The mural beckons and I really want to inspect every inch of it! But first I need to make sure that Stalker is ok! I climb the stairs, calling out to him: “Stalker! Stalker are you ok?” emoting safety and concern “Where are you?”
As I get up the stairs, I hear a slight whimpering whine coming from the destroyed desk. I feel Stalker emoting pain and rush to him. “It’s ok now Stalker” I say, “We blew that wannabe transformer to shreds!”
The wound is not deep, luckily Stalker managed to dodge away from most of it, but it is bleeding. I quickly bandage it and mildly scold my brave companion “Don’t do that again, my brave friend!” I emote concern “I was worried I had lost you…” Stalker tilts his head and hufs while emoting pack and protect.
I have no words and just sit with the fox that is my only friend in this strange world… No, I correct myself: Pack!
We sit in companionable silence for some minutes. Until Stalker gets enough and emoting curiosity he descends the stairs again. I quickly follow eager to look at the mural, but also hoping that some pages or books survived the explosion.
As I rummage through the splintered remains of the bookcase and the exploded construct my hope is crushed. There are certainly bits and pieces, but nothing I can make sense of and in languages that I can’t read. I collect what little I can and then I give the mural a closer look.
In the center of the mural is a gate on a hill. Swirling vortex indicates it is active, exiting from it appears to be all kinds of races. Races straight out of fantasy, there are reptilian humanoids, dwarfs, elves, goblinoids and others I have no name for.
The edges of the mural are black. At first, I take it as an artistic choice, like a border. Studying it closer though it seems like it could be something else. Like a void. Like the hill with the gate is floating in a void…
I feel this mural is significant, and the update on my quest also indicates that it is! But I have no idea what it means…
I try to collect my thoughts. What do I know? I look at Stalker going through the piles of debris.
“Ok, Stalker This is what I know so far” he looked at me, tilting his head. “I was brought here upon my death.” Stalker emoted confusion “Trust me I know… I just… I can’t deal with that right now”
I quickly continue “There is a system that governs this world. It reads my thoughts and reacts to it…” I shudder at that and spend a few minutes practicing breathing exercises. Until Stalker comes over and softly headbutts my knee emoting concern. I look at Stalker and emote gratitude, as I refocus.
“I am not the first here.” Stalker hufs with amusement. I continue, “The skeletal remains I have found indicate, at least 3 different races or species.” I look at the remains in the room “The dwarf, the people with tails and that human in the cave.”
“The stuff I found on the human was medieval or something like that.” I look at Stalker, he is not really paying that much attention anymore. I continue anyway, as I point out the pale light in the room “This house has light sources that I can’t explain and a construct that looked like some steampunk magitech.” Stalker is nose deep in the tail skeletons “I suppose magic could be an explanation for that or maybe different time periods?” I sigh “But that is just speculation.”
I take another look at the mural, and it strikes me that none of the depicted people are carrying things. They are wearing clothes just like me when I got here.
“Hey Stalker! Are you seeing this?” I say excitedly, as I point towards the mural “they only have clothes on, they are like me!”
This mural and house appear to be ancient, so this has been going on for a long time. I think to myself and then turn to Stalker and ask him “Why is this happening? And who is behind it?” Stalker looks at me. No answers, but he has found some kind of necklace!
It turns out that the three tailed skeletons each had a necklace (or one of them had three, honestly, it’s a big pile of bones, so who knows). The necklace has a stone gate symbol. Another blue flash and as I open the event tab I see:
Quest: Lorekeeper
Duration: 14 days (12 days 17 hours 24 minutes 31 seconds)
Objective: Delve into the lore and history of Limbo, unearth stories, artifacts, and places of cultural import. Partial completion possible.
Reward: Skill selection, reward will depend on rate of completion
These necklaces would certainly qualify as artifacts and this house would then be a place of cultural import? Just because of a mural? I look around and see the destruction everywhere…
I see the scorch marks on the walls and take a closer look. Those scorch marks were not random results of a fight! They were targeted at other murals! Stalker looks at me as I frantically jump around the room poking at scorch marks. He hufs and emotes amusement at my dance.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Age and the destruction make it impossible for me to see what they depicted. So, we have a house with a series of murals maybe showing moments of Limbos history, we had books (until I came along) and some tail people wearing matching necklaces…
“Ok Stalker, are you ready for this?” Stalker looks at me and emotes bored. This has been going on for a while. “Sorry, I promise we are almost done” Stalker does not look convinced.
