Minecraft (Dark Horse Comics)/WitherPlot

=== Volume 1 ===
Two people named Cahira and Orion are killing off illagers in a woodland mansion, fighting over experience orbs. A man, who calls himself "Senan the Thorough", says for the two girls to either share the orbs or he’ll take them himself. The girls question Senan’s request, with Cahira saying that Senan is already at the highest level possible. Just then, a skeleton fires an arrow, which pierces through Senan’s map. Senan has his pet wolf, Wilkie, kill off the skeleton as the others rummage a nearby chest. Senan finds a totem of undying and says that it is valuable, but thinks there is more stuff abound inside the mansion. The three then search throughout the mansion, only to get in combat with numerous hostile mobs. One of the rooms is of a prison cell. After Orion opens the door, several zombies emerge, but they are killed with ease. Senan enters the cell, followed by Cahira and Orion. A door in the cell leads to a room that has soul sand in a T-shape, with wither skeleton skulls on the left and right ends. Orion finds a lever, but Cahira asks him not to pull it as she is jokingly worried about zombies. He pulls it anyway, unbeknownst to Senan, who shouts at Orion to not do so, realizing that it had already been too late. A wither skeleton skull drops from the ceiling and lands on the center of the T-shape soul sand, which spawns a wither.
The three start attacking the wither, but soon it ends up eating Senan and escapes the woodland mansion. Cahira and Orion wonder as to what to do, but Wilkie soon notices a path of wither roses and starts following them. Cahira and Orion decide to follow Wilkie, hopeful that they can beat the wither and save Senan. That night, the three stumble upon several hostile mobs, which are killed with ease. A creeper explodes close to a house nearby, startling another girl, who at first believes that Cahira, Orion, and Wilkie are monsters and then hides underneath her house. Cahira and Orion explain to the girl that they are actually "monster hunters", saying that they killed off the hostile mobs that surrounded her house. Relieved, the girl introduces herself as Atria and thanks them. Cahira and Orion introduce themselves to Atria as she shows them around her house. As it is getting late, Atria decides to build out a guest space for the three, where they rest for the night.
The next morning, Atria serves up cake for breakfast, and says regarding the hostile mobs from last night that she feels like that she is cursed, as she says that hostile mobs follow here wherever she goes. Atria also shows off her personal mine which has a tunnel that leads to her mother’s house. Orion asks Atria as to how she got cursed, and she says that she doesn’t know. Cahira then suggests for Atria to come along, saying that they could use her as bait for the wither, but she refuses, saying that she needs to deliver iron ingots to a village with assistance from her mother. Cahira and Orion leave feeling frustrated; the latter thinks that Atria will end up slowing them down. The two then have a light argument just as a spider shows up nearby. Cahira notices the spider and a plan hatches in her head. With Orion’s help, they lure the spider to a hole created just above the doors in Atria’s personal mine. The spider falls to the ground below and the hole is quickly patched up. Later, Atria screams upon noticing the spider, and the two mine through the dirt wall to kill it.
Atria thanks the two for saving her once again and also apologizes for kicking them out. Cahira mentions that Wilkie was looking for the trail of wither roses and that their mentor, Senan, taught her and Orion techniques on tracking. Atria wonders as to where Senan is now, so Cahira retells as to how he ended up inside the wither that they are tracking. She also says that Senan knows everything, hoping that he can help Atria with her supposed curse. Atria decides to help them find the wither, but has to inform her mother about the situation. Atria’s mother wholly objects to Atria leaving because of her curse, but after some discussion, she decides to enchant her turtle shell before she is allowed to leave, promising that Cahira and Orion keep her safe. Atria then introduces the two to her town of Woodhaven as they continue to follow the trail of wither roses. The sun begins to set as they approach a savanna biome, and soon they are attacked by hostile mobs. Atria takes shelter in a cobblestone structure as Cahira, Orion, and Wilkie fight off the mobs. Atria then decides to assist by firing an arrow at a skeleton, killing it. She then builds out a shelter from the structure, but realizes that she left her bed at home. Cahira leaves to find some sheep and soon returns with three red wool for a bed. After cooking some mutton, they all rest for the night.
