As he stepped through the portal he noticed two things immediately:
The first being that his landing wasn't painful like it usually was.
The second being that he was now underwater.
Swimming to the surface, he looked around in surprise. "Water? Here?" he asked no one in particular. Last time he had been here water had been an incredibly rare –not to mention valuable- resource. Looking around he saw that he had landed in a rather small lake. Climbing out of the water he looked to the ground for the path and found it amongst grass of all things. Already this place seemed to be more alive than it had previously been. With everyone having been exploited and made useful by that machine it would make sense that they'd be very fond of water's protection.
The gravel road seemed to have been replaced with smooth stone, and fencepost-hoisted torches illuminated the pathway quite nicely. Ivor observed the surroundings with a careful eye, wary of any mobs that may be prowling. There was a nearby welcoming sign, and he smiled at its hospitality. Surely they had set this up in case anyone came out the portal network. Harper had said she knew where it deposited people. He made his way to the light, where the homey illumination of torches shone like a beacon in the dusk dimness.
Ivor brushed his wet, greasy hair out of his face. Should he wait until morning? Where could he even safely wait out the night? He didn't want to get attacked by mobs, but he more so didn't want to invade on anyone's home in the night. Maybe he should just sneak back out the portal before-
"Ivor? That you?"
He almost fell forward. His eyes widened as he whirled around in shock. Sure enough, there before him was her. The Old Builder herself, Harper. His face paled and he took a step back. "Wh-oh! Hello!"
Harper gave him an odd look and put a hand on her hip as she spoke. "What are you doing here? I though Jesse and you all were dying to get home."
"Yes, uh-well, yes that is correct. But I uh, you see, um… Adventure?" He finished weakly, smiling at her nervously but mentally kicking himself for being so pathetic.
Harper laughed lightly at the use of his catchphrase. "Well it's an adventure all right. With PAMA gone we've been busy rebuilding."
"Have they finally gotten over the whole brainwashing thing?" Ivor asked, making an outward gesture with his hand.
"Well, some of them… There's still that few that hold a grudge, though, you know?"
His thoughts were bitter but his voice was different- almost hopeful. "You're always free to come with us."
"Well that's… very nice of you." Harper said, eyebrows raised in surprise. Ivor smiled at her nervously. "But I promised to help everyone here rebuild. I'm actually out here to get spider string for some fishing rods."
"Would you like my help?" Ivor asked a little too excitedly.
"Actually, yeah, it you don't mind. I just need a few more before I call it a night."
Ivor nodded, still dumbly smiling, and took his sword out. He began the hunt for spiders, taking out on them all the anger he'd felt towards himself in the past few minutes.
Ivor killed another spider, taking both the spider eye for potion making and the string for Harper. Looking back over his shoulder to check on her, he put his sword away. In a stroke of genius not uncommon for him, he began to dig up clay. This clay he could make into brick, and with these brick he would craft a pot. A pot would be a much more fitting way to keep his poppy safe.
As he dug in front of him, breaking the clay block, his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. The block he had destroyed revealed the presence of a ravine underneath them. Ivor cautiously peered down the opening. Ivor peered down with a squint.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted it: a spider crawling up the ravine towards him.
Retrieving his sword he took another step back and widened the gap so the spider could come through. As it emerged he began slashing at it with his sword. As it lunged at him he skewered it and picked up its drops.
As he walked back towards the hole, another spider emerged. And another. Backing up in surprise, Ivor threw a torch down at the lip of the hole to prevent more from spawning. He wasn't as good a fighter as Jesse, but he could hold his own against two spiders. After killing the spiders and collecting the loot he moved to the hole and threw down more torches. Surely enough he could see oak wood planks in the depths, and he illuminated the cave with more torches before calling Harper over.
"I believe I've found a spider spawner." He explained when she approached, looking over at her.
"Well would you look at that. Villagers and I never woulda found it, that's fer sure."
Ivor smiled, noticing as he did so that he smiled a lot in her presence and that he needed to stop that. "Well, ladies first."
Harper began digging a rudimentary staircase down the wall of the ravine. Ivor followed, placing torches as he did so. As the two reached the bottom Ivor scratched the back of his head. It had become a nervous habit of his, and he was exceptionally nervous right now standing next to Harper. As he looked at the abandoned mineshaft he saw a corridor of cobwebs with a faint glowing from within. Ivor put more torches down to prevent more from spawning, and Harper got out an iron sword. She began hacking at the cobwebs with her sword, and Ivor put his hands on his hips condescendingly. "Really? You're using a sword to get rid of cobwebs?"
"Well what would you use?"
Ivor wordlessly got out a bucket of water and dumped it. He smirked as the water dissipated the cobwebs into string. Harper smiled "Alright, alright. You win this round."
Smiling to himself, Ivor walked through the path his water had created and put some torches on and surrounding the spawner. "Do you have enough string?"
"Yeah, this should be good. Thanks for helpin' out, I really appreciate it."
"It was nothing." Ivor looked away, scratching the back of his head under the heat of her smile.