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Moonrise



“Well?” asked the pale-faced woman in the armor of hardened leather. “Does it not worry you?”
“I don’t know what would,” remarked the man beside her, clutching his iron sword like an insolent throat. The two figures were sitting on two pillars of glass, peering quietly over the wall of the city Reun. The woman was pensive, her eyes narrowed inscrutably, but detesting the small city all the same. The man was arrogantly laid-back, as if he was relishing the thought of spitting on the city and scoffing at its ruler.
“Reun is not to be underestimated. Its walls are thick; I think they have something inside them. And the city itself…well, a high-ranking Constructor such as you would see the number of surprises that place could hold.” The woman’s expression didn’t twitch, but she seemed to grow slightly paler.
“Sarrial, you have a keen eye, but you think too much. Don’t look at the fortifications; just take one glance at the inhabitants. Do you suggest that the Moonrise would be halted by such simple folk?”
The woman known as Sarrial scoffed. “You speak harshly of simple folk, Lucus, while you would apparently have yourself to be no better.”
There was a long silence. The man, Lucus, glared at Sarrial for her tone, then sniffed heavily and drew back. Just as Sarrial was turning back toward the city Reun, Lucus lashed forward so fast he became but a smudge of gray, his sword biting into Sarrial’s side. Her leather tunic was ripped in half, and a streak of red appeared in Sarrial’s side.
“Remember who the power is here,” spat Lucus. “And remember what I am, when stood next to any man or woman in the city Reun.”
Sarrial almost fell off of her glass pillar. A wave of pink rushed over her pale face. “Fine,” she said at last, disgusted.

“Still...” Lucus pondered, “...there is one who hesitates me.” Lucus pointed at a small house. A boy lived there, barely sixteen, lying motionless in the comfort of his bed.
Sarrial nodded. “Yes...I believe his name is Stig.” She may have been worried about him herself; she didn’t remember. Sarrial wasn’t sure whether she was truly worried or if she simply didn’t want to cross Lucus again.
“He is very gifted in Construction,” said Lucus. “I don’t know whether it’s something the city Reun may use against us...but still, it disturbs me.”
“Then we will have to take preemptive action,” said Sarrial. Lucus nodded.
“You may have some truth in your argument, Sarrial. But we must make sure that Stig dies quickly--a suitable time frame for my patience.”
“Agreed,” said Sarrial. They looked at each other for a long while, trying to decode each other. Then they began to break the glass beneath them, letting themselves down to ground level. They heard a guard run across the wall; he must have glimpsed one of them. Sarrial allowed a smile to dribble across her lips and she drew her bow. Just like that, the guard cried out in surprise and fell off the wall to his death. The small “thump” barely blocked out the sound of Sarrial and Lucus running quietly into the forest.
“Lucus’s time will end,” Sarrial thought to herself. “I pray I’ll have the wisdom to sustain Moonrise.”


The “Welcome” mat outside Stig’s home triggered, causing an ironically joyful tune to permeate Stig’s sleep. He groaned and sat up, not at all pleased to be up so early. He realized that his face was imprinted in his red bed sheets. Stig sat up and immediately wanted to lie back down, but the incessant chiming all around him made it apparent that someone was tapping his foot on the “Welcome” mat. Stig groaned and slammed his fist on the button beside his bed, then reached up to catch the bread and stew dispensed from the ceiling. He motioned for the person outside to come in.
In walked a sturdy man with pitch black hair, who strutted quickly across the room and straight up to Stig’s bed, scowling.
“You shouldn’t keep me waiting,” he said sternly. “You’ll be an official Constructor soon, so you’d best act like it.” Stig nodded wearily.
“And another thing,” the man continued, “you shouldn’t be building these sorts of things at your age. There are many ways that doormat out front could have gone awry.”
“Well, it’s not as if I’m being unsafe,” said Stig, taking a bite out of his bread.
“Your incessant insolence will be the death of you yet. Come, you’ll be late for...” The man looked contemptuous. “...your ceremony.” The man strutted out of the bedroom and prepared to leave. On his way out, he said, “Also, try not to eat dispenser food every morning like that. It’ll make you sick.”

As soon as Stig walked out the door, he was assaulted by another teenager.
“Hey Stig!” she said. “‘Bout time you woke up! Your ceremony starts at midday!”
She was a girl a little younger than Stig, a blonde holding a spade and a wide smile.
“I see Wes has already been on your back this morning,” she remarked.
“Yeah...” Stig replied.
Her name was Hylda. She was Stig’s friend, and had been for a long time, but she wouldn’t be a Constructor for a month yet.
“Anyway, you’d best be off! Becoming a Constructor is definitely not a ceremony to be late for,” she remarked.
Stig nodded and the two of them ran for the town center. Once they were there, they could see that the whole center was full of people. Stig had seen this, but now that it was his turn to step up to become a Constructor, he became grasped by a sudden fear. He was about to back away, but Hylda laughed and shoved him up onto the podium. Once the crowd was silent, the monarch of the city Reun approached Stig. The monarch was as ancient as his odor, and Stig resisted the urge to step backward. The monarch was closely accompanied by Wes, the man who woke up Stig.
“People of Reun,” the monarch spoke loudly. “We are here to celebrate one of our own being promoted to the rank of Constructor. He has proven his worth and he has come of age, and I think we are all proud to have him officially join the ranks of Reun.” Applause sounded.
“Now, a more personal note,” the monarch continued. “Stig has often proven himself to be gifted and creative. He is resourceful, helpful and intelligent, creating complex, yet wonderful things. He can be rebellious, but he helps Reun and himself through his rare creativity.” Stig could feel Wes’s eyes burning into Stig’s forehead.
The monarch held a book. “This book was specially created for you. Not only does it contain useful knowledge, it will allow you to be recognized as a Constructor. Protect this book, and you will protect your rank.” Stig was handed the book, and he nodded in gratitude. The crowd broke into applause, the sound of which was only broken by a mysterious explosion.

Everyone stopped and turned toward the sound of the explosion. A block of TNT soared over the wall, straight at Stig. Hylda leapt onto the podium and shoved Stig out of the way just as the podium exploded from the TNT. Hylda covered her face with her arm and backed away from the wreckage.
“What...?” the monarch exclaimed.
“I can see them! They’re up there!” Wes shouted. Several figures were standing on a mountain outside the city Reun.
“The Moonrise Cult...” Stig whispered. A chill ran down his spine; he had heard of them, but never seen them with his own eyes. And they were after him.


Stig was panting heavily. He wasn’t sure if it was from fear, the force of the explosion, or Hylda’s elbow landing painfully on his stomach.
“Oops, sorry,” said Hylda, getting up.
Just as Stig was getting up after her, another explosive was shot over the wall. Stig tried to run, but his arm was suddenly caught in what felt like a vice. Wes yanked him down the street, running into an alley as several more explosions shot behind them. Once they reached Stig’s house, one more explosion sounded, destroying half of the alley, and Wes threw him into the house.
“Now you stay here until all this is sorted out,” said Wes. “I don’t know who did this, or why they’d be after YOU, but until those questions are answered, you will stay right here.”
Stig started to open his mouth, but the door slammed shut.

The next morning, Stig woke up to the smell of sulfur. It took him awhile to remember what had happened yesterday. He sighed and got out of bed, not bothering to get breakfast. He walked into the middle of the room and looked around. So here he was; stuck, useless, while an unknown danger out to get him was bombarding the city Reun and there was nothing he could do. He looked out the window; it was still night out. Stig had woken up early. “Fine,” he resolved. “I’m leaving the house.”
He didn’t know what he would do after that. Probably search for the people who tried to kill him. And then...what? Stig didn’t care anymore. The first step would be to get out of this house. Stig walked quickly to the front door and yanked it open. Then he gasped in horror.

The door led to nothing but a brick wall. Someone--probably Wes--had done it while he was asleep. They were keeping him by force. Stig looked at the sign on the bricks. “We’ll know if you break anything”.
Stig was furious. His home had been turned into his prison, just so he couldn’t interfere with matters he “wasn’t ready for”. He never believed that excuse; Wes always wanted him out of the way. Stig knew that Wes was the real power behind Reun, but still wanted it to be an official position. But Stig had already decided to flat-out disobey orders, so he would have to follow through. He looked up his chimney; it was completely sealed up. He tried opening his window; but the pistons used to pull the glass apart had been smashed. There wasn’t even any wood or dirt that he could smash through and then replace.
Then...they had taken his satchel. All his circuitry, anything he could have used to fill a gap; they had taken it and either hidden it or--Stig winced at the thought--burned it. Stig fell into bed and stared at the ceiling, pushing back tears. His imprisonment began to make him claustrophobic, but there was nowhere he could get air. He could be stuck for months...
But a thought occurred to him. There was a way he could get out; he just hadn’t thought of it yet! It would disobey all safety protocol, but they couldn’t trace it. Stig stuck his head through the gap in his broken pistons and whistled as loudly as he could. Just as he had hoped, a creeper turned toward the window. Stig whistled again. The creeper perked up and began to hop toward the house. As it reached the window, a small hissing sound came into the house. As Stig jumped out of the way, the side of his home exploded.
“Perfect”, Stig said. Everyone would think that the mysterious attackers had bombed Stig’s house. Stig walked out of the hole, and got a breath of fresh air.

Stig snuck through the city Reun and checked the moon. The TNT had been fired from northward; he headed in that direction. Once he reached the wall, Stig looked back at the city Reun. Nobody was awake, and Reun looked a lot less thriving and a lot more ghostly. Maybe it was just Stig’s anger that made it look that way, but the city looked a bit evil. Stig shook his head and turned back toward the wall. The topology of Reun was simple; the city itself, the strip of land around it where Stig had found the creeper, and the wall. Stig was two-thirds out.
Just as Stig was about to climb the ladder to the top of the wall, an arrow whizzed past his head. Two skeletons had ambushed him. Stig frantically climbed the ladder, but the second skeleton shot him in the foot and he toppled off. Stig scrambled to his feet to see two arrows pointed at his head. He reached for his satchel, and then remembered that it had been taken. Instead, he had been left unarmed against two of the smartest and most powerful type of wandering monster. He lashed forward and punched one of the skeletons in the ribs, and took an arrow to the shoulder. Plucking out both arrows, Stig tried the ladder again and the skeletons fired more arrows after him. Stig reached the top of the wall and jumped off, not caring about the painful fall. The skeletons were climbing the ladder after him. Stig knew better than to run into the woods, so he ran around the outer wall of the city Reun, with the skeletons in pursuit. An arrow ripped across Stig’s arm, and he fell over. The skeletons caught up to him and surrounded him again, preparing to fire into Stig’s head. But just as they loaded their arrows, a voice called out:
“Enough! That boy is mine.”
The skeletons whirled around toward the voice and started to fire, but there was a whizzing slash and they were both knocked against the wall. Stig lifted his head up to see what was going on; a battle was about to begin.


