told me in the last few days. I was losing weight.

Haley was enjoying the sun a bit further down the beach. She took one look at me. “Do you wear those clothes every day? I’ve never seen you wearing anything else.”

I sighed. I should try to get at least one more change of clothes. “Hasn’t been high on my list of priorities,” I said. “I admit it’s getting a bit frayed in the sleeves from monster attacks.”

She didn’t say anything else to me, apparently having lost interest. I went to the side of the beach and cast my line. It seemed a decent enough place, and if a big fish pulled me off-balance I wouldn’t fall into deep water with a long swim to shore.

I caught a box along with the fish, but it took me a while to look at the contents of the box as I stared at the tilapia. Hadn’t expected to get one first try after trying for so long last time. Then I looked in the box. Some deluxe bait and... iridium ore? Didn’t I need that for one of the bundles? The deluxe bait would come in handy.

I went to look for beach finds. A couple of clams, and two dig spots where one proved to hold another of the library’s lost books, the other held a few pieces of clay. Behind Elliot’s cabin, I paused at the sight of a most beautiful seashell that shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow as the sun hit it.

Then crossed to the tidal pools to pick up some of the pieces of coral. Of course I had to pick a day when Leah wasn’t there. Cast away the clay to make room for a different quality of coral. Then ate the salmonberry I’d found in the cave to make space for a sea urchin.

I made a detour past my fishing chest to put away the beach finds, especially the rainbow shell. It seemed like a rare find, and if a request asked for one, I didn’t want to have to curse at having sold it. There were a fair few pieces of coral there. Maybe even enough for the axe upgrade, especially combined with what I had.

On my way to the community center, I noticed one of the trees had grown a weird green growth, which on closer inspection was... moss. I scraped it off with my weapon, hoping no-one would mind. My first piece of moss. Not nearly enough for the bundle, but now I knew where to find it.

I almost went for the fish tank scroll first. Then I told myself to endure it a little while longer and be a little bit obstinate about my promise to give them the items as I got them. The boiler room came first, since I’d acquired the battery first. The iridium ore got added at the same time to save me some time, releasing some of the already minor tension from that scroll. Only one unfinished bundle left there.

The reward for the engineer bundle was such that I didn’t think it’d fit in the backpack. Two furnaces. Yet when I tried, I felt a surge of magic, and the furnaces became small enough to fit. Still weighed a lot.

I forced myself to walk through the front room to the pantry to drop off the apricot and the peach for the artisan bundle. I had obtained those next. Filling that bundle to the halfway point didn’t raise its tension all that much, barely even noticeable at the moment.

Approaching the fish tank scroll were the most difficult steps I could remember. A bit like walking uphill on a slippery muddy slope going against a strong wind. Part of me wanted to see if it was easier to approach on hands and knees, but I resisted that urge.

Finally I reached it. The reduced tension by giving them the tilapia was such sweet relief that I at first didn’t look too closely at my reward. Five beach totems. Just holding one in my hand made me know how to use it. I just had to raise it above my head, wish for it, and I’d end up at the beach. I turned it over, wondering how such a thing was possible. But I could sense there was magic instilled in it.

I stuffed the beach totems in my backpack, resisting the urge to try one. While it would mean a shorter walk to visit Clint, I also had to thank Gus for his gift, which would be quite a detour from the beach.

“Oh, don’t mention it,” Gus said when I thanked him for his gift. He did seem pleased to find that I had that much good manners.

“It was really tasty. Ate it after watering my crops,” I added. “Have to go do more errands.”

“Take care.”

Reached Clint’s shop just in time.

“I thought you didn’t...” Clint began.

“Not enough money for an upgrade, no, but I do have enough to open these geodes, and maybe you could help me open this box too.”

Clint nodded and we got down to business. Aerinite, fluorapatite, coal, stone, a single piece of iron ore, kyanite, geminite, frozen tear, clay, and esperite. The ordinary geodes came next. Thunder Egg, Dwarvish Helm, Coal, Sandstone. Last, the box, which proved to contain 10 mixed flower seeds.

“Lots of things here that I don’t remember seeing before,” I said. “While it’s good, it’s also a disappointment, since it doesn’t give me an excuse to sell them rather than donate them. I recognize these two though, but I think I’ll drop them and the helmet off at my shipping bin instead.

Clint looked relieved. Maybe some of the minerals were worth a fair amount. It still didn’t deter me from going to the museum and donate the five new minerals.

