Quest for Justice, page 21
“What exactly is Spleef?” asked Stan. He had wondered about this a few times before, but he hadn’t had a chance to ask yet.
“Sheesh!” cried DZ, taking them all by surprise. “You people’ve never heard of Spleef? What levels are ya?”
“Why does it matter?” asked Stan defensively. He would not tolerate any more of this bias against lower-levels.
“Oh, I’m not prejudiced, don’t worry!” DZ laughed. “No, no, prejudice against the lower-levels was the reason I left Element City. I was just wondering because if you’d been on here for long, you’d have heard of Spleef.”
“Oh, well in that case, we’re all in the thirties,” replied Stan, which was true, what with all the monsters and animals they’d killed around the Nether and the Overworld. Kat, Charlie, and Stan were now levels thirty-four, thirty-three, and thirty-one, respectively. Indeed, it occurred to Stan as he said this that the three of them wouldn’t even be considered lower-level players anymore. Then he realized that DZ had also said something else. “Wait,” said Stan, “why’d you leave Element City again?”
“Because I hate the King,” replied DZ offhandedly. “Anyway, Spleef is a game where any number of people . . . well in the league rules the official numbers are—”
“Hold up,” interjected Kat. “Why do you hate the King so much?”
“Because he backstabbed a bunch of his friends because he’s a paranoid jerkface. Anyway, in league Spleef two teams of three players each go into an—”
“And so you hate the King? You’d like to see him overthrown?”
“Well, yeah, if anyone had the guts to organize a rebellion, I’d join. So you’ve got these two teams in the arena, and they destroy the floor, which is made of snow, and try to knock the guys on the other team through the gaps—”
“We’re doing that! We’re organizing a rebellion against the King right now!” Charlie exclaimed.
“And the last team with a player standing is . . . wait, what?” DZ started to pay attention to them for the first time. He lowered his shades and looked down at them. “Hold up . . . from what I know, nobody allied with the King would even joke about overthrowing him . . . you’re serious?”
Stan looked at Kat, and she looked at Charlie, and he looked back at Stan, and he knew they were all thinking the same thing. “Yes, we’re serious!” Stan said. “If you want, you can join us. We’re raising an army right now to try to overthrow the King. As soon as we get supplies, which we’re on a journey to find right now, we’re going to hook up with some players back in the Adorian Village and we’re going to storm Element Castle!”
“So . . . hold up . . .” DZ sat down, trying to take in the enormity of what Stan was saying. “So you already have an army . . . and supplies? But how are you going to infiltrate the castle? Even assuming your army could stand a chance against the King’s, isn’t Element Castle rigged with those . . . automatic . . . uh . . . redstone booby trap, er, thingies, that are meant to stop invading armies?”
Kat’s and Charlie’s faces fell, realizing that they had overlooked that particular part of their plan, but Stan reached into his inventory and pulled out the book that the Mechanist had given him. “I got this book from the guy who designed all those redstone traps for the King, and it tells what and where they are. We can use this to anticipate and avoid these traps.”
Stan’s friends, as well as DZ, looked at him, and he briefly explained about his detour to Blackstone and his meeting with the mayor and the Mechanist. Kat and Charlie were elated to hear that twenty-two new fighters were now heading toward the Adorian Village to help the war effort. DZ, meanwhile, took to their plan with enthusiasm.
“Well, if you guys have an army and are going to overthrow the King, then I want in! The sooner that jerkface comes down, the better. What can I do to help?” His face was split into a smile of determination. This was the most earnestly positive reception of their plan Stan had seen yet.
“Well, you can make your way back to the Ado—” started Stan, but he was cut off by Kat pulling him backward. “What are you doing?” he asked as he was pulled into a huddle with Charlie.
“Okay, guys, look. We have to kill, like, twelve Endermen if we’re going to get into the End, and who knows what we’ll find when we get there? They must have called it the End for a reason,” Kat said.
“Where are you going with this?” Stan asked.
“Well, how about instead of telling DZ to go back to the village with the others, we ask him to come with us? He seems to know what he’s doing,” Kat said.
