Minecraft Monarchies – #21

Dad frantically opened up his inventory, equipping cobblestone blocks and angling them into the stone. One after the next, he made a set of block stairs down the side of the cliff face.

“Don’t worry, Dean!” Dad said, almost falling off himself while trying to place the blocks.

Down below, Dean fought the zombies, one after another. Slash and chop, he was killing them left and right.

But he was at half health. And there were too many of them.

“Dad! I can’t hold them off much longer!” Dean cried. He hopped sideway, slashing again. A zombie hit him, knocking him back.

There wasn’t time. Dad was only halway down from where Dean had fallen, and there were so many zombies.

He did the only think he could think of.

He jumped.

“Geronimo!” Dad yelled, coming from up high. Smashing into the ground, he turned and started swatting zombies.

The ground shook again and both of them fell off their feet. Around them zombie fell over, some toppling to their deaths into the got lava of the cavern.

What was doing that?

“Roar!” cried the monsterous voice of some hideous best. “Rooooooooooaaaaaaaar!!”

It couldn’t be. Yet the sound was unmistakeable. Down here, deep in the caverns, there lay a fearsome dragon.

They knew this was true because it chose this moment to fly into the dungeon and blow flame over them all.

“Dean!” Dad yelled. “Stop fighting and get your blocks ready. I’m going to make a bunch of blocks for you to hop on and then I’ll fight them off. I didn’t bring too much important inventory so it is okay if I die. Just get to safety!”

Dad ran to the cliff face and put up as many blocks as he could, then turned to keep the burning zombies away. The dragon, meanwhile, snarled and flew through again, blowing more fire over them all.

Dean had 3 hearts. Dad had 1.

“Go Dean. Get out of here!”

Dean hopped up the blocks, pulling out his own to finish the stairs out of there. Dad smashed more zombies, then fell over, his stuff flying everywhere. Most of it was junk, but there was his iron armor, his magic sword, and his crossbow and arrows there as well.

Dean was tempted to try to grab it, but he saw the dragon coming through for another pass. He finished going up, ate some grilled meat, and got out of there as fast as he could.

Whatever was happening there felt like a very difficult quest area. One that they were not at all ready for yet.

He wondered if they every would be.

Luckily, the way back was clear of monsters. Their policy of leaving torches wherever they explored was clearly paying off and keeping the monsters from spawning where they weren’t wanted.

Dean wondered if that would work on dragons too and he shivered. The thing had looked like an ender dragon. But why was it here? And why was it breathing fire over everything and making the ground shake.

It had to be another Minecraft Monarchy mod boss. Maybe even the end boss! It was an interesting thought. Perhaps, in this mod, the Ender Dragon wasn’t the final boss.

Dean went through the tunnels and then down the stairs to the Colony of the DeepDark. Heading in, he found Dad in thier house, making new armor for himself from the ore in their chests.

“Oh hey Dean!” Dad said, turning his blocky head to look over his blocky shoulder. “Glad to see you made it. That was a heck of a mess, wasn’t it?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah it was. I was thinking . . . we are low on coal and I’m not so sure anymore about exploring these caverns. At least not until we get better equipment. What do you think about heading topside and seeing if anything is happening at Port City?”

Dad looked around at their home. “But we just built this place,” he whined.

Dean laughed. “Maybe we can buy a house in every city. That can be our personal quest.”

Dad nodded and smiled. “Deal! And if we get the option, I want to just buy land and make my own house from scratch!”

Dean sighed. Building was fun, but he’d rather be out finding more magical treasure. Like the armor they’d found at the castle. He smiled, looking at it sitting on his chest. Magical Netherite armor was so rare and so powerful. He was glad Dad let him have it so easily.

“Alright, deal. And we can make it super big too. Like 5 floors!”

“Two,” Dad said.

“Three,” Dean answered. “And super wide too.”

Dad nodded, his face all dreamy and his mind obviously elsewhere. “Yeah! Like a wooden castle. This is going to be beautiful!” he said, elongating the oo sound. They both laughed. “I’m going to pack extra axes and pickaxes. We’ll need them for the materials to build the dream house.”

Together, they gathered together their gear and headed up the steps to Port City.

Going up the steps, they saw the sunset was fast approaching.

“Should we go grab Brian the Blacksmith before he goes to sleep?” Dad asked.

Dean shook his head. “Nah. Let him sleep. I want to explore the city and see if anything has changed.”

“But isn’t it dangerous?” Dad asked. The sky had just about turned black.

Dean pointed around the city. Five golems patrolled it, and there were torches everywhere.

“I have a feeling that we are going to be safe,” he smirked.

Dad put a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, if things get dangerous, yell for me. I know that dying just means losing experience points and loot, but I still don’t ever want to see it happen to you. Got it?”

Dean blushed, the red glow spreading over his square face. “Got it.”

“Right then. See you later alligator!”

“After while, crocodile,” Dean said back. The two separated, with Dean wandering through the city to seeif anything new had been built. Dad headed over toward their castle, seeing if there was anything he could or should do while he was on his lonesome.

He was the well terraced hill on the way, and his imagination spun into gear. He had a wonderful idea. Gazing at the blocks of stone that marred the otherwise beautful landscaping job that the villagers had done, he realized that he could get rid of those stones . . . and probably address their need for coal at the same time!

Getting his pickaxe ready, he started to dig in. Bits went flying and soon he had a proper tunnel forming. Further and further he dug. He was totally out of torches, but he had sticks ready in case this idea of his worked out and he ran into a block of coal.

And maybe 30 steps in, he found it. An absolute hoard of coal, with blocks up and down, left and right. And, of course, straight forward.

He turned his head to yell for Dean, then stopped himself. He could get this done himself. Dean had more important things to worry about. He started digging, collecting coal. And then, when he had seven chunks of it, he used the coal to craft torches and line the passage with them.

Afterwards Dad mined all of the coal, dug forward another thirty paces, and found even more of it.

It was like he had died and gone to coal heaven.

Dad paused at that thought. He had died in the game. Twice now. Did that mean . . .

No. He shook his head and laughed, then finished mining the new clump. Counting 70 coal in his inventory, he decided enough was enough and he left the mine he’d created.

But not before adding one more very important feature to the whole thing.

Throwing blocks back in the way to make sure no monsters spawned within and came out to threaten the village, Dad ran back to the castle and pulled a sign out of one of the chests in the bedroom there. Then he ran back and plopped it into the ground.

‘Dean and Dad Mining Incorporated’ the sign said. Dad stepped back and looked at it from afar, Dean joining him a moment later.

Despite his death in the cavern, it had been a good day.

Minecraft Monarchies – Table of Contents