By the time Monday came along, we still hadn't found exactly what we were looking for. Now you may be thinking, Sean, don't you have a quest tracker to show you exactly where to go like most games do? The short answer is no. Panarena doesn't have quest trackers like that. You can get an area marked for a quest, depending on the quest, but even that doesn't show you the exact spot for an objective like a lot of old games do. That's part of the fun here -- and part of the challenge, also.
Because now when you're told to go and look for that thing by an NPC which none of the characters have ever found, it's not highlighted in some stupidly obvious place for you to walk over and grab. You have to actually look for it. Case in point: the Marshes of the Wyrd. We spent all of our Saturday and Sunday night trying to find the first place we needed to go to get the quest underway.
The Road Through The Marshes: a strange passerby told me of a secret way to head through the Marshes of the Wyrd, if ever I venture up that way. The only clue he had about its starting point was a riddle: “The first in flames before you freeze; storms lead to undying strife; belligerence guards the cunning ones; your path begins with the first of six charms”.
“That still doesn't make any sense,” I said when we entered the Marsh Gate, and both Ariana and Healina agreed with me.
“I guess it refers to the places we're supposed to find to get our shortcut,” Ariana returned, “But these are very vague clues even for this game.”
“Let's ignore the first bits and focus on the last line. That one seems to be the key,” Healina told us. “So there's six charms, and we need to find the first one; that should give us a clue to finding this 'first in flames' place.”
“Sounds simple enough to me!” Lizzy remarked.
It did sound simple. Yet it proved to be anything but simple. And that was for the simple reason that, no matter where we looked or what we looted, we couldn't seem to find the charm we were looking for.
What we did find was that, around our current position in the Marshes, the monsters here are generally reptilian, with a few vulture-like birds that occasionally come to try their luck and the inevitable trope of undead, in this case labeled as “Drowned Corpses”. Catchy, huh? We also found several NPC trader camps that would move in a fixed pattern throughout a day in Panarena or so, and lots of caves and a few ruins. We suspected that at least one of these ruins was going to be involved in our quest, but nothing made it clear for certain.
They had an almost Mayan feel to them; of course, the designers had taken that concept and made it their own, but it wasn't hard for even me to notice the inspiration. Ariana and Healina had a great time discussing it as we trudged along, leaving our waggon in the securest location we could find -- a small marsh village peopled by diminutive humanoids called hauflins, a rustic, agrarian folk around half our height. Their village had several quests which we also took, wondering if one of them might clue us in to finding the charm we needed.
Well, as I said earlier, we spent an awful lot of time looking and an equal amount of time not finding quite what we were looking for. By the end of Sunday night the four of us had fairly had it, so we paid our dues to the keepers for our room and stable and logged out for the night. I fell asleep shortly after, and I swear my dreams were of me running around endlessly through the Marshes still trying to find something.
***
Monday morning started off with rain. As if running around through a virtual wetland wasn't enough, I inwardly groaned as I saw it coming down outside, looking through my window with a weary expression. My morning routine went by sluggishly, and eventually I found myself on the bus heading towards school. Even Ty seemed asleep until we actually got there, at which point he snapped to attention as I got off the bus to head inside. He flicked my head as he usually did and continued on to his locker as I made my way to mine.
“You awake?” Rachel said as she arrived too, gently patting my shoulder.
“Eh, I guess.”
“You guess?” she returned with a witty smile.
“Hmm... I know school is important and I should be more alert for it, but...” I let out a sigh, then shook my head. “Eh, never mind... we have time to worry about that.” I then said.
“True,” she smiled back. “You did finish homework, right?”
“I finished it Friday, just like I promised you,” I replied.
“Just checking!” she winked back.
“I'm not that obsessed with games... I mean I am, but... homework...” I said as we finished getting our morning books and headed in for homeroom.
“I think we're all obsessed; we got to fifty-two already just from running around all weekend,” Rachel remarked as we sat down.
“That's fair.” I said with a shrug.
“But those hauflins,” she said with a grin, and I grinned back.
“Right?” I nodded.
