I played stardew Valley instead of writing lmao. Shorter one this week. I'll probably have another chap out this weekend but fingers crossed. I honestly would rather take longer than let the quality of writing go down, so i guess you gotta deal with it lmao.

all my love.

She felt it.

As she rushed towards the pulsing Crimson, running beneath the land - through the roots of oaks and birches, pines and maples, she felt it like a cold frost. It curdled her blood, that evil magic, it chilled her bones and revived the long dormant pain that slit lengthwise across her back. A thousand years ago, such a thing was thought to be impossible. To injure a dryad? To damage the very spirits of this persistent, burgeoning land? It was something they scoffed at. Nature was the ruler of this earth, and nothing could challenge it.

Until the god of the stars fell upon them.

That ridiculous beast! That horrifying monstrosity... yet it was incorrect to call their enemy a monstrosity. It held a dark, incomprehensible intellect. Even now, torn asunder and slumbering in the deepest of sleeps, its will seeped upon this earth. It was alien in every sense of the word... and it was powerful. Thousands of Dryads - dryads who had never been injured before - were killed by it's the unnatural magic. Hundreds more were crushed into the black infinity of the cosmos. The Dryad would never forget those days. They were burned into her mind, and likewise into the minds of her sisters.

And so, although the sensation radiating from The Crimson was merely a small spell, The Dryad knew the scent of her enemy. She could feel the reverberations in the ley-lines around her. Who could have cast such evil magic? That art, those spells should have been long lost - all record of them destroyed. Was there, perhaps, a worshipper of the Old God at The Crimson Border? Inconceivable! The Human King, The king-in-gold had slain the watery parishioners of that defiled deity. Those pests who not only praised The Moon Lord, but wished to make him whole once more. Misguided souls. Lunatics who wanted to see the world burn...

But they are gone...

They should be gone. The Human King, in his great lust for power wished to learn the secret spells of the Old gods. Perhaps he had seen the potency of the cosmic spells, and, although his power already rivaled that of deities, still wished to bolster himself. When his request for knowledge was denied - he boiled those miserable creatures alive in his rage. The day the witch-of-massacre had rained hell on the ocean, was a day The Dryads rejoiced. Their adversaries had been destroyed, and for this, they could never really hate the king-in-gold. Even when he imprisoned Sister Silva in the depths, they didn't rise against him... after all, he had secured their final victory. Even if they were now weak and scattered, hunted down by the slumbering god's remains, it mattered not. There was nobody they needed to fight against any longer. Those that strove to raise The Moon Lord were dead, and they had successfully imprisoned The Crimson which had fallen to the earth. The brain, the worms - all were kept back by the great spell wove into the blood of the men and women who lived in those borderlands. It was a spell that grew more potent over the generations... and killing men was more difficult than killing cockroaches. You could never get them all...

Humph.. the fight was supposed to be finished...

But clearly it wasn't. Was it possible that some survivor of The Moon lord's cult had survived the massacres? If so - she would take care of it shortly. It wasn't in her nature to kill. She was a spirit of life, and it ran contrary to everything within her - but she knew her responsibility.

Her spirit rumbled. It'd been a long, long time since she'd fought. Did she remember how to? When was the last time she destroyed something? Yes, it hadn't been since the great war, where she and her sisters tore the Dreaming god to pieces. Even then, although she wasn't exceedingly powerful, she could easily kill a single fishman wielding evil spells.

...

But the strange thing was... that there was even any eldritch magic at all! She was en route from the other end of the country. Surely her nearer siblings would have already arrived at The Crimson Border by now. The death of Cthulhu's Eye sent a call to all Dryads in the land... and if they all convened - surely somebody else would have killed any of Cthulhu's worshippers on site.

Perhaps there is there a battle at this very moment?!

Possibly.

She had best hurry.

It was old magic. Filthy, dangerous magic.

Mysterious, unsettling and otherworldly, that cosmic alien power seemed to pull from the deepest depths of the infinite. The ancient magic that seeped from the spaces between shadows. It drew from entities far above the gods of this earth. Defiled entities who whirled in the depths, who consumed worlds and crushed civilizations with cold, unfeeling lunacy. The Old gods...

