Open - In the Gardens of Blood and Bone

Marcus Caine was no stranger to the austere and inhospitable. However, there was something off about this place... Something the man couldn't place. The air seemed heavy as if the land itself held a malicious intend towards anything that stumbled into its hungry embrace. Cursed. That was the word the people in Dunstaads had used to describe this place. To say Marcus was a superstitious or spiritual man would have been a fallacious claim. But still, when his intuition whispered to him of danger he always heeded the warning. To disregard that gnawing voice was foolish, Marcus knew that better than most. And right now the voice wasn't whispering, it was screaming. Marcus surveyed the rugged and jagged vista intently, diligently trying to locate the source of his anxious restlessness. He couldn't understand it. There was no where to hide, save for a few outcroppings of rock and monolithic stone. Nothing stirred. Nothing could be heard save for the forlorn song of the wind and dust scrapping against the charred earth by the breeze.

The Pyromancer chided himself quietly, growing impatient with his own overly cautious inaction. He ventured into this place for a purpose and he would see it through, regardless of what imaginary threats his mind conjured. This was a game after all. Even if here where to meet his end in this place, he would simply awaken in his home, no worse for wear.

There was something out here, however. Marcus was sure of that. The people who created these types of games didn't include places like this and leave them devoid of treasure. This wasteland was hiding something and Marcus would find what it was. He hoped it was some type of artifact he or item he could use to bolster his own magical prowess. But truth be told, he would settle for what ever reward he found. If what ever he found was of no use to him, it could be of use to someone else. For the right price of course. Either way, this foray into the unknown wouldn't be a waste. And even it was, at least then he knew nothing lay unclaimed out here. With that, Marcus pulled the collar of his coat tighter about his neck to shield himself from the flying grit and pressed on deeper into the wastes.

No turning back until it is done. Ever up and onward.

 

It wasn’t really a secret that plenty of people went to seek their fame in the most dangerous of placers. Most by killing monsters or finding treasure chests, but Specter never heard about how the mining had been. Considering that blood magic had devoured the land, it would likely make the geology interesting. Somebody would pay for a pretty cursed jewel necklace, right? That was when his plan was made:

Step 1: Build fire.
Step 2: Roast the meat to distract local creepy wildlife.
Step 3: Sneak off and pilfer all that looks valuable.
Step 4: Arrive back to civilization and get rich.

This was Specter’s idea to get a lot of money in a short period, it wasn’t the most well thought out but it was pretty foolproof. Making a circle with heavy rocks and placing the logs in the center, he grabbed handful of the dried up grass placing it on top of the logs. The next step was setting off a fire, which wasn’t the easiest. All that the felis had planned, he defiantly forgot to grab matches. Taking a deep breath, he began looking around for flint to start the fire.

“I really should have picked up fire magic” Specter had mumbled softly, while scavenging around the area silently. Every now and again he’d pick up a rock examine, before tossing it aside. It was surprising he hadn’t run into any dangerous creatures, but luck seemed to smile upon him. Eventually Specter had found some sort of satisfaction with a rock before returning to the fire pit.

After arriving he placed the flint next to the dried grass, Specter stared into the logs silently. When did he actually know what he was doing? Outside of Terrasphere, they avoided the outdoors like it was haunted. “Damn it” he grumbled with his ears pinning back, while his tail swishing side to side violently.

Soon Specter began to strike his sword on the stone he brought back, hoping that it would produce a decent enough spark.

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@marcus caine​

 

Marcus paused momentarily to check the interactive map for likely what was the fiftieth time since he had entered this place. Paranoia played at his mind, going over a thousand and one possible scenarios that could unfold as he rechecked his route yet again. Had it just been a topographical map, like he had always been accustomed to using he wouldn't have felt the need to check it every five seconds. But this map, with its variable angles, high definition and zoom was a pessimists worst nightmare. While some might have appreciate it just for the beautiful landscape, to Marcus it did little more than highlight every possible ambush point from here to the end of the world. It might have been different if he had bothered to try to recruit a few others to travel with him, but being alone his trained eye was slowing him down. He cursed at himself again mentally as he identified another danger he had failed to see during his last quick stop, bringing the tally up to twenty three potential threats. This was getting ridiculous. Again he mentally berated himself for his piss poor planning (or lack of for that matter).

