Minecraft: Woodsword Chronicles/IntoTheGame2CHP
Chapter 8: Spiders: Don’t Call Them Insects! Don’t Call Them Friends!
It was Monday afternoon. Harper, Morgan, Jodi, and Po are back in the school’s computer lab. Ms. Minerva was also there, reading a book. Harper wonders as to where Doc Culpepper is, thinking that she might have already moved on to another project. Nevertheless, the four (Harper, Morgan, Jodi, and Po) quickly put on the VR goggles, appearing in the burrow that they had made. Harper digs a hole in the wall, revealing daylight, and suggests that they go explore. Po is then seen with a wizard skin instead of his normal clothes, startling Harper a bit. Climbing to the top of the hill, the four see nothing but trees as the hill was surrounded by them. They then pack everything they have in their inventories and start walking away from the burrow. Harper picks up whatever she can find, thinking that it might be useful later. Jodi asks Harper as to why she is doing what she is doing, and Harper says that she always gathers as many resources as possible. Jodi then admits that she never plays survival mode, preferring to stick to creative mode.
Harper then says that eventually they’ll be able to craft weapons and armor. Morgan insists that everyone be careful, as most hostile mobs spawn at night. Harper adds that they can’t be sure if the VR goggles work like regular Minecraft, noting that there might be some glitches. She then notices a lilac nearby some trees and tries to pick it up, but her hand visually passes through it. Jodi wonders if it is a glitch, but Harper mentions that her inventory is full. Jodi then heads toward the lilac to pick it up, but Harper soon notices a pair of red eyes through the trees, warning Jodi that it is a spider. Jodi punches the spider out of mere panic and starts running away from it. Morgan then attacks the spider, making it focus on him. He calls out to Harper to make a sword, but Harper ends up crafting a shovel instead. She ends up killing the spider with it, making it drop a spider eye. Jodi then picks it up.
Chapter 9: Mining! Crafting! This Is What It’s About!
As Po scans the surrounding area for any potential danger, the others wonder as to what would happen if they died in Minecraft and how it would probably affect them in the real world. Harper then says that she remembers how to craft a sword and thinks on making a few. Morgan suggests that she craft some other tools such as a pickaxe, thinking that now is the time to start mining. The next day, in the real world, Harper, Morgan, and Po discuss their plan during lunch at school, insisting on building a shelter shaped like a castle. Morgan wonders as to where Jodi is, but Po soon notices her walking with Ash toward their table. Morgan scrambles to put the blueprint away, scowling at Ash for being nearby. He then mentions to Jodi about the "secret-after school project" (referring to Minecraft), but she ends up storming off in a huff, insisting to Morgan that he joins her and Ash when they are tired of keeping secrets that really aren’t secrets anymore. Po insists on the basis that there are two extra goggles, but Morgan is worried about more people finding out about it and insists on keeping it between themselves for a little longer. Po and Harper hesitate, but agree, and they get back to planning for tonight.
Chapter 10: Too Many Cooks! Not Enough Cobblestone!
In VR, Harper, Morgan, and Jodi were working on building the castle the whole week, but with one big caveat: they weren’t allowed to use the blueprint like they thought. Everyone tries to memorize it, but remembers the details a bit differently. Jodi insists on building one of the towers out of obsidian, while Harper starts working on a switch mechanism for the door. Just then, Po shows up with a skin that makes him look like a construction worker, saying that he had basketball practice. Everyone looks over at the work-in-progress castle, which is a shamble of cobblestone. Harper begins to think that a castle might be difficult for a first project, but Morgan doesn’t feel like its time to admit defeat. Jodi, feeling bad for her brother, gets back to mining up stone, taking out the block beneath her feet. Morgan tries to stop her, but by then it was too late. Jodi began to fall into a black space below. Everyone screams, but Jodi only falls four blocks before landing on solid ground.
Morgan exclaims at Jodi that one of the first rules of Minecraft is to never dig straight down, but Jodi insists that there are generally no rules. She soon gets back up to ground level, but quickly realizes that it’ll get dark soon. Po wonders as to where the beds are, and Jodi mentions that they are in the other tower. Harper was originally planning on making a bridge, but insisted on making an automated minecart; she didn’t have enough time to do so. Jodi insists on making a run for the tower as they don’t hear any hostile mobs yet. Morgan decides to mine through to the other tower instead despite objections from Po and Harper, but only takes out two cobblestone and a block of dirt before water begins to gush into the tower. Fortunately, everyone is able to swim up to the roof. Harper and Po start making a bridge toward the other tower, while Jodi pulls Morgan aside to give him a little pep talk. She says to him that he insists that everyone else follow his lead, yet decides to do something despite objections from everyone else. Jodi insists on letting Ash join them, knowing her from being a Wilding Scout and the tree house that she and her scout group had made. Morgan hesitates, but decides to ask Ash for help.
