Mario and Luigi

The Shaman of Shadows

Area 1: The Living Thicket

1-2: Hide and Seek in the Living Thicket

Luigi set foot on a grassy knoll that had not seen outsiders for over 3000 years. He gazed deeply into the Thicket and found it to be absolutely haunting. The landscape was covered by a light fog and the skies were filled with blackened clouds. He shivered with fear as he gazed further into the dark pine thicket that lay before him. Rising above the skeletal pine trees, loomed a stormy mountain to the north region. Thunder rumbled across the blackened skies as lightning became the only source of light other than small creepy lanterns that lit the dirt road. Unable to see anything else, Luigi swallowed hard with a sense of dread and wiped the sweat from his brow, "Go, Weegie…," he moaned. He then began his shaky trek down the chilling dirt road.

Luigi followed the road with some help from the eerie gourd lanterns as he swore not to deviate from the pathway. He was certain that ghosts were watching him from the corners of his eyes. As Luigi entered the forest ahead of him it was nearly impossible to see but as soon as he adjusted to the low lighting, faces in trees emerged and stared down the plumber when he was not looking back. Then suddenly, a voice echoed in Luigi's head, "Luigi, it is I, Merlon, can you hear me?" asked the wizard hopefully.

"Hello?" Luigi responded with some confusion.

"Ah, yes, there you are, I'm speaking with you telepathically," Merlon explained. "I see you're entering the Living Thicket. Thanks to the druid's curse here, the trees here can rearrange themselves to confuse your direction. It seems you're aware that the entirety of Mage Land's foliage seems dead with rot and fuzzies have infested the trees as well. Be not alarmed, however, the trees cannot harm you, only confuse you. Good luck, Luigi, we are counting on you!" Merlon said strongly.

As Luigi took a deep breath he took his first baby steps into the dark woods. The Poltergust's nozzle acted liked like a searchlight. Luigi hummed a tune to keep his calm and as he did, he heard footsteps quickly approach him. Emerging from the darkness was yet another Wizard Cultist and he rushed Luigi with a horrifying growl. Luigi shouted with a shiver as the wizard spooked him. Luigi then leaped into the air and landed perfectly on the Wizard's head, sending him to the ground, and defeating him. His body turned to a puff of black confetti and revealed a dark, cloaked spirit that resembled the wizard, but with piercing red eyes. The spirit lunged with a roar. The Poltergust acted with haste as it slurped up the evil spirit. The ghost hardly stood a chance before it vanished into the device.

Feeling reassured, Luigi continued through the Living Thicket fighting other Cultists, Peepas, Bone Piranha Plants in Warp Pipes, Gold Ghosts, and Gloombas. He also hit more blocks collecting more treasures and avoiding Poison Mushrooms when they emerged from blocks. After a short while, Luigi found himself calmed by the smashing of blocks only to find a male druid child pop out of one when he hit it. The young druid hit the ground with a thud and was quite dizzy. Luigi noticed he was not one of the cultists he had been clobbering and approached him, "Oh, I'm so sorry are you okay, Bambino?" Luigi asked with concern. The child regained his senses.

The druid shook his head and seemed quite happy, "Oh, thank goodness, an actual person found me instead of…, whatever has been chasing me…"

"Is someone after you?" Luigi asked with concern, putting his own fears aside.

The boy stammered a bit, "Oh, sorry! I forgot to introduce myself," he started. "I'm Merlide and I'm just a beginner druid so I haven't taken any actual classes yet, but I was playing 'Hide and Seek' with my brother Merleek and five other druids. A while ago, they took a break but I wanted to keep playing. My brother told me to play by myself and to use a doll. I was told by some elders not to do this ritual, but I thought it was a joke. I did it anyway, but something strange happened. I swear the doll came to life and began chasing me. I got so scared that I hid myself in that block you hit. Now, I can't find my brother Merleek or anyone else! What if the doll found them! Please mister, you don't seem scary at all, will you help me?"

Luigi gave the kid a thumbs-up gesture, "No problem-o, Bambino!" he replied while trying to hide the shaking of his knees.

