Day two of The Merchant of Minecraft!, Michael Deering's February 2015 Minecraft Hardcore Challenge. Whoever holds the most emeralds at the end of the eighth day wins, and animals are fair game this month. Basket spent the night in a shaft under a village house, listening to zombies take villagers. Now it's morning, in the rain, and time to count who's left.
Counting the survivors
Basket climbs out of the shaft into a wet, gray morning. "Sounds like I have at least one." A villager is out walking around, "which is pretty crazy." The crops get harvested and replanted, and sugar cane goes in near the water, since paper might turn into emeralds later. One villager is missing for good: "Yeah, I don't have a wheat guy. Sounds like a problem to me."
Coal for the fisherman
The survivors won't stay indoors on their own. "Can I convince you guys to go inside? I guess not." So Basket boxes them in, closing up the houses with cobblestone and adding ladders to get in and out. One of the walled-in villagers is a fisherman, and the fisherman buys coal. Basket hands over 21 coal for the first emerald of the month. The trade opens a new offer, an enchanted fishing rod for 8 emeralds. "Okay, that's not what I want."
Pork for the butcher
In another house, Basket finds a better customer. "You are the pork guy." The butcher pays an emerald for 14 raw porkchops. Basket boxes the villager into a wooden pen with a back entrance to keep this trader safe. Then comes the catch. "Do I have enough raw pork? Actually, I don't have any. I cooked it all. Okay, well that was dumb."
So it's back out into the rain to hunt pigs around the village. With fresh porkchops in hand, Basket returns to the pen and makes the trade. The inventory now shows two emeralds. "I'll come back to you and find out how the trade has changed."
Locking up for the night
Before dark, Basket gets the other villagers inside. "A whole party in here, good." The doors get closed up, a chest takes the extra junk, including the mutton, since Basket figures there are no trades for it. The iron from the night before becomes a chestplate, leggings and an iron pickaxe "so I can dig faster." Then it's back down the shaft.
Lava and water below
The mine gets hot fast. Basket hears lava before seeing it, and there's no bucket yet, so the answer is to stay a little higher and dig around it. The Nether is allowed this month, but Basket isn't sold on it. "If we want to go to the Nether, it doesn't really help our trading at all." A pickaxe wears down and gets replaced. Basket keeps hoping out loud: "Show me some diamonds."
"I hear water, I think we're getting close to an opening." The tunnel breaks into a cave with water pouring in. "I hear the skeleton now," Basket says, and keeps digging until the day runs out. "That's the end of the episode, so I guess in the next episode we'll find out what the other side of this dirt is."
The episode ends with Basket alive underground in iron armor, holding two emeralds. The credits follow, with no gameplay after them.