Minecraft Monarchies – #5

The next morning the two of them were the first to wake up. They looked around themselves at the piles of sleeping villagers and they tiptoed out, wanting to let these hardy villagers get as much sleep as they could.

Walking through the empty village was a little eery. It fel dangerous, as if there might be a zombie around the next corner, or as if a phantom might swoop down from the sky to pierce them at any moment.

But the place had been built solid and safe. It was possibly the safest village either of them had ever seen in any of the Minecraft games that they had played before.

And there, at his shop, well awake and tinkering with some sticks, was Fred the Fletcher. He saw us and waved.

“It’s still dark up top,” he said. “So I would advise you to be careful if you are heading out. But, I figured you might want to leave early, so I got up as soon as I got more emeralds.”

He leaned forward.

“You still have the rest of those sticks?”

“Absolutely!” Dad said. He handed them over, and Dean took the emeralds in return.

“Nice doing business with you,” he said. “Now, if we’re all done here, I’m going to head back to bed. See ya later?”

“Yeah you will. We’re going to come back and buy your bows when we have the money!” Dean enthused.

“And we’ll get you morte sticks too, when we have time,” Dad added.

Fred waved good-bye, and they waved back, then turned and walked away to the passage upwards.

Dean clicked the large button and opened the metal door out, then walked the step up and up and up. The sky was still a little dark, and they could see a few zombies and skeletons wandering around in the distance when they got back to their castle.

But it didn’t matter. The sun would be up soon, so Dean and Dad went outside and waiting for those first rays of light to rise up over the horizon.

And when they did, they went outside to enjoy it. There is something magical about the way the blocky Minecraft sun looks when crawling up from just over the horizon.

And both Dean and Dad were super happy to be there to see it. They stood together, watching it, ignoring the sounds of zombies burning to death in the distances and just waiting.

Finally, there came the sound of two villagers talking. Dad looked at Dean and he looked at Dad.

“Feel like going shopping?” Dad asked.

Dean laughed. “Heck yes! Sword, sword, the magical item. The more levels you have, the stronger it bites them. The stronger it bites them, the more loot they deal. Swords, swords for every meal!”

“That makes no sense,” Dad said.

“Your face makes no sense,” Dean replied. “You like a creeper.”

Dad laughed. “And you look like mozarella cheese.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll take that. Mozarella is the best!”

The two of them walked together, hand-in-hand, down the main road of the village. Two villagers stood there, talking about the weather, and Dad gave them a friendly wave. Then he noticed that one of them was Brian!

“Hey there, Blacksmith. Would you mind us butting in and maybe buying some of your swords?” Dad asked.

Brian hopped with excitement. “Yes, yes, I have so many to sell! Come, follow me, and I will get you your swords in a jiffy.”

Dean and Dad followed him into his shop.

“Now, then, do you have the emeralds I asked for?”

Dean stepped forward, pulling 28 of them out of his inventory. “Here you go!” he said, handing them over.

Brian looked over the emeralds and then pocketed them. A second later, two glowing swords were in his hands. Swords of Sharpness I! Dean grabbed them, and handed one to Dad. In the corner of their vision a box appeared.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! ARMED AND READY!

QUEST COMPLETED – STICKS TO SWORDS!

Sweet. They both tried to high five, but instead they ended up block punching each other’s hands in mid air, then they bid Brian farewell and left the shop.

“So, should we head down to the Deep Dark?” Dad asked.

Dean shook his head.

“I mean, we will soon. But not yet. I’ve got iron to smelt. I can make a helmet and maybe a breastplate for the both of us. And after that we have to get some more wood so we can buy bows. And since we are up her and it’s the day still, I figure we just go cut down some trees and get lots of sticks easy and fast so we can get a lot of emeralds when we go back down.”

Dad nodded. It was a really good idea. Armor would help them out a lot. And if they played this stick trade right they could be quite rich and they could get new equipment rather easily.

“Alright, yeah, I’m in. I have some wooden axes I want to use up anyways. Let’s go.”

Dean and Dad went back to the castle to craft their armor. It was a quick and easy thing, melting the ore in their furnace and then fitting it together on the crafting table. Then the two of them went to the forest to chop wood.

Then they heard rustling.

“What was that?” asked Dean. They both looked about. It was a mod, so maybe it was some new animal. But it could be an enemy also.

“I don’t know but I’ll go check it out,” Dad said then he went to the treeline and looked through the bushes. “It’s probably just some bird or a stupid villager.”

“Well, if this Minecraft mod has birds in it, that will be super cool. But I bet it’s going to be a creeper and you’re going to get your butt exploded back to the castle.”

Dad laughed. “The last place I slept was the Deep Dark, buddy boy. If I get exploded, I’m going to be far away and you won’t see me for quite a while.”

Dean was walking with Dad to the treeline, and when they reached it, neither of them could believe their eyes. What they saw were not animals. Instead what they found looked like a villager with gray skin. But villagers don’t have any gray skin. Dean’s eyes widened as he realized what they were.

“Pillagers!” Dad shouted out loud and Dean thought about running back to the castle. But now that they had good loot Dean instead ran to Dad to help him fight them.

“Get behind me Dad! I’ve got armor!” Dean shouted to Dad and Dad quickly went behind Dean to get protection. Those swords Dean and Dad had were shining extra hard, or so it seemed, and Dean didn’t hesitate to use it on the pillagers.

“Go away and never come back!” Dad shouted.

“Says the guy who needs protection from his son,” sneered one of the pillagers. There were three of them now, the one with the banner leading the way.

Dad snarled, his face red with anger, and Dad charged forward, swinging his sword like a crazy man.

Dean ran to his side, swing his own sword in a more reserved manner.

“Dad, don’t fight angry. You need to swing the sword slowly to preserve strength and do more damage when you hit.”

A pillager fired his crossbow, barely missing Dean. “Your dad is an idiot,” he said.

“Stop taunting Dad! He’s the best dad ever and he will be even with those mean words!”

Dean killed one pillager and then another, killing them. Dad slowed his strikes and killed the third one as well.

Then Dean gasped, a thought racing to his mind. They had a big problem on their hands.

The last pillager had a banner and he was the leader of a pillager patrol. Patrols have special abilities. When the pillager with the banner gets killed, and you are too near to a village, a raid will begin.

A powerful attack by an army of pillagers and their special units.

Leading to possibly the end of that village.

“Dad,” Dean said, his voice very low. “I think we might be in big trouble.”

Minecraft Monarchies – Table of Contents