Tales from the SMP/The Lost City of Mizu

The Lost City of Mizu is the fourth installment of Tales from the SMP. It was streamed on January 24, 2021, at 9 PM EST. The episode takes place a hundred years into the future, where the stories and legacies of the members of the SMP have been passed down throughout generations. However, despite the legacy left behind, many inhabitants of the future SMP do not believe that these people really existed.

Finding the Lost City of Mizu
A group of four fishermen (Isaac [Karl], Benjamin [Bad], Charles [Ranboo], and Cletus [Quackity]) are set to go out fishing one day. Despite their initial plan, Isaac opens their front door to find a mysterious book called "An Adventure!" that had been mysteriously left there. Inside the book had a message: "Hello There! You don't know me but I know you...

Your lives may be boring now, but rest assured, it is time for you to start creating some "tales" to be remembered!

There are many stories you may have heard of that have been passed down from generation to generation; and many are fables.... But some are true!

It is time for you to take a look for yourself. There is a lost underwater city nearby that holds much truly valuable information of the history of this great world we live in.

I implore you to seek it out! Who knows, maybe you'll find something you didn't know existed!

P.S. This city's residence may have been MIA for quite sometime. Maybe they left behind some history themselves!"

- 40px

The book also coordinates to the Lost City of Mizu, and had been written by an anonymous author, only signing "-K" at the end of the book.

The group treads to the coordinates, where they find a stone dome, and underneath the water, a city that they have never seen before. Inside the dome is a room that is locked, and a chest that consists of a lever and a map of a shocked emoji face (which was accidentally left in the chest, as it wasn't supposed to be involved in the story at all). When the lever was used to unlock the iron door, a book on a lectern awaited the group, with the following message: "The City of Mizu!

An underwater city of beauty! Explore the lands and get up and close and personal with all your favorite characters from the Great Disc Wars!

Be welcomed by smiling faces around every corner who all share one thing in common, there beautiful passion for timeless Tall Tales!"

- 40px

The group then found a lever inside the locked room, which when activated, opened a secret passage that led to a ladder straight into the City of Mizu.

Meeting Ranbob
As the group descended down the ladder, they were greeted by Ranbob [Dream], who bore a striking resemblance to a familiar half enderman figure in the SMP. Ranbob introduced himself, and noted that he had been alone for so long, but seemed almost unsure of who exactly he was. Ranbob went on to note that the city had been long abandoned, except for himself, but he wasn't around when the city was first built.

One of the first things the group noticed inside the room was the amount of blood spread around the room. When questioned about this, Ranbob admitted that many people had died within the city. The group had even more questions about the amount of bones and more blood that they found, but Ranbob alluded that it was from leftover food. Ranbob proceeded to show the group around the unlocked rooms, starting with the Community Room, which led to another room that needed a key to be unlocked, however he didn't know where the key was. The group would proceed on to continue touring around the city, finding themselves in the Cafeteria, and another room containing multiple sets of leather armor, along with chests, a crafting table, and other items used for crafting. Ranbob first notes in here that he has bad memory, and can't quite remember things.

Locked rooms
Throughout the city, there were various locked rooms that had to be unlocked with a variant of pressure plates and levers. Each room had a book and quill that had a small blurb about the room's member, however it was usually inaccurate. Each room also had a written book, with more detail about who exactly they were and what role they played in the Disc War. Every room also usually held the key to another locked room within the city, which was usually hidden underneath out of place blocks in the floor.

George the King
While searching for the key for the lost room, they stumble across a room dedicated to George, which has been decorated with a theme of blue, and has pictures of George hanging on the wall. Next to the pictures laid a book which read: "George was the longest lasting king of the SMP. Pictures of him were found all over the SMP proving he was worshipped by his followers, if only Eret hadn't killed him."

Ranbob mentioned that Eret was a tyrant who tried to take over with an iron fist. Isaac found a book and quill in George's room that had the following written in it: "How to get your friends to stop bullying you for being colorblind, a helpful guide..."

Ranbob mentioned to the group that it was an ancient book found at the castle, but that they weren't sure what it meant. Within the room, they also found a block of birch wood, out of place from the rest of the floor.

