Apologies for the delay, I was really keen on maintaining my 1 week release but had a few set backs. Mainly the heat we had here in Holland followed by some uncertainties regarding the story and when we had finally solved all of that our mining location got griefed. But we're going to settle all of that, right now... For Notch sakes.... I sit up and hold my head. It's been several hours since we closed up the entrance and went to get some sleep, but no matter what I try I just can't stop thinking about what happened. What if she hadn't screamed? Then it would have been my fault if she got hurt. ... or worse. I stand up, walk to the barricade, inspect it and just like the last 7 times there's nothing specific to see. And so I walk towards the wall, sit down, and lean back a little. Again. "You ok?", a soft voice asks me. I look up: "Oh, hey, sorry, did I wake you up?", I ask the girl. She slowly shakes her head: "Just wondering whats wrong", she softly asks after which she immediately yawns. "I dunno, I can't sleep", I answer: "I just can't stop thinking about what could have happened back there.". I sigh: "but... go back to sleep, I'll be alright", I tell her while I - once again - lay back while closing my eyes to try and get some sleep. Suddenly I feel her hand on my shoulder and I slowly get up a little..."I never thanked you for your help", she says: "Don't feel bad, I really don't know what I would have done without your help", she tells me. "Thanks", I start: "But... sorry for asking again but.. would you mind telling me your name?", I ask: "It gets a bit weird not being able to call you other than using "hey you over there"". She grins. "By the way, my name is Shell", I tell her. "Rei", she says with a soft voice: "You can call me Rei.". "Thank you", I tell her: "and nice meeting you Rei.". She yawns again: "And now I'z really needz to get more zzleep", and before I know what's happening she leans against my shoulder, now vastly asleep. I grin a little, I have to admit that I feel a lot better now. "Sleep well, Rei", I whisper while I also close my eyes. This time I have little problems getting some sleep of my own. The next morning, it actually feels as if only a few hours have passed, I awake while a loud hammering noise sounds. "Oh, hi Shell, sorry to wake you but we really need to get some tools ready", Rei tells me. I nod: "No problem, but, what are you doing?", I ask. It almost looks as if she's trying to tie a bunch of planks together. But to what purpose? "I'm making a workbench", she tells me: "It'll make it much easier on us to make the tools we need". Interesting. I learned about this during my study in Mojanius, but... "Rei, but what about the recipes we need?", I ask her: "isn't it true that you need to know specific patterns to actually make those tools?". She nods: "Yes, and you won't find those recipes in any book in the world, except...", I grin: "Don't tell me: your book?", I ask. "Now, how did you guess?", she smilingly answers. We quickly get to work and before you know we got a nice workbench set up. Rei shows me the pattern on the top of the table and explains how this workbench can actually tap into the ancient magic of the creator: "could you hand me 8 of those stones you collected earlier?", she asks. I hand her one stone at the time and she carefully places them all on the edges of the table. "Can you help me lift this please, this is heavy!", she asks. "Lift what?", I'm about to ask when she suddenly seems to be lifting up some kind of oven. I quickly grab the furnace at the other end: "This is amazing!", I tell her. "Quick, kick that thing out of the way", she says while nodding in the direction of the workbench: "We'll put this there, and the workbench on top of it". "Yes ma'am!", I jokingly answer while moving the workbench aside. Not much later we have both tools nicely stacked on top of each other. "Wait a second.. I remember this!", I start while somewhat thinking out loud. I quickly grab some of the wood planks I made and place them on the table. And for sure: no more need to start carving wood all night: with one stroke of my hand I easily pick up several sticks. "By Notch, what an awesome device", I say while quickly placing more wood on the table. It doesn't take me long before I made a wooden pickaxe, a sword, a shovel and an axe. Obviously I also make sure to make a set for Rei. With these tools I should be able to cut a lot more wood than before. "Will you be ok for a while?", I ask Rei: "if it's ok with you I'd like to go out and gather some more wood". She nods: "Sure, that would be perfect.", she answers: "then I can use what we have now to make charcoal". Interesting, I know that you can find some in the world, but never knew you could make it yourself. Rei throws some wooden logs into the furnace and after a while carefully takes out... for sure: a charred piece of wood. Charcoal! "I can use what we have now to make charcoal.." "Ok, I'll be right back!", I say while I climb over the barricade. I make my way to the platform with the Acacia trees again and this time things are much easier. Being able to use an axe sure beats punching and bashing these trees down. After a few hours work I head back to