Another flash of light, and a sword shot through one of the skeleton’s skulls and stabbed right into the wall of the city Reun. The other skeleton fired an arrow, but the mysterious figure stepped to the side and bolted, snapping each rib in succession with one powerful sweep. Stig tried to stagger up and back at the same time as an iron sword flashed over and over, as its wielder dodged and dodged. Finally, the figure twirled around, shattering the assailants’ skulls. Then the person turned toward Stig.
For the first time, Stig could catch a good look at the person. He could see nothing but a face and the person’s black cloak and sword. “Who are you?” he demanded, though his voice broke halfway through.
Stig could barely make out a grin. The person threw off her cloak to reveal a pale-faced woman. She had the emblem of a crescent on her tunic, and she had long black hair and eerie red eyes. Everything about her looked off.
“I am known as Sarrial,” said the woman before Stig could get out any words. “I have come to kill you, and collect your remains. Those idiotic skeletons would probably have just eaten them.”
“What…?” Stig managed. Sarrial rolled her eyes.
“I have to take your body to Lucus. The Moonrise will invade the city Reun in four days, and you will have to be taken care of before then.” With a sarcastic note, she added, “I’m sure you’ll understand.”
Stig didn’t understand. “So...who’s this ‘Lucus’?”
For some reason, this made Sarrial wince. “He’s...” she paused. “He’s our leader, but...it’s only because he’s under a spell...we’re forced to follow him...” Stig blinked in confusion, but Sarrial continued. “A warlock by the name of Nemus turned him against Reun, and we have no choice but to obey.” Sarrial suddenly fell onto her knees. “Please...try to break the spell. Lucus is innocent.”
“I--...” Stig wasn’t sure what to say. “I’ll try to.”
“Thank you...” said Sarrial. “Go back to your city. You won’t be able to enter the Lunar Citadel, so you’ll have to confront Lucus during the invasion. The Cult will attack Reun in four days, and that’s when you’ll have to break the spell. Don’t tell your city ANYTHING.”
“I won’t,” said Stig. Sarrial placed a ladder on the wall, and Stig climbed up, preparing to go back home. He turned back to Sarrial. “I’ll help. I promise.” Then he left.

Sarrial watched him leave, waiting until he was out of earshot. Then she grinned like she hadn’t been pleading just minutes ago. “Such an idiot boy,” she said to herself. “Keeping his own city in the dark...this will be better than killing him.” Then Sarrial turned on her heel and walked back into the forest, her sword dangling from her hand, covered in marrow.


Stig limped toward his home; he was still tired and hurt, and could barely walk. He was also hungry. Stig walked over to one of Reun’s towers, and climbed down, entering the city. He looked around for guards, and then began to head toward his house. He found the hole in the side and climbed through, only to see Wes scowling in the foyer.
“You took us for fools,” Wes said. “That’s a mistake I’m sure you won’t make again.”
Stig tried to run, but he had lost so much blood that he collapsed to his knees. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was the force of being dragged backward by his feet, the rubble stinging painfully on his stomach.

He woke up on a bed. Stig still wasn’t sure if he was awake; it was dreadfully dark. He could only see a bit of light coming from what looked like an iron door. He decided to lay there for a while; he wasn’t sure how hurt he was, but whatever his status, he definitely hadn’t been treated yet. After a while, he heard a knock on the door.
“What?” he muttered; his voice barely audible and even less comprehensible. The door opened, and in walked Wes.
“Finally awake, I see,” he said. Stig didn’t respond, although his mind was swimming with questions…and dizziness.
“So, you’ve been having a little ‘chat’ with the Moonrise?” Wes said accusingly.
“I was attacked…” Stig said. There was no point denying he was out that night.
Wes glared. “You’re really in for it now, Stig. You’re in for breaking out of confinement, breaking safety protocol, causing property damage by means of a creeper…and suspected allegiance with a known cult. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ll never live to become a Constructor.”
Stig didn’t know what to say; he had done those things. And when he made a deal with Sarrial, even his allegiance charge was legit. Instead, he said,
“So my Constructor status is repealed, then?”
“Oh, it was never there to begin with. Your ceremony was interrupted, remember?”
“I want my book.”
Stig was talking about the book he was given at the ceremony. It was the mark of his Constructor status; if he could just see it…
“Your book was burned.”
“What?” Stig exclaimed. He wasn’t sure that was even allowed.
“But stop distracting us. Tell me everything you know. What did you hear about the Cult? What are they planning next? You’d better spill or else things won’t end well for you.”
Stig’s stomach churned painfully. “I’m wounded,” he said. “Do you—”
“You’ll receive treatment only if you tell us everything. Pretty convenient, isn’t it? You’re not a Constructor and can’t be given full rights, but you’re still qualified enough to serve prison terms.”
Stig glared. “The cult is commanded by someone called Lucus. He’s not really evil, he’s under a spell and the rest of the Cult has to follow him. Also, I’m not part of that cult. Beyond that, I swore not to tell.”
Wes’s eyes narrowed. His face was dreadfully close to Stig’s, and his breath stank up the air around him. He was obviously taking some sort of sick pleasure in seeing Stig get what was coming to him. “So if you’re not part of this Cult, why did you swear secrecy on what we need to know?”
Stig grinned. “Because you’re all a bunch of warmongers that are going to ruin everything that Sarrial’s trying to do to make peace.”
Wes raised his fist in fury, and then dropped it. He looked disgusted. “We’ll find out. We’ll find out where this ‘Lucus’ is. And we’ll win this war, no matter how much you try to corrupt this city.” Wes left, shut the door, and everything was dark again.
Stig lay on his back, having no idea what to do. He would either break his promise or stay here for the rest of his life. He wouldn’t even get to become a Constructor. He always wanted to build…to engineer…but that was over now. He had nothing to work with, nobody to let him work. After a long rest, he finally fell asleep.

Stig woke up to Hylda peering over the bed at him. He woke with a jump, and then suddenly realized he wasn’t wounded anymore.
“What were you thinking?!” she exclaimed.
Stig groaned. “Oh come on, you would have wanted to escape too.”
“I’m not talking about that!” said Hylda. “I’m talking about you swearing to secrecy with a cultist. That person may have been on our side after all, but now you’re officially a criminal!”
“Look, it was stupid, all right?” said Stig. “I just—”
“And to go and break that promise?” Hylda interrupted. “The way I heard it, getting Reun involved is the worst thing you could do, and now Wes is leading a huge army to the cultists’ base right now!”
“Wait, what…? I didn’t break my promise, what are you talking about?” Then Stig realized it. While he was asleep, he had a nightmare. He was in a black cloak, running up the mountain, into the Lunar Citadel. He saw a dark figure sitting in a throne, and a great shadow weaving behind him. The shadow was saying, “I am Nemus”. He tried to run, but the floor broke and he fell into a dark pit, waking up suddenly. Now he knew why Wes went to the Lunar Citadel…Stig was talking in his sleep. He had told them about the invasion, and they went to launch a preemptive attack. He had broken his promise.
“Hylda, I’m sorry, there was a nightmare, and…I must have talked in my sleep…” Stig said. Hylda nodded.
“Take some food,” she said, handing him a loaf of bread. “You’ll need it.”
“Why?” asked Stig. Hylda paused.
“Um…you should probably come outside and see.”
“Where is the Lord?”
“He’s going to the Citadel with Wes. About four fifths of Reun’s guard is out there. Now hurry!”
Stig ran up a flight of stairs and into sunlight; it was almost blinding. As soon as Stig reached the wall, Hylda beckoned him to the gate. Once Stig walked through, he saw something that sent a chill up his spine.
Hundreds of cultists were lined up on the horizon. They were bristling with weapons.
“But…Sarrial said the attack was in four days!” Stig gasped.
Hylda looked at him with a mix of hardness and pity. “Stig…Sarrial suckered you. It was a ploy for a sneak attack. I’m sorry, Stig…but she’s tricked you into removing all our defenses while they attack.”
Stig couldn’t believe how gullible he felt. Not only had he destroyed his chance at becoming a Constructor, but it was all so he could get tricked. And now, an army was approaching Reun, and he would have to fight.


“This is it?” Stig asked, exasperated. “This is the army we have at Reun?”
Stig was looking at two hundred—three hundred, tops—soldiers, most of them privates with simple leather armor. Many were barely nineteen years of age.
“There was a call to arms for storming the Lunar Citadel,” Hylda said. “Almost everyone chose to go.”
“So that’s it then? We’re here with this sparse, weak army facing a legion of fanatical cultists? I hope we have something that can help,” Stig said.
“But we do,” said Hylda. “All of these people, the ones who stayed behind…why do you think they stayed behind?”
Stig shrugged. “Because they didn’t know what they’d have to deal with…”
“No, Stig. They stayed behind because they agreed with you. If we’re going to stand a chance, it’s because you got us there. Stig…you’re going to help us win.”
Stig couldn’t speak. It was as if the weight of the world was being pressed upon him all at once. Not only were they all doing to die; now it would be his responsibility if they did. Some of the other soldiers sensed his fear.
“Who is this kid?” scoffed one of the soldiers. As Stig was opening his mouth, Hylda stepped in.
“Excuse me, but he’s going to be your leader in this fight, so you’d better show some respect. I don’t think any of you are going to last a minute without a miracle. And as far as Reun is concerned, a prodigy is a miracle. Sure he’s classified as a criminal; but everyone who disagreed with his motives is on a wild goose chase at the Citadel right now! This ‘kid’ is going to be the one to save your hides, because no one else will.”
Stig thought about what Hylda had said; he would be the one to save those hundreds of people? Stig wasn’t sure if Hylda was helping them or pressuring him. Either way, he turned to Hylda and said, “Thanks.”
Hylda grinned. “Just don’t make them regret trusting me.”
Stig gulped.

“We don’t have much time!” Stig told the soldiers. “Grab the items from the chests, especially redstone, dispensers and TNT! We’ll set up cannons on the walls, so that they can shoot across and down if we need it. And head to the dungeons; grab every pressure plate you can find!”
The soldiers ran off. Stig turned to Hylda.
“Let’s get some glass. We need to mark where we set the heavy weapons.”
“Wouldn’t Reun already have those?”
“Nah,” Stig smiled. “These are just a little thing I made up.” A soldier ran in and threw a heap of supplies in front of them. “Here, try assembling this one. Just do what I do.”
“I’ve never seen TNT cannons like this before.”
“The ones on the wall have too little force for too much space. These are carpet spreads; for maximum coverage, we’ll put them in this street and aim high.”

