Oliver has less than an hour before his match in Chaotic. Going on his spontaneous scan quest, he travels through the locations he owns to find something new for his deck. His next stop is Castle Mommark, a more recent addition to his deck.
This castle is home to the Overworld scientist Mommark. Under Maxxor's orders, he creates creatures for the tribe. Like the of Perim, he creates being by mixing and matching various components. He has his loyal creations go out into Perim and search for specimens, and strands of DNA of interest before returning to the castle for him to experiment on them and create something. Sometimes one of these creations escapes and defects to the Underworld to become one of their warriors.
Oliver portals just outside the castle itself, just out of sight of any of the patrolling creatures, and on the edge of the forest.
"Okay, location number 7, here we go. Good thing that last night's trade got me this cool place," he pockets his scanner and begins to search the area, looking for a safe way into the castle.
He turns the corner, and then immediately stops and leaps back into cover upon seeing Ettala standing guard by the door. Ettala is one Mommark's creations. Looking like a cycloptic ogre, Ettala is as strong as he is dumb, being a creature of pure strength rather than intelligence. Regardless, they are loyal to Mommark, often being the scientist's personal guard.
Oliver has a copy of Ettala that he got from a booster pack when he first started. He pulls up the digital version on his scanner and reads the stats. While this version has no abilities, with the wisdom being at 20, Oliver gets an idea to distract them with something simple.
Looking around, he finds a rock. He tests the weight on it before using it. Getting out of cover for a short moment, he tosses it across the yard. It passes Ettala without him noticing but instead knocks over some crates. This catches his attention.
The giant ogre turns in the direction of the crates and walks over, brandishing their club. "Who there?" He looks prepared to knock someone into the ground as part of his job.
Oliver uses this window to make a run for the door. As quietly as possible, he lets himself in, locking the door behind him as he enters the castle.
Now inside the castle walls, Oliver finds himself in a long stretch of corridor surrounded by small cages, and jars of various samples for his experiments. He covers his mouth, most of the samples and substances keeping them fresh emit an abysmal smell like rotten meat.
He presses onward, noticing a staircase leading up somewhere above. He follows it, getting out of the fog of potential experiments until he finally arrives at the top. Pushing the doors open, he arrives in Mommark's actual lab.
It's a dark chamber with bars on the windows, and more of Mommark's experiments caged up and kept out of reach from each other. However, while most of the creatures look vicious in their own right, they all seem to be cowering away from something. They're held up at the edge of their cages, eyes fixated on another point in the room.
Oliver turns over to see what has made the experiments so terrifying. His blood runs cold as he sees why. In the center of Mommark's lab is an operating table. Strapped down to the table is a creature resembling that of a traditional werewolf. A humanoid body with large claws, exposed grey skin, and the head of a wolf. Looking like something straight out of a nightmare, this creature wears the tattered remains of civilian clothes, as well as worn-out armor, looking like a gladiator.
The creature seems to be sleeping. Oliver covers his mouth so as not to make too much noise and wake them, understanding the fear of the other experiments. He gets closer to the creature, unable to recognize them from any tribe, or Chaotic forums on upcoming cards.
Holding up his scanner, he takes this chance to add them to his collection. He ducks in cover just in case before scanning the creature. It doesn't take long for the scan to be complete before the creature appears on the screen as a card.
"I guess your name is Acwulf, huh?" Oliver says out loud, but quietly. The name sounds familiar to him, but he doesn't know from where. Regardless, he takes a look at their stats. His eyes widen, amazed by what he sees.
Acwulf is almost on par with Ursis in terms of power, with medium wisdom but with more speed and courage. They only have one musician to their name, but also immunity to the effects of mugic. The biggest detail is the card outline being white, indicating that Acwulf is currently tribeless like Ursis.
Oliver leaps out of his hiding spot, feeling like he's just won the jackpot as he looks over the incredible stats of his new scan.
However, this comes to his downfall as he's found out during his mini celebration. Turning around, the door swings open, with Mommark standing there. Mommark is a green mad scientist-like creature with a purple suit and red hair that grows in tufts on the sides of his head.
"What are you doing in my lab!" He shouts out, pointing at Oliver with fury in his eyes.
Oliver goes to port back to Chaotic, but Mommark is much faster than he appears, almost appearing beside him to grab his arm and collar, pulling them away from the still-sleeping Acwulf.
Mommark takes one look at him and notices the scanner. He shakes his head before letting go of them, "A Chaotic player. I should have known. You're not the first to try and scan one of my experiments for your game." While Mommark looks annoyed, he doesn't appear as angry as he was upon entering.
"I'm sorry for breaking into your castle. I just wanted to get a new scan for a match I have in 30 minutes. I was just so amazed by your latest experiment. Acwulf's stats are amazing," Oliver tries to ease the tension by complimenting Mommark's work, although it seems to have had the opposite effect.
"Experiment? Experiment?! Acwulf is not one of my experiments! I have you know that he is my patient!" Mommark flips his lid, before having a moment of realization. "Wait, you called him Acwulf. You know his name?"
"Yeah, I scanned him. I have his stats, abilities, and name right here," Oliver shows Mommark the card.
Mommark snaps the scanner out of Oliver's hands and examines what he sees, like a doctor viewing a patient's medical chart. "This is interesting." He turns back to Oliver, handing them their scanner back. "What did you say your name was?"
"FinalAce," he gives Mommark his screenname for now.
"Well, FinalAce. I have a job for you. Since I presume you'll be wanting to use Acwulf in a battle soon, I want you to have him as part of your team, and fight with him," Mommark is almost ordering Oliver to use Acwulf with his torn, as if ordering one of his creations.
"Okay. I'm sensing a but, or an and coming along with how you're phrasing this job."
"Indeed. After you are done, I want you to report back to me immediately. I'll be sure to tell Ettala to let you in when you return. And when you do, I want a full report of your battles as Acwulf. Everything, all the details, got it?" Mommark's demeanor has changed once more, going from an angry mad scientist to a concerned, hopeful doctor.
Oliver looks over the scan of Acwulf, and agrees to it, nodding. "Okay, Mommark. You got a deal. I have a match in a few minutes. I need to leave now to add Acwulf, and then test him. I'll be back as soon as I can." On that, Oliver finally portals back to Chaotic to update his collection, and prepare for his coming match.