Tartarus: The Realm of Underworld

[Silverbel]

The key feels like the essence of life, but also overpowering, as though it would easily destroy you if you borrowed too much power from it. Holding it makes you feel a bit faster somehow...

The Door of Water has appeared.
[ENTER THE DOOR OF WATER]

[Silverbel]

This next room is filled entirely with metal.
Steel makes up the floor and everything you can see.

Here, a hulking Lizardman covered in hard scales and armor glares at you. He looks exceptionally dangerous. It almost seems out of place to have a creature so covered in technology here.

[SPEAK TO THE LIZARDMAN]

[Silverbel]

As you begin to contact it telepathically, its mouth opens and it speaks, personally, loudly and authoritavely.

"WE are the Essence of Body - the very force of mortality.
We represent growth, creation, competition, strength, and production.
There is no single more powerful force in the living world than us.

We bend the elemental world to suit our means. Heaven and Hell have no keep over us; The strongest dream is naught but a dream to us.

The enemies in nature are ours to defeat. Be prepared; we will TEST you from time to time, to ensure you are deserving of our gift. If you are not, we will snatch it away.

Enjoy life."

And he hands you the key of Body.
As you hold this, you feel yourself drawing closer to life.

The door of Body has appeared, but...
The lizardman motions. "... Wait. I have more to say."
[ENTER THE DOOR OF BODY]
[LISTEN A BIT LONGER]

[Silverbel]

"See here." he motions at his gear.

A gleaming steel cap with a retracted visor, a hard steel shield. A long metal blade. A chain collar, long shoulder pads, a flowing cape, knee guards. Solid pressed chest armor. Taut leather gloves. Hardened leather shoes. Belts. A hip pack. An axe and a bow upon his back; a dagger strapped to his greave. A flask of oil dangling from a leather cord.

"There is more."

He shows you the back of his shield - books, maps, bandages, poultices and a limb-sling suspended in a sewn-in bag. The contents of his pack - food, and water, but also a slingshot, sharpened stones, and a handful of iron spikes to be tossed upon the ground, and a large piece of flint and coal. In his shoulder pack - whetstones, carving knives, a large brush, spare leather straps, a bowstring, fabrics, and lanyards, a snare, a box containing needle and thread, a ball of wax, a thin square of solid metal, and a small tightly wadded blanket.

"Life depends on preparation.
Soak it in, learn from what you see.
One more thing. You will not become stronger in any fashion unless you exercise your ability. That is the way of life.

Go."

[ENTER THE DOOR OF BODY]

[Silverbel]

As you open the door, you find yourself in what appears to be a perfectly normal field. Trees are in the distance. You think you hear a river.


Here, a bobcat walks up.
You realize this creature is a being of Pure Nature.
[SPEAK TO THE BOBCAT]

[Silverbel]

You contact the Bobcat.


"... help."

You are in shock for a moment.

"Help, please. Our world is polluted, the balance destroyed. Monsters roam the world. They will destroy what little we have left. Please, please help us.
Come to Tartarus. Bring whatever implements you need.

You may take what you must of us, if you only keep us alive. This is the bargain that will be struck; nature shall feed Man, and Man shall protect nature. We shall become stronger together, and overpower the dark, unnatural forces that seek to dominate us. The water and earth are yours. Please, protect them.

Be aware that the beings of this world are in a delicate web of balance with each other. When you come, you will change that balance. Many creatures will want to lead, want to be the biggest eater. You must fight them for the honor and right, and you must win - these creatures can not save us from the dark fires of imbalance.

You are our hope. You must succeed.

Take this last key, and go."

The bobcat steps away, and there is the Key of Nature.

[TAKE THE KEY OF NATURE]

[Silverbel]

As you pick up the Key of Nature, you feel two things.

First, you feel the struggle and contest which yields power and health to the mighty and only death to the weak. A rough, terribly brutal challenge that is also brutally fair in its implement.

But you also feel a weakening. This key is soft; as though it might crumble away in your hands. The power of Nature is waning.

The Door of Nature has appeared.
[ENTER THE DOOR OF NATURE]

[Silverbel]

You find yourself back at the gate.

The Sage of Soul holds out his hand.

"The Nine Keys, please."

[GIVE THE NINE KEYS OF THE ELEMENTS TO THE SAGE]

[Silverbel]

"So now you know what you will face... what plight this world is in."

The nine keys coalesce into a fourth Soul Ticket, which vanishes in a flash.

[ASK ABOUT THE FIFTH TICKET]

[Silverbel]

"Why?
Why do you seek so much control over your fate?

Wisdom is accepting the life you are given. Obtaining the Soul Tickets will not raise your total stats or power.

But, very well. If you believe you are determined, we will gladly test that determination.

Go, to the Lighthouse of the East. Travel far and wide until you reach your destination."

If you choose to [START TRAVELING], you may eventually reach the Lighthouse of the East. But choose carefully. It is a long journey.

You can leave your quest and enter the game at any time with the command, [ENTER GATE].

[Silverbel]

It's starting to get cold. You are sure the heat is slowly leaving this place. You must be drifting farther and farther into nothing, and the further you go, the colder it gets.



[KEEP ON TRAVELING]

[Silverbel]

It keeps getting colder. In a way it is reassuring - the empty is changing.
But in another way it is mortifying. It is not changing in a very pleasant way. Now, not only is it totally desolate, the comfortable temperatures from before are giving way to the icy freeze of desolation.

[MAKE YOUR WAY ONWARD]

[Silverbel]

You climb and climb, trying to escape the destruction beneath you. The water seems to climb faster and faster, and the clay embankments give way so softly, carrying grasses, weeds and plants with them. The tallest oaks do not bend or shift, having seen this many times, but you know that if fate turns on them, they will be like the trees further down. You reach the crest of the hill, and with nowhere else to go, you descend in the ink of the night.

[CLIMB DOWN ANOTHER VALLEY]

[Silverbel]

The sun rises to the break of snowy trees - a treeline. You stagger up the rocks to discover you have been climbing a mountain.

Gazing back, you see a forest of endless size streched behind you, a thick layer of fog above you, and before you - endless mountain ranges stretched out into hills and valleys.

Not wanting to venture too high, nor too low, you anbandon the treeline and begin to angle yourself across the rocky slopes.

[CROSS THE ICY MOUNTAINS]

[Silverbel]

It's cold now - freezing. The overly wet environment is not helping. The sun may be rising, but a thunderstorm brews overhead. Lightning crashes nearby, but there is no fire in this kind of freezing, pelting weather. The lightning casts eerie glows on everything as you travel up, down, up... you can't tell where you are anymore or if you have been going in circles. You have not seen signs of the previous disasters though.

[KEEP TRAVELING THROUGH HILL COUNTRY]