It had been three hours. The cultists had moved alarmingly close, but the city Reun was full of the most advanced traps and weapons Hylda had ever seen. At the moment, Stig was wiring up a piston machine behind the wall that could repair it if it’s damaged and even protrude a cactus trap when activated in reverse. He was in a sort of…Zen. His mind dropped everything else when he was just working, doing the thing he loved. It may have been the first time that Stig could do something at this scale. Hylda was gathering blocks of iron from the houses to make improved armor and swords, but she just decided to stop, simply watching Stig work. Stig sprinkled the last bit of redstone over the control switch and looked up.
“Oh, uh, hi there, Hylda,” Stig said, slightly startled by her sudden appearance. Hylda was a good friend of his, but she was still somewhat intimidating.
“Hi Stig,” Hylda said. “Hey, during the battle, I think I’d do well as a soldier.”
Stig stood up. “Sounds like a good idea. You could lead the charge, if you want.”
Hylda’s face brightened. “You really want me to, Stig? That’s great! I’ll…I’d better get armored up!”
“Definitely,” Stig said. “But be sure to wear full armor! Remember that the leader has to trigger—”
“Right, right, I get it. I’d better go get ready!” Hylda said as she ran off.

Meanwhile, the cultists’ camps were restless. Large, brawny soldiers with iron swords, clad in leather tunics, were brandishing their weapons and checking the crescent symbols on their tunics, ready to fight. Two generals stood in the center of the camp: one timid, one angry.
“Sir, Sarrial had informed me straight from the top that Reun would be almost completely unprotected. It was not my—”
“You are the one who informed me; do not shamelessly shaft the blame to a superior! You told me we’d be against a handful of weaklings…does this look like a handful of weaklings to you?”
A mass of confident, young men and women were standing at the gate, led by a young girl with a constitute look on her face. Siege weapons, the likes of which they had never seen before, surrounded and guarded the walls.
The timid general stared. “I…I was misinformed, I swear…”
It was too late. The angry general whirled around, clutching his sword so hard his hand was red. The timid general was cleanly decapitated, causing all the other soldiers to look at the commotion.
“We’re beginning the assault,” the general said. “Ready the assassins.”


The Moonrise Cult began to charge. Hylda yelled back to Stig, “Now?”
“Not yet,” Stig said. “Get ready to activate the splitter!”
“What’s that?” asked Hylda.
“You’ll see.”
The Cult was getting closer. They were such a dense mass, it seemed as though they could just run right over Stig’s sparse army.
They were getting closer…closer…
Stig could already hear the clanking of metal, the shouting of war cries.
Closer…closer…
“Use the splitter now!” Stig yelled behind him. Another man threw a lever and the entire cult gasped in shock. The ground was yanked open by a field of pistons. The cultists in front were thrown forward; the ones in back, backward.
“They’re split into two groups!” said Stig. It was just like ripping open a phone book; instead of tearing it as a block, one has to separate it into pages, secretly only splitting one at a time. The Cult was impenetrable…unless it was divided into layers.
The cultists in the front stopped short and ran back toward the slower ones, trying to regroup.
“They’re hesitating!” Stig said. “Focus fire!”
Several soldiers in the back of Stig’s army fired bows, and a shower of TNT fell into the stumbling cultists with terrible accuracy. After the arrows and TNT hit, the cultists realized that they were in danger and decided to charge raggedly, keeping space between them, not waiting for those that were trapped.
“Everyone charge!” Stig yelled. He looked up to see Hylda running at top speed, clutching her sword hard, swinging it strongly at the cultists. Just as she made it to the army, she stepped on a pressure plate.
The ground exploded; the cultists were blown back by the TNT, their tunics ripping. Hylda was launched back to the wall, into the city, and into a pool of water by Stig.
“What…?” Hylda began.
“Great job,” said Stig. “You were able to trigger that trap before the cultists could destroy it! You’d better get some iron armor on; the leather was just for surviving the blast.”
“So I was just a…trigger?” Hylda said, hurt. “I thought that—”
“Hylda, didn’t you know what the charge leader had to do? I thought you wanted to go in front and hit the trap!”
“No! Of course I didn’t! I actually wanted to fight, and…you just made me a scapegoat!”
“Hylda, I’m sorry, I didn’t know—”
“Just give me the armor.”
Stig knew he’d messed up. There was nothing else for it now. He silently handed Hylda the armor, and she took it angrily. She picked up her sword and ran back toward the fight; Stig just stood and watched, alone.

Hylda was running back toward the gate, hoping there’d still be some cultists to fight. Suddenly, she looked to the right and saw a small hole in the city wall…just big enough for a person to get through. She turned into the alley and checked out the hole, pulling out some cobblestone to patch it up. She almost didn’t notice the sound of a sword swinging at her from behind.
She whirled around, barely ducking the assassin’s stone blade. In surprise, she dropped her own sword; the assassin kicked it away.
“It’s just a little girl?” the assassin said, startled. Then he smirked. “This’ll be easier than I thought.”
For some reason, Hylda thought of Stig…how he used her just like one of his traps. She glared at the assassin. “Now is not a good time to be calling me a little girl!”
The assassin tried to swing his sword, but she brought her foot up painfully into him, causing him to stop mid-swing. He tried to grab her ankle, but she yanked her foot into his face, backing him against the back of a house. She grabbed his head and slammed it into the bricks. Another assassin heard the commotion and ran around the house, but Hylda had taken the sword from the first foe and leapt at her assailant, bringing the butt of her sword into his forehead. He staggered blindly, his pupils dilating, but Hylda saw him ready his sword. She brought her own sword around quickly and stabbed him through the stomach. Hylda’s arms went limp as the assassin’s eyes rolled up as he gasped in surprise and pain. She had no idea how hard it would be to kill someone…now that she’d done it, it felt like she was dirty, stained. Hylda was so afraid of what she’d done that she didn’t notice the third assassin sneaking up behind her. A white flash struck across Hylda’s back, and as she felt her spine tingle from the blow, everything went dark.

At the Lunar Citadel, an army was storming through the halls. In the front was Wes, brandishing his sword, cutting down the meager squads of cultist guards. The monarch of Reun stood just behind him, holding a bow defensively. They had finally made it to the central spire, and it was guarded by only an iron door. A cultist inside locked it. Wes took out a pic and smashed through the wall next to the door, and Reun’s army stormed in to find a long hallway, lit softly with glassed torches. The room was huge, but fairly empty, and pillars formed a circular pattern around the edge. A pale-faced woman stood at the end of the room.
“You’re too late,” said Sarrial. “Our true army is already crushing Reun.”
“What?!” shouted Wes furiously. Then he somehow retained his composure. “Once we’re done here…this place will be Reun.” He drew his sword; Sarrial drew hers carelessly.
“You really aren’t a bright folk. You’re just brutal,” Sarrial said, looking away slightly. “Tell me, how would you deflect a battering ram? Would you stick out your palms and hope for the best? Or would you chip it away…bit by bit…before they even notice? You look like a fairly solid army, but I can give you a bet. I can make your whole army fall apart with just one sweep…of this sword.” Sarrial pointed her sword at Wes, who gritted his teeth, obviously angry at her disparaging of his tactics.
Suddenly, Sarrial sprinted at him. Wes hunkered down, ready to lunge forward and stab her through the heart. But Sarrial leapt, right over Wes, and with one clean cut, she impaled her sword into the chest of the monarch of Reun.
“No!” several soldiers cried and Sarrial landed in their midst. One of the soldiers stabbed blindly, but Sarrial threw his comrade into the soldier’s sword. Another soldier came up from behind, but she grabbed his wrist so hard he dropped his sword. She twisted his arm hard, and then slit his throat. The other soldiers pretended to want to fight, but they were putting more and more distance between themselves and Sarrial. They were collapsing.
Wes was looking around wildly, with a mix of fury and fear, and saw a shadowy figure sitting on a block of gold across the room.
“Goodbye spawns of Reun,” Lucus whispered. Then he let out a battle cry that disturbed the soldiers’ very souls, and caused even Wes to step backward, his heart racing. Cultists leapt out from behind every pillar, bows readied. The sound of pistons was heard underneath the ground, and dispensers shot out of the once stone floor. The dispensers began to shoot arrows, everywhere, filling the room, as the cultists fired into the crowd of confused soldiers. The soldiers dropped as if affected by plague, as Wes and only a hundred other men ran from the Citadel, attempting to retain dignity.


The cultists must have numbered in the thousands. They swarmed all around the walls, and even when large groups of them were massacred by explosions, they just seemed to keep coming. Many only had wooden pickaxes, but they were still hacking at the walls so fast that it almost couldn’t be repaired at the same rate. Stig reversed the wall repair, and the cultists around the wall jumped back, clutching their feet, which were full of cactus needles. Stig hadn’t seen Hylda in a long time; that was unusual.
Stig heard a noise behind him; one of the TNT cannons was being re-aimed. Stig turned around to find an assassin blocking the top of the explosives. Before Stig could run forward, the assassin activated it and TNT shot past Stig. It slammed into the gates of the city Reun and exploded, leaving a gaping hole right in the middle of the front gate.
Cultists began pouring in, colliding heavily with the guards inside the city. Stig ran at the assassin, who drew a sword. But Stig wasn’t holding a weapon; he was holding a red glowing torch. He stuck it into the cannon and ran as the cannon exploded, taking the life of the assassin. Stig looked back at his corpse and shuddered; it was gruesome, and he couldn’t escape the feeling that he had done that. Hylda wouldn’t have had trouble with this at all, Stig thought.
The cultists were pushing forward. Stig circumvented the battle and climbed up onto the wall; if he could activate the system above the gate, he could blockade the opening with sand. Stig ran across the wall, toward the gate, but a cultist shot an arrow and caught him in the side. Stig toppled over the wall and barely hooked a ladder to the wall, hanging onto the bottom rung with all his strength. On the other side, a cultist took several planks of wood and began building his way over the wall. Stig reached the top and blocked off the cultist with a quickly placed cobblestone overhang, heading toward the wall. As he let the sand fall, many cultists were crushed by the avalanche, and the others tried to break through, only causing more to fall. Stig climbed back down the wall, drawing a sword and preparing to fight…but he needed to find Hylda.
Stig ran through the town, calling Hylda’s name. She didn’t respond. Stig knew that she’d never ditch a battle, no matter how mad at him she was; Stig was getting worried.
Then he heard a groaning from the alley behind his house. Stig ran over to find Hylda, slumped against the wall, bleeding heavily.
“Hylda, what happened?” Stig said. “Are you okay?”
“Can’t…move…” Hylda coughed out. She opened her mouth to say something else, but her voice game out and she fell sideways, unconscious. Stig grabbed Hylda’s arm and began to drag her out of the alley, but the wall was detonated right before them and four cultists ran through. Stig stabbed at the nearest one, who was pierced through the chest as Stig was hit in the shoulder. Holding his shoulder to stop the blood, Stig hacked through the other three cultists at the cost of long gashes across his face and left leg. As more cultists headed toward the breach, Stig sheathed his sword and dragged Hylda around and into his house as a TNT charge exploded, much closer to them. Stig grabbed an axe and hacked down his wooden door, replacing it with hard cobblestone. He got Hylda into his bed; she was barely breathing, and Stig grabbed some mushroom stew and poured it down her throat. With Hylda recovering, though still unconscious, Stig was only then aware of his gaping wounds.
“We’ve done all we can,” said Stig. “Just rest.”
Stig sat next to the bed, watching Hylda vigilantly, and waiting for a sign that the outside world would be safe again.

