Things went by fairly smoothly the next few days, at least as smoothly as they could in Terraria. Grayson got along nicely with the slick, silver-tongued tradesman side of Frederick's personality. The lad had also developed the habit of playing tricks on Lucania, much to the latter's displeasure.
"Where the hell did you even get a bucket?!" Lucania screeched as she barged into the room Selio and Grayson shared. Selio looked up from his bed, turning his attention to Lucania, whose clothes were dripping wet and clinging to her body and whose face was contorted into a countenance of rage. He sighed and turned over before he could say or do something that would get him in trouble. Lucania pointed harshly at the ground in front of her, beckoning the Angler to come closer. Grayson sheepishly walked towards her, his gaze cast towards the ground.
"Anything to say?" Lucania seethed. Grayson muttered something under his breath, an unseen grin split onto his face.
"What was that?" She asked firmly.
"You can't catch me!" Grayson shouted and tossed hay into her face, slipping out between her legs in the confusions. He darted off along the clearing cackling like a maniac.
"Oh no you don't!" Lucania roared as she tore after the child. Selio sat up and let out a large yawn and looking around the room. There were two 'beds' he'd crafted them from some wood frames and some hay he'd harvested with a sickle he had managed to haggle off of Frederick for a low price. A table with two chairs sat on one side of the room while on the other side sat a small wooden workbench. He couldn't explain it but since arriving in Terraria he'd acquired some sort of inexplicable skill at crafting. Lucania had tried, and while she managed, she couldn't quite match up to Selio. When he sat at his workbench he could justl feel what he could make with the materials at his disposal. Similarly, when he sat at the table he felt a same sort of sense, he felt like he could make something to do with time. Watches, perhaps? They could go for a way to tell the time. Looking towards his tools that he'd laid on the ground before quite literally hitting the hay, he knew he could make better.
"Frederick!" Selio called, rapping his knuckles against the wooden door of the man's room. The door was shortly opened, the Merchant peeking his head out. He wasn't wearing his hat and showed off his balding head and thinning wisps of white hair.
"Lovely morning, wouldn't you say? Was there something you needed?" He asked politely, though still had a suspicious sort of look in his eye. Selio supposed he wasn't much of a morning person.
"I know it's a bit of an odd request, but do you happen to have an anvil?" Selio asked. Frederick turned his eyes to the side as he thought.
"Come in!" He shouted suddenly, dragging Selio into the room. Selio was astonished by what he saw. The floor and walls were littered with all sorts of random items and knick knacks. Frederick scanned the room and began to rummage through a junk pile in the corner.
"Where did you get all of this?" Selio asked in disbelief. Frederick turned towards him and gave a blank stare, with no response. He turned back towards his pile, throwing out items that occasionally hit Selio in the forehead.
"Ah, here it is!" Frederick exclaimed, raising his hands in the air victoriously. Where there was once a pile of unsorted items now sat an old iron anvil. Selio was actually quite surprised that mine did indeed have an anvil.
"How much?" Selio asked. He had a small pouch he'd made with some cloth he had found the other day to facilitate his coin carrying capacity.
"Hmmm, twenty galleons and approximately four-hundred deutsche marks. I will also accept payment in the form of any human limbs if you've happened upon them." Frederick stated firmly, a hard look in his eyes.
"What? What the fuck are you talking about?" Selio spouted, flabbergasted. He mentally marked the man off as senile and began to back out of the door.
"Heeheehee! Oh boy is it fun to mess with you youngsters! That'll be fifty silver coins, youngin'." The old man said with a grin. Selio forked the coins over and walked by him with a glare. He rubbed his hands together as he prepared to lift the anvil. He hefted the object to his chest, finding it to be lighter than he expected.
"Thanks, Freddy." Selio muttered, slightly grinning at the face of displeasure the Merchant made at the new nickname. He carried it to his room, dropped the anvil down beside his workbench and dusted his hands off.
"Try to do something now, brat." He heard Lucania's voice sneer from outside. He peeked out the door to see Lucania standing cockily and Grayson hanging from a tree branch by the back of his shirt. Selio sighed and walked outside to settle the dispute. He gave a look to the both of them, which they both happened to ignore.
"My god, Lucania, get him down." Selio said, exasperated. He quite firmly believed that everyone here was crazy, himself to be included if they continued.
"Why should I?" She asked snidely. Selio rolled his eyes and pulled out his axe, cutting the branch down in a swift motion and catching Grayson before he hit the ground. After Grayson settled he kicked Lucania in the shin and ran off. "Little shit..." She muttered.