the cave. Once I climbed over the barricade I can't see Rei anywhere. "Hey, you. Where are you?", I jokingly yell. "Oh hi Shell, down here!", a hollow voice answers. I walk towards the other end of the cave: "Where?". "Down here!", she says again. Ok, that is impressive. While I was busy chopping down wood she actually managed to dig out an entire mine which we can now use. Carefully lit by torches as well. "Charcoal?", I ask her. "Charcoal", she answers while nodding her head. This is perfect! It won't be long now before we'll hit iron somewhere, and once we got that we might be able to make some decent armor for ourselves. The only thing I don't understand is how she managed to dig this deep within so little time. "Don't tell me you managed to create stone tools already", I ask her. "Yes", she anwers: "and it's actually quite easy too. All you need to do is replace the planks with the stones". Of course... I should have thought about that one myself. Very nice. We both walk up again when she suddenly turns around: "Wait here please, I got a surprise for you!", and she quickly runs down again. A few moments later she comes back up while holding some blocks of iron ore in her hands: "Tadaah!", she says proudly. "Nice work!", I tell her: "This is incredible, this could well be our turning point in this whole mess we're in", I say. Rei immediately walks over to the oven and puts all the iron in. Soon enough the oven is heated up and you can slowly see liquid iron dripping out. "We can make those into ingots and then we should be able to use those to make even better tools", Rei tells me. "So now we replace the stone with the iron?", I ask. Rei raises her shoulders: "I don't know, I never tried crafting iron tools like this before". Well, only one way to find out.... Tadaah! "awww, crud!", Rei suddenly snaps. "What's wrong?", I ask her. "We're out of coal again. Do we have some wood left which we can use as fuel?", she asks but I immediately shake my head: "This was the last batch, I'm afraid we used it all up to make those new tools". Rei sighs. "But don't worry, I got a new axe here so I can get us some wood in no time. I'll be right back!", I say and I quickly run off to the platform with the Acacia trees again. Unfortunately I had managed to chop down quite a lot already and no new trees have grown back yet. I sigh.. They're not going to make this easy for us it seems. I walk for several minutes when I suddenly hear a loud noise behind me. I turn around and... (message too long, continues below)
To be honest I still don't fully remember what exactly happened back there. All I remember is the adrenaline, the shock, the noise, the.... I thought I lost her. I remember seeing a flash somewhere near the beach, where the cave is, shortly followed by a loud noise. First I wondered if there might have been an accident with the furnace, so I started running back. Now I wish I hadn't. Or... Maybe not. But.. I thought I lost her. What I do remember is seeing this... this... thing suddenly float in front of me. This squealing, almost screaming, noise. Did I really saw three heads or was that my mind playing tricks on me? I hear another screaming sound and suddenly something shoots at me. I think I jumped out of the way, or maybe not, but what I do remember is that the following moment my body almost went completely numb. I could walk, somewhat, I could still wave my sword a bit (for whatever good that did me!) but I couldn't really feel a thing. The next moment there is another squeal and another.... thing.. shooting at me, and this time... Or was it the other way around? Suddenly I can barely walk, I don't even remember if I'm still holding my sword or if I lost it somewhere along the way already. I crawl.. yes, that's it: I crawled back towards the platform when all of a sudden these three ghosts showed up out of no where. Or maybe that big creature had something to do with it? A three headed creature? Yeah, sure, and probably sent by Herobrine too. I desperately need to keep my fantasy in check. Am I going crazy? No, wait. The cave! That's it, that's... I thought I lost her, for sure I thought I lost her. Thats right: next these "ghosts" hit the cave, a large explosion follows and then everything went black. I tried to yell, I tried to warn her, I honestly tried! Either that or I'm really losing my mind here. "Rei?!", I ask. My head is hurting, I'm slowly coming back to my senses and at least my body stopped going numb on me. I slowly get up only to slowly gasp at seeing the devastation before me. By Notch, she was in the cave when that whole thing.... I quickly get to my feet, and run towards the cave, or what's left of it: "Rei?!!", I yell again. Don't you do this to me, don't you dare do this to me... The cave completely collapsed on itself. It's one smoldering pile of.. no, no, no, no, no.... don't you dare.. I honestly don't know how long I've been digging and clearing out rubble. I do remember that I had to stop because I could barely use my hands anymore. Then I started to resort to brute force and eventually managed to work my way in.... But there was no sign of her.... End of part 1, part 2 will come as soon as I got confirmation about something.