The hours that followed were terrifying. Completely isolated, Stig could hear the sounds of metal clanking and men dying outside, and even the sound of fire burning. Stig wanted dreadfully to look outside, wondering if there would be a Reun to walk out to, or maybe it would be full of dangerous cultists. Stig’s wounds weren’t getting worse, but he was using everything he had to help Hylda heal. In his state, he definitely couldn’t overpower even one cultist, so all he could do was sit in this isolated field, waiting for whatever was outside to stop; it reminded Stig of being blocked in his house once before, after the Cult tried to assassinate him.
The sounds outside lasted two hours, three hours, four hours; it became dark. Stig was getting tired, but he forced himself to keep watching the walls. After six hours, Stig heard a knocking on the wall and a voice calling, “Stig? Stig…?”
Stig ran to the wall and hacked it open. He saw a boy, barely his age, bearing a sword and a lot of scars.
“Did we win…?” asked Stig.
The boy paused, which Stig did not take as a good sign. But then he said, “…yes, we won.”
Stig began to smile in relief, but the boy said, “You might want to see this, though.”
Stig limped out into the battlefield and saw hundreds of corpses, all of them from Reun.
“We already cremated the cultists’ bodies,” said the boy. “But we thought…everyone should know the sacrifices. Looking at your scars, I guess you probably understand.” Stig slowly nodded, horrified by the sheer number of bodies.
“I received word that Wes will be back soon. I guess he probably doesn’t need to see this…I’ll get a burial started.”
“Okay,” Stig whispered, walking back into the house. After taking down the defenses around it, Stig went back to Hylda, who was still unconscious.
“If I hadn’t done any of this,” Stig asked her, though he knew she wouldn’t respond. “Would all those people still be alive?”
Silence.
“What about you? If I had said something different…would you still be healthy?”
“It doesn’t matter,” said the boy who called Stig from his house. “Sorry I’ve been eavesdropping. But you could’ve made much worse choices. You did the right thing based on what you knew then, not what you know now.”
Stig turned to the boy. “I guess so…thanks.” Stig was alone again; he continued to stay with Hylda, waiting for her to show signs of feeling better. Stig was relaxing a bit; Hylda’s wounds were healing well, and Stig was then certain she would make it. But all his optimism was shattered when his door opened and revealed the broad-shouldered figure of Wes. The next thing Stig knew, he was yanked out of the house and down, down deep, into the dungeon of Reun.


Stig was thrown into a cell. As the door slammed shut, Stig struggled his way out of the mass of cobweb he had landed in. Wes glared at him through the door.
“I heard you were a bit of a leader in this…massacre. It looks like you’ll finally get executed after all…you knew it was coming too, didn’t you?”
Stig glared back, but he knew that nothing he could say would get him out of that cell.
“Where’s Hylda?” Stig said.
“She’s still in your bed. She’ll be interrogated as soon as she wakes up. It’s odd…I really thought you liked her. And yet you caused this to happen.”
“Shut up!” Stig suddenly exclaimed. “I would never do that to Hylda! I waited in there for hours for her to get better…your filthy goons had better keep your hands off her!”
Wes didn’t flinch. He took a potion from his satchel and threw it through the door.
“Your execution is in a few minutes,” he said. “Drink the potion; you’ll need to look good on your deathbed.”
Stig suspiciously sniffed the potion; he smelled sugar and mushroom.
“It’s a weakening potion,” Stig said.
“Just in case you have any thoughts about escaping once you’re healed. Now drink it.”
Stig uncorked the bottle and drank the potion; he felt his wounds sealing up, but his arms began numbing.
“So…” Stig said, wanting to get as many shots in at Wes as possible before he died, “That attack you pulled on the Lunar Citadel didn’t work out so well…did it?” Wes’ nostrils flared.
“You tricked us, Stig. You caused us to lose so many of our men…I wouldn’t be surprised if a score of cultists could take our city right now!”
“And what does our Lord think of all this?”
Wes grinned darkly. “You’re looking at him.”

A minute after Wes had gone, Hylda entered; she looked much healthier.
“So they’re going to kill you?” Hylda said.
“Yeah, not much of a surprise though.”
“Are you going to escape?”
“Of course I am. I’m not going to let this be the result of my actions, and I guess the only way to do that is to make some new ones.”
“Then where are you going to go?”
“I’ll probably go straight to the Lunar Citadel. I’m pretty sure this ‘Nemus’ guy doesn’t exist now…so I’m going to fight Lucus.”
“You’ll die!” Hylda suddenly burst out. “At least let me help!”
“No,” said Stig. “I don’t want to get you any more involved than you already are.”
“Why? You think I’m weak?”
Stig wanted to say no, and he believed with all his heart that Hylda was the strongest person he knew…but he hesitated; it was a difficult question for him to answer, and he wished that he could answer honestly.
“So that’s how it is,” Hylda said. “I thought you would have trusted my more by now.” Hylda turned to leave.
“Hylda, wait—”
“No! I’m not waiting for you any longer. I left your cell door open, but I’m not going to be any more involved with you than that. Goodbye, Stig.”
Hylda left the dungeon and things seemed unbearably quiet. Stig sighed, got up, and snuck out of his cell. He should have been happy about being out of prison, but all he felt was alone. He lost his home, his rights, his life’s work, and now his best and only friend. As he snuck around the wall of Reun until he reached and opened the gate, he became certain that he would face Lucus. He was ready to die.

Hylda was almost back at her house when she felt someone tap her shoulder from behind her. She turned around; it was the same young boy who had announced the end of the war. She didn’t recognize him, but she knew he looked worried.
“I’m not in the mood right now,” she said, turning around.
“Aren’t you going to help Stig?” the boy asked, ignoring her.
“He doesn’t need me,” she said. “And I don’t need to see him again. He barely cares about me at all…I’m just another pawn to him. What’s one less pawn, right?”
The boy lowered his head. “Hylda…I don’t know what Wes told you, but please trust me. Stig…he cares about you more than anyone else he knows. He found you when you were injured, and the whole time the war threatened to tear this city apart…he just stayed with you, protected you. I saw Wes come to take him to the dungeon…he fought every step of the way. He loves you, Hylda. Please…help him.”
Hylda was silent. She felt like she just couldn’t comprehend his words. She had decided for herself that Stig didn’t care at all about her. But this…?
“He didn’t do that.”
“I saw him!” the boy said. “You would’ve died in that bed if he hadn’t been helping you heal every step of the way. You’ve known Stig a long time…do you really think I’m lying?”
“He…Stig did that?”
“Wes made Stig drink a weakening potion before his execution,” the boy continued. “He won’t last against a silverfish, let alone the Moonrise leader himself. You have to help him, Hylda.”
“Th—th—” Hylda stammered. “Thank you.”
“Hurry, we don’t have much time!”
“So what are we going to do?”
“Oh, I have an idea.”
The boy led Hylda into the main road of Reun, into an alley, around a patch of sugar canes, and behind the rostrum. He handed Hylda a shovel and they started to dig. Once they had gone some distance, the boy shoved his shovel into the ceiling, knocking down a flood of musty gravel. He and Hylda climbed out, to find something that made Hylda’s eyes water from the light.
Piles of gold and clusters of glowstone littered the floor. A brewing stand and an enchanting table sat on the diamond desk, and a chest sat on the floor, full of supplies the magnitude of which Hylda had never seen.
“All this…was under Reun this whole time?”
“I’m sure Wes won’t mind if we take a few things,” the boy said, sarcastically but with a beaming smile.”
Hylda looked at the bounty of supplies, then back at the boy. She suddenly thought about Stig, the awful things she said to him, and that he was about to die.
“Let’s get crafting.”

The boy passed a stack of books and some planks to Hylda, who began to feed the contents into the enchanting table. The boy put some gunpowder and a fermented spider eye into a sickly-looking potion, which began to bubble. Hylda smashed open the diamond desk and began to forge it into a pair of breastplates and a pair of boots.
About ten minutes later, the boy looked up from the potions stand and maps. “I think you’re ready.”
Hylda fit the armor over herself and nodded.
“Thanks again.”
“No problem. I hope I—” The boy became stiff, his eyes rolling up. A splotch of red and a small piece of flint appeared in his neck. A guard was standing in the shadows, clutching a bow.
“Intruders! Wes, intruders! They’re in the safe room!”
Hylda took her own bow and shot the guard through the head. She ran to catch the boy before he fell.
“Leave me…run,” the boy said. “No,” Hylda replied. The boy smiled sadly, apologetically, before he took his own sword and stabbed himself through the heart. Hands shaking, Hylda got up and ran through the tunnel as she heard Wes’s outraged voice.
“Potions out? The desk and half the supplies gone? Who did this?!”
Hylda scrambled back out the tunnel and didn’t look back until she was a hundred meters from Reun. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking, still horrified about the innocent boy’s death. I never asked his name.


Stig sprinted across the plain as another zombie swiped at him. He leapt off a plateau and over the zombie, but was knocked sideways by a spider. He slipped and almost fell into a lava pit, but he stumbled forward. A group of monsters was cornering him against the pit.
No…it can’t end like this. I have to get to Lucus.
Suddenly, Hylda burst through the wall of monsters, her diamond sword slashing through the throat of a zombie. She threw a potion at Stig, which shattered as the liquid inside was saturated by Stig’s body and began to heal him. Hylda killed two more zombies and a skeleton as she helped Stig up.
“I’m sorry,” Hylda said. “I’m helping you fight Lucus…I got a huge load of supplies from Wes’s secret storage. What’s wrong?”
Stig was making a weird face between happiness and pain.
“Um…there’s a silverfish on my ankle. It…really hurts.”
Hylda smiled at Stig, happy to have her friend back. She grabbed the silverfish by the tail and tossed it into the lava pit. Then she turned around and hugged Stig.
“H-Hylda?” Stig said.
“I heard what you did for me,” Hylda said. “But even if you hadn’t…I wasn’t fair to you. I owe you an apology.”
“Me too, for dragging you into this,” said Stig. “We fight Lucus together?”
“Together.”

