One of them ran a Dungeons & Dragons game the day before, so the walk back to the giant-tree cave comes with a story. By the end of the episode they have found a castle, two emeralds and a wool.
A shared dream
He was the dungeon master, the first game he had run in over two years. Most games start with strangers in a tavern deciding to go adventuring together, so he did something different. The players started as prisoners in cages, broke out, and fought zombies that were throwing people into a pit with a gelatinous cube. Then they all woke up. It was a dream, but a shared one. At breakfast in the same tavern they started recognizing each other, accused the tavern keeper of drugging them (no, that was the catch of the day), and decided to stick together to find out why. Now they are heading north, because winter is coming. Not a Game of Thrones rip-off, he insists. Fewer boobs, just as many dragons.
Back to the ground
This time they try the ground, with lots of torches and a promise to come back if it gets hairy. Keep to a wall, not the middle. Almost at once the chat reads Scoti_Garbidis fell from a high place. This is my reminder for you next time you use a shield. His stuff is scattered, some of it down by a creeper, and the boots may be lost already. Down, down, down in goblin town. The other one hands over chicken, having anticipated the death.
The secret in the waterfall
An island out in the water turns out to be a trap where a mob comes up out of the water. A chest on glowstone on the shore is not trapped and has coal, until someone breaks it with a full inventory. Then the waterfall. If they get knocked down, it's just water. Halfway up there's a secret: a hidden hallway, scary for a second, and then a shortcut. Love nifty shortcuts. I wish I would've known this a long time ago.
The mossy castle
The shortcut opens on a scary castle built into the hillside, with a broken ruin you can walk straight into. Tripwires everywhere. Then: I found an emerald. It gets thrown across and stashed in a chest by a tree, and they set down a combat bed nearby. Creepers keep coming, from a whole cluster of creeper spawners. An enderman spawner might be worth keeping. Someone spots a full set of magic diamond gear in a chest, but leaves it there for now because grabbing it was too dangerous.
Scoti goes up the steps into two creepers and some skeletons, and the chat reads Scoti_Garbidis was shot by Skeleton. I could use a friend over here with gear. He gets most of it back, including his good bow.
Orange wool
Up top there is a second emerald. Then one of them finds a little windy hallway and calls it out: I just found the orange wool. The wool and the emerald go back to the bed and the chest. Someone jumps off what he thinks is the edge into water and finds a whole other ledge first, but lives. The rest of the castle can wait until next time.
