Ruben's Adventure
Chapter 2: Weird Encounters
Disclaimer: I do not own Minecraft or any of the concepts involved with it.
Ruben ran up to the bulge in the horizon and found it to be a small hill, at first glance it was nothing special, but then he noticed a wooden door in the side. He cautiously approached and looked through the small window. A crafting table, bed, and furnace were inside, and the furnace was glowing with warmth and heat from something being cooked inside. He opened the door and readied his sword before going in and looking around. In the bed he found a familiar figure sleeping before him.
Jack was sleeping peacefully when he heard someone open his front door. He immediately sprang from bed with an iron sword in hand he swung down on the intruder. Ruben's reflexes kicked in and he blocked the strike with his own diamond sword. Jack's eyes widened as he realized who it was.
"Ruben?"
He backed away and removed his blade, sheathing it on his back.
"Yes," Ruben replied, putting his sword away.
"What are you doing here?" Jack asked,
"The forest I was living in burned down, someone or something decided to try and kill me," Ruben told him.
"I doubt they were aiming for you," Jack said as he walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed.
He looked up and seemed to be staring past Ruben. His eyes dilated as he saw it was day-time outside.
"What is it?"
Jack shook his head and looked at the stone floor of his house. "Nothing, I thought I recognized something,"
Ruben remained silent and stared at Jack while the adventurer stared at the floor.
"I think we should team up," Ruben said suddenly.
Jack chuckled, "What makes you think that's a good idea?"
"You know more about this world than I do, but I seem to be good at staying alive, and those mobs seem to like sneaking up on you, a second pair of eyes to guard your back wouldn't be a bad idea,"
Jack thought about it for a minute before nodding and standing up, "Alright then. If you're sure this is a good idea then let's put it to the test. I found a store of diamonds down below, the only problem is I'm not the only one, some other adventurer has laid claim to it, but both of us are at a stale-mate because we can't seem to get rid of the other guy,"
Ruben nodded to show he understood, "You want me to cover you while you mine the diamonds,"
"Bingo, you're catching on pretty quick kid," Jack said as he reached into a chest hidden behind his bed.
He pulled out his iron suit and fitted the repaired parts onto his body before spinning his sword and grabbing his pick from nearby.
"Ready?" he asked.
Ruben nodded before following Jack into the depths of the world. The pair proceeded down the tunnels marked by Jack as the correct way, along their trek they were attacked by Zombies, Skeletons, an occasional creeper, and a spider. Ruben easily dispatched them and Jack was surprised as the young adventurer's skill with a sword. Eventually they found the diamond reserved Jack had been talking about.
"Alright, here we are, make sure nothing sneaks up on us," Jack said before digging in with his iron pick.
Ruben turned on the spot and put both hands on the handle of his sword. He watched to make sure nothing was coming at them when suddenly a glass vial flew through the air toward them.
"Get down!" Ruben shouted as he covered his face with his free arm.
Jack ducked down and a wave of purple energy burst from the shattered bottle and Ruben felt his body surge with pain.
"Ah!" He shouted as he felt the muscles in his body tense up for a second.
Suddenly a figure appeared in front of him and he barely blocked with his sword. The figure was wearing a suit of leather armor and wielded a stone sword; Ruben noticed a series of glass bottles on his belt.
"Watch it! The guy has potions!" Jack shouted from behind him.
Ruben went to kick the stranger but he leapt back, disengaging their sword. Ruben ducked into a fighting crouch, his free arm out behind him, his sword held before him in a ready stance. The figure reached for a potion on his belt and held his sword out before him. Ruben noticed the curved tip of the bottle.
"Jack! What kind of potion is that?"
Jack looked up from mining, "Splash potion of Weakness, you let that stuff get on you and your muscles will be so weak you couldn't mine a block of grass!"