"Come on, gotta talk with everyone, Luce." Selio told her and walked away to gather the other two. Lucania wore a scowl but walked behind him anyways.
"Don't ever call me that again." She spat. Selio grinned, sad that he couldn't also come up with a nickname to call Logan. Maybe he'll just go around and start calling him "The Log". After he gathered everyone he began to explain.
"Logan, I want to you tell me about what lies in the Corruption." Selio informed the Guide. Logan grimaced, remembering the night he'd nearly passed out just thinking about the horrid monstrosity that reigned over the Corruption. He breathed shakily, and then let the information in.
"In the Corruption, there are only two common types of enemy. One is called the eater of souls," Everyone drew a displeased face at this name, "They are horrid flying creatures with five eyes and rotting skin. They have large pincers which legend says are to rip the soul straight from the body," Logan gulped. Everyone was visibly disturbed, but he chose to continue. "They also have mandibles that hang off of them, presumably to tear the flesh from someone if they miss with their pincers. They can spawn in large groups, making them difficult to defeat and they range in size." The Guide finished. Everyone stared at him in worry, not just because of the information he'd revealed to them, but because they knew that drawing out this information wasn't very easy for him.
"And the other one?" Lucania asked. Logan slowly inhaled and exhaled.
"They are called the devourers. Unlike the eater of souls, they will not spawn in large groups, there will hardly ever be even two sent to attack the same person. Like the eaters, they are of rotting flesh but only have a singular eye, and also have large pincers. They're basically giant worms, called devourers because they devour what the eaters leave behind." Logan finished, feeling slightly lightheaded.
"Hey, you okay man?" Selio asked, making sure to be ready to catch his friend if he passed out again. Logan simply nodded..
"Hmmm, and is there anything you know about the monster that lies beneath?" Frederick questioned him. The other three eyed him suspiciously.
"You know about it?" Lucania asked. Frederick smiled sagely.
"I am an old man, young lady. I know many things. I say I know of the Corruption's ruler, but nothing about it, that is why I asked Logan here," Frederick explained. Lucania huffed and turned away from the man.
"Well?" She asked the Guide.
"It – It is called the Eater of Worlds." They found that name to be worse than even the eater of souls, "It's like some awful combination of the devourers and eaters. A humungous worm-like creature with dreadful pincers that can tear apart the earth itself and at least three eyes on each segment to watch as the earth falls apart..." Logan stuttered in horror. Everyone had grim looks on their faces from the description.
"The other day, you said it could only be summoned, right? So, it won't just attack us out of the blue if we step on the Corruption?" Selio asked.
"Yes, that's right. There are two methods" Logan said, "I can remember one method clearly at the moment. It's called Worm Food, crafted from the flesh of devourers and eaters and the powder of vile mushrooms at the Demon Altars that lie below the surface." This idea was not very pleasing to the adventurers present.
"And the other method?" Lucania asked, hoping for a better option than literally ripping corrupted monsters' flesh from their bodies.
"I'm sorry, I cannot recall." Logan admitted ashamedly.
"Bah! That big old worm isn't the thing you need to worry about right now. The bugger won't even come out of its hidey-hole if we don't prompt it. Besides, if you can't beat the Eye I doubt you could finish off the worm, and I don't think a couple of scrawny kids like you could take on the Eye. Especially with some shoddy equipment like that." The Merchant snorted. Lucania and Selio took stock of their attire and frowned.
"What the hell is the Eye?" Lucania asked unceremoniously. Frederick gave her a frightened glance as he thought about it.
"Why, the Eye of Cthulhu, my dear. A horrible entity that watches over the night with its frightening gaze. Its spawn are those wretched demon eyes, surveying the land for it as it lies in slumber, but if you are attempting to strengthen yourself to take on the World Eater then it will surely notice, and it will come for us all." Frederick explained grimly. This was a side of Frederick none of them had ever witnessed before.
"Great, any other eldritch abominations about we need to worry about, Logan?" Lucania asked. The question was more sarcastic than anything, but the information spewed into the Guide's head all the same. Something about bees, something about slimes, an old man with a wretched curse, and something else...something much, much worse.
"Oh God..." Logan whispered, before erupting into a short scream and fainting on the spot. Selio caught him before he could hit the ground, as he was prepared to do, and gently laid him on the grass.
"Well, I guess that answers that question." Selio muttered, shooting a look at Lucania who merely shrugged.
"Well the point stands, we need better materials. Lucania, how do you feel about your mining abilities?" Selio asked. Lucania eyed the pickaxe hanging from her side.
"Good enough." She answered, "Why?" She asked.
