Finding the Tomb of the Minecraft Mafia

On the unstable SMP, there once was a team called the Invisible Mafia. Led by the player AshSwag, the Mafia had one rule. Stay invisible, no matter what. You see, whenever someone joined the Mafia, they were forced to throw an enderpearl into a stasis chamber, and if that player's identity was ever revealed, they would be teleported and killed.

Through this evil method of control, the Mafia grew to thousands of members and conquered civilization after civilization after civilization. But just as it seemed like the server had lost all hope, a small alliance of players fought back and saved the server by destroying the Mafia's enderpearls. But it was already too late. Due to the Mafia's greed, most of the world's resources had been looted, and since then,

players have been in a constant struggle for survival. However, rumor has it that these resources were never destroyed. Instead, they were hidden somewhere out on the unstable SMP, in a place called the Tomb of the Mafia. Recently, my friend Theo and I got our hands on a book which claimed that the tomb was located at a set of coordinates far out in the N-Dimension.

But coordinates weren't the only thing written in this book.

Whatever you do, just be careful of her. But, coordinates weren't the only thing written in this book.

Whatever you do, just be careful of her.

Hmm.

I think we should be able to just head this way. If we take this end gateway, we should be fine. So Theo and I started heading out to the coordinates in the book, unsure as to what that message could even mean. Wait, are you throwing?

What?

Wait, what?

Well, I can just use my elytra. Okay. what that message could even mean. Where are you throwing? What? What?

Well, I can just use my light.

Okay.

Oh yeah. I can just do this.

My God.

Dude, dude.

Dude.

Are you good?

I just got dropped straight into the void!

Are you okay?

Yeah I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine.

What a clutch bro. You're actually the guilt for hitting that.

Oh my gosh I- Dude okay let's go let's go let's go. Wow the end dimension looks untouched, the mafia has already looted everything here. Dude 250,000 blocks out and the end ships are still looted. Meaning that pretty much all the servers' elytras or shulker boxes are probably in the tomb as well.

But if we were going to even find the tomb in the first place, we would have to travel a lot further out than this, into an area of the end that has practically never been

explored.

I think we're about to see something interesting. I think that we've reached the first end ring.

What's that? What's an end ring?

If you zoom out a ton in the end dimension, these end islands just cut off, and there's rings of void.

Whoa.

This means that if the Tomb of the Mafia is actually out here, it's purely in of void. This means that if the tomb of the mafia is actually out here, it's purely in the void. There's nothing else.

I really wish we had two elytras. Me too, but we don't, so.

Okay, you ready? Yep.

Oh, dude get in. Okay, okay. We're off, we're off, we're off we're off we're off dude into just pure void, bro All right, do not hit your shift key I know dude, I'm not even touching my keyboard right now I'm not even touching my keyboard

Dude this is terrifying. I This better be worth it bro, we better get the tomb of the mafia riches.

We'll find it.

What the-

You spin me right around, baby, right around.

Theo, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! Theo! Theo! Stop! Oh my gosh dude you're trying to get us killed! You're overreacting, you're overreacting. And eventually, after traveling in complete void for hours, Theo and I arrived at the coordinates written in the book, completely unsure as to what we were going to find there. Whatever you do, just be careful of her what?

Yo, you see that what the heck I think this is it Dude, there's still more look how big it is. Yeah, it's huge

What do you think the treasure is like gonna look like do you think it's just gonna be in a house or something I don't know there's no way it's this easy here we are looks like there's some sort of path in front of us no it's destroying the It's fine. Let's keep it up here. It's a nice hiding spot. Okay. Something feels off about this place. I can't even lie. I don't know, bro.

Whatever you do, just be careful of her. Well, if we die here, at least it'll be a pretty spot for our graves.

We're not gonna die. There's a door.

Wait, what?

There's a door back there.

Oh, I see it!

Whoa!

Yeah. Wait. Is this it? Is this the tomb of the mafia?

Wait, do you- I'm gonna like fly around and see if I can see anyone.

While Theo flew around, I decided to investigate the area. And not only was there a massive door, but there were also two hoppers. Meaning, that we probably needed some sort of key to enter. Theo, see anyone?

