Foreword
Hello again! Sorry this one is a little late in the day, but hopefully you'll forgive me. ^^ I think this chapter came out pretty cool, so please enjoy, and have a wonderful weekend! :D
Chapter XVI
Into the Fire
««««« … »»»»»
Even after Jesse's back made impact, he kept falling backwards until he met the ground. The hard, rocky, hot ground.
Jesse opened his eyes and in the corners of his vision, he saw lava spouts spewing the scalding stuff from pores in the ceiling. He pushed himself up and looked around at the jagged, hazardous terrain surrounding him. Despite the fire and lava everywhere, the distant fog enclosed the whole place in a cloud of darkness. The air was hot to his lungs and putrid to his sense of smell. The Nether was a wretched place.
Only when he saw Lukas on the ground beside him did he come back to the moment. He realized what he crashed into must have been him.
Jesse shook his head in an attempt to piece together what had just happened. He saved Gabriel from the tractor beam of that monster, he saw Petra, he tried to get to her, but… just like that she was gone—and Lukas…
Jesse stood to his feet and looked back just enough to see Lukas brushing himself off.
Lukas…
Jesse clenched his teeth.
"Where's Petra?" asked Axel.
Axel didn't know. He hadn't been there. He'd gone through the portal earlier with Olivia. Before Jesse could think of what to say, Lukas spoke up first.
"We did everything we could," he said.
Jesse blinked, then he scowled.
We? Had he just said 'we'? Only thirty seconds ago he had stood there useless while Petra was sucked up to her death, and he had the gall to claim that 'we did everything we could'?
Axel gave him a perturbed look. "What are you saying?"
Jesse clenched his fists. Turning on Lukas, Jesse shouted in his face, "What is WRONG with you!?"
Lukas flinched back in fear. Jesse ignored his better nature and continued, "I told you to get Petra!"
"What…?" Lukas murmured in disbelief, "No. You cannot…"
"Petra is still up there," Jesse explained to them, still eyeing Lukas.
"You cannot put that on me!" Lukas insisted.
"Jesse? What are you talking about?" asked Olivia, sounding worried and confused.
Jesse answered her. "He froze."
"He what?" Axel spoke this time.
Lukas turned to him and tensed. "I—I got scared," Lukas tried to explain himself, his face paling, and his excuses falling on deaf ears. "Just for a second, and—"
"You got scared?" Axel questioned, slowly advancing on him as Lukas cautiously backed away toward the ocean of lava behind him.
"It wasn't my fault," he insisted.
Axel's expression turned livid, his tone remained dark but eerily level. "You got scared, and it's not your fault?"
Axel had a very grave point.
"He has come through for me in tricky situations," Petra had said. He doubted it then, and he doubted it now.
Yeah, real useful in a pinch, huh Petra?
Jesse should have saved her. What was he thinking? How could he have expected Lukas to help her? The guy went and hid in a chest instead of running from an iron golem for crying out loud!
This time it was Olivia to intervene, stepping in front of Lukas and facing Axel. "Back off, Axel," she said, arms crossed.
Axel barely acknowledged her. "We gotta go back," he said, turning away from her and Lukas and walking toward the portal. Lukas looked relieved while Olivia now looked troubled.
"No!" she exclaimed, blocking Axel's path again. "We just have to wait. Think about what you're walking into!" she stammered hesitantly, "For all we know, Petra's already—I mean, she could be—"
"Don't say another word!" Axel blasted. Olivia flinched. Even Jesse was a bit shocked. Axel almost never raised his voice at anyone, and certainly never at Olivia.
"Get out of my way," he said with a tone of finality, but Olivia stood her ground.
"Axel, no," Olivia pleaded. "She just needs more time."
Jesse… didn't know what to do. He watched as two of his best friends took a stand against each other, Axel refusing to take no for an answer and Olivia refusing to budge. As they stood face to face in opposition, Jesse felt like he'd come face to face with his worst nightmare. It was hardly the first time Axel and Olivia had been at odds, but never before had the weight of their conflict felt so heavy. Jesse felt as though siding with either of them would be a betrayal to the other, and there was no choice he could make that wouldn't be a betrayal to himself.
