Lmao I hate summaries sorry this took so long. Hope you enjoy the recap
Characters:
The Guide
A mild mannered man whose village was destroyed and consumed by The Lunatic Cultist's spell. He is the only survivor, having lost his family and society to the spell. He is the last bearer of 'The Blessing' which was the spell The Dryads had placed upon them to keep back the derivatives of The Moon Lord. With most bearers of the blessing now dead, The parts of The Moon Lord (Crimson, BoC etc...) are now free to spread and roam. The Guide's blessing is the only thing keeping The Wall from breaking free into this world. He plays friend and parent to The Terrarian, having come to care for his as he would his own child - despite that the relationship began as a farce. The Guide had determined long ago to use The Terrarian for the purpose of rescuing his family's souls from The Wall, despite consequence to the man himself.
The Slayer, The Monster Knight, The Terrarian
A Half-Terrarian, a magical conglomeration of Terrarian and creature whose form was initially powered by the consumption of The Dryad's blessing in the blood of The Guide's village. This allows him odd abilities even The Hero - a true Terrarian - does not possess, ie) Research-Duplication. He is a powerful entity, but simple in method and thought, and this is a point of great insecurity for him. He is naturally weaker than The Hero in most facets, but the most telling is he takes an entire week to recover from death, whereas The Hero recovers instantly. He has grown very close to The Guide, to the point where he is fixated soley on him for all his emotional needs.
Faze, The Hero, The Man with Dragon Eyes
A Full Terrarian, 'brother' to The Slayer - although they do not know each other as such. A powerful engine of destruction that specializes in magic and rogue classes. Initially exceedingly pompous, but has been humbled by a great many calamities he was forced to weather. While he was being sent to The Corruption Cryogen as discipline for rebelling against Braelor, he is rescued by The Archmage - who was the first to show him any manner of kindness. As such The Hero has attached himself strongly to the old man, but is by no means dependent on him. He is socially inept in many facets - knowing much information, but finding human behavior to be an enigma. An outwardly jolly and overtly enthusiastic person, his inner thoughts are very dour in comparison. Harbors an insane split personality named "Doppelgänger" that possesses tremendous magical power, but also is at odds with him.
The Party Girl, CC Agent #5534
An Imperial agent, eager to please the King and a powerful fighter. She has been injected with fish DNA granting her several attributes of the animal - including the ability to breathe underwater indefinitely and a layer of protective scales beneath her skin. She is strong, but The Terrarians are completey out of her league. She had come to The Compound in search of a promotion. Her goals rapidly shifting between capturing/killing The Cultist, The Sea King and now, The Slayer in order that she can return to the capitol and not be executed for perceived betrayal. She is a serious but zealotous personality who can endure many hardships for the sake of her king.
The Mechanic, Draedon's First Apprentice
A genius mechanic who was Kidnapped by The Resistance and traded to The Lunatic Cultist to work on The Moon Lord. She has been tasked with building him a metal endoskeleton, but was broken out of The Dungeon before it could be fitted. Terribly tortured for a period of 5 years, she looks nothing like she did before her captivity. Has a great deal of resentment for just about everyone, but especially The Cultist and The Resistance.
The Zoologist, Draedon's Second Apprentice
A genius in genetics, The Zoologist is Draedon's loyal subordinate. She was contacted by The Mechanic and promised to help - but her actions do not necessarily line up with her words. She is currently working on creating a creature equivilent to a Terrarian to combat The Hero. They are not seeing success.
The Lunatic Cultist, 'My Teacher', The Cultist
The leader of The Moon Lords cult. Unbeknownst to The King, he has Cthulhu's dessicated corpse stored deep in the dungeon. He is working on rebuilding his fell deity, but fears The King will attempt to steal The ML's power as soon as he detects it. strikes a deal with Resistance to betray The King and make a Terrarian in exchange for their help. Resistance provided the kidnapped Mechanic to work on ML safe haven. He raised Faze taught him many offensive magical techniques, but Faze harbors disdain for him because he failed to defend him when he was sent To Cryogen.
The Archmage, Permafrost
One of the Ancient Resistance heroes, he was sealed in Cryogen by Yharim after a battle about 100 years ago. Braelor and Statis dislike his staunch ways and lofty morality, as such did not free him until Faze did so. Healed The Hero upon first emerging from Cryogen and treats him with tenderness. He was also The Lunatic Cultist's teacher, but tried to kill him/strip him of his magic because he confirmed to chaos went "insane".
