SUMMER YEAR 1 DAY 14
Dear Diary,
This afternoon, a truck came down the road and parked at the bus stop. I thought that Robin's family finally pulled through and sent us help, but no... It was actually Joja's mining operation here to do a routine check on the quarry to the east of the caves. They had cleared out the place last fall with the intention of building a warehouse or something... I'm not sure if John used the area for anything - but if he has, I bet the Joja guys are gonna be shocked.
Of course, I don't really care if The Joja guys are scared or not. All I'm looking at is the truck and how many people I can fit inside it. It's not a very big - unlike to Jojamart truck that Robin's family stole off with. It's one of those pickups packed with all sorts of mining equipment and a crane in the back - otherwise its a two seater. If we squeeze, Me, mom and Vince can fit. We can put our stuff in the back with all the drills and bombs, and we can drive to the next town to find help. I guess we'll get into some trouble for... uh, grand theft auto - but our lives are on the line. I'm rather spend time in jail than watch my family starve to death.
So I'm following these two joja guys across town (at a distance, of course) and they're pretty shocked with the state of the place. I don't blame them. The town square - which is normally meticulously well maintained (thanks to granny evelyn) is an absolute mess. The flowers are dead, The place is flooded and mouldy and the entire place kinda looks like a haunted house. The dudes look around the town a little bit before heading north on the path to the quarry. I follow them up, across the path to the drained lake, and over the wooden bridge where a huge amount of rocks have pretty much covered every inch of quarry. I guess this must be fallout from the Junimo's war with John...
Anyhow, I hide in the bushes as the joja guys go drive their truck over and start shoveling, jackhammering and blowing up the rocks. They're piling all the rocks up on the cliffside - over the dried up riverbed beneath - but the whole entire time, they didn't let go of their keys once. I stay there hiding in the bushes like some creepy stalker until the sun sets and the joja guys go to the tavern to eat and sleep... Frankly, I'm afraid gus is going to steal the keys off the guys in the middle of the night - so I don't go home for the night. I just decide to camp here.
END ENTRY 31
SUMMER YEAR 1 DAY 15
Dear Diary,
Right... so I stayed up all last night for nothing. Nobody managed to steal the car keys off the Joja guys last night, but I'm suddenly aware that the rest of the townspeople have the same idea as me. I saw them this morning looking at the two Joja guys in the corners of their eyes - and the Joja employess are all nervous. I can completely understand. At this point, our town is like one of those creepy boondocks towns straight out of a lovecraft novel.
Anyways, they get back to work and this time - I'm not the only one hiding in the bushes watching them. I thought I thought I saw a flash of purple hair in the grove above the quarry. Abby, who has been my ally for this entire journey, is now my competition. I really like Abby, don't get me wrong... but I like my family more.
So no hard feelings.
The Joja guys are on edge. They're keeping a lookout for everything and I can see them trying to phone their headquarters all the time. It looks like they have no signal.
END ENTRY 32
SUMMER YEAR 1 DAY 16
Dear Diary,
So remember when I said The town doctor had disappeared? Well we found him. Not alive, of course.
He washed in late last night when this giant weather balloon got caught on Willie's pier. Of course, Willie is long gone - either safely escaped or also dead - but I had stopped by the pier to clear my head before spending another day stalking the two Joja Guys. I saw the colourful fabric of the hot air balloon, and the basket and - I don't know why I did it - but I walked over and pulled off the balloon.
I've seen a lot of rotting corpses ever since John showed up, but a waterlogged rotting corpse is a new type of horror.
I don't really want to talk about it. I think I threw up like four times after seeing that.
But you know what makes me really mad?
The Doctor had a radio on him.
He had a freaking radio! it's broken now that it's been soaking underwater for like three days, but honestly. I bet we could have somehow phoned for help!
But something really strange about the balloon. The thing is shot full of arrows. I know John has this crazy bow. Did he see The Doctor trying to fly away and shoot him down? Honestly what a piece of shit... I still don't even know what John wants.
Anyways, I spend the rest of the day hiding in the bushes, looking for an opportunity to steal the keys hanging out of The Joja Guy's pocket. The giant pile of rocks at the edge of the cliff is getting bigger and bigger... I gotta remind myself not to walk down there, or something might fall and crack my head open.