It was hard to admit but part of him felt like… Olivia was right. Going back into that deathtrap would be asking to be killed, and… he couldn't lose anyone else… but he would never forgive himself if he didn't try. He couldn't just stand by and wait, but he couldn't abandon his friends in the Nether either.
Before Jesse could come to a decision, Lukas came running back over to the group. Pointing at the portal he exclaimed hopefully, "Hey! Look! That could be her!"
The portal moaned as it's purple surface rippled and Jesse tensed.
Could it be?
"Come on…" he muttered, "come on!"
A warbling sound reverberated sonorously as a familiar face materialized before them and the person fell to the ground… but it wasn't Petra.
Jesse gasped as one of the large black tentacles shot out from the Nether portal, and the screams and squeal of his friends filled the air again.
As the tentacle swiped, Jesse dodged to the right on instinct. He fell to his face, then looked back in time to see the tentacle threatening to pancake him. He rolled out of the way and after smashing the ground where he was previously, the monster's limb went crazy. It thrashed around, narrowly missing a few more of his panicked companions, and wrapped itself tightly around the portal frame.
The whole thing crumbled under the pressure. The portal flickered, and the tentacle quickly pulled back, but before it could bring itself back out, the portal died, leaving a part of the tentacle lying severed on the ground. Wriggling. Twitching. Jesse pushed himself to his feet, repelled by the disgusting sight.
Finally the tentacle stopped moving and all went quiet.
Axel walked over and stood agape in front of the now broken portal, barely seeming to notice the revolting thing at his feet as his face melted from a look of sheer disbelief into a doleful one. Then all eyes turned to the menace who caused all of this.
Jesse frowned. "Ivor."
Ivor stood up, meeting Jesse's stare with a glare of his own, and hatefully he murmured, "You ruined everything."
Jesse narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"Don't pretend you don't know, thief," Ivor spat. "You stole my most valuable potion, and what would've been the ultimate proof!"
Proof ofwhat? That you're a crazed lunatic?
Jesse was so angry. Angry with this insane nutjob in front of him. Angry with Lukas. Angry with himself for failing to save Petra. And as Ivor's lips kept flapping, Jesse only got angrier.
"Well? Nothing to say for yourself?" Ivor questioned. Then something in Jesse just snapped.
Instead of replying, Jesse walked up to Ivor and punched him.
Ivor looked shocked, then glowered at him again. "More needless violence. It's solves nothing."
Jesse just walked back to stand with his friends—and Lukas.
Yeah, well it sure made me feel a lot better.
"Our friend is in trouble because of you. We're trapped in the Nether because of you!"
"Well, pinning blame isn't exactly helping your chances of survival now, is it?"
"Yeah, you'd know a thing or two about survival, wouldn't you?" Jesse scoffed. "You coward."
"A coward, you say?" Ivor mused, "And what would you have had me do? Die heroically along with everyone else? Me? The one person who can do something about it?"
Jesse blinked, "Wait, what? What do you mean?"
"Oh whatever. I don't expect a bunch of dimwitted kids like you be able to understand."
Axel stamped a foot, addressing Jesse. "Why are we wasting time talking to this jerk? We have to go and get Petra!"
"And how are you going to do that?" Ivor questioned. "Even if the portal wasn't destroyed, there's nothing left up there! Nothing but that Witherstorm."
Ivor took a few paces away, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
Jesse spared a look back at his team all gathered behind him. Axel looked disheartened. Olivia looked apprehensive, but resigned. Lukas just looked scared. Little—scaredy—ocelot.
Jesse sighed and reluctantly admitted, "He's right. As much as it sucks to say, there's no way we're getting back. What we have to focus on now is finding that temple." Jesse paused, staring down at the ground. "But… he didn't tell me where to find it."
Ivor rolled his eyes. "Ugh. Idiot."
Jesse scowled at him but before he could speak, Ivor walked up to Jesse and pointed behind him and to his right.
He explained, "Through that tunnel is a network of mine carts built by the Order of the Stone. Follow it, and the first Nether portal you find will take you straight to the Order's temple."
