No quest this time, just a place nobody in the group has finished. Scoti isn't on the server. Basket goes with johnfal_92 and Dash (dash10138), going by the nameplates, and they head for the Haunted Mine.
Unfinished business
They run through the points of interest between the city and Nyr. Basket and Scoti went into the mine once before, and it went badly: Scoti died there. For one of the others it's the only spot on the way to Nyr they've never done. "I'm 90% sure I know where it is," but no hints, because they'd rather find it by exploring. It's somewhere behind the southern village.
Then a gear check. The lucky helmet is low on durability and really wants a repair. Basket's screen shows Turtle Pants with Depth Strider I and Blast Protection II. Someone digs out fire resistance gear just in case, though nobody remembers fire in there. "It was creepers that was the final death." On the walk they talk about the fire shrine and the earth shrine, neither of which they've reached the bottom of. The stone from the earth one gives knockback resistance while you hold it.
String for a bed
"Area Discovered: Haunted Mine." Nobody has a combat bed, so the first job is string. They need 12 and have 7, so the spider spawners near the entrance supply the rest. "I feel so much more powerful than last time I was here, now that I actually have much better gear." The spawners go down one after another. There are silverfish in this part, and someone hates silverfish. The first chests are mostly blocks, and with 50 dirt already in the bag, nobody needs those.
The pit
One of them stands on the far side of a bridge and pulls the spiders up out of the pit, while the others drop in for the spawners. It's shallower than it looked. Two chests sit down there, one with an instant health potion. The lucky helmet goes on before the chests, and at one point stays on longer than planned: "Oh, I'm still wearing my helmet." The ghost-faced mobs hit hard, some of them shrug off knockback, and a few burn as they come.
Past where Scoti fell
"Looks like we're about to beat this one much quicker than Scoti and I did." Last time they made it to the entrance of the next room, where Scoti charged in, realized too late it was a bad idea, and lost everything in a pit. This time they get through. One stretch of water has soul sand at the bottom, which turns out to be the problem there.
A chest here holds a Cursed Pick with Fortune IV and Curse of Vanishing. Nobody is sure at first what Vanishing does, then: "If you die with it, it's gone." Other chests turn up an Ashen Broadsword and a Flame Wand.
Choke points
The last stretch has creepers, but the narrow passages help. "I like the choke points." The silverfish are what made the last trip a mess, a "silverfish apocalypse" they couldn't kill their way out of. This time the mobs "don't hurt as much as I would expect."
At the end there's a Punch I bow and a Power I bow to hand around, experience to split, and some spare tier one armor that gets used to repair leather boots. "It was a good exploration." Then the only question left: where to next?