I mean coast looks clear, bro.

From what I can tell, we need some sort of key to enter this door.

What? Why don't we just mine it?

No, we shouldn't do that.

What do you mean? Why not?

If other players know about this door, about this tomb, but nobody has found it, I'm sure other players have probably already tried to mine through it, right?

Do you think there's like a TNT trap here or something?

Maybe an alarm, maybe a trap, I'm not sure.

I mean, we could dig through the top.

Players, players, players, players coming. Theo? Theo! Theo! Theo, there's players! Come over here! Hide!

What? Where? Where?

Coming on flying machines. You see them?

Yeah I see them.

Hide behind this rock.

How does everybody know about this bro?

That's what I'm saying, it doesn't make any sense. Here let's see what they do. However, these were no ordinary players. To my surprise, one of them was CoinMonkey, or Coin for short. One of my friends that I hadn't seen in months. And from what it looked like, he, as well as the other players, were trying to get past

this door as well. I get that but what if there's like a trap or something you know like what if like we break the door and like There's like a TNC trap. What if there's like a key or something?

Do you have any idea how much loot the mafia had bro?

Yeah I get that but like I get okay, okay, you're right. You're right.

Okay, coin, coin. If you're scared, I'll break it bro.

No, no, no. You're good boss. I'll... alright, let's go. What the yo, what the yo, you good? Yeah, what?

Are we what?

Where are you? Hello? Oh, you're right. I'm here. I mean, what's happening bro? Why are we blind? Why are we blind? What what the what?

Who is this from? Yeah is our team bro Hello?

Yo

I don't know

I don't think we should really do this

Okay, Koin think about it bro

This is four of us

They have an I-Trim chestplate and full anatomy bro Come on

Koin We're gonna kill them bro Yeah, okay if you don't leave we're just gonna kill you

We need to go I don't like the feeling of this. I don't know if we should do this or not. Whoa, whoa, whoa, we're blind again.

We're blind again.

Yo, right here.

Wait, what?

Blue? Boss?

Yo, yo, yo, hold up, hold up, hold up.

What the? What the?

Yo, yo.

They're gonna die if we don't help them!

Okay, okay, okay.

Are we- are we saving him or not then? You make the call, bro.

What?

Oh yo, you guys are good? You guys good? Oh gosh, okay, um... Uh, yo, yo.

Yo, we need to go. We have to help, we have to help, we have to help! coin coin coin standard standard these dude dude come over here Pierce legend come here I mean Pierce legend yo he's literally dead oh my god guys yo what is that guys we gotta go we gotta go we gotta go what do we do this way run run run run run give me a way. Run, run, run, run, run. Do you have any enderpearls?

Yo, just run, just run, just run, run, run, run, run. Run, run, run. Yo, yo, yo, just go, just go, just go, just go.

Just go. Just go. P why are you here? Okay? Who is that?

Dude, that that's literally the best Minecraft player in the entire world, bro. Yeah, what? Why is she what is she doing? I don't know what is happening

That's what flame meant in the book the tomb is guarded by Marlo, bro

He could have been a bit more specific

Specific bro, like come on. Okay, let's go. We got it. We got to get out. We got to get out You see, out of the hundreds of millions of people who play Minecraft, Marlow is literally the best player, recently surpassing the likes of It's Real Me to claim that title. And if someone as strong as Marlow was guarding that door, I had no idea how we were supposed to get inside.

Dude, I don't want to push you guys off.

Co-Coin, do you know anywhere near here, dude? Like we have nowhere to go.

I actually do. I know a place. I know a place. I know a place. I know a place. OK, OK.

Tell Theo the coordinates so he can just go there before.

OK, OK, OK.

I will.

I will.

This is messed up, bro.

All right, got you. I will.

Yo, see you later, bro.

Bye.

Who is that guy? That's my friend. What happened to like that? You know what? I won't ask any questions. Okay. So what were you doing out here, dude? Like it's been like a while since we last talked. Um. But I didn't expect to meet you out here at the Tomb of the Mafia.

I never thought I would see you ever again. Yeah, no. Basically, all I did was just join a bandit crew and we just ended up here and I didn't expect for us to get jumped like that by whoever, Mar- how do you say their name?

