You wake up, but meh.  Who really cares? 


You walk out of your chamber, the giant stone echoes with the sounds of your footsteps.  As you exit the hall you gaze upon the worthless denizens of your humble abode. 


They all wander around, asking you your opinions of things, but do you care?  Meh, not really.  Another sound catches your ears.  And from out of some random chamber comes a short girl with orange hair. 


"Ah, my cherry pie," you say as you kiss her on the forehead.


"Hey, you slept in pretty late!" She says.


"Meh."


"I'm going to go to Cystia today?  Want to join me?" she asks.


"Meh."


"Meh?" she asks.


"Might stay in Discordina today."


"Why?"


"Eh, don't feel like it."


As you continue on, you see more and more people and things you do not care about at all.  Eventually, you make your way down the hall to one of your favorite rooms.


The whirring and clanking of machinery and other things is like music to your ears.  But that's not all.  Ahead, someone covered in scales stands in front of a large machine.  Large and with plenty of metal tubes, each with green liquid running through them.  It is through this invention, and with the help of this green magical essence, you can alter reality itself.  It's called the Deviner, the greatest invention to ever exist.


You step forward to plug yourself in, the large needle like object about to prick through your forehead.  But as you do so, you don't feel the rush of the running green liquid.  In fact all you hear is an odd clunking and churning sound. 


Nothing happens, and you frown. 


"Damn it!" The scaly dragon man says, "I think something is busted."


You rip the needle out and let it dangle where it sits.  The machinery itself seems to have broken down, collapsed and laying defunct.  The dragon man starts gathering pieces of what machinery he can.  Before you can do anything, he stops you.


"I'll work in this stuff, you should go to Cystia and find some of those magic crystals."


"Why?" you ask.


"Not only did the machinery break, it seems the magic crystal over charged, and sent a surge of magic throughout the liquid.  So it broke down the weaker parts of the Deviner."


You sigh, one of the few things you gave a shit about. 


You walk down the worthless halls, pass all the worthless people, and finally reach one of the worthless carriages.  It seems several of them have taken off anyway.


As you sit down, you slump into the comfy seat you had installed in the carriage.  The worthless guy driving it flicks the reigns, causing the worthless horses to go forward.

You destination

You finally arrive to the bustling land known as Cystia!  As you drive through the wild lands, you see several guards in armor patrolling along the roads. 


These stone roads must be new.  Ahead you see three of the guards chasing some furry creature, landing several arrows in its back as it finally goes down.  The guards stand in the middle of the road, one steps forward and raises a hand.  The carriage grinds to a halt.


You look the window as a guard briskly approaches.


"The roads are dangerous, you shouldn't be traveling alone."


"Meh," you shrug your shoulders.


The guard sighs, his tired eyes looking blank for a few moments.


"The beast folk roam these lands," he says, "at least allow a couple of our guards to travel with you."


You shrug your shoulders, and the guard orders two of his underlings to join you in the carriage.


The ride is uneventful, although there are a few minor sights to see along the way.

You town

It is about noon by the time the carriage reaches the gates of the civilized lands of Cystia.  A few shouts from the guards over the walls, and the heavy wood and iron gates creak open.  The carriage pulls up to a wooden…shack, where a couple of dirty peasants come out to take care of the horses. 


You step out of the carriage, and take a look around.  Hopefully some crystals should be somewhere in Cystia…if not you're going to have to make a hike to a very powerful magic users place.  Not that you can get in there, but you'd have to try.


You have to try and figure something out, otherwise you'll never be able to use the Diviner again!


You go to look around that all this portion of Cystia has to offer.  Now where could those magic crystals be?

You lair

A feeling of intense dread fills you up, making you feel not so warm inside.  You're last trip to this place was….interesting.  After getting painfully banished you decided to ignore the place and just continue on business as usual. 


But you NEED to get these crystals, otherwise what will become of your place in Discorina?


It takes hours, but eventually you make your way past the main city, and through the dirt road.  Ahead, the large and dark castle looms over head.  The ashy clouds spewing a host of rain and lightning strikes viciously at the ground.  The stone walls surrounding the castle appear foreboding, several small watchtowers dot the wall.


Dark spires stretching upward, the metal spikes on top of them catching some of the lightning bolts.  As you near the wall, you swear you hear something turning and whirring from deep within the castle, amidst the sound of the storm.


Shivering and trembling you jog over to the castle, hoping you can get what you're looking for, and maybe a place to warm up.


The large wooden gate appears to be shut, you didn't expect it to just be wide open though.  You grab the rope on the side and pull it with all of your might.  The large bell connected to it rings out its horrid tune.


As you stand, soaked and cold, the door slowly opens but just a bit.  Taking a step forward you squint at the opening.


"Who's there?" a voice says, "Ford?  Is that you?"


"Yep," you say.


"Ha, you know you're not allowed here."


"I'm just here for some magic crystals…nothing else," you say.


"I think that would be going against the rules…remember what happened last time you were here?"


"Can you at least let me in from the cold, please," you say, "wouldn't it be nice?"


The door opens more, and the source of the voice steps out.  A tall man, hair shaved and clean shaven, he smiles.  But there is something else to that smile, it's not exactly coming from a place of hospitality.


"Sure," he chuckles, "this should be interesting."


"Thanks," you say as you walk past him.


You enter the tunnel that eventually leads to the door…which you find to be open.  Walking in like you own the place, you take a look around.  The large keep appears empty…as far as you can tell.


The winds of the storm buffets against the castle, it almost obscures the sound of your soft steps as you traverse across the large keep. 


Wandering down the halls, you stop suddenly as you hear something. 


"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"


Shrugging your shoulders you continue, must have just been your imagination.


The halls twist and wind, and you feel as lost as ever.  How did you ever navigate this place in the short time you had spent here?


That darn Sorceress must be around here somewhere, she must have some magic crystals.  But where could she be?

You spire

You start with the most obvious place, the spire that she lives in.  As you pass a few rooms, you hear a strange sound coming from one of them…meh. You continue on, not caring about what is very likely one of the many strange noises you will be hearing tonight.


After going up several sets of stairs, you come to one that narrows and….spirals as you go up it.  After several minutes you find yourself at the top, amidst a huge library.  You walk through the place, eerily quiet.


"Ax…Ax!" you shout.


Nothing.  Eventually you find a bed, a desk, and some table meant to magic things or whatever it is she does.  Having no interest in anything that could be stashed in here, you continue on your way.


Where else could you look?