I set out with ladders picks and some cobblestone. It isn't too long before I find where to stop. So I build cobblestone around and start making a mineshaft. As I start to get pretty deep, I realize something is terribly wrong. There isn't a stronghold. I'm running low on supplies so I head home.
The next day(minecraft day) I get a few more Eyes and ladders. When I get there the Eyes are pointing to a spot in a lake right next to where my mineshaft is. So, I start digging. As I'm going down I encounter an abandoned mineshaft. I ignore it and press on. I hit bedrock. Nothing. So I then head back home.
Now things get exciting. Being the lazy person I am I just take an iron axe instead of going to the chest with ores in it for some iron. I arrive at my mineshaft and go to the abandoned mineshaft. For a while I just find the usual mineshaft stuff. But I find an end that opens to a huge ravine. But, not far below me I see it. A stronghold!! I exclaim internally. I the jump down and enter it.
When I first enter I instantly begin a frantic search for the port. I find a flight of stairs that has lava in it. I find abandoned mineshaft(s) intersecting the place. This deeply worries me. I am afraid that a mineshaft is intersecticg the portal room and has ruined it. I just keep pressing on. While traveling through it I find a spider dungeon intersect the stronghold. Eventually I come to a part where part of a mineshaft is floating and there is a chest. So I sneak out to the edge and open the chest. I then promptly fall and almost die. I look around and see a floating cave spider spawned and some skeletons. I realize that the best corse of a action is to use an Ender pearl I found to get back up. Something goes wrong and it puts me over the ravine. Then I die.
I had to get off after that but tomorrow I will post what happens. :D