Welcome back craftlings, to the Minecraft Short Stories podcast.
This is episode 77, which is fun because we have two sevens and
in this episode I will be reading a listener story by
Thomas. Thank you Thomas for subming the
story. And if you would also like to
submit a story, maybe get read on the show, you can go to
minecraftshortstories.com which is this podcast website and just
go to submit a story page filled the form with your story and
your username or name. And then to make it around the
show. Anyways, talking about stories
being read on shows over on the Patreon I released like 2 days
ago or I guess yesterday at the time of recording the Part 2 for
the Hidden Story series, specifically the Noble Quest for
Salamar. And what the Hidden Stories is,
is it's just a series over on the Minecraft Short Stories
Prologue Patreon podcast where I dive into more the stories of
the characters on this show. For example, the Noble Quest for
Salamar is about Carter after the Ordeal of the Fortunate,
which is a story from a few years ago over on the show and
also ties a little bit into the quest for the Ancient Blade.
So go check that out. patreon.com/minecraftstories.
Ton of links in the description, recommend checking them out.
Also the YouTube channel. Anyways, another thanks to
Thomas for submitting this story.
And this was 5000 words so I just cut it in half.
So Part 2 will be next episode. And then after the story I will
shout out some of the people who got the answer right.
I can do absolutely everybody because I'll take too long and I
probably mispronounce all the names.
Anyways, let's dive right into the story.
The Traveller by Thomas the Stranger came from the South by
boat. None of us had ever heard the
word stranger before, but it was the word Priest had used and we
knew it to be right. We had never heard the word boat
before either, but it too was right.
Priest had seen the stranger approaching the village from
atop the church just before High Sun, and had called us together
to warn us. The stranger would not harm us,
Priest said, as long as we did not provoke it.
It would simply loot the Smithy, harvest our crops, and be on its
way. The farmers and The Smiths were
not happy about this, but the priest warned them not to
interfere. Apparently another stranger had
visited this village many, many moons before one of The Smiths
had attempted to block its entry into the Smithy, and that
stranger had slain Smith where he stood.
So it was with more than a little anxiety that we watched
just a stranger steered its boat up to the long wooden Rd.
jutting out into the sea and stepped into our lives.
As Priest had predicted, the stranger immediately began
harvesting our crops, but Priest seemed surprised when it also
replanted them. The stranger's appearance was
frightening. It very much resembled the
zombies which would occasionally invade our village, but without
the decay of these creatures. It was also clad all in leather
armor, just as the zombies would sometimes be.
Then the stranger came within sight of the Smithy and stopped
harvesting it immediately, left the crops and headed for the
Smithy. Tool Smith cried out and ran to
block the doorway into the Smithy, and Priest called after
him and treating Smith not to provoke this dangerous creature.
We all watched in horror, expecting Tool Smith to be
slain, but the stranger did not strike him.
Instead, with unexpected strength, I merely pushed Tool
Smith out of its way and proceeded into the Smithy.
After a short time, I left the Smithy, completely ignoring Tool
Smith, and resumed harvesting and replanting the remaining
crops. We watched as it finished,
expecting it to return to its boat and depart heretofore
uneventful lives. Instead, the stranger entered
the church and descended to the top of the tower.
We all watched as a stranger placed several torches atop the
tower, then it returned to the ground floor and placed a few
more torches on the walls of the sanctuary before ascending again
to the second floor of the tower.
Priest mustered up the courage to enter the church and to peek
up to the second floor. The stranger has placed his bed
in the tower. Priest told us the stranger
intended to sleep in the church. The stranger should leave in the
morning. Priest assured us they must fear
the night as we do now. Go and seek shelter for the
night. The thought of this terrible and
powerful creature fearing anything seemed ludicrous, but
we did as priest asked and left to find shelter in the few
buildings we could enter. Warning came and I and the rest
of the village hurried out to see if the stranger left us as
priest assured us it would. Entire village watched as a
stranger first appeared on top of the church tower.
It looked in all directions as if making sure the area was safe
and then disappeared from view. Then the stranger came out of
the church and began wandering through the village as though
searching for something. We all looked the priest, who
merely said Apparently priest was just as confused by the
stranger's behaviour as the rest of us.
