West of the Great Kingdoms' border, between the five peaks, lies the Plane of Shadows. A flat land indigenous to many shadows blessed creatures. A land where hordes of roiling dark beasts move with the peak's shadow scouring the earth of all non-shadowed life, consuming and becoming greater as they battle for dominance.
Here in these Spawning Pools of Monsters, our hero is born. Unlike his brethren, he is small; he is white, and most of all, he is round?
#############################################
3 years later.
#############################################
Waking up from the best dream, I roll off my bed and soak in the sun. Stretching out my limbs and back. Listening to the Rustling of grass and the whistling of arrows. *Thud*
Like that one...Arrows? Arrows!
Turning my head towards whomever shot, I see a group of three brightly
green soldiers in some weird get-up.
Seeing my assailants, I chose the most logical move against an unknown threat.
So, I'm running down the monochrome plains dodging and avoiding dark spots as they come up, waiting for my pursuers to give up the hunt. But why are they pursuing me? Out of everything in this shadow-plagued nightmare pit, why are they coming after me!
I mean, 'yes' I'm an oddity, but that's the point! Who wants to deal with an anomaly in the middle of death-infested plains? Finally, the biggest out of the three trips into a Void-Gap, a pool filled to the brim with Gaps; magic-powered piranha worms with the tendency to go invisible, and a delicacy. Seems the Lug lost a leg before getting saved, and that blood is not doing him any favors. Hundreds of blank spots seem to finally recognize prey and start to swarm over the injured party member.
However, the smallest in the group springs up a light ward before they can get the drop on them. Enraging the unsatable tide.
Hey, odd thought, but aren't we making a lot of noise in the middle of shadow-entrenched plains; why aren't they dead? Usually, something as simple as a simple branch snap would get you overrun. Reviewing the experience of the last few minutes of arrow weaving and spot dodging, I see a discrepancy in my memories perspective, a blank and rather forceful as well.
Seconds later, after forcing my mind into confronting the space. I realize they have a magic item, not just one; they went all out and are decked head to toe.
No wonder they were so bright! They're literally burning metric tons of mana crystals!! Learning this, I climb the closest vantage point, a Whipetree, a good 6 feet tall sparse-leafed tree with razor-sharp branches and a penchant for the blood of the living.
Why anyone would come here boggles the mind as even the trees have a nasty habit of eating in your sleep. And Whipetree's are kind of tame compared to the rest of the plant kingdom.
Enough pondering.
Looking toward the flickering light of the elves' shield, I see that sadly and is still standing. The flickering is from the unseen wave, either body blocking or eating the light ward, trying to get to their rightful prey.
Focusing my three eyes, I spot the Lug almost on his feet, being healed by a combination of items and the medium one's magic. The small one seems to be concentrating its all on the shield. And for a good reason as well. *Crack*
Seems that the Shell-crackers arrived; they are slow-moving Snails with crab claws with the nasty ability to break shields of any kind. Stonewall, Smashed, Magic wall, dispelled, Reinforced Stone wall, blasted. That last one was quite the surprise as I was playing with these guys' dirt castles; Henry was making a place when a tower went crooked, and Bam, to smithereens.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Now they're panicking, easier to steal for the Arachands; humanoid hand spiders, actually quite clever as you can trade goods like adventurous things.
A pair slips in and take the Lug's sword and the small one's bag. Big-Guy doesn't like that and tries to counter with a stomp, to which he succeeds and falls over screaming in pain. Oh yeah, Arachands have near-invisible spines full of painful poisons.
Seeing as their deaths are inevitable, I run over to get a part of the loot. Going around the dome, I find Henry there charging his claws. I shake a hello to him; Henry tears one of his eyes stalks from the shield to eye me before greeting me with a shake.
Shadows usually use body speech, a weird universal language we use to gauge each other intentions, with higher levels allowing for more subtle and finesse.