Wait, he's… helping us?
Ivor concluded, "It's your only way out."
How does he know all this?
Ivor didn't exactly strike him as a superfan, but… what did it even matter if it got them out of this alive?
Jesse raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"
Ivor raised one too. "What about me?"
"How will you get out of here?"
"I'll use my imagination," Ivor dismissed him, pulling a grayish potion from his pocket. "I would wish you luck, but luck won't carry you through the Nether," he said, then drank the potion. "You have my sympathies."
The very next moment, Ivor had vanished before their eyes, leaving nothing but the empty bottle on the ground in his place.
"And a bit of advice…" Ivor's voice issued once more. "DON'T provoke the pigmen."
Jesse squinted, curious. What was that supposed to mean? Was he actually trying to scare them?
"Uhh… guys?" Lukas muttered.
Jesse heard a high-pitched moan that almost sounded like it was coming from inside his head, but he could still somehow tell that it was coming from behind him. Jesse slowly turned around to see something huge and white rising up from behind the rock enclosure.
This monster he recognized.
"Ghast!" Jesse shouted, right as the creature opened its tear-stained eyes to reveal its blood-red irises staring down at them.
All of them let out frightened gasps and Jesse shouted, "Run!"
Jesse took off and his friends—and Lukas—chased after him. Not a moment too soon, as he heard the ghast screech, followed immediately by the sound of an explosion directly behind him. The ghast's fireball just missed them, and Jesse couldn't help but notice the crater it made was significantly smaller than the ones caused by what was now called the Witherstorm.
Jesse ran through the tunnel Ivor had pointed out and noticed an alcove to the right.
"Over here!" he shouted, taking the slight detour in hopes of losing the ghast. The five of them ducked into it, and sure enough, the moans of the ghast seemed to get quieter.
Jesse did a quick headcount. They were all here—except… "Wait! Where's—"
He heard Reuben squeal, and running up to him, Reuben pushed his big pink snout against him. His eye was still blackened from when he was hurt in the forest.
"There you are. You okay, buddy?" he asked.
Reuben gave him an oink. He was as okay as could be expected. Jesse gave him a pat on the head.
"Is the ghast still there?"
Jesse peeked around the corner. It seemed the ghast had wandered off somewhere, the only thing in its place a single pink pigman. It's appearance was… underwhelming. Aside from the somewhat creepiness of what looked to be foliage of some kind growing along its body, it looked… well… bored. It barely moved and just looked around like any regular pig in the Overworld. It had a gold sword, but so did Jesse. It even made clear eye contact with him, but whether it was too lazy or it didn't care to, it didn't so much as blink. In fact, it didn't seem interested in doing much of anything.
He wasn't sure why he was surprised that Ivor had been pulling their leg.
"Nah, it's just a pigman, we're good."
Lukas flinched. "A pigman? Did you say pigman? As in zombie pigmen?"
"Yeah?"
Lukas whimpered, and Jesse raised an eyebrow.
"You don't seriously believe Ivor," said Olivia. "You know he was most likely just trying to scare us."
Axel rolled his eyes. "Is there a limit to your wimpiness?"
"No, not Ivor," Lukas whispered, "Petra! She told me about them. She said they were potentially the most dangerous monsters in the Nether."
"If Petra were here, she could tell us that herself," Axel sneered.
Olivia peered over Jesse's shoulder as he looked back out at the pigman now snort-sniffing its sword.
"Those guys? Really?" Jesse wondered. "You mean Ivor wasn't lying?"
"But it looks so tired," said Olivia. "And lazy."
Lukas, now peeking over Olivia's shoulder, cautiously murmured, "Let's just try to stay as far away from them as we can."
"We don't need you to tell us that," grumbled Axel.
Jesse, still watching the pigman curiously, said, "Let's try to go around them."
"Good idea, Jesse," agreed Axel.
Jesse was about to do just that, when he again heard the same eerie whining of a ghast.
Another one? Or was it the same one? Jesse didn't know or care.
Jesse turned around again to see the ghast, a short ways away, spit another ball of fire at them.