“That’s a great idea, Kat!” exclaimed Charlie. “He seems to have a way with those swords.”
“Hold up, wait a second,” said Stan. “Are you sure we want to ask this guy we just met to come with us?” Stan, truthfully, had been a little put off by DZ’s reaction—it had seemed a tad too sincere for him.
“Well, why not? It’s worked so far, you know, with the Apothecary, the Nether Boys, and these people in this Blackstone you told us about,” Kat replied.
“Yeah, and with the Apothecary you were yelling at me for pushing our luck, and now you want to push it some more? Can we say hypocritical?”
“Oh, come on, Stan!” sighed Kat in exasperation. “I have a good feeling about this guy. Just trust me on this one.”
“Are you sure that it’s not just because you think he’s cute?” sneered Stan, and he regretted it an instant later.
Kat let out a hiss of rage as she flew at Stan and punched him squarely in the stomach. Both of them flew backward. Stan had the wind knocked out of him by the power of Kat’s fist, and Kat, in her anger, had forgotten that Stan was still wearing his iron chestplate. They were both on their feet again in seconds and were about to have another go at each other when something stopped them. Charlie’s hand shoved Kat back down, while his foot did the same to Stan.
“Enough, both of you!” yelled Charlie. “You’re acting like five-year-olds. Cut it out! Those are the people we’re trying to get rid of, remember?” He turned to Kat. “Kat, there is nothing wrong with being cautious, so don’t just completely blow him off.” He whipped around to face Stan. “Stan, that was just uncalled for, and besides, if he wanted us dead, he could’ve just let us be mauled to death by those zombies, okay?” He stepped back so he could talk to both of them at once. “I say that we invite DZ to come along with us, but we keep an eye on him until we’re one hundred percent sure that he’s trustworthy, okay?”
Stan and Kat were silent for a moment. Then, they both nodded. They did not, however, look each other in the eye.
Charlie walked over to DZ, who had remained oblivious to the fighting and was now absentmindedly chiseling “Die King Kev Die” in the sandstone wall with his diamond sword. “DZ?” The warrior turned toward Charlie, sheathed his sword, and looked Charlie in the eye.
“Hey, Charlie. Have you decided what you want me to do yet?”
“Yes, we have,” Charlie replied firmly, with Kat and Stan lurking, embarrassed, behind him. “We would be very happy if you would come with us. We have to collect twelve Ender Pearls, and use them to craft twelve Eyes of Ender with our Blaze Rods so that we can find a fortress and enter the End. Would you like to come with us?”
DZ nodded. “I’m in. I’ve been living out here for so long, and it’s been fun, but I’m about ready to do something to give back to this server. It’s given me some fun times.”
Stan remembered what the Apothecary had said, right after agreeing to help them raise their army. This place has given me so much and then taken it away. It’s time for me to make this server a place that future generations can call home. In all his travels around Elementia so far, Stan had begun to forget the amazing things one could accomplish in this game, given the time and opportunity. People had had great times on this server, and they could really get attached to it. Time and opportunity, however, would not be available to Stan until after King Kev was slain. This he knew for a fact.
“And also, the End sounds freaking awesome. I want to find out whatever it is we’re supposed to do there, do it, and beat the living crap out of anything that tries to stop us!”
This statement snapped Stan out of his thoughts, but one piece of it stuck in his mind. “DZ, what do you mean, ‘whatever it is we’re supposed to do there’? We have to find the King’s treasure—that’s it.”
“Oh no, Stan buddy, you don’t get it,” laughed DZ. “I’ve never been to the End . . . I don’t think anyone has, actually, barring the King . . . but I do know that it’s not a normal dimension like the Overworld and the Nether. From what I hear, there’s a specific task you have to do there, and until you do it, you won’t be able to leave.”
“And . . . what kind of task is that?” asked Stan apprehensively, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.
“No idea,” replied DZ, shrugging. “Maybe a puzzle, a boss battle, a friendly game of Parcheesi . . . when we go there, we just have to go prepared, that’s all. You three seem like you know what you’re doing. I’m sure the four of us could tackle whatever ridiculous stuff is in the End.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Kat. “Anyway, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. What we have to do next is get twelve Ender Pearls.”