The King, Lord Yharim, The Tyrant
A terrifyingly powerful entity whose grip on the continent is all but complete. Is currently stamping out The Resistance. Despite his power, he understands the nature of Terrarians, and fears Faze's appearance will end his rule. Working on creating a second Terrarian to battle the first thus nullifying them.
Subplots:
1) Yharim vs Resistance
The Resistance is a coalition of all the pockets of resistance fighters, United by Braelor the promise of an unkillable soldier (Faze). They are a cumulation of many independent armies, but are apt to scatter should the opposing force be too strong. Braelor's goal is to keep the coalition together also keep Faze under control.
2) Party Girl vs CC Central
With the beginning of The War, Yharim became increasingly paranoid about his own men betraying him. The LC was the first to - thus any CC agents that go MIA will be marked as a defector. The Party Girl knows this, and her comms equipment has been broken for upwards of 2 weeks. She reasons she needs to bring something of value to The Empire upon her return, lest she be executed.
3) Lunatic Cultist vs Archmage
The Cultist hates The Archmage despite he was once his student. Long ago The Archmage discovered The Cultist had succumbed to magical insanity and tried to extinguish him. The Cultist has since regained his mind with The ML's power, but harbors deep hatred. The Archmage does not hate The Cultist, but to this day counts him as an enemy.
4) The Guide vs The Wall
The Guide is tied to The Wall via The Blessing of The Dryads, however the consequence of being the seal is each individual will continue to be bound within The Wall in death. It is a container of souls and this world's version of Hell. The Guide intends to use The Terrarian, and give his own life to empty Hell and seal it's Gates.
7) The Stylist & her Brother
The Stylist leaves her shop in The Capitol and hires an expedition team upon hearing her parents have passed away. She cannot find her younger brother, and goes in search of him before she's captured by The Spiders and freed by The Terrarian. Even now, she intends to find her brother. Before he went to The Underworld, The Guide says hey brother may be in The Resistance, since they lack soldiers.
Summary:
Chapter 126: The Silence Before The Storm (Day 24, Late-Evening)
Clandestine Corps have been dispatched to sweep the northern mountains for The Location of The Resistance Fortress. It is heavily cloaked in spells etc... which is why CC Agents - who are immune to magic - are tasked with this. One group has been summoned from hunting The Party Girl (#5532) who has a bounty on her head to search in The Northern Mountains. As they scale a cliff in the middle of a blizzard, they find the border of a magical barrier. They relay this information to central before infiltrating.
The Terrarian, having finally recovering from dying, comes out of The Guide's home where he'd been situated for the past week. He finds The Guide exhausted, but busily brewing potions via Blood Orbs for the upcoming battle with the WoF. The Slayer takes over and tells him to go to sleep, and The Guide - amused by how 'grown up' he is - treats him affectionately.
Chapter 127: Infiltration, Preparation (Day 25, Morning)
The Party Girl ponders her situation. She realizes that since she could not kill either Amidas nor The Lunatic Cultist, she would surely be killed for defection if she returns to The Capitol. She ponders that The Terrarian is extremely useful in a logistical sense, and may be valuable enough to trade for her own life, but would be unable to take him while The Guide is alive. Dare she kill The Guide? She's grasping at straws at this point. Immedietly, The Guide walks in with a bowl and a knife. He requests that she cut off one of his ears, extracts three molars, his left thumb bone and one pint of blood (ingredients for Voodoo Doll). The Party Girl initially refuses, citing she might be killed by MK for harming him, but The Guide threatens to make her death certain if she does not do this for him.
Faze, now that Doppelganger has been sealed by The Cultist's ritual, is now free to use his magic - which he recognizes is far stronger than before. He is in the basements of The Resistance fortress, alone, when he can sense somebody breaking through the walls. He does not know who they are(CC Agent crew from prior chapter), but recognizes them as enemies and is exceedingly excited to do battle with them.
The Mechanic recounts how she had been kidnapped many years ago from Draedon's lab by Resistance members. She was given to The Lunatic Cultist and forced to slave over his Moon Lord Project for the past 5 years, secretly under the nose of The King. She was freed when Faze raided the dungeon, and oddly finds herself in the wooded forest outside The Compound.