Shit!

He stumbled and fell to his knees, muscles paralyzed and barely registering the sharp thorns that pierced and tugged at his skin. He kneeled there, mouth hanging agape and throat rattling in trepidation. He knew not why he was afraid. It was purely instinct. The moment that rune shattered beneath The Party Girl's fist, some primitive part of him recoiled in an irrational, craven dread. He didn't see anything ... but he saw it. He saw teeth. He saw a massive, staggering, lumbering shape. Lurching about, covered in sores, tremendous and malicious. Slithering writhing flesh. Endless maws. Rolling eyes. Human voices merging into the shriek of a beast.

No... No!

It was unmistakable. It was The Wall. Was that grotesque entity (he was convinced it was an entity, if not many) not content to harass him in his sleep?! Why was it now bursting upon his vision! The spell... this spell, what was it doing to him? It was familiar. He knew this feeling. He... had he been caught in the sorcery's range? There was cold burning in his skin. The chill shattered upon him. He felt it rattle his bones and melt his heart like wax. His skin crawled as if there was electricity running beneath it. For a short moment, time stood still. He sat there motionlessly - his empty pistol still gripped in a feverishly trembling hand as the wispy blue magic burst its bonds asunder. It welled and bloomed, fizzling gently over the two franticly writhing figures caught in its swell.

(crunch, crack, shiiiick)

As the blue wispy magic bloomed almost innocently, flower-like from the small iron artifact, The Guide was struck with what he would later call an 'animal terror'. The terror mankind had felt for generations as they stared into the chittering blackness of looming jungles. The dread that filled a man's heart when he raised his eyes to the emptiness of the heavens and pondered eternity with his pygmy mind. The feeling that overwhelmed him each time he dared close his eyes to sleep. Amidas... had Amdias harnessed the power of The Wall?! No... not The Wall. It was the power behind it. The Power of that defiled deity...

The Dreaming god.

(crk crk)

Perhaps this thick fog was a blessing. As much as he pleaded with himself to look away, he simply couldn't. His eyes watered and ached. He was enraptured by the horrible scene. The Demolitionist and The Party Girl danced as if they were puppets jerking on strings. They screamed as they did. Well, she screamed as she jerked about and convulsed. The Demolitionist was silent, yet his fate was far worse. The Guide watched with a morbid fascination as stout fingers fell off, rotting away to reveal bone. He saw clumps of beard distend and slough to the ground with disgusting slurping noises. The bright lights cast the shadows in sharp relief. He could count bones on the ground. He could hear the sinew snap. He wanted to vomit.

G-go!

The 'Healing' Rune... this is what it was. A powerful rotting magic, meant to kill, maim and destroy. Its source was something immense and terrible, far more potent than even the most powerful of modern spells. For what purpose had The Sea King woven this awful enchantment? There was no doubt The fish man was familiar with 'Terrarians'. Would this crippling magic merely invalidate The Slayer's natural regeneration? Perhaps it would have maimed him permanently? Could it even kill him outright!? These were questions that flitted through The Guide mind as he trembled there in the grass. He... he was glad to not know. Despite his sometimes crippling curiosity, he had no desire to further seek out these horrid eldritch secrets and their affects on those he loved.

This... is the power that consumed my village... this is what I'm fighting...

The Slayer had been taken out by a bomb, how could he fight this? How could he hope to face a god? For The Guide, fighting against The Crimson might as well be suicide, but he had long accepted this. The Guide had set his heart on 'saving the souls' of his family, but wasn't that something far too lofty for a mere mortal to say? After all, he had no real proof anyone was suffering. It was all rumors and whispers and scraps of paper. Perhaps the villagers were simply resting in peace. Nobody was suffering at all. There was no need to undertake this monumental task... Could he believe that? Could he simply let this all go?

For...forgive and forget?

A thrill of rage ran through him, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Forgive? Forgive the Vulture-Headed mage? Nonsense. He would do no such thing. He would find a way. He was going to accomplish this. Perhaps it'd be suicide, but damned if he didn't try. His only regret lay with The Terrarian... Was that infant almost-man destined to die for this goal? To be torn to shreds by monsters he need not kill. To be butchered by mindless creatures for the sake of a revenge not his own?