They reached the Lunar Citadel; the moon was full and directly overhead.
“This place…” Stig said, looking around. “It’s beautiful.”
The Lunar Citadel was amazing. Spires stretched incredibly high, but they seemed like they were part of the surrounding mountains. Skyward bridges connected the spires, and the architecture made the place look almost celestial. Stig and Hylda looked around; the place looked very quiet. There were a couple guards guarding the bridge to the main spire, but everyone else seemed to be asleep.
“I’ll take the guards,” Hylda whispered. She drank a potion and snuck toward them. With a magically empowered jump, she launched herself high over them, slamming each of her feet into their heads. Stig dug a hole to hide the unconscious defenders.
“We don’t have many of those short-lasting potions,” said Hylda. “We have to save most of them for Lucus. Hold on…I think I hear someone coming.”
Stig and Hylda drew their weapons as they waited on the bridge as a small silhouette began to approach them. It drew closer, starting to swagger a bit. It was a figure wearing the cloak of Moonrise, but it looked like it was missing its insignia.
“Who are you?” Hylda said as the figure reached them. Without speaking, she took off her cloak.
“Sarrial…!” Stig exclaimed.
“Not anymore,” Sarrial replied.

“Who is she?” Hylda asked.
“She’s the one who tricked me into helping them in the war.”
“I assure you,” said Sarrial, “I come purely in diplomacy.”
“How can we trust you?” Hylda demanded.
“The worst dishonor for a citizen of Moonrise is the loss of her insignia. I am no longer in Moonrise…I have been exiled.”
“What?” Stig asked, surprised. “Why?”
“My exile is the same as yours,” Sarrial replied. “Lucus banished me for failing to kill you in the battle last week. I planned the entire thing…so I received the entire blame, all because I was different. You can understand, can’t you?”
“No, I can’t,” Stig said. Sarrial raised an eyebrow.
“You think that being a little smarter makes an excuse to separate yourself,” Stig said. “However separated I’ve become, I’m still from Reun, so I defend it…and you’re still a cultist.”
Sarrial looked down and grinned, drawing a bright blue sword. She waved it in front of her, the air hissing as she pierced it. Stig drew his own sword; Hylda stepped forward too. “Sorry, Hylda,” Stig said. “I have to do this myself.” Stig’s own sword glinted purple, and as he held it in front of him, it became sharp as a needle. Stig drank a jumping potion; Sarrial reached out expectantly, and Stig tossed her one. They both leapt across the bridge. Sarrial swept sideways, and Stig pushed her sword upward with his own, launching himself back to the ground. But Sarrial flipped backward, impossibly fast, and repeatedly hacked toward Stig. Stig fell over backward as Sarrial leapt again. Stig’s mind raced as Sarrial slowly came down. He couldn’t possibly beat her physically, but she seemed to be expecting to lose. Then he felt the ground. He couldn’t explain it, but it felt thin…like paper. Just before Sarrial’s sword went through his head, he pushed himself forward as Sarrial landed on the bridge. Stig grabbed his pickaxe and slashed it through the ground, and Sarrial fell through the crevasse in the bridge, barely catching the rim.
“Well done,” Sarrial said, groaning from the exertion of holding on. “Lucus is powerful, but not as clever as you. Stig…you will kill him.”
“I will. But I won’t do it for you,” Stig said as he walked over to Sarrial. He reached his hand down to pull her up.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Sarrial said, suddenly frowning. “It’s like I said, my exile is on my own hands. There is nothing left here for me.” Sarrial’s hand began to loosen.
“No!” Stig ran forward to grasp her hand, but she pulled her hand away and tumbled down into the cobblestones below. A sickening crunch was all that was left.

Stig and Hylda continued across the bridge, both incensed and saddened by the death of Sarrial, even though she was a hated enemy. At the end of the bridge, they exchanged potions and weapons.
“Once we go through here, we can’t come back until all of this is over,” said Hylda. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Stig said. “Are you?”
“No,” Hylda said. “But it won’t get any easier than this. Stig…be clever.”
“I will.”
Stig and Hylda walked up to the iron doors, and smashed through.


Lucus was at the other side of the room. He was standing in front of his throne, as if expecting them. There were arrows and holes in the pillars encircling the room.
Lucus walked forward, holding two swords made of diamond. He was switching between them. They must be enchanted differently, Stig thought.
Lucus stopped. He was within Stig’s striking range, but it didn’t seem to matter.
“You’ve come to kill me,” Lucus said.
“If it has to be that way,” Stig replied.
“Tell me,” said Lucus, looking at a point in the distance and not even paying attention to Stig’s sword being raised. “We call ourselves Moonrise. You call us the Moonrise Cult. Do you even know what a cult is?”
“It’s a collection of people sharing a religious concept…that harms others.”
Lucus laughed, sending a chill up Stig’s spine. “Moonrise is nothing more than a separatist nation! Neither Reun nor we have any concept of religion. But is even that true? For Reun, their power is their religion…and we are the ones who deny that power. Hence, we are a cult.”
“Why are you telling us this?” said Hylda.
“I tell you this because there’s no point in killing me. Reun is the true enemy! It is what killed your friends, what got you imprisoned, what ruined your life! And yet you come after me. Tell me…are you siding with your enemies?”
Hylda clutched her sword, preparing to slash Lucus across the throat. “You’re trying to distract us.”
“Wait, Hylda,” said Stig. “I think I understand. If he convinces us that killing him is pointless…we won’t be able to. Lucus…I can answer your question.”
Lucus sheathed his sword and stepped backward, looking straight into Stig’s eyes.
“Yes, Reun ruined my life. Wes got me imprisoned, my friends killed, and my dignity taken. But as much as I hate it, I’m still a part of it. You’re the catalyst for all this, and you’ll keep turning my home city against Hylda and me. You’re still a part of Moonrise, no matter what you think of some of the others there. So banishing Sarrial…wasn’t that a bit hypocritical of you?”
Lucus grinned, drawing four potions from his satchel and drinking them. “I underestimated your will. But knowing why you must kill me is one thing; actually doing so will be completely different.”
Before Stig could even draw his sword, Lucus shot forward and a huge red streak appeared in Stig’s side. Stig ducked the other sword and then swung wildly, but Lucus leapt over him and shot an arrow into Hylda’s heart, barely missing her flesh through her armor. Stig and Hylda attacked over and over, surrounding Lucus, throwing potions, and attacking with enchanted weapons, but Lucus was too fast. He took maybe three hits, before he whirled around and knocked both of them into opposite sides of the room. He walked up to Stig, stabbed him through the stomach, and threw him into Hylda. Stig lay on the ground, clutching his wounds, and Hylda couldn’t seem to get up.
“Maybe I didn’t underestimate you at all,” Lucus said, approaching them with nothing but a gash on his shoulder. “You didn’t even make an effort.”
“We have one healing potion left,” gasped Stig through gritted teeth. “Hylda…use it.” He reached out to Hylda.
Hylda almost took the potion, but she sighed and withdrew her hand. “No,” she said. “Thanks for finally trusting me. But…if anyone can beat him, it’s you. Remember what Sarrial said, Stig. Lucus seems impossible, but he’s not smart. You are.”
Stig looked at the potion, and then slowly drank it. “You’ll be okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Go kick his butt.”

“Still trying?” Lucus said. “I would have thought you’d have given up by now.”
“Of course you’d think that.” Stig was reaching in his satchel, looking for something that he could work with. Then he found it; he’d paid it no attention before, it was near-worthless; but he could use it. Lucus loaded an arrow, and Stig readied his item.
Lucus heard his arrow hit something, but when he looked, he didn’t see Stig. All he could see was a little tower of dirt. Lucus slashed the dirt away and saw Stig’s sword shooting forward, catching him in the shoulder and causing Lucus to stumble back. Stig walked forward.
“You really needed Sarrial’s help, didn’t you?”
Lucus’s eyes narrowed furiously. He leapt at Stig, who quickly protected his head with an arch of dirt. As soon as Lucus slashed through it, Stig hit him with the butt of his sword and backed up. Lucus slashed wildly through wall after wall of dirt, and Stig continued to sidestep and back up. Then Stig put one foot behind the other, stumbled, and fell sideways. Lucus grinned madly and started to slash down at Stig, but with her last bit of strength, Hylda fired an arrow into Lucus’s side. Lucus yanked the arrow out as Stig ran for the door.
“Trying to escape?” Lucus said as he shot at Stig, but Stig grabbed a load of fence posts and began sticking them in the walls, jumping up toward the top of the spire.
Lucus was jumping up behind him. Stig shot at him, but Lucus had empowered jumping and dodged the arrows. Once Stig reached the top, he continued to shoot, as Lucus tried to reach him. But Stig could only get a single shot on Lucus before they both were at the top, hacking at each other with their swords. Stig still couldn’t beat Lucus; he ran to the window and out onto the ledge around the top of the spire. He got a sudden sense of vertigo as he inched around the edge, trying to find a way out. Lucus was running around the edge after him, blocking Stig’s attempts to knock him of.
“It’s the end of the line, Stig,” Lucus said. “There’s nowhere you can run.”
“No…there’s always a way…”
Stig was gasping from fear; he was so high that a tiny slip would mean death. Then he saw a way out; there was another spire, connected on a mountain. There was a fountain on top. Stig held his breath, closed his eyes, and leapt. The fall was so intense that he couldn’t even scream. He fell into the fountain, and almost drowned scrambling to the surface of the water. He heard Lucus’s gasp of surprise, but then Stig saw him jumping after him. Stig crawled out of the fountain, begging his legs to work, as Lucus sped toward where Stig had landed. Thinking fast, Stig turned around and threw a huge clump of dirt into the fountain. As Lucus landed on the dirt, Stig could hear his boots shattering.