Chapter 128: Infiltration, Preparation (Day 25, Afternoon)
The Hero finds himself behaving sadistically as he overwhelms The group of 8 CC Agents. Normally CC agents are immune to magic, but they are not immune to fire/gravity etc... Normally mages simply imbue their magic with the property of fire, but very powerful sorcerers may actually create fire. Faze does this, and wastefully tries out all manner of spells against his opponents. The incident is reported to Central before the group expires.
The Zoologist is Draedon's new assistant, and she runs the Laboratory experiments. The Lab has been given funding to create A Terrarian to counter The Resistance's Hero, as Yharim knows he cannot defeat an unkillable soldier with killable ones. They have so far been unable to create anything equivalent to The Hero via Project Nephilim. In fact, as the test subjects are pumped with more and more power, the more quickly they die from heartattacks and other complications.
Braelor speaks to The Archmage, who has since been accused of working for Yharim is being detained by The Sea King's troops. Braelor is understandably unhappy with The Archmage for deposing him from his position at the head of The Resistance - and does not intend to bow to him, now that he's been brought back. (Recall, Archmage had come to The Resistance and in front of a great number of Resistance members threw Faze's Bloody helm at the crowd. He announced that Braelor had sent him to die, and this caused such tremendous turmoil inside The Resistance that Braelor needed to be sent away to quell the coalition). The Archmage tells Braelor that Yharim is hunting him, and The Resistance must evacuate HQ and let him flee to a different place.
Chapter 129: The Stirrings of War (Day 25, Late Afternoon)
The Slayer returns from a brief outing and notes The Guide's scent has changed once more. Recounts how he seems to smell more and more like ash and fire, and senses something else hidden/held back within The Guide. Upon returning, he hears The Mechanic and The Party Girl talking about him/Draedon's mission to create a Terrarian. The Slayer eavesdrops a bit and wonders who this 'Other Terrarian' might be. He thinks he would really like to meet him
Braelor returns to Resistance brass bearing the news of what The Archmage had requested. The Cultist despises The Archmage and is intent on orchestrating his death. He presents his arguments to the rest of The Resistance Heroes (Braelor, Statis Amidas) and insists that The Archmage is a Traitor and must be executed. Before they can vote, a guard interrupts to say they've found 8 CC corpses in the basement and they had likely revealed the location to The Empire. A seige will shortly follow.
Chapter 130: The Depths (Day 26, Morning)
The Stylist spends her days deciphering The Guide's journal. She had discovered this journal is of his entire life, and the beginning of the book was written in easily solvable cipher. As The Guide got older, the cipher becomes more difficult. She notes having seen The Guide totter about outside holding a bowl of blood meat (the items he had The Party Girl carve out of him) and wonders what he was up to. She walks out and The Guide is getting his wounds treated by The Party Girl. He sees her holding his journal, and when she panickingly tries to return it, he tells her to keep it. The Guide tells her that her brother may be at The Resistance, and to look there before turning to leave with The Slayer.
The Guide leaves to begin his journey into The Underworld. He recognizes he is an entirely different person now than when his village was first destroyed. He recognized how much blood he had spilled to accomplish his goal, and how many lies he had told. As they descend deeper into the bowels of the earth, The Guide finds the closer he is to The Underworld, the more the eldritch madness consumes him. He recognizes how terrible this will be for The Terrarian, and resolves to spend one more day with him.
Chapter 131: Their Hearts Melt Like Wax (Day 26, Morning)
Faze is using his invisibility potion and wandering about the eaves of the packing district. He listens in on the conversations of the soldiers and is terrified to find they all think Yharim himself will come here and kill everyone. Many are fleeing, and others have placed their hope in 'The Hero'. Others say The Hero is dead, and still others say he never existed. Some think The Hero will protect them from Yharim. Upon hearing this, Faze is terrified. He feels like a fraud, but is so overcome with terror at the threat of The King he flees to hide.
The Sea King complains that this battle is already lost. The terror of The King goes before him, and with The Resistance lacking it's hero - none will stay to defend HQ. The Sea King dimensionally seals the tremendous room they had placed The Moon Lord in. The 'Key' is the Celestial sigil.