The kid was still uneasy, "Um, if you don't mind, I'd like to come along with you, y'know, just in case…," he said shakily.

"Sure thing, I'll enjoy the company!" Luigi replied, enjoying the thought of having company.

Luigi heard Greaper's voice once more, "So the little tyke wanted to play Hide and Seek by himself, huh? That was a mistake. Evil spirits jump at the chance to do that with the ignorant. It would be wise to find them all quickly before they get caught."

The young wizard followed Luigi closely as they began to explore the creepy woods. Luigi soon found a circular pathway that looped around a massive tree with a very ugly face staring down at him. Luigi, although unnerved, called out to the children. Then suddenly, a cotton bush rustled and a very relieved child emerged to greet them. "Oh, thank the stars!" he said as he greeted his friend. "I got frightened by something that came after me so I tried to hide again! Thank you for coming to find me! There should be five of us left out here, we all scattered when that evil spirit came!"

Luigi now had two of the seven children following him and the company gave him some relief. Curious, Luigi turned to Merlide, "Hey, why were you all the way out here playing Hide and Seek?" Luigi asked.

"Practicing our divination magic!" the kid replied. "We can use it to ask plants to help us tell fortunes!"

Merlide interjected, "Yeah, a common skill amongst us druids as well as other wizards, is being able to sense the spiritual energy of others. So we were practicing in the darkness of this forest."

"Yeah, but then…, 'she' came and ruined all the plants…, now this forest is silent," the other child said sadly.

Luigi grew pale as he contemplated over the child speaking of the Rag Hag, but decided to continue looking for the remaining children as opposed to dwelling on it. As they continued, Luigi called out a few more times to find the children and eventually heard a faint sound from above him. One of the kids was in a tree, surrounded by fuzzies. He seemed frightened, "Um, hello…, can someone get me down now? I feel really dizzy…," he pleaded as he stumbled about.

Luigi had just the thing. He crouched down and put all his strength into his legs, "Yahoo!" he shouted with a High Jump. Luigi landed safely in the branches avoiding the hazardous fuzzies and reached the kid.

The kid was astounded, "Wow, that was some jump, what kind of spell was that?! Err, never mind that, how do we get down now?"

"Leave it to, Luigi!" Luigi said as he gave the kid a piggyback ride. Luigi then hopped effortlessly from tree branch to tree branch until he safely reached the ground.

The kids were speechless and muttered praise that became garbled due to them all talking at once. Luigi managed to calm them and they continued. Trekking down winding paths, Luigi called out again and received another reply, this time from a female druid. She was stuck in a small alcove under a series of tree roots. "Hello…?" she replied fearfully. "I can't see down here, if I had some light to show me the entrance, I could leave…"

The Poltergust illuminated the hole and the bright light caught the girl's eye and she was able to escape from her small alcove.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much mister nice man!" she said without pausing for breath as she hugged Luigi's leg. She joined the other three and they huddled together.

Luigi adjusted his cap and they continued. In a dark corner of the forest, strange piles of rotted leaves that were obviously unnatural lay before them. Luigi called out but all the piles shivered as a response. The Poltergust gently began to blow away the piles. Beneath the first few were just coins along with a Wizard Coin that Merlicity mentioned. Luigi took the purple coin and stored it safely away. A few other piles revealed Bone Piranha Plants hoping to attack someone who came along, but Luigi easily defeated them. Finally, the last pile revealed another shivering female child. She opened her eyes hesitantly, but when she gazed upon Luigi's smiling face, she knew she had been rescued. "Oh, I was sooo scared! I don't know who you are mister, but you're a lot less scary than everything else in this forest!" she said as she huddled with her friends.

Luigi became more positive now as five of the seven children had been located. Continuing onward proved difficult as Luigi had a harder time finding the last two. He hit many dead ends and retraced familiar areas, finding treasures and another Hint Block containing another EVP after being led astray by mischievous moving trees. Finally, as Luigi called out again, he heard a small female cry. This time it was beneath him. As Luigi felt the ground beneath him he located a wooden plank on the ground that was well hidden beneath the leaves. Luigi performed a Ground Pound beside it and the little girl was ejected from her hole and into Luigi's arms. She was spooked at first, "No, don't eat me!" she cried fearfully. Luigi managed to calm her down and she realized she was safe. "Sorry, I was so scared…, can we go home now?"