Lucus was lying in the fountain. Stig slowly got to his feet, looking over the edge. There was nothing under them but grass and a pit of lava. Stig walked over to the lava, still gasping, wondering what would have happened if he had jumped there. It’ll be okay, Stig said to himself. I beat Lucus. It’s all over.
Just then, Stig felt a sword hit him in the back. His armor broke. Lucus was standing behind him, clutching his stomach and laughing.
“I’m not dead yet,” he said, before shoving Stig off the spire, straight toward the lava.
This fall was even worse than the last. Stig could barely breathe, let alone see Lucus at the edge of the spire. The contents of Stig’s satchel were spilling out. Stig saw his swords, his potions, and his bow slip out—there was no hope left.
Time seemed to have slowed down as Stig realized what he had to do. He reached out for his anti-fire potion, and just as he was drinking it, he splashed into the lava.

It burned like nothing Stig had ever felt, but he focused all his strength on finishing the potion. Suddenly, he felt nothing. He put his hand to his heart to see if he was dead; he wasn’t.
Stig was holding his breath at the bottom of the lava lake, a red aura protecting him from burning to death. Stig was alive, but unfortunately, so was Lucus. He still needed a way to win…
Stig grabbed his fishing rod from his nearly-empty satchel, wading just on the surface so Lucus couldn’t see him through the embers. Stig cast his fishing rod with all his strength; it went up, up, onto the spire…and the line wrapped around Lucus’s throat. Stig yanked, and Lucus fell, gasping, grasping the choking line, before falling into the pool with a nauseating sizzle. Stig felt his fire protection fading, so he crawled out of the lava. As he looked back, he saw Lucus’s blackened, dead body floating in the deadly lake.
He stumbled back into the spire to see Hylda still on the ground.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
Hylda didn’t need to ask if Lucus was dead. She got up, and they supported each other on the long walk back to Reun. The sun was just rising, but they still weren’t safe.


Two guards stood outside the city Reun, as they loitered at the gate with their swords sheathed. The faint noise of two voices was heard in the distance.
“I can’t believe we did it…”
“Yeah, after all of this, it’s finally over.”
“Reun’s just up ahead, we’ll be safe there.”
“Yeah, we just need to get Lucus’s crest over there and we’re done.”
“Ha ha…”
“What’s so funny?”
“I just—I just can’t believe we made it this far.”
“You seemed a little more confident when we were on the way.”
“Oh, shut up…”
The guards straightened up, drawing their swords and watching the direction of the voices. Stig and Hylda slowly limped into view, holding each other up. They both had huge gashes across their bodies and through their armor, and Stig’s skin was badly burned.
“It’s Hylda…and Stig!” one guard said to the other. “Wait…is that the crest of the Moonrise Cult?!”
The guard was loud enough that Stig could hear. He grinned. “We did it.” But what he heard next sent a chill up his spine.
“It doesn’t matter,” the other guard said. “Orders are, we kill Stig and his accomplice no matter what. Let’s go.”
Stig couldn’t believe what he heard. He had won…he had killed Lucus…but he still couldn’t have a place to call home. “Do we run?” Hylda asked, grabbing her sword.
“Yeah,” said Stig. “I’m not fighting for this.” Stig threw a potion at the guards, causing them to slow to a crawl.
“A…potion…of…slowing!” the angry one said. “Get…back…here!”
Stig and Hylda ran as fast as they could, still to hungry to sprint. “There’s a cave!” Stig said, and they dived in. Hylda sealed off the entrance, while Stig twisted torches into the walls and lit them. Hylda drew her bow and shot through the skull of a skeleton deeper in, and then they sealed that off too. Stig sat down on a rock, gasping from exertion and anemia.
“So…Wes is still after us…even when we killed Lucus.” Hylda said.
“Yeah…we really didn’t win, did we?”
“Not yet, anyway,” said Hylda. She was trying to stand, but a tear ran down her cheek and she clutched her stomach, eventually sitting down opposite Stig.
“We’re out of potions…and our arrows and enchanted swords won’t hold up much longer. We’re trapped.”
“What do we do now, Hylda?”
Hylda opened her mouth, and then closed it. She didn’t know. She thought there was always a way, but she didn’t know. “…I’m sorry,” Hylda said.
Stig slowly got up and walked over, sitting next to Hylda. “We’ll start over. We’ll build on our own terms. We’ll just keep hiding, and we’ll build in this cave until we’re safe. And then…eventually…maybe we can save the people in Reun.”
Hylda looked at Stig; he was dead serious. She smiled and looked away. “Sure. Let’s do it…on one condition.”
“What is it?”
“I get to steal from Reun.”
Stig laughed. “Fine…just don’t get caught.”
They both got up.
“Well, we should get started,” Hylda said. “What first?”
“Well, I am kind of hungry…”

[URL=http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/345690-isometruss-minecraft-comics/][IMG]http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/7558/minecraftcomicsig.png[/IMG][/URL]

Boats Evolved; bigger, modular boats (Watch out --- huge!)

Okay guys. Just a slight disclaimer, the explanation for this idea is going to be *HUGE*. The idea itself may be simpler, but the description will take a long time to explain. In a nutshell, it's bigger boats that are also modular.
So we'll start with a slight modification of a game mechanic. Otherwise, the idea won't work very well. So just keep in mind that in this idea, you can't push a boat around by standing on top of it. At least just for the higher-level classes, which we'll get to in a minute.
Also, upon entering a boat, a GUI will appear somewhere around the bottom-right or so that displays the ships 'health', and speed.



Before we go overboard (no pun intended), let's begin with some basic principles that can be applied to the current boat. Let's call it the Dinghy. You can't do too terribly much with the Dinghy, but you CAN do some things.
Dinghies can be crafted just like they normally are. However to modify a boat, a new tool will have to be brought into the game. Let's say it's a Hammer. Right-clicking on a boat with a hammer, granted you're the one that built it will open up a GUI.



Like I said before the abilities with the Dinghy are limited, so you have limited things that pop up in the GUI. All that displays for now is the hull, propulsion system, and their respective health bars. You can also give your boat its own custom name that appears on its hull (But this probably won't be for the Dinghy). You will also notice two numbers at the top. On the left (12/12), is the boat's hitpoints. I doubled their damage resistance because I thought it was kind of silly to kill a boat with one arrow. To the right (1) is the ship's base speed attribute. That is to say, the speed capability of a boat, excluding the propulsion system. Boat stats will vary upon each construction. Therefore someone can be proud of themselves if they have made a fast/strong ship.

Normally, you have your standard, nonreinforced plank hull. However, you could change that. Let's start with a Reinforced Wood Hull. In the crafting table, put in 9 pieces of log together to form a piece of Reinforced Wood Plating. Dinghies will probably only need one plate to reinforce themselves. Plating will probably not be stackable for gameplay purposes.
Reinforced wood will provide a higher defense for the dinghy. Two more types of hull include Steel and Gold. Steel Plating requires 4 Iron blocks in the crafting table, and Gold likewise. With a steel-plated hull, the boat can take considerably more damage than Plank or Wood. Steel hulls can possibly withstand lava. Gold plating is only slightly stronger than Reinforced Wood and is not feasible as battle armor. However, just in case you were thinking these hulls are easy to reinforce, keep in mind higher levels will need more plating as they get bigger.



When a boat is damaged, simply right-click with the Hammer to open up the GUI. There should be a slot for extra plating to go in should the ship need repair. To ensure fair fights, the repair will be timed, like a furnace. Each repair uses up the Hammer some. It would also be nice to see some sort of visual cue for an almost-destroyed ship, like fire or a broken, damaged texture.

And now, the propulsion systems.

With the default dinghy, you have your Hands. Hands for a dinghy are basically neutral, however they will be slower than in previous versions of the game.
An alternative solution, is craftable Oars. Oars are very maneuverable and faster than hands, however they do not grant a steady speed and require you to hold down the forward button whenever you want to move. They may even 'tire' you out more (using up more Hunger).



The last one for the Dinghy, is the sail. Sails can provide very fast speeds, however they have low thrust and are not easy to slow down and speed up easily. A steady speed is required for traversing around land-covered areas. Sails can also possibly be made with different colored wool, to help a boat stand out. Sails grant a steady speed as you can leave them unattended with very little deceleration.



So now we move on to a bigger boat. Not too terribly big, but we're getting there.

To construct larger ships and propulsion systems, you're going to need an alternative to the crafting table. Let's just call it the Shipwright. This block ONLY crafts boats and takes up more blocks of space.



I think for a new level of boat, you're going to need some Blueprints. Blueprints can most likely be created by interacting with the Shipwright by combining a blueprint (Or in this case, a solid Dinghy) and investing your Experience Points to come up with a new 'idea' for a bigger boat. The 'studying' is timed, again, like a furnace, and with each clump of EP filled, the progress bar is filled some. You can also find Blueprints in dungeons, but only rarely.
After that will be done, the Blueprints can be put in a separate slot, with another slot under it. The slot under it is for the wood required to build the boat. Every time you put more wood into the slot under it, the progress bar for the ship increases. I'm not sure if this should be the way but it sounds pretty good.
I think that for each class of boat, a bigger mast will need to be crafted. That, or just have one single mast that, for bigger boats, you need to pack in more Sails. Kind of like how plating works.



So now, the next level: the Skiff.

The skiff is *about* 2 1/2 times the length of the Dinghy. However, with the next level comes new features. First off is a second slot, a passenger seat if you will. But besides that, there are two more features.



Here, there will be special lots to place blocks at. These could be something decorative like gold blocks, or practical, like chests.



To place a block in there, logically you would right click on that one place with the block. It's possible the block lot will be highlighted by the Hammer to show you where you can place things. To get it out, leftclick with the Hammer and it will appear in your inventory. If blocks aren't your fancy, perhaps animals are. Here is where the extra space in the GUI comes in. There would be a list of all the entities in the boat. If they are NPCs, you can choose to move them to another slot, or evict them. You can also evict players, but not move them[amended].



With the Skiff, you have an additional propulsion system. I'm not sure about this one so I'm going to need you guys' approval. Essentially, it is a steam-powered paddlewheel. The steam engine will need to be powered by coal, which will either have a furnace-like GUI or not. It is also be slightly less maneuverable than the Sail. The steam engine, like Sails, grant a steady speed and can be left unattended. They have perfect acceleration, however they are much slower than Sails.



For armoring, the Skiff will need more plates to sufficiently armor the boat. Possibly two or three.
The skiff will most likely be the largest boat to successfully navigate shallow marshlands and the like.



Now, for the adventurous sailor, we're going to go one step up. Meet the Cog. The Cog is a fair-sized boat, but it is hardly big. What is does have though is a top deck large enough to walk upon. Now, we're going to introduce another feature. This time, the Cog will have a lower deck. You could be able to place a few blocks in that bottom deck, such as beds and chests. This will be good for long adventures. If you aren't spoiled, you would be happy with a Cog for your adventuring needs. Hands are now unusable.
For gameplay, an invisible, penetrable box will be in the interiors of the ship that hides water and its effects when water blocks go near it, but as soon as they leave the water blocks return to normal.