“This takes your donations past 35, which means I’ve got some pumpkin seeds for you. You should wait with planting them until Fall though,” Gunther said.

“I guess you’d better hold on to them for me for a while. I’ll try to remember picking them up in late Summer.” I looked towards the shelves. “I think I’ll do some reading while I’m here.”

There had come a few titles since I last checked. Fisherman act 1 didn’t interest me. I returned it to the shelf after a quick glance at some of the play’s dialogue.

The title “How deep do the mines go” did interest me, but it gave no concrete answers, other than there being three distinct areas. The one I’d reached recently was different from the first few frozen floors, but it wasn’t that much different. More like how those dark floors before the frozen area were different from the bug infested floors above them. If they counted, that would make it four areas, which went against the information in the book.

It made me think of the magma geodes I’d found while fishing. There had been only ordinary geodes, and maybe one omni geode, in the first 40 floors. The frozen levels gave me frozen geodes, including the last few floors. Was the last area hot, with magma geodes?

The book did indicate that the depths were a well-kept secret. And that the mines had claimed the lives of more than a few. Made me wonder if it was all that wise to go any deeper than I already had. No. I needed gold for the bait maker, and for upgrades, and for who knows what else, and so far ghosts seemed the only source of gold. Maybe there were gold ore nodes further down, just like the iron ore nodes hadn’t started to appear until the frozen floors. I had to go just deep enough to get at them.

Still deep in thought, I returned the book to the shelf and moved to the next. An old farmer’s journal, written in Grandpa’s handwriting, about people sending gifts and recipes by mail once he’d become good enough friends with them. I returned the book to the shelf, wondering how old he’d been back then. Probably before he proposed to Grandma and a couple of years before he had my uncle and mom.

The book about scarecrows was less interesting than it first seemed. Only thing I didn’t already know was the mention of collectible scarecrows.

I got out the slightly crumpled list and made sure the six titles I’d found were crossed out, then counted those that remained. 14 lost books left to be found. Turning my head I spotted the scattered finds in the museum area. Plenty left to find there too. Maybe I should be really looking for the blasted stuff the junimo tried to get my attention to, even if it could lead to finding more of the books that read me too.

Leaving the museum I barely remembered to check the trash cans, in my new focus on looking for stuff to unearth. Nothing. I went around the bare-earth areas around town, but found only a few sweet pea flowers, then up to the mountain area. Peeked into the mine to place the new furnaces there to lighten my load a bit. Not enough remained of the day to go down there. No dig spots outside the guild.

There! There was one near Linus’ tent. Another lost book. Disappearing like the others.

“Didn’t find anything?” Linus asked. “I’ve seen you browsing about.”

“I thought there might be, but...” I showed him my empty hand.

“That’s the foraging life at times,” he said with a knowing nod. “Roots are difficult to find at this time of year unless you go into the mines. Cave carrots are available there all year round.”

“I didn’t know that, but it makes sense. The interior of the mine, any kind of cave really, is supposed to remain much the same independent of what time of year it is, so the cave carrots wouldn’t know what time of year it is.”

“That is so.” Linus returned to stir the pot he had hung over his campfire.

I went through the backwoods, finding another spot, which gave me a few pieces of coal. Not what I was looking for, but it would come in handy. And a couple of grapes and a spice berry.

On my way through the farm I tended to the furnaces. Tomorrow I’d have enough iron bars again... except I didn’t know what tomorrow’s weird weather would do. Clint might not have his shop open. I went down to plant some of the mixed flower seeds and water them.

Darkness had fallen when I went to the forest, making it difficult to spot anything worthwhile from a distance. At least I could spot stuff in my immediate vicinity thanks to the glowstone ring.

The cart of the traveling merchant was dimly lit by another light source, but she’d already turned off the lights inside her cart. No chance for a rare seed today. Instead, I went to where Shane sat on the jetty with a lantern beside him and a beer can in hand. The remaining five in the sixpack on his other side.

He turned to look at me as my footsteps shook the jetty, and froze. A glance towards the water, then back to me, apparently deciding to stay was to prefer to a night-time swim in the pond. Then he extended a beer can to me.

“I’ve never seen you drink at the saloon, but... Want one?” he said hesitantly.

I nodded but took off my boots before accepting the offered can. Taking a seat next to him allowed me to dangle my feet in the water.

“Ooh. I needed that. Boots suitable for winter are not ideal for a hot summer day.” I opened the can. “What brings you to drinking out here?”