There was enough of a difference between them and a certain famous fantasy creature from a certain famous fantasy novelist whose books from a century or so ago were still top of the line story-telling and world-building, but the tributes, knock-offs, parallels, and so forth were still respectful enough to avoid calling their own half-high humanoid characters after the ones in his books. The hauflins wore shoes for one thing, and their marsh-bound lives were markedly different from the rustic countryside experiences of their ostensible progenitors. Also, they don't have homes built into hills.
“Thing is, 'hauflin' is actually an older concept from what I've read.” Rachel then told me.
“Eh? Ehh?” I returned with surprise. “S-wh-eh? Then the famous ones came from that idea and Panarena's using a more original concept?”
“Kind of?” Rachel replied, pondering for a moment. “More or less, anyway.”
“Wow,” I said. So... less like progenitors and more like cousins?
“They're cute though; and Berrydell is a super-cute village.” she continued, practically gushing about it. “Maybe we should make our new home there!”
“I guess we could have something there,” I said.
“That'd be fun!” she smiled back. “We can have hideaways all over Panarena!” she beamed, and I nodded back with a smile of my own.
“We can certainly try!” I agreed. The bell then sounded, and class was called to order.
The morning felt like it went by at a mild pace today; it wasn't rushed or lethargic, it was just right. Most of us had settled in to our class rhythms by now, and the two of us had definitely done so. Even with the ones we weren't so fond of having. Quarterly exams were also looming before us, so anyone who was still acclimating had only a little time left before they were floundering, academically speaking. Our teachers encouraged us to ask questions because of that very fact, and there were a lot of questions asked throughout the morning classes before they finally ended to let us off for lunch.
Rachel and I unpacked our lunches on our lunch-desk, and she let out a sigh. Most of the class wandered off for the cafeteria, leaving the two of us to await the coming of Ellie and Andrea.
“Think you're good with the math?” she asked me with a little concern. It was not, after all, my strongest point.
“Enough to get at least a C on it,” I said with a shrug. “And we both know my parents won't mind that.”
“True.” Rachel nodded back. “I'm dreading it anyway though. And that mock-up science exam we got looked pretty intense.”
“Like really,” I agreed with an anxious tone. “I'm definitely feeling more confident about the afternoon ones, especially with that World Cultures assignment out of the way.”
“Yes, definitely.” she returned. At that moment we heard the now-familiar knock on the door as Ellie and Andrea came in to join us.
“Hiya, lovebirds!” Ellie said as she brought another desk over for the two of them to sit at with us.
“Hey!” Rachel smiled back, and I held up my free hand for a sorta-wave.
“Hahh... I hope you're not looking forward to next year too much; our exams seem like they're gonna be a pain.” the blonde girl told us as she set out her lunch.
“Ellie, don't scare them too much,” Andrea said, and then looked over at us. “It's not that bad. Just the math.”
“Ugh...” I grimaced.
“But anyway!” the red-haired girl continued, “How about that weekend?” she remarked with a faint grin. “Not even a hint of a clue, and after all that searching.”
“We sure covered a lot of area, although that's not saying much from the map, if I remember right,” I said.
“Hmm?” Andrea wondered.
“He's right. We only scratched the surface of the whole region. It's almost twice the size of the Aldholt, after all.” Ellie shrugged.
“Ehh?” Andrea returned with dismay.
“And we didn't really go in to any of the dungeons, either,” I added.
“We should search those next.” Ellie said. “Sometimes you get random quests from them that are part of the pre-reqs.”
“Right,” I nodded back.
“I wonder if there's any other players roaming around the area,” Rachel remarked.
“We could always use a fifth player,” I agreed, “Whether they want to join us or just share information now and again.”
“That'd be nice, though I mostly meant it in regards to trading info and stuff.” she returned.
“Gotcha.” I said.
We fell into a silence for a few moments, and then Rachel manifested a thoughtful look on her face. She quietly pondered whatever it was for another moment or two, and then looked over at Andrea.
“Didn't we see something fiery towards the western areas?” she asked.
“In the areas we were at? I think so.” the other girl replied.