"I need you to go underground and gather some ores and stone so I can make us some better armor and weapons." Selio answered.
"Underground? I don't know what the fuck is down there! Why should I?" She scoffed. Selio thought for a second.
"You mean aside from the fact that I'm trying to make certain we don't die?" He asked. Lucania folded her arms and looked at him sternly. Selio sighed.
"It'll give you something to do, and you'll get to avoid Grayson for a while?" Selio suggested. At that moment, Lucania slightly leaned to dodge a divebomb from the very child, who had decided to try and jump on her from the roof. The child scampered away, for another attempt or to avoid her wrath, they did not know.
"Fine." She said, "Frederick! Got anything to help me see in the dark?" She shouted at the old man who had begun to walk away.
"Mining helmet! Four gold!" The man exclaimed gleefully. Lucania muttered a 'fuckin' old man' and began to walk away herself.
"Wait! Take these." Selio halted her, and tossed her some claws. Lucania caught and surveyed them.
"What are these for?" She asked.
"I found them in a chest, they're called climbing claws, they'll help you scale walls." He explained. Lucania flashed him a rare look of gratitude before going to haggle the mining helmet from Frederick.
"Where's she goin'?" Grayson asked, having appeared beside the teenager.
"She's getting some stuff so we can fight the big bad monsters." Selio explained simply, picking up Logan so he could put him in his room.
"'Kay, imma go sleep." Grayson explained and trudged off to their room, now feeling somewhat bad that he had messed with Lucania so much.
Lucania supposed it might have been a good idea to inquire the Guide about the creatures that lie beneath, but the nerd had happened to scream and pass out much to her chagrin. It was actually her first time venturing beyond the forest, but she felt capable enough in her abilities. If Selio could take out a zombie while he had frostbite she could sure as hell take out anything down there. Soon enough, she found a cave to venture down in. She flicked on the mining helmet she'd managed to snag from Frederick and slowly scaled down the wall with the claws Selio had given her.
Selio was an odd subject for her. He had called her cute the other day without a second thought, the nerve of the asshole. Then she went and kicked him and charged away, he definitely didn't think that was cute of her. They didn't have time for romance here anyways, Selio was there to fight alongside and to help her survive, not for her to ogle at, no matter how cu-
"Ugh! I'm supposed to be looking for ore, not thinking about this." She scowled. Her mining light glinted off of something and she let out a sigh of relief. "Good, something to distract me." She grinned. She unclipped the pickaxe and in no time at all she had the ore in her pack. As the hours passed she collected plenty of material: an abundance of iron and lead ore, quite a bit of tungsten and silver, even a bit of gold and platinum, along with the stone Selio had wanted and a couple of odd heart shaped crystals she had found interesting. She hadn't come across too many enemies, a couple of odd colored slimes, some cave bats, and what she thought was a devourer until she reanalyzed it and realized it was just a giant worm. At that moment, as she stopped to rest, she realized something quite worrisome.
She had no idea where she was. She was so busy mining, fighting, and travelling along she hadn't thought to track her progress or leave behind a trail.
"Ah, fuck..." She wanted to rest, but she knew that she couldn't rest here for fear of an attack. Then almost as soon as the problem arrived, came a solution... and another problem. The solution? She saw a door and wooden wall that looked like they led into a small underground cabin, a place that she could rest and plan. The problem? In front of the door were two skeletons and an anthropomorphic lizard creature. These were enemies she hadn't come across before and she was sure would be harder to deal with than cave bats and slimes. She wasn't sure how she was going to handle the three enemies with just a tin sword. She contemplated turning around backtracking her steps, but it was too late, they had noticed her.
One skeleton lunged at her, its boney knuckles heading directly for her cheek. She caught the skeleton's fist, abruptly stopping its momentum. She swung her sword up, severing the hand from the arm, and tossed it aside. Her hand shot forwards and she snagged the skeleton by its wrist, swinging it forward and slamming it into the ground on its back. She lifted her foot up, and shot her heel into the skull, cracking it and grounding it into dust. The red glow that was once in the skeleton's eye sockets faded and a wispy black form escaped through the cavern walls.
"How the fuck did I do that?" She whispered to herself astonished by her apparently reflexive combat expertise. The second skeleton's eyes let out an angry glow, and it brandished a sword of bone. Lucania gulped and held up her own sword in defense. Bone clashed against tin, producing an odd sort of noise. The skeleton slightly overpowered her with its heavier sword and centuries of swordplay experience. They exchanged numerous blows and parries, Lucania achieved a couple of strikes to the skeleton's legs in an attempt to cause it to lose its balance. The skeleton achieved a hit against her arm that produced a bleeding laceration. Her injury caused a lag in her swing, and the skeleton sent her sword spinning out of her hand. The tin sword embedded itself in the ceiling, out of Lucania's reach.
