Minecraft Story Mode Season 3, Episode 4: Breaking Chains

Part 1: The Siege Begins

 Stella, Jesse, Aiden, Maya, Gill, Jack, and Nurm arrived at the location marked on the map: a hill on the outskirts of Champion City.

There was no structure in sight.

"Huh. Maybe I'm going crazy, but I thought the map said there was something here," Jack said. Jesse let out an exasperated sigh.

"No, you're right. Why on earth would the map lead us to a barren hill?" Jesse questioned. She paused for a moment to think. "Unless there's something underground."

"The secret tunnels to Beacontown run right under us. If anyone tried to build a base underground here, they'd turn back after seeing the lit up tunnels," Jack explained. Jesse tilted her head.

"The secret tunnels...?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah. You don't remember 'em? We used 'em to get into Beacontown without the Admin spotting us," Jack responded. Jesse's eye twitched, then she grinned.

"Sorry. I'm really focusing on Hit the Target right now and I must be blocking everything else out," Jesse replied. Maya bit her lip.

"Did you, like... not get enough sleep or something?" Maya commented.

"Can we figure out where Hit the Target's lair is now and ask questions about my sleep schedule later?" Jesse groaned. Stella- who was now wearing her purple, silver, and black armor- squinted as she observed the hill from top to bottom.

"Hm... There might be something we're missing. Maybe if we climbed the hill we'd get a better view?" Stella suggested.

"That's actually a good idea," Jack commented. Stella beamed at him and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Thank you, I have a lot of them," Stella responded.

Gill immediately began to sprint to the top of the hill.

"Ugh, maybe wait for the rest of us next time?" Maya grumbled.

"Waiting for you slowpokes would take forev- OW!" Gill shouted. He seemed to have run face first into an invisible wall, and he rubbed his throbbing nose.

"And that's why you don't rush ahead of people," Maya muttered.

"There's not always gonna be an invisible wall, Maya!" Gill retorted. Maya rolled her eyes.

"Huh. Looks like Hit the Target's lair is invisible and at the top of that hill. But how do we turn the invisibility off so we can find the door?" Jack said.

"There's probably a lever or a button that toggles it. We could feel around for one of those," Aiden suggested. He walked up to the location where Gill had rammed into something solid and began sliding his hand along the lair's invisible walls. Nurm, Jack, Stella, Maya, and Jesse joined him in searching for the lever while Gill clutched his nose. Nurm's hand bumped something on the wall and his eyes widened.

"Hrm-hah!" Nurm exclaimed.

"You found a lever, Nurmie? Go ahead and pull it," Jack responded. Nurm wrapped his hand around the lever and pulled it down to its "off" position. The faint outline of Hit the Target's fortress could be seen, then the fortress gradually became fully visible. It transitioned from a translucent, faded state to losing all transparency and taking on vivid color.

Hit the Target's fortress was large and imposing... it was made of dark red Nether brick, illuminated with redstone torches and fire, and had spruce double doors with iron knockers. In the center of the massive building was a tall observation tower with flags billowing in the wind. The flags were black with a red border and a gold target emblem in the center.

Stella wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Ugh, it looks terrible. Has this man ever heard of a color palette before? You should never make an entire building solely one block. Just looking at his fortress is burning my retinas, I hate even breathing the air next to it, and that's not even getting to the fact that this abomination is right next to my city," Stella criticized. Jack raised an eyebrow.

"That's what you're concerned about right now?" Jack questioned. Stella looked at the fortress and grimaced.

"Of course it's what I'm concerned about, Jacques! Have you seen this fortress?! The fire is a safety hazard and it's possibly one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. Honestly, if you're going to build an unauthorized structure directly outside of my city, you could at the very least make it look nice," Stella explained.

"So, uh... how are we going to enter-" Maya began. Jack kicked down the doors. "That works," Maya commented.

The loud and droning blare of an alarm was set off. A swarm of cave spiders poured out of the observation tower and windows, scuttling towards the distraction team.

"Great. The stupid cave spiders are back," Aiden muttered.

Veeva had climbed up to the observation tower and her hands were clutching the fences surrounding it. Her black hair was tied into a low ponytail, which blew in the wind. She wore red lipstick, red and dark gray armor with gold accents, and a golden v shaped circlet tiara. Her black eyes scanned the group of intruders.

"Hm, let's see what we have here. There's Jack, some villager in a green hat, Stella, Jesse... Oh, and it looks like there's also three traitors! Hit the Target won't be happy, Blaze Rods," Veeva commented.

"And what makes you think we care if that jerk is happy? He threatened to kill us," Aiden snapped.

"Don't talk about Target like that, traitor. You don't know how selfless, merciful, and kind he is. The only reason he said he'd kill you if you refused to help him was that he had no other choice," Veeva hissed.

"'No other choice'? Seriously? How did he have 'no other choice'? Let me guess, he said: 'Sorry, but it looks like I have to threaten death on people. There's no other way they'll help me with my really noble cause of conquest and murder,'" Aiden retorted. Jesse stifled a laugh.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. Hit the Target's goal is to improve the world," Veeva snapped. Maya shook her head and spun a finger around near her brain.

"Jesse, we've got Veeva and the cave spiders. You can take care of Hit the Target," Jack said. Jesse nodded and unsheathed her diamond sword. She ran to the front door, slashing through any cave spiders in her way. Once she made it inside, she slammed the doors shut behind her.

Jesse heard cave spiders scratching at the doors with their long, spindly legs, but after a few minutes they seemed to give up.

"All right. Now to find Hit the Target in this massive fortress. And... you're talking to yourself. Well done," Jesse sighed. She continued walking through the dark hallways of the fortress with her sword in hand.