“Maybe we should check there,” Rachel said.
“Let's do it!” Ellie agreed.
“Sounds good to me,” I added.
Another lapse of silence visited us as we refocused our attention on the food we were eating. We eagerly devoured another few mouthfuls before conversation picked up again, this time regarding things in the real world.
“So... that homecoming dance. You two ready?” Ellie asked us with a mischievous smile.
“I think so!” Rachel replied at once, leaving me with no room to object; I merely nodded.
“Hmm? Nothing to say, lover-boy?” the blonde girl smirked.
“Well what about you?” I gently retorted.
“Heh, same as always for me. I'll just stay at home like I--”
“Ellie, you promised to come this year!” Andrea interrupted her.
“Eh? I did?” the other girl returned, her face blank. And then it turned a bit red. “Oh... I did... right... ahh...”
“That is so typical of you,” Andrea sighed, a soft smile on her face.
“Well of course I might forget a thing or two lately, I have job interviews coming up; let's be glad I can still game for now!” Ellie said in answer.
“Hmm? Where at?” Rachel wondered.
“Couple things at the mall, couple things in downtown; one or two around the Food District.” the reply came.
“Oh wow!”
“Gonna be light hours for most of the year, but my free-time on weekends, breaks, and holidays are gonna take a hit for sure.” she added.
“I bet,” Andrea nodded.
“So yeah, I guess I will be there this year... and I'm going to enjoy every second of watching the two of you--” Ellie began with a smirk, but Andrea cut her off again.
“You're going to be enjoying every second with your best friend since kindergarten, me.” the red-haired girl returned with a gentle kick under the table. “Leave the little turtle doves alone for their dance,” she added with a wink, and Ellie let out a sigh as Rachel and I shared a wry grin with each other.
“I get it, I get it!” the other girl replied. “Ugh, you act so demure but you're such a task-master when it comes down to it.” she added, and Andrea giggled.
“So anyway,” she said after a moment, “What do you think this charm will be?”
“Should be something like what we found in that Woody Heights dungeon.” I said. “I guess it'll have some sort of marking on it related to fire or heat.”
“Probably.” Ellie agreed.
“I bet it resembles some of the architectural motifs as well,” Rachel remarked, and the rest of us latched on to this with agreement.
“Right!” I nodded back, suddenly feeling inspired again. “And it'll probably be hidden away in something like a temple or a smaller dungeon, maybe a roaming boss...” I mused.
“Hmm... it would make sense for it to have that Mayan or Aztec feel to it...” Andrea said as she pondered it further.
“There actually might be some roaming bosses in this area. We didn't see them much in the Aldholt because it's generally a starter-area, but now we should keep our eyes out for stuff like that.” Ellie told us, and we nodded back.
“But really,” I then said, chewing thoughtfully on a few raisins and then swallowing them down, “I wonder how many places we'll have to search before finding this thing...”
“Let's not think about that yet.” Rachel said with a smile.
“Priorities, kiddo.” Ellie added. “Let's get through classes alive first.” she remarked, and the four of us laughed heartily at the joke.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Despite the jest we made it through the rest of the day just fine, and then after school we went our separate ways homeward. Chores were seen to, homework was worked upon diligently, and dinners were eaten with gusto, whereupon we logged in literally one by one to Panarena to continue our adventures in the Marshes of the Wyrd.
The first thing I noticed upon logging in was that one of the hauflins had a quest that hadn't been visible the last time we played. Did we unlock something by accident? I wondered as I went over to her to start the dialogue.
“Hello, adventurer! Have you seen the glows coming from the west at night? My pa says that it's the work of fire-demons, but I think there's something less supernatural about them myself; anyway, he won't let me go and see, of course, but if you ever head that way would you be so kind as to bring back some sort of proof as to what is happening there?” she said, and the Accept-slash-Reject option came up.
From the west, huh? I pondered briefly as I hit the accept button.
“Thank you, adventurer! And mind yourself--one of the scouts reported a rather large goblin wandering around that area as well!” she told me, and the dialogue ended.