"Fuck!" She exclaimed, barely dodging a downward swing from the skeleton. Seeing her chance, she planted one foot on the sword, burying the tip in the ground, and swung her other leg straight up. Her foot connected with the skeleton's jaw, sending its skull spiraling to the ceiling to shatter. She breathed in and out heavily, catching the gleam in the salamander's eyes. She pulled the skeleton's sword from the ground and caught the salamander's claws with the bone-blade. She twisted her wrist, somehow able to maneuver the sword just fine despite its increased weight, and sliced diagonally across the lizard's chest, spraying blood on herself. The salamander hissed in agony and lunged at her again. She cut it once again, in the opposite direction, causing it to reel back in pain. While the salamander was recovering she drove the tip of her newfound sword into the intersection of the wounds.
"X marks the spot, motherfucker." She growled at the dead lizard on her spear. In a last attempt, the salamander reared its head, unhinged its jaw to show a set of sharp, ugly teeth, and spit a foul substance right into her face. Lucania roared in disapproval, shaking the lizard off of her sword and kicking it away from her. She attempted to wipe the spit away as she entered the underground cabin, slamming and locking the door behind her. Within the cabin she found walls of wood and stone, covered in cobwebs, and decorated with random statues and dusty bookcases. There was a set of stairs that led to a lower level, and a broken chandelier that had fallen from the ceiling. In the middle of the room she found a golden chest.
"Oh cool." She said, trying to shake off the woozy feeling she had as she checked the chest's contents. Inside she found an ornate looking mirror, some potions, a couple of metal bars, and a coil of rope. She gingerly lifted the mirror out of the chest and inspected it. On the back there was an inscription.
'Gaze into this mirror to return home' It read.
"Well that's weird." She muttered. A burning pain shot through her body, nearly causing her to drop the mirror. "Maybe shoulda' bought some potions from Frederick." She reprimanded herself. Unfortunately, none of the potions in the chest happened to be of the healing variation. Setting the mirror down, she withdrew one of the crystal-like hearts out of her bag, and crushed it in her hands to release its properties, hoping that it would help heal her. Amazingly, she felt her vitality return and strengthen. She stood up, ready to go back out and take on anything that came her way, but seconds later she felt her vitality be drained once again, and collapsed to her knees. She heard clatters and groans from outside the door, and peeked through a crack to assess the situation. There were more skeletons heading her way, skeletons she knew she couldn't take on in her current condition.
"Let's hope this works..." She muttered. She made sure her backpack was on tight enough, slung one arm over the chest, and made sure her sword was held within her grasp. She gazed into the Magic Mirror, and felt an odd, chilling sensation envelop her. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the forest clearing, Selio sitting right in front of her. Selio had a shocked look on his face having seen Lucania appear from thin air.
"Hey, I got stuff..." Lucania gasped, fainting on the grass.
"Lucania!" Selio shouted, trying to shake her back to consciousness. "Fuck! What do I do? Frederick! I need healing potions!" He yelled, but the elderly Merchant was nowhere to be found.
"I think I can help you there, but it's gonna' cost ya." A seductive voice called from across the clearing. Selio looked up, a frantic look on his face. He saw a woman in hot pink heels, a tight nurse's outfit, and with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail walking towards him. The woman stopped in front of him, setting a hand on her hip.
"Who the hell are you?" Selio yelled, not particularly caring to show manners at the moment.
"Don't talk to me like that," She sneered, "I'm Abigail, I'm obviously the Nurse, dumbass."
WOO! Another chapter in such short time! Unfortunately, I start school tomorrow which is going to make writing a little bit harder. Thanks for reading!
R: Just google terraria animated comic and you should find it. It's just 6 episodes and idk much about what happened, but ig it got discontinued. The idea of terraria with an actual story always appealed to me, so I'm always on a lookout for those kind of things. Honestly, i've never thought about the situation with Angler (as in he might have died lying on the beach for so long) and now I feel kind of stupid for not realising it xD. Anyways, awesome chapter, keep up the good work.
A: I checked it out, it was pretty interesting, a shame that it was discontinued. It always appealed to me too, since there's so much material within Terraria, but little to no story in it, and so I decided to create my own story. I also believe they're coming out with a game called Terraria: Otherworld, which I believe is supposed to have more story elements. When it comes to the situation with the Angler, I purposefully tried not to allude to that idea, I'm glad that it seems to have worked.