Marlow?

Marlow.

I don't want to think about that man. Like, I thank you so much, genuinely.

I don't know if I, if you weren't there I would have died.

It was true. Marlow had probably killed hundreds of players and the fact that we were even alive right now was a miracle. But I wasn't going to let this stop me from breaking into the tomb, and luckily, Coen explained that this place we were heading to would help me do just that. What in the world is that, dude?

Oh, um…

I'll explain when we get there.

I'll explain when we get there.

Okay. Wait, is that Theo? Yeah, I think that's your friend down there.

Yeah, there he is.

Theo, what's good?

Yo, about time you slowpokes made it over here.

All right, bro.

Took us an hour, bro. This is a crazy end base and it's just in the middle of an end ring, like completely

surrounded by void. I cannot lie. Fair warning. Fair. Yeah, no, that caught your eye, huh? Uh, but the one bad thing about this, the one bad thing about this There's a lot of strange people here, man. I'm not gonna lie to you

What do you mean strange people? Yeah, let's just let's just go inside

I'm warning you guys by the way. Yeah, here's the inside

What the?

Yeah, um...

Hey, what's up? What are you looking at? Get back to your game.

I know you cheated, bro. Bro, that's not fair. I know you cheated, bro. What that's not fair bro. I know you cheated bro.

What are you gonna do about it?

I don't wanna do this bro. Just give it back bro.

But I... Yo.

What's that? The guy just... Alright.

Yeah, you see what I mean though right?

Yeah. Dude, why are we even here is this gonna help

us find the tomb at all honestly can I give you my honest advice my honest like like my honest advice I I don't think you should really think about there though I can't lie we have to all right you heard the boss we have to all right well go talk to the guy in the middle, the guy who just killed Lord, whatever his name was. But that's all I have really say. All right. See you, Courtney. It was nice running into you, bro. Yeah, no, great. Really nice running into you.

Oh my gosh. All right. Well, you guys have you guys good luck on your journey. All right. I'll

see y'all later. Bye. Peace. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too, man.

Hello? Hello there.

So, I don't know if you overheard, but that guy Coin said he knew something about the tomb of the mafia. Well, I do know things about the vault, but I mean, I just want to play this game right now, so. A game? I hadn't come this far just to turn around now. And if I had to play some game to learn more about the tomb, so be it. I didn't have a choice. What's this? A shulker box?

Oh.

If I'm gonna sit down here and play this game with you, I need proof that you know something about the tomb. Well, I have the key to the tomb right here in my hands. Where did you get that key from?

I stole it from Marlow. Dude, he's probably lying bro, you're gonna get scammed.

How do we play?

Okay, bro.

This is a game called Eightfold. The rules are really simple. First you will be given an item.

Don't show anybody this item.

Okay.

As you can see on the wall, that item has a point value.

Based on the point value of the item you get, you can make a bet. If you want to keep playing, you have to put in the same amount of diamonds or more than

me.

Or at any point, you can fold, which means I keep everything in the chest.

Raspin has bet 32 diamonds. Would you like to match or fold? Based on what was on the wall, a dirt block was apparently the worst item, with a point value of 1. But 32 diamonds wasn't too bad, and this was still only a warmup anyway. I'll match.

Now you're gonna get a second item. Now for the final round of betting. Since I had only an emerald and a dirt block, my total point value was 7, which was definitely on the weaker side. Staying in this game didn't make much sense. I fold.

And sure enough, Rasplin's hand was worth 8 points, while mine was only worth 7. I see. You won, but this isn't just a game about pure odds. You could have been lying right there. Like bluffing to try to get me to fold on purpose. Well, exactly. That's what makes this game so fun. So, are you ready to actually play

now? Yeah, I think uh, I think it's good to call it there, right? Alright, let's do it. Okay, dude, what I- Yep, don't listen to Theobald. Yep, no, just, whatever Theobald's saying is probably just a bunch of yap.

Theo did have a point. There was a chance that I was going to walk away from this completely empty handed. But seeing that my first item was a netherite ingot, which had the highest point value in the whole game, I knew that I had to keep going. Especially since if I played my cards right, I could get the key to the tomb.