"DUCK!" Jesse yelled. They all managed to avoid the fireball, but instead of hitting them it flew past them and landed right at the feet of the pigman.
The pigman snorted in a raged surprise, spinning around, seeming shocked. Then it looked up away from them, and turned its attention instead to the ghast. Jesse now noticed that the ghast had completely forgotten about them, also staring at the pigman and looking pale even for a ghast.
The pigman let out what Jesse could only describe as a pig-like war cry, its face now wrought with fury. In response, two, three, and then more cries followed, some distant, echoing through the open air, and others frighteningly close. Jesse spotted three pigmen drop in from the ceiling, then more emerged from crevices in the walls. Jesse spun around when he heard one near to him, and saw several more climbing up from an island below.
The lone pigman was soon anything but, as the pigmen seemed to be flooding in from anywhere they could. In a matter of seconds, an army of zombie pigmen had materialized, rallying around their summoner.
The herd charged forward and the ghast screamed. It tried to get away, but no sooner had it escaped the army's range, a few chicken-sized zombie pigmen flew past them.
Jesse had thought regular chicken-sized zombies were deadly, but these were downright horrifying. He watched in shock as each one jumped into the waiting hands of one of the larger pigmen and were hurled like snowballs at the ghast. Each one on point grabbed onto one of the ghast's tentacles, weighing it down as they bit into it.
The ghast screamed as though in pain until it was close enough to the ground that the army below it, all climbing each other to get higher, jumped up and weighed it down the rest of the way. The ghast seemed to beg for mercy, but the pigmen ruthlessly pummeled it, bludgeoning it until its cries stopped. The ghast didn't last ten seconds, and it never stood a chance.
Jesse never thought in a million years that he would have felt bad for a ghast.
I would take a hundred chicken-zombies AND zombie-chickens over those any day!
Once they were finished with the ghast, the pigmen turned… and looked right at them. He wouldn't have thought it possible in the Nether, but Jesse's face went cold.
"Run," Jesse squeaked out.
The pigmen howled and charged toward them.
"Run, run, RUN!" he shouted, spinning around and rushing them back through the tunnel, and run they did. They ran like mad, Jesse right behind them, and the massive horde of angry pigmen right behind him.
Just ahead, he spotted the minecarts Ivor had been talking about. There were four tracks, each with a different valuable mineral block above them. They each hopped into one the five carts lined up on the first track, the one with the emerald block, and Jesse being last got the cart in front. He looked around and flicked what he desperately hoped was the go switch on the ground.
Luckily it worked, and they were shooting down the track in no time at all. Jesse looked behind him to see everyone had made it on just fine, while the pigmen were running down the track to catch them. Soon enough, they were out of sight.
Jesse took a deep breath.
Right as he was starting to think this ride might not be so bad, the tunnel let out into a thin, one-block-wide bridge, below them an ocean of lava.
"Uhh… don't look down," Jesse said.
Then he saw that the pigmen behind them weren't the only ones who'd gotten the memo, as dozens of them gathered along the edges of the surrounding islands, and they were still angry.
"Don't look left or right either."
They can't get to us, right? he thought. They would have to be able to fly, or swim through lava… They can't fly, can they?
"In fact, maybe it would be best if you just covered your eyes and didn't look anywhere."
Then Jesse saw what was ahead of them.
"Oh, man!" Jesse covered his eyes.
"Oh, that's a drop!" Lukas fearfully babbled. "That is very, very much a drop!"
"What are you talking about, new guy?" asked Axel. "What drrrr—Oh crap!" he exclaimed. "You weren't kidding!"
Practically on instinct Jesse shouted, "Everybody, hold on!"
Suddenly Jesse felt like he was falling at high speed and took his own advice to hold on as tight as freaking possible. Jesse felt the cart lurch as the track leveled out again.
"Whew," Jesse sighed. "Okay, I think we're—"
THUNK.
A pigman fell from above them and landed on the track in front of them. The crazy hog let out a loud grunt and charged them with its gold sword at the ready.
"GAH!"
Jesse whipped out his own sword and impulsively slashed at it, somehow managing to knock it off the track and into the lava below. Jesse couldn't help but notice that the pigman didn't burn, instead, it stayed afloat in the scalding lava pool.