Now, Sean, the way you accepted that quest was different from the way you accepted the Cloverbell quest. Why is that? Well, Panarena's quests are a mixed bag; some have interactive dialogue like the one for Cloverbell, others are simple yes-or-no quests like this one. Generally the more interactive quests come up with more important figures in the world, and the less interactive ones are from the more common folk or even objects, and sometimes walking into an area as well. But anyway.
As soon as the other three logged in I shared the quest with them, and we began making our way towards the west.
“Hmm... 'Investigate the six temples to the west for signs of danger and bring anything of note back to Aefa Honeylove'... six temples, huh?” Healina pondered as she read over the quest entry.
“Don't forget the beware-of-goblin notice as well.” Lizzy added.
“Akajak the Rude?” Healina read with a wry expression on her face. “Somehow, I don't want to know. But we'll probably end up finding out.”
“Ehh, most titles like that are just for atmosphere,” I shrugged. “I wouldn't put too much thought into it if I were you.” I added, making sure we were headed in the right direction as I played scout.
“If it's a large one, wouldn't that be a hobgoblin?” Ariana wondered.
“Probably,” I returned.
“Oh definitely.” Lizzy nodded, and then she stopped. “Hey! Back here a moment! What's this thing?” she called out to us, and we gathered around her, seeing an old stone covered with ancient symbols or writing upon it. Ariana and Healina both pulled out lorebooks that they had acquired in the Aldholt from either scholastic or mage-oriented guilds like Words and Sorcery or from quest rewards or NPC vendors.
“Oh, okay! This is more like it.” Ariana said as she found a match in her book first. “I wonder why all the ruins we saw over the weekend were blank...” she pondered for a moment, and then shook her head. “Well anyway, these are Hoh'mateca symbols,” she continued as Healina flipped through her own book to find the reference as well.
“Give us a minute or two, and keep a lookout for Akajak.” our healer added.
“Right!” Lizzy said, drawing out her halberd.
“Shadow Vision.” I intonted, looking around to make sure nothing was near. “Eh. Not seeing anyth--wait...” I then said, catching movement to the west. I watched closely as it meandered idly towards us, and then scuttled away towards the north. It left my field of vision a few moments later, and I turned off the skill.
“Lana?” Lizzy asked me.
“Something was moving around west of us, but it headed off north. It may have been a player, it may have been a roaming monster.” I told her.
“Couldn't tell for sure?” she wondered.
“It was only just in range for me to see.” I shrugged.
“Gotcha.” our Nordian smith nodded back.
“Got it!” Healina reported, and we turned back to the other two.
“So basically, this area is known as the Temple Plains; there's seven of them, but the seventh is more of a palace or a crypt, I can't tell exactly which.” Ariana told us.
“I'm not sure either, but it could also be both.” Healina said.
“That'd be weird.” I remarked.
“Maybe,” Healina nodded. “But that seventh is also locked, which is probably why the quest only mentions the six.”
“Or the seventh is the thing we're supposed to find by investigating the six.” I suggested.
“Wasn't there a quest like that in A-o-H?” Lizzy said to me.
“I think so? Midgard Rings definitely had one like it,” I replied.
“That actually makes sense though,” Ariana noted. She had quickly developed some serious gamer instincts since we first logged in to this world, and was beginning to see things the way Lizzy and I did. “So our main objective for the quest and possibly the charm could be in the seventh temple-slash-palace.”
“That's probably the most likely scenario,” I agreed.
“Nice work!” Lizzy said, clapping her hands together. “Where's this area now? Oh wait, I see... this rock also has a map on it,” she continued, and the rest of us examined it as well.
“Hmm... it seems like it might be tricky to get to...” Healina said, examining the markings beside the map for more information.
“Terrain? Traps?” I asked.
“Both? I think,” she replied.
“I mean, I was gonna keep alert anyway,” I remarked.
“Let's get going then.” Ariana said. “We have about eight hours of Panarena time; we can probably get through half of them tonight.” as she and Healina put away their books.
“Or all of them, depending on how they are.” Lizzy said as we started off.
“True.” Ari nodded.