Man up. At this rate you'll die of old age bef...

Marcus's train of though was shattered by a distant noise. Rhythmic... Metallic... Marcus's head snapped in the general direction of the sound as he slowly sunk to a knee, conditioning moving his body without thought. Someone, no, something was out there and making quite a racket. Marcus didn't want to believe that someone might have so idiotic as make such a noise out in such a dangerous location. But if common sense had taught the man one thing, its that is wasn't common at all.

The Pyromancer hesitated, reluctant to investigate what very well might have been a trap. Lord knows he had lured in others using similar methods in the past. But if it where another player out here being this reckless... Marcus turned and prepared to venture in the polar opposite direction of what ever was making the noise.

Fuck 'em. Not my problem.

And if its a child?

The thought was enough to give the man pause and stop him dead in his tracks.. Its not as if it were an uncommon thing. In this place children masqueraded as adults and adults and children. No one was who they appeared to be. Though he had mirrored his avatar somewhat close to how he actually appeared, even Caine wore the mask of anonymity here. The suffering of an idiotic adult was something he could care less for. A child however... It wasn't something Marcus could abide or let happen willingly. Marcus turned back towards the source. As much as he didn't want to, the thought would have plagued him to no end. And Caine needed all of his focus in this place.

It had taken the Pyromancer little time to discover where of the sound originated from. Hunched over a pile of logs and a spit, brandishing a blade, sat the source. The... fox man (Jesus, the shit people will dress up as) continued to smack his blade against stone. It didn't a genius to figure out what it was he was trying to accomplish. But why? Was he trying to cook dinner? Marcus took a few steps further backwards before making himself known. If this fox did attempt to bury that blade he wielded into Marcus's chest, he would at least have a little stand off to let loose a cautionary warning blast of fire.

'You want to knock that shit off kid?' Marcus growled just loud enough to make his presence known to the man. Marcus quickly readied his spell in case this took a turn for the worse.

@Specter

 

When your focusing on something, you sometimes forget your surroundings. This wasn’t the best of ideas in this forsaken place, of course they believed that they had things under control. At least until they heard another voice, it made their heart race. They felt whatever fluffy attendages from a feline begin bristling, their ears pinning themselves down.

The human’s voice caught Specter off guard, It was rather gruff and authoritative like a teacher or parent. Of course, this defiantly wasn’t a dad about to give them a talk on smokey the bear and fire safety. They could still run away, but what use was it if it had been a cultist? They threw magic around, which Specter wasn’t good at that yet. It had barely been a week mark in Terrasphere, but they did have an edge on playing other mmos.

Instead Specter gripped their blade and spun to face their aggressor. Taking a battle stance and getting ready for combat, luckily they hadn’t lunged at them or tried attacking. Specter stood in the stance for a good few seconds before realizing this was a player, not a cult npc or something worse.

“Hey” Specter dragged out the e sound at the end of the sentence, before glancing at his nonexistent progress and back at the man. This looked pitiful for Specter, who was supposed to be a utility knife in situations. This person probably thought they were sitting and clobbering rocks like some caveman, not realizing the entire situation. Slowly seething their sword, as their furry parts began to smooth out. The white feline ears poking back up from his head, giving him a less… upset cat appearance.

Taking a deep breath to swallowing his pride, they lightly drummed their fingers on the blade. They could keep the plan to themselves, but likely the stranger would think less of them for being so… idiotic. Specter might as well tell the stranger the plan, perhaps they had a better one than him? Possibly, they could work together to get some nice loot around here.

