The Tale of Peanut

**The Tale of Peanut** is an action adventure RPG that takes place in Loonastia. The titular protagonist of the game is Peanut.

## Story

Spoiler*Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.*
### Prologue

Millenia ago, before our hero was even born, Loonastia was a peaceful and prosperous land. There were no wars, no diseases, and great injustices were suffered by none. The people of Loonastia were content with their lives and never looked for more. So how did such a arcadian land end up as a theatre of pure horror? Long story short... they were tricked.

A year or two before our hero's birth, the nobles of the land all got an invitation to a conference of diplomacy to divide their countrysides in peace. No self-respecting leader of royal blood would even consider ignoring such an important meeting, so they all attended. The meeting was held in the Royal Suite of the Great Whippin' Tree, but when they arrived... the invitation was only a ruse! The real purpose behind the meeting was to kill them all. They were beheaded by the devilish sword of the Demon Lord, Malistor.

You can imagine how the people of Loonastia felt when they saw their leaders getting slaughtered while they were helpless to do anything about it. The cries of all races echoed through the sky. Sunlight left and the world went gray. Colors faded into each other and monsters ran amok. One by one, under the Demon Lord's rule, the elements that kept Loonastia running started to fail. The earth crumbled and sank into itself. No heat or wind could be felt. And for the longest time, it wouldn't rain, not one drop. The clouds just stayed there, blanketing the world in gloom.

### Chapter 1 - Legume School

The wait for a solution did not leave comfort to anyone in the queue. Many gave in, embraced darkness and fear, trying to make sense of what happened. Those who didn't were indoctrinated by Malistor's teachings. This included Leguma Village, where our story begins. Everyone in this town has been taught to be afraid of everything, except for the newest citizen, named Peanut. Peanut always knew he was different. From the very beginning, he wasn’t afraid of anything.

Peanut’s family is concerned that he could be banished for scaring everyone with his bravery, and defying provincial law. Peanut doesn’t do what’s expected of him, but instead sees the cruel and frightened world as a wondrous playground of adventure. He wishes to explore the land of Loonastia, though the Legume Council forbids it.

One day, his parents, Lupin and Lentil, have him go with his older brother, Clover, to teach Peanut how to behave “properly.” The movement tutorial commences, and the player learns the controls and how to avoid monsters.

Peanut and Clover hide out in an abandoned library. Peanut wants to stop and read, but he’s learning the rules of being a Legumian. On top of that, reading is forbidden in Loonastia, so that no one knows of the better times before Malistor or gets the slightest hope up.

So, Peanut does the only logical thing: he steals a book and doesn’t tell anyone, not even his parents.

This particular book is a fairy tale about a princess locked away in a tower, able to see the world, but never to touch it. She longed for a prince, a brave knight to free her from the tower; someone with power, wisdom, courage, honor, and decency. Peanut decides he wants to become that knight.

### Chapter 2 - Storybook Goals

With a new dream, Peanut carves a wooden sword, meets a retired adventurer, and learns from him how to fight, during the battle tutorial.

From the distant reaches of the grassland, Peanut hears music, that of the royal bard’s lute. Peanut follows his ears all the way to the castle. He manages to infiltrate the castle, bypassing the front gate and evading all of the guards in his path. He looks for the music, but instead finds a sorrowful young princess with black tear streaks down her eyes, heartbroken and sleeping her sadness away.

Princess Rose’s sadness is that of the kingdom’s. The king was a loving husband, father and ruler. When he was tricked into his death ten years ago, it was a blow from which his kingdom could not recover. As Rose vents of wanting the old days back, Peanut swears on his life that he’ll do whatever it takes to take down the Demon Lord and set things right. And from that moment on, they are smitten towards each other.

Meanwhile, Lupin and Clover are discussing ways of turning Peanut into a proper Legumian. They settle on taking him to the outskirts, just by the borders of Eightleg Expanse, where most of the worlds' arachnids originate. Peanut returns home unchanged with a new shield. Clover is frustrated with Peanut’s failure to let his fears stop him, for which he explains that it’s because of his crush on Rose and his promise to solve the kingdom’s predicament, surprising them all. They fear that the monsters of the outside world will kill him, but Peanut knows how to defend himself. His family also fears that the town council is onto them, which they are. After a chilling court session, Peanut is sentenced to exile in Whipper Woods. On the way out, Faefyr (in disguise) gives Peanut a bestiary, and his quest begins.

### Chapter 3 - Found in the Woods

In Whipper Woods, Peanut laments the possibility of never seeing his family again because of his exile. The grief of his loss he is not afraid to admit.

Sensing his weakness, the Great Whippin' Tree, which happens to be sentient, sends the fairy Fina to find and summon the boy to it. Once Fina finds him, as a reward for his bravery, she petrifies his sword, serving as an upgrade. With his new stone sword, Peanut has now unlocked the Blunt Smack.

Peanut agrees to the fairy’s request, and they set off deeper into the woods, with Peanut looking for further guidance. They fight some interesting forest baddies along the way, including hostile Alraune, Snapsprouts, large insects, and Malistor's weaker minions.

If Peanut and Fina wander into a specific area in the Sacred Flower Ring and stay there for some time, they are swarmed by several Beemen soldiers, who, due to their hatred of humans, attack Peanut and Fina. Peanut manages to hold them off for a little while, but is overwhelmed regardless, and passes out as a result.