“That'd be nice,” I agreed. We picked our way along what seemed to be a deserted highway, advancing steadily towards our current goal of the Temple Plains.
***
The major difference between the landscape that we had covered earlier and the one we were now experiencing is that this particular part of the Marshes is warmer, and on occasion, there are spots where it is literally flaming. According to the game lore (Ariana recounted for us), this particular area was devastated in an ancient magical battle between humanoid cultures and dragons. Whichever side won was apparently lost to the records (there's some immersive lore for you) but the main thing is that the land in our more immediate vicinity was doomed to be a fire-swamp until the next major in-world disaster.
It's not as bad as it sounds. The place was oddly picturesque, and Healina in particular took a couple of screen-grabs (some really nice ones, too). We fought a few monsters that had some sort of relation to either flame, swamps, or both, including giant salamanders, a group of flame-wisps, one troll, and several over-sized insects of the flying variety that had both me and Healina in a near state of panic. Oh, and there was also a monster frog. Yes, you read that right. A monster frog.
It was called the Remnant of Oxi-coahtl'Ho, and it had us on the ropes for the first few minutes of our fight. Apparently more than just the surrounding environment had been shaped by the ancient disaster. This frog was freaky, man; it belched fire every thirty to fifty seconds or so, and its tongue, if it hit you, burned like acid. Add to that some really hefty kicks and the skull-knocking headbutts it would perform on poor Lizzy and myself when we tried to get close. I actually landed splat against a poisonous tree the one time and was just barely saved by Healina; and Lizzy got knocked into the top of another tree at least once. She just loved that.
Ironically enough the monster was very susceptible to flame attacks. Once we figured that out -- quite by accident, really; Ariana got super-frustrated at one point and defaulted to a fireball attack without thinking -- it was payback time. We piled on as much flame damage as the four of us could muster; I wasn't sure if we incinerated or melted the thing in the end. I'm still not sure. But it died, and after a rest we continued on our way to the first of the six temples.
“Good grrrief!” Lizzy spouted off as we walked away. “I mean, that was fun, but that was also such a dang pain!”
“Like really.” I agreed, making sure we were still headed the right way.
“I bet if there's any bosses in these temples, they'll be much worse.” Ariana said.
“Ugh.” Healina sighed. “And I bet there'll be more bugs...” she grimaced.
“We'll make it.” Ari smiled at her. Healina dejectedly agreed with a nod.
After a few minutes more we arrived at the entrance to a ruin that was pretty decrepit; we found a nice overlook nearby and went to examine the place from a better vantage point. This particular ancient temple had no roof left, and what still stood was reminiscent of a maze, but less complicated. There were several monsters lurking inside, mostly undead types. I could see a door or something that probably led further down; Ari confirmed it was there.
“Typical,” I commented as we turned off our vision skills and readied ourselves to fight.
“I don't think any of them were unique though,” Ari remarked.
“The unique or difficult ones will be further down inside.”
“Ah, true...” she nodded.
“Might also be a surprise waiting for us down there.” Lizzy added.
“I'm not sure there is; I didn't see anything--although, after that first dungeon we did as a trio...” I said, reflecting suddenly on the mechanics of Serenade Hollow.
“Wouldn't surprise me if this area also nullifies player-skills like that,” our tank-slash-smith shrugged.
“Well,” I replied, looking back towards the place, “There's no feasible place for any typical trap; there could be some inside though. If anything happens out here I bet it's that pile of corpses in the middle coming back to life. We can probably avoid them though.”
“Maybe?” Ariana said uncertainly. “It looked like no matter how we make our way through we'll run into that room somehow.”
“We'll just use my Shadow Sharing in that case.” I shrugged.
“Let's go, girls!” Lizzy said, starting down the hill to make for the temple. I was about to reply in the affirmative when I suddenly checked myself.
Al-most got me, I thought with a faint grin as Ari took my arm to lead me along.
“How did you not reply to that?” she wondered with a small smirk of her own.
“Dunno,” I quietly giggled back.