“I know this looks really stupid, but this is part of a plan. I figured if I cooked some meat, the animals and creatures would come to check things out. Giving me time to investigate things around the area without disturbances” Specter explained, not giving away he was looking for a chest full of gold or some type of rare in game item. Granted, what else would he be looking around for?

Taking a once over at the human before him, he noticed that they carried no weapons beyond a scowl that could kill… If looks could kill that was. Magic had to be their strong point, which prompted the next question. “You wouldn’t have happened to roll fire magic, would you?” finally asking, after the wave of embarrassment had subsided.

This was a good question as it would definitely get the job done faster, they’d both benefit from the distraction.

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@marcus caine​

 

Marcus listened intently as the strange man spoke. But even still, Marcus refused to lower his guard despite the stranger returning his blade to its scabbard. The fox (at least Marcus thought he was a fox) seemed uneasy, unsure of himself. In that brief moments of tension, when Marcus had caught him off guard, he seemed almost clumsy with his blade. And that's not even to say anything of his greeting. 'Uh huh,' Marcus responded flatly, standing his ground, mindful of his surroundings. His suspicious mind still refused to relinquish the notion that this may still have been a trap. The Pyromancer glanced behind himself quickly to ease his mind.

But Marcus had to hand it to him, the kids plan was as stupid as it looked. If anything was out here, anything with a sense of smell worth a damn, it would have already caught his scent in the breeze if they were downwind of him. Sure, anything downwind of the fire would have been drawn like flies. But everything upwind would have been oblivious unless they where in the general area. And if that was the case they where both in potential trouble.

'Go home boy,' Marcus finally responded after a few moments of silently sizing him up. It didn't matter what he was out here for, Marcus finally decided. Unless he knew what he was doing, and from Marcus's position he clearly didn't, he had no business being out here by himself. 'You're going to get yourself killed,' Marcus continued, satisfied that his warning would absolve him of the Fox's fate regardless of of what happened. If the Fox met his end out here, his conscious was at least clear. 'This is no place for you.'

@Specter

 

The other person wasn't as interested in what Specter had to say, which was... Silently upsetting. Specter was rather use to this treatment in real life, in a video game? Never. As far as the 'boy' had seen it, the two were on equal grounds unless proven otherwise. The worse was yet to come, the guy had the audacity to tell Specter that he should run along and forget his plan.

Knitting his brows together and folding his arms, "No, your not the boss of me. We just met a minute ago, in fact I don't know your name even" Specter pointed out, "this isn't my first crazy mmo experience, in fact places like this are usually landfills for great items for lower levels" pointing out the elephant in the room. That was the plan that Specter had, which he wasn't about to leave cause one grumpy man told him he had to go home.

"Maybe you should be going home, your so afraid of death" he assumed in a rude matter of fact way, after all they seemed to be worried about dangers. So far everything was quiet...

Actually, that was something that Specter was far more alarmed by suddenly.

"Alright, hold on." Specter put his finger up, almost to stop him from whatever gruff response he'd give. "Real talk a minute. This place is really quiet for a... zone set up to mess with people's heads, that's usually not a good sign" Specter pointed out, as their tail began to swished around. Something was out there, perhaps watching the two of them and their petty fighting.

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@marcus caine

 

'You're one hundred percent right,' Marcus said coolly as he turned his back on the Fox and brought his map back up. The horse was lead to water. If it didn't drink that was its own stubborn fault. 'Im not the boss of you, nor do I want to be. Your business if your own. Best of luck finding that treasure kid. Oh and here,' Marcus turned quickly, fire leaping from his hand and catching the kindling in a bright flash of orange and red. A malevolent sneer crept across the Pyromancer's face as he rechecked his route and prepared to depart. If this kid wanted to play the fool, Marcus could at least use that to his advantage. After all, if what ever lurked in this place was busy with this kid, it wasn't busy with Marcus.

'That's two nice things I've done for you today,' Marcus said as he began his long march deeper into the heart of this god forsaken land. 'No need to thank me,' Marcus added with a low and malicious growl, ignoring the Fox's notions of a perceived danger. It had been deathly silent since he had first set foot in these lands. Changed in the environment heralded danger, not its normal state. Again, it just proved that this kid knew abso...