“This house was a cult hideout! Or temple?” Stalker looks at me and hufs, he is not impressed. “Could also be a library or museum? Whatever it was and whatever was here. Somebody wanted to erase it from history!” As I said it out loud, it suddenly made a lot more sense that this place might be of cultural import.
I look around at the scorched walls, the skeletons, the rubble and say to Stalker and whoever else is listening “Why would they want to erase this?” I shake some dust out of my hair and softly say mostly to myself “Why would the system give me a Lorekeeper quest? Does it want me to find out what happened?” and if so, why doesn’t it just tell me?
No sudden message from the system appears. I sigh, as I realize I will have to figure this out on my own, looking at Stalker I amend that to we will have to figure this out!
I start going over the rest of the room. At this point Stalker just finds a place and lays down, snout on his paws. I quickly search the dwarfen skeleton and find a hand axe and a knife in a sheath. The axe head was well preserved, but I would need to find another shaft. The sheath crumbled upon taking it, but the knife was almost free of rust! (score!) Unfortunately, the armor was useless.
This search has been going on for some hours now. We have climbed the stairs and are back in the study. Both Stalker and I are still slightly hurt and tired. We have food, but I don’t like the idea of making a fire down here.
I look at Stalker and say, “Ok my friend, do you think it is safe to go home?” Stalker looks up the slope and back at me, then emotes patience and starts to go up. “Be careful!” I manage to get out before I lose sight of the nimble fox.
A few anxious minutes later I feel Stalker emoting safety from above ground. I ascend carefully up the slope and take in a breath of fresh air! It is starting to get dark, and I know we will have to hurry if we want to make it back before its pitch black. But I take a moment to just breathe and appreciate the sounds and scents of the forest. I was never really an outdoor person in my old life, but danger aside it was starting to win me over.
I emote readiness to Stalker, and we begin a pattern of him ranging forward 10-20 meters and then emoting if it’s safe or not. This works surprisingly well. We are learning all kinds of stuff about our bond! And we are getting nearer to the pond and the cave.
Suddenly I hear a yelp and growl from up front! I get the feeling of danger from Stalker, and I abandon all caution, as I run forward with knife in one hand and the axe head in the other, as I run towards my friend and danger, the thought running through my head is… I miss my femur!
As I explode out of a bush and enter a small clearing, I see Stalker in a fight with some kind of grey scaled dog. Slightly larger than Stalker and with a vicious looking maw full of teeth! (Way too many teeth). The dog is going for the throat of Stalker.
I jump into the fight, yelling and trying to get its attention. I emote flee to Stalker, but it is too late! The dog manages to sink its teeth into the neck of my friend and starts shaking him. I hear a yelp and whimpering from Stalker, as I descend upon the dog with all the fury I can muster.
I stab with the knife; it gets turned away by the scales. I discard the knife and grip the axe head with both hands and just start pummeling the monster that is hurting my friend. There is no back and forth. No dance nor dodge. Just me trying to kill before my friend dies.
You have slain a scaled hound (lvl 3)!
You have gained experience!
You have leveled up; you are now level 2!
+2 stat points earned.
I feel the rush running up and down the spine. I begin to cry, as I covered in blood try to help Stalker… I hate this place!
I manage to get Stalker safely to the cave. I quickly clean his fur and apply some “fresh” bandages (There are a lot of trees missing strips of bark around this pond after we moved in). He emotes hunger and looks at me with a look so pitiful. He is milking it, but that’s ok. I quietly cook dinner as the terror lingers in my body. He was badly wounded. Too close!
After dinner, Stalker is asleep, and I look at my status screen:
Name: Mike Nielsen
Level: 2
Class: -
Profession: -
Race: HUMAN
HEALTH: 17/20
STAMINA: 20/20
MANA: 0
CONDITION:
I need to get stronger, so I can protect my friend! I open my stats.
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 4
Vitality: 4
Perception: 5
Willpower: 5
Intelligence: 5
You have 2 unassigned points available
I put one point into strength and the other into dexterity. As I feel the rush of my body getting stronger, more flexible and faster I can’t help wondering if it will be enough? I fall asleep with one hand on my friend and the other on my knife.
