Ruins, for me, are the beginning. With the debris, you can construct new ideas. They are symbols of a beginning. – Anselm Keifer Zach had been walking for the last few days trying to find a stream or river. It wasn’t till the third day that Zach had stumbled across something of note. He had been talking with Grim about a way he could come up with an upgrade to play music, because quite frankly he was missing his playlists. When he decided to take a moment and rest. Looking around the ancient forest had shown that it was becoming thicker and darker. Moss hung from branches that should have had leaves, while the ground carried a decaying scent from overly damp ground. Not thinking about anything in particular Zach sat down on a stone border that was covered in moss. As soon as he sat and placed a hand on the stone a blue prompt came up. You have discovered a hidden Quest! Long ago the Kingdom of Yrasis lived in the forests of Erirrian. Their capital city was built on a mana rich land that allowed mages to harness the mana and create powerful alchemy potions and field strong Earth, Life, and Water Mages. Time marched on and the Kingdom prospered, magics were used to enchant the woods and Orc nation looked down on the Kingdom with disgust. Shaman’s summoned Demons, Dragons, and Elementals and spent their mana pools making contracts. A horde of unholy beasts came down on the land, the war lasted 10 years until a curse was placed on the City’s Core. For the last five thousand years the City’s Core as has been poisoned with Death and Darkness mana. Find the City’s Core and remove the Curse. (0/1) Reward: The City’s Core and 800 DP. Do you accept the Quest?YesNo “Holy Shit! Holy Shit, Grim! Grim look at this!” Zach said pointing at the blue screen. He felt like he had just won the fucking lottery. ‘I found a lost city! No a lost kingdom! And look at all those Points, I could become really bad ass!’ Grim looked at the quest and simply waved his hand like it was no big deal. “Oh come on Grim, how can you not be excited about this? This is awesome! I mean even if we can’t solve it right now, we can level up and always come back. Hell, I bet there is some artifacts, treasure, or some kind of cool Laser Jedi Cultivation Technique!” Grim shook his head, “So let me make sure I understand what is going on. One,” Grim held up a finger, “you want to enter a corrupted mana area that has been saturated with Death and Dark Mana. Two, you want to search ruins for treasure because I am sure there aren’t any creatures that have cultivated in this area and become more deadly than that rabbit you faced a few days ago. Three, because you are a super genius want to enter a mana realm fight/destroy the curse on a City Core. Of course, lets not think that during the fall of this kingdom, Hero’s entered this territory and tried to do all those things. Oh, and that an Orc nation is apparently close to here. That about sum it up, or did I forget something?” ‘Well that certainly was a cold shower after a hot date.’ Zac thought, “Ok, so what I press yes and dangerous death creatures pop up and kill me? Lets be realistic ok? So I press Yes, I have the quest and the map location. I mean that seems easy right? No danger. No risk to our lives.” Grim spoke with a sense of urgency, “Listen, accept the quest or not. The problem is we are already in the quest area, and we need to leave as soon as possible.” Zach pressed the ‘Yes’ button, “Come on Grim, aren’t you at least a little bit…” Midway through the sentence Zach felt as if a hungry stare was watching them. Turning to his left, the feeling became stronger and stronger until staring off at the distance Zach focus fell on a tree. At first there was nothing that he could see, moss and shadows blended together creating a ghostly feeling, but then his eye caught movement as a shadow seemed to drop down from a branch to the forest floor. A blue screen appeared. You have learned the Skill: Awareness!]Skill Name:AwarenessLevel:1Skill Description:By using your mana your senses become heighten. You are now able to detect the gaze of others on you. The skill activates when intense focus is placed on you. (Unlocked) With the Companion Bloodline this item will help give direction as to where the gaze is coming from.You have learned the Skill: Observe!]Skill Name:ObserveLevel:1Skill Description:By using your mana your senses can give you information about people, monsters, or complex information. (Unlocked) With the Companion Bloodline this skill will catalogue information and help determine changes with greater accuracy.Creature Name:Shadow PantherCreature Level:5Creature Description:This Panther had been corrupted with Dark Mana. Its skin has partially warped itself into the substance of shadows, halving all physical damage. Shadow Panther’s gain a bonus to damage if hunting their prey in the dark or heavily shaded areas. Further information can be gathered by fighting the creature or increasing your Observation skill. Grim started running towards the panther as he shouted, “FUCK! Run you asshole! RUN!” Shocked at the idea of Grim cursing, Zach awoke from his state of confusion. He began running for all his worth away from the Panther. Fear drove his legs, as he bulled through underbrush and branches. He needed to find somewhere safe, some place where the panther couldn’t find him. Zach hit a rotting log falling down onto the forest floor when a sudden burst of energy released itself from within him. Zach looked at his right as saw a dim light through the forest canopy. Getting up, he began taking off towards the light. The feeling that if he could get to it he could be safe coursed through him. A branch hit Zach’s face as his arm couldn’t grab enough of the underbrush to protect him. Stumbling into the clearing Zach saw over turn tents and the occasional dead body. Running into the middle of the camp, Zach looked around for someone or anything that would help. As his feet stumbled into the fire pit a blue prompt