Watching from a distance.
Disclaimer: Same disclaimer still applies.
{Day 5, before dawn}
{Outskirts of Valley town}
The town was like a beehive. After the announcement went out, most had forgotten the idea of sleep, and were now in a panic. Captain Phoenix was doing his best to maintain order, but with somewhere close to seventy five players in the town, it was difficult for him and some fifteen guardsmen to maintain order. Alyannie was still in the public dorms, protecting the items that She, Chris, Alice and Diane had collected. Some of the more desperate players had resorted to looting from others to make up for what they were missing. After smacking away another girl, she sighed and collected all of the items she had been given and made her way out of the building.
She regretted this decision almost immediately, as other players were running about in total panic. One of them charged into her, sending both of them to ground. She grunted upon the impact, and opened her eyes to see who had run into her. Her eyes widened as she saw that it was Chris, who looked just as surprised as she was. "Chris!" She said.
"Alyannie! Oh man, am I glad I found you!" He stood up and offered her a hand up. Once they were both standing, the sounds of the chaos around them returned to their thoughts. The two began the process of fighting to get through the crowd to a place with some semblance of order. After a about a minute of walking, they reached the library, which was mostly deserted, except for Matthew. They knocked on the door after they found that it was locked. Matthew looked through the window of the door, and then opened the door before grabbing the two of them and closing it behind them.
One inside, Alyannie saw someone inside she didn't expect. Chem was sitting just below the window looking out on the chaos in the streets.
"Chem? What are you doing here? I thought it was dangerous for you to come to town?!" The young zombie turned around, and smiled a bit at them.
"Are you kidding? With everything going on, no one even looked at me twice. If they even saw me that is." Chem looked over at Matthew. "The good news is Matthew can keep his head in this mess."
"How's Diane? Is She okay?" Alyannie asked. Chem looked back at her.
"I left her back at the cottage with Endria. I don't think she and Second would do very well in all this mess." He said, gesturing to the window.
"That sounds like a good call." Chris said, moving over to the window and seeing two players fight over a few loaves of bread. "Geeze, this is a complete disaster!" Matthew joined him next to the window.
"I have been watching this go on all night since the announcement went out. I can only wonder how bad it is for the players who don't have captain Phoenix or his guards. I can only wonder how many traps this Marionette Master has prepared, and how many players are falling into them now."
{Meanwhile}
{Understone City, Iron Mines}
Twelve individuals dressed entirely in Iron armor walked through the winding caverns that made up the iron mines beneath Understone City. A few workers who were pulling the night shift stopped their work to watch them pass by. Half of them were Skeletons, along with two Creepers, Two zombies, a Spider, and a Blaze. The leader of the group called for a halt as they approached the mining shop, a small building run by a creeper that sold mining supplies to the workers, as well as helping to educate any rookies on he finer points of mining ore.. She gestured to the Blaze and one of the Creepers. The leader, in addition to her iron armor, had a scarf covering much of the left side of her face. At her waist was a sword, and on her back was a bow. Her hair was a deep grey, and was cut rather short with spiked tips. The Blaze meanwhile, had long flowing yellow hair, and instead of a sword at her side, she had several Blaze rods strapped to her belt. The creeper seemed to find a happy medium, having shoulder length orange hair that fell neatly behind his shoulders. He had a regulation sword at his side, but like any Creeper, he could create an explosion and recover after a few minutes.
The Skeleton was Shireen Marrow, the Blaze was Rachel Ember, and the Creeper was Danial Moss. All three had something in common in that they were all related to someone famous or important. Shireen's Brother, Jimmy was a famous musician, and was the lead singer of "The Skeleton Crew" . Rachel was the daughter of a Senator in the Nether, Jacklyn Ember. And finally, Danial's father was the mayor of Understone City.
Shireen opened the door and stepped inside, followed closely by Danial and Rachel. The store was somewhat small, with a few shelves filling the floor space. The shelves were lined with pickaxes and shovels, as well as various ore samples. Near the back of the store, was a three sided counter, with a chest behind it, likely for storing money. On the wall behind the counter, were several framed maps of the different sections of the the counter of the store was a Creeper with large glasses sitting on his face. He looked rather average for a Creeper really, besides those glasses. His looks didn't matter though, not nearly as much as the information he might be holding. Shireen nodded at Danial to take the lead. He returned the lead and approached the counter, where the Creeper focused his attention on him as opposed to the supply ledger he had previously been going over with a pen. "Can I help you?" He asked.
"Are you Mr. Kershan?" The store keeper nodded. "Then yes, you can. Some of the miners reported seeing strange sights here in the mines, and there are rumors that it's either Endermen, or humans." Kershan blinked twice at the word humans, but said nothing. "We have also received word that you may have been selling supplies to these strange beings. Is there any merit to these rumors Mr. Kershan?" Kershan adjusted his glasses, and placed his hand on the counter, slightly pushing the stock book he had been going over slightly further out of sight.
"Well, sir, I have not seen any sign of human activity! But I have seen some Endermen in my shop. They asked for some maps to the riches iron veins I could sell them, and said that they were going to need the iron for some purpose they couldn't tell me. They even flashed the Empress's royal seal to show they meant business!" Danial's eyes widened at this revelation, but before he could speak next, captain Shireen stepped in.
"Why was the Empress sending men into the Understone Mines for her iron?" She asked as she quickly walked towards the counter. "And more importantly, why did neither you or these Endermen inform the Miner's Guild about this mining? That iron is the property of the Understone City Government, and the Endermen had no right to mine it!" She became increasingly frustrated as she went on, leaning over the counter into Kershan's face. Kershan was beginning to look somewhat scared.
"W-w-well, how was I to know that they hadn't? I mean, they were in big hurry, I didn't really have time for questions, and I didn't want to give them a reason to test out their swords..." Shireen looked ready to kill something.
"And they were carrying swords?!" Kershan nodded, looking well and truly afraid now.
"Well, they might still be there." The three of them looked over to the other side of the counter where Rachel was standing, looking over the Ledgers. "Looks like he only sold them the supplies a few days ago. We might still be able to catch up with them if we hurry!"
Shireen nodded, and looked back at Kershan. "We will be needing copies of the maps you sold them. Give them to us now, and we might not arrest you for illegally selling Understone iron!" Kershan did not need to be told twice. He quickly pulled out copies of the maps and pointed at where the Endermen had most likely gone.
Shireen quickly stormed out of the store, Diane and Rachel running after her, as she gathered her men . Tonight she was going to get some answers, and she right now she was more than willing to beat those answers out of a few Endermen.
A.N.
Hello everyone. First, I would like to apologize the month long absence, I had finals to prepare for. But now my college semester is over, and aside from some scheduled events in the summer, I should be able to dedicate more time to writing. Let me know what you think of this chapter, and if you perhaps find a reference or two I might have hidden in this one.
That is all for now, once again I'm sorry for the delay.
Please let me know what you think in the reviews. If you have a character to submit, please send it to my PM inbox, an I'll try to get back to you.
Sincerely
The 25th Doctor
