Minecraft Monarchies #27

The rotted beasts swung down, swooping and biting at Dad. He swing his trident around like a fly swatter, smacking one to the side, and then another.

“Dean, some help here!” Dad yelled.

Dean ran over, his sword out and ready.

And then a phantom knocked him off the edge.

“Aah!” he yelled, getting ready to die for the first time.

“Splash,” said the water that caught him. Dean stood up, confused. Had the water just talked? It didn’t matter. He looked up and saw Dad battling with the phantoms, and he knew that Dad was going to die.

Again.

“Dad! Jump down into the water!” Dean yelled.

“Yeah Dad! Jump into the water!” the water repeated.

Dean frowned. “Uh, Dad? Maybe just stay up there for a bit. I’ve got something I need to figure out down here.”

“Are you sure?” he yelled back. I just lost three hearts and there’s a bunch of these things trying to eat my eyes!”

Dean sighed. The water seemed friendly enough. It had caught and saved him, after all. “Alright,” he said. “Jump down here. Just, um, if the water decides to kill us both, don’t blame me!”

A soft splooch followed, with Dad jumping to safety from high above.

“That was close!” Dad sighed. They both looked up at the sky and saw that the phantoms were staying in the sky and not coming down after them. “So what is going on down here?”

“The water started talking,” Dean said. “Um, hello water?”

“Hell,” the water said. “I am the water. And once I was a boy. First, let’s get you to a safe place. Those monsters could come down at any second.”

QUEST COMPLETE – DEFEAT THE VOLCANO

REWARD: PRECIOUS MINERALS HAVE SPAWNED IN THE PLACE OF THE OLD VOLCANO

REWARD: A SECONDARY QUEST – PLIGHT OF THE MAN AND HIS BOY

The water flowed around them, pulling them with its current to an empty home. It was a little ways away from the city, and it had two beds as well as a cake on the table. The two of them both dug in, savoring the sweet frosting of the digital delicacy, and dad watched his hearts rise back to normal.

The water, meanwhile, spoke to them from the water’s edge.

“Once I was a boy. I lived here with my dad and every day we’d go fishing, then we’d sell the fish to adventurers and head back home to sleep. But one day we stumbled upon a cave up in the mountains. A voice called for help from within.”

A misty smell whooshed from the water.

“We went in. And we were ambushed. There was a coven of witches and they told us that we had found their hideout, so now we had to die. We begged them to please let us go. And they laughed and they agreed.”

Dad frowned. “And then they changed you into water spirits, didn’t they?”

“Yes. They transformed the two of us. And not so long ago my dad stopped talking. But I still know myself and I still seek help for both of us. If some brave adventurer could go into the cave and defeat the witches, then we will be turned back to our former selves.”

QUEST: PLIGHT OF THE MAN AND HIS BOY. DO YOU ACCEPT? Y/N

Dad selected yes and he felt that misty sensation sweep over them, warmer this time.

“Thank you. The cave is in the uppermost reaches of the clifftops. Go during the day if possible. I just hope it isn’t too late to save my dad!”

Dad and Dean went to sleep in the beds. The time flew past quickly, and it was time to go. They went out of the house and saw that, since accepting the quest, a hiking path had become apparent along the side of the cavern. It was full of stairs and it lead upwards, presumably straight to the object of their quest.

Dad frowned. “Seems unrealistic. Why would there be an easy path straight to where we need to go?”

Dean laughed, taking the lead as they followed the trail up. “Because, Dad, trying to go through a bunch of hard stuff to get there would be super boring. Gamers want the action now!”

Dad nodded. “Yeah, that seems right. Well, do you think you are ready for a fight with a bunch of witches?”

Dean turned to reply, but just then a creeper chose to drop down from above. It blazed white and flashed. Dean smashed it with his sword and it fell into Dad, who promptly stabbed it with his trident.

It died, giving them both experience orbs.

“I guess I don’t know. There were witches in that underground castle,” he said.

Dad opened his mouth, then closed it. There was no point in talking about how hard that fight had been, and how he had almost died. Again.

They went up the stairs, following its turns, until they got out of the ground and into the sky. Dad pointed forward, catching glimpse of a promisingly dark cave, and together they walked over to it, carefully watching for traps and creepers.

As they got closer, they heard the cackle of witches. This was it. This was the cave. They got their weapons ready, and then they swarmed into the cave.

And right into an Enderman!

“Oh crud!” Dad said, looking it in the eyes. It’s jaw dropped down and it screamed angrily, before disappearing from sight.

And then it reappeared, attacking Dad from behind.

Dad stabbed it with his trident, once then twice. “Dean, a little help?” he asked.

But Dean was busy with his own fight. Beyond the Enderman was a magical campfire, and around it were two witches . . . and two spawner blocks were producing more. He was hit with a potion of poison, but with his sword he was able to kill that witch. Then the other hit him with a potion of slow.

And beyond them, further into the cave, Dean saw another spawner block. This one was making phantoms!

“Dad, run!” Dean said, slowing trying to sprint out of the cave. Dad stabbed the enderman one more time and it died, leaving behind to ender pearls. Then Dad turned and attacked, killing the witch and a single phantom as Dean got out of the cave.

But Dad was hit, then hit again. Another witch spun up from out of the spawner block, and it struck him with poison. His hearts low, he ran out from the cave and into the sunlgiht, joining Dean just around the corner.

There they dug out there food and ate, and started to heal.

“This is a really tough fight, Dean moaned.

Dad nodded. “Yeah, we are going to need a better plan. I think we would have been okay if not for that enderman, but we can still do this. We rush in, I fight, you break the spawners with your pick-axe.”

“Okay,” Dean agreed. “Let’s do it.”

The pair of them headed back in. Taking another hit of poision, Dad smashed the witch back and then killed him while Dean destroyed the spawner blocks. And then Dad killed three phantoms, spearing them in the air with his thrown magical trident, while Dean went and ended their spawner.

QUEST COMPLETE! A message told them. They sighed and smiled. It had been a heck of a fight but they had won!

Minecraft Monarchies – Table of Contents