The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 27 – 27/01/22 – 326 Days, 18 Hours, 8 Minutes and 3 Seconds to go…

*** Looking to catch up with the adventure? ***

With ideas running short and my patience almost entirely depleted, Day 27 felt like a pivotal moment in my time beneath the mountain. Another failure today and I just knew that I’d struggle to muster up the encouragement to keep coming back for more punishment for a while and I might need a break from Monty in order to guarantee I could continue in the long run. Thankfully, it never came down to that…

I fired up my Switch and then fired up Monty.. Let’s goooooooooo! The long walk to the [mushroom mines] was a slow and dull one (as it always is), but I could feel myself getting nervous as we neared the [tall ledge]… What if it’s not grown again and I’ll have wasted yet another day… Monty made it to the high tunnel and I took a deep breath as I asked him to start walking…

First the two imposter-Abominations came into view and I held my breath as the screen scrolled to the right revealing…

Crook-fungus has evolved into Crook-Abomination! 🥳🥳🥳

Absolutely ecstatic that I finally had some progress, I asked Monty to climb onto the Abomination and giggled to myself as he rather squelchily trampetted himself up to the [tall ledge]. Almost as soon Monty was up on the ledge and heading east, I realised that the twinkly music of the [mushroom mines] had disappeared and was replaced only by the sound of wind howling through the tunnels. As Monty walked on, I could see that the tunnel was leaning uphill and seemed to be narrowing, to the point that he even had to crawl through a few sections as so little had been excavated.

Is it me, or it getting darker?

It didn’t take much more walking to confirm that it wasn’t just me; it was indeed getting darker in this new passageway. Soon all I could see was Monty’s yellow eyes peering through the inky blackness, and even the Shade himself commented on how little he could see without a light. I debated continuing on for a few minutes without a light, half-expecting that it wouldn’t be long until we reached somewhere with some illumination, but I thought better of it. I wouldn’t want to miss anything in new place because I was too lazy to go back and get a mushroom – come on, let’s turn around.

It took a little while for Monty to make it back to the [mushroom mines], pluck a glowing purple ‘shroom and return to the new tunnel – we had walked a deceptively long way. And then, light in hand, we pushed on down the narrow tunnel again.

We finally walked beyond the area we had reached earlier, and it continued on for some way still. The darkness here seemed palpable; the light of the mushroom wasn’t nearly as bright as it usually is in the [mushroom mines]. Perhaps they have a limited glowing time? If so we’d better get a move on. A few more metres and it began less to look like the mushroom was fading and more like the glow was being suppressed by shadow, and with that realisation I found myself growing edgy.

“Maybe I should turn back? I’m starting to hear strange sounds.”

Monty

Almost on cue, a sinister sound began to play and the whole situation felt very tense indeed. I hadn’t ever heard Monty express fear before, and for my own trepidation to be echoed back to me was disconcerting to say the least. You’ve lived in a hole underground for who knows how long – what could possibly be scaring you?!

We walked on for a few more moments and I noticed a ramp way in the darkness; it rose steeply uphill and doubled back the way we had come. A way to the surface, perhaps? Keen to explore the straight and narrow before heading any further uphill, I asked Monty to keep walking, listening keenly to the slap, slap slapping of his little feet on the cold stone floor and doing my best to block out the dread music and whipping winds. The light of the mushroom was almost gone now and all I could see was a small patch of floor just a metre or so either side of Monty.

Wait, what’s the camera doing?

As we continued to walk east I could see Monty’s eyes growing smaller and smaller and could tell that the camera was panning out to show me something… something very large.

“I can feel my end nearing”

Monty

My blood turned to ice and I immediately stopped Monty in his tracks. Looking forward, I realised what he was talking about. Ho-ly shit. There was a little light here (seemingly radiating from down below), and the glow outlined the underside of platform Monty was walking on – it was narrowing to a sharp point and beyond was nothing but a drop. 😱

It was a huge drop.

What the hell would have happened if I’d have kept walking without a light?! Would he have just walked right off the edge? 😨

I walked Monty closer and closer to the edge but with the light so poor I couldn’t be sure just how close he was to the precipice. I didn’t dare edge him even an inch closer, lest I sent him tumbling into [The Pit] and to his demise. Can I kill Monty? Would that actually happen, and I’d need to start all of this all over again?

Absolutely not willing to find out what would happen if asked Monty to go right anymore, I turned him around and made for the ramp that we found earlier. The climb was a few minutes long until eventually the platform seemed to level out and Monty was heading west on flat ground. The light of the mushroom was now entirely extinguished – all that I had to look at now was the pitch black and Monty’s golden eyes.

And the eyes of another. 👀

I felt the hairs on my arms stand on end. What the hell is that?!

Another pair of gleaming yellow eyes appeared on the left of the screen; they looked just liked Monty’s and stared in his direction as he approached.

“I can see you.”

Voice in the Dark

Uhhhhh… Any chance I can see you too, please? I asked Monty to keep walking, but it seemed his feet were frozen in place. As I was thinking of what to do next, a sinister grin appeared beneath the [Eyes in the Dark] and it began to move towards Monty, and quickly!

What the fuck?! Run!

But Monty couldn’t run – he stood there as the thing approached, and I had to watch as the camera faded out just before whatever-it-was reached Monty…

“I feel like I’ve had a horrible nightmare.”

Monty

Looking around, I could see that Monty was picking himself up off the floor back at [home]. What in the world just happened? I was genuinely a little shaken from what I had just witnessed, and was half glad that I had to finish my play time for the day. Well we made it up the ledge, pal – but god knows what was waiting for us up there!

Continue reading: Day 28