Ranboo the Traitor
Ranbob takes the group through another tunnel, leading them to a room dedicated to Ranboo. Ranbob reveals that he is a descendant of him on his mother's side, and that his ancestors were the book keepers of the events that happened on the Dream SMP, and that they had some of the greatest memories of all time (although this is alluded to be false, as Ranboo himself has terrible memory). Ranboo is alluded to be a great scholar, along with his descendants, as they wrote the books that are used to tell the stories of the past Dream SMP. The book and quill in this room had the following written in them:

":)

Ranboo the hybrid, part enderman part [REDACTED]. Despite not wanting to choose a side, he unintentionally chose the side of a traitor. In constant inner turmoil his life was filled with ups and downs, but one thing remained important:

His moral backbone was as strong as a chocolate eclair"

- 40px

Inside of Ranboo's room was the key (a pressure plate) to the locked room found at the beginning, which was revealed to be Sapnap's room. There was also a book that read:

"Sapnap! The fierce warrior on the Dream SMP! Heres the key to unlock the Sapnap theme'd room!"

Sapnap the Pet Protector
Inside of Sapnap's room, there were a bunch of slimes named "Maintenance slimes". Ranbob notes that Sapnap was known as a "brute force" who loved his pets, and started the Pet War to defend them. The group finds a wooden axe (which could be used to chop down any birch logs), and a book entitled "A Wooden Axe!" with the following in it:

"The wooden Axe! A staple in the olden days Dream SMP! Used to cut down many a tree, similar to the story of Ponk's Great Tree! Use this axe to break any birch logs you may see around. Could be anywhere in our great city!"

- 40px

They also find a book in a quill in Sapnap's room which reads:

"Just how strong was sapnap? Some say he could bench press mountains..."

- 40px

Exploring the city
Isaac notices a wooden trapdoor in the room and beckons the group to go down it. They find a room full of barrels and an enclosed farm. They find a book log belonging to a farmer, stating:"Farm Log 538

Someone spread poison in the soil, won't be able to grow any crops until it's cleaned or we replace it..."

They find another tunnel entranced with the sign "Danger" overhead. They go through it anyways despite the warning. Within the tunnel, there was a storage log, itemizing 5 chests of beats, 2 barrels of steak, 3 partridges, and 15 chickens.

At the end of the tunnel, they discover the meeting and armory room, and according to Ranbob, was where the council held their meetings and discussed their decisions. On the table was another book:"Meeting Notes

- Discuss decreasing food supply

- Status on strange sightings around east wing

- Status on energy Products"

The group continue down the main hall and find the power room, which was powered by lava, and monitored by computers. Cletus attempts to play Neopets, Angry Birds, and Club Penguin, because according to him, his ancestor used to play those computer games. They eventually travel upstairs and find a birch log and they proceed to mine it. Underneath it is a chest containing Fundy's room key. Ranbob leads them to Fundy's room, forgetting the direction on the way due to his inherited memory issues.

Fundy the Pet
They find Fundy's room containing his fursuit, and more historian documentaries about him. The book within the middle of the room stated:"Still unsure if Fundy was a person or a pet... Will have to do more research"

Another book continued on:"Fundy: The best pet we ever could have asked for."

Ranbob told the group that historians were still conflicted about Fundy's species and role. They also find a wooden pickaxe with a book next to it, which read:"The Wooden PickAxe! A perfect showing off what Dream SMP is all about. With all of the countless fights, there will always be the understanding, everyone is meant to mine! Use this on every brick block that you see! It could be anywhere in the city, who know this could lead to keys to rooms!"

Before they traveled back to the main, all they found another book about Fundy:"Hello! Fundy is my favourite character of all time! Many look at his character as a great warrior, some look at him as Tommy's pet! I look at him as the best character in all of the stories my family passed down!"

As they head down the main hallway, they come across a maintenance log:"The air filtration unit has reached maximum capacity, searching out alternatives to maintain proper oxygen levels. Investigating coral oxygen production."

They travel back to the Farm room and find a brick block, they mine it to find a chest containing nothing. They then explore the cafeteria room and find another brick block and proceeded to mine it, uncovering a chest with a key to a room belonging to Quackity with a book along with it:"Quackity is such a bizarre character to me! He's always so happy go lucky even though there are so many bad things happening around him in these Folk Tales! BIZZARRE!!! I want to understand his character more... Maybe if I spent more time in his room...."

Quackity the Bard
They try to find Quackity's room but had difficulty finding it, Ranbob admits that he has memory issues due to years of solitude. They eventually find Quackity's room and go inside to explore. The room is decorated with stone bricks and lanterns with a big yellow duck floor design in the middle of the room. They find documentaries of Quackity around the room:"Quackity the Bard was famous for his songs all across the land....