Ruben nodded as the figure tossed the potion toward him. He leapt back as it hit the stone beneath them and the wave spread out, he slid to a stop next to Jack as the potion dispersed. Ruben looked back to see Jack get the second diamond out of the earth. He noticed that Jack had laid his sword aside to get a better grip on his pickaxe.
"Gonna borrow this," Ruben said as he grabbed the iron sword.
"Hey!" Jack shouted.
Ruben rushed forward with both swords at the ready, the figure didn't expect this and went to reach for a silver potion with a flat top on his belt, but Ruben immediately put him on the defensive and didn't give him a chance to reach for the potions on his belt. The stranger was an experienced fighter, but without his potions his equipment was severely under matched compared to Ruben's and eventually the stone sword he was using broke and he took two hits from each of Ruben's swords which broke his armor into pieces. He fell to the ground and put an arm over his face to protect him.
Ruben pointed the diamond sword at him, he was gasping for breath.
"Do you yield?" he asked.
The stranger nodded, at this point they both realized the figure was a woman, her hair was long and brown, her shirt was silver and revealed a bit of her chest. Her pants were the simple blue of most adventurers.
Ruben sheathed the sword and offered his hand to her, she took it and he pulled her up.
Jack finished mining the last of the diamonds and nodded with satisfaction.
"Come on Ruben, we're out of here," he said, walking past and taking his sword back.
"Wait Jack, what's your name?" he addressed the stranger.
She looked surprised, "Sarah," She replied cautiously.
"Sarah, would you like to join us?" he asked,
"No, no, and in case you didn't hear; no," Jack said.
"Why not?" Ruben asked.
"In case you didn't notice she tried to kill us both!" Jack shouted at him.
"I was on pay from someone else, someone who will come after me and you two now that you have those diamonds," Sarah explained.
"Who?" Ruben asked,
She remained quiet and averted her gaze.
"Come on," Jack said in a disgusted tone.
Ruben waited for Sarah to follow before going after his friend. The trio continued through the tunnels and before they made it more than 50 blocks they noticed a large group of mobs ahead.
"Here, drink these," Sarah said handing them two silver potions with flat tops, she pulled out for herself and removed the cork.
"What if they're poison?" Jack asked,
"They're invisibility potions," Sarah said as if this should've been obvious.
She downed her potion and disappeared. This was enough proof for the guys as they downed theirs and disappeared as well. They wove their way through the crowd of mobs and escaped safely, the potion wore off eight minutes later when they arrived at Jack's house. He sealed off the tunnel with some spare cobblestone he'd mined and the trio sat down around his furnace. Jack took the diamonds he'd mined and made the rest of a suit of diamond armor, minus the boots, and used the last two to make another diamond sword. He gave this all to Ruben.
"What?" he asked.
"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have this stuff, you should get it," Jack said.
Ruben nodded his thanks before putting it all on and holding both swords experimentally. He swung a few double strike combos and before sheathing them on his back, the two swords formed an X. Jack looked to Sarah as she set up a small stand with a blazing rod in the center.
"What is that?" Ruben asked,
"Brewing stand," Jack and Sarah replied at the same time,
"I'll let our alchemist friend explain," Jack said as if this was an offensive subject.
Sarah glared at him before turning to Ruben, "A brewing stand is used to make potions like the ones I use. The ingredients are rare and hard to find, but the rewards are well worth it if you know how to work with them,"
Ruben nodded his understand, making a mental note to ask Sarah to teach him some of the basics of alchemy later when they had the time.
"So what's the plan now Jack?" Ruben asked turning to his friend.
Jack was packing up his tools and when he destroyed his hidden chest the room seemed barren compared to when Ruben had found him.
"We move on, this guy Sarah mentioned doesn't sound like the kind of guy I want to meet," He walked past them and broke down his door.