The next day, the four (Cahira, Orion, Wilkie, and Atria) are in a desert biome. Cahira starts teaching Atria on how to use a sword. As they approach a plains biome, Atria crafts some buckets to collect milk from nearby cows. Coming to a forest biome, they discover wheat, but Atria gets attacked by a zombie from a cave. She ends up killing it, however. As the four approach an ice spikes biome, they find a nether portal next to an area that they dub as the wither’s nest. Atria considers finding a shelter, but then calls out the wither. Although she thinks it had left, the wither soon appears above her, albeit a bit bigger than before. Atria takes shelter behind some ice while Cahira and Orion attack the wither. Soon, Cahira appears to accidentally fire rotten flesh at the wither, in which the head on the wither’s right ends up eating it. The head starts becoming queasy from the rotten flesh and soon vomits out Senan, much to the relief of Cahira, Orion, and Wilkie. Cahira asks Senan as to how he survived for that long, and he says it was because he had the totem of undying. Orion then apologizes to Senan for pulling the lever that caused the wither to spawn in the first place, but just then, the wither starts to go after Atria.
Cahira, Orion, Senan, and Wilkie try their best to fight the wither off with swords now that it is down to half of its health, making it immune from arrows. Atria, realizing that she can help, decides to talk to the wither and asks what it wants. Her eyes are able to see inside the wither’s mind, showcasing the wither in the Nether, happy to be back with the hostile mobs there. Atria then says to the three to light up the nether portal, which they do after crafting flint and steel. As the wither disappears through the portal, Orion destroys it with a water bucket, followed by Senan mining out the obsidian frame. Atria and Senan then introduce themselves to each other. Atria mentions to Senan about her curse, but Senan mentions that although he had been cursed numerous times, he wouldn’t consider himself an expert on curses. Atria begins to feel like that she’ll end up keeping her curse as the group head off to somewhere new. Unbeknownst to them, however, a new nether portal spawns in the ice spikes biome, allowing the wither and the mobs of the Nether to come back into the Overworld.
=== Volume 2 ===
Cahira, Orion, Senan, Atria, and Wilkie are walking through a forest biome when they notice the wither off in the distance. As they figure out what to do, Senan says that they are heading to Whitestone City to upgrade their tools and armor. Cahira asks for diamonds to make a diamond sword, but everyone else in the group doesn’t have any. Atria says that she still has the curse on her, so Senan mentions to her about a "sorcerer friend" in Whitestone City that could help remove it. Just then, a blaze attacks them, but it is killed with ease. The group then stock up on apples from a nearby tree and soon arrive at Whitestone City. A sign nearby reveals the "sorcerer friend" to be named Lucasta, who lives in a yellow house just outside of Whitestone City. The group are allowed to come inside her house, which is also home to several cats. Lucasta wonders as to why Senan is here, and he mentions that Atria needs help with lifting her curse.
Lucasta then mentions to the group about how Senan and her had a rivalry about getting rid of hostile mobs; Senan would generally used combat while Lucasta thought of more "creative methods" to do such a task. The people of Whitestone City preferred Senan over her because of this, so she and Senan had a mob-fighting contest in the city square. Lucasta had set up a dispenser with spawn eggs, and Senan ended up succumbing to the horde of hostile mobs that followed. It was because of this that he left Whitestone City to, in Senan’s words, train himself and improve. Lucasta also says that when the city was later attacked by hostile mobs, it was herself that took care of it. Cahira asks Senan as to why he would give up and leave, and Lucasta says to never worship someone as a hero. She then shows off a room filled with dungeons–a mob farm–and starts to wonder why the mobs are more active than usual. Atria mentions that it is because of her curse, and also asks Lucasta as to why she has a mob farm.
Lucasta says that a mob farm is simply what she loves, knowing that she doesn’t have to do any work outside the home. Cahira and Orion wonder if they can work to become Lucasta’s "personal mob grinders", but Lucasta objects, saying that they’ll get in the way, but takes a special interest in Atria as the group check out the rest of her house, including a music room and a brewing lab. Lucasta then says to Atria that she would like to study her curse, so she brings her to a platform overlooking the water-lava room. Lucasta feels like the mobs have a strong connection to her, but Atria says that she doesn’t really feel the connection, with the exception of supposedly telepathically communicating with the wither about going to the Nether. Lucasta feels like that is odd as Atria sits down in a chair. Lucasta sets up a camera to "analyze" Atria’s curse as she leaves to check on the rest of the dungeon chambers. Atria begins to feel terrified and bored. That night, Cahira and Orion decide to head down into the dungeon chambers to get some mob loot as Atria falls asleep in her bed.
