[Jesse's POV]
(I grab their shoulder and spin them towards my direction.)
(But to my surprise, the person in the yellow robe that I just grabbed wasn't Ivor.)
(but just a random lady who happened to wear the same outfit and hair.)
Lady: "What do you think you're doing?!"
Jesse: "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought-"
Lady: "Get away from me!"
Jesse: "I said I was sorry!"
(The Lady shakes her head before turning away.)
(How the heck did this even happen?! Why did it have to happen to me?! Anything can be okay.)
(but public embarrassment.)
(This day can't get any worse, right?)
(Reuben corrects that statement when I hear him screaming from a bit far away.)
(I run over to see what was going on and find out that the source of the scream was from a butcher shop.)
Butcher: "Nothing sticks to your ribs quite like a juicy pork chop!"
(The Butcher places Reuben on the front counter while bringing out a stone axe.)
Jesse: "Reuben!"
(I interrupt the butcher before he does anything further.)
Butcher: "What's the big idea? I'm trying to run a business here!"
Jesse: "That's my pig! You kidnapped my pig!"
Butcher: "Well, I don't know what you're talking about, Thief. I found this pig wandering alone in the streets."
Jesse: "Please, he's my friend!"
Butcher: "To me, he's inventory. But I might be amenable to some kind of trade. Not that you look like you've got much of value."
(The man chuckles.)
(I draw my sword without further delay.)
(The sudden action must have shocked the Butcher a lot.)
(Good, that was my intention.)
(I'm not usually aggressive, but this day has already been shitty enough.)
(and I'm not about to save Reuben from the verge of death again.)
Jesse: "Give. Me. Back. My. Pig."
Butcher: "All right, you little maniac, fine. Take him, he's yours."
(He pushes Reuben off the counter.)
(I pull back my sword and escort Reuben away from the shop.)
Jesse: "Right, I'm sorry that I didn't notice you wandered off. I was busy trying to find that creepy dude, okay?"
(Reuben looks away, insulted.)
Jesse: "Right, here I'll get something that can heal your eye."
(I hurry over to a medical center and buy a potion of regeneration.)
(I urge Reuben to drink it.)
(He seemed hesitant at first, but eventually drinks the whole bottle.)
Jesse: "Right, now just wait a little while."
(Reuben calms down as we go further along the path.)
(I notice Olivia in the crowd just in front of the entrance to the Hall where Gabriel's show is going to take place.)
(I hurry over and tap her shoulder.)
Jesse: "Remember that thing I had to go do with Petra? Long story short, we met up with this guy, he cheated me and Petra on a deal, and now we're trying to track him down, You in?"
Olivia: "Oh, I'm in. Actually, I think I might have seen him before. Does he have a big nose?"
Jesse: "Yes."
Olivia: "I think that was him who went into the Hall."
Jesse: "Well, you still have these tickets, right? We can go in early."
Olivia: "I was already waiting on you guys, so let's go."
(Right then, I could hear Petra and Axel coming up behind us.)
Petra: "Any sign of him?"
Jesse: "Olivia said she saw him going towards the hall."
Axel: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's head inside!"
Olivia: "Well, one small problem: I only have 3 tickets. They didn't even bother to give Reuben a ticket! So only 3 of us can go through."
(There were five of us: me, Reuben, Axel, Olivia, and Petra, so two of us couldn't get through...)
Petra: "I'm not letting him get away! I have to go in!"
Axel: "Meeting Gabriel is a once in a lifetime chance. I don't want to let it go to waste."
Olivia: "So that's settled, Petra, Axel, and Jesse, you guys go ahead while I and Reuben stay behind."
Jesse: "You should go ahead, Olivia. It's just that I don't want Reuben to wander off again while I'm not looking. I'm staying with Reuben."
Olivia: "Are you sure? It's yours and Petra's deal that's at stake here."
Jesse: "Don't make such a big deal out of it. I'll just find another way to catch up to you guys, okay?"
Olivia: "Well, if you insist..."
Petra: "Then it's settled. Let's go!"
(Petra, Axel and Olivia were about to proceed.)
(then I just remembered that piece of paper that I accidentally stole during the fight with Ivor.)