If only he wasn't also the most prolific nudist....

He also liked to pull pranks on other members of the SMP and apparently idolized Skeppy and copied him frequently....."

"Quackity was a character that time and time again was found being hyper optimistic even though there was so much chaos surrounding him! He was eager to hang with BadBoyHalo frequently from his "manly charm" as described in the stories...

For this reason there is a button hidden in this room to unlock the gate leading to BBH's lair!"

They eventually find the secret button under the desk and opened the barriers to Bad's lair on the opposite side of the hallway.

Skeppy the Diamond Idol
They first explore the first room they came across the tunnel. Ranbob mentions this belonged to Skeppy, one of the Idols. The room was decorated in lots of blue with a face of Skeppy imprinted on the floor. Paintings of Skeppy and BadBoyHalo can be seen inside the room (along with the credit to the art), a pot containing a poppy flower on the desk, and diamonds within the chests. They find documentaries of Skeppy in the room:

"Skeppy was a man so rich they say the he coated his skin in solid diamond, I believe this to be an exaggeration though.

He was however known to be very best friends with BadBoyHalo. If a little obsessed with him....


 * correction from the first page, was obsessed with Karl Jacobs, not BadBoyHalo"

The correction being added by Issac at that point.

Ranbob/Dream mentioned that Skeppy had been believed to encounter a change of colour, but he stood by his belief that it is incorrect. This is most likely a reference to the Eggpire.

Another book read:

{{Quote|1=Hmmm... I love Skeppy and BadBoyHalo! Some stories I can't tell if they are best friends, married, hate each other, or just the same person all together! One thing's for sure... I think there is something beyond the BBH room that I can't quite reach. I guess we'll never know!}

BadBoyHalo the Spell Caster
They then explore Bad's room, which is decorated with lots of red blocks, a desk full of computers a pot containing a cornflower, and a picture of Skeppy above the bed. They find more documentaries about BadBoyHalo.

"BadBoyHalo was known for his prolific cursing and casting spells on other people. His most powerful enchantment was apparently "Lan-gu-age" which would prevent the target from speaking..."

Ranbob added there was one other story that was told, that he cooked muffins for the entire server, but this was unconfirmed. They explore the room and find a brick block with a lever underneath. They flip it, opening a secret door leading to someone's room.

The unnamed room
The room is decorated with bookshelves and the colors green and purple, along with a Codename: Kids Next Door poster in the center. Ranbob has trouble remembering whose it's supposed to be. They find a book, which read as follows:"Who is this?? I honestly am so confused. I feel like sometimes this character is a major part of something, and the next minute, no where to be found?? There are so many mysteries about this one, but mostly, why does this room need access to the water?"

Underneath the room in the water, they find a chest in a Minecart, Charles goes underwater to get the contents of it. He resurfaces to the group and finds a key belonging to the room of Tommy and Tubbo.

It is implied that this room most likely belongs to Karl, as indicated by the image displayed on the TV, the color scheme of the room, and the fact that no one knows who the room is dedicated to. Isaac also secretly locks the room behind him on their way out.

Tubbo the Great Leader
Ranbob leads them to Tubbo and Tommy's room and they unlock it. Tubbo's room was decorated in yellow with lots of references to a bee, and a picture on the wall of Tubbo with others from L'Manberg, which the group look into. They find documentaries about Tubbo:"Tubbo was the leader and most experienced fighter of the Manburg Warriors. His most loyal follower and ally was Tommy..."

"Getting a bee specimen under water has proven most difficult....

I do not understand why Tubbo considered these a delicacy as the stingers make my mouth swell up extremely..."

They then all click the bed, to reset their spawn position to within the room.

Tommy the Plate Collector
They explore upstairs and find Tommy's room, which was decorated with red, had the same L'Manberg picture as Tubbo did in his room, and had a picture of the Queen. They also found more documentaries about him.

"Tommy was apparently a big fan and collector of plates. They all appear to be damaged however with a hole in the middle...."

Underneath the picture of the queen read:"Found a picture of a Goddess that Tommy used to worship.... Will see what else I can uncover in the old storage."

They find a wooden shovel in his room and a note next to it:

"The Wooden Shovel! Always proven to be an extremely useful tool in many tales about the Dream SMP.

Use this shovel to dig up any grass path blocks! They may have some important clues to unlock more parts of our Beautiful City of Mizu!"