By daybreak, Lucasta notices that Cahira and Orion are down in the chambers and orders them to leave, which they do. Atria then heads back to the water-lava room with a book to keep her occupied as her curse is studied even more, but later, she ends up getting bored and soon leaves to check out Whitestone City. Meanwhile, Cahira and Orion are checking out a store there; Cahira buys a custom cape, while Orion buys a pair of boots enchanted with Frost Walker and the Curse of Vanishing. Just then, someone named Elvicks snitches at the two, calling them "tourists" while showing off his golden sword. Cahira decides to show off the rotten flesh she had gotten from killing zombies, which a villager decides to trade in exchange for emeralds. Elvicks then says to the two that they can’t beat him in combat. Orion starts to walk away, saying that he’s not going to fight him unless he turns into a zombie. Enraged, Elvicks prepares to attack Orion with his gold sword, but Cahira attacks with her iron sword in defense, breaking the gold sword. Elvicks then challenges Orion to a swimming contest, which he accepts, but easily wins thanks to the Frost Walker enchanted boots.
Atria soon arrives in Whitestone City, soon finding Cahira and Orion in a milk bar. As she opens the door, she overhears Cahira mentioning to a villager about putting the spider in Atria’s house. She leaves in disgust, with Cahira following behind her. Atria mentions to Cahira that friends shouldn’t manipulate others into doing what they want, saying that she doesn’t want to be used anymore and that friendship actually is about treating people with respect, while also hurt that their friendship started with a lie. Cahira apologizes and the two quickly reconcile. They start to head back to Lucasta’s mansion as Orion notices them leaving. He too soon leaves to catch up, but doesn’t notice Elvicks and a villager friend of his sneaking up behind him. Later, Atria and Cahira are back in the water-lava room, but Lucasta soon appears, wondering as to what Cahira is doing. Cahira stumbles into the lava below, but is saved thanks to her cape. Atria then says to Lucasta that Cahira was just here to keep her company and says that she doesn’t want to be used for mob grinding anymore.
Lucasta feels ashamed, saying that her contraptions never impressed anyone in Whitestone City, with some people calling her "creepy". She then says that the city was attacked by hostile mobs because she had loaded a dispenser with spawn eggs for the mob fighting contest, not realizing that it was getting dark, so she concocted an enchantment that would let her change time at will, and makes the sun rise, killing off the horde of mobs. Lucasta then says that nobody cared about what had happened because they were allegedly concerned about what happened to Senan, but at least she plans to help concoct a cure for Atria’s curse. As Orion reads a farmer’s almanac, Lucasta hears that someone had infiltrated her home and heads upstairs, only to find out that everything in the armory had disappeared, including Atria’s map to Woodhaven. Lucasta then has everyone follow her to a room directly underneath the armory, which is a zombie trap set up by her for any thieves that attempt to steal stuff. Inside the trap, Orion and Cahira soon recognize Elvicks and his villager friend, with the latter having been turned into a zombie.
Lucasta grudgingly decides to help them out, ordering them into a room directly next to the trap. Orion then mentions about a cure for zombie villagers, which consist of a potion of weakness and a golden apple, and everyone heads out to prepare it. Elvicks then says to his zombie villager friend that they are here to help. Just then, an enderman appears and takes out a block of cobblestone before teleporting away, allowing the zombie villager to leave. Elvicks chases after it by mining out a tunnel from the trap, but soon notices that the sun is setting. The zombie villager goes after everyone in Whitestone City, turning regular villagers into zombie villagers. Elvicks is able to climb to the top of a bell tower and warn everyone to head inside. Cahira, Orion, Senan, Atria, Wilkie, and Lucasta soon hear the bell ringing from the tower, realizing that the zombie villager had escaped, and so they decide to make more potions of weakness and golden apples; the latter uses up numerous gold blocks from the exterior of Lucasta’s home. With their inventories full, they run toward Whitestone City.
The group do everything they can: splashing potions of weakness at the zombie villagers, feeding them golden apples, and sheltering them to keep them still as they heal. Despite their efforts, Cahira and Orion are attacked by phantoms, but easily avoid them. Wilkie also helps out by saving a cat from being killed by a zombie villager. As the zombie villagers close in on the town square, Atria makes a platform to shield them from the sun as it rises while the rest use the potions of weakness and golden apples. Elvicks also assists the group in their efforts. As it becomes morning, Orion uses his last potion of weakness on Elvick’s zombie villager friend, who flees into daylight, engulfing it in flames. Elvicks throws a golden apple at his zombie villager friend, followed by Lucasta dousing water on it and sheltering it so it can heal. Elvicks then apologizes to the group for stealing their stuff and gives everything back. The cat that Wilkie had saves earlier also befriends the group after eating some fish. The townspeople of Whitestone City commend Elvicks for warning them about the zombie villager, but Lucasta insists that she was the one that helped out in the first place. The townspeople overwhelmingly disagree, however, saying that the zombies came from her house.