The Mechanic contacts The Zoologist and recites her codes. Requests an extraction on The Crimson Border. Promising that they will bring along a powerful specimen. Zoologist will wait for her signal.
Chapter 132: To The Icy Foretress (Day 26, Afternoon)
Braelor approaches The Archmage's Castle with the intention to kill him. He watches as all his army flees like ants, and enraged resolves to kill the traitor.
The Lunatic Cultist - amist all the looting and escaping The Resistance army is doing, breaks into the sealed magical library to take the old books. The Cultist chuckles when he realizes the library is small and narrow, and scarcely qualifies as a prison - yet when they locked The Hero in there, he didn't even know he was being mistreated. Mid-introspection, The Cultist trips over The Hero's legs - who is wedged between two bookcases and hiding behind his hands. The Cultist decides to take him and escape together. The Hero insists on fetching The Archmage first.
Chapter 133: Soon (Day 26, Evening)
The Slayer is standing guard over their campsite, where The Guide had eaten a lot, got drunk, and went to sleep. He searches for that 'vast monster' he can smell but cannot find, and notices that The Guide is sleeptalking and crying. He concludes he is being tortured by The Wall and decides to wake him and assure him of their imminent victory.
The Guide wakes to find The Terrarian trying to comfort him. He tearfully receives assurances that everything will be fine and decides to consider them as a premature forgiveness for the things he will soon do. Once he takes this validation, he steels his heart.
King Yharim recieves notice that The CC has identified the location of The Resistance Headquarters. He takes his sword and flies northwards.
Chapter 134: The King is Coming (Day 27, Early Afternoon)
Faze is filled with apprehension, as he traverses through the war-ravaged Resistance campus toward's The Archmage's Castle. He fears The King, but plows forward anyways with Lunatic Cultist guiding him. He reminisces about the kindness The Archmage has shown him, and refuses to leave him with The Tyrant at large (per rumors). They enter The Archmage's castle and find great gashes cut into the walls by Braelor's scythe.
A Memo sent from King Yharim to Draedon's Labs requiring him to create a creature capable of matching - and thereby deadlocking The Terrarian within a month. The King says he will try to Capture The Hero, but if he fails he understands he will earn a Terrarian's wrath - hence the need to create an equivalent force.
The Witch Doctor has been tasked by The Mechanic to create a powerful paralytic agent made primarily of hallucinogenic Glowing mushrooms and other items. This is to participate in the scheme to Capture The Monster Knight.
Chapter 135: Hole (Day 27, Evening)
The Terrarian and The Guide are preparing to descend into The Underworld, and The Terrarian is having second thoughts. He notes there is the scent of a great monster in the depths, and that scent is identical to The Guide's. He fears if he kills The Wall, will The Guide also die? He raises these conerns to The Guide, and is brutally shut down. The Guide accuses him of thinking he is a hateful and cruel person, and silences The Terrarian's concerns with outrage and cursing.
Chapter 136: Silent Fanfare (Day 27, Early Afternoon)
The Archmage has sustained several injuries whilst battling Braelor. He does not kill Braelor, but rather freezes him in a sphere. He berates The Titan Commander and wonders who managed to turn him against him. He is interrupted by The Hero and The Lunatic Cultist bursting into the room.
Faze and The Lunatic Cultist burst into The Archmage's room, and find The Archmage sitting beside frozen Braelor. They greet one another, and briefly discuss the chances of The Tyrant coming here personally. Both The Cultist and The Archmage assure The Hero that The King does not come without pomp and splendor - but agree to escape with him regardless. At that moment, Yharim appears, flying silently through one of the smashed windows.
Chapter 137: Truth (Day 27, Early Afternoon)
The Terrarian is filled with apprehension as he is tasked with building arena platforms over the bursting lava of the underworld. Upon finishing, The Terrarian is confused as to how to 'summon' The Wall. He searches around and finds nothing - eventually returning to where The Guide was staying to request further instruction. To his surprise, The Guide comes down and stands on the platforms. He is holding The Voodoo Doll and The Terrarian is terrified. He lunges at The Guide just as he uses The Voodoo Doll to snap his own neck, before dropping it into the lava. The Terrarian dives to catch the doll, but is helpless as he watches The Guide's lifeless body tip off the platform and plunge into the lava. The Guide's last words to him were 'Stay Back!'.