“Just wanted to be away from the Saloon for a bit. Too damn cheerful for me today after that weather forecast.” He burped slightly, then sighed. “Life... You ever felt like... Like no matter what you do, you’re gonna fail? Like you’re stuck in some miserable abyss and you’re so deep you can’t even see the light of day? I just feel like... like no matter how hard I try, I’m not strong enough to climb out of that hole, that I'll never be.”

His words echoed how I’d felt half a year ago. I stared at the can in my hand, then emptied it in one go, wanting an excuse for what I was about to say. For the first time since the Egg Festival I saw a smile on his face.

“Fast drinker, huh? You’re a woman of my own heart. Just don’t make it a habit. You’ve got a future ahead of you still.”

“You think so?” I asked, already feeling the effect of the alcohol, having drunk beer on an empty stomach. “I did feel the same way as you half a year ago. Even thought of ending my life rather than keep working customer support at Joja. Then I recalled the envelope Grandpa gave me shortly before he died, and how he told me to not open it until I felt my spirit fading into nothingness. The farm gave me a third option.”

I didn’t notice the tears making their way down my face until Shane offered me a paper tissue.

“Thanks.” I wiped my eyes and blew my nose. “Then I find that it seems like everyone has plans for me. Marlon sending me down the mines to fight monsters for some weird suicidal initiation rite... That guy in the tower wanting me to communicate with spirits... Various shopkeepers hoping my spending will keep them afloat when...” I barely kept from mentioning how I felt like I was barely scraping by. No doubt he knew what that was like.

I looked over at him, finding him staring into his own can. He emptied the rest of it and opened another. The rings of another sixpack lay under the one that now had just three remaining. He crumpled the empty can and put it in a pocket. It rattled slightly as he shifted position.

“I... didn’t know. I thought you were like Emily... Always cheerful, saying stuff to make light of... Just couldn’t handle another one like her. But now that I think about it, you didn’t come with less than useless advice.”

“I realized you were in a depression after just two or three run-ins with you, and I knew enough that I knew that I didn’t know what to say. There was no advice I could give that I wouldn’t have taken like an insult if it had been aimed at me just a few weeks earlier.”

Shane nodded wordlessly and drank about half of the contents of the can. “So, that’s why...” He burped again, louder this time. “Sorry.” He emptied the can. “You don’t need to do that, you know. Why did you keep coming back despite everything I said? Why...” He gestured to where I sat beside him.

“All I knew was that if you were pushing everyone away to justify how you feel, you might need a friend that wouldn’t avoid you. Who would keep coming back. I wasn’t sure if I could be that friend. If I had that in me. But I knew I could at least try. I have experience with shrugging off verbal abuse from my time at Joja.”

“You shouldn’t let yourself put up with that...” Shane made a small sound, no doubt recalling that he’d been the one handing it out, even if his attempts at shooing me away hadn’t been anywhere near as bad as some of the customers I’d dealt with.

He reached for the fourth can of the sixpack, then winced. “Welp. My liver’s begging me to stop. Better call it a night.”

I got to my feet first, swaying a bit from the alcohol. Then realized the opportunity. When Shane got to his feet, he almost lost his balance. Reaching out to steady him, I gathered all my desire to help him, hoping the alcohol wouldn't mess up the aim for my magic.

He steadied quickly, used to function at this level of inebriation, then looking down at the hand that still held his wrist. I released him.

“You’re stronger than you look, farm girl. But what if I’d ended up pulling you into the water?”

“I can swim. Not sure if I’d remember enough of the one life-saving class way back when to be able to rescue someone else, but I would try. Whether you’d want me to or not,” I added.

“I... Never mind.” He turned and staggered off, leaving a wavering line of wet footprints until his feet were dry enough.

I stuffed my feet back into the too-warm boots and made my way back to the farm. Too impaired by alcohol to even consider looking for forage, moss, and waving Junimo arms. Besides, I could probably use a few more hours of sleep. Spotting the quarry I went to clear it again, despite knowing it wasn’t the best course of action. No geode nodes, but a few ore nodes and some rocks. Most of my sluggishness wore off halfway through the quarry work.

Belatedly, I ate a salmonberry and drank some water to give the beer some company. The alcohol might’ve cleared from my brain, but my stomach was a different matter. A fish might’ve been better company but would taste a lot worse if it came back up again tomorrow.