Part 2 I'm saddened. I've checked the cave several times, I've searched the small mine we made but no matter where I look there's no sign of her. Not a trace. Of course I'd rather have no trace than... I shake my head, I refuse to think about that. She's got to be alright. When searching the the remains of the cave I manage to pick up a few items which we collected over time. But it only worries me more: I don't remember ever keeping any rotting flesh around. Which is actually the most frustrating part: if only I could understand what happened here. But all I remember is vague and blurry images and impressions. Worse yet: I honestly think that I'm going crazy, because the things I think I saw... Impossible, it must be my mind playing tricks on me. But if that is true then it certainly cannot explain what caused this massive devastation. I decide to make one final sweep: a walk around the entire area where the cave is, but from the outside. Maybe I'll manage to find something that way. I walk out the cave, go left and start walking past the beach. "Rei!?", I yell. Nothing. I make my way towards the border with the savanna and from there climb my way up. Suddenly I hear a rumbling sound, coming somewhere from near the cave. Could that be?... I can't see anything special yet so I decide to finish my sweep as I intended, but a little quicker than before. On the platform where I woke up there's also nothing to see. I come across the river and follow its trail back to the beach and the cave entrance, or what's left of it, when all of a sudden I hear a voice call out: "Shell? It's that you?!". And that's the other thing I clearly remember: that moment of relief when I discovered that she was alright. Well, considering the circumstances anyway... "Rei, I'm so happy to see you!", I start. "Later", she interrupts: "the cave collapsed, all my stuff is gone and I can't get out. The sand here has partly melted, it's impossible to dig my way out of here.", she tells me. "Not to worry, I got just the thing", I tell her when I get the wooden shovel I found earlier. Shell, is that you? A few moments later we're finally reunited. "What happened?", I ask her. She shakes her head: "I have no idea. All I remember is hearing strange voices outside. I then decided to retreat back into the mine and the next moment it sounded like a baby dragon hit this place. Did you see anything?", she asks me. "I'm not sure, actually, I don't know what I saw.", I answer: "all I can remember is this three headed.. thing". She looks at me with a clearly startled expression: "Are you sure about that?", she asks. I shake my head: "To be honest I'm not so sure of anything right now". "One thing is for sure", Rei starts: "we're back to square one". "Actually...", I continue: "square two. We still have some weapons and our tools", I say while I use my shovel to point at the sword she's holding. She nods: "We have no choice, we'll have to try and find shelter in the forest. And this time we need to try and hide our tracks", and I nod in agreement. "We have no choice, we'll have to try and find shelter in the forest." We swim to the other side of the river and then make our way into the jungle. And as could be expected the jungle is a very dense and hard to navigate place. Eventually we reach something which looks like an open spot. "Here", Rei says: "this should be perfect", and I immediately start digging. "Careful there, let me do this with my hands", she tells me when I start to widen the entrance a bit: "I want to place this dirt back as if nothing happened". After she's done I start digging some more and before we know we have ourselves a new cave. Only this time with a pretty solid stone floor. "It's just too bad that we lost all of our tools too", I say. Rei grins: "Actually we didn't", while she opens her hand. It's actually as if she's holding a miniature version of the furnace we moved with so much effort earlier. "How in the world is that possible?", I ask her. "This is all the creators magic at work", Rei tells me: "when you remove items which you created on the crafting table while using the tools which were also created on a crafting table then their magic extends on each other.". "And what did you manage to take with you?", I ask. "I got lucky", Rei answers: "just when I got both the crafting table and the furnace then all Nether broke loose. That's where I quickly retreated into the mine, just before the entire cave collapsed". "You had me worried sick", I tell her: "For a moment there I was afraid I'd never see you again". She looks at me with an uncomfortable look in her eyes: "Hey, don't get all mooshy on me, ok?", she starts: "we need to stay focused here. From here on we'll need to be careful every time we go outside. Because every time we risk getting spotted", she says. I nod: "Sure, but I also think we should try to find out who or what is after us. Guess I can think of the why part myself", I tell her while I'm checking my inventory. And while doing that Rei places the furnace and the crafting table on the ground again and it doesn't take us long before we both get a decent set of stone tools. "Let's start digging", Rei says: "we desperately need to gather new supplies". "Ok then", I say: "A mining we will go then", after which we start digging out a new mine... End of part 2.
I have a feeling that you guys are going to have a tough time on the nether (if you so choose to go there), because it has to be relatable. Keep up the good work Shel.