Although the townspeople praise Elvicks for his efforts, he insists that it was the others (Cahira, Orion, Atria, Senan, and Lucasta) that helped save the city. Despite Senan being in disbelief that nobody remembered him, Cahira and Orion still think that he is a good person. Senan then gives Cahira a diamond sword enchanted with Smite, while Lucasta gives Atria an enchanted golden apple that is said to free her of her curse. The group (Cahira, Orion, Senan, Atria, Wilkie, and the cat) decide to head back to Woodhaven as Elvicks mentions to the townspeople that Lucasta has a "cat fountain" inside her home; Lucasta decides to prove the townspeople that she does have such a fountain. As the group are en route to Woodhaven, the wither is seen in the distance, high atop a mountain.
==== Extras ====
; Champion Discount
Senan notices that there is a discount in the weapon shop for so-called "champions". He says that he is one to the villager that runs it, but the villager points to a sign that says that the discount only applies to current ones (in this case, Cahira and Orion). Senan mentions to the villager that he is shopping on behalf of Cahira, saying that he taught them about everything and that he is like a father to them, and asks about the discount.
; Atria of All Trades
Atria decides to use some emeralds she had gathered to trade for a bell, some suspicious stew, and a scute, complementing each item she gets while saying that she loves it when villagers level up. Cahira mentions to Orion that Atria is a hoarder.
; The Fountain
With a cat fountain set up in the center of Whitestone City, it gets overrun with cats in about six months. Lucasta doesn’t feel like there is such a thing as too many cats.
; Art Appreciation
The wither destroys a house, soon noticing that a painting of the wither is inside of it. It adores the painting, but it is soon engulfed in flames, shocking the wither.
=== Volume 3 ===
Cahira, Orion, Senan, Atria, Wilkie, and the cat are all en route to Woodhaven. Orion asks Atria if she thought of a name for the cat, and Atria is considering on naming it "Cali". Cahira then asks Atria if she is going to eat the enchanted golden apple in her possession to lift her curse, and Atria says that she wants to show it to her mother first, mentioning that she had attempted to cure Atria of her curse for years. Orion wonders if Atria will still be able to communicate with hostile mobs without the curse, with Cahira butting in and saying that Atria will "just be a normal, unspecial, but still completely awesome, talented, and smart person", much to their disgust. Orion then asks Atria if she can communicate with mobs besides hostile ones, so she decides to test it on the cat. As the cat meows, Atria translates it to the cat wanting some fish. Atria then asks the cat as to what he wants to be called. The cat meows, with Atria translating that the cat’s name is "Fernando". Orion then has Atria talk to Wilkie, and she says that Wilkie says that she loves everyone and wants some food. A chicken then appears, taking a peculiar interest in Orion; he wonders as to what the chicken will be named. Atria translates the chicken’s bawking to say that he is named "BeakBoy58", which is apparently "a family name with a long lineage". Eventually, the group find a village named "Rockaway Village", but soon realize that the wither had already destroyed it. Nonetheless, the group decide to repair a house and rest there for the night. During the night, Atria is awoken by "KRAHHH" sounds outside the house, but eventually falls asleep. The next morning, everyone decides to search through the rubble of the houses in the village and take whatever they can, such as books and music discs. Senan then mentions to Cahira and Orion that they will need to destroy the wither once they drop off Atria back at her mother’s house.
Cahira insists that they bring Atria along to help with defeating the wither, but Senan says that it is Atria’s choice whether to do so or not, and says to Atria that she can tell them about it once they get back to Woodhaven. Just then, the "KRAHHH" sounds from last night are heard once again, revealing that they have come from an iron golem . Atria decides to use some of her iron ingots to help the iron golem heal, and also asks the golem as to what happened, which shows a vision of the iron golem protecting two villagers from the wither. Cahira then says to the iron golem that it can come with them, mentioning that Orion was responsible for spawning the wither in the first place. Cahira and Orion then get into an argument, causing the iron golem to attack both of them and their pet animals.
Eventually, Atria says for everyone to stop fighting and to work together so they can take down the wither, and also says that the iron golem will come along with them to avenge her village. As the eight (Cahira, Orion, Senan, Atria, Wilkie, Fernando, BeakBoy58, and the iron golem) continue toward Woodhaven, Atria asks Senan as to why he ended up at Woodhaven in the first place. Senan tells her about his time being a monster hunter and how he’d gain experience from taking down zombie sieges and illager raids; he was kicked out of Woodhaven because the illagers managed to escape with the village’s beacon. Senan thinks that being kicked out was caused by the "many curses" that Lucasta had placed on him, and despite constantly being in villages that were sieged by hostile mobs, he eventually drank milk to help lift the curses off of him. By nightfall, the group decide to build a small shelter in a desert.