The furnaces and recycling machine needed tending and I filled them with the ore I had gathered before going inside, then put parsnips in the preserve jars after gathering the two jars of salmonberry jelly. The minerals and artifact from the geodes went into the shipping bin.

The diary also needed an update. What had Shane been about to say before leaving? A disparaging comment about my willingness to try to save him from drowning? A demand for a good-night kiss withdrawn to avoid offending me and ruin a tenuous friendship? Something else? I still pondered that as I lay down in bed.

 

[Terdin]

Summer 6
Woke up to my room seeming greenish. It wasn’t just the muted light from windows that seemed covered with a thin film of algae. The very air seemed to have a green tint to it. Even the fire, and Belle lying in front of it, seemed green. Belle was cheerful enough when I petted her, so it didn’t bother her too much. Then again, animals avoided showing signs of weakness until they were in really bad shape.

The TV had just green static on it. I sighed. No chance of learning what this weather was from official sources.

So, I had to find out for myself. I went outside to see how it would affect me, and how it had affected my crops.

A weird sense made me stop just outside my door. The forest magic inside me was elated, making me want to dance around. There was no danger from the green rain, at least not for me.

This was no time for dancing though. The other townspeople might be scared of it, and there were weeds everywhere. Not just the ordinary small ones that dropped fibers, but huge weeds that shouldn’t have been able to grow overnight.

There was a letter in my mailbox, from Gus. He mentioned keeping the Saloon open and invited me to take shelter there. Most of the townspeople would likely go there, braving the rain to not have to stay cooped up in their home and fearing they were the only ones left in the world. 260 G in the shipping bin from yesterday.

First things first though. I hacked my way towards my crops. Rather than taking just one swipe, these weeds needed two for a small growth, and four to six for a big. The first big weed I cleared made me pause again. It had dropped moss. I looked around at the weeds around me. One of the earlier weeds had also dropped some moss. Went back to pick it up.

Change of plans. I needed that moss more than I needed to check on the townspeople, but crops first.

No rapid growth among my crops, but I sensed the soil had more nutrients. It might make for better quality produce. The coffee bush had another harvest. I planted those four beans, completing the part of the grid I’d started earlier. The hot peppers were also ready for their first harvest.

Ran back to empty my backpack of stuff I didn’t need, then I realized that with how much fiber I’d get, and the wild seeds I’d got from the summer forage bundle, I could make enough tea saplings to earn the rest I needed for the axe upgrade. I did that, putting all 15 saplings in the shipping bin. I could always use more money. Especially with the vault bundles, the return of the traveling merchant tomorrow, and my vow to Mom.

I made sure to bring my weapon, the axe, pickaxe, and hoe, so I could deal with any obstacles. Kept the moss in. Already four pieces, and there would be more before the day was over.

Made my way down towards the forest, figuring that would give me the largest areas to clear from weeds. I found that not only did I get fiber, moss, and mixed seeds from the weeds. I also got some mixed flower seeds, though that seemed rarer. Maybe one mixed flower seed for every two or three mixed seeds.

I cleared the way to Marnie’s farm and went inside. Startled gasps greeted me, the sounds coming from the kitchen.

Marnie looked me up and down. “You’re not worried about this rain? I guess that puts me at ease a little. I just hope the cows are okay.”

“I’m scared...” Jas clung to Marnie’s skirt despite being old enough that it looked a bit strange.

“The cows weren’t outside, so I think they’re just treating it as ordinary rain. If I were to guess, the water droplets formed around algae. One of my teachers in school once mentioned raindrops always forms around a particle, whether dust or something else. Now that I think of it, wasn’t there one news report a few years ago of what the locals in that country nicknamed a blood rain, where the raindrops had formed around some red microbe, but I don’t remember if it was a bacteria or algae. It only affected a small area, so it was mere chance that I saw it.”

Marnie, Jas, and Shane all looked at me. Marnie then looked at the window.

“I guess this green rain is a lot easier on my mind than if it had been red,” Marnie said. “How does it look outside?”

“Weeds all over the place, that’s... Oh, and some trees look a bit weird. Might be just moss, but I’m not sure. The nature seems to really love this rain, so there’s nothing to be afraid of, Jas. How are you holding up, Shane?”

He shrugged. “Well, I don’t have to go to work today, so I’m not complaining. The phone doesn’t seem to work, so they can’t call me in.”

Marnie’s gaze flickered between me and Shane, noting the difference in tone in Shane’s voice. Wisely, she didn’t mention it.