He left the room; the other two looked at each other before Sarah sighed and picked up her brewing stand and followed Jack out. The trio traveled through night and day for three cycles. Ruben defended them from monsters with his new Dual Wielding skills while Jack provided support with his iron equipment, Sarah would give them enhancements with her potions to help make things easier. After the third cycle the group was tired of moving and wanted a place to call home, but so far there hadn't been a defendable place for them to set up base. Jack refused to build one from scratching saying that it would take too long and Sarah's contractor would most likely catch up to them. Sarah was running low on potions and their food supplies were also dwindling.
It seemed Notch smiled upon them as they discovered a large mountain that seemed to have a network of caves deep into its surface. Jack looked back at Ruben and Sarah;
"Ruben and I will go down below, I'll leave you my pickaxe and you set up an entrance way," Jack ordered.
The pair nodded, Jack tossed Sarah his pickaxe and she went right to work. Ruben followed Jack down into the pits of the mountain. They traveled past lava flows, multiple veins of ore and eventually found a square room made of cobblestone, but it had been placed there so long ago that mold and moss had grown on its surface.
"Hold up," Jack said as Ruben stepped forward to walk into the door, "That's a dungeon, you walk in there without a plan and you're a dead man,"
Ruben turned to face Jack then, "What's your plan?"
Jack pulled out a stack of torches in his off-hand, "The reason these places are so dangerous is the monster spawners that are located inside,"
"Monster spawners?"
"Yeah, they're cages that hold monsters in them; they release the creatures every so often when someone gets close,"
Ruben turned on his heel as he heard a multitude of Zombie groans. Four zombies walked out of the hole in the wall and Ruben went to work, he slashed the first one with his right hand while blocking a second with his left. Jack stabbed one in the chest causing it to topple. Ruben dispatched the one he blocked with a quick double strike before blocking the last two, Jack slashed one down the chest, its companion looked at its dead friend giving Ruben an opening which he used to kill it.
"That's a lot harder without Sarah's potions," Ruben said as he sheathed his sword and felt the monster's experience flow into him.
"We shouldn't be so dependent on those," Jack said before walking into the dungeon.
Ruben followed him in and saw the spawner, as Jack had described it looked like a small black iron cage with a miniature flaming zombie inside. It had torches on all four sides and one on top giving the room light to keep the monsters at bay. Jack was already searching one of two chests that were in the room. Ruben walked over and looked into the second one, inside he found two diamonds, four pieces of a black ore, and a book.
"What are these?" he asked Jack holding up the black pieces.
"Obsidian, strongest material in the world, unfortunately no one's found a way to make them into tools yet, so we're stuck with diamonds,"
Ruben nodded before pocketing the materials, they heard a groan from nearby, not like a zombie though, this one sounded human. They looked through another hole in the wall and before them was a downed figure, he wore a suit of glowing iron armor and the sword he was leaning against also shone with a purple aura around it.
"Are you ok?" Ruben asked him,
The guy looked up to see Ruben and Jack, he groaned as he stood up and readied his sword, "If you want to come at me, then come on!" he shouted.
Ruben looked to Jack who shook his head, "We don't want to fight you,"
"Then what are you here for?" the guy asked.
"We're on the run, from an assassin. He's after a friend of ours up on the surface,"
"This assassin, do you know what he looks like, what his name is?" the stranger asked.
They shook their heads.
"Do you mind if I talk to your friend?"
Ruben nodded, "By all means, if she'll allow it,"
The guy sheathed his sword and approached them, "You wouldn't happen to have any food on you?"
Ruben produced a stack of pork chops and handed them to the stranger who ate three of them before sighing in relief. He handed the rest back to Ruben and signaled he was ready to proceed. The pair finished looting the dungeon and led the way back to the surface, there they found a wooden door waiting for them. They opened it and found Sarah with three beds along a wall, a crafting table, furnace, brewing stand and double chest along the other, a small alcove had been mined out, for what Ruben guessed as a training dojo.
She noticed them come in and smiled as she pulled out a few steaks. They'd killed about three dozen different animals on the way here and she seemed to be putting their loot to use.
"Who's this?" She asked seeing the newcomer.