Merlide spoke up as he tugged on Luigi's overalls, "Um, that's everyone except my brother Merleek! We have to find him!"

Luigi and the children continued searching and after what felt like hours, they thought they turned every rock and branch they could find. Then Luigi decided to take the Dark-Light Device and poke around with it.

As Luigi searched and searched he came to a break in the forest. He was at the other edge of the forest and a fairly large strange double door stood before them. The door was built into the plateau. It was surrounded by the gnarled roots of the trees above. The large door was green in color and had holes in it that created a face that was of a Calm expression. Luigi was completely dumbfounded as the door would not budge for anyone or anything, he tried kicking it, punching it, shocking it, and slamming it with his hammer. No matter what he tried the door would not as much as creak.

Merlide tugged on Luigi's overalls again, "Um, you can't open this door yet, mister. It's a Vibe Door. This one requires the person opening it to be very Calm to open it. There are others like the Rage Door, Joy Door, and Gloom Door. You have to be feeling the emotion that matches the door for it to open. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone here is calm right now. Plus, we're still missing Merleek!"

Luigi decided to turn back and head back into the forest. Luigi and the kids were growing worried that they could not find Merleek until the crowd came to a different place where large mushroom trees replaced the cursed pines. They were blocked off by another plateau, however, and could not progress further. Then, Luigi placed his hand at his ear as he heard a faint noise in front of him but was unable to see anything. Switching on the Dark Light, he shined it directly in front of him. Suddenly, a Warp Pipe manifested from the darkness as did the final child. Once the two became whole again, the Poltergust sucked up the spirit balls that made them invisible.

Merlide rushed up to the kid in a wave of relief, "Merleek, oh, thank the stars we've found you!"

Merleek was sobbing with joy, "Everyone, I-I thought I w-was a goner!"

Merlide turned to Luigi with tears welling up in his eyes, "Thank you for helping us, mister, but we should head back to the village as soon as we can!"

"You got it!" Luigi cheered as he stuck a victory pose.

However, suddenly, the kids all rushed behind Luigi in a panic. Luigi did an about-face and gazed upon what gave the kids a fright. A lone featureless doll made from burlap and had two button eyes sat motionless on the ground while holding a small rusted knife. Then the doll suddenly sprung into the air, "I… found… you… that means I win…," it spoke eerily.

Luigi's confidence melted away as his knees began to shake. The doll lunged at Luigi and a set of sharp teeth appeared on its face. Luigi responded with Mario's Hammer. A good swing of the hammer batted the doll away and it dropped its knife.

Luigi then regained some of his confidence and the Poltergust shined the Dark Light on the doll. The entity writhed and moaned under the Dark Light's ultraviolet spectrum. Finally, a familiar entity manifested. A round pink spirit with a wide toothy grin, a big red tongue, and beady black eyes became visible. It seemed distressed over the fact that it was now visible. It glared back at Luigi with an expression of anger.

"Calamitous clam sauce, a Pink Boo!" Luigi responded as the Poltergust responded to the Boo. This Boo was much faster than previous Boo's he had encountered. The Boo flew so fast and wild that it was hard to pin down. The Boo became irate as it attempted to dive-bomb the plumber. Luigi reacted quickly as he channeled his Thunderhand and whack the Boo with it. The Boo ran right into the unexpected attack and the shock of lightning stunned it causing it a great deal of discomfort. The Poltergust was then able to get a lock on it. Luckily, the spirit had no time to recover as it was sucked up. The Boo got stuck a little bit as it made contact with the nozzle but it made no difference as the brushes easily drew the spirit in. As the Boo vanished inside with an audible funny noise, Luigi and the kids rejoiced. Merlide ran to the doll and threw a match on it, burning it to ashes. He sighed with relief, "Just to make sure nothing else tries to use this doll…!" he said calming down.