“I just wanted to check on the three of you. Had planned to spend most of the day clearing out weeds. I need the moss they drop if I want to make mushroom logs.” I waved goodbye and left.

Clearing my way towards Leah’s cottage, I found I wasn’t the only one to dare spending time outside. Leah was outside, studying one of the large weed growths.

“Where did all these plants come from? It’s a surprise, but I’m not complaining. Gathered anything from them, Erica?”

“Fibers, mostly, but also some seeds and moss.”

“Oh! Did you know you can make soup out of some kinds of moss?” She dug into the depths of the big weed, sniffed at the clump of moss she extracted, and gently licked it. “Yeah, I think this is the right kind of moss for cooking moss soup. Looks, smells, and tastes right. If you make some, once you have a kitchen, could you give me a taste? It takes a lot of moss for one portion, and I’d rather spend my time foraging for stuff I can put in a salad. Fruit salads this time of year.”

“I’ll think about it. I’m hoping to use it to grow mushrooms.”

“Oh! That’s even better. Mushrooms can be soo tasty. Especially when fried. Just beware of the red ones with white spots,” Leah said.

“I will,” I said in parting, and returned to hack my way through weeds. Occasionally I found a rock or fallen branch that I cleared away too. Any nearby tree that was covered in moss got most of it scraped off.

The forest was thicker than before. I thought it had been just that some trees had come to look different, but close to the Wizard’s tower, I found that entire trees that looked odd had grown to full size over night. I looked up at one tree that had a completely green trunk without being covered in moss.

My breath caught. It looked like a gigantic fern in its fiddlehead stage. Another stood nearby.

I bit my lip and got out my axe. Rather than turning into pieces of wood when felled, the fern-like tree dissolved and turned into seven pieces of small fiddlehead ferns. I dropped to my knees in relief. Just what I needed for the community center, with one left over. Now I just had to wait for the first harvest of hops to complete the wild medicine bundle.

The break was cut short when an odd sound came from the Wizard’s tower. Not sure it was a sound even, or if I heard it with my mind instead. I hacked my way over there and went inside.

The Wizard looked me up and down, taking in my disheveled appearance. “Though this unusual rain may be alarming, there’s nothing to fear on this day. In fact, it’s a day of great joy for many living things.” He spoke as if he was trying to calm a frightened child.

I laughed. “I knew that much just by stepping outside this morning. Are you forgetting that you awakened forest magic in me?”

His eyebrows rose. “You looked like you came searching for an answer.”

“Not for the rain. For the odd sound I heard from over here,” I said.

Another look of surprise, then a frown. “That is nothing that concerns you. If there’s nothing else, you may leave. There are special matters I can only attend to on this day.”

The door opened behind me, proving beyond words and the rising tension that I was dismissed. I left, also having more important things to do than stand around talking.

His reactions kept haunting me as I went from weed to weed. He’d been pleasantly surprised to find that I had embraced the forest magic rather than trying to tune it out. Had he thought Junimo and their scrolls would let me forget about it? Or that I’d be so spooked by what the magic books did to me that I didn’t want anything more to do with the forest magic?

Actually... Maybe it would’ve been possible to tune it out, by avoiding the community center.

Before tearing up that coupon, I could’ve gone and bought a Joja membership, no questions asked, with only my conscience and wallet suffering from it. Lewis had been on the verge of giving up on the community center anyway. Morris would’ve gloated at his triumph even then, but not as much. If I went and did it now, he would rub it in my face every time I visited. From what Pierre said, Morris was the type who carried a grudge. He’d keep on mentioning that I’d admitted defeat and that I had finally realized that Joja was the superior choice.

The Wizard’s other surprise hadn’t been of the good kind. As if I’d revealed that I’d eavesdropped on his secrets without him noticing. I had better hope it really didn’t concern me.

I was so caught up in my thoughts and the effort to gather more moss that I forgot about the time, and about my physical needs. The rain seemed to compensate completely for the effort of clearing the weeds. Because of that it came as a surprise to me when I fell asleep mid-cut, barely registering falling across the large weed in front of me as if it was a mattress.

 

[Terdin]

Drat. Got inspiration for the scene of reaching floor 100 of SC for the first time. Gonna post this so I can use the field to bring the scene home from work the easy way.

Summer 7
Woke up to the sound of rain. Lay still for a few seconds wondering why I was in my bed. I’d been by the spring onion fields. Lifting an arm made me frown. My lilac shirt had been all but green from the algae in the rain, but now it looked like it had been washed and dried before whoever carried me home dressed me again.