The forces of darkness - part 1 After digging for several hours our mine finally starts to take some shape. And I have to say that I'm very impressed with the workbench which Rei made earlier. Creating tools which would normally have taken me most of the night could now be crafted within mere seconds. All it takes is the right recipe... "Careful Shell", Rei tells me while I'm clearing out a small space: "the floor almost sounded hollow. I think we may be on top of a cave or something". I nod and carefully dig out a piece of the floor while also making sure not to lean over to heavily. And for sure; there' s a cave below us. "Look!", Rei says enthusiastically while pointing at the floor of the cave: "A natural water source. You know what this means, right? We might be able to plant things down there.". I surprisingly look at Rei. Plant things in a cave? "Well, after we light up the cave of course. Plants need light afterall!", Rei tells me after seeing my puzzled look. Look; a natural water source... "I need a quick break though", I tell her while I go sit down on the floor. "Yeah, me too", she answers: "But still Shell, did you really see a three headed monster attacking the cave the other day?", she asks. "I really don't know anymore", I answer her: "besides, what does it matter anyway? It's gone, isn't it?". Rei shakes her head: "I'm really not so sure about that. And if what you saw was real then I'm afraid that we could be in big trouble". "What was that thing then anyway?", I ask. Rei looks at me with a very uneasy look on her face. "What?", I ask. "The last of the Wyverns", she tells me: "and those who oppose it shall wither away into oblivion.". She's visibly concerned: "I just never would have thought they'd succeed..", she mumbles. "You're not making any sense right now", I say:" who are they and what did they do?". Rei sighs: "I have a hunch, but promise that you won't freak out". I grin: "try me". Rei points at her backpack: "have you ever heard the rumors about what happened on the 19th day of writing the Book of Power? *", she asks. "Only that a disaster happened", I answer: "and that the creator has documented it in the very same book". She nods: "Yes, but do you know why it was entitled 'Folly of the Dark Lord?". I shake my head: "No, I tried to look up those events during my study but the library had nothing on it". See previous chapter: The Book of the Dark Lord "That was for a very good reason", Rei tells me: "because on that day the world almost ended.", she says with a grave voice. "What?", I gasp. She nods: "On the 19th day of writing the Dark Lord decided to show the world a glimpse of his power by sharing some of the Nether recipes. How to make a glowing block out of yellow dust, how to make dark solid bricks out of the red clayish soils and...", Rei shivers: "and how the dark underworld skeletons were far superior than those on the Overworld", she says. I'm about to ask if she's ok when she raises her hand and gestures me to keep quiet: "it is said that at this time the Dark Lord realized that he had forgotten about a dark, foul, material in his realm: The sand of souls". Rei is visibly disturbed and at this time she's even making me a little jumpy. "Sand of souls?". She nods: "The exact details of the events have been lost in time, but at one point Herobrine had managed to use the sand of souls to fuse the life force of his three most powerful Dark Generals into one consistent being. Its very essence held together through forbidden magic, Herobrine was convinced that with this power he could overthrow the creator himself. And so, when Notch came to visit Herobrine to discuss the sharing of the Nether lore the Dark Lord made his move and unleashed the first of the Wyverns". "Wait, wyverns?", I say when Rei urges me again to keep quiet. "And then disaster struck. So powerful and so twisted, the three Dark Generals soon merged into one threesome being of darkness. Powerful enough to even overthrow the Dark Lord himself. So after Herobrine had played out his trump card in order to overthrow Notch, both creators ended up having to fight for their very lives because the Dark Wyvern knows no allies. Being a true creation of destruction it started to lay waste to the dark realm itself. Both creators barely made it out alive.". "But what does this have to do with that monster back there?", I ask Rei. "When the creators eventually slayed the Dark Wyvern its remains fell in the middle of the field of souls. And its essence got absorbed by the sand that lies there, now dubbed soul sand. Rumor has it that with the right recipe and the appropriate magic one can re-create this being of destruction. And by doing so one would doom the world". "Recipe?", I ask: "You don't... wait.. he actually shared the recipe?". Rei nods: "The book of Power, now forbidden, holds all the workbench recipes known to the world. Including that of the Dark Wyvern". She sighs again: "It is my believe that someone or something is trying to get my book in order to build an army of darkness. And this is why my book has been kept out history itself for most part". "But there's one thing I don't understand here", I say: "If that wyvern was a being of destruction, then how come that it specifically destroyed the cave but nothing else?". I shake my head: "This is of course assuming I actually saw one". "I don't know", Rei tells me: "but it must have taken some very powerful magic to make it do what they wanted". "So basically... You think that all which stands between them and world domination, or destruction if your idea is right, is us?", I ask. Rei nods: "My family has kept the Forbidden Book a secret for generations. No one was supposed to know that I was taking it to another location, but somehow word must have gotten out. And now I honestly don't know what I should do", she says. "But where on earth were you going to take such a powerful book anyway?", I ask: "Why didn't you leave it where it was?". "You don't get it do you?", Rei asks: "When this book falls into the wrong hands then trust me: this is no theory, that will be the end of the world", she says. "So when we heard of the Empire and the man they call Aikar we hoped that we might be able to request an audience with him and that he might know a solution. The other day you spoke of those outposts, if they can build a town which manages to keep all hostility out, then surely they might know a way to keep this book safe?", Rei says. "Right", I say while I get back to my feet: "First things first; lets dig out that cave...". End of part 1.