A chill ran up the mans spine as the ground shuddered violently, erratically. It was enough to stop him dead in his tracks.

Oh shit....

The ground in front of him seemed to shift, falling in upon itself like they where standing in a bathtub full of sand and someone had just pulled the drain stop. Marcus didn't need any further invitation to move, and promptly leapt backwards, his enhanced agility augmented by the games mechanics. A flying trail of dust marked his impact a few meters away from where the ground swirled into itself.

God, I knew there was a reason I took this Mastery.

Marcus rose quickly to his feet as the creature pulled itself from the burrow it had made. Retrospectively, pulled might have been a poor choice of words as it had no arms. It was serpentine and smooth, slick with a vile and putrid substance that seemed to leave a miasma in the air. It slunk from its hole, slithering about like a snake as it seemed to regard them almost quizzically. With what it studied them with, Marcus couldn't be sure. It had no eyes. Its head was instead capped with an almost avian beak, slender and sharp from burrowing through the ground.

A guttural clicking sound resonated from deep within the creature as it slowly slunk along their flank. 'You say I told you so I'll cook you and leave you for this thing,' Marcus growled as a burning fire kindled within the palm of his hand.

@Specter

 

The pyromancer gave Specter what he had wanted, which likely would have ended with him being pleased and the two finishing their exchange. Unfortunately, the aberration that rose from the floor had distracted the youth from any kind of snide commentary. Their ears pinning permanently on their head, their tail brisling like a scaredy cat. Fear was easy to feel, this was expected in the eyes- beak of some type of abomination. As it rose and faced towards them, he quickly began stepping back and drawing his blade.

Specter didn’t want to fight… Whatever that might be, but he’d definitely try.

Granted the thing wasn’t flinging itself towards them, of course perhaps it wasn’t certain where the two of them stood. An old game used clicking mechanics for creatures, perhaps this was something similar to that? Slowly taking out the goat shank from their inventory and speedily throwing it to the side, as soon as the flame touched the goat meat he bounced to the side and pulled his blade.

The creature on the other hand lunging towards the meat and beginning to devour the flames and meat with its beak, the snap of the bone and tearing of the flesh were... More realistic than Specter had heard from prior video games, in fact the sound file wasn’t really identifiable. There was a time and place to sit and ponder, but at this moment their priority was putting distance between themselves and the beast.

“We gotta go” Specter stated putting a dried leaf on his head, allowing him to slowly become transparent until it was similar to odd distortion where he stood.

Turning he was about to run away from the scene before he noticed the hole the thing had crawled from, it was… A staircase? Specter wasn’t sure about the man in his company, but he was definitely going to go down those stairs to explore what was there.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction and a nice treasure brought the cat back.

Quickly descending the stairs and reaching the floor, he noticed the place felt out of place. The appearance was similar to a old historical building. The building being well kept, but the smell of mildew and dust perfumed the air. There was also a scent of burning firewood, not close but somewhere far off in the tunnels.

Specter’s leaf slowly fell from his head slowly revealing him, his tail flickering with curiosity as he slowly stepped further into the labyrinth.

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@marcus caine​

 

Time to see what I can actually do in this world.

Marcus quickly pulled up the best spell that he had to fall back upon, Infernus as the creature continued to chew at the morsel that the Fox had thrown to it. Lights seemed to dance about the man for the briefest of moments, the spells animation playing like he himself had memorized the tedious incantation by heart. And then there was a deafening crack as the beast was caught ablaze.

It trilled like a bird as its flesh sizzled and it writhed about, forgetting its meal momentarily as the fires consumed it. A triumphant grin swept across the mans face as he reveled in the destruction he just unleashed. However, that rush of success was quickly stamped out. Though the air stunk with the putrid aviance of charred flesh, little lasting damage had been inflicted upon the fell creature. Though it writhed and thrashed about in pain, the burns appeared to be little more than second degree.