They… could swim in lava. Nice.
Well, at least there's no way they can get to us up—
The track met the land, and there several more of the angry pigs instantly became aware of their presence.
…here.
The horde raced toward them from every angle, including ahead of them.
"Duck!" Lukas yelled, and Jesse looked just in time to see a sharp decline in the ceiling. Jesse ducked, and shortly after the ceiling rose back up. No more pigmen though. Saved by the roof.
"Okay," Axel said, "so I'm not the only one seeing that we're running out of track, right?"
Just ahead, a curtain of lava poured out over the track.
"No!" Lukas yelped.
"Good!"
What kind of sick minecart system is this?!Why would the Order build something like this?
"Jesse! That switch!" Olivia pointed ahead where Jesse spotted a lever on the side of the track.
Ignoring his rapidly pulsing heart, Jesse leaned out of the cart and reached outward. "Ohhh arms don't fail me now…"
Jesse made his mark, but hitting a lever at top speed hurt a lot more than he thought it would. It still was far preferable to burning alive in lava. The carts jolted to a stop right in front of the lava curtain, and Jesse could feel the heat from it on his skin.
That was TOO close.
The carts began to lower down to the track that continued underneath the lavafall.
Jesse sighed. "Haha, wow. I thought something really bad was going to happen there but, heh, I guess everything's going to be just f..."
Jesse spoke too soon. Right as the carts started moving again, the track started shifting, twisting and turning until all the carts were split up and redirected every which way.
"Woah!" Jesse gasped, and his friends all reacted the same.
"Jesse!"
"No!"
"Woah!"
"Wait!"
"Oh, man!"
"Oink!"
Before he knew what was happening, Jesse was riding solo down a tall and narrow corridor with still nothing but lava below him.
"Uhhhhhhh, Axel? Olivia? Reuben?" Jesse heard no answer and gulped. "Lukas?"
Jesse heard a frightened squeal—no, it wasn't Lukas—and turned to see below him to the right and on a different track, Reuben squirming as a pigman had invaded his cart, picking him up.
"Hey! Leave Reuben alone!"
The two tracks converged—kind of. Jesse's track turned so it was directly above Reuben's, and then dropped. Jesse yelped—he definitely didn't squeal. His cart landed straight on the track below, right in front of Reuben's cart. Jesse turned around and met the gruesome creature standing in the cart face to face for the first time. The pigman looked much scarier up close, especially now that he could see its partially exposed ribs and skull.
Jesse forced aside his fear by gripping his anger and grabbing Reuben by his feet.
"Let—him—go you—ugly rotten overgrown porkchop!"
The pigman yanked him back and protectively held Reuben out of his reach. Did the monster actually think it was rescuing him? That was… weird.
Reuben managed struggle free and leaped into Jesse's cart, knocking Jesse down into it. The pigman looked befuddled for a second, and Jesse wasted no time. He reached to grab the side of the pigman's cart and with all his might, pulled it sideways. The cart overturned, falling down into the lava below and taking its passenger with it.
"Whew… Okay Reuben, remember when I said it was going to be just fine before? I know I was wrong then, but I have a very good feeling about this time—"
Reuben reeled back in fear, giving another squeal. Jesse spun around right as another ghast flew directly overhead.
"EEEP!" Jesse—didn't scream. It was more of a 'surprised gasp'.
The ghast fired at them, only to blow up the track directly behind them. Soon it was gone, but Jesse looked ahead to see the track going up again. It went up, and it went up… and it went up.
"This-is-bad, this-is-bad, this-is-bad…"
Jesse held on tight.
It continued to rise up into the air until they were suddenly airborne. Jesse's heart skipped a few beats and he screamed. He could swear he blacked out for a second because he wasn't fully aware of how long they were up in the air, only that the cart came crashing back down to the track. The cart slammed into something, and Jesse looked up to see the faces of all of his friends—and Lukas—simultaneously turn to see him.
"Is…" Jesse gasped for breath. "…Is everyone okay?"
There was a long moment of silence before finally Axel spoke up. "I mean I'm not dead. I guess that's pretty good."