It... it has to be this way. I'm sorry buddy. Urgh! Fuck!

The venom running beneath his skin had sunk in and caused his heart to accelerate to a terrifying pace. Was... was he just scared? Was something really happening to him, or was this merely psychological. Maybe I'm just going crazy? This had happened before, just once whilst he was alone in The Sea King's burial chamber. He was certain The Wall was doing this. Whether it simply induced a fearful panic attack, or was actually crushing his innards didn't matter. The fact remained that it would try to kill him, to burst his heart.

I need to get away!

As quickly as he could, he scrambled to his feet and began to run. Had he been less panicked, he would have noticed a worrying amount of his skin had scraped off his feet and onto the sharp blades of grass. There were small perforations appeared all over him. The spell had barely touched him, but it was enough to begin breaking him down. To digest him. Alas, he wasn't in the correct state of mind to carefully consider his impressive collection of injuries. Escape was the only thing on his mind. Escape? Could he even flee from this? It didn't matter. He wasn't thinking. He ran.

And as he ran, his heart hammered within his chest, pounding against his ribcage as if it wanted to burst out. His pulse was all he heard. His terrifyingly rapid pulse, his ragged breath, and the pounding of his heels against the grass. The very sound was tearing at the seams of his brain. There was a painful twinge in his chest and he accelerated - running blindly, madly into the stinking mists. In a few short moments, he had been reduced into nothing but a beast. And animal fleeing from an unknown threat. His great intellect, his great faculties of reason were nothing in the face of formless terror.

(Crack)

He was certain he heard something inside him breaking.

An indescribable pain split his sternum.

He staggered. What happened? Am I dying?!

He tripped. He fell headlong.

He squirmed on the ground like a worm beneath a cruel boot.

And just as blackness consumed his sight, he heard The Wall's shriek emit from his own mouth.

Dryad: *patting guide's head* Aww, you already know how to read! That's great, darling! Do you want a lolly?
Guide: *offended* I'm twenty-six, you know... obviously I know how to read.
D: Twenty six years?! So precious! *pinches cheek*
G: (grumbling, wtf)
D: I- (sees Amidas) Ammy?! is that you! Oh my! You're so big and strong now! I remember when you were three inches long and your daddy was showing you off in the egg pouch!

Amidas:...hello, Dryad.

Slayer: What the hell is a year.

RIP Guidey lmao. Also Demo had it coming.

Iron Heart: Contains an ancient potent curse which rapidly rots somebody away. Will invalidate natural healing in a Terrarian & pretty much kill anyone else it effects. The curse will invalidate other methods of healing such as Potions etc... and must first be removed before the cursed individual can make any sort of recovery. Its kinda janky, and I was trying to do my best to fit it to gameplay mechanics. originally i was gonna use armageddeon (the 1 hit boss item) but its way too powerful lmao. Anyways. iron heart pretty much prevents healing in game, even natural healing. Instead of stopping the natural healing, i just made the Iron heart invalidate it by injuring the Terrarian at the same pace. NPCs dont really have natural healing, so I just made it dissolve them.

The PG has been genetically engineered to resist magic, so she's fine. I didn't pull that out of my ass just now I promise.

Notes: Recall that The WOF, Perforators EOC BOC are all pieces of ML. Pretty sure its canon that EOC, BOC Perfs are Chuthlu parts, but Honestly WOF shares such a similar asthetic that I couldn't resist. Besides, lore for WOF is wacky. what does 'guardian of the world' even mean smh.

Also finally bringing the Dryad in lol. Poor dryad. :( I have this image in my mind of dryad being like 1k years old, and originally she was gonna meet with Ammy and be like 'Omg, Ammy - darling, you're so big and strong now uwu. I remember when you were three inches long.' But she's an enemy so it's not in the works for canon lol. Wait imma put that in the skit. fk canon.

ALSO: Art archive discord server. chat if you want, but mostly just art/shitposts for this story/its prior development. I illustrated a couple of skits etc...

(merge the bottom three lines. FF is annoying with links)

discord

.gg

/6YGmZ39vvT