MindCrack Adventures

UHC - Ravine

 Another old piece written back for Season 9 of MindCrack UHC. Like last time, the writing's going to be a bit strange, probably. Like the made up 'names' for some of the guys. Actually, I think this may have been written even before Jungle Duel.

 But hopefully you guys won't mind too much. And yes, I am aware of how Season 9 ended. If you guys aren't... Spoilers. Kind of.

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 The twenty men looked from one to the other, some with delighted grins, others wearing expressions of slight concern. Four of them had never before played this game. Some had only played once, just long enough to know how the game got into your mind, changing the way you saw things.

 Guude Boulderfist, the head of the MindCrack, stood with his team, Vintage Beef, Pause Unpause, and Baj. The four had been together since the very beginning, before the MindCrackers hunted each other for the Game.

 Pakratt had his team gathered around, a group called the CobbleHaterz, Nebris Glow, MC Gamer, and Paul Soares, an honorary CobbleHater.

 The third team, Generik B., Anderz, Millbee Wooler, and Pyro Puncher showed a confidence little seen among the gathering.

 Team DOOKE, Etho Slab, Doc M. Creeps, B. Doublo, and Kurt J. Mac, had also been around since very early in the Game's existence. The final team was the new group, Mhykol Xenos, Avidya Zen, and Blame T. Controller. The fourth man wasn't a MindCracker, Seth Bling, and only Mhykol had ever played the Game. Nerves were high here.

 Guude announced the goal, to kill the Ender Dragon, the teleportation spell was cast, and the teams scattered.

 Mhykol, Seth, Avidya, and Blame peered into the ravine. Seth was badly wounded already; not a good sign for the success of Team Fairly Hardcore. A near continual stream of skeletons had wreaked havoc on the team leaving them little hope of recovery.

 "Skeleton across the ravine," Mhykol reported as he and Blame inspected the area from a ledge.

 "Creepers all over the place down here," Seth called from the bottom. "Should be okay, though."

 Mhykol and Blame joined Seth on the obsidian floor of the ravine.

 "Safe to come down?" Avidya's soft voice called from the ledge above them.

 "Yeah," the chorus of voices replied.

 Mining recommenced, along with attempts to make the floor safer, with less lava in which to die.

 Without warning, the group was attacked. A creeper sliding neatly in from a cave near the bottom of the ravine was followed closely by a spider and a pair of skeletons.

 Seth killed the creeper, thrusting the sword he carried into the monster's chest. The spider fell to Mhykol's blade with a horrible hiss in concert with the creeper's final sizzle. One skeleton went down to Avidya's assault, the blade dividing the undead's bones. The other poured arrows into Blame unchecked.

 Furious and hurting, he charged the undead, trying to stop the creature's projectiles. One entered his shoulder and he stumbled back a bit. Checking himself, he moved forward again, landing blows to the skeleton's rib cage, snapping several of the bones. Another arrow ripped across Blame's throat, a near fatal wound that poured blood down his shirt.

 Blame clawed his way back up and, blinded by pain and rage, charged the skeleton, slicing the monster's spine in two. Blame's adversary shattered and the bones fell into a pile. The rush of adrenaline faded and Blame crumpled back against the ravine. He caught sight of his friends hiding behind a rock outcropping.

 "What gives?" he called, laughing slightly through the red haze of pain. "I'm out here fighting the skeleton while you guys all hide?"

 "Someone must live on," Mhykol replied, though the whole group knew he was joking.

 Avidya moved over to his friend's side and tugged at the arrow in his shoulder. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Blame slapped the probing hand away and clambered back to his feet, weaving slightly.

 "Should be safe now. We must have killed about every mob in the ravine," he said, snapping the shaft of the arrow off close, but leaving the head in.

 "Yeah, really," Seth said, venturing back out."We're not doing so great, are we?"

 Avidya tore a strip off of his jacket and handed it to Blame to stop the bleeding at his neck.

 "Hang in there, guys," he said. "All we have to do is kill the Ender Dragon first. Then none of this will matter at all." The man's voice had a steely tone to it. Each of the four men may have been battered badly, but all were determined. Nothing would get in their way. They would win it all.

 Team Fairly Hardcore could take it all the way.