All the children sighed with relief and Merleek approached Luigi and tugged on his overalls, "Thanks a whole bunch, mister, we really appreciate what you did for us! But, um, we aren't the only people wandering around this place, our parents and elders are in the Mushroom Woods, Scarecrow Fields, and Pumpkin Plains, so if you could, would you look out for them too?"

Merlide approached Luigi once more, "Oh, in case you were wondering about that Vibe Door from earlier, you'll need to go to the Mushroom Woods first and find a Vibe Shroom. That's what the elders say anyway…, they also said a few more things, but I can't remember them. That Warp Pipe behind you that I was near will take you over to the Mushroom Woods. Really tall Mushroom Trees that glow pretty colors used to grow there, but now they don't glow anymore, thanks to… her… Now the Mushrooms Woods is dark and full of rotted, wilted Mushrooms that are quite toxic. So do be careful… Anyway, please stop by the village and play with us again real soon, okay?" he finished with a cute smile only a child could make.

With that, the kids said their goodbyes to Luigi and they departed back to the village via a warp spell that they all shared power for. Luigi was no longer worried as the children holding hands vanished in a bright flash of light. Luigi gave himself a confident nod as he turned to the Warp Pipe behind him. Before Luigi could proceed, however, Merlessa's voice entered Luigi's mind, "Luigi, thank you for what you did with the kids, I'm eternally grateful to you. We can see through our crystal ball that the kids returned safely with their Warp spell. If you need to rest, just blow the Mage Land Warp Whistle, and feel free to get some supplies and catch your breath!" she finished. Luigi nodded with a smile and instead of continuing, he pulled the Warp Whistle from his pocket and decided to take a breath of fresh air before moving onward.

*Village of Ghosts*

Luigi returned to the village on a magical whirlwind. He first paid a visit to his home base. Luigi casually trotted up to Merlon and greeted him, "Ah, Luigi, glad to see you came back in one piece! I want to thank you as well for rescuing those kids. They are far too young to be wrapped up in this mess. Since the village has been set free from that Music Box curse they can safely return home. I would have been able to help you, but thanks to Merloom's curse of shadows over Mage Land, I can't see very much, even with my crystal ball. I can only see things through your eyes. I choked a bit when I laid my eyes on what had become of the Living Thicket. Merlessa can tell you more. When I watched the kids from your eyes, I heard them mention 'her'. I take it they are speaking of the Rag Hag that was mentioned before, but thanks to Merloom I can't use my magic to discern her true identity. Anyway, we need to gather more information on who this female druid is and how we can fix what she has done!" he finished with a point of advice.

Luigi then turned his attention to Gadd. He was greeted cheerfully by the professor, "Ah, Luigi! I was able to get a message from those ghostly Hint Blocks you smacked, it's quite creepy if you want to hear it. I have no idea what it means though."

Luigi grew uncomfortable about having to hear a message from spirits but decided to hear it anyway. "I suppose I should…," he said with a tone of unease.

Gadd played back the recording and the following could be heard, "Well you see, we've been friends for years…," came a young male voice. "So I was wondering if I could show you something cool..."

A female voice followed, "Um..., I don't know..., I guess...," was all that was recorded so far.

Luigi was now curious as to what was being said. "I wonder what that means?"

"Like I said…, really creepy," Gadd said with a chill. "Any who, like I said, I want you to hit those corrupt Hint Blocks whenever you find them. We might learn something valuable from them. Well then, off with you young fella! Time's a wastin'!"

Luigi decided to take a rest in the bed for a nap and Gadd fell asleep in his chair. Just like before, the Three Musty Fears appeared over Luigi's head. Greaper came closer, "How do you like Mage Land so far? Did you know the Living Thicket used to be a very pretty forest? But now it's in ruins because of this... Rag Hag."

The Boo followed as he played with his face, "I wonder what kind of person she used to be. If I were to judge, I would say she was a well-respected person a long time ago."

Lastly, Dry Bones spoke up, "All the wizards you'll find here were once rumored to have hated Merloom. I wonder why they serve him now? Ah well, I'm sure it'll come to light soon."

With that, the three spirits vanished and spoke in unison, "Don't forget what we told you!"

*End of Chapter*