The land of shadow was an odd description for this otherworld as it was not a land of night or pure darkness. It did not have any obvious curses or malevolence that one could say was the reason for its name. Alanna could not see why this place would be called the land of shadows. She took a step forward out of the ring of stone and the moment she did a familiar fog screen formed in her minds eye.
You have slain Spirit of the wood *Dark Aligned x5. 500 Experience gained. You have slain the Puca, Ronan *Tainted.* 250 Experience gained. You have slain Redcap *Tainted* x3. 450 Experience gained. You have slain the Fomorian Tadhg. 500 Experience gained. You have slain Boggart *Tainted* x7 875 Experience gained. Congratulations you have leveled up. You are now level 5. 3 Ability and 3 Attribute points gained.
Congratulations you have completed the quest, Uncover the past I.
Congratulations you have cleansed a tainted land. Find other areas of tainted land to learn more about yourself and the past.
Alanna winced at the kill notifications. She hadn't realized how many creatures she cleansed already today and she had no idea how much more she would meet before her quest's end. It was one thing to understand one's resolve but to have it written out numerically was hard to witness. A large part of who she was disliked what she saw even as she understood and accepted the necessity.
The completion of the quest was no surprise either. She had gained a large amount of understanding about the history of the druid and even the story of the hag. Furthermore, the understanding that the tainted were blocked from the cycle and the recognition that all beings tied to the land lived within the cycle, was paramount to her for a reason she did not fully understand. Yet she accepted it as the truth. Alanna focused on her sheet to see where these ability and attribute points were going.
Name Alanna Hotaru Race: Druid Class: Mystical Warden (Unique) Age: 18 Gender: Female Anthropometrics: 183 CM / 11 Stone STR: 20 DEX: 20 AGI: 20 CON: 16 INT: 16 WIS: 20 CHA: 22 Health: 100% Mana: 88% Stamina: 80% Level: 5 Experience: 2875/3600
It appeared the attribute points went into strength and intelligence. Alanna was not sure she felt stronger or smarter so the overall increase was not obvious to her. She also never really tested what her max strength or speed was and she wondered if that may have been a mistake now that she had a way to quantify it. She looked over her spells and abilities but could not find any place where points could or would be added to them. It looked the same as it had before except under her shapeshift lesser it showed a new shape.
Spells Abilities Wild Growth: Use mana to call upon the land to trip up your enemies. Shapeshift - Lesser. Wild-shape 1: Smilodon. Regenerate: Use mana to call upon the land to heal damage to you or your allies. Nature's Charm Bark Armor: Use mana to call upon the land to cover your body in Ironbark. ???? Land's Bounty: Call upon the land to satiate your hunger and thirst. ????
She reviewed it a second time and still found nothing related to ability points. She wasn't exactly sure what this fog based screen even was. It was not really an interface as she did not interact with it in any way. It was a character sheet she could look at. She wondered if it was part of her awakening and if she had to go through another awakening or something similar to unlock a function to interact with it. She had no idea and staring at it wasn't helping. She shook her head to clear the fog and continued walking toward the castle in the distance.
Grainne stared ahead and clenched her hands tightly. She had been away from this place for at least a century which was not all that long given she was practically immortal. Sure she could be killed and enter back into the cycle of rebirth but aside from being killed, she would not die. Still she was very young for her kind. She was born long after the Tuatha had been relegated to the underworld. She was one of the few new born of the fae and it was because her mother had been a human before the otherworld changed her nature. The other worlds were fragments of a divine realm that was tangentially tied to the land. The land was a nebulous concept that seemed to change with the perception and ideals of the speaker.
Grainne could feel a connection to the concept but it was weak and seemed to be tied to a singular set of abilities that allowed her to be a muse. She had the ability to give a boon of inspiration to one she took as a lover yet that boon had a price that the lover would have to pay. It was a fair trade for many because their object of desire, be it art, music, or battle, was an obsession which they would willing give a portion of their life for. This was necessary to be worthy of the leanan Sídhe's kiss. There was a certain madness that they would be drawn to. This was the curse they lived with and it was one that caused Grainne to despair. She was doomed to have a love like those in all the epics, short and with likely bloodshed. She would like to find her own Diarmuid and not watch them die so soon yet with her touch their comes a cost.
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She would not admit it but the reason she was in that cage was because she heard a story about a human druid that came to this land. She had followed his path hoping to meet one but was a few centuries to late. She found his remains in cage then that fomorian moved in and trapped her. It was humiliating then she was finally awakened by an actual druid who was even better than a human when it came to lovers but she had to be a woman who was uninterested. Even though she was large and strong like that brute Scáthach, Grainne was still largely attracted to men. So, she traveled with a stunningly beautiful woman with powers that rivaled what she knew from the legends and even though her power found the druidess to be alluring, Grainne did not think Alanna would feel any way romantically toward her and it made her grumpy.
