Basket's first try at June 2014's Minecraft Hardcore Challenge ended with a creeper in a mineshaft. A death in the first episode allows a restart, so this is "attempt #2": a brand new hardcore world, with nothing carried over from the first run. The goal hasn't changed. Marry a witch, then build it a house, decorate it, landscape it and fence it in. "My heart's still racing a little bit."
Same map, new world
The new world uses the same seed, so the land is the same as last time. It spawns on grassland next to the mushroom biome. Basket spots sugarcane and leaves it for later, then gathers red and brown mushrooms for stew, about the same amount as the first run. Mooshrooms graze among the giant mushrooms.
Basket remembers a mineshaft under the forest and goes back and forth on it. It might hold useful loot, "but potentially I don't want to die again." The run to the forest is a plain sprint this time, no sprint jumping, since food ran low on the first trip.
Back to the forest
The forest shows up at about the same point as before. Basket makes a crafting table, an axe and bowls, and gets stew going. The plan is the same, with one thing to avoid: "I want to make sure I get birch saplings and oak saplings, and not die from a creeper." Both kinds of sapling go in the bag. Basket even crafts a second crafting table just to earn the Benchmarking achievement, "even though it's a waste." An apple drops, and a few pumpkins come along too.
A skeleton around the corner
Basket drops into a cave that looks like the one from the first attempt, then listens for a skeleton, backs into a corner and waits. "Shh, he's around this corner." Basket rounds the corner, wins the fight, and Monster Hunter pops up in chat. "It's a lot more frightening when you're by yourself."
Night has fallen by then. Basket blocks off a small space ("There. I feel safe now."), sets down a crafting table and a furnace, and makes stone tools. Coal turns up in the walls this time, so there's no need to burn wood into charcoal. Iron goes into the furnace for armor.
Digging for the mineshaft
Basket starts digging down to look for the mineshaft. It doesn't turn up. Checking the depth, Basket decides "I probably am actually not heading in the right direction for the mineshaft. But maybe I'll find diamonds instead or something."
The tunnel opens into a cave with lava. There's gold, which Basket calls "kind of useless in this map," and redstone that can wait.
Diamonds before dawn
Then Basket peeks around a corner. "Oh yeah!" It's diamond ore. Basket walls the spot off, sets down a crafting table, makes an iron pickaxe and mines it all before the timer runs out. DIAMONDS! shows up in chat.
With eight diamonds, it's a choice between a diamond chestplate and a diamond pickaxe. Basket makes the chestplate and puts it on, then second-guesses it right away: "maybe the choice actually should have been enchanting stuff."
Day is about to break, so Basket stops the timer. "I survived the second attempt." The episode ends with Basket alive, still underground near the forest. Next time the plan is to make it back to the mushroom biome, then go find the name tags. No witch yet. The credits roll after the pause menu, with no gameplay after them.