The last one has bet 7 netherite ingots. Would you like to match or fold?

What?

We'll say one netherite ingot is 32 diamonds. I match. Unfortunately, my second item was a dirt block, but still, since I had a total point value of 9, it made sense to stay in. Oh my god.

What? I lost again.

Parrot, like, what are we doing here, bro?

That's just the game, my friend. I was running out of items fast, but luckily, once again, I was given a netherite ingot, worth the maximum of 8 points. If Rasplin was only betting one stack of diamonds, logically he probably had a worse item than me. I'll match it. An emerald. Paired with my netherite ingot from before, I now had a point value of 14. Statistically, Rasplin had around a 3.5% chance of having a better hand than me.

Winning this was pretty much guaranteed.

All right, Perrin.

I want you to bet everything that you own. The arm you're wearing, your totems, whatever you have, the shulker box. I want you to put everything on the line right now.

And in exchange, I will give you the thing that you want,

the key to the vault.

It is literally just a piece of paper. He crafted that with 3 sugar cane, bro.

Rasplyn is going all in. Would you like to match or fold?

He- Parrot, there's no way, dude. He is lying!

The game is rigged! You are-

What are you doing, bro?

Parrot has matched. Rasplyn had a netherite ingot and a diamond. The only hand that was better than mine.

WHAT?!

What the?

Hey yo bro, what was that?

What is- Oh my god, parrot.

Run, run, run!

Get your armor, parrot!

What the? What's going on? Go get out get out get out get out. Let's go let's go. Dude. Okay that was actually really good.

What are you talking about?

Like, what?

What?

What do you mean that was good, dude?

You just threw away your armor for nothing!

Well, that guy stole a key off of Marlow. Marlow would have no reason to show up to that station if the key wasn't real.

And what does that change about our situation, Parrot?

We're gonna do exactly what that player did. We're gonna steal the key from Marlow. Well? Are you going to lead the way?

You okay?

I know this was my plan, but like, I've never ran into a player like this. Yeah, I can't lie, this is a little bit scarier than any other person we've tried to fight. Dude, I'd- okay, here, you should take the elytra, because you have no armor, like you're

just going to get one tapped.low, we wouldn't stand a chance. But the point is, if all we have to do is get the key, then we have a shot. I think I have an idea. Put on your armor. Yeah. Pretend this is where the hoppers are, of the tomb. Throw an item onto them. You see what I'm trying to get at? The plan was simple.

I was proposing that we lock the hoppers outside of the tomb door, and then, when Marlow tried to enter with her key, I'd shoot her away with my punch to bow. At the same time, Theo would end her pearl

in and steal the ki before she could even react. But we only get one shot at this. She doesn't even know we're on the island dude. Okay so after you shoot her, he's gonna turn to you right? Yeah. Okay what if we have like an escape tunnel nearby as well so like after I pearl Yeah, let's do that. Let's do that It's not even a terrible plan. Honestly, I think we can pull this off

I think we can pull it off too, but if we mess it up, this is over But do you know what I did also bring? What tipped arrows I have arrows of slowness

To use on her yeah, oh

She's here

Where right there right right down there dude, I don't think I've ever seen a player so heartless, bro

Yeah, that was that was kind of cold-blooded

Just killed rasp one in front of everyone bro, and she killed those four players Where do we where do we go once we're in the escape tunnel? But, executing this plan was a lot easier said than done. And in order for it to even work, we would first need to lock the hoppers, making sure that they couldn't pick up any items. Yo, if we're gonna do this now's our chance. I don't see her.

Okay, um. Where are the levers? You can go.

Here, take.

Okay. Be careful.

Be fast. here take okay be careful be fast I'm gonna go get some water. Although we had managed to lock the hoppers, that was still only the easy part. From here, not only would I have to wait until Marlow tried to enter the tomb, but the angle and timing of my arrow needed to be extremely precise. And on top of that, I was putting an insane amount of trust into Theo, since he would

Run! Run! Run! Go! Escape! Escape to the top!

Where? I forgot! I don't even know!

I don't remember where it is!

Just go!

