Achievement Unlocked – Knife to meet you!

Kill a monster with backstab damage 1/1 times.

Reward: +1% backstab damage.

Huh. Honestly, I was expecting something of struggle, due to this being Hell difficulty and all. Killing the damn thing with one hit was pretty far from my expectations, but I guess attacks from behind do extra damage or something. I’d look into that later, but for now I had to move on before the Devil found me. I swiftly made my way to the next Demonic Watchers and repeated the process, easily killing the disgusting things and getting another achievement pop-up.

Achievement Progressed – Knife to meet you!

Kill a monster with backstab damage 5/5 times.

Reward: +1% backstab damage.

I guess I’d have to do some achievement grinding later if I wanted to do good damage. Fun. Well, it’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started playing an MMORPG. Now focus. I didn’t want to die a stupid death because I wasn’t concentrating and alerted the Devil by tripping over a root. Listening closely, I was able to hear something crashing through the underbrush around where I thought the first Demonic Watcher was. Good. That should buy me some time.

I sneaked back into the camp, ignoring the prisoner and cage for now. I had to find the key first, so I started looking through the tents. Nothing in the first one, or the second, third, or fourth. On the one hand, I was glad I hadn’t run into any enemies sleeping in the tents, but my frustration was also growing as I failed to find what I was looking for. Entering the fifth tent, however, a large chest sitting in the back corner got my hopes up. Creaking it open, I was ecstatic to see a key hanging inside. I was not so ecstatic to hear someone coming back into the camp.

Not knowing what else to do, I quickly climbed into the chest, nestling myself in with the armor held within, and eased the lid shut as quietly as I could. I was just in time, too, since I heard the tent flap being thrown open just after I got it closed. A female voice was shouting something I couldn’t understand. Damn it, one of the patrols must have returned. Just my luck. I heard some shuffling around, but mercifully, the chest never opened.

The next thing I heard was some form of chanting outside. My lack of knowledge of the magic system in this game left me feeling very apprehensive of the results. It was a tense few seconds while the chant finished, and then I started to glow a dull red. Every part of my body exuded a glowing red mist, ruining any chance I had of stealth. Shit. Killing those Demonic Watchers must have marked me somehow. My only chance now was that the light didn’t leak out of the chest enough for them to find me.

Scarcely daring to breath, I was glad to hear the newcomers start to run off into the forest. Two sets of footsteps, so they’d both left. I hoped. I didn’t really know if all of the patrols were two people like the first one I’d seen. I cracked the lid of the chest open and peeked out, sure I was about to discovered. Maybe I should have waited to see if there was anyone else out there, but I’m not one for indecisiveness. Regardless, I didn’t see anybody else in the tent, but the whole area was lit up with the same blood red mist.

The camp was empty, but the ground leaked red mist everywhere I’d been. Clearly it marked anywhere I’d been since I killed the Demonic Watcher, but they’d followed it backwards instead of to my current location. That would buy me some time, but they’d definitely run into the camp guard soon enough and realize what happened. The time I had to work with had just been cut in half at the very least. Luckily, I’d found the key, so I made my way over to the cage. The Treant inside was watching me silently, not moving his body at all in response to my movements.

“Come on, buddy. Let’s get you out of here.” I opened the cage and tried to lift him up to walk out of here. Finally, he reacted, but not how I expected.

“No. My time has come. I cannot fight the corruption any longer. But you must finish what I could not. Reach the Forest Mother and help her fight back the darkness. My journey ends here.” He resisted any attempts I made to help him up, and I didn’t want to be too forceful with somebody on the brink of death.

“We can both go. Come on now. Up you go.” I tried my best to encourage him, but I’m not much of a motivational speaker.

“You are marked with the blood of a demon. I will cleanse their curse and offer my core to you to defend yourself. Move quickly, for the Demons return to capture you.”

Suddenly, the Treants eyes and hands started growing green with life energy as he reached out to me. Even as he reached for me, the blackened bark greedily sucked in the life energy. As he grasped my shoulder, I felt the life energy enter my body, a wave of power traversing my veins. I felt strong. And free. Wild. And then it was gone.

“Now they cannot follow your trail. Take up my core and aid the Forest Mother.” With those last words, he reached into his chest, the bark peeling back to let his hand in.

Quest Updated – Escape!

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

You rescued the prisoner, but you were too late. Accepting his death, the Treant tasks you with helping the “Forest Mother.” Using the last of his power, he cleanses the demonic trace on you and offers you his core to defend yourself. Take up arms and protect your birthplace.

Quest Objectives:

-Aid the Forest Mother.

-Avoid alerting enemy patrols.

-Quest failed upon death or corruption of the Forest Mother.

The Treant offers you a weapon to defend yourself. Choose your class. Later class upgrades allow more specialization.

Knight – Adept with a sword, Knights are melee classes that can further specialize into tanks or melee damage dealers.

Rogue – Never found without a dagger, Rogues are adept with multiple other weapons that let you attack from a variety of ranges. Rogues can further specialize into burst damage or poisons.

Ranger – Rangers primarily use a bow to attack their foes from long range. Future specializations allow a Ranger to tame pets or use traps.

Druid – One with nature, Druids sing to the spirits to request their aid. Druids can further specialize into healers or transform into powerful beasts.

Mage – Mages harness the power of the elements to annihilate their foes. Mages can further specialize into different elements, gaining more effects and increased control over their spells.

Priest – Priests beseech the gods for aid and can further specialize by devoting themselves to a god of their choosing.

Shit. Who the hell designed this? Time didn’t stop when the menu popped up, so every second I spent deciding on my class brought the Demons one step closer to the camp and me one step closer to death. I perused the options, ignoring the descriptions, thinking only about what would be useful right now. Rogues normally have some sort of stealth mechanic, right? I selected Rogue on that impulse.

Suddenly, a giant beam of green life energy erupted from the Treant’s chest, shooting up into the sky. If the Demons didn’t already realize exactly where I was, they definitely did now. The beam rapidly expanded to include me before I could react, and I once again felt a pull on my core. When the light faded, the Treant in front of me was completely gone, and a polished wooden dagger had appeared in my hand.

Methuselah’s Core

Rarity: Growth

Damage: 5-10

+5 Agility

+3 Strength

The Treant Methuselah offered his core to you to help you accomplish the task he passed on to you. Holding the dagger, you can feel its desire, pulling you towards the Forest Mother. Finish what Methuselah started to unlock his core’s full potential.

Cannot be traded.

As I stood there, absorbing the new information, I was jolted out of my reverie by the sounds of the Demons crashing through the forest behind me. It was time to go.