Jesse: "Guys! Hold on a second!"
(Petra turns around, asking.)
Petra: "what you need at this point of time."
Jesse: "I picked this up when he dropped it earlier. I'm not sure what kind of map it is, but it may be useful."
Petra: "Oh, thanks, I guess."
(Petra then bypasses the Usher at the gate along with Axel and Olivia before dashing off towards the Hall.)
Jesse" You okay, buddy?"
(Reuben seems to have calmed down at the moment.)
(Okay, now to find out how to pass that Usher...)
[Olivia's POV]
(I quicken my pace to catch up to Petra, who'd already entered the front door.)
(The Hall is the main building of EnderCon.)
(From the outside, it's shaped like a dome.)
(The main room has a stage with an audience seating area.)
(That's probably where Gabriel's show is going to take place.)
(But that's not what's important right now.)
Olivia: "Any leads on where he might be?"
(Petra analyses the map carefully.)
Petra: "It looks like a map of a library; maybe it is the one in the basement of this building."
Axel: "Have you been there before?"
Petra: "No, I just knew it existed when I overheard someone talking about it."
Olivia: "Maybe he owns that library?"
Axel: "Then we'll search there first."
(The basement Petra was talking about was through a door just left of the front entrance.)
(It leads down to a large room filled with bookshelves.)
(We didn't spot a creepy man anywhere.)
Olivia: "It doesn't look like he's here. Wait, what's his name anyway?"
Petra: "Ivor. He must have gone another way, and even if he isn't here, he could've hidden my skull somewhere here, so let's look through this place first."
Axel: "And if we find anything else cool to steal along the way, so be it, right?"
Olivia: "Axel -- that's not what we're here for."
Axel: "There's no better payback than thieving from a thief, right?"
Olivia: "I don't want to stoop to his level."
Axel: "But isn't that the best way to get back at him?"
Olivia: "Just find the skull. The faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get the heck out of here."
(Axel, half-mumbling, agrees in an annoyed manner.)
(We begin to look around the place.)
(I start by the bookshelves, I've heard of hidden rooms behind blocks like bookshelves before.)
(so it's safe to assume there could be a hidden room somewhere since people always like to build such secret rooms.)
Olivia: "Mostly stuff about brewing."
(A lot of these books were about potions and other stuff, and I've noticed that a lot of potions were stored throughout the basement.)
(Could Ivor be a brewer? That would explain all this stuff.)
(I walk past a T-shaped structure made of iron blocks, similar to those used to build an iron golem.)
(I guess it's here in case monsters or so start spawning in here.)
Petra: "Oh, hello."
(Petra was searching through a chest when she pulled out a golden sword.)
(Curious, she starts swinging it around to test its abilities.)
Olivia: "Woah! Careful."
Petra: "Eh, too heavy, and too soft."
Olivia: "But it is super flashy."
Petra: "Yeah, I don't think this guy does much fighting."
(Petra proceeds to put it in her inventory.)
Olivia: "You're keeping it?"
Petra: "Eh, it still may come in handy, and it IS super flashy."
Olivia: "Wait, he would realize that a sword is missing, right?"
Petra: "Chill out, it's just one sword from a collection. I doubt he'll even notice."
(Petra goes back to searching through her chest.)
(Gosh, am I the only one making sure nothing bad happens?)
Olivia: "Did you find anything?"
(I approached Axel, who was eyeing down a potion.)
Axel: "I wanna steal that, and that, and that..."
(Axel was pointing from one potion to the other.)
Axel: "Oh and this one, most definitely!"
(Axel moves to a particular fancy potion sitting alone in the open.)
Axel: "You're not gonna believe me, but I swear I had a dream about this."
Olivia: "Axel, leave it alone. A simple potion might be unnoticeable but there's no way he's not gonna know that his fancy potion is missing."
Axel: "A good thief always covers his tracks."
(Axel proceeds to take the fancy potion and places another one in its place.)
Olivia: "Axel! You're doing the exact opposite of what I was just saying!"
(*sigh* Why am I bothering... Axel's never been the kind of person to listen....)
Olivia: "You know, if things go wrong, I'm blaming YOU."
