Chapter 11
The Manyullyn Sword
BanjoNote: Hello, everyone! Back with another chapter!
I don't really have much to say. This week has been rather uneventful, since I'm really just waiting for a couple of things to come out. Sadly, KoA: Re-Reckoning was pushed to September, so... that's a month delay.
Eh, I've seen longer delays. At least it'll come out sometime near the next and last Trial of Apollo book. Yippee.
Also, I'm an idiot! I completely forgot to put up the Arc summary last chapter! So, under the disclaimer, you'll find the summary for the Broken Arc. You have this Banjo's apologies!
Anyways, this chapter is going to be a shorter chapter. Enjoy!
BanjoMano does not, in any way, shape or form, own Minecraft. Well, I guess he does own Minecraft on the PC...
-=Broken Arc=-
The Jewel of the Plains, Lafor, now houses our brave and cowardly heroes! After our needlessly long journey our heroes have taken, Alex begins her attempt to channel her Crafter powers. But what if said powes pose harm to those around her? It'll take time, though time is a rapidly decreasing resource...
[Sileeno]
I opened up the door to the command center - a place where command blocks line the edges, connected by redstone wires. Alex blinked twice, not comprehending what the machinery does.
I spread my arms dramatically. "Behold the Lafor Command Center! This can answer any question in a matter of minutes! Even seconds!"
Athara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well, Mr. Dramatic, not everyone wants to hear about this underground box."
I frowned at her. "What's gone into you?"
"I'll tell you later." She merely said, her eyes flickering to Alex. "When we're alone."
Luckily, the Crafter was too busy looking at the machinery. I sighed and looked around the cockpit, where a table was set up with buttons, levers, and pressure plates lined the floor under the table so I just had to stick a foot out to activate something.
Alex looked up, peering inside of the redstone machinery. "This is... majorly confusing. Is this the thing that can help me learn my powers?"
"Yes!" I exclaimed. "You see, by connecting the wires that are attached to the Copy'n'Paste, transcript, written and that command block which is also attached to five other devices, in which only three of those -"
The door opened, and a man in full plate armour stomped in.
"Strommer," I turned to him. "Does everyone just have rights to walk into one of the most dangerous places in Minecraftia?"
"Well, you have my apologies, Skie." He huffed, flexing his muscles needlessly. Rolling my eyes, I walked up to him. "What do you need? I am busy, with a Crafter."
"Well, Skie, Korthall want's to hold a meeting in the castle."
"Tell him I am busy!" I argued, exasperated. "A Crafter has come into my Center! Whatever Korthall needs, it can wait an hour."
"Well, sir," Strom replied, venom badly hidden in his voice. "Would you come if it's about Ki'sann?"
I shared a confused look with Athara. She turned to Strom and waved her hand. "We'll be there in a bit."
Alex watched Strom go back into the doorway. "So... I assume this is delayed?"
I sighed. "Alex... Ki'sann is most important as of right now. If something is wrong with that village-"
"Look." Athara interupted, giving me a dark look. "The point is, we need to get to that meeting. We'll be here in a day or two."
I gave Athara a concerned look, but she shot me a threatening look. I turned my gaze back to Alex and shrugged. "I am sorry, my young Crafter. Ki'sann is our greatest income of materials, and if something happens to the town... then it will not matter if we know your power."
She nodded with understanding, though in her eyes I saw a slight flame in her eye.
"Did you know there's a thing such as shortening words?"
"...Why do people always say that?" I pondered. "Words were made for a reason!"
Athara merely sighed.
[Gimero]
"The sewers?" I complained. Rosa shrugged.
"I know it's a bit cliche, but we needed a place where people wouldn't want to go."
"But..." I gulped. "There's bats... and sometimes there's mobs?"
She sighed and opened up the trapdoor. "Go on, coward. Get moving."
I looked down the hole, breathing heavily. "Alright, I can do this. Just... give me an hour or two, alright?"
Rosa gave an exasperated huff. "We don't have an hour or two. Nothing's going to kill you when I'm with you."
"I mean... they could? Maybe something could shoo- ACK!"
Rosa pushed me straight into the hole, and I splashed straight into the brown water of the sewers. I jumped onto the stone walkway and changed my clothes into a blue trench coat, green shirt, jeans and sneakers. Rosa landed beside me, wearing full plate armour.
She walked straight past me, and I scrambled after her. I brushed down my coat and slowed to her speed. Rosa looked over her shoulder.