Chapter 138: A Blighted Existence (Day 27, Early Afternoon)
Yharim arrives and seizes The Archmage by the throat. He reveals the nature of 'Terrarians' that they are entities whose primary purpose is pure destruction. That their nature and motive is to gain strength by slaying others. A Terrarian is an engine of war, and a plague upon whatever land they appear upon. The Hero has been told he was just that - a hero, not a plague nor a curse, yet neither The Cultist nor The Archmage deny this. The Cultist drags The Hero away and through a portal, as The Archmage expends the remainder of his life-force to hold The King. They manage to escape, but not before The Tyrant kills The Archmage and his final threat floats through the closing Portal.
Chapter 139: The Wall of Flesh (Day 27, Afternoon)
The Terrarian, as The Guide had predicted, is overcome with his inborn bloodlust and battles The Wall successfully despite the considerable emotional trauma he had just sustained. The 'hungries' (mouths that emit from The Wall as a means of attack) were fashioned into rudimentary copies of The Guide's face. They cry - 'Stay Back!' in The Guide's voice as The Terrarian defeats The Wall. With this, The Guide's goal of emptying 'Hell' has succeeded. The Spirits of Light Dark are released.
Chapter 140: A New Name (Day 27, Late Afternoon)
The Lunatic Cultist is shocked that The Tyrant had come personally, but reasons it makes sense for him to be so fearful of The Hero (A Terrarian). He recounts how there were legends of two Terrarians in the past. They only appeared at the height of some great empire's reign, seemingly to crush whatever power structures were in the land. Once they succeeded, they vanished after a short time. The Cultist intends to fill that power vacuum once The Hero leaves. As such, he wishes to protect The Hero, because in order for him to survive The King's wrath, The Hero must succeed. The Hero is angry with The Lunatic Cultist and also fearful of Yharim. He tells The Cultist he has a new name, and is no longer his 'Hero' and does not want any of the obligations attached concerning defeating Yharim. The Hero flies away to The Cultist's dismay.
Chapter 141: The Plague (Day 28, Late Evening)
Faze, no longer The Hero, weathers a Blood Moon in the branches of a tall tree. He reflects on The Archmage and wonders if the man knew his nature as a destroyer. He is finished mourning and has fallen into apathy. Although he is exceedingly angry with The King, he does not wish to fight him again.
(Day 29 Afternoon) The Demolitionist is fleeing from a pack of CC agents when he is teleported to The Mountain Lake. He is badly injured, but continues to travel, seeking shelter before zombies march in the evening.
Chapter 142: The Pompous One (Day 29, Late Afternoon)
Faze is trying and failing to build his own house in The Mountainside lake, but cannot as he lacks tools. The Demolitonist approaches and Faze draws his blade to defend himself.
The Demolitionist is injured and requests help before zombies come. Although he has seen The Hero once before (when sending out the Jungle Expedition crew) he does not recognize him. The Hero does not help him immediately, and observes him like a museum exhibit for a while, before The Dwarf falls over and falls unconscious from his wounds.
The Stylist is filled with a deep sense of forboding. She peeks out of the window to see The Party Girl and The Mechanic making a multitude of limb-sized iron maidens fitted with padlocks.
Chapter 143: Unraveling (Day 30, Early Afternoon)
The Demolitionist is surprised to find himself alive. He wakes where he had fell last night, and finds that all the zombies that approached heaped up in rotting piles. Concludes that Faze must have stood there and killed all the zombies all night. His wounds have also been healed with liberal use of very expensive restoration potion, made from Plantera's blood. He decides to quickly leave before Faze returns, and leaves A Copper Pickaxe, A Copper Axe and A Copper Hammer to reduce the weight of his bag.
The Hero arrives back to see The Demolitionist is gone. He is relieved for it. He sees the tools The Demolitionist left and decides to start building.
The Slayer returns to The Compound, his gait heavy and his demeanor sullen. The Mechanic approaches to greet him and is promptly beheaded. The Party Girl flees and The Slayer pursues her.
Chapter 144: Woods of Slaughter (Day 30, Afternoon)
The Party Girl flees from The Monster Knight, citing she only survived because she got a head start. As she runs, she notices all the slain forest creatures. She manages to escape the invisible perimeter because MK is on her tail. She leaps into The Lake and hides underwater.