I'm going to try and name the chapters from here on, that makes it easier for future references. I'm trying to add details only to refer to those (or re-use them) at a later time Another thing: I once again forgot to turn off chat, that's because we really got into the game during this session, partly because of a Momentus encounter (which won't make it into my story just yet, sorry Momentus! But hopefully you can re-audition soon enough! ). The forces of darkness - part 2. I get up, take my pick axe and start digging downwards, next to the cave. It takes us a while but eventually we make it to the bottom. Once we made sure that things are safe (I keep my sword in hand anyway) I start going around the cave and place torches to light up the area. This cave looks useful, but the only thing we need to be careful for is the large chasm next to it. I look down and it's almost like looking into the Nether itself: huge lava pools fill the ground. "You don't believe me, do you?, Rei suddenly asks me. "What gave you that idea?", I answer. She shrugs.. "Look Rei", I say: "it's not that I don't believe you. I do. But even if there are strange creatures after us then it doesn't change the fact that right now we need our supplies back, and food most of all.". She nods. "Besides", I continue: "I was an idiot to doubt you once, and I'm not going to make that mistake again". Rei grins: "Yes, and you still are!", she says with a quick wink. "Hey now!", I jest. There we go, at least that got her spirits lifted a bit.. Rei walks up to the water: "This is great", she says: "we can put dirt next to this and then use that to plant seeds on". I nod while she starts to place some dirt around the water in order to keep it from flowing off in all directions, and in the mean time I scout the area some more. Hmm, it looks like there's a lot of ore on the other end of the chasm. I grab some stone and reinforce it with some clay and start building a small bridge out of it. I need to be careful because if this collapses then I don't think we'll be able to survive the fall. After half an hour I finally made it to the other side and also start lighting up this end of the cave. These cavern structures sure are impressive. It doesn't take me long before I find some coal and... wow, more iron over there! "Rei, I'll be right back", I yell: "there is a lot of ore to be found here". She waves at me: "Ok, I'm going to finish this farm here.". It seems that this cave goes on for miles in all sorts of directions. I find a lot of iron and coal, and that should help us make more powerful tools as well as keep the furnace fueled long enough. After an hour or so I head back to Rei when all of a sudden I spot something weird in the distance while crossing the chasm. It looks like a zombie but... "Rei", I softly whisper: "quick, come look at this!". She walks over and I point her in the direction of the creature. "Poor thing", she says softly: "that's the curse of the creator. When the darkness passes then so shall the foot soldiers. It'll soon be burned up alive". Then she beacons me to follow her. "Look!", she says: "the garden is finished and with a little luck we might even get our own tree here.". A tree in a cave? The idea sounds weird to me, but... Oh well, one way to find out. I can also see that Rei has placed dirt around the water stream and planted the whole field. "Impressive", I tell her: "if this works then we should get plenty of food from that". She nods: "I plan to add another field behind this one, that way we may even be able to collect some reserves". We walk back to the main cave: "Say...", Rei starts: "since it is light out there could you go out and see if you can find some yellow and cyan colored herbs?", she asks. I nod, sounds easy enough: "Sure, and I might even be able to gather some more wood too", I say. Rei shakes her head: "No, don't chop any trees in the jungle down. Anything which we change here might lead our enemies to us". "Oh, ok then", I answer. Rei slowly clears out the entrance and I carefully climb out. "I'll be back soon", I say. I make my way through the jungle and towards the river. Normally herbs can be found near water so that should surely be a good location. But when I get near the river and look across my heart almost misses a beat. I can see a skeleton which seems to be directing a search party of creepers. But.. It has a aura of fire around it, as if its burning up alive, but the fire doesn't seem to hurt it one bit. I've never seen anything like this before... Slowly I retreat back into the jungle and follow the river a bit more up stream. There should be a small pond there, maybe I can find some herbs over there. Suddenly I hear a sisling sound, I look back and thank the creator that I had the presence of mind to leap out of the way. An explosion goes off behind me and when I look back I can see the skeleton on top of a hill and another creeper walking straight towards me: "Get him, kill him, I want his head!", a dark and forbidden voice screams out. "I want his head!" Well, fortunately for me it's way too far away to shoot any arrows at me, that's a pro. Or so I thought. When trying to climb the hill next to me a flaming arrow suddenly flies past me. "Going