"Good. At least you have enough sense to follow." She noted.
"Well... I don't necessarily have the skillset to defend myself." I muttered. I gazed over her shoulder, swallowing as I looked at the murky water. "You think that there's drowned in that water?"
"Dro-" She inhaled deep. "You're worried about drowned? One of the easiest mobs in Minecraftia?"
"But... they're dead, and rotting, and they smell bad..." I shuddered. "And they have an eerie light that glows through their rotten flesh..."
"They said you'd be a coward," She noted. "But not this cowardly."
I huffed, crossing my arms. "Fine. I'll be quiet."
"Bet you won't."
"..." It took all my willpower to not respond to that. She gave me an approving look, but her look went into a familiar scowl when I took out a book and quill.
"By the code, you suck." She sighed. I scrawled down a passage and held it up to her.
[I SPECIALIZE AT TRICKING PEOPLE.]
"You certainly excel at annoying people."
I hurriedly scrawled the words [YOU'RE GONNA OWE ME A FAVOR AFTER THIS. MOVE ON, CAPTAIN]
She took out her cleaver and began to play with it by swinging it around. I stepped back and decided to follow her from a reasonable distance.
[Sileeno]
I walked down the hallway, Athara at my side. I wore my classic scientist outfit, with a white lab coat, black pants, black shoes, and a pair of goggles pushing back my silver hair.
Athara fiddled with an arrow in her hand, twirling it between her fingers. Normally, weapons aren't allowed inside castle grounds, but arrows deal the same amount of damage as a fist, and the two of us are highly regarded. Also, Athara does have a slight case of ADHD, as near as we can figure. Not as bad as Banjo, however.
Not even close.
We stepped out into a large room, octagonal with a staircase at the far edges, leading to a raised platform that held the throne where King Korthall sat. He wore his royal robes, lime green to represent the colour of Morvin. He scratched his white beard and looked down on the two of us.
"Sir," I said politely. "Your crown is lopsided."
He laughed and fixed his crown, a golden helmet modified by the Tinker. Athara rolled her eyes and switched the arrow for an apple, which she started to throw up into the air and catch.
"So, you asked for us?" She asked.
His jolly look darkened when she mentioned that. He leaned back in his throne.
"Yes. Ki'sann." He sighed. "That's but one of many things we must talk about today. Firstly, did you learn anything about the Eldest, Sileeno?"
Athara looked over at me. "Eldest? What's that?"
"We do not know, exactly." I replied. "I was researching the Triple Ripple, but my research only showed me the words Entity:Eldest. I have encountered a new source of information, in the form of the 14th Crafter."
"Yes... I heard the 14th Crafter has arrived in Lafor. Also... something related to you, Athara?" Korthall gazed at her.
"...yes." She finally said. "I encountered Alex and her... cowardly ally, Gimero. There's some sort of grouping of-"
"Wait." He interjected. "Guards, leave us."
"Sir?" Strommer asked, confused.
"Now!" Korthall insisted.
"Right away, sir!" Strommer turned from Korthall and called "You heard the boss! You better not think this is a break, because I want every one of you on patrol inside and out if the castle! If i find anyone slacking, that's another day on southern duty!"
After they filed out, I scoffed. "Neanderthals. Strength must bow to intellect in the greatest moments."
"Yes, we understand your vendetta against Strommer." Athara sighed, taking a bite out of her apple. Korthall smiled slightly, stood up, and walked down the steps to us.
"You saw the towers, didn't you?" He asked Athara, who nodded.
"According to Alex, they're called Outposts." She recalled. Korthall breathed deeply and replied "Ki'sann hasn't responded to anything we've sent them in the past couple days. The day the taxes were due, the second day of the Update, nothing was sent. All of our messengers haven't returned. At first I thought nothing of it, but now... these Outposts have settled around Lafor. Eight of them, exactly."
"You fear an attack." I guessed, which was answered with Korthall nodding.
"There's more." Athara piped up. "Pillagers alone can't interact with the world any more then any other mob. They're working with Greifers."
My goggles fell over my eyes. Both of them stared at me as I fixed my goggles, blowing my hair off of my eyes.
"Sorry."
Korthall sighed. "It's almost exactly as I feared. Our best defense is the 14th Crafter, but she probably can't control her powers yet."
"Doesn't even know what the power is," Athara mumbled. "Look. Me and Sileeno will head to Ki'sann."
"I will?" I wondered.
Athara gave me her death stare.