Just go!

Just go!

Go!

Go!

Go! I'll walk up! Go! I don't even know. I'm leaving. He's on me. ♪♪ ♪♪ Okay, if we get split off, where do we meet again? Meet by that lake.

Hello? Meet by the lake?

Yo? What, where? Where are you?

I'm over here, I'm over here, behind the rock. Where are you? Oh my god, dude. I have it, I have the you? I'm over here, I'm over here, behind the rock. Where are you?

Oh my god, dude. I have it, I have the key. I'm in the lilacs, yeah, I'm right here.

Okay, we should run, we should run.

Dude, oh my god.

What?

We have the key.

Here, come this way. We gotta find a hiding spot. Yeah. We just have to wait for enough time to pass by and when she forgets about us or just leaves the island That's our chance to sneak into the tomb right here

You're in miss you're in miss I know I know

Yeah, she must have like an extra key what what is the what what is the key cannot can I see what it is

Yeah, we it, it's here.

QW7RZ. Oh, I see. So it's a piece of paper with a code.

Dude, we're like, what do you think is in the tomb, man?

Treasure. Dude, the mafia was a team with thousands of players.

I know, dude.

Think about how much wealth they amassed. They had literally thousands of netherite sets. Theo, don't you think it's kinda strange that Marlow guards this tomb? She's extremely skilled, right? And also powerful. I feel like she could do whatever she wanted to do. She could rule over thousands of players. She could start her own civilization. She could become a bounty hunter, a vigilante, anything. But yet for some reason she's guarding this random tomb 500,000 blocks out in the n

dimension. Also crouch, dude Like I Can't even be asked to think about this bro like I don't know I I think she just gets a kick out of just Camping this treasure that everyone's trying to get to and just to tapping all the noobs who come out here. I Bro for all I know she's just evil. She's just doing it for the for the laughs Hmm I don't I don't know. I literally don't know. I don't really care either. I just want the treasure. I just want to get the treasure and get out of here, bro. Yeah, that's fair.

This is like way more than we bargained for. But that's kind of true. I guess I guess we're in this deep, bro. We can't we can, bro. We can't come back without the treasure.

Theo and I spent the next few hours waiting around in our hideout. Until eventually, I was confident that more than enough time had passed. Theo? Theo? It's been more than enough time. Let's go. Let's grab our stuff. Yeah, 100%.

Okay, let's go.

Where are you?

I'm going to keep my totem on.

Me too. She's not here.

You sure she could be like hiding.

Dude, it's been days.

I know she doesn't strike me as the impatient type. I don't know. She doesn't strike me as the impatient type.

You ready?

Yeah. Come on.

Please tell me that was the key. Oh my.

Oh my God.

Go, go, go, go, go.

Let's go in. Oh my oh my god, go go go go go. Let's go in. Oh my god What the whoa, oh my god, yo, oh my god

This is it this is it

Yo

I'm putting on my armor. I don't I don't know what we're about to see. I

Think this is something.

What the?

I'm nervous dude.

What am I looking at? What is this?

I don't know. What's the play here? Uh. Um, what's... Dude.

This looks like it's some sort of maze.

Think there could be traps? Umm, what's... dude. This looks like it's some sort of maze.

Think there could be traps?

I don't know. Dude, like...

Uhh... Alright, left wall. uh... alright left wall

what is going on

so click a dead end. I thought the tomb was supposed to be behind that door.

I don't know man, I'm getting freaked out. This is like ridiculous. Dude, what the? This hallway is so long.

It just keeps going and going. I think it's some sort of maze created to protect the tomb. the Oh my god, where I can't see

She's here she's here you have your totem, right

What do we do?

What is... Okay, uh, Parrot, just run. Just run. Just run, Parrot.

Just run.

Theo, are you gonna be fine?

Yeah, I'll do my best. You have no armor, bro. Just go!

Dude, Theo. Dear Theo... Theo? Theo! Hello? Dude, he told me he was gonna be fine. What is he talking about, dude? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. Dude, he told me he was gonna be fine. What is he talking about, dude? With Theo gone, I had a decision to make. On one hand, I could turn around and stop searching for the tomb. But, knowing that Theo could potentially still be in here, I didn't have a choice. I had to keep pushing forward.