“Like these?” asked DZ, holding up a handful of several blue-green orbs.
“Yes! Oh my God!” Charlie cried out in amazement. “DZ . . . where did you get those?”
“Where do you think? I’ve been wandering this desert for longer than you three have been in Elementia put together. You know how many Endermen you run into during that time? I tell you, it’s stupidly annoying when you’re scanning the horizon and you accidentally look at one of those freaks.”
“Yeah, we know. We’ve fought one before,” replied Stan as Charlie took the Ender Pearls from DZ and counted them out. “They’re powerful, they teleport, and they get aggroed when you just look at them.”
“Probably the three worst qualities a monster could have,” added Kat solemnly.
“Testify,” replied DZ, as Charlie put the pearls into his inventory.
“Okay, we have six Ender Pearls,” he said. “Thanks to DZ.” He shot an annoyed glance at Stan, who looked away in embarrassment. “So now we need to find and kill six more Endermen. Easy enough,” he said.
“Eh, not exactly, bud,” said DZ. “Endermen don’t always drop Ender Pearls. We’re gonna need to kill a lot more than six.”
“Wonderful,” said Charlie, hanging his head. “But where are we going to go now? We can’t stay at our current base, there’s no door and no wood around, and we can’t stay in one place too long anyway or the King’s forces will find us.”
“I know what we can do,” said DZ. “Sometimes, if I’m low on health and I need a place to stay, I look around for an NPC village. The guys that live there are nice, they know how to make food, and they’re always willing to provide you with shelter.”
“Oh, I don’t know if an NPC village is such a good idea,” replied Kat quickly.
Stan and Charlie looked at her in surprise. “Why not, Kat?” asked Stan. “What do you have against NPC villages?”
“Yeah, Kat, remember when we first met?” asked Charlie. “You said that you were looking for an NPC village because they’ll give you really good stuff.”
“Um, well, yeah, uh, about that,” Kat stammered as she fidgeted around. “Sometimes they, uh, don’t like people. I mean not all people, DZ obviously got along fine, I mean . . . uh . . .” Stan had never seen Kat look so uncomfortable before.
“Ah, come on Kat, the three of you seem nice enough,” said DZ, laughing. “I’m sure they’ll like you just fine. Besides, the King’s forces have a tendency to impose wheat quotas on the villages, so they all hate him. I’m sure they’ll take to us if we tell them we’re going to overthrow the King.”
“Well . . . then, uh . . . I sure can’t think of . . . uh . . . any reason not to go,” Kat said with an extremely forced smile. It was becoming obvious that, for reasons unbeknownst to Stan, Kat wanted nothing less than to go to an NPC village.
“Okay then!” exclaimed DZ with a smile, oblivious to Kat’s discomfort. “I’m pretty sure that there’s one just a day’s journey southeast of here. If we start now we should be able to make it there by nightfall, and we can start our Enderman hunt.”
DZ started walking toward the left of the rising sun, and Stan and Charlie walked enthusiastically behind him. Kat, on the other hand, had her head down and was plotting out the way she would handle being marooned in the terrible NPC village.
CHAPTER 21 OOB’S HELPING HAND
It was not long before Stan was beginning to seriously regret allowing DZ to come with them.
Neither his exceptional sword fighting skills nor the fact that he had already acquired half the Ender Pearls necessary for their voyage into the End made up for the fact that by nightfall of that day the NPC village was nowhere in sight. They had already exhausted the meager supply of food that Kat and Charlie had gained through hunting the previous day. DZ was only able to contribute one raw chicken, which they could not eat for fear of food poisoning. DZ apologetically explained that his philosophy was generally to eat something directly after killing it, so he rarely had food on him. This revelation did not elevate Stan’s opinion of him as they continuously trudged through the endless sea of sand.
As the sun glowed bright over the pastel pink of the western horizon, Stan let out a shout of frustration. Charlie and Kat looked at him in concern.
