Episode 5 of Kill the Dragon, Michael Deering's December 2016 Minecraft Hardcore Challenge, opens in the Nether with the fortress search still going. Basket is trying to keep a trail back to the portal while scouting, and there's no bow in the inventory. "I don't have a bow, so things like that are a problem."
No fortress in sight
A ghast drifts over the netherrack, and Basket gets back to setting torches. "I'm not putting down torches like I should be, so let me start doing that again." A look out over a big drop turns up nothing. Basket starts thinking about another route to the End: villager trades. The clerics might sell ender pearls now, though Basket isn't sure which way the change went. "I could be mistaken." For now the plan is to go home and come back to the idea later.
A pigman follows
Basket picks up some of the torches on the way back and steps through the portal. A zombie pigman comes through right behind and stands in the cave next to the chest. Basket sorts the chest anyway, combining stacks and leaving behind what won't be needed, then follows the tunnels back up toward the village.
Bookshelves in the village
It's raining up top. Basket drops off junk at the house and adds ladders. "I feel like I should change the way that I get in and out of this place." Rather than cut trees, Basket tears down a small wooden building for its planks. "There's no door in it anyway." The church looks too small for the plan, so a house gets the job. "So let's put in our library."
There are 13 books to work with. Basket crafts bookshelves and lines the walls with them, and the "Librarian" achievement shows up in chat. The enchanting table goes in the middle. The villagers inside keep heading for the door, so Basket blocks it. "Okay, there we go. Fixed." The diamond pickaxe goes on the table, but the Unbreaking III offer needs level 26, and Basket doesn't have that yet. "We're short on levels anyway, so we want to get more levels."
A night of zombies
Night comes with the rain still falling, and zombies wander in between the houses. "I think they're following the villagers." Basket takes them on from above. Then comes the bad news. "Oh, that guy turned, I guess. Somehow they got him." Basket can also hear trouble farther off: "Oh, lots of witches."
A spider gives up string, and Basket keeps it in case more turns up. There's a skeleton too, and Basket picks up arrows, still hoping for a bow. When Basket checks the other houses, they're empty. "So this night's kind of a bust."
Taking the portal apart
The list is short now: more levels and more obsidian. Basket stores the night's drops and heads back down into the mine, pouring water to drop down safely. "Wait for this to get down below so I don't die from fall damage." At the portal, the idea is to mine the obsidian and rebuild the portal back in town. Basket switches to the diamond pickaxe, the purple goes out, and the frame starts coming down a block at a time. "It's so slow, but necessary."
There's one worry. Basket suspects a new portal in town could just lead back to the same spot in the Nether.
"I think it's morning actually, so this is the end of the episode." Basket switches to a third-person view for a last look, standing by the chest with part of the portal frame still in place. The episode ends with Basket alive in the cave, and the end card follows with no gameplay after it.