Seeing as he's about to blow up the shield to Kingdom Come, I quickly ask if he needs any help or cooperation. He shakes out a positive with trade, I send a response for an arm, and he seems to like the prospect.
Three seconds later, with a new hole in the back of the shield, I quickly role in with a curse of [swordsman] which negatively impacts my use of bladed tools, but as an upside makes me sharp as one. I quickly slash the head of the middle one with my tail killing her instantly. I then go after the mage as she is in the middle of repairing the shield, I'm stopped as Lug punches me, and I'm forced to deflect the blow.
The blow sends me flying to the other side of the shield, hitting with an odd *thud* almost silent as most things are here. Lug didn't come out that unscathed his hand shredded from touching my body, shaking the blood and flesh off my back. I rush Lug while charging my lower legs, reaching him in a flash when he takes out a dagger and aims for one of my eyes.
I stop mid-thru and let my momentum take my lower end; Lug thinks it is hesitation and capitalizes on it. Then I let my lower legs fire and cut the sad sobs in half. Turning towards the last member, I see her crying in fear as she sees me. A blood-drenched monster with sharp edges like a knife and ghostly white eyes. She faints.
After that, the shield crumbles, and the horde falls in and tries to bite into whatever flesh they can reach. A quick *Bang* gets them to calm down for the first killers' rights.
The first killers' rights are how we decide how food is split up doing joint hunts. Seeing as they distracted the elves, they get the lump sum of 3/4, and strikers like Henry and me get 1\/4.
For Henry, he gets dibs on the Lug's arm, while I, a scholar of sorts, go for some of shines and trinkets. With these, we leave the pile, letting the hungry mass have their fill. Henry and I split from here, each having fulfilled their daily quota.
While the beasts are feeding, I come to the Arachands who got the little girls' bag, they see me and wave; Arachands are particularly adept at body language as they are more social than others, so the following dialogue is a translation.
"Weird-one, how was the hunt?" stirs who I believe to be Greenback.
"Bountiful, they were hatchlings covered in shinies." I shake back.
"Always in trouble, Wierd one?" stirs RedRidge, who was the one to call me Weird-one when I was born.
"Being bait is an 'honor'!" I shake that with joking intent.
"Right, right, do scream when you get caught." stirs RedRidge, one of the few things that would care if I die.
"Don't worry, I'm too fast for them." I shake offhandedly.
"Enough RedRidge, Weird-one is no hatchling." Cuts in Greenback, and, yup, I'm sure, he's the only Arachand who cuts in line.
"So trade?" -Weird-one
"Shinies?" fires back -RedRidge
"Always" -Weird-one
Removing the trinkets from my back and legs, I watch as Greenback does the same. After spreading them out, I call out what I want in order.
1#Book - From Bag
2#Cube - From Bag
3#Silk - Locally produced
Greenback does the same In reverse.
3# Coins - From Lug's pants
2# Rings - From Middles, it increases strength and mana regen.
1# Necklace - Girl's, increases max mana And mana regen.
I see this as an acceptable trade and shake my antenna affirmatively.
Afterwards, I have RedRidge help and stick my loot to my back, and we say our goodbyes.
Reaching home, I shrug off my stuff and dig out the door, still can't believe it took me a month to make the thing. In front of me, my dead white double door opens, revealing a slightly glowing hole in the ground.
In comparison digging this place out took me what a week? *Sigh*
I take my things, throw them away with the rest of my stuff, and go to sleep. I honestly have no energy, and it won't move. With that in mind, I check my status before bed.
Name: Pearl Race: Pale Pill Bug Class: Locked Level:10 + 12 EXP: Banked Lineages: Shadow beast
Affinities:
Dark
Void
Curse
Health: 230 /243 Mana: 220/234 [41922570] Titles: Skills:### Str:14 Int:13 H Regen: 3.7/ Minute {Redacted} Abilities:#### Dex:17 Wis:15 M Regen: 3.6/ Minute {Redacted} Magic:### Vit:15 Will:15 Defense:22