It was then that the stranger surprised all of us.
It took out a stone shovel and began flattening out an area
near the church. Once it had flattened a small
area and planted 9 Birch saplings in a square pattern
with three blocks between each sapling and placed torches in
the center of the four squares bounded by the saplings.
Then it moved into the village and began entering all of the
accessible buildings, leaving behind torches on the walls.
The stranger even placed torches atop the two watchtowers in the
village. Is the stranger helping us?
I asked Priest. It was known that monsters would
not appear where there was light, and now the village was
lit as it had never been before. Not intentionally, Priest said.
These creatures work only for their own purposes, so it is
taught. I watched as the stranger
continued through the village. Once it had placed torches in
all the buildings it could enter.
Is it something even more unexpected?
The stranger took out a stone shovel and began to dig out some
of the partially buried buildings.
A large house. As soon as the stranger exposed
the door, Armour Smith, who had been trapped in there as long as
I could remember, ran out of the building to join us.
Elder Farmer tossed Smith a loaf of bread.
As Smith walked up, the stranger freed me.
Armor Smith told us only because I wanted to go into that
building. Priest insisted It cares nothing
for us. I could not help but agree with
Armor Smith, though. I almost felt as though Mojang
itself as soon as a protector. That feeling grew when I saw the
light that was now pouring out of the newly excavated building.
Then I realized it was getting dark, and I looked up to where
the sun was sinking low in the sky.
The stranger must have noticed it as well, because it ran from
the large house and straight to the church, where it quickly
climbed the ladder to the second floor of the tower.
The stranger was not only strong, but incredibly fast,
faster even than the great spiders that would sometimes
pass us on the plane. How long will it stay?
I asked. How should I know?
Cartographer Priest replied curtly.
We must all hurry to safety. Safety.
That word seemed to have a new meaning for me as I walked into
the brightly lit library and closed the door behind me.
I looked out the windows towards the church and after the second
floor of the tower where light streamed out of its windows.
Mojang, protect us. The next day, the stranger
continued to dig out any buildings which were buried and
illuminate them. Then it spent some time
wandering the area around the village.
Once the stranger had searched all around the village, it began
digging atop a large hill just to the north of the village.
Over the next several Suns, the stranger slowly cut down the
hill layer by layer, gradually clearing a large flat space
almost as wide as the village itself.
I found myself fascinated by this.
The stranger was doing something which had never occurred to me
as possible. It was changing the map.
Each sun I watched, the stranger would work on cutting down the
hill that I'd chosen for whatever unfathomable purpose it
would break from that occasionally wander the edges of
the village, sealing off the entrances to the many caverns
which surrounded our village with the dirt it had excavated.
It's every action seemed designed to increase the safety
of our village. This went on without
interruption until the sun. When the witch arrived, Elder
Farmer saw it first and came running to warn the rest of us.
Unlike the zombies, the witch should ignore us as long as we
did not venture too close to it. I looked around to see where the
stranger was. It had just emerged from the
church and was busy cutting down its hill, a safe distance from
the witch, with room to spare. But then the stranger turned
around, and I could tell that I had seen the witch.
The shovel in its hand was instantly replaced by the stone
Mace it carried, and it ran faster than I'd ever seen it run
before, but not directly at the witch.
The stranger moved until it was behind the witch, then charged
silently. Look, I said to Priest and the
other villagers around me. They looked to where I pointed
and saw the stranger charging up behind the witch.
Oh no, Elder Farmer said. The witch will kill the
stranger. Armorsmith cried.
Yes, Priest agreed. I thought that priest sounded
oddly satisfied, and that filled me with an inexplicable anger.
When the stranger was still about 5 or 6 blocks away, the
witch turned and saw the stranger charging at it began to
throw its potions at the stranger, but the stranger did
not stop. We could see that the stranger
had now been slowed and poisoned, but it was still able
to close with the witch and strike it with its Mace.
The stranger's attack was savage and relentless.
It's Mace never stopped swinging, driving the witch back
with each blow, but the stranger pressed forward.
The witch hurled potion after potion, but the stranger never
retreated. It was over in heartbeats.