somewhere.. human?", the voice asks sarcastically. The attack paused me long enough for yet another creeper to jump down and land in front of me: "die! ssssss", it snarls while I quickly make a run back towards the water again. Another explosion sounds. Unfortunately I forgot that another creeper was already waiting in the water for me and as soon as it sees me coming into his direction it immediately starts to flash.. Oh no.... "HALT!", the creature on the hill cries out. The creeper stops. I quickly look over my shoulder to see if I could escape somehow but another creeper has already creeped up behind me. It seems I'm surrounded.... "You are not the one we seek, human", the skeleton says: "tell me where the girl is and you shall be spared". "Who do you mean?", I ask: "I know so many girls...". It almost seems as if the flames which engulf this creature become even more intense for a moment: "Don't play jokes on me human, you know who I mean.", it angrily yells: "We want the book bearer! Now tell me where she is!". Talk about a test of faith. Even so... I don't see how I can make it out of this one, and I'm surely not going to trust this guy on his word.. "Well?", the creature asks. "Oh, you mean that girl", I say: "yeah, you see.. it didn't really work out too well. So we split up". The creature looks at me, obviously not fooled by my story: "For the last time human, where is the girl?!", it asks. "I'm right here you monster!", a familiar voice suddenly cries out and the next moment Rei stabs the creature with her sword. This move even surprised me, but fortunately I manage to keep myself focused and slash the creeper next to me with my sword. The one behind me already starts to make a hissing sound and so I make a quick dash forwards. "I'm right here, monster!", a familiar voice suddenly cries out. A massive explosion sounds behind me and when I look back all the creepers are gone. "Thanks", I say: "that was close!". "Fortunately this guy was easy to spot", Rei tells me: "but this is seriously bad. If they can survive throughout the day then we're in serious trouble here". I nod: "lets get those herbs you need, maybe gather some extra supplies and then head back to the hideout", I say. We search the area and find all the herbs which Rei needs. I also decide to chop a few trees outside the jungle down, but this time also making sure to replant the saplings so that we more or less hide our tracks. Finally we go back to the cave, but while taking a detour through the jungle. Hopefully misleading anyone, or anything, following us. Back in the cave, and after carefully closing the entrance, we store our supplies in the chests. "You'll never guess what happened in the cave!", Rei tells me. "Well, I will go look then", I answer while making my way down. And it is an amazing sight indeed! The sapling which Rei planted earlier has grown into a full tree. It looks a little pale and brown, for sure, but it's still a tree. Hopefully we can use this to gather some more desperately needed wood. Especially now that we start to make a nice iron collection. Suddenly I hear a weird noise behind me. I look around but can't really see anything out of the ordinary. "Huuuu maaaaan", a strange voice says. It sends shivers down my spine, it's almost as if... The voice of the undead. But.. Much louder, more powerful. Suddenly I gasp when thinking back of... No, it can't be! I run towards the chasm and to my horror I see a flaming zombie climb up a lava stream, totally unharmed by the intense heat. "dieaaaaaaa", it howls while it's walking towards me with an inhumanly fast pace.. "Rei?!", I yell: "HELP!". End of part 2 & end of this chapter (yes, this is what we call a cliffhanger). Next time: "You call something this crazy a plan?".
<3 I don't think I can stop telling you how amazing this is. But I think you made a little mistake here: I'm happy I realised I didn't get alerts from this anymore, and got time to catch up just now. This is getting intense! (that "Anyone selling sand" was a huge anti-climax to me, though xD
This is an intermezzo / editorial comment post... Apologies for the delay guys. We had a disagreement about the way the story should handle the wasteland reset and we also once again seriously considered the option to move into the Frontier. So we decided to leave things for a moment and do something different (like mining ocean monuments). And sure enough: it gave us both some new ideas. Better yet: ideas we could agree on. The story will continue to play out in the SMP9 wastelands and today we found a location which we both really like and are looking forward to explore it some more. It even made the idea we couldn't agree on impossible to use and automatically presented another plot twist. If time allows we'll explore some more this evening, but at most tomorrow
I applaud you for the style of writing and having a fascination writing style. It is much fun to read this interesting stories. I applaud you for these stories. Love them from all my heart.
Oh wow, I think it's really impressive how you handle stuff like this. It's quite amazing how you manage to keep something like this alive, together. Because really, making something like this doesn't at all go without problems, I can imagine.