I got out of bed and gulped. My trousers had been cleaned too. A look at my underwear confirmed that the laundry effort hadn’t been restricted to what anyone could see. How else had they violated me while I was out cold? I could only hope it was the Wizard or the Junimo, and that my clothes had been cleaned through magical means without them having undressed me first.

Petting Belle, something tugged on the skin of my left arm. It proved to have been taped in a few places, reminding me of the last few conscious moments. I’d fallen across my right arm, and my sword must’ve cut me up.

Doctor Harvey... I had some questions for him regarding who’d brought me over to him.

Decision made, I went to the TV. Weather forecast, sunny. Fortune teller telling me the day was in my hands. Queen of Sauce teaching a recipe for baked fish.

Outside, I went straight for the mailbox.

-Erica,
Someone dropped you off at the clinic. You’d passed out from exhaustion! You’ve got to take better care of yourself and go to bed at a reasonable hour. I’ve billed you 371 G to cover your medical expenses.
Dr. Harvey.

Groaning, I checked my wallet. He’d already taken his fee. Good to know in case he demanded I pay it a second time. Then I went over to the shipping bin. Adding what I’d earned from the tea saplings brought my funds up to just over 7000 G. Enough to upgrade the axe.

While I had more than enough moss now, I only had enough hardwood for one mushroom log. Unless... I went up to where I’d planted the mahogany seeds. One of the trees had matured and had a couple of saplings nearby. I cut it down, giving me enough hardwood for a second mushroom log. Among my crops, the summer squash had ripened, reminding me that I had stuff for the pantry scroll too.

I went through my mental list as I moved stuff between chests and backpack. Ten moss, six fern, and summer squash for the community center, oh, and a hot pepper too. Five iron bars and the axe for Clint. The two mushroom logs for my grove. Bring a couple of carrots to have something that had a chance of filling my stomach when mining. Take route through the forest to visit the traveling merchant.

Then I was off. The weird-looking trees had turned into normal maples and oaks and all the twisted and enlarged weeds had gone.

The traveling merchant proved to have just one rare seed, which was just fine with me. On my way through town, I looked into Jodi’s home. All three in the family brightened when they saw me.

“Seems like there’s no damage to anything... That sure was a strange event. How are you holding up?” Sam asked me.

Jodi merely nodded.

“I’m fine, other than I spent just about all day hacking away at those weeds to gather moss, and ended up fainting from exhaustion. I’d been looking for moss for making mushroom logs for some time, so when I noticed there was moss in the bigger growths of weeds, I kind of went wild.”

“You were outside in that..?” Jodi said.

“I wanted to go outside and play, but Mom didn’t let me.” Vincent pouted.

“There wasn’t anything harmful in the rain, but my clothes became greenish from the algae in the rain,” I admitted. “I don’t blame your mom for not wanting to have more laundry to do,” I added to Vincent.

“That wasn’t what I was afraid of,” Jodi admitted. “I thought it would eat through the roof and...” She caught herself from saying more.

“Just wanted to see how you were doing,” I said in parting.

I checked in on Emily and Haley next, but neither had been all that worried about the rain.

“I did end up visiting the Saloon for the first time in my life though,” Haley said. “It was surprisingly cozy in there. Just wish the weather wasn’t so awful two days in a row.”

“I felt a strong presence, as if some nature spirit drew in and did its thing,” Emily said. “Didn’t want to leave Haley all alone and possibly getting worried, which is why I made her come to the Saloon with me. We had a nice little chat. Clint promised to protect us all if something attacked us. There were some that were fearful and thinking the end of the world was near, but Elliot proposed to have something hot to drink, and then we had a sing-along. Too bad the weather affected the jukebox, or we could’ve used that to bring up the mood with the negative Nancies. And too bad you didn’t come stay with us.”

“I had other things to do, like gather moss. I’d better get over to Clint,” I said.

Clint eagerly accepted the task of upgrading my axe to steel, promising it would be done in two days.

“Well, yesterday was kind of a dud. And there I was, thinking it was finally my chance to be a hero and protect... the townspeople from toxic sludge monsters or something. Oh well, back to the grindstone. Once I've made the new edge, I've got an axe to grind.” He grinned at me, proud of the pun.

I laughed, happy that he hadn’t been overly scared of the rain.