"You know," I swallowed. "I think I will."
"Good. Maybe we can try to soften up some forces."
Korthall nodded. "Lastly, the Tinker's weapon."
I turned straight to him. "Calling it a weapon is a bit generous, but what about it?"
"Well, it's the last of it's kind. We're led to believe that the Minecraftia-wide Manyullyn Sword want's it. They say it's prophesied or something."
"Well," Despite the tone of this situation, I tried hard not to laugh. "If they're crazy enough to believe it's prophesied, then they certainly can not get into this castle without setting off my alarms."
"Well... some of my guards are part of this underground guild. And it's not the actual weapon itself, it's whoever wields it. Something about Cowardice is Key."
Athara blanched. "Oh. Gimero."
[Gimero]
"And we're here." Rosa presented, waving her hands at a rotted wooden door. I signed the book, then threw it into the murky water behind me. I opened the door, walked in, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, the sweet freedom of speech!" I exclaimed. Turning to Rosa, I gave her a winning smile. "Won't you introduce me to your friends?"
"What happened to you being a coward?" She muttered under her breath, probably not meaning for me to hear her.
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm positively terrified. Just... I'm better in these kind of social situations." I stepped around her, gesturing to lead the way.
Rosa put her cleaver away and walked down the steps. We walked straight into...
...the Theives Guild hideout in Skyrim.
Well, okay. I feel like that's a bit harsh. It looked way cleaner, clearly well kept. The water in the middle wasn't brown like the water throughout the sewers, and the stone brick ground was clearly smoothed down, and the passageway lining the walls had a stone wall railing on the edges.
On the far end, a small bar was set up. Instead of half-broken chairs and rotted tables, all the tables were made up of slabs and fences. One large table was set up in the middle, inset with a large map that as I drew closer recognized as item frames depicting the city of Lafor.
Around five tables were set up in this room, and the bar itself had three stools. Six people were sitting at tables, talking to each other, when they looked up at me and Rosa. She pointed at a barstool and ordered, "Sit."
I lift onto the stool, looking at the bald barkeep washing a glass bottle. He tossed it into a chest, keepingg his brown eyes at me.
"This a new kid? The last one ye brang quit within a week." He claimed, his voice gravelly.
"Only after I ordered him to!" Rosa snapped. "Wilton, I'm the one in charge here. You answer to me."
Wilton shrugged. "He doesn't look like much. What's yer name, newb?"
"Gimero." Rosa got to it before me. "And he's going to get the weapon from the castle."
There was a silence, then a burst of laughter.
"Him?" Said a woman, clad in black leather. "I bet he couldn't even raise a sword!"
"Hey!" I stood up. "I, uh, am very smart! I don't need brawn when I have brains!"
A man, wearing a cloak, raised his head at me. He was the only one not laughing other than Rosa. He pulled back his head, revealing his face.
He was bald, like the barkeep, but he had a black beard. His eyes were covered by a magnificent pair of sunglasses, and he had an eyebrow raised.
"Um." I swallowed. He sent off an aura of power that sent me off the road a bit. Not evil, but... powerful.
And I knew the reason why.
"Can you teach me the arcana ways of raising a single eyebrow?" I asked. He glared at me...
And laughed the heartiest laugh I've ever heard.
"I like this man!" He exclaimed, his jolly voice echoing in the cistern. "Are you a Guided Villager?"
"I-" I paused for a second, then answered "Yes. I am a Guided."
The laughter died down, and Rosa gave me a newfound look, almost... approval. Then a person, a man in the corner, asked "What's a Guided? Is he a walking compass?"
Rosa sighed. "Conner, a Guided is a villager who is spawned knowing more then the typical person. They understand the basics to certain historical events, they know all of the defining events that made a Crafter, and so on. Currently..." She looked at me. "Nevermind. The point is, Gimero is essential to getting the weapon. He's the coward."
"Yep!" I squeaked. "That's me!"
The robed man shifted his glasses and stuck out his hand. "The name's Mark."
I shook it. "Nice to meet you."
Rosa leaned over the map. "Well, if you're done, we need to get the weapon out of that castle. Let's get to work."
BanjoNote: Well! Funnily enough, Alex is the only one who isn't busy! Sileeno and Athara head off to Ki'sann to spy on the Greifers, whilst Gimero heads off to steal this prophetic weapon! How will this end up?Next Chapter: Into the Frying Pan...! Until then, Read, Review, Favourite and Follow! And, as always, Banjo-on!