A professor from The Capitol, named 'The Guide' suddenly wakes in the middle of a field filled with slain animals. He thinks this is an illusion prank his students have played on him and eventually finds The Compound as evening falls.
A message has been sent by The Mechanic before she was killed. It is received by The Zoologist, who had spoken to The Mechanic on prior occasion. The Zoologist had promised to provide extraction upon request, but oddly does not follow through on this - instead forwarding the message to the operators of The Twins. She requests The Twins to search for The Mechanic and The Party Girl. She likewise requests CC Central rescind their orders to kill Party Girl on sight.
Chapter 145: Woods of Slaughter (Day 30, Late Evening)
The Monster Knight mourns The Guide, yet as he mourns he is also extremely angry and also confused with The Guide's actions. He lays in The Guide's bed and clings to The Voodoo doll. He concludes that although The Guide was the most important thing in his life, This feeling was not reciprocated. The Guide had used him for something, and killed himself once it was accomplished. The Monster Knight decides he must find The Guide and ask him for a reason - reasoning that if everything were explained, the weight of despair will be lifted.
Chapter 146: Sparks (Day 30, Late Evening)
Guide #2 enters The Compound and catches sight of The Terrarian. He is terrified by how unnatural he is, and gets really bad vibes from him. Is unable to read his expressions, and is shocked when The Terrarian runs and hugs him. He decides the best thing to do is to pretend he is the person The Terrarian thinks he is, but is immediately found out when his scent is different from Guide #1.
The Cultist having waited three days for The Hero to stop throwing a tantrum, decided to come and fetch him. He finds The Hero has built an odd lakehouse for himself, and has locked himself inside. They talk briefly before Faze insists The Cultist leave him alone. The Cultist sees sparks of anger toward's Yharim in Faze's behavior, and gives him directions towards The Capitol before returning to his tower.
Chapter 147: Stay Back! (Day 30, Late Evening)
The Terrarian feels terribly mocked that Guide #2 is not his Guide. In his anger, he is about to kill the man before Guide #2 cries, 'Stay Back'. It is shocking enough that The Slayer drops his blade. Guide #2 grabs the sword and flees to The Stylist's home. The Terrarian, sullen, walks into the forest to cut down zombies.
The Party Girl crawls out of the Lake and treats her wounds. The Terrarian had chased her to the lake and shot arrows at her, but did not plunge in because he was vain about his clothes. She is now outside of the perimeter and plots how she will capture The Terrarian.
Faze tunnels out of The Mountain's crater lake. He has killed and burned the corpse of every zombie in that area, and placed doors at the entrance of his tunnel. As such, The Mountain Lake became a mystical place where hermits and monks will journey to. Faze continues due east, his skin and hair covered in dirt and ash, towards The Capitol.
Chapter 148: The Festival (Day 31, Early Afternoon)
(Day 30 Late Evening) Guide #2 meets The Stylist and find they lived in the same approximate area in The Capitol. The Stylist tells him to control his 'Pet Monster' but relents when she realizes he is not the original Guide. They talk long into the night about life in The Capitol.
Faze has stumbled into a town having their harvest festival. He is dreadfully dirty and is disguised as a homeless man, but is not yet adept enough at social etiquette to understand he will be treated badly for it. He wanders in and is immediately attracted by the stall selling chocolate. The Store owner has pity on him, and in a show of generosity calls him to the front of the line, makes him wash his hands and gives him a pound of fine chocolate. Faze thanks him and pays with gold nuggets he found in the mountain. The Cashier immediately suspects he's a thief.
Chapter 149: Lovebirds (Day 31, Early Afternoon)
The Stylist and The Guide spend an intimate night together, but soon wake and begin discussing the strange happenings in The Compound. The Stylist tells Guide #2 about Guide #1's relationship with The Monster Knight. She does not see a way out, but vows to help him in whatever plan he intends to carry out.
The Monster Knight has killed The Witch Doctor and is burning his corpse. He ponders why The Guide killed himself to summon The Wall, and figures he must have done so in an attempt to kill him. Sorely upset, he resolves to kill Guide #2 'The Imposter' tomorrow.