"Ditto," agreed Olivia. "Ditto with the 'not dead'."
"I just can't believe Petra comes down here all the time," Lukas said, his voice quivering. "This place is awful."
All went quiet again for a moment until Lukas spoke up again, sounding somewhat playful, "Heh… your throat's going to be sore later, Axel."
"Why?" Axel, who was now in front, questioned.
"I'm just saying…" Lukas teased, "Wasn't that you doing all that screaming before? Sounded like you were really shredding your larynx."
"Oh yeah, I heard that too," Olivia said. "Really high-pitched? Kind of like a squeaky piston?"
Axel turned around to frown at them. "What? No, shut up."
"Never mind," Lukas shrugged. "Must've been something else."
Jesse was usually all for making light of heavy situations. Normally, he would be all over it, but… they were talking about him.
"Yeah, well," Jesse said, rubbing the back of his head. "you know how Reuben can get."
Lukas craned his head around to look at him and Reuben grumbled at him in self-defense, jabbing an accusatory snout at him.
"Pffft what?" Jesse stammered. "No, you—screamed... like a piglet… is who did the—piglet-like—screaming."
Lukas gave him a look and he couldn't tell if it was meant to be judgmental, or amused. Jesse decided to ignore it.
Finally the minecart slowed and came to a stop behind a fence.
Jesse climbed out, happy for his feet to be on solid ground again. The rest of them dismounted their carts as well, and they all took a minute to catch their breath. He could finally breathe again, however uncomfortably warm the air might be.
Jesse made his way up a maroon brick staircase that led up to a sort of gazebo type structure, where he noticed dozens of other tracks from every direction led into the downstairs area they'd just come from.
"Wow," Jesse marveled, "look at this place!"
"All these tracks converge at this point," said Olivia. "You could probably get anywhere in the world from here."
Then Jesse saw it, in the middle of the platform, the dark obsidian frame that held a vortex of a mysterious purple substance.
Jesse felt a surge of hope as he exclaimed, "There's the portal!"
"That's our way out," Axel said, making his way up to it.
"It must lead back to the surface," Olivia guessed.
Then Lukas added, "The surface is also where that creature is."
Axel stared cautiously into the portal for a long moment. Jesse watched him, curious if Axel was actually brave enough. Would he actually do it?
"He's right," Jesse said, wondering how Axel would respond. "We have no idea what we're walking into. It could be dangerous."
Everyone looked to Jesse, including Axel, but his big lug of a friend turned back to the portal once more, taking a determined stance.
"Thanks for being so brave, Axel," said Lukas, undoubtedly trying to egg him on.
"All right," said Axel, "I'm gonna go. I'm going. I'm going right now." Axel looked back at Jesse with a thinly veiled pleading expression, as if he were silently begging him to save him. "Like right, right now. … I just need to make sure I have everything I need."
Axel boondoggled by feeling around in his pockets. Jesse knew what he was doing. Axel wanted him to say, 'No, I'll go Axel. Really, it's no biggie.'
Instead Jesse smiled and assured him, "You can do it, Axel."
Axel smiled, looking determined again, and said, "That's right, I can do it!" he turned to the portal once more. "All right, here I go." then he looked back at Jesse one last time. "Thanks, Jesse."
Jesse smiled. "Right behind you, buddy."
"Be safe up there, Axel," Olivia entreated, sounding more than a little concerned.
"Ready or not, here I come." Axel walked in, and just like that he disappeared. Now it was Jesse's turn.
What would await them on the other side? More monsters? The temple? The Witherstorm?
It didn't matter. There was no sense in worrying about it, so Jesse silenced the apprehensive empty feeling in his stomach.
Jesse took a deep breath, then he stepped through.
« … »
"Do not give that which is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, for they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
— Matthew 7:6
Author's Notes
So, fun fact, the first scene of this chapter up to the point where Ivor shows up was the first scene I ever wrote for Set in Stone. :) So much of it had to change that it's hardly the same scene anymore, but it's still special to me for that reason. ^^ Especially since, it shouldn't be a surprise, it's one of my favorite scenes in the entire game. To see this whole argument unfold in the most heated atmosphere possible after everyone's world has just been shattered is such a tense and heavy thing, and I really hope I was able to capture that.
