Ruben's Adventure
Chapter 8: Stronghold Securities
Disclaimer: I do not own Minecraft or anything used in this story except for character concepts
Ruben and his horse rode through the night, knowing the dangers. Ruben didn't want to lose the trail of Martin when he was so close. As the sun began to creep over the horizon he found what he was hoping for: A sign.
The small wooden piece was held up by a single pole, it seemed to have been put there recently. He urged his horse alongside it and read to himself. A warning:
Beware all who
continue further
Know that death
awaits you.
Ruben nodded to himself, "That has to be him,"
He kneed his horse and it took off once again. As the horse continued its trek Ruben slipped his bow from over his shoulders and kept the weapon ready, his quiver of arrows safely stored on his back and in easy reach. He and his horse continued unchallenged for a few hours before stopping.
Ruben found himself before a large stone structure. Simple in design it was meant more as a landmark than anything defendable. Through the doorway he could see a ladder descending down into the earth, the light of torches shining up through the hole below.
"Stay here," Ruben said as he set down a fence post and tethered a lead to his mount.
He crept forward cautiously, not knowing what lay in store for him, and that probably saved his life. As he snuck forward he felt something tug against his ankle, taking a step back he looked down to see a tripwire snap back into place. He drew on his swords and cut it, immediately he heard the familiar sounds of pistons retracting and the floor ahead of him was pulled into the walls leaving a pit. He looked down and grimaced, seeing only a long dark shaft and the faintest of lights at the bottom.
"Pitfall trap, of course," he said to himself.
He stepped outside and quickly picked up some dirt, filling in the gap in the floor he continued onward toward the ladder. Setting his weight down on the first rung he waited, not sure what to expect. After a few seconds he realized that there wasn't any way to trap a ladder so he began to slide down it. He plunged deep into the earth, sliding for what felt like hours before finally his feet touched the cool, smooth stone of a cave floor.
Realizing his bow wouldn't do him any good he slipped it back over his shoulders and drew his swords, keeping them ready. The cave before him was well lit and spacious, obviously carved out by Martin and his gang. Ruben stepped forward and felt the floor give way underneath him. Looking down he saw it was a pressure plate and immediately leapt back just in time as a barrage of arrows flew in front of his face.
"This whole place is a death trap," he said to himself, his voice echoing slightly off the cave walls.
Leaping over the pressure plate this time he continued onward, cautiously taking each step to avoid any nasty surprises. Ruben spent hours crawling his way through the twisting system of tunnels and caves, fighting off mobs and traps alike, until eventually he found something he would never have expected to find this deep underground.
A door, an iron door. He reached into his pocket and produced a button, putting it on the wall and push it the device sent a signal to open the door and Ruben stepped through as it closed behind him automatically. Looking around he gasped at what he saw. A large chamber of stone bricks, lining the left and right sides of the room were cages of iron bars and an iron door for each. For the moment the cages were empty, but as he stepped forward he noticed a small console with a lever on it. He sheathed one of his swords and pulled it in the opposite direction, immediately he heard the echoed sound of a door being opened and looked around him as his second sword appeared in his hand. The doors to the cages were all open now, and he saw a figure huddled on the ground behind where the door of its cell had been. He approached now and gasped as he saw a harmless villager.
"What happened to you friend?" Ruben asked as he sheathed his swords and knelt down beside the man.
He coughed, his face was pale and his eyes were half shut, Ruben could tell the man did not have much time left.
"Martin…" he croaked out… "Water… please,"
Ruben nodded, producing one of the few water flasks he was carrying with him he trickled it down the man's throat which set him coughing again, once he settled back down against Ruben's knee he drank some more.
"Thank you…" he sighed.
"Of course… but you mentioned Martin before, what is this place? What happened here?"
The man looked to Ruben, his eyes barely making out the figure squatting above him. He knew it wasn't Martin, and he felt like he had something important to tell this stranger.
"Stronghold… End… Martin,"
"This place is the stronghold?" Ruben asked looking around.
The villager nodded, he noticed that it was getting darker now. Strange, he thought, it was well lit a few minutes ago, and they weren't outside.
"Please tell me, what are his plans? Do you know what he's up to down here?" Ruben asked.
The villager didn't reply, his face was calm and Ruben nodded as he set the man down. He was dead, and after a brief delay his body disappeared into dust.
"Rest easy friend, no one can hurt you now," Ruben said to the dust pile as it seemed to blow away.
"The same can't be said for Martin though," Ruben growled as he drew his swords and pressed on.
He made his way through another maze of rooms and tunnels, doorways and paths. Eventually he found himself standing outside another Iron door, this one had a lever on it already, and as Ruben went to flip it he heard something.
"I'm telling you someone followed us," A voice echoed to him from down a hallway he had just passed through.
"And I'm telling you, we're fine. You're worrying over nothing," A different voice replied.
Ruben panicked, if he were found here he'd be a dead man. Looking around he noticed a darker corner of the room, darting over he knocked the torch off the wall, quickly undressed himself of his armor, uncorked a clear-liquid potion before downing it just as two figures began to turn the corner into the room. He pocketed the empty bottle as his body disappeared. Squatting lowly he waited, letting Blake's training guide his next actions.
The two figures that entered were immediately recognizable. One was the Summoner that Martin had brought with him when he'd attacked Ruben and his friends. The other was Martin himself. Ruben had to fight the urge to draw his swords and charge, pressing his hands into his legs to force himself to think about something else.
"How are the plans coming to get the portal ready?" Martin asked.
"Well, we'll need new villagers since it seems our last batch has all died, save for that one that's still down in the cells," The summoner answered.
Ruben's mind shot back to the villager he had found and his anger towards Martin grew even stronger, something he didn't think was possible.
"Whatever needs to be done Dylan. Do it, we need to get this portal open," Martin replied.
Dylan nodded and turned to leave when something seemed to catch his eye.
"Has that corner always been that dark?" he asked pointing to where Ruben was hiding.
Martin followed his finger and saw the darkened corner as well.
"Strange, I thought we made sure this place was well lit so the mobs couldn't get down here," Martin said.
"Maybe we missed a spot?" Dylan asked.
"I suppose, those villagers know nothing about basic survival, always depending on adventurers to build them walls and safe havens," Martin said as he produced a torch from his pocket.
He approached Ruben's hiding spot and Ruben carefully tip-toed away from Martin's approach so that he wouldn't bump into the villain.
Martin leapt up and placed the torch on the wall, it's light immediately casting out to fill the corner.
"There, fixed," he said with a nod as he turned back to Dylan.
"Now, what about preparations for once we get through the portal?" He asked as he approached.
"Well, we're almost completely filled up on…" Dylan's voice trailed as he and Martin turned away from Ruben and left the room through a different hallway.
Ruben went to let out a sigh of relief but stopped himself, he wasn't sure how good either of the two mens' hearing was and he didn't want to give himself away.
Quietly and cautiously Ruben stepped toward the iron door with the lever, reaching forward he counted to sixty to give Martin and Dylan enough time to get clear and flipped the switch. The door clacked open and Ruben stepped inside. He froze as he came face to face with a strange material he had never seen before.
A square of these strange blocks were situated at the top of a raised dias. He made his way up the steps in front of the door and immediately noticed that all but once of the blocks had an Ender Eye inside. He looked down the line and saw an Ender Pearl sitting on a crafting table.
"What's all this about?" Ruben asked himself as he glanced back at the Ender Eyes.
He had a bad feeling about this.
