Red Vel looked at the gateway to Mistra. There had been a lot of talk about the Steppes raid clearing out the corruption, and allowing passage through Mistra safely- but it seemed like that hadn't been the case at all. It was still creepy and inky, and pulling up the map showed no other places to go, and that corruption warning over Mistra still.

He drummed his fingers on his arm. All signs were pointing to, like, not go in there. But people were also saying you could get a hella-powerful subclass from in there, if you rng'd it right.

But, Tarou had been adamant about Bria not going in there. And she usually listened when he said to not do something. Because he was usually right about it.

But... This was video games. This was his domain, the one thing he knew about far more than Verai. So, he scooped up Ghost Pepper, and crossed the barrier into Mistra.

As soon as he stepped over the threshold, something pinged- just under his minimap, pulsing, getting strong and weaker as he turned. Coolio. A little quest popped up- Heart of Darknyas. Oh, like the book.

Well. Into the deep, then. Red Vel spun until the pulsing was strongest, and started walking in that direction. The grass faded from under his feet soon enough, giving way to dry barren dirt, and an ugly sky. He held Ghost Pepper a bit closer, squinting at the lack of surroundings. "Spooky... Kind of hate it." He commented.

Something finally broke the landscape- a ruined building, just a few half-walls and a lot of crumbling stone. The tracker thing pulsed faster. Red Vel frowned, and pulled up the quest description.

Heart of Darknyas

Objective: 0/1 Collect a Corruption Sample from a Source of Corruption in Mistra

I snyanpled the Corruptnyan from Bronstnyanton Myanor and ran a preliminyary anyalysis. What you've got to nyanderstand is that this corruptnyan is special! It's alive!

But I need more snyamples. That's where you come in! I gotta hunch there's tons of great specimens up in the nyew Area. Ashie probably wouldn't want us to go but... she's not here nyaow! Nyahahaha!"

...No but seriously, I gotta get my hands on some more Corruptnyan. Then I'll show nya something that'll really knyock your fur off!

Vel frowned. That was... kinda vague. But it seemed like he was up close to a source of corruption, so that was good. Just get a sample and hit the road.

It wasn't going to be that easy- Games loved making quests seem like "run here and pick it up," only to have the item to turn out to be a drop from some big beastie. Then you got a sense of accomplishment, not only did you Do The Thing, but you ALSO Beat Up The Guy. Win-win. Reddit had also been going off (months ago, when the quest was first dropped) about how Mistra was scary, top 10 horror game of 2023, etc etc. So, he knew sort of what he was getting into.

Red Velvet turned the corner, heading into the bowels of the ruins, and stopped. In the center of the room was a massive furred creature, twice or thrice as large as any real world tiger. It was an incineroar, but one that had been made properly big cat shaped, and not a heel. Its fur was shadowy, like the melanistic cats they took in sometimes, and when it turned its eyes were solid fields of glowing, sickly yellow.

Its face was also matted with blood, claws tinged with it. It turned towards him, moving from whatever thing it had been eating, and raggedly snarled. <Red Velvet... We're not fighting that... are we?>

The incineroar screamed, and in two steps lunged, baring fang and claw at the pair.

fuecoco || 50/100