As we suspected, the pile of corpses was a trap; we tried to avoid it, but before I could do anything to hide us the monsters were already waking up. It was a fairly rough battle, considering there were about thirty in all and that they were around two levels higher than us, but we pulled through and kept going. One of them dropped a key; the symbol upon it resembled a moon, and the temple we were at had a few lunar motifs around, so we figured it was for something inside. The four of us made our way down into the lower level, doubly cautious of anything that might hinder us or send us back to a rez-point.
It was creepier inside for sure. Not because there were monsters, but because we saw no signs of them as we made our way through. We came across a few special resource-nodes, and there were a couple chests or secret rooms with some nice loot, but aside from the occasional trap there was nothing that really rose up to get in our way.
We might actually get through this with time to spare, I thought to myself hopefully. And then we stumbled into the main chamber.
It was pretty big, and at the far end across from us there was a dais with a statue situated in front of a chest, kneeling down and facing towards us. There were also a lot of corpses on the ground. The four of us looked around at each other; none of us doubted it was a trap.
“You have the moon-key, right?” Ariana said quietly to me. I nodded back. “Maybe you should try sneaking over; we'll be ready here to back you up if something happens.” she told me, and I nodded again.
“Shadow Veil.” I whispered softly, and vanished from sight.
Carefully, I picked my way along the edges of the room, finding a still-sturdy shelf I could slip up on to avoid one of the larger corpse piles. I nimbly jumped to a bookcase, and then to another, narrowly dodging a hanging cage with -- yep, more corpses. Yeesh, I quietly grimaced as I briefly glanced at them. I made my way to the edge of the bookcase, and lightly sprang off of it to land upon the edge of the dais. It was then I noticed that this particular part of the floor had symbols engraved upon them. Turning off Shadow Veil, I knelt down to examine them more closely; Lizzy let out a soft whistle, apparently impressed at how quickly I had gotten over here. A little beep then sounded.
Ariana: Lana, what is it?
Lana: symbols on the ground here; probably some sort of device
Ariana: moving tiles?
Lana: I think so, yeah
Ariana: okay -- think lunar.
Lana: right -- lunar; moons.
Ariana: :)
With that helpful hint from my partner, I re-examined what was before me. There were more than a few moons on the ground, most of them in different phases. Oh, I get it; I think... I have to walk across these in an order of lunar phases, I mused internally. At least there was only one moon in this fantasy world. Games from the Eldritch Tomes had three moons, and A-o-H had a remnant moon in the sky that hung around the big one from time to time.
All-righty, new moon, I stepped cautiously; nothing happened. I looked around for a waxing-crescent, stepping on to this next. Then the half-moon; the three-quarter moon; the full moon, the reverse half-moon, the waning-crescent, and then another new moon. Still nothing had happened. Which meant I was on the right path. The chest was right in front of me now, and the statue was further ahead of it. What a loopy path, I thought briefly as I took out the key and used it on the chest. Inside I found a few nice accessories and a couple of rare crafting items, along with a sun-key.
Now, I guess all I have to do is step back the way I-- I thought to myself as I did so, but as soon as I did the tile began to sink. Rats! Dang it! What the--oh, snap, *now* I see it!! I cursed as I caught sight of another moon-trail leading away from the chest. The thing I thought was a statue started to stand up.
“Oh, snap!” I said out loud.
“Dang it, they're all awake!” Lizzy cried out, activating Thurian Stomp.
“Lana, hurry back!” Ariana called over as the monsters zeroed in on Lizzy. I put a stun on the dais-monster (probably the boss) and then practically flew back, looking back to make sure it was going to remain out for a few moments.
“Nice stun!” Healina remarked as she put up wards and prepared her healing skills.
“I thought for sure that thing was decorative; I guess it's the dungeon boss!” I said as I took out my daggers to aid in fighting.
“What'd you do, anyway? You got over there so perfectly to begin with and now this!” Lizzy quipped as she clove through several of the surprise attackers.
“I doubled back when I should have kept going,” I shrugged, entering Shadow World to do some damage.