(Axel dismisses what I said and continues with his scavenger hunt.)
(Ugh. I continued searching.)
(The Potion Axel had swapped for the fancy one was now sitting on the lone pillar out in the open, and the spot where it had previously been was now empty.)
(I was thinking of covering that area up as well to prevent Ivor from figuring out that something was stolen.)
(but something else caught my eye instead.)
(Behind the empty shelf where the potion originally was, was a lever.)
(You sometimes use levers as decoration, but considering that Ivor is that type of person, this one was definitely used for something.)
(Curiosity got the better of me, and I flicked it.)
(Numerous piston noises started to sound, followed by an entire bookshelf beside me, coming down.)
(All three of us immediately came to check it out.)
Axel: "What is all this stuff?"
(Behind the lowered bookshelf was a small room. )
(In the small room was a double chest, and behind it was a T-shaped object made of 4 blocks.)
Petra: "Soul sand. It was everywhere in the nether."
(The three blocks on the outer part were made of soul sand.)
(But I can't quite point out what the block in the middle was made of.)
Olivia: "What about the block in the middle? I've never seen one of these before."
(I looked like some kind of machine in block form, and it was glowing.)
(Curiously, I stepped forward to take a closer look.)
Petra: "Don't touch that, Olivia!"
Olivia: "I was just curious."
Petra: "Don't forget what we're here for. We have to find that skull."
Axel: "What's in the chest?"
(Before proceeding to open it, Petra checked if the chest was a trap.)
(Inside were... 2 Wither Skulls?)
Petra: "Why'd I risk my neck for that skull if he's got two of them already?"
Axel: "Maybe Ivor's some kind of collector? Like a trophy hunter?"
Olivia: "Wait, I think I know what's going on."
(It couldn't be any other reason.)
Olivia: "Soul Sand plus 3 Wither skulls... that's the recipe for a wither!"
Petra: "But a Wither... That's--"
Olivia: "One of the worst monsters there is!"
Axel: "So... Ivor's plan was to build a Wither?"
Petra: "I don't like the direction this is going. Maybe we should just grab it and get out of here while we still can!"
(At that moment, we hear the door to the basement open.)
(Meanwhile back at EnderCon.)
[Jesse's POV]
Jesse: "Look, this is a really important mission. My friends are already inside, and if I don't get there too, then things are going to turn bad!"
Usher: "I hope your mission came with tickets to the show, 'Cause otherwise..."
(I turn away, annoyed.)
(Great. Now what can I do? There are fences around the Hall so I can't climb over them.)
(and building across will probably attract a lot of unwanted attention.)
Usher: "CHHIIIICCCKEEENNNSS!!!"
(My thoughts are interrupted when the Usher suddenly lets out a scream.)
(A single chicken is seen fluttering away from the Usher.)
(So this Usher is scared of chickens? How convenient to know.)
(I tracked down where the chickens came from, and it turns out there was another chicken machine next to the gate.)
(Why do so many people own chicken machines?)
(The owner of the machine was standing guard, however, and the container where the birds are stored is high up.)
(I notice someone nearby is playing with a slime block.)
(If I can get one, maybe I can jump up high enough, maybe I can destroy it.)
(I find a slime shop nearby and head over there.)
Jesse: "Oh... hey... we meet again..."
(Of course, the person running the slime shop is the Lady with the yellow-olive robe from earlier.)
Jesse: "I'm really sorry about earlier -- I honestly thought you were someone else."
(The Lady sighs before answering.)
Lady: "Apology accepted."
(Phew... at least I won't have to remember this as a cringy moment for the rest of my life.)
Jesse: "Um... one slime block please."
Lady: "We don't sell slime blocks here, just slime balls. You could craft your own slime block if you have 9 of them."
Jesse: "How much are 9 slime balls?"
Lady: "You get 4 per emerald."
(Crap! I only have 2 emeralds! Being poor sucks.)
Jesse: "I guess I'll just get 8 then."
(Great. I'm one off to make a slime block.)
(How the heck should I get another one??? Maybe if I can get one from another person.)
(then it may work out, but who's willing to do that?)
(I notice a certain blonde guy juggling with one slime ball not far from here.)