"So, when are you going to tell me your story?" The larger woman asked right on cue. It caused Grainne to grimace and shake her head. She just shrunk down to her smaller form and flew over to the pack to rest. She wouldn't be able to speak in this form so it was easier to ignore conversation. She knew it was rude but did not really care. Her story was embarrassing and she was worried it would sound pathetic so, she would not tell this woman.
Alanna just grunted a sound that meant something Grainne was certain of that. She had no idea what that could be so she decided it was tacit approval of her continued silence. Alanna walked toward the castle in the distance and her long strides seemed to quickly shorten the distance. The pair came to a stop at the top of a hill and Alanna could finally understand why this was the land of shadows. The large castle sat atop a hill when viewed from a distance but from this close she could see that it was more like it was built on an overhang that covered the town below in its shadow. Next to the hill, on the left side as Alanna was facing it, was a vast body of water, likely an ocean, that had eroded that side of the hill making it a steep cliff that was around 10 meters in height.
The cliff side and overhang immediately drew the eye but the hill was also visually enthralling. It curved back around to the right side and then down toward the town below it. There was a a road that ran down the hill and abutted against a postern gate that appeared to be open and large enough to fit a cart, or carriage, or perhaps three horses abreast. It was strange that the curtain wall that encircled the town did not also protect the right flank of the castle. Instead it was almost as if it were separate from the town.
The town looked to be a rather traditional 8th century town. There was a market square or town square directly in the center that was a large open area where vendors could set up stalls to peddle their wares. In the direct center was a huge tree that had been planted and was decorated with cloth streamers and various colorful objects. Around the square there were a series of larger buildings making up the town leadership and the wealthier citizens homes. This ring pattern continued outward until there were fields where farmers plied their trades. Then finally came a huge wall that encircled the land protecting them from any raiders that may come.
Alanna was unsure if there were any such raiders and wondered if their were what they would be. She could see from where she stood atop the next hill over that the people were all some semblance of shapeshifter or perhaps something else. She knew quite a bit of lore from her father's family but she also knew that the otherworld was tied to many people in the isles. There was very likely some cross-over or creatures being mislabeled because everything from Irish mythology was pretty much a shapeshifter of some sort.
She looked back at her passenger and wanted to laugh at the little fairy who had crossed her arms and was expressing her displeasure with a grumpy countenance. She was rather adorable in her smaller form. So, it was difficult to take her seriously. Plus she was a leanan Sídhe which Alanna was practically immune to. The creature did not have any real combat abilities as they were lovers not fighters. Alanna was sure Grainne could fight if she had to but she could not recall any stories where these creatures were great warriors. Still they were shapeshifters and could take on different humanoid forms. She had only ever seen the two from this one but she was fairly certain Grainne could change her features to better suit a potential match.
Alanna took off down the hill with her long strides and made her way toward the gate in the outer wall. It was guarded by a creature that if it were in Greece would be a satyr. She thought about the roman influence on the isle and decided that it would likely be called a faun instead. Since in this place it could be anything, Alanna just decided to call it a satyr to save her sanity. The otherworld was already just a vast mesh of mythos from the Celts adding another myth wasn't going to hurt it.
She stopped at the open gate where the very bored satyr just stared at her in confusion without saying a word. It didn't speak for so long that Alanna was becoming uncomfortable. She pursed her lips and put her hands on the top her staff as it rested on the ground in front of her. "So, can I go in?" Alanna asked after a full minute of the impromptu staring competition. The satyr blinked slowly then turned around to look behind him. After seeing no one else it looked back at Alanna and rubbed its eyes. "Are you real?" the satyr asked in a deep booming voice that sounded like it belonged to a much larger creature.
Alanna was taken aback by the power in the voice but she nodded and said yes. Although it came out more of a question. "Are you sure?" The satyr asked. "No body ever comes here anymore so you had better be real or else." Alanna nodded very seriously. So the guard motioned her onward. Alanna started to walk forward but her curiosity got the better of her. So, before she stepped to far past the guard she turned back. "What would the or else part be if I wasn't real?" She asked in genuine curiosity. The guard stared at her in confusion and just shrugged. "Dunno never saw something that wasn't real." It said. "Right..." Alanna said and turned around and walked down the cobbled path through the fields toward the center of town. "That conversation was interesting." She thought as she resumed her journey onward.