This is one of those that I'm pretty sure will be hilarious in retrospect... right now... it's exasperating but amusing in a 'how the hell?' way.

After pacifying the area around the Elder altar, I decided that I might as well prepare a base for the new raids and here I was with a nice stone tower I repurposed into a portal housing for area access and... that nice big metallic plate which would make a fine roof.

So I dug in and created the beginnings of an underground base, installed kiln and smelter, decided to just mine some copper and tin for the forge and crafting upgrades locally since there was plenty nearby. One copper node even sat between the stone tower and the altar.

So I started digging, got into the 'zone' as I dug out the perimeter ditch for the node, nothing interrupted me since I'd cleared the area. When my last pickaxe broke I went to go into the new base to repair them and that's when I realized something.

Not only had I managed to breach an opening into the altar base, but also managed to undermine a good bit of the tower.....

First time I've ever felt the need to fill up even a part of a copper mine.