Fill the Cave

Well, if you can’t access your Stoneworking craft through the Construction Menu, there’s always the manual method.

Stack the rocks yourself.

Simple enough, right?

You target the first stone and attempt to pick it up.

Instead of lifting it onto another rock, however, a context window pops into existence beside it.

DETECTED: Stone (Common)
→ Add to Inventory?
[YES] [NO]

What the hell?

You angrily select [NO].

The cursed rock remains exactly where it was.

You target another one.

Same result.

You stare at the stone.

The stone stares back.

You swear at the gods, and several other entities who probably don't deserve it but have nonetheless earned a place on your grudge list.

Why can’t anything in this ridiculous world work according to common sense?

What good are hundreds of loose stones if you're not allowed to use them to build a bloody staircase?

You open your inventory.

[STONE × 999]

There.

[DROP ALL]

You click it.

WARNING: Are you sure you want to drop all 999 items?
[CANCEL] [CONFIRM]

"Yes!"

DROP ALL CONFIRMED

"Hey, take care!"

Suddenly, 999 stones materialize.

You have approximately half a second to realize that the game has interpreted drop as spawn directly at your location.

Then—

CLATTERCLATTERCLATTERCLATTER

An entire geological formation crashes down around you.

"WHOA!"

You scramble upward, desperately trying to remain on top of the rapidly growing pile while the system apparently continues unloading rocks from some infinite extradimensional storage.

The stream finally stops.

You emerge from the avalanche, panting.

"Uff."

You wipe your forehead with your sleeve.

That was close.

You look around.

Your old cave floor is gone.

In its place is a brand-new floor made entirely of loose gravel.

NEW TERRAIN DISCOVERED: Unstable Gravel
Movement penalty: -15%
Fall chance: Moderate

"Wonderful."

You carefully shift your weight.

Your boots sink slightly into the stones.

But then the corners of your mouth rise beneath your beard.

It worked.

The new floor is several feet higher than the old one.

Still nowhere near enough to reach the pickaxe embedded in the ceiling.

But it’s a start.

You open your inventory again.

[SCRAP ORE × 999]

You select it.

[DROP ALL]

WARNING: Are you sure you want to drop all items?

"Hell, yes."

CLANG—CLATTER—CRASH.

A second mountain appears beneath your feet.

You grin.

"Yeah!"

You check the inventory.

[COPPER ORE × 999]

[TIN ORE × 999]

You don't even bother reading the warning this time.

More ore rains down.

You are almost there.

You climb onto the unstable pile, stretch up on your toes, extend your arm as far as it will go—

—and your fingers close around the wooden shaft of your pickaxe.

INTERACTION: Pickaxe
Status: Equipped

You pull.

Nothing.

You pull harder.

"Damn. It's stuck."

You brace your boots against the gravel and yank again.

A small shower of pebbles rains down onto your head.

Environmental debris: -1 HP

"Ow."

You refuse to let go.

You have spent half your inventory building this ridiculous tower.

There is absolutely no way you're starting over.

You wrap both hands around the shaft.

Then you put your entire dwarf-sized body weight behind it.

"Come on..."

You pull.

Harder.

Harder.

And—

CRACK

You look up.

The ceiling looks back.

For approximately one second.

Then the ceiling decides that you triggered the wrong interaction.

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY: 0%

"Uh-oh."

The ceiling collapses.

Rocks slam into you.

You lose your grip.

You tumble down the gravel slope and land heavily on your knees.

-5 HP, Damage Type: Bludgeoning

"Ouch!"

You rub your head.

"Goddamn rocks."

Silence.

Then—

"Goddamn rocks!"

You freeze.

Your head snaps upward.

The voice came from above.

You blink.

An echo?

No.

The acoustics are wrong. And besides, the second voice sounded different.

You slowly look toward the newly opened section of ceiling.

A moment later, the strange voice calls again.

"Watch out! That floor just caved in!"

You stare upward.

"You're kidding me."