And we are back! Funny detail: the zombie actually killed me. And because we didn't have a bed here it sent me back to the outpost. That's when we decided that our new location shall have a bed, at the very least to make sure that we don't have to bother with finding our way back. You call something this crazy a plan? "Rei?!", I yell while I'm slowly backing up a bit. Not that it has much use, the zombie is way too fast for me. Once it had climbed the lava stream it runs right for me: "HELP!", I cry out while I smack the zombie with my sword but little seems to happen. It's almost as if its not feeling anything. It lashes out at me and almost makes me lose my balance. I hit it again with my sword and again hardly anything happens. Hardly anything but... I gasp.. I can actually feel my sword heating up from the flames which engulf this monster. That is bad. It means that if I keep this up I might reach a point where I can no longer hold my sword anymore! I try to stab it but it's much too fast for that, it quickly moves out of the way and deals another blow, almost right in my stomach. I back up some more, where the heck is Rei anyway? Wait a second... I have an idea; the tree! This zombie doesn't really look very smart, all it does it trying to hit me. Maybe... I slash it again a few times and this time also give it a rough kick before I quickly run towards the tree. I see a branch which sits pretty low to the ground and looks flexible enough. I pull the branch as hard as I can and actually manage to bend it. As I expected the zombie is totally unaware of what I have planned for him and simply comes right at me again. "Surprise!", I tell it when its close enough for me to release the branch. "Aiiii", it yells while the branch hits him and sends him flying backwards a few meters. Maybe.. I run right up to it and hit it some more with my sword. It seems to work, he's slowly backing up a bit. Just a little further, then I may be able to get him to fall over the ledge. I hit him again and again but it doesn't seem to matter much. "Sheell!", I hear Rei yelling. I hit the zombie once more and decide to retreat. I run towards and up the stairs. "Oooofff"... Only to run fully into Rei somewhere near the corner. "There's a burning zombie downstairs", I say: "there's more above, they've invading the hideout", Rei answers. We get to our feet. "Help me defeat the one below, maybe we can get away through the caves", I say while I go back downstairs. Only to find... nothing? "Quick, the food!", Rei says and starts to harvest all the wheat. When we're done we go towards the chasm: "Lets cross the bridge and then destroy it", I say: "That will make it harder for them to follow us". Rei nods.. "I'm going to miss this tree", she says before walking over the bridge to the other end. I follow her, destroy the bridge, and we make a run for the caves. After walking for an hour or so we find a path leading upwards and once there we ended up near the edge of the savanna and the jungle. "So now what?", Rei asks. Then again... "Maybe...", I start.. "I have a plan: we could flee across the river, make a boat and see if we can find land elsewhere. It would be very hard for them to follow us", I say. "Why?", Rei asks: "do you know of any land out there?". I shake my head: "Actually I have no idea, but it looks to me that wherever we go they always seem to find us. This might help..". "I'm going to miss this tree..." "We could get lost at sea", Rei says. I nod. "We could get stranded and not find any land at all". I nod again. "How can you call something this crazy a plan?", she asks. "I suppose I can't really, but I think its the best we can do", I say. She nods. "Well, I suppose we'll have to make a new workbench", she says. "No, no magic", I answer: "For all I know they could have found us because we used the magic of the ancients. We're going to do this the old fashioned way...". We start by taking down trees, use the wood to make crude tools and then use those tools to carve out a wood block into a boat. We work for hours and eventually manage to make two boats. We then wait until night starts to fall and slowly make our way towards the beach. Well, here goes nothing... "Do you have any idea where we're going?", Rei asks. "Nope", I say: "we'll let fate guide us". Rei grins: "Well, that sounds reassuring". We travel for hours and at some points it becomes depressing. The only thing we see is the other person, the rest is all water. Wait... I point towards the horizon: "Look there", I yell: "I think thats land". We quickly head for the piece of land with full speed. Stupid us... the next moment both me and Rei crash on a rock which stuck out the water just a little bit. "Can you swim?", I ask Rei. She nods. Well, that's one thing less to worry about. It takes us several hours but finally we manage to reach land... "Well, this looks promising enough", Rei says: "At least it has trees and grass. And I have some seeds from before, so we should be able to make a small farm again". I nod: "and because there's water all around us we should be able to easier spot enemies when they're coming for us", I answer. This looks promising enough... And while Rei starts to dig out some grass in order to plant seeds I quickly investigate the island. I quickly find an abandoned cave which looks safe enough to use as a house. We should be able to set up a new small living area in no time....
I'm sure there are a lot of Minecraft related stories and I most definitely haven't read all of them... but I do think that this story definitely belongs to the best 1%.