appeared. You have found an abandoned campsite! This campsite has been abandoned, but the boundary stones remain in place. By renewing the camp, you will gain it’s protection. Would you like to renew the camp?YesNo Hoping against hope, Zach pressed the ‘Yes’ button and felt his mana drain from his body. As more and more mana continued to leave his body, his eyesight became dim, and as the last little bit of mana left him, he saw a blue prompt light up in front of him, before passing out. ***** Zach woke up to what he could have swore was music from the 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as he cracked one of his eye lids he saw Grim singing over him. Groaning Zach such his eyes and spoke, “Grim, what did you do with the money?” Grim laughed and spoke, “Spent it on booze and woman, to hell with the singing lessons.” Zach started laughing but stopped as his head throbbed more and more. “I take it since my guts are inside of me instead of the panther that you mislead him?” Grim grunted and then spoke, “Thanks Grim for saving my life. No problem Zach, I mean I just love confusing deadly animals and letting them rake their claws through me over and over again. Yeah but you know your just the best Companion ever and I really was acting like a dumb ass. I know Zach and yeah you were acting like a dumb ass.” “Uggghhhhh,” Zach let out in an annoyed pain. “Thank you Grim. Now if you would be so kind as to tell me what the hell happened maybe we can move forward.” “Why, of course, you just had to say the magical words.” Grim said in a sing song voice. “After a bravely distracting the Shadow Panther and letting him attack me, I reappeared back here to find out that you were passed out like a High School senior drinking a bottle of cheap alcohol. Deciding to look around, I have determined that we are in the destroyed camp of a Dwarven troop, and it seems that exhausting yourself of all your mana has powered the boundary stones and is keeping a Shadow Panther and a few Strangler Plants away. From what I have been able to examine the troop was attacked by some kind of magic wielding monster that could power through the boundary stones.” Grim seemed as if he was having a good time at Zach’s expense, and Zach had to give it to Grim, he did save him. Opening his eyes he saw the blue prompt was still there. You have activated the boundary stone boulder with your Mana. Over the next several days please continue to add mana to the boundary stones! Current Mana storage 12/250. Until Boundary stones are fully charged you will suffer a -10 level penalty to creatures you can keep out. Please add additional mana in the next day. Your camp site is ranked as Competent. The boundary stones will keep out level 1-15 monsters, all insects, and animals for one week when fully charged. At the end of the week, you can renew your campsite by channeling new mana into boundary stones. Zach looked at the prompt for a moment trying to understand what it was saying. Finally through the haze of the low mana fog, he realized that even with poor amount of mana that he had invested the camp was still high enough to protect him. Dismissing the prompt Zach stood up and finally took a look around. Perhaps ten to twelve armored figures no taller than five and half feet laid still on the ground. The dwarves had long beards coming out of sunken faces. To Zach it looked like those horror movies that showed people drained of all their fluids. Except he felt something in the air, a pause of death that was waiting for him to follow the dwarves. The armor on their body looked heavy but the elements had started to rust away dwarven steel along with the paint on their breastplates. Backpacks and tents laid on the ground as if animals had gone through them. Slowly picking his way through the bodies and tattered gear, Zach setup a tent with some of his gear. Finding a pile of firewood set near what looked like the supply tent, Zach dragged the lumber to a fire pit and started working on lighting it. Grim stood near him as he worked. Zach tried to work moisture into his mouth. Finally, after working his tongue back and forth Zach spoke again, “Well, I am glad that this camp was here, but it sounds like we got three deadly problems surrounding us.” Zach gave Grim a look telling him that he expected to be part of this discussion. “Well your right, but there is some good news. While you were out I went ahead and sensed the loot around you. Most of it is trashed, even the enchanted mana weapons and armor were broken in the attack. However, I found a few Fire Pots, like grenades from your world along with a few other items. Whatever killed these dwarves took on about ten level thirty to thirty-five soldiers and several mages. What I think we can do is use some of the broken armor to craft a small working golem and if we can keep the panther in one location we can use the Fire Pots.” Grim seemed to sit down near the fire, looking at Zach. Zach nodded slightly a little bit happier at the chance of getting out of this mess alive. “What about the bodies, should we burn them or bury them?” Grim shook his head, “Many races believe that a Grimoire holds a part of the soul after death. If you want to show the dwarves proper respect, we can gather all of their Grimoire’s and deliver them back to their kingdom. I believe dwarves have a Resting Hall where they put fallen hero’s grimoires.” Zach nodded, and then put his fingers on his temples trying to ease the ache that was pulsating in his head. “So all the armor and weapons were destroyed? Why in the world did the Fire Pots survive?” Grim turned his head to Zach and waved his hand bringing forth a small dry ration pack for him to eat. “Most mana beasts are able to suck out mana that was infused in objects, meat, or the land. Though they probably could suck out some of the mana in a Fire Pot, it’s more likely that when they tried and burned themselves up. Fire isn’t quite a natural element in the woods, and taking that much