“You know, today would be a good day to go to the mines,” Clint said.

“I’m not so sure about that. Those frozen floors are horrible when you have wet clothes. But it’s definitely not a day to go tree cutting. Not when you’ve got my axe. I’d better leave you to it.”

I ran back to town, to see Dr. Harvey.

“Oh, good to see you upright,” Harvey began, then frowned. “I thought you said you’d get more sleep, and then you...” He shook his head. “How’s the arm?”

I showed him my left forearm where only the tapes indicated something had been wrong. “Thanks for just disinfecting and taping it up.” I removed the tapes.

“Even if it was a clean cut, and not overly deep, it shouldn’t have healed that fast. I was told you’d spent just about all of yesterday outside. I first feared that rain was toxic, but what if it’s actually healthy for the body? The plants sure seemed to respond well to it, and so did you.”

“Who carried me here and told you that?” I demanded.

Harvey paled. “I promised not to tell,” he said, echoing what he’d said the first time I’d been brought to his clinic after a faint, but this time he was far less certain.

“From your reaction, I think it’s more like you were told not to tell and that the person frightened you enough to not dare to, even if he never actually uttered a threat. Let me guess. He had purple hair and beard, and was the one who carry me home as well.”

Harvey looked even more frightened and shook his head with pursed lips. His reaction made me certain, and I was surprised at finding myself annoyed at being right. Again.

“Well, I guess better him than Linus, considering I found that my clothes had been cleaned as well. All my clothes,” I added and let it sink in.

“You mean... that person took advantage of you?” Harvey said, shocked.

“I don’t know. However, if had been you that carried me home, it would mean that you would be the prime suspect for removing all my clothes and then putting them back on once they were clean and dry.” I glared at him.

He backed against the wall, waving his hands in front of him. “Not me! I wouldn’t take advantage of a patient! I swear! Never! I only rolled up your sleeve to treat your wound! He was the one who took you home, scooped you up and carried you like a parent might carry a sleeping child.” He held out his arms to show me, and I could well imagine him carrying a child around Jas or Vincent's age, one arm under the shoulders and the other supporting the knees.

“I guess I have some questions for him next time I see him.” I crossed my arms, trying to look more certain about how that conversation would go than I actually was. From past run-ins, I might get one question, maybe two, answered in a way that wasn’t an answer, before he’d decide he was done with me.

“You’re gonna...” Harvey began.

“It’s not as if I can expect anyone else to be my knight in shining armor and do it for me, now can I? I don’t have a boyfriend, or girlfriend for that matter, who might feel that level of protectiveness about me. I am also a member of the Adventurer’s Guild, so I think Marlon would expect me to face my problems on my own. With that in mind, I think I’ll go down the mines today. There are some frozen floors there that will help me cool off.”

I left before he could say something about wearing wet clothes into the equivalent of a walk-in freezer. I hadn’t caught a cold yet despite how long it had been since I first set foot at floor 41.

The community center was next on my to-do list. Now that the fish tank scroll’s tension had been lowered, it was a lot easier to move about in the front room.

Went to the first scroll. Out of curiosity I added the fern to the Wild Medicine Bundle to increase the tension, before completing the Forest Bundle with the moss and releasing the tension from that. With only three bundles left, there was no chance for that scroll to overwhelm me. I somehow managed to pick up the charcoal kiln I was given in return for the completed bundle and stuff it in my backpack, even if it was nowhere near as problematic as the two furnaces had been.

The pantry scroll got the two crops added. It too was such that it wouldn’t be able to overwhelm me if I just kept up my promise to the Junimo, even with that six-item Artisan Bundle. The biggest possible problem was in the last scroll. Two six-item bundles that looked like they’d take a while to complete. Sure, adding the fern to the Chef Bundle didn’t do much at all, but later on it might.

On my way to the railroad, I thought about it. Was it that each item added its own fraction? A quarter, plus a half, plus thee quarters, plus the last one that released it. No. It seemed like there was more to the tension than that. Maybe like... the first item of four added a one unit of tension. The second added two units, and the third added three. The fourth would add the final four units of the 10 needed for it to release. That would mean the Crab Pot bundle had 10 units of tension before I released it, and the six-item bundles would have 15. That would also explain better why the two-item and three-item bundles never seemed to add much.

While my attempt at quantifying it probably was a bit off, it felt close enough to what I’d experienced so far.