“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” yelled Stan, the vein in his head pulsing and spit flying out of his mouth as he unleashed his anger at DZ.
DZ looked around unconcerned, apparently unaware that Stan was on the verge of sociopathic rage. He scratched his head innocently. “Well, now that I think about it, if the sun rises in the east and sets in the west . . . that means it moves . . . so if I keep going to the left of it . . . ooooh! Then I won’t be going southeast! I’ll be going in circles!” He laughed. “Wow! That was pretty stupid of me, wasn’t it?”
Only then did DZ come to the realization that all his comrades were staring at him with incredulous looks on their faces. Charlie was staring at him as if he had just stated that he was going to attempt a staring contest with an Enderman, and Kat’s mouth hung open, her eyes now wide enough to take up her entire face. Even Rex and Lemon were looking up at DZ, as if they too were aware that he had just done something remarkably dense.
Stan was the only one who was not looking shocked but about as ready as a lightning-charged Creeper to explode with rage. His eyes were closed, his teeth were gritted, and the vein in his head was bulging.
“Do you mean to tell me,” said Stan in a quiet yet dangerous voice, “that we have been following you all day long, and you have been leading us in circles?”
“Apparently,” said DZ, shrugging. “Ah, quit worrying. It don’t matter much. We’ll set ourselves straight tomorrow.”
“And you are really still somehow oblivious to the fact that we have no food and no shelter, and that standing between us and daytime is nighttime?” Stan yelled the last word so loud that Charlie actually fell backward in shock. DZ just stood there with his mouth slightly agape and his eyes unblinking as Stan lashed out at him.
“You have been with us for less than one full day, and you have already caused us more trouble than you’re worth!” bellowed Stan. “We are now stuck in the middle of who knows where, and if tonight is anything like last night, we won’t survive! We have got it tough, you got that, DZ? We are trying to do something impossible! We’re fighting the King, we’re fighting nature, sometimes it feels like we’re fighting Minecraft itself as we try to do this thing! If you are not going to buck up and take it seriously, then it’s just as well that you get away from us so you can’t do any more damage!”
Stan was breathing heavily now, nostrils flaring, veins popping. Kat and Charlie were in awe. They had always known that Stan had a streak of recklessness and anger in him, but this display was far more violent than any they had seen from him before.
DZ stared at Stan with a new look on his face. It was a combination of shock, fear, and sorrow. DZ looked Stan in the eye and sighed. “Hey, I’m sorry, all right? I’m doing the best I can. I’m used to being a nomad out here. I’m not used to finding places. I promise that I’ll try to take our job a little more seriously. But don’t forget to have fun, all right?” He gave a weak smile. “It is still a game, right?”
Stan gave a snort of derision. “This is more than a game, DZ. It gives people another life. You of all people should know that. And the King is making these people’s lives miserable, and it’s up to us to fix that. We can have fun after our work is done.”
DZ looked sadly at Stan. “I hear you, buddy. But just remember what they say: at the end of your life you regret the stuff you didn’t do more than the stuff you did do. So remember to have fun with what we’re doing, because out here, there’s no telling when our lives are going to end.”
The enormity, power, and sincerity behind this statement hit Stan like a shockwave, and he realized it was true. He could very well be dead by tomorrow in the middle of this desert, in the midst of this quest for justice.
They continued to trudge through the desert, nobody saying anything, and Stan looking downcast and humbled. The sun sank behind the desert hills, and the moon rose high into the star-speckled night sky. The optimistic view of the situation was that traveling was easier because of the lack of heat from the sun.
The pessimist’s view, and the view of all four travelers, was that they were out of food, they had no source of light, and monsters were materializing on all sides of them. The attacks of Zombies came in hordes, the Skeleton shot arrows from afar, and the Spiders climbed up the cactuses that were everywhere and jumped down onto the players. Even the Creepers posed a threat. Lemon scared most of them away, but there was one point at which DZ was driven away from the main group by two Spiders and a Skeleton, and just as he managed to kill the second Spider, he heard the telltale hiss and was blasted into the air a second later.