Anyways, there you have it. Sadly this one was a little rushed due to… nah, I've got no excuses. :P I was just a bit lazy, and busy over the past couple weeks, so I had time but I didn't manage it very well. Oops. :} I'll try to be better about that next time, but until then I hope you enjoyed! :) Peace out!
- Why all the pigmen? — I remember thinking of MCSM as an exploration of Minecraft as a world, and I always thought it was a missed opportunity that they never did anything with pigmen. (baring the one blink-and-miss-it reference to them in episode 8) Zombie pigmen, to me, are actually one of the most iconic mobs in Minecraft for how they dominate the Nether and being one of the oldest, most interesting mobs for their behavior, I personally would put them up there with Endermen as far as mystique goes. I feel like most people probably don't fully know or appreciate the history behind them, and since the new Mojang flippin' TOOK THEM OUT OF THE GAME—*BSODs*—Sorry. I'll try to contain my rage… Since they have been 'ship-of-Theseused' out of the game, I felt an even greater need to explore them in SiS. Hopefully you'll like it. ;D
- Where are all the ghasts? — Aside from pigmen just being cool though, ghasts don't chase players (if you ask me it's part of what sets them aside from other monsters) so it didn't make sense for them to be chasing them everywhere. (And where in the world did that skeleton come from? XD You can find skeletons in the Nether, but it had no reason to be there. The pigman on the other hand did. ;P) Also, I think it's a bit strange that the only mob they even have pose a threat in the Nether is the ghasts. Like, yeah, they're scary, sure, but what about magma cubes or, y'know, PIGMEN? Yeah, okay, so Magma Cubes aren't THAT big of a threat, but to be honest ghasts really aren't hard to avoid either since… they don't follow you the way they do in this game. XD
Choice Notes
- Reaction — This was one of those choices that, when actually playing, I like to be as nice as possible to Lukas because I know exactly what he's going through and can't imagine how hard it would actually be to be in a situation like that, so I sympathize with him and feel for him deeply. :( Obviously though, when writing for characters who are also there and caught up in the heat of the moment, you can't just do the 'best' thing, you have to do the most 'in character' thing. When I brainstormed this years ago, I decided that there actually wasn't a choice in the game that did Jesse's reaction to this justice. They were cool, but not emotionally heartfelt enough. The choice was basically to defend yourself, or put all of the blame on Lukas. Obviously with my changes it makes more sense for Jesse to be angry with him, but even without that, the closest he comes to having a genuine emotional reaction to it is the choice you can make where he forces Lukas to explain what happened, and I just can't see Jesse being that sadistic even being so angry with him. That said, even if it wasn't Jesse would take the loss of one of his friends very hard, so I wanted to show that. He also feels responsible and like he's failed her, but like all human beings sometimes that comes out as anger toward other people.
Glossary
- Ghasts — Ghasts are giant ghost like creatures that spit fireballs. Their sorrow filled cries can be heard from great distances. Their sounds travel strangely, so if you can hear them at all, they sound like they're right there next to you. They don't get any quieter with distance.
- Pigmen — Hopefully I explained them well enough in the chapter, but there is one thing I couldn't really explain in the chapter that I'll explain. Before I say it though, it's worth noting that this is all technically outdated information since—as I've mentioned before—zombie pigmen have since been (disrespectfully) replaced. :[ Something that pigmen have is a thing called 'universal anger'. Basically if anything ticks one of them off, it will target that player or mob first, and after eliminating it, any nearby players will immediately become guilty by association. Then they'd enter what I'll call a 'blind rage' mode that would last anywhere from 20 seconds to 27 minutes, and in which they would hunt and kill any player who got within their range of detection. I believe it was fixed at some point, but I'm pretty sure there was even a version of the game where they could accidentally fall and hurt themselves, and they would get mad at you for it. :P Pigmen are VERY temperamental.
All that in mind, that's probably why Ivor told them to be careful not to provoke them. He didn't want to have to deal with them. XD