Chapter 11: Baron Sweetcheeks Is Loose, And He’s Not Returning My Calls!
In the real world, Morgan heads over to Ash’s house and knocks on the door. Ash opens it, revealing herself to be a bit of a mess. She exclaims to Morgan that Baron Sweetcheeks, Ms. Minerva’s class pet hamster, is missing. Morgan insists that he help, knowing how much the hamster means to him. Ash hesitates at first, thinking that Morgan hates her because of how she tried to show that the two have some things in common, such as animals and Minecraft, yet Morgan would generally act as to not want her around. Morgan apologizes for making Ash feel that way, and insists on helping find Baron Sweetcheeks. Ash had already looked everywhere around the house for him with no luck. Morgan then mentions that he built a jungle gym for Baron to play in when he brought him home on the weekends. This makes Ash light up, realizing that she hadn’t checked the backyard yet, and the two head out through the back door. Surveying the treehouse, Morgan soon notices a flash of orange-brown fur dart across the treehouse’s upper level.
The two quickly head over to the slide, where a probably-terrified or probably-excited Baron Sweetcheeks greets them going down the slide. As the hamster starts climbing up the slide, Ash and Morgan laugh. Now happily reunited with Baron, Morgan asks Ash if she’ll be free after school on Monday. Ash says that she is and asks as to why. Morgan then says that his group of friends (Jodi, Po, and Harper) want to hang out with her, knowing that she’ll love what they have to show her due to her interest in Minecraft.
Chapter 12: Reintroducing: Ash! Avatar of Exploration! Herald of Teamwork! Total Noob!
Ash felt nervous on her way to the computer lab. Morgan had been very secretive about it the entire day. The moment she entered the lab, however, the nervousness seemed to fade away. Everyone else (Harper, Morgan, Po, and Jodi) felt excited to see her. Even Ms. Minerva waved at her from her office. Morgan then takes out the blueprint and looks it over. To everyone’s surprise, he decides to crumple it up, realizing that although he likes having instructions to follow, he also says that not everyone would feel the same way, Jodi offers Ash a pair of VR goggles, who puts them on. After a flash of light, Ash is in their Minecraft world, with Po using a knight skin this time. Ash begins to look over the castle, but water gushes out of a doorway, pushing her back a bit. She wonders if that is normal, and Morgan says that although nothing is really normal here, she’ll end up getting used to it.
Chapter 13: Your Home Is Your Castle! Your Castle Is Your Home!
With Ash helping the group, they actually have fun building the castle. For the first few days, they make a mineshaft, placing down torches every few blocks. Tending to avoid hostile mobs, a dirt wall would be placed every time one was heard, which allowed them to bring more building materials up to the surface. Through the week after that, Harper uses some redstone to create a switch for the main entrance, plus a trapdoor setup in case an unwelcome mob went past the moat. Po used the flowers everywhere around the castle. Morgan set up the four turrets, but let Jodi put different stained glass windows in each one. Jodi herself had the fifth turret in the center of the castle, complete with obsidian, twisting like a spiral, and a wide platform on top for stargazing. Jodi began to wonder as to how the chest of obsidian she originally had came up empty, and everyone denies have anything to do with it. This make her worried that it might be a glitch, and as such, begins to worry that her obsidian tower could just straight up disappear one day.
Nonetheless, after two weeks, the castle was nearly complete, but Jodi and Ash had been working on something in secret. They snuck away to a patch of ground on the far side of the hill, right up against a lake, and set up a wheat farm. After harvesting some, Jodi and Ash each put a bundle of wheat in their hands and watch from the top of the hill. Morgan, Harper, and Po then emerge from the mineshaft, wondering as to where they have been. Jodi and Ash then begin walking down the hill, with two sheep following close behind them. Morgan is ecstatic, knowing that they won’t need to look for wool ever again, and Jodi and Ash thank him for allowing the latter to join them. Morgan decides to name the two sheep Beau and Beep, and wonders about setting up fencing for them.
Chapter 14: A Warning Writ Large! A Promise of Danger in Days Ahead!
The five (Harper, Morgan, Jodi, Po, and Ash) put some finishing touches on the castle. An animal pen is set up for Beau and Beep, and Morgan places down a item frame with a wooden pickaxe, happy to finally be finished with the castle. They all decide to admire the view from the obsidian tower, but Morgan notices something that seemed out of place in the distance. Using all the blocks they have in their inventories, the five notice a warning made out of letters built from obsidian: "BEWARE THE EVOKER KING!"
Chapter 15: Counting to Six: Its Importance Cannot Be Overstated at the End of This Book!
As they head back to the real world, Jodi begins to realize that her stash of obsidian was taken by someone who had been in their world. This is later realized when they notice that one of the VR goggles is missing from the computer lab, making them realize that someone else had indeed entered their world.