Now here, starting with the Cog, is the boat's main means of offense and defense. You guessed it, the Cannon. I believe the cannon could be made with a crafting table. To fire (And right now I'm making most of this up as I go along), you must first craft a Cannonball (Maximum of 16 allowed in hand), and right click on the cannon. The cannon will fizz for about 2.5 seconds or more before firing the cannonball. You must wait an additional second to fire again. To adjust the angle of a cannon, rightclick it (without a cannonball) to point the cannon up or down.



Now with ships and other entities, contact with the cannonball will just equal damage being dealt. But with blocks, there is a chance (Depending on their blast resistance) that the block being hit, and/or the blocks around it will be pushed forward and respond to gravity. And in rare cases, break upon falling.
That, or it would just be a weak form of TNT. But I like the former better. Mostly because it's my idea. Good gosh I think I'm vain or something.
So like I said, if you aren't spoiled, you would be happy with a Cog for your adventuring needs.



But sometimes, you ARE spoiled. Or, just requiring a bit more power. That's where the fourth level comes in, behold: the Carrack. Significantly larger than the other boats, this one can actually be called a ship. It has 3 decks. The first being the top deck (Which comprises of the main deck, quarter and poop, naturally), the second the gun deck, which to the back holds the captain's quarters, and the bottom deck is mainly for cargo. If the Carrack is steampowered the boiler room will be in there.





Oars are now unusable for the Carrack, as are Hands for Cogs. (The Oars for the Cogs would be weaker than on the Skiff and Dinghy, as would hands with the Skiff. However with the Steam engine and Sail, they just get faster with each level, with exceptions [amended])
Another neat thing you get to do with the Carrack is you get to live up to the naval definiton of a ship. On the Carrack, you can place another boat inside it for scouting/lifeboats. But it can only be a Skiff or Dinghy.



Okay, next one. Here we go.



(This level is optional. You guys tell me if it should be ingame.)

Now sometimes, your lust for power is so great no measly Carrack can hold it; not even when it is steel-hulled and armed to the teeth. No, you wish for the very seas to obey your will. Well, you psychopath, here's the fix for you: Feast your eyes sir, on the Galleon. Over twice the size of a Carrack, four long decks and plenty of guns, you would not want to war with this vessel. It is essentially a Carrack on steroids; bigger, stronger (but not faster [amended]), and scarier. But, slightly slower. Should you decide to armor it, keep in mind it will need 8 Platings to armor (Maybe more). And considering each plating requires 4 blocks to fill, you're going to need a LOT of iron.



When a ship finally loses all of it's 'health', it will sink to the bottom of the sea. Here, it is subject to despawn, but will stay there as long as there is a player near it. Although dangerous, it would then be available for looting, if you haven't plundered the ship while it was afloat already. < --- This entire paragraph is subject to discussion and alternative options. It's also been proposed that the ship turn into it's block counterpart, only leave chests, or like in the Amendment Posts, leaves a Ship's Bell that can serve as a savegame for your ship.

Now, I understand that such a feature is going to be *HUGE*, possibly requiring its own update, and would be just a massive undertaking. But I for one believe it will be an undertaking worth the effort. It would heighten the spirit of Minecraft adventure and exploration, people could trade vast amounts of resources over long distances, and plunder other ships for their booty. So I'm not 100% expecting this to be accepted entirely (But if it is, thankyouthankyouthankyou!), but in the future if any modders were curious about how to go about doing their ship mod, this could be a good example. But I really hope this would at least be seen by Mojang. Just two-thirds into completing this idea, I read an old tweet of Notch saying that he might add something like this in the future. So, if you are, this could be one of the ways to go about it.


Any questions?

Amendment Post 1:
- In the Shipwright GUI, the product slot of the boatbuilding section is now a button. I've updated the image.

- Craftable ship components should have been expanded. In addition to a Galley, an Anchor component (probably most vital) is also one of them. Also proposed by the community are tables, crows' nests (That basket thing on the top of masts), icebreakers, and if the NPC crew idea is implemented, a sea captain's desk to chart courses for the helmsman.

- I actually think you should be able to move players. I mean, if they actually decided to choose to lock themselves in a mob slot rather than move around freely I think the captain should be free to move them wherever.
Amendment Post 2:
- Galleons really shouldn't be the fastest ships out there, it would be unfair. Instead, their base speed capability should be a tiny bit slower than a Carrack, probably. Updated.

- Right clicking on a cannon without a cannonball could point the cannon up/down. Updated.

- Different types of ships that do not follow the linear 5-level path of upgrades. Instead, 'extra' ship blueprints could be found in dungeons in strongholds, but they would be rare. Could be a way to get Caravels and viking ships or whatnot.

- I'm not sure about the decay process of sunken ships. Perhaps after someone leaves the ship's general area, a timer starts and eventually the ship will despawn. Or maybe it just stays there forever but can be 'mined' away to recollect valuable materials.
Amendment Post 3 (Note: These are not as important as the first 2) :
- Flags. Although I'm sure colored sails can do a good job of faction identification, custom-made flags would be really great to have. They could be used outside of boats, too.

- Extra ammo types. The standard cannonball would be made of stone and gunpowder, but others could be made out of iron and other materials. The new usable fireball coming 1.2 would also make a neat incendiary addition. Other types can inclde grapeshot and chainshot.

- Sea monsters. Pretty straightforward, I'd like to see some minor sea bosses when roaming the sea. But in my opinion, they should be restricted to certain sizes of ships (Dinghies have no bosses). For example the ship the size of a Skiff would probably only get a shark or something, whereas something Cog-sized would get sharks and sea serpents, medium-sized ships like the Carrack would get sea serpents and maybe giant octopus (Will wrap tentacles around the ship and begin to tug down unless tentacles are damaged), etc...They are, however, uncommon.

- A ship's bell. Yes, they can be used as a normal bell, but there's something that makes them special. Once placed on a ship, it bears the ship's name and can ONLY be placed on that ship (e.g Bell of the S.S Whatchamacallit). Then, if a sunken ship despawns, that bell is turned into a block at the bottom of the ocean and contains all of the ship's data. Then, it can be used to recreate the ship.

- Sea obstacles. The ocean would be made that much better if occasionally you stumbled upon a mini-biome within an ocean. These could be mysterious sea rocks, or icebergs made of pack ice where a tundra or arctic biome would usually be.

<a href="../../../topic/699830-boats-evolved-bigger-modular-boats/"><img src="http://i569.photobucket.com/albums/ss136/elitemandalorian48/besig-1.jpg" alt=""></a>

• This is NOT A MOD. The illustrations may look convincing (for a bunch of photoshopped models made in Sketchup :p) but I have repeatedly, in this suggestion, mentioned it as an idea and rarely even mentioned the word 'mod'. Please stop asking how to install this. Plus, we're in the Suggestions forum. That tell you anything?
• Yes, I have SEEN the Zeppelin Mod. You're just about the 508th person to show me this. Yes, I've seen it. YES, I think it's a great mod, but in my opinion it's best to leave it at that, and this idea is about the vanilla Minecraft ships made of predefined modules, not blocks, as that seems to be more congruent with the current game mechanics. Saying "There's a mod for that" is a warnable offense, in any case.
• You see that little link up there? Yeah, the idea is in the link (or the spoiler). I've explained rather thoroughly how the boats work. While I would really like it for you to give me your two cents, this thread is not for people to make up entirely their own ideas on how the boats work. That part's already here, mostly
• "This would be great, but the oceans need to be bigger!" <-- Say this and you're gonna get a smack. >=(

Quote from llama66613 »

Feel free to use the name. I have pretty much left these forums, and have no plans of updating the mod. Go for it!

[center][url="http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1027069-110-trapcraft/"][IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k174/stewiecraft/TrapCraft/trapcraftsig.png[/IMG][/url][/center]

Primary items:

• Stick, 20 uses, increases melee damage by 2-3 points
• Arrow, 20 uses, increases melee damage by 4-5 points, drops feather, counts as stick upgraded with flint
• Blaze Rod, 20 uses, increases melee damage by 1-2 points, causes burn time on target
• Bone, 30 uses, increases melee damage by 3-4, increases melee range slightly, can not be equipped while riding mount, can not ride mount while equipped
• Shear Blade, 25 uses, increases melee damage by 1-2 points, by 3-4 damage on first hit while stealthed, can be held in either hand
• Glistering Melon, 25 uses, heals any ally below 25% hp by 15 points, soldier doesn't attack enemies while equipped with this

Secondary items:

• Gravel, 15 uses, thrown for 2-3 points damage
• Snowball, 5-20 uses, thrown for 0 damage, slows target on hit
info: uses depend on the item given! snowball gives 5; snow layer gives 10; snow block gives 20

• Fire Charge, 15 uses, thrown for 1-2 damage, causes burn time on hit
• Bowl, 20 uses, reduces incoming physical damage by half (when used with leather, only receives 25% of original damage)
info: no longer entirely blocks ranged attacks, only reduces damage from them

• Shear Blade, 25 uses, increases melee damage by 1-2 points, by 3-4 damage on first hit while stealthed, can be held in either hand
• Emerald, 5-45 uses, deals 3-4 direct unavoidable damage at medium range, plus two with sugarcane boost, doubles if target is wet
info: uses depend on the item given! emerald item gives 5 uses; emerald block gives 45 uses

• Nether Quartz, 4 uses, deals heavy knockback to all targets nearby if soldier takes too many hits

Core upgrades:

• IronIngot, Makes soldier vastly resistant to knockback, increases knockback dealt to others, both effects neutralized vs another iron ingot user
• Brick, Makes soldier extremely slow and less willing to move, will use ranged attacks if available before melee
• String, Makes soldier resist all damage from one explosion
• Cactus, 75% chance to negate burn time, halves total burn time otherwise
• Nether Brick, Gives burn time to any soldier that attacks nether brick user with unarmed attacks

Behavior upgrades:

• Wheat, Makes soldier never attack, even if hit first
• Nether Wart, Makes soldier attack its allies
• Fermented Spider Eye, Makes soldier not attack, unless attacked first

Misc. upgrades:

• Leather, 20 uses, reduces incoming physical damage by half (when used with bowl, only receives 25% of original damage)
• Food, 4 uses, heals soldier when below 25%, healed XP is hungerPoints * 0.5
• Gold Nugget, gives soldier a crown, all of team follows the king
• Glowstone, makes soldier glow, block gives to infinite soldiers
• Gunpowder, 1 use, soldier explodes on death (incompatible with magmacream/firework star)
• MagmaCream, 1 use, places a 2 second time bomb on the soldier which deals the final attack if killed by melee hit (incompatible with gunpowder/fireworkstar)
• Sugar, makes soldier move faster (incompatible with diamond upgrades)
• Clay, 4 uses, revives fallen soldiers of own color
• GhastTear, 2 uses, revives brick dolls to own color
• RedstoneDust, 4 uses, causes target to entirely stop attacking for 3 seconds, applied by all thrown and melee attacks, block gives to infinite soldiers
• Slimeball, 5 uses, causes target to entirely stop moving for 3 seconds, applied by all thrown and melee attacks
• Feather, soldier can not attack while falling, soldier's fall is slowed greatly and takes no damage on landing, no effect with iron ingot or while mounted
• GlassBottle/Pane/Block, doubles vision range, soldier can see stealthed enemies, bottles and panes give 1, block as infinite supply
• Paper/Book, gives a plain cape, dyed paper and books give colored capes, book gives to infinite soldiers
• Diamond, gives super crown and cape, doubles number of uses for all limited use items, grants sugar speed boost, multiplies hp by 10, incompatible with diamond block
• Diamond Block, gives super crown and cape, multiplies limited use item uses by five, grants sugar speed boost, multiplies hp by 80, incompatible with diamond
• EnderPearl, soldier zombifies, gains +5 hp, heals fully when deals last hit to a target, targets slain become zombies, dies after 10 minutes of no fighting
• BlazePowder, 1 use, instantly kills target with fire, turning it into brick doll
• RedMushroom, 1 use, applies poison to target
• BrownMushroom, 2 uses, heals soldier for 10 hp when below 25%
• LillyPad, soldier has pants and will float on water, no effect when used with iron ingot
• Egg, soldier is ghostly and can not be detected by enemies not wearing glass goggles, doubles damage output of shears, will be detected when others wearing glasses
• WheatSeed, soldier can NOT be infected by any zombification
• WoodButton, increases melee damage by 1 when no weapon is equipped, incompatible with stone button
• StoneButton, increases melee damage by 2 when no weapon is equipped, incompatible with wood button
• MobHead, gives the soldier a mask to wear
• FireworkStar, 1 use, soldier explodes on death in a firework effect, incompatible with gunpowder/magmacream

1.7.10-2.0.0b: Download (*)
MC 1.5 / 1.5.1 - v. 9.1.1: Download
MC 1.5 - v. 9.1: Download
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MC 1.4.2 - v. 9.0_01: Download
MC 1.4.2 - v. 9: Download
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MC 1.2.3 - v. 6: Download
MC 1.1.0 - v. 5: Download
MC 1.1.0 - v. 4.1: Download

[url=http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/minecraft-mods/1280625][img]https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SanAndreasP/ClaySoldiersMod/master/resources/assets/claysoldiers/logo.png[/img][/url]

I've been working on this map since i started playing minecraft (september 2010).
YOU MUST PLAY THE MAP WITH THE MODPACK (scroll down for download link) (otherwise don't play, i've posted a 1-in-all link providing all the mods, really easy and fast to install)

DONATE HERE! Please donate, it will help me to get a new PC and work faster on this map, I dont care if its one buck, it means a lot for me, so, please donate for faster updates, Im not telling you to give me money, but if you like this map and want to get the epic upcoming updates faster, please make a donation. I've worked on this mopre than 400 hours, to bring Aramis to you guys, I think I should get something for all my work and to motivate me to continue. Thanks in advance.

OVER 250.989 DOWNLOADS! +250k users can't go wrong!

You are free to ask and talk about the map, comment, discuss things, quests, report bugs, ask me where to find something, if you have a trouble with a quest, your experiences, what have you found... and other things. Just dont be shy.

Remember to sleep everytime you reach a new city, otherwise, if you die, you will spawn at the last bed you slept in (if you don't sleep at any bed, you will spawn outside the jail sewers at Minecity)

Don't waste time sending me messages, I will not reply them, if you got any question or anything else related with this map, post your reply here at the topic - Thanks.


The instructions are in the README inside the downloaded files.

Just to point out, Minecity is the worst city (city where you spawn), make sure to visit other 13 cities for great structures, landscapes, more quests, and a lot of improvements.

[url=http://adf.ly/2lT0j][img]http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6007/6009539160_a51a00a78d_z.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://adf.ly/2lT0j][img]http://i.imgur.com/gpjR6.png[/img][/url]

[url=http://adf.ly/2lT0j][img]http://i.imgur.com/rFwyd.png[/img][/url]

[url=http://adf.ly/2lT0j][img]http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2724/npcs2b2bcities2b2b252b3.png[/img][/url]

Videos made by slyfox http://www.youtube.c...xXSlyFoxHoundXx

(This video is outdated. Map has changed a lot since this video was recorded, you can even see map name is Imperial Lands (old map name), now its called Aramis... but this video will give you an idea about map)


Videos made by loukey3 http://www.youtube.com/user/loukey3

This video shows an oblivion gate, Botternil and Birch City


Videos by uberhaxornova
http://www.youtube.c...r/UberHaxorNova

Part 2 (will not link part 1 since its the same as the slyfox video):

(This video is also outdated, but again, it will give you an idea about how does the map feels and looks like)

Jail Escape
Minecity Sewers
Trapped
The Sadistic Part 1
The Sadistic Part 2
Lava Temple
Wendir Caves
Nefron Bones
House of screams
Robbing Bank
Breaking The Law

Demon Drug
Sacred Book
Blade of the Dead
Carbonic Armor
Velak House Part 1
Velak House Part 2
Rodavel Sowrd
Deadly Revenge Part 1
Wizard's Items

(The following quests are from the Hunters Guild quest line located at Eldergard)

Good Hunt
To the Woods
Wild Cats
Extinction
Last Hunt Part 1
Last Hunt Part 2

Fingers of the Mountain
Snowville Sewers
Cementery Curse
Dragon Egg
Arena Training
Lost
Addicted

Liberation
Mutilation House Part 1
Mutilation House Part 2
Yakpi Empire
Skidrow Sewers
Arena
Pirate Sword

Flooded Mines
Dead Ore
Telekinesis Potion
Akivari Sword
Fortune Compass
House
Thief
Lost Miners
Unwad Caves Prisoners

Siren's Fear
Seed Package
Girl Rescue
Potion Ingredient
Ghast Eggs

(The following quests are from the Treasure Hunters guild quest line located at Erebor)

Bones
Lava Cavers
Goblin Ruins
Aurum, The Golden Ruins
The Ecstasy of Gold
Dirty Gold

Lokus Mechanism
Attic
Birch City Jumping Course
The Heal
Bedrock Loot
Befana Husband
Jump Training
Agility Training
Mining Adventure
Deadly Offer
Bombed Out
Yakro Staff

Glomnir Repeater
Painting World
Alfar Sword
Prince Note
East Oblivion Gate
Weak Potion
The Oak
Business
Ramir Painting
Tetariv Battle Axe
The Bow
Fighting
Saving The Sheeps
Murder

Castle Diamonds
King Perse Curse
Minerals Delivery
Fighters Death
Discovery
The Collector
Instruction Book
Deadly Revenge Part 2
Pirate's Chest
Killing You
Enchanted Bow
Tree Loot
Sword Love
The Avenger
Cocoa

Skylands Gardens
Ice Wasteland Loot
Mudane
Rescue
Looting the Corpses
Thorars's Brother

(The Kingdom is all the space between cities, where dungeons, villages, ruins, etc. are usually located in)

Only way to explore it is by walking, there are not any minecart stations that lead you to the Kingdom

South Oblivion Gate
North Oblivion Gate
Center Oblivion Gate
Korv Fort
Island Treasure (this one is actually located at the Imperial Sea)
Prisoners Hole (also located at Imperial Sea)
Ancient Tower
Mother of Mercy Sword
Ancient Armor
Church of Diablo
Sponges

Infected Village

Infiltration
Extermination

Into the depths

Extraction

(Following quests are from the Borea Forest quest line)

The Borea Forest
Glow Way
Lost Expedition
Dig Site
Borea Temple
Borea Secret
Final Maze

Emperor War Leggings
Emperor Chestplate
Emperor Boots
Emperor Helmet
Emperor Chamber

Robbing the Warehouse
Stolen Tunic
Arkad Bank
Criminal Busting
Sand Treasure
Acrid Warehouse

(The following quests are from the Undead Nightmare quest line located at Arkad cementery)

Undead Nightmare
A new infection
Holy Orb
(To be continued)

Chain Helmet
Ancestor Armor
Healing the Disease
Apocalypse Book
Goodies
Democracy
Emerald Crisis
Wheat

This SHALL LIVE!!!!!

[i]rs2007[/i]

I've been looking at this map for weeks and I can say that.
YOU SIR ARE BEAST

[i]Sailiner[/i]

Map is freakingly super ultra fabulous!

[i]tuner420[/i]

Really, awesome map.

Very awesome map.

Very very awesome map.

Diamonds to you.

[i]ReaperOfDeath[/i]

DUDE, KEEP WORKING ON THIS MAN, THIS IS AMAZING

[i]micvic[/i]

Its totally worth downgrading (even if it would be needed). I've seen a couple of good mods and I can say for sure that this is no mod... wait for it... This is SPARTA! No, seriously, this thing right here is something that I was searching for about 2 months, day and night, yes - day AND night. This is no longer Minecraft, I dont know what it is but its just AWESOME in any way shape or form. Get it, play it and dont ­ about it.

Period.

[i]Wortexqq[/i]

Lovely map, haven't seen a better one on this forum...Probably never will do!

[i]fableofhalo[/i]

In the English dictionary, the definition of epicness was changed to include this

[i]crocodactyl[/i]

And a lot of other map players that enjoyed the map, just like you will

soydaniel96: for converting the map for me (mcregion save files) in first versions of the map, for extreme support and for always helping me when i had minecraft problems that i couldn't solve by myself.
Vechs: for a part of the Borea Forest
patriots: thank you for extreme support and ideas
shpoiders: for helping me to create v1.0 of the mod pack
UndeadJesus: for giving me and making A LOT of schematics. This guy has made a lot of things for the map, thank you.
tuner420: for giving me a lot of ideas.
IttyBittyNinja: for providing TFC mod pack link of the Imperial lands mod package v1.0
Tentoshii: for bug reports
iRossy: For cleaning up the thread post and making it better
And everyone that supports this topic and gives me feedback... Including you.

[i]This map is Copyright ©(2011) and is my intellectual property. Only minecraftforum.net is allowed to host any of my material without my consent. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission.



Aramis by lolo500 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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