The witch exploded into a blast of smoke, and I saw bright
lights flow from the cloud into the stranger's body.
Still, I could see the green miasma of poison which
surrounded the stranger's body. It could still die.
After witnessing the stranger's savage and lethal attack on the
witch, I suddenly wasn't certain if that would not be for the
best. If the stranger ever turned on
us, none of us would survive. The stranger ate something, no
doubt in an effort to heal itself, and as we watched the
miasma of poison around it slowly faded.
It began to search the area around where the witch had first
been seen. Apparently it found an entrance
to a cave, because we could see it laying down dirt, presumably
to seal that cave. Then the stranger simply turned
and went back to the hill and been cutting down for the last
dozen Suns or so as if nothing had happened.
That is what lives among us, Priest said.
Do you believe me now? This creature is dangerous and
terrible. We should all keep our distance.
But it saved us from the witch, I said.
It saved itself, Priest retorted.
It does what it does for its own purposes, purposes we cannot
know or understand. Keep your distance from a
cartographer. Yes, priest.
I agreed, remembering how savagely it had attacked the
witch. The next sun, the villager did
something new. It stopped flattening the hill
and began placing torches at even intervals.
After a time, it started digging again, but it only dugout the
outline of a square near the back of the hill and promptly
filled it with cobblestone. The stranger then built a small
stone brick platform near the center of the square, and then
it disappeared. I watched for a while from a
safe distance, of course, but the stranger did not appear.
Finally, overcome with curiosity, I began to climb the
shortened hill. It was not a platform the
stranger had built, but an alcove a single block in size,
surrounded on three sides by a stone brick wall, only a single
block high. A trap door is on the floor of
the alcove, and I could see a ladder leading down through the
holes in the door. The stranger had gone
underground. I was suddenly filled with
dread. Priest was right.
We cannot understand the motives of this creature.
I backed away from the alcove, determined to get away before
the stranger returned from whatever alien task it was
about. But it was too late.
The trap door suddenly opened, and the stranger climbed out the
shaft. I froze in terror, but as
before, the stranger simply ignored me.
They closed the trap door and ran off toward the church.
Soon I could smell burning charcoal.
Priest had told us that the stranger had built a forge on
the roof of the tower, along with the crafting table and some
chests. My curiosity returned fell
still, too afraid to remain in this area the stranger had
claimed. As I headed back towards the
village, the stranger emerged from the church and returned to
its underground activities. Priest was waiting when I
returned to the village, his features stern and disapproving.
Something in my manner must have forestalled the lecture, for
Priest stern look softened. What happened?
Priest asked to me. I told Priest what I had seen.
Priest looked as shaken as I felt.
Mojang, protect us. Priest whispered.
Over the next several Suns it became apparent what the
stranger was about. The outline of a large stone
brick house began to take form as the top of the strangers
hill. The stranger fenced off the top
of the hill and planted crops of the zone inside the fence,
wheat, potatoes, carrots and pumpkins.
The sight of the pumpkins filled me with thoughts of pumpkin
pies. The house was 11 blocks on a
side and a single story tall. A stone lip ran around the edge
of the flat roof and a tower seven blocks on the side rose
another two floors from the center of the house.
The roof of the tower was fenced off like her own watchtowers.
Sometimes I could see the stranger on the roof of the
tower, looking out over the village as though we were
keeping watch over us. Once the house was complete, the
stranger stopped coming into our village.
It had taken all of its belongings out of the church,
including the bed. It stayed in the house,
harvesting its crops and doing only Mojang knows what else,
until the sun, when it stopped ignoring us.
It had been several moons since the stranger had come into our
village, and the rest of the villagers and I had settled back
into our old routines, paying no mind to the stranger's massive
home north of us. Oh, occasionally one of us,
usually me, would wonder aloud to the others what it was doing
in there. The priest discouraged such
conversation. One son.
As I was wandering around the village, I heard some of the
other villagers talking in frightened and excited tones.
I turned and headed towards the disturbance and froze at what I
saw. The stranger was standing with
Elder Farmer and they were talking.
What's happening? I asked as I walked up to the
group of villagers. The stranger is trading with
Elder Farmer. Priest explained.
