Episode 3 opens with the same cards as before, "GopherCraft UHC Season II" and one for each of the seven teams, and then picks up underground where Episode 2 stopped. "40 MINUTES" is in chat, TChels stands by the crafting table next to the lava pool, and the scoreboard has BasketMC at 20 and TChels at 68. "We're gonna build a portal."
Water over lava
The obsidian has to be made one block at a time, by pouring water over lava. The first pour goes wrong. "Oh, that's not what I wanted to do at all. Well, that's alright, it'll work. There's enough." They block off the space over their heads and keep going, trying not to fall in. Flint is already in the inventory, so the last piece is a flint and steel, made from that flint and an iron ingot.
Another one out
While they work, chat reports another loss: "Sayulily was blown up by Creeper." The gg's pile up from Moonwillow92, pikerize, Gopherboy, Basket, Steel_Douglas, Scoti_Garbidis and TChels, and Virii333 adds "gg lily." Th3pooka posts "gg :-(" and then "Sayulily left the game" comes up. On the call: "Aw, everybody's dying. Good game."
A quick look
The plan is a short trip. Walk through, look for a Nether fortress, and if there is none, walk straight back. Then they could pour lava into the square in front of the portal on their side to trap it. "We might lose some of the iron we have up top, but that's about it." Basket, the one with the lowest health, goes first.
The flint and steel lights the frame, the screen swirls purple, and Basket comes out on red netherrack with a zombie pigman nearby and a sea of lava below.
Fire at the portal
It does not last. A few seconds later Basket is back at the portal with the flint and steel in hand and fire burning at its foot. Then chat reads "BasketMC burned to death," and the Game over screen comes up: "You cannot respawn in hardcore mode!" BasketMC drops to the bottom of the scoreboard. Moonwillow92, Gopherboy, TChels and others post gg, Scoti_Garbidis adds "ohno," and Moonwillow92 asks "oh no how did that happen?"
Basket explains on the call: "I panicked and lit myself on fire." In Basket's words, a ghast blew out the portal, and "I was trying to light it really quick and get back in before it killed me because I was low on health."
That is the end of the match for Basket. The episode closes on the Game over screen, the Minecraft title menu and the end credits, which thank TChels for being Basket's teammate in the Bandana Bandits and Gopherboy for running and hosting the second GopherCraft Ultra Hardcore Challenge. TChels is still in the match, at 68 on the scoreboard.