Day one of Kill the Dragon, Michael Deering's December 2016 Minecraft Hardcore Challenge. The goal this month is to kill the Ender Dragon, in hardcore on Minecraft 1.11 with large biomes. Usually MHC has rules against eating or hurting passive mobs, Basket explains, "but those rules aren't applying for this particular season." It's single player for everyone this time, and Basket thinks it "might be a longer challenge than normal," running until somebody beats the dragon.
A village to start in
The world opens on a dirt path leading into a village, with farms, chickens and sheep all around. "I guess we started in the village." Basket punches wood, makes a crafting table and wooden tools, and pulls carrots and wheat from the farms. The villagers are worth keeping alive for trading later. "That might be an easy way to get a boost." So the houses stay standing, and only the trees get cut. A quick look for a blacksmith turns up nothing to take. "Can I steal your stuff? Doesn't look like it."
Iron and a burning zombie
A cave opens up in the grass just outside the village, with iron showing in the stone. Basket heads in, makes a stone pickaxe, and starts watching for mobs. "Could make this a very short MHC for me." A zombie comes up out of the dark, "with a sword in case you can't see it," and Basket backs out into the sunlight to let the daylight deal with it. The zombie catches fire. "Will you drop your iron sword? Nope." Basket picks up an apple on the way back in.
The cave turns out to be a dead end with water, coal and more iron. Basket torches it up and thinks about hiding there for the night, then changes the plan. "We'll probably bunker in in the village actually."
Getting everyone inside
By the time Basket climbs out, the sun is going down. The idea is to get the villagers into houses, light the houses up and block the doors. The villagers don't make it easy. "You need to go into a home. Please." Zombies start walking in between the houses, and a kill earns the Monster Hunter achievement. "I should have made a better sword." With more zombies coming, Basket ducks into a house lined with bookshelves. "We didn't secure all of them, but we've secured quite a few."
A home base in the library
The library house becomes the base. Basket takes the books, builds a furnace, puts food on to cook, and adds a chest. "This is sort of my home base." Outside, some villagers aren't going to make it, and Basket isn't going back out for them. The iron turns into an iron sword and an iron chestplate. Basket guesses "at least four or five villagers" survived.
Digging down and thinking about the dragon
With not enough wood for a lot of ladders, Basket digs a stair-step tunnel down from the house and collects coal on the way. There's no long-term plan yet. "I mean, I have to kill a dragon." The fight will probably take potions, good armor and feather falling, because getting knocked off high up "would be a problem."
Then Basket hears water and keeps digging toward it. "Oh, there we go. Here's the cave. Let's take a peek." That's where day one ends, with Basket alive, in an iron chestplate, at the edge of a new cave under the village. The credits roll after that, with no gameplay after them.