Inside the shelter, Atria asks Cahira and Orion as to what happened to their parents. Orion says that their parents had just decided to log off the server and never came back on, so they decided to search for them to no avail. As they were about to be killed by zombies, Senan rescued them, and although originally bringing them back to their village, his wolf, Wilkie, wanted them to come along, so he relented and allowed Cahira and Orion to train under his mentorship. Atria wonders if eating the enchanted golden apple is really necessary as Cahira and Orion are both supposedly good at taking down hostile mobs. Orion then states that they can’t tell Atria as to whether to eat the apple or not, reminding her that it is her decision alone. All three soon sleep for the night. The next day, the group eventually make it back to Woodhaven, with Atria running toward her mother’s house. Her mother is happy for her to be back and thanks Cahira and Orion for looking over her. As Atria’s mother looks over the enchanted golden apple, Senan slips that Atria’s mother’s name is "Ventra", much to everyone’s surprise. Ventra then says to Orion that Senan had arrived at her village once only to quickly leave, but she pushes that aside as Senan mentions about how Atria saved him from the wither. Ventra then asks Atria as to why she hasn’t eaten the enchanted golden apple yet, and Atria says that she plans on using her curse to become a monster hunter, much to Ventra’s shock. Atria then recounts her entire adventure up until now, but she inadvertently causes the wither to appear when she quotes "C’mere wither". As the wither starts destroying Woodhaven, Ventra orders Atria to take shelter in her bunker. Atria refuses and instead runs toward the local quarry, with the wither giving chase. As the wither closes in on Atria, who is climbing some scaffolding, Orion throws an ender pearl, landing in front of Atria, and then attacks the wither.
The others (Cahira, Senan, Wilkie, Fernando, the iron golem, and Ventra) soon shows up to assist in taking down the wither once and for all. Orion and Atria set off a pack of TNT above the wither using a fire charge and a conveniently placed lever; Cahira uses a diamond sword enchanted with Smite; Ventra downs a potion of strength before throwing a trident and creeper at the wither; the iron golem helps protect Atria from some wither skulls; and Senan uses a diamond sword. Eventually, Atria runs toward a small wood shack and is finally convinced by Cahira to eat the enchanted golden apple. A wither skull hits Atria just as she bites down on the golden apple, making everyone else believe that she may have died; they all attack the wither in a fit of rage. Senan and Ventra are knocked back by a wither skull as Cahira combs through the fire looking for Atria. Fortunately, Atria is safe and unharmed, and Cahira is also healed with a splash potion courtesy of Ventra. Cahira wonders as to how Atria survived the blast from the wither skull, and Ventra mentions that the golden apple was enchanted with Blast Protection IV and Regeneration II. Atria then runs off with a diamond sword enchanted with Smite toward the wither, while Ventra gives Cahira potions of healing, blast protection, and a bucket of milk. Wilkie is able to assist the iron golem by giving it some iron ingots to help it heal. Cahira then gives Orion a bucket of milk to cure him from the wither effect, while she drinks the potion of blast resistance. The two then realize that the wither is starting to fly away, so everyone goes after it. Eventually, one of the heads of the wither inadvertently fires a wither skull at another head, ultimately killing it and dropping a nether star. Senan gives the nether star to Ventra as a means of making a new beacon in Woodhaven.
As the group head back to Woodhaven proper, the villagers given them a warm welcome. Atria herself still has the supposed curse despite eating the enchanted golden apple, and translates an iron golem’s "KRAH!" to saying that the iron golem wants to stay in Woodhaven, making the villagers cheer. Eventually, the group make it back to Ventra’s home and have dinner, with Ventra breaking the news that she wasn’t attempting to chase Senan out of the village at all, but was instead trying to say to him that he has a daughter, that being Atria, much to everyone’s shock and surprise. Everyone eventually decides to stay in Woodhaven and work as monster hunters part-time, while Cahira, Orion, and Atria work out ideas and locations for themselves and their pet animals. The three are then seen fighting off hostile mobs, mining diamonds, and also doing their separate things; Orion is feeding some chickens in a nearby forest, while Cahira and Atria start building a mansion.
==== Extras ====
; Painting Made Easy
Orion notices that Atria is working at a crafting table and wonders what she is up to. Atria says that she is working on "plein air painting" as she crafts a painting, which turns into "Graham".
; Striders on the Storm
Atria and Cahira are in the Nether, using fungus on a stick to lure striders. Cahira asks Atria as to how much her strider loves her. Although Atria’s thoughts show that the strider wants to eat the mushroom, Atria cautiously says that the strider loves Cahira very much.