mana all at once might have overloaded their cores. So the ones that were smart kept away from the mana pots, and the ones that were weak or stupid were eaten by the ones that were smart before getting here. After all Strangler Vines evolve after several mana beasts dying near them.” “As far as, loot goes I have sensed a total of two Fire Pots, some journals, about 200 silver, and what I believe is a partial map. Most of the armor and weapons are rusted, but if we break up the rust I think we can get a small steel golem up if we have time to craft a Mana Core. Otherwise it might be best to come up with a plan to just deal with the panther and try to make our way to a town.” Grim finished up as Zach was shoving a dry biscuit into his month. Zach shook his head, “Well I have a thought on how to handle the Panther, now that I don’t have a little fairy with a jack hammer in my brain, have you ever heard of a dead fall trap? Well, if I remember my movies we just need to dig a large pit and put some stakes at the bottom of it. We can use one of the tents to cover up the hole and when the boundary stones come down I lure it into the pit. Once down there we throw down a Fire Pot.” Grim looked at Zach for a moment and nodded his head. “We will have to set up some of the tents to block the view. After all, we aren’t sure how intelligent the creature is, but it’s going to take a couple of days for you to dig the trap, what are we going to use as stakes? It’s not like we can go out to the woods and chop down a tree.” At that Zach simply smiled. ***** It actually took Zach three days to dig the pit deep enough so that a Fire Pot would get him in the blast as well. For the most part, Zach had taken breaks and explored and cleaned up the campsite as best as he could. He had wrapped up most of the bodies in canvas tents and piled them off to the side. He had burnt the bodies on the beginning of the third day. Feeling like he should say something, he said a small prayer over the bodies, hoping that whatever God or Goddess they prayed to wouldn’t mind the general offering. Lastly, not all of the arms and armor would entire bad. Apparently, one of the warriors had a huge Warhammer that weighed closed to 100 pounds, and even though it wasn’t mana infused it was of a superior quality. The problem was that it took a strength of 30 just to hold in two hands, and to actually wield it in combat it was closer to 75. Sadly, Zach couldn’t spare the space in his backpack to carry the loot. Zach knew that the boundary stones were set to expire a little after sunset per his plan. He wanted the Shadow Panther to believe it had the advantage as much as an advantage as possible. Additionally he finally put the Horned Rabbit meat on a spit over the fire. The roasting meat was driving Zach crazy, and all he could do was pray that it was doing the same for the panther. As Zach saw a blue prompt telling him that boundary stones no longer had mana, he waited without moving an inch. It was an hour after sunset when Grim noticed the shadow panther enter the campsite. It was deathly quiet as the panther stalked behind a lone figure sitting at the campfire. With a long black tongue that licked its muzzle with anticipation. The panther took a swipe that was so fast Grim couldn’t even see it, its claws struck the figure with intense force shattering the makeshift decoy into a dozen pieces. The panthers eyes expanded in surprise, as a tent to its right burst open should it that its pray had been hiding in it all along. Zach put all his strength and speed into the spear as the point was perhaps three feet away from the panther. The spear point went into the shadow hide with almost no resistance. It seemed that the shadow panther could take its darkness mana and make a small part of its body insubstantial. However, this time it worked against the panthers best interests as Zach’s shoulder hit square the side of the panther. It wasn’t much force, but it was enough to make the panther take a small side step into the tent covered trap. Howling in fury, the panther tried to find purchase on the loose dirt with his claws but slowly it tumbled sideways into the pit. Like all cats, it had a good sense on how to jump and land on its feet. So as it tried to roll to get its feet under it, it hit the broken pieces of swords and axes slicing open its side and belly as it rolled further down in the shallow pit. Zach shouted to Grim for the Fire Pot. Right on queue the clay pot with a red glaze appeared in his hand and he threw it into the pit at the twisting panther. Flame exploded from the pit, scorching Zach’s dirty clothes as he dove off to the side. A high pitch scream left the pit as the Fire Pot created an inferno around the mana beast. Smiling Zach stood up to watch the bastard burn, when a flaming paw slammed itself on the edge of the deadfall. Screaming in shock Zach pulled back squaring his spear at the flaming head that appeared. Roaring one last defiant cry, the panther collapsed halfway out of the trap looking squarely at the human which brought its death. Congratulations you have risked life and limb in your journey to grow! Know this that your battle with the Shadow Panther Level 9 has brought you rewards! Having faced a being 5 levels above your strength your rewards have increased! You have gained the max amount of +25 to your mana pool! You have gained the max amount of +200 experience! You have gained the max amount of +5 to your Intelligence! You have gained +3 to your Strength! You have gained the Skill: Sneak! You have gained +3 to your Skill: Spear! You have gained the max amount of +10 to your Skill: Camp Creation! You have looted a Mana Core containing Dark and Death Mana! You have gained the Enhancement: Silent Shadow As you have killed your first Shadow Panther, you have gained 5 mana points. Kill another 99 Shadow Panthers to receive another bonus!Congratulations you have gained a Level. Talk with your Companion to issue your 5 new Attribute Points!