![Newbie Guide](https://i.imgur.com/Uy7hIlu.png")
Post by Slayg on Mar 18, 2021 18:51:10 GMT -5
Hot. Hot was a good word to describe the sensation of being stuck in Skull Valley after sun-up. And yet, it fell utterly short of imparting the many sensations the valley had to offer. First, there was the sun, beating down naked upon the barren and broken ground. Then there was the waves of hot air that billowed up from said ground, making it feel like one was breathing inside of an oven with no escape from the heat. Visually, the valley was nearly all brown and tan under a bright blue sky without a single cloud. There were a FEW points of interest to break up the monotony... such as bubbling tar pits that sucked and slurped greedily for anything stupid enough to step into them, and the bones of creatures that had wandered into the valley without finding a way out. And then there were the wolves... But the less said about them the better.
And yet, such lovely scenery was not enough to pull in many tourists or sight-seers. Let alone a full camp of archaeologists, historians, geologists, and other scientists complete with pre-fab cabins and labs and heavy mining equipment. No, they were all there because of the recent discovery made by one Doctor Antik. Said discovery being a giant stone door carved into the valley wall, bearing over a dozen inscriptions, each in a different, ancient language. Yet all bore the same message.
"This is a message, pay attention to it!
Sending this message was very important to us, we considered ourselves to be powerful warriors.
This place is not a place of honor, no highly esteemed deed is valued here, no treasure lies within.
What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us, and dangerous and repulsive to you.
The danger is three thousand paces ahead, and three thousand paces down below the earth.
The danger is contained in a stone urn that is as heavy as a Triceratops.
The danger can kill all that lives, and will do so if unleashed.
The danger is present now as you read this, as it was when we dug this vault.
The danger can only be unleashed if you remove the lid of the urn.
This place is best left shunned and uninhabited.
If you value your people and families, leave this door closed.
Forsake this place.
There is nothing for you here."
Needless to say, this warning merely intrigued the academic community of Earth. What was inside the urn? Some of the old crackpots on the fringes of historical thought believed it to be nuclear waste, proof of their "theories" that the Earth once boasted a technologically advanced, alien-influenced civilization. Others believed the urn to be a sort of sympathetic magic, an attempt to seal away the diseases and suffering of mankind and bury it far away. Therefore, preventing the spread of new plagues.
Whatever the truth, highly-trained specialists had set up a series of decontamination chambers and elevators between the door and the urn, and nobody got close to it without protective equipment and proper sensors. In addition, the camp had hired a top-rate, Heran mercenary to protect themselves from wild beasts and bandits while they went about their work. Dr. Antik, at the moment this story begins, was just in the process of paying said mercenary his weekly wages.
"...Thirty-thousand... forty-thousand... aaaaand fifty-thousand Zeni! There you are, my good man, another week's pay well-earned! And, might I say that you have been worth EVERY penny so far! Not a single bandit attack, and every wolf repelled!"
Dr. Antik was a tortoise-type Zoan Earthling, who somehow grew a full and bushy mustache from his snout and had a habit of wearing what appeared to be an antique monocle. Word around the university was that he was well over a hundred years old, as even the most gray-haired remembered him being old when they entered their freshman year...
"Now, if I could trouble you for-"
Right as Erbia, the Heran mercenary, was receiving his pay, a team down below had finally cut the last chain for the great stone urn. They had also hooked up a crane to the urn's lid and sloooooowly, slooooooooowly lifted it up with a great mechanical whirring. The team was now dead, as was everyone that had been inside the vault when the lid was opened. The reason why revealed itself as a great dragon BURST forth from the vault door, breaking the ancient piece of stonework into little bitty pieces with its bulk.
"THIEVES! THIEVES AND BANDITS, ALL OF YOU! Here to rob me of my treasures!!!"