They go downstairs to Tubbo's room and find a grass pathway block. What they found underneath was a chest containing a tree dome key and a book about Tubbo.

"TUBBO! Tubbo is so easily one of the most loveable characters in any story anyone has told me from my time in this city! So gracious, caring, and HE LOVES BEES! Actually, he loves nature so much, that I'd bet if he ever came to this City, he'd love the beautiful Tree dome room!"

The Tree Dome
The group decided to go back into the main hall and find the tree dome, on the way they find a brick block and mine it, finding a chest with nothing inside. They continue their journey to the tree dome, putting the lever onto the door and it opens. They explore the Tree dome, a giant circular room with bushes outlining the walls and a giant tree in the middle, a swingset, and a bench with a jukebox next to it. They notice that Ranbob is nowhere to be seen, but find a grass path block with a chest underneath containing a "Secret room key". Within the tree, They notice a chest above the tree and they decide to vote through a one-minute chat poll for who goes up and get its contents.

It was decided that Cletus climbs the tree and he willingly does so. Cletus makes it to the top and grabs a book from the chest. The tree suddenly sets on fire and Ranbob suddenly appears behind Cletus, setting off TNT and burning the latter. Cletus throws the book towards Isaac before burning to death. Isaac, panicked, races towards Skeppy's room, and sees the Tree burning from the window. He then goes to read the book."Hmmmmm. No one usually checks up here... well... I suppose I should reveal where my secret room is hidden away..

Go back through the main hall. It'll fit perfectly into the block that doesn't seem to fit in..

If you're reading this you're probably aware, once within the City of Mizu, there is no escape...

I wish you the best of luck. Go down there, I guarantee that will be your best way to survive.

-???"

The Secret Room
They go back to the Meeting room and find chiseled stone brick and placed the lever on it, revealing another underground pathway. They climb down and find another documentary that whoever explored here could not traverse through the lava room:

"I haven't quite built up the courage to try and traverse that lava ridden room, but maybe. No, for sure that must hold the key to this unlocked room. It must be a way out."

The other end of the room being the secret room, but it was sealed off. The group decides who to elect to go through the parkour (via a Chat poll), and ends up choosing Benjamin for the task. He reluctantly agrees to do it, and goes through the course in fear of falling. Benjamin makes it to the final step but unfortunately trips and falls into the lava.

Isaac and Charles are shocked at the loss of another friend, but Isaac focuses on his mission and goes through the parkour himself. He makes it through the parkour successfully and finds a chest with a key inside it at the end of the parkour. He climbs back down and reunites with Charles and they find their way to the opposite of the room, opening the secret room with the key they found.

The secret room is decorated in black concrete and neon green pillars, with diamond armor and weaponry surrounding the room. At the end of the room is an enclosure that contains a mysterious creature. Ranbob interrupts them and explains that everyone worshipped some kind of Idol, which is why all of the rooms were themed based on an SMP member, and that his Idol is Dream. When asked if Dream was a good guy, Ranbob replies that he was, depending on how you look at it. Ranbob then traps both of them inside stating that "Nobody leaves here" and kills both Charles and Isaac, with the screen turning black.

The present day
The screen reappears, with Karl inside a cave with a purple and sky blue spiral on the wall, similar to Karl's design, and in the form of a portal. There's also a chest, with 2 books and a map, which Karl takes. He then travels up the cave to a ladder, lit up by a soul lantern, and climbs the ladder to end up in his office.

He documents his recent adventure:

"The Lost City of Mizu.

A terrible place from many years in the future. It was told that 4 brave fisherman went in, looking for stories to tell for themselves, but ended up only meeting the same fate as the many residents of this once happy city."

He signs it, and places it next to the other time traveling adventures from the series. The map displays the poster for the episode, and places it in its frame above the book.

He also writes a diary log:

"Diary Entry #1

Each time I travel I remember less and less. I really need to start writing these as soon as I come back to the present day...

I'm going to start keeping track of every time I travel...

I'm worried one day I'll travel and not even remember who I am anymore.

..

maybe I should stop..

...

No

I can't stop...

I have to keep doing my part....

Maybe if I travel enough, I'll be able to right some wrongs... Maybe do something to prevent all of the bad I keep seeing

...

I need to keep this quiet. I can't tell anyone what happens or how I know these stories...

But I can try to do my part to steer this world in the correct direction.

Til next time.