What is this? Theo?

These are Theo's items.

She killed Theo. By this point, I knew that if I kept going, I was going to die. But, then again, if I turned back now, I would be leaving empty-handed in every single way. I had to keep moving. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ Today I joined the Invisible Mafia. My best friend was forced to join the mafia and I haven't seen her since, so if I join myself and protect as many members as possible, I might be protecting her too. She always protected me when I joined the server, so it's the least I can do. I just hope I won't have to kill any players. I hate the mafia so much. I wish we could all stop being invisible around each other. Maybe then I'd be able to see her again. The mafia was defeated today, but I'm still invisible.

Every mafia member knows that when you become a member, you have to throw an enderpearl that might one day kill you if you're ever not invisible. I recently discovered that this is only half of the truth. The mafia has hidden away all its treasures inside this secret tomb, and if any item leaves this place, all members will be killed by the void at once. I'm not sure how many pearls are left, but it has to be hundreds if not thousands. I'm too afraid to count all of them.

I'll spend the rest of my time on this server protecting the treasure at all costs. I'll pretend to be a monster so that all players will run far away from this place. I hope the former mafia members can live peacefully.

They'll never know what I'm doing for them, but that doesn't matter. I just hope my friend is still playing on the server. I wish I could leave this place and go look for her. What? Today, another group of treasure hunters showed up at the entrance again. They didn't run from the alarm as I had hoped. Even when I revealed my identity, they weren't scared. Luckily, another group showed up and gave me an excuse to stop killing them.

I hoped they wouldn't come back, but they entered the catacombs after stealing my key. I fought one of them named Theobald, but I just couldn't get myself to kill him. He reminded me too much of my old friend. He protected his friend with his life, just like my friend would protect me when I joined the server.

I made Theobald put all of his items in a chest and brought him up.

I'm still not sure if it was the right thing to do. I used to tell myself that I'm only pretending to be a monster to scare people away, but recently I've started to believe that maybe I really am a monster. I wish that one day someone might read this book

and realize that I don't want to be one. You... You never actually wanted to kill anyone? You were just doing it to protect other people. You're not alone. Each one of these is a singular person. Marlow, where are you going? If someone takes something from the tomb, they all die.

I'm sorry. You're not alone. the the the So so You The tomb of the mafia. This is it. So Each of these rooms is filled with a completely different resource. so so So Theo? Theo! Wait, you're alive? Yeah. Wait, you... This is my... You got my phone?

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Theo! Wait... You're alive? Yeah...

Wait... You... This is my- You got my stuff back! Oh my god... Dude...

What- what even happened? Did you get any of the tre- Did you find the tomb?

Oh my god.

Dude, it is all my- I- Parrot, this has gotta be like- I don't even- I don't wanna do this anymore, bro. So did you find the tomb or what? Like what even happened?

Yeah, I did find it.

Dude, I cannot believe I missed this treasure too. That's so messed up. Like okay so how much of it did you bring? How much of it did you get? Like you have shoulders on you? Like no I didn't take anything. What? What tens of millions of items and you took nothing? What what are you talking about? Hello? Dude...

I was wrong about her.

About Marlo?

Yeah, and I've been wrong about everybody else. And like, I know you get annoyed at me a lot for some of the stuff I do, which like you have every right to get annoyed. But I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for like putting you through all this.

Hey, I mean, I forgive you, man.

So what are we going to do now? We're we're just broke again, right?

I don't know yet. I can pretty confidently say that I'm done hunting treasure, though.

What? I thought you like wanted to save the server. How are we going to do anything without stuff?

To be honest, I don't even know anymore. I don't even know what I want to do. But um... When I figure that out, will you come with me?

Yeah, I mean, dude, of course. You're my best friend, right? Plus, dude, if I didn't come with you, you'd be dead within a day.

Okay, dude. All right, bro. All right.

We're saying anything. Tell me I'm wrong.

Tell me I'm wrong. I'm the biggest bird, bro. I'm the biggest bird, bro.

Bro, you are not the biggest bird. That is just objectively false, bro. I'm like,