"We found him down in the earth, he seemed interested in that assassin that was chasing you," Ruben explained.
"I wished to know his name," The stranger clarified.
"His name is Martin, he uses those around him to reach his ends and doesn't care what happens to you if you don't succeed for him, but his being an assassin makes it difficult to run away,"
"I know him, he used me like he did you," The stranger said, "He asked me to come down and grind at the monster spawner your friend found and to enchant his equipment with some of the highest degree of skill around, so that he would be a better assassin, he paid me with the armor I wear,"
"Enchanting?" Ruben asked,
The stranger nodded, "Putting magic into your armor, weapons, and tools to make them perform better than a standard piece. When you access the book on an enchanting table it offers you a list of options in strange lettering, most adventurers don't have time to memorize and decode this language, I wasn't one of them. I spent ten cycles to understand the language and can now read it to put the enchantments on weapons and armor without fail,"
Ruben nodded, "What's your name?"
"I am Paul, an enchanter,"
"Bah!" Jack shouted.
The trio looked at him as he leaned up against a wall. He looked like he'd been insulted and then ignored, his face was contorted in rage.
"What's wrong?" Ruben asked,
"These two, and their magics. Her alchemy and his enchantments, nothing beats the feel of good old fashioned iron and flesh," Jack said,
"You seem to forget Spellblades and Alchemists would hold an advantage over you old timer," Paul told him.
"Spellblades?" Ruben asked,
"Warriors who pay for their equipment to be improved with magics, they're a selective breed and usually very rich," Paul explained.
"I traveled with one for a while, was a brat who didn't understand the meaning of the world survival," Jack said, "Nearly got us all killed,"
"I'm not like that," Paul replied, "I understand your reasoning, one of your cycle count would be wary of the newer findings and research,"
Jack scoffed before going to the work area. Paul looked to Ruben and nodded as he examined him,
"You strike me as a warrior sort, but I sense you have a thirst for knowledge?"
Ruben grinned, "Yeah, I started out knowing barely anything, but Jack's taught me the basics and Sarah's taught me about alchemy,"
Paul nodded as he considered this, "Then allow me to enchant your equipment and to teach you about enchanting,"
"Didn't you say that required a special table?"
"Alas it does, and I have no such table,"
"What's needed to build it?"
Paul listed the ingredients and Ruben recognized them as the exact pieces in the chest he'd found. He handed them to Paul who gazed at them before rushing to the crafting table and began working. Soon he pulled out a black table with a red tablecloth, the corners the color of diamonds, a book floated above the center of the table. He set it down in the middle of the dojo. He approached Ruben and held out his hand.
Ruben took off his armor and gave him his two swords. Paul took the equipment over to the table and began to place the pieces over the book and Ruben watched strange symbols flow out of the book into the equipment giving it a purple sheen like Paul's armor. Sarah approached Ruben and handed him a few potions.
"What are these?" he asked.
She pointed to a crimson colored potion. "That's a Strength Potion extended, it's not as potent as some of the ones I used on you guys, but it'll last up to 8 minutes,"
She pointed to a light blue one and then a red one.
"The blue one is swiftness, you'll be able to see farther, run faster, and jump higher for 8 minutes as well, the red one is a healing II potion, drink that and you'll almost always restore your health to full unless you're about to die."
He nodded his thanks to Sarah as Paul approached. He handed Ruben back his gear and Ruben put it on.
"Your suit is enchanted with some extra protective enchantments so you won't take as much damage as before, and your swords have a magically sharp edge to them so they'll deal more damage," Paul explained.
"Wow, thank you," he said to his companions who nodded.
"If you guys are done I think we should sleep for the night," Jack said.
The group followed his orders and went to sleep, Sarah handed Paul some extra wool and planks, he made his own bed and set it down next to the others before sleeping with them.
Meanwhile a figure was watching from the woods, it turned and disappeared into the shadows, a wolf and ocelot seemed to follow him.
