Interrogative

Carl, Ryan, and Ricardo now held a creeper under their custody. How the questioning will play out we shall see. To properly restrain the mob, one must fully submerge its entire body save for the head in cold water. The lower the temperature, the less chance it'll have for blowing up.

*Creeper wakes up with its head barely above water level while its body buried in cobblestone blocks

"OI! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS! I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!" Dan the creeper spoke.

The three remained quiet since they didn't even know where to begin their investigation. Carl took the initiative and asked why the creeper had decided to silently approach them instead of just outright asking them for help.

"It's a habit of mine. Now don't be alarmed, I know we creepers and players aren't on even terms. In fact, I truly apologize for what we as a species had done to yours during the war but it's all in the past. So please don't consider leaving me in this cold freezing waterfall. Not only will I probably starve but I will definitely die from being frostbitten." Dan answered.

"pwetty pwease..." the creeper tried its best to turn its Y shaped mouth into an 0w0 face.

Ryan's eyes flared up with rage when Dan tried to sound sorry, to him Dan appeared sarcastic. He reprimanded himself in order to not straight up kill the mob since Ryan knew his two comrades would be mad at him and their alliance would further be shattered.

In addition to this, Ryan had a brief flashback to when he wanted to meet Sbeve and how Sbeve wanted to unite player kind and mob kind. He wanted to give Carl and Ricardo a chance to prove that they could change this world for the greater of every race.

However, the creeper mob wasn't something players could easily befriend due to their 'explosive' nature. If the player began to annoy the creeper even slightly, it'll start a snowball that'll roll into an avalanche of explosive chain reactions.

Dan started to sweat mountains of dews as soon as he looked at Ryan's face. Ryan was an experienced player so he was the least likely to be convinced. As for Carl and Ricardo, Dan surmised they were completely out of the picture since their reaction to his apology seemed genuine.

Dan was dancing on very thin ice. If he didn't get on one of their good sides, the three players would leave him to starve beneath the cold waterfall. It would truly be a very painful demise both physically and mentally. His mind slowly broke when he started to think about the scenarios in which he had failed to win over their trust.

Carl began another question with eyes still full of suspicion. "Tell me. Why do you need our help?"

Dan thought about why he had gotten stuck down in this mineshaft and his memories started to haze up. Nothing, the word best used to describe what his past was filled. He had no recollection of what he was doing during the great war, he only retained the fact that it had happened and what had happened. He didn't even know if he ever was a part of the war.

He broke down even more. Dan started to question his existence as a mob. If creepers blew up when they were emotionally unstable, then why wasn't he dead? Did he not care about Sbeve? Did he subconsciously forgive the rotten players of the past? Was Sbeve even real?

"I really don't know why I'm stuck down here. It's been five years since I last saw the sun. I haven't seen another creeper or player in ages. I was desperate. I messed up my only chance to properly greet you. You know what isolation can do to you right? I've been running and running for the past five years. In this ever-shifting mineshaft, I don't even know if escape was even possible."

"What were you running from? Other players?" Carl asked.

"Spiders. Giant cave spiders. Although weak individually. They tend to pack up to offset this weakness. They are one of the few mobs that can move blocks without using enchantments. I can't really fight back if my only option is to self-destruct."

Ricardo's stomach started to growl even louder than before. This time it echoed across the cave. After three or four seconds had passed, faint clackings of small stones echoed back to their location.

The four looked at each other with enlarged eyes. The three players immediately assumed a defensive stance all the while keeping a close watch on their captive.

"Don't worry. Spiders aren't venturous mobs. That growl sounded new to them so I don't think they will be coming to us anytime soon." Dan told the three.

The creeper realized this was an opportunity to start building a foundation of trust between its captors. He suggested that he was able to find them safe food to eat. He told them about brown and red mushrooms that had been growing on the mossy slimes on the cave's walls.

Not wanting to see his friend suffer any longer, Carl took Dan on his offer. Ryan used his fishing rod as a leash and wanted Dan to distance himself from them at least five blocks at all times. Dan eventually led them to a small stone room. At one of its corners, there was a small colony of mushrooms growing.

The gang inspected the plantation to see if it was truly safe to eat. Unfortunately, Ricardo's hunger got the better of him, he started to gobble up the fungi indiscriminately. The proportions were uneven, causing Ricardo to feel trippy and his vision starts to distort. The ambient sound of caves now sounded like moos from cows to him. There was also a tiny llama screeching behind his head.

After filling his stomach to the brim, Ricardo fell to the ground and panicked his friends. Carl tried to force the shrooms out of Ricardo's belly but they had already been digested. Ryan glared at Dan and dashed towards him. He pummeled and kicked the creeper relentlessly until it was close to dying.

Leaving his friend on the ground, Carl held Ryan from behind since he didn't want anymore quest penalties and thought that only the creeper knew how to cure Ricardo if it was the one that tried to poison them.

They both turned to a bruised looking bush known as Dan and both shouted "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

Dan looked pathetic. He could barely move his lips and summoned just enough strength to answer them with as much honesty as he could.

"He ate... an uneven amount... he'll" *coughs "be fine... let" *coughs repeated "him wait it out..."

*Dan passes out as well