First and foremost I'd like to thank you guys for the comments and the likes and such. Really appreciated. For the people new: the main idea is basically Aya and me playing survival on SMP9 after which I try to put the things which happened into a fantasy story. So far so good. We're having fun playing, I have a lot of fun writing and I think it's awesome that you guys like reading. The Imperial giant - part 1 What do you know; luck finally seems to smile in our favor somewhat: we got our own private island! While Rei is busy setting up a small garden I check out the rest of the area and it looks to me as if this could be the perfect spot to relax a bit. "Rei, come check this out!", I yell after I discovered a small cave hidden in the sand. "Shell, come check this out!", I get in response though. I climb out of the cave and immediately need to grin. "Did your sheep climb up the three ma'am?", I jest. Rei smiles at me: "Wooly is a real tree climbing trooper, isn't she?", she says while picking up the sheep and placing it gently on the ground: "we even have our own pet now!", she grins. I nod though I can't help wonder why we'd need wool. As if she has read my mind Rei continues: "Wooly can give us wool, and we can use that to make a bed. Trust me: it'll be much more comfortable than sleeping against a wall". Shelly, meet Wooly... After that I show Rei the cave I discovered earlier and she is immediately excited: "Yes, this will be perfect!", she says while we dig out a new living area. We soon set up a new workbench and a furnace after which we dig out a new mining area. Unfortunately we don't discover any massive caves this time but then again: that is kind of logical considering that we're now close to the ocean floor. But even without caves we still manage to find plenty of ores. After we collect some more iron Rei creates some tools with it and goes out to shear Wooly. She comes back with a handful of wool: "This will be perfect", she says while she immediately goes to work. "Rei, can I study your book some more?", I ask. Rei is obviously a little bit surprised by my question but has no problems with handing her book to me. "Sure, but what for?", she asks. "I want to see if I can find a way which might help us to discover who, or what, have been after us lately", I tell her while I carefully open the first pages. I once again come across the poem Rei read out some days ago * and I can't help wonder. The strongest portal must though build... But how would you make something stronger? Hm, probably by using a very hard material. "Rei, what do you think the strongest material is?", I ask her while I continue reading. Rei looks up from her knitting work: "Strongest? I think that would be the dark obsidian. It's what you get when you quickly cool down lava with water", she answers: "But be careful, you'd need a diamond pickaxe to mine that stuff and it will take you a long time", she continues. See The the book of the Dark Lord, part 2 "Oh this is great!", Rei continues and immediately starts working on the ground some more. "Taadaah, Shell come look at this!", she says while she finishes placing a nice red soft bed on the ground. I look at the sized bed while Rei looks back at me: "This will be so much more comfortable, you'll see!". Our new bed... In the mean time I still keep studying the poem and I can't help wonder if it actually means building a portal to the Underworld using 20 obsidian blocks. I sigh, this could of course be the biggest mistake of my life, to my knowledge no one has ever tried to gain access to the Underworld itself. But if we are going to find out who's after us.. Heck, if we are going to find the Empire for that matter then I don't think we'll have much of a choice. We will need to explore a lot more. The next few days I discuss some of my plans with Rei while we also carefully make a small building on the island. Our (top side) farm really pays off: we have plenty of bread to live on. But thanks to the animals living here we can also breed them which helps us to get some other food as well. Things are really starting to look up for us, but on the other side it also feels as if we're now trapped here. And we still wanted to find the Empire... We decide that we'll first try to collect some of this "obsidian", but in order to do that we'll need to find some lava pools. Which means that we'll have to do a lot more mining. And of course: we can hardly find any caves, let alone lava for that matter. The only caves which we do manage to find are crawling with spiders, the nasty poisonous ones. But there is a good side to this: the spiders provide us with plenty of string, which gives me an idea... I use the workbench to tie some sticks together and also attach some string to the end of these sticks and what do you know? I made myself a fishing rod! This is bound to help us out even more: I could use a nice fish meal every once in a while. I show Rei the fishing rod and I can't wait to test it out. "Do you want to go out now?", she asks: "But it is raining", she says. I shrug, who cares about a little rain? "Ok then, I'll watch your back", Rei says while we go out to the beach. I quickly throw out my rod while Rei stands guard behind me. And as I expected I soon catch several fish, now we can finally add a little diversity to our meals. Then, all of a sudden... Something pulls the fishing rod down, something much heavier than a fish. "This is weird", I tell Rei while I carefully try to bring in whatever it is I caught. Very strange indeed; it doesn't seem to be alive yet it still seems to be struggling and doesn't allow me to pull it in. But, after 5 minutes of carefully pulling and reeling I finally manage to bring my prize to the surface. A prize which left both Rei and myself completely baffled.... A book. But not just any book: this book had a magical aura surrounding it. Inside we could make out several strange messages; it almost seemed like a spellbook of some sorts. Both Rei and myself intensively study this book for the next hours and eventually we come to conclude that this book could be a summoning ritual of some sort. But we can't agree on what this might summon. The words speak of a gigantic guardian, but there are no giants in the world... And that worries me, especially after having heard the story of the Dark Wyvern which simply started to attack anything in its sight. Would this guardian be something good or bad? We leave the book alone for a few days and during a later evening pick it up again.... "What do you think we should do?", I ask Rei. She raises her shoulders: "I don't know, but we have to do something", she says. And so we decide to read the spell out loud to see what happens. Suddenly the ground shakes, it almost feels as if something dropped down on the beach. Rei and me run outside and my jaw almost drops open in amazement: There is now a gigantic monster standing on the beach! I quickly draw my sword while Rei comes up next to me: "This is amazing", she says: "Do you think he'd attack us?". I shrug: "I have no idea", I answer. Suddenly the giant seems to have spotted us and it turns around while looking down at us. "I. AM. MOMENTUS!", a booming voice suddenly sounds. Rei and me look at each other: Now what?