I didn’t recognize the railroad. The area where I’d planted pinecones was full of almost grown saplings and even mature trees. I put down my two logs on each side of one of the mature pines before running off towards the mine.

Exchanged a greeting in passing with Linus, who mentioned being proud of how much moss he’d gathered yesterday, then heard the door of Robin’s house close and took a detour. Sebastian was heading out.

“Are you going down to the beach?” I asked him.

“What’s it matter to you?” he asked at first, then sighed. “Nah. I’m on my way to the Saloon. You too?” He said it as if he might change his mind about it if I were.

“No, I’m gonna go down into the mine. Just wanted to say hello first.”

He glanced in the direction of the mine. “I snuck into the caves a few days ago, and got a nasty cut from a rock crab. Just don’t tell my mom. She worried enough yesterday for an entire week. You be careful with those, alright?”

“The rock crabs aren’t much of a problem if you’ve got a pickaxe. Break their rock and they just try to scurry away and hide. And if you go there again, avoid the sandy patches. The duggies hide in those and attack from below. It gets difficult to escape with wounded feet... Though I must admit that the monsters down where I’ve reached are a bit worse, enough so that it sounds like a fun idea to stay in the first few floors and play around with the rock crabs and duggies.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “You must be crazier than Abby if you think that’s fun.” He then shook his head and walked away without further explanation.

I stood a while looking at his retreating back, realizing that some of what I’d said came from the Monster Compendium lodged inside me. Then I shivered and realized I stood in the rain when I could be at least dry in the mine.

Before taking the elevator down I wrung my clothes as dry as possible without taking them off first. Placed the charcoal kiln near the furnaces to make room in my backpack.

Floor 75
No skeletons in sight, and no ore nodes either. I hacked away at the regular rocks until I found the stairs.

Floor 76
Two skeletons near the elevator, and an iron ore node beyond that, but didn’t have time to look more closely until both skeletons were down. I’d seen correctly, but not just the iron node. There was an amethyst node a bit beyond it. I found a third skeleton, which dropped a staircase when it died. I went down without searching further.

Floor 77
A copper and two iron nodes near the staircase. I gathered the ore and went further, finding another iron node, which fortunately hid the stairs down.

Floor 78
The colder than usual cavernous chamber didn’t just hold three skeletons, but also a ghost. While trying to kill them, I heard a familiar chittering from beyond them. I ignored the staircase the ghost dropped along with a solar essence and went for the bunch of dust sprites. Unfortunately they were guarded by another trio of skeletons, which to my surprise dropped two of those blue boxes. Mystery boxes, I guess, since they had question marks on them. Some coal from the dust sprites, and, of course, some bone fragments from the skeletons.
Returning to the stairs, I spotted the coal bag just north of it and went to empty it. Six coals.

Floor 79
The stairs were in plain view from where I climbed down. I still went a bit further along the winding path, finding some quartz and an iron node, but no monsters. I took out a boulder and some rocks to gather stone for the coop and other stuff that needed it, and got an omni geode and a frozen geode for my effort, before climbing down.

Floor 80
It was warm here, hot compared to the floor I’d just left. My iced clothes thawed in the few steps it took me to get to the treasure chest. Thick-soled Firewalker boots. Again in just my size, which wasn’t as surprising, even if it meant that it was the same person who’d put all the chests here. One who knew my size.
Hot air rose from the stairs to the floor below. Like I’d predicted when I read about the mine at the library. Was this last section also 40 floor long? I wasn’t so sure I wanted to find out.

Floor 81
Two gold nodes, taking more effort than the iron nodes, but just what I was looking for. There was also a weird monster that seemed like an iron helmet with feet. Some kind of hermit crab maybe? The red slime was less weird, but proved a lot tougher to kill than the blue slimes, and the pain from where it hit me was more the pain of a burn than a bruise. Once it was down I inspected it. A blister had formed.

Rather than go further down, I escaped, then took the elevator back down to floor 80. This time floor 81 had two more gold nodes and an amethyst node, but no visible monsters. In the far reaches was a red mushroom with white spots. In going to get it, a red rock moved. A rock crab, which proved more difficult to take down than the ones in the first section. It dropped a staircase, but I took a look at the time and realized it was time to leave.

I filled the furnaces in the mine with iron ore and coal, then ran home and filled one furnace with gold ore and the other with iron. Stuffing the rest of my gathered materials away, I noted that I had enough gold ore for a second furnace, but what was done was done. Went inside and fell asleep trying to record it all in the diary.