Chapter 2:
THE SEARCH FOR COINS
Even though they seemed to be losing the battle, Matthew was a skilled warrior. Miles mimicked his moves as he attempted to battle the gelatinous green slimes.
“Gotcha!” Miles yelped as he destroyed two more slimes. Despite gaining confidence during this brief battle, he sighed with relief as he watched Matthew obliterate the remaining slimes.
“We make a good team,” Matthew remarked.
Miles noticed coins in his inventory. “What’s this?”
“When you defeat a hostile mob, like a slime, you get rewarded with coins,” explained Matthew. “And you also get gel, so you can craft a torch, which you should do very soon since it’s almost nighttime.”
“Okay, I’ll make that torch. But I thought you said we find coins in a chest,” Miles said, annoyed.
“There are many ways to do certain things,” Matthew smiled.
“I still don’t have enough coins to see the merchant and I want more.” Miles counted his coins again; he needed a lot more coins to reach fifty.
“I know a great cave where we could search for chests,” Matthew said, standing by the house. “But we have to finish the house first.”
Miles put the finishing touches on the house and crafted the torch, but he didn’t have enough wood to complete the chair. He traveled back to the forest with Matthew to chop wood.
Matthew looked up at the sky. “It’s getting dark. We don’t have that much time; we must work fast or else we will be attacked by zombies.”
Miles raced toward a large tree, slamming his pickaxe into the bark; he wondered if he should have crafted more powerful weapons before they traveled to the forest. The Slime attack was still fresh on Miles’s mind and he feared zombies would attack him as evening set in. He panted, “Do I have enough wood?”
“Almost,” Matthew remarked.
Miles picked up the pickaxe, slamming it into a large tree, when Matthew informed him that they had enough wood and they must make their way back to the house.
As they walked toward the house, Miles spotted something in the distance.
“What is that?” Matthew questioned.
“That’s an entrance to a dungeon. I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Later?” Miles urged Matthew to tell him about the dungeon. A dungeon was exactly the type of place he hoped to find on his explorations. With Matthew by his side, he was sure that he’d be able to unearth whatever hidden treasure lay in the spooky dungeon.
Night was setting in, and Miles couldn’t see very well, but he spotted someone standing in front of the dungeon.
“I see someone by the dungeon. I’m not sure who it is.” Miles stopped to get a better look at the person who appeared to be guarding the entrance. The man had a large grey beard.
“That’s the old man. Don’t bother with him.” Matthew reminded Miles, “It’s dark. We can go to the dungeon tomorrow.”
Miles didn’t listen and sprinted toward the dungeon, when the old man called out, “I’ve been cursed by Skeletron.”
Matthew chased after. “Don’t bother with this old man. It’s a waste of time. Come back to the house and I’ll teach you how to craft weapons, and tomorrow I’ll help you find coins.”
Miles walked up to the old man. “You’re cursed? Do you need help?”
“Free me of the curse, and I’ll let you enter the dungeon,” explained the old man.
“Maybe I’m strong enough to save you. I just battled multiple green slimes,” Miles gloated.
“Can you help me? My master can’t be summoned until night, though,” the old man told them.
Miles looked over at Matthew. “Do you think we can wait? It’s almost night.”
Matthew didn’t look at Miles. Instead he fixated on the dark sky. “No, it’s far too dangerous. It’s almost the blood moon. That is serious.”
“Blood moon?” Miles questioned. Just the words sent shivers down his spine. “But I want to help this old man.”
“Please, no,” the old man begged. “You’ll just get yourself killed.”
Matthew grabbed Miles and screamed, “Run!”
A horde of zombies lurked behind some trees. Miles ran as fast as he could toward the house, barely escaping the zombie attack.
“You have to build the chair to make the house complete,” Matthew instructed, but Miles was too nervous to construct a chair. His hands fumbled and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t finish the chair.
“You’re doing a good job,” Matthew soothed Miles. “Take a deep breath. It’s almost complete.”
“Oh no!” Miles gasped, as a zombie kicked the front door from its hinges.
Matthew grabbed his bow and arrow and sprinted toward the door. Miles rushed outside to join his guide in battle. Three zombies lunged toward them, and they faced the undead beasts under a blood-red sky.
Miles plunged his copper sword into a zombie, and while another crept up behind him, he quickly struck it. As he pierced the beast with his sword he spotted a cluster of zombies in the distance.
“The blood moon makes Terraria a very dangerous place,” Matthew said as he shot wooden arrows at the zombies that crept toward them.
A bunny hopped past them and Matthew called out to Miles, “Watch out! The blood moon makes bunnies vicious.”
The docile bunny quickly turned aggressive and pounced on Miles, as a zombie lunged toward him. He was powerless. One copper sword wasn’t enough. Miles jumped back, trying to shake the bunny from his leg, as he struck a zombie. Miles was ready to surrender when a wooden arrow pierced the bunny’s side, and it was destroyed. He didn’t have time to thank Matthew, because he was too busy trying to survive the zombie attack.
There was only one zombie left, but it seemed incredibly strong. It stared at Miles with vacant eyes. The blood-red moon provided Miles with some light, as he used all of his strength to destroy the zombie.
“You weren’t kidding. The blood moon is serious.”
“Look, it’s the bride and groom!” Matthew called out.
Two zombies outfitted in wedding attire lurked in the shadows.
“Who are they?”
“They only come out in the blood moon,” Matthew said as he used arrows to stop the eternally wedded creatures from approaching.
“And they brought guests!” Miles cried as a group of blood zombies approached them.
Miles’s energy was low and as he struck the groom, he worried if one of the blood zombies might destroy him.