The dragon was BIG, at least the size of a full-grown Ferocisaurus... Its neck and tail were long and sinewy, like writhing snakes. One was tipped by a head, the other was tipped by three flanges that looked like a whip. Its wings spread out so wide that they blotted out the sun, when the beast extended and flapped them. At the tops of its wings were great hands with three fingers and thumbs that clutched tight into fists. The body was fat and bloated, with a stripe of brown hair that extended down the middle of its back. And the head appeared to be some strange combination of cat, fox, and snake as it hissed and roared and chuffed smoke into the air.
Slayg had awoken, and he was PISSED.
Erbia
And yet, such lovely scenery was not enough to pull in many tourists or sight-seers. Let alone a full camp of archaeologists, historians, geologists, and other scientists complete with pre-fab cabins and labs and heavy mining equipment. No, they were all there because of the recent discovery made by one Doctor Antik. Said discovery being a giant stone door carved into the valley wall, bearing over a dozen inscriptions, each in a different, ancient language. Yet all bore the same message.
"This is a message, pay attention to it!
Sending this message was very important to us, we considered ourselves to be powerful warriors.
This place is not a place of honor, no highly esteemed deed is valued here, no treasure lies within.
What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us, and dangerous and repulsive to you.
The danger is three thousand paces ahead, and three thousand paces down below the earth.
The danger is contained in a stone urn that is as heavy as a Triceratops.
The danger can kill all that lives, and will do so if unleashed.
The danger is present now as you read this, as it was when we dug this vault.
The danger can only be unleashed if you remove the lid of the urn.
This place is best left shunned and uninhabited.
If you value your people and families, leave this door closed.
Forsake this place.
There is nothing for you here."
Needless to say, this warning merely intrigued the academic community of Earth. What was inside the urn? Some of the old crackpots on the fringes of historical thought believed it to be nuclear waste, proof of their "theories" that the Earth once boasted a technologically advanced, alien-influenced civilization. Others believed the urn to be a sort of sympathetic magic, an attempt to seal away the diseases and suffering of mankind and bury it far away. Therefore, preventing the spread of new plagues.
Whatever the truth, highly-trained specialists had set up a series of decontamination chambers and elevators between the door and the urn, and nobody got close to it without protective equipment and proper sensors. In addition, the camp had hired a top-rate, Heran mercenary to protect themselves from wild beasts and bandits while they went about their work. Dr. Antik, at the moment this story begins, was just in the process of paying said mercenary his weekly wages.
"...Thirty-thousand... forty-thousand... aaaaand fifty-thousand Zeni! There you are, my good man, another week's pay well-earned! And, might I say that you have been worth EVERY penny so far! Not a single bandit attack, and every wolf repelled!"
Dr. Antik was a tortoise-type Zoan Earthling, who somehow grew a full and bushy mustache from his snout and had a habit of wearing what appeared to be an antique monocle. Word around the university was that he was well over a hundred years old, as even the most gray-haired remembered him being old when they entered their freshman year...
"Now, if I could trouble you for-"
Right as Erbia, the Heran mercenary, was receiving his pay, a team down below had finally cut the last chain for the great stone urn. They had also hooked up a crane to the urn's lid and sloooooowly, slooooooooowly lifted it up with a great mechanical whirring. The team was now dead, as was everyone that had been inside the vault when the lid was opened. The reason why revealed itself as a great dragon BURST forth from the vault door, breaking the ancient piece of stonework into little bitty pieces with its bulk.
"THIEVES! THIEVES AND BANDITS, ALL OF YOU! Here to rob me of my treasures!!!"
The dragon was BIG, at least the size of a full-grown Ferocisaurus... Its neck and tail were long and sinewy, like writhing snakes. One was tipped by a head, the other was tipped by three flanges that looked like a whip. Its wings spread out so wide that they blotted out the sun, when the beast extended and flapped them. At the tops of its wings were great hands with three fingers and thumbs that clutched tight into fists. The body was fat and bloated, with a stripe of brown hair that extended down the middle of its back. And the head appeared to be some strange combination of cat, fox, and snake as it hissed and roared and chuffed smoke into the air.
Slayg had awoken, and he was PISSED.
Erbia