(It was Lukas. That's oddly fated.)
(I run over to him.)
Jesse: "Hey Lukas? Can you do me a favour?"
(Lukas stops juggling and looks straight at me.)
Lukas: "Anything's possible."
Jesse: "I need slime balls. I swear I have a really good explanation for it."
(Reuben looks up and nods.)
Lukas: "Whatever you guys are doing, count me in."
Jesse: "Thanks, Lukas. It's crafting' time."
(I head over to a public crafting booth and use their table to make the slime ball.)
(I place it down in front of the machine.)
(If I can get up to the roof of that booth, I can make that jump with that slime block.)
Jesse: "Hey, can you give me a small boost?"
Lukas: "Hm? What'd you say?"
Jesse: "Nevermind that. Reuben, can you give me a small boost?"
(Reuben nods and stands in position.)
(I use Reuben to climb the booth up to the roof.)
(I wait until the chicken machine owner looks away before making my move.)
(He was currently busy with a customer; that was the right time.)
(I do a running start before jumping off the booth, precisely land on the slime block, and reach just far enough to smash the glass block that was keeping the chickens in.)
(After that, a ton of chickens immediately started pouring out.)
Chicken Owner: "My poultry! My precious poultry!"
(Following the owners' breakdown, the Usher enters a state of fear and confusion, once he starts running away with terror and screams.)
Usher: "AHHΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗ!!!"
Lukas: "Yikes... guess that just happened."
Jesse: "Now's our chance, Let's go."
(We head in while the Usher is gone.)
Lukas: "Um... what do we do once we catch him? There are a million ways to play this."
Jesse: "We get a little payback."
Lukas: "That's what I was thinking too.
He deserves it for crossing Petra."
(We go through the front door and start looking around to find Ivor.)
(And right then, in the corner of my eye, I see someone going through a door located to the left of the entrance.)
(The person had a yellow-olive robe with black hair.)
(That could only mean two things.)
[1. It's that Slime Shop Lady again or...]
[2. It's Ivor.]
(I don't want to go through another situation like that.)
(but I can't let that person go in case it really was Ivor.)
Jesse: "That could be Ivor..."
Lukas: "Then let's follow him!"
(I, Lukas, and Reuben silently sneak over to the door and reopen it after the person had closed it behind them.)
(We started sneaking down the stairs.)
[Back to Olivia's POV]
Petra: "Someone's coming! Scatter!"
(I flick the lever up so that the bookshelf closes the room and we three go to different places to hide.)
(I'm not sure where the other two went, but I couldn't see them, so they were probably already hiding somewhere.)
(I decide to hide behind a shelf where a bunch of potions were sitting.)
(My first hopes were that Jesse and Reuben managed to find another way in and caught up with us down here.)
(but those were destroyed when the footsteps I heard didn't sound like they belonged to someone I knew.)
(And then, the man who came down here started to monologue while walking through the room.)
Ivor: "Don't you recognize me?! Oh, wait... Suprised to see me!? No, that's not good. Thought you were rid of me, didn't you!? That's better."
(I'm not sure what he was talking about, but it sounded like he was rehearsing for a speech?)
(My heart almost started to drop when Ivor suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked behind him.)
(Did he notice someone? I duck under the shelf and pray that he didn't see me.)
(My heart calms down again when I heard him walking away again.)
(I poke my head out of the shelf to see what was going on.)
(I see Axel behind another wall across from me.)
(Ivor must've thought that someone was there but dismissed it as his paranoia.)
(I raise my hand out to signal Axel if he was okay.)
(but in the process, my hand accidentally touches one of the potions, which then falls off the shelf.)
Ivor: "What was that? Who's there?!"
(My heart drops, and I barely manage to duck down again.)
(Ivor's footsteps speed up as if he's running and they're getting closer.)
(My sweat starts to feel colder as the footsteps start to sound louder.)
(Then, before it reaches the shelf, it stops.)
(He must be standing just a few meters from me.)
(If the shelf wasn't here, we would see each other very clearly.)
(I can sense movement again.)
(This time, it's very slow, as if he's slowly creeping around the shelf.)
(Oh no... he knows that someone is here. What do I do?!?!?)
[To be continued...]