'Ok kid, Ill torch the thing again, get around it and put that swo.." Marcus turned and found himself talking to nothing but the wind. The Fox had fled, evaporated into nothingness. Marcus frantically sought for a sign of the Fox but found nothing, no sign of him on the horizon. It was like he had sprouted wings and taken flight...

I've just been beaten at my own game.

Marcus turned back, readying the spell for a second time. The Pyromancer danced backwards trying to put more space between himself and the giant creature. The beast slammed itself against the soil a final time and slowly righted itself, a deep crocodillian rumbling resonating from deep with in it. Marcus moved to make his next attack, but failed.

With speed that Marcus couldn't have hopped to match it dove back into the earth, a shower of debris and dust marking its reentry into its subterranean home. Marcus cursed aloud as the ground shook violently, an aftershock of the creatures movements. He searched quickly, looking for some tell of where the creature would appear to next. It was then that he spotted the Fox, standing at the mouth the creatures original burrow. Had he been standing there the whole time? How had he not noticed him?

Marcus couldn't believe his eyes as he watched the Fox make his descent downwards and disappear completely. 'Are you nuts!?' Marcus called after the kid. Fighting this thing above ground was nerve wracking enough. Fighting in its own warren would have been suicide. Marcus knew he couldn't kill this thing on his own, his own spell proved to be grossly ineffective. He needed this kid right now to help, and quickly took off after him to pull him back into the fighting.

The Pyromancer couldn't believe his own eyes upon reaching the gaping entrance. Rough ground intermingled with dark stone, stone cut by some intelligent hand. It gradually descended deeper into the darkening passage bellow. That thing couldn't have done this, and with that Marcus snapped his attention back to the task at hand.

But the earth and air had stilled itself. No sight nor sign of the creature remained. Had he burned it sufficiently enough to force it to retreat back into cool underground? Marcus couldn't be sure. But after several moments of only his own breathing and trembling hands being the only proof left that they had even been attacked... Only after Marcus had deemed it safe enough to assume that the creature had retreated did he turn his attention back to the passage bellow. The Fox had long disappeared into the void, likely in search of his treasure.

Marcus pondered for a moment whether or not he should leave the boy and continue towards his original destination. But hesitation gripped at him. If this encounter had taught him one thing, its that he was nearly as potent against the creatures of this world as he had thought himself to be. If this fellow treasure seeker could be negotiated with, if an agreement could be made... Marcus needed the muscle clearly. It would have been better to return with half a treasure than none at all, or die out in this hell for that matter.

Resolved to try to turn this situation into his favor, Marcus entered the musty smelling tunnel in search of the Fox he had been so quick to dismiss earlier.

 

A part of the plan was going all according to plan, which was the sneak passed the scary monsters. That was part 2, on to part 3 which wasn’t necessarily the easiest part.

Of course he had acquired another person to assist with finding treasure, that was an added bonus? Maybe? The guy wasn’t thrilled with Specter, but at the same time he wasn’t being the greatest of allies. Perhaps, he could change that around so the two of them didn’t die horribly. Either way, he wasn’t going to carry all the gold by himself.

The two could go halves on it and walk away a little richer, which was better than both dying broke and young. “I had a great plan” Specter grinned, but stopped as he had heard some noises coming from down the hall.

'Shit, more monsters? Can’t we get a break for a minute…'

Of course, the only led one way… It mean they’d have to interact with whatever was waiting around the corner. It made Specter wipe off his grin, his ears pinning back on his white hair. Taking a deep breath, slowly backing away so the two could easily whisper and not be heard… By whatever might be down there.

“I’m Specter by the way” the feline whispered, “I built up my character to be a rogue, so I can attempt to sneak into locations and possibly investigate them” he spoke of actual tactic. Desperation meant they’d have to be on good terms, it was likely best they knew who and what their working with.

“If you got a plan, we could definitely use it”

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@marcus caine​