It was a fairly long fight, moreso on account of the fact that the undead kept pouring into the room as opposed to a level difference. The boss remained under crowd-control from my stun, but then I wondered if downing him would end the fight. After all, we'd destroyed nearly a mountain of enemies and they were still coming.
“Ari! Hit the boss!” I said as I ducked into Shadow World again, heading for the boss as well.
“Noontide Reprisal: Sunlight's Eye!” she called out, and a blistering holy attack rained down upon the target. Meanwhile, I queued up Doomstrike and Holy Crescent Flash, executing them upon the boss at nearly the same time. We took out a fourth of his health-bar.
“Keep going!” Lizzy told us, thumping her halberd onto the ground and stunning a new wave of attackers.
“Holy Thunder!” Ariana intoned, and another barrage of fury rained down upon our enemy.
“Sunrise Vengeance!” I shouted, striking harder this time.
We got him down to about sixty-percent this time. I kept going even as he woke up; I practically danced around him, slicing and striking to keep his attention while Ariana cast magic on him to deplete his health, drain his energy reserves, or hinder his movements. Between the two of us we whittled him down to a little under ten-percent, and then he jumped back and began to howl.
“Oh, snap, not one of these--” I started to say, but then a bellow rang out from Lizzy. She barreled towards the boss in a rush, halberd held high, and brought it down with a thunderous rapport, cleaving him in twain and finishing him off. I blinked uncertainly for a moment, but at least the fight was over.
“Whew!” Lizzy remarked, leaning on her weapon of choice and wiping her brow. “Thurian Charge is not good for nothing; although it only works under certain conditions.” she told us with a faint grin.
“Nice one!” I exclaimed.
“What was in the chest? I barely noticed before things woke up,” our Nordian friend continued, bringing up the panel. “Ehh, kinda junk? Maybe I can improve them a bit if we hang on to them...”
“And a sun-key.” Healina said as she looked over the panel as well. “I guess we should look for that symbol next.”
“Isn't it opposite this one?” Ariana chimed in. “I think I saw another structure hidden away beyond this one,” she continued, bringing up a map.
“Could be,” I said, “Unless they're being tricky about it.”
“True!” she agreed.
“Good enough for a starting point; let's go!” Lizzy said, and with that we left the moon-temple and made our way over to the next one.
***
Despite what we hoped, the temple across from the Moon Temple was actually the Jaguar Temple. We looked on the map again to see if there was any sort of indicator to clue us in, but the region was too unexplored for us to make a definite conclusion. That might sound like a contradiction to the fact that we had a complete map of the Aldholt, but that was a starter area, so of course it had a complete map. With higher-level regions, there's a basic map of terrain that only updates local landmarks or other significant features (like resource areas) as you go along.
Anyway. Near the Jaguar Temple there was a weathered stone like the one we found describing the temples, but this one actually had a map. Ari and Healina spent several minutes working on a translation while Lizzy and I kept watch; after about fifteen to twenty minutes, they showed us the result, a translated map that we could use to get around the area.
“The Sun Temple is still further west of us; there's a Skull Temple north-by-northwest, and a Serpent and Spider Temple to the west of the Sun.” Healina told us.
“And directly west of the last one is that seventh; this time I think we got a better read for it: it's called the Royal Necropolis.” Ariana added.
“Hmm,” I remarked as I looked over at the map. “Well, there's no telling apparently what order we'll get these keys in, but at least we'll know where to go when we get them.” I said with a smile.
“Totally; nice work!” Lizzy said with a thumbs-up, and the other two beamed back at us.
“This is fun!” Healina said with a glowing smile. “Although it feels like we might not get through it all tonight...”
“Eh,” I shrugged, “We can at least get the Sun Temple tonight; and then we can try and get the third one, whichever that is, before we have to call it quits.”
“I bet it gives us the Spider Temple for third, just to be rude.” Ariana quipped with a wry smile.
“S-spider...” Healina shivered.
Oh, snap. That's right.
“Ahh...” I smiled uncertainly.
“We'll figure it out.” Lizzy said. “For now let's get to the Sun Temple and see what we get there!” she added, and with that we made our way westwards and south a touch to get to our next destination.