It can talk. I don't think so.
Priest said. Be quiet, I'm watching.
I watched as well. As I watched, the stranger took
out a stack of pumpkins, and the Elder Farmer held down Emerald.
The stranger took some of the pumpkins back, and Elder Farmer
shook his head and held his other empty hand.
They were negotiating. Apparently they reached a price
acceptable to the stranger because he gave the pumpkins to
Elder Farmer, and Elder Farmer handed over the emeralds.
The stranger wanted our emeralds.
Why? The emeralds were something we
never used. They merely appeared to each of
us every sunrise and serve no useful purpose as far as any of
us could tell. Perhaps, perhaps this was their
purpose. Elder Framer walked away from
the stranger and the stranger began to approach our group.
We we looked nervously at one another and separated a little.
The stranger headed straight for Tool Smith.
The rest of us moved away from him as a stranger approached and
held at a small stack of coal. Soon they were negotiating, just
as a stranger had done with Elder Farmer.
Once it was finished with Tool Smith, the stranger turned
towards me. My heart pounded my chest as the
rest of the villagers moved away, leaving me alone with this
creature. Then I looked down at my hands.
My chest pounded for a different reason.
The stranger was offering me a full stack of paper, more paper
than I had ever seen in my life. I held down emerald and began to
negotiate silently with it. Eventually we reached what the
stranger considered an acceptable price, 27 sheets per
emerald. He then sold ME3 emeralds worth
of paper. I was stunned looking at the
sudden wealth of paper in my pack.
Silently, the stranger turned and walked back to its house.
I looked over at Priest, who looked as stupefied as I felt.
Perhaps this creature is not the same as the stranger I saw so
many moons ago, Priest said quietly.
It is no stranger, I said. It lives among us now.
Then what is it? Older Farmer asked.
I do not know, Priest said. End of Part 1.
Hope you guys enjoyed that story and now I will shout out all the
people who got the right answer to the quiz.
But before that, let's review what the quiz question was and
what all the options were. The quiz question was which mobs
transform when struck by lightning.
In Minecraft, the options were A witches, vexes, creepers, pigs,
B vexes, pigs, villagers, creepers, mushrooms, C
villagers, pigs, mushrooms and creepers D horses, pigs,
creepers and villagers. So a witch is vex's, creepers,
pigs. Witches do not transform when
struck by lightning. A villager is struck by
lightning will turn to a witch, not the other way around.
And then also I put two tricky ones in here that vexes is the
first one. If a vex gets struck by
lightning, it does not turn into an LA or the other way around
either. You get those, it just doesn't
happen. And then creepers and pigs was
right. B Vexes.
Again, this one isn't right because vexes do not turn into
anything when struck by lightning.
Pigs, villagers, creepers, mushrooms.
And then the right answer is C villagers, pigs, mushrooms, and
creepers. And a lot of you guys were
saying it's both C&D. But the problem with that is
that in D the options are horses, pigs, creepers, and
villagers. And though it really seems like
horses should turn into skeleton horses or zombie horses if
struck by lightning, in fact they turn into neither.
Horses, if struck by lightning, only catch on fire.
So shout out to all the people who got CS the answer.
If I missed you, I'm sorry, but a shout out goes to E Illusion
Neon, The Car Top Quibbly, the Sand Wing.
Adele, J. Elise X Gamer Kid 2023 Papa
John's 2. James CJ 2013.
Eden 2011. Utorius, Brianna P, Karuna,
Jacqui, Lola, Charmander, and Lucas, thank you for submitting
the question and you guys have some serious Minecraft knowledge
to be able to know that. Thank you guys for
participating. Thank you guys so much for
listening to this episode and thank you to everyone who
participated on the pole. Congratulations to everyone who
picked C. That is some serious Minecraft
knowledge you have there. And especially thank you to
Martin for submitting this awesome story.
Part 2 coming up next episode. Make sure to stick around for
that. Make sure to check out the
YouTube channel for the video versions of this podcast if you
just want to leave a comment or listen to it again on YouTube, I
guess. And then there's also the
Patreon if you want to check out the state of the podcast, which
is just an update about the podcast bimonthly.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys
inside the next episode.