Beginnings (writing competition)/Lego bricks in a big way
| Lego bricks in a big way | |
| About | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lothendal |
| Scores | |
| Word Count | 1089 |
| Score: Overall | 6.2 |
| Score: Style | 5.8 |
| Score: Relevance | 6.6 |
| Score: Humour | 5.5 |
| Awards | 3rd runner up in Beginnings |
Prologue
Being left alone on my rented server with only one occasionally appearing friend to show my creations to, I started looking for a server with a broader community. After visiting two or three other servers for lets say 10 minutes altogether, i found a server with a name implying to be home to a big number of people.
Entering Freedonia
After thoroughly inhaling the website with all the rules, screen shots and statistics and after taking a short look at the map, i set my foot onto the new world. As cautious as possible - yes, I have seen the ban statistics too - I went into the visitor centre and read the signs, even the hidden ones. I may be overcautious, but as opposed to it I am also very curious. I guess curiosity requires caution.
To the north
Now prepared enough, I went on exploring taking the high roads while avoiding to even touch the torches. Having seen a few buildings including the Clubhouse (and liking them), I went back to spawn, either by foot or by using the spawn command. I do not remember.
To the south
The same day or the day after, I started looking for a lonely place to make my home. "Lonely" because I did not want to be disturbed while building. What did I know... I eventually found a place at an edge of the map and now turned southwards seeing a lot of great creations on my long way to my future home not realising there are warps. After a walk that must have taken hours - at least it felt like that -, I passed Lava Town and decided to take a break.
To the west (and a bit more south)
Back in I had to finally leave the great walkways. In need of food or just for the case I butchered a few pigs, then chopped my first trees not forgetting to replant them. I am such a good boy :) Thus my first tools were created. Jumping and running I tried to reach the shore west of caverns before nightfall but did not make it in time. So I took shelter in a small cave. My nightly activities included mining coal, roasting pork, waiting for the morning and hating spider noises. Halfway through the night I left my shelter and killed that damned spider! Now we are going to imagine I slept for the rest of the night. Early in the morning I continued my journey, eventually hit the shore and followed it past a really nice looking bay. Shortly after I arrived at the island I had seen on the map. I jumped over a one block wide river and realised I wasn't the first one setting foot on this island. Later it came to my mind, it could just have been a boater in need of a water gate.
Finally /sethome
"Knowing" no one can find it on the map, I dug into a cliff and thus created my first home. It wasn't long until a guy named Savageclown appeared. I figured by his questions he was a staff member and answered him. I think by that time, I already had a sign placed with my name on it outside my cave. Later when I was busy working with my back to the entrance i suddenly heard the door clapping ... well not really. I turned around and discovered another guy named chivalrousWeasel. This one was not talking so I stopped working and stared at him ready to draw my sword for the case of getting attacked. But he disappeared and I learned he was another staff member checking for possible grief.
The creation and uncreation of a tower
I dug deep, explored the caves, built a little cistern but soon found it boring. And no one would have seen it anyway. That lead to the design of a building other people could actually see. I found a location for it and started to construct a tower of acceptable diameter. I worked like a madman for 2 hours when suddenly a player named Tonedial said one of his (un)famous words: "Ooops". People began to panic talking nonsense about cacti, the server started lagging bad and then it was gone. With a bad feeling I took a break and learned later, it was the now called Cacticlysm. That disaster erased the work of a lot of people including the finished part of my tower. Now being angry I logged out again.
ShyPixel and the Manor 2
Some time later I was calm enough to think about what to do next. Not wanting to repeat the work on the tower, I began to rebuild the manor I built on my own server. The building grew fast and one day I found a cake and a chest on the stairs. The chest was blocked with I think orange wool and a sign that welcomed me into the neighbourhood. Being to anxious the breaking of the seal could get me banned, I waited a few days to catch ShyPixel online so he was there when I broke it. Well, had I opened it earlier the manor would have been finished faster since amongst other fine stuff like armour the chest contained smooth stone, the material the manor was mostly made of.
Foes and friends
Travelling back and forth between manor and /home, an idea of a railway connecting these my places came to my mind. One end would be the manor, the other end would be the really nice looking bay where I put a little cobble dock. I started working on the railway tunnels when some guys, calling themselves The Legion, got attracted by the manor and paid me a visit. After some fights and deaths on both sides I let them doing their thing. While dealing with them I met Machines_Are_Us who I am now counting to my best friends on Freedonia. I learned later that I made all mistakes regarding a vault one can actually do, but it didn't throw me that far behind schedule. It stopped me from building the railway though ... for now.
End of the beginning
Time went on. I became addicted to Freedonia and it's residents. I made some progress on the manor, even managed to do some interior. I built a better vault and resumed the work on the railway. And ideas of a huge statue and a port town formed in my mind. But that is another story.