I'm also wondering what John's been up to recently. Nobody's seen him all week... not that we really want to. It's just that we want to know where our enemy is.
END ENTRY 33
SUMMER YEAR 1 DAY 16
Dear Diary,
Uh...
So I was on my way to my spot in the bushes when I realized The Joja Guys weren't in their usual spot, hammering away in the quarry. Instead, all the tools had been hastily thrown aside and there were panicked voices coming from the bottom of the chasm. Did one of the guys get hurt?! I panicked for a moment and veered to the side with the full intention of going down to help them - when I saw the glint of the Joja Guy's car keys thrown aside in the grass.
And I wasn't the only one who saw it.
Because lo and behold, Abby sprinted past me - making a beeline for the keys in the grass. I run after her. I'm faster than she is, so I could have easily overtaken her if I didn't happen to glance over the wooden bridge into the gulley.
Because once I saw that, I didn't even want the keys anymore.
John Terraria was down there.
Squashed by a boulder that had rolled off the top of the cliff.
The Joja employees were freaking out. They had moved some of the stones tried to pull him out -but... he's dead.
Actually dead! That crazy monster bastard got caught in a workplace accident and fucking died? I was in disbelief!
So I ran down to the bottom of the gullet to check.
And yeah, he's dead. There's no doubt about it. It looks like he... uh, exploded. There's blood and giblets everywhere. Bits of bones, teeth, fingernails... just... gone. I know it's John because his armour wasn't destroyed. It's sitting there completely untouched. There's a set of wings there too - they're icy to the touch. John's crazy bow is there, and a sword and also a whole bunch of these strange accessories too...
So the Joja guys are absolutely crushed. They think they committed a murder and keep trying to phone the police, but I try to reassure them. I... its really weird to tell somebody its okay when they kill somebody, but that's what I did. I just thanked them, and told them about all the shit John had put us all through and... well, they probably think I'm high as a kite, but they let me help him bury John's remains.
We have a giant celebration in Gus's Bar that evening, and the two Joja guys are the very confused guests of honor.
END ENTRY 34
SUMMER YEAR 1 DAY 19
Dear Diary,
So...
So everything's back to normal now... well, almost back to normal.
Pierre's prices have doubled and haven't come down yet. Granny Evelyn has returned to tending the gardens and they're already looking better. The Joja guys finished their work and seem pretty weirded out by us, but promised to put in a request to have the Jojamart re-opened. Of course Pierre wasn't happy about that - but after a few days of doubled prices, everyone was pissed off at him.
Robin's family is gone.
Pretty sure they're no longer welcome in this place. Pam has moved into their house and nobody has raised a complaint. Lots of people have disappeared... The Doctor, Alex, Sebastian - Gill, Marlon and The Wizard. All of them had fought hard. They suffered much... and in some twist of cosmic irony, John Terraria was killed by a fucking falling boulder. Amazing. The Junimos had struck him with lightning, and he shrugged it off... but boulder?
It's so ridiculous it's stupid.
Not that I'm not happy about it, don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled... but it just feels really anticlimactic. Well whatever. That's not the cool thing I want to write about. Remember how when John died he dropped all this weird equipment?
Well, firstly he dropped like a thousand gold coins. The Joja employees thought it was fake money and said they would give it to their kids to play with - I knew better, but I didn't try to dispute them. I collected whatever they missed... (These funds are gonna kick start my band). But he also dropped a whole bunch of weapons and a set of wings.
Wanna hear something crazy?
I can wear the wings.
Wanna hear something crazier?
THEY WORK.
I gave Abby the sword since she actually came down and was splitting the loot with me. She also took John's helmet and cape - and left all the weird doodads he was wearing to me. There's a cellphone here, a necklace that lets me breathe underwater, the wings that let my fly, a bracelet that makes all my little scratches and bruises heal immediately like, this is crazy.
I really wonder...
Now that I have all this amazing stuff, maybe...
Maybe I'm stronger than The Wizard. Could I be The Valley's guardian?
It's ruler?
Haha... that's pretty crazy to think about. Like super pretentious too.
But think about it. If somebody like John appears again, we really need somebody who can defend us, right?
END ENTRY 35
lmao boulder