Don't forget who you are."

He places the diary entry in a chest in the corner of the room, and then goes outside his hut, which is by Party Island, after covering his secret portal room. He looks out towards the ruins of L'Manburg, where he reveals in full his hoodie showing with the colors slightly different than before, implying the effects of time traveling and ends the stream.

Trivia

 * Most of the documentaries depict the Idols in the opposite of their actual descriptions.
 * This is likely due to the fact that most of the citizens of Mizu are descendants of Ranboo, whom all inherited his short-term memory and most likely misplaced some information.
 * Each of the rooms were decorated in retrospect of its respective Idol.
 * Everyone in the city of Mizu worshipped one of these idols. For example, Ranbob's idol was revealed to be Dream towards the end of the episode, which eventually resulted in his infamous line of "no one leaves here" before slaughtering Isaac and Charles.
 * The quote describing Ranboo having the "moral backbone of a chocolate eclair" is likely a reference to a quote by Theodore Roosevelt about William McKinley, who was likewise described to have "no more backbone than a chocolate eclair".
 * This could also be a reference to John Mulaney, a comedian that Ranboo has as a notification sound on his Twitch streams, playing a soundbite of "Look at that high-waisted man, he's got feminine hips!" for resubscriptions, and "Give us some money!" for donations above $20USD.
 * There are likely more books and information in the city that the audience didn't see. Fans have pointed out one instance in which a birch block was missed in George's Room. Karl acknowledged this on his second Twitter account saying, "Hehe guess an unsolved mystery! There were a good bit of things not found! :o"
 * "Mizu" is the Japanese word for "water", meaning the name of the city literally translates to "The Lost City of Water".
 * The final key could be referring to the Final Control Room, since both Issac and Charles were murdered there, like how the L'Manbergians were in the L'Manberg War.
 * On Ranboo's January 26, 2021 stream, Ranboo mentioned to Niki that he plans to build an underwater city. Fans reasoned that city is the City of Mizu.
 * On George's January 29, 2021 stream, Karl revealed that the room he appeared in at the end of the original stream was a library.

Behind the scenes tour
On January 26/27, 2021, Bad, Quackity, and Karl looked around the set and gave a behind-the-scenes tour of the set, including any ideas for the characters and items that were missed during the stream.


 * Dream missed the character pre-meeting because he was sleeping and already knew who his character was (as Ranbob was special) but didn't think of a name beforehand and had to come up with "Ranbob" on the spot on stream. Bad also pointed out he was happy Dream's character was forgetful because he legitimately forgot where he was going.
 * The punching bag in Sapnap's room was originally going to have Dream's face on it. However, they took it off to avoid having any mention of Dream before the big reveal at the end.
 * Fundy's room and the cafeteria were originally going to be switched.
 * Both the wheat farm with the sign "area closed", and the cave in Dream's room foreshadow upcoming lore. Karl and Bad refused to talk about it as to not spoil anything.
 * Karl called the unnamed room "his room". This may have been an accident but confirms the widely popular theory that it was his.
 * Isaac and the last fisherman were originally going to die in the middle of Dream's room, to avoid the rule of not breaking blocks, but Karl changed his mind on the spot. He said that he broke the glass to have the symbolism of the last survivors dying in "Dream's World".

Bloopers

 * In the chest with the lever that Bad found when they first arrived, someone had accidentally left a map that had an image of a surprised emoji in the chest, which Karl promptly threw out.
 * While Dream/Ranbob explained that he didn't know where the key to Sapnap's room was, one of the maintenance slimes in Sapnap's room stepped on the pressure plate, opening the door and allowing Quackity to enter the room. To preserve the continuity of the story, Quackity/Cletus stepped out of the room.
 * Quackity/Cletus broke a piece of glass, which allowed water to flow into the city, and tried to cover it up with a picture of George he stole. Dream/Ranbob later covered it with TNT saying it was the only block he had, foreshadowing the outcome of the fishermen.
 * Technoblade could be seen joining and leaving the game.
 * When Dream was killing Quackity/Cletus, he accidentally blew himself up as well.
 * Days after the episode, hostile mobs remained turned off since the operators had forgotten to turn them on.

Credits
After the episode, Karl released the credits via Twitter.


 * Build: Karl Jacobs/BadBoyHalo
 * Writer: Karl Jacobs (with input from Dream)
 * Skins:
 * @villainnap
 * @kekepaws
 * Poster: @Flowbytee