Peanut and Fina wake up in the Honey Hive, the home of the Honeybees. They make their way through it, battling enemies as they do, and eventually reach Queen Honeyhive Hexette, one of the few leaders in Loonastia who did not receive Malistor's letter due to her remote location. She is suspicious of Peanut and speaks with her soldiers for a bit, before deciding that she should deliver Peanut's "punishment" herself. Peanut swiftly bests her, after Peanut can explain his intentions to Queen Honeyhive so that she trusts him a little more. After this, Peanut can return to her hive at any time to trade rare flowers for exclusive weapons.

The two eventually reach the Great Whippin' Tree, who was ambushed by Snapaciut, a fly-trap humanoid, after Fina flew off to find Peanut, and is now being drained of its nutrients. The tree says that Snapaciut is wreaking havoc deep inside of him. It explains how Loonastia was ruined and how it became the resting place of all the nobles. Peanut, now knowing how everything went to hell, and the fairy traverse a dungeon inside the tree. They encounter Snapaciut, who refuses to give up easily, and Peanut battles Snapaciut.

After Snapaciut is defeated, he reluctantly decides to stop tormenting the tree and goes somewhere else. But then he tries a cheap shot, being foiled by what looked like a shapely, darkened hermit. Brushing it off, our hero and his fairy look outside.

Alas, Peanut's efforts are for naught. The Great Whippin' Tree’s bitter fate was sealed before Peanut even came into the forest. With its last dying breath, the Tree entreats Peanut to befriend the mysterious hermit. The fairies, once the tree's assistants, mourn for him as Peanut, Fina, and Stablynn head off on their journey.

### Chapter 4 - Peanut meets Stablynn

After sneaking under Legume Province and reaching Cerulean Bay, Peanut does not take long to realize that joining with the hermit, called Stablynn, will not be an easy task. He is everything Peanut isn’t: sarcastic, grumpy, rude and savvy. In an attempt to bond with him, Peanut explains how his path crossed with the hermit. Peanut knows he won't be able to save the world without assistance. Anyways Stablynn stubbornly refuses at first, but after Peanut trails behind him for a little while, Stablynn gives his advice on crossing the Cerulean Bay, jokingly.

After Peanut declares his determination to Stablynn, he begrudgingly accepts. He says that in order to defeat Malistor, they must reform the Sacred Star by collecting its five pieces. Each piece embodies a value from Peanut’s book, and was split into seven shards to stop the Demon Lord from using its power for evil. However, the Demon Lord's strongest servants were able to obtain the last shard of each piece, and now guard their respective shards. Stablynn states that the shards of the Wisdom Piece are located somewhere in Mayham Side, but Fina says that they should get the Water Charm from the Deep Sea Temple in the Unfathomed Abyss, since she believes that they will need the power of the elements in order to stand a chance against Malistor's forces. Stablynn gifts Peanut a bow and arrows, stating that they will be crucial for their mission.

### Chapter 5 - 20 Thou Leagues

With their objective set, Peanut, Stablynn and Fina head out for sea. Stablynn gifts Peanut a bow and arrows, stating that they will be crucial for their mission. Peanut constructs a boat and sails across Cerulean Bay, with Stablynn leading the way towards the Sacred Star Piece of Wisdom.

However, on the way to Mayham Side, the group are attacked by a group of Harpies. While they fight off the monsters, Peanut makes a decision to tell Stablynn about him being a former Leguma Village resident, and why he was exiled. Once he does so, Stablynn still remains aloof about it, but Peanut is glad that his secret is now out of the way.

After the battle is over, Peanut and Stablynn sail their way to the place where the Deep Sea Temple would be. After arriving, Fina conjures bubbles around the Peanut and Stablynn so they can breathe underwater. The trio make their way to the bottom of the ocean in a depth-traversing minigame. At the bottom, they find the temple and traverse it, with Stablynn complaining about the current situation. They manage to reach the end of the temple without any problems. As the group step forward, Fina suddenly disappears, due to her fairy nature, as Stablynn takes her place.

Peanut and Stablynn journey their way through the Deep Sea Temple, eventually reaching the throne room of the Mermaid Queen, Aquaris, who has been corrupted by Malistor's influence and questions their intentions. Peanut tries to reason with the queen, but fails miserably, and battles her instead. She is defeated, after which she is willing to listen to Peanut and the hermit. Stablynn states that he needs the Water Charm in order to defeat Malistor. She reluctantly accepts, handing over the charm and wishing the duo well.

Once they reach the surface, Peanut and Stablynn reunite with Fina and continue their journey through the ocean. They reach Mayham Side, and Fina tries to crack an ice-themed joke, but apologizes when neither Peanut nor Stablynn laugh.

### Chapter 6 - Slip and Slide

Mayham Side, an icy tundra filled with beautiful glaciers and auroras that light up the sky at night, is not as peaceful as it seems. Stablynn explains to Peanut and Fina that Mayham Side has a history of avalanches, and that they should be careful.

They reach a village in the tundra, aptly named "Glacien Town," and decide to rest there for the night. However, they notice that the water doesn't taste good, which Stablynn notes as "odd," considering that the water is usually fresh and pure. A village resident says that the tundra is currently experiencing a drought of sorts, and that what little water was left had been poisoned—polluted, in fact—by a mysterious being dwelling in the mountains, where the avalanches are the most frequent. The villagers then ask Peanut and the hermit for help. Stablynn reluctantly agrees, and they all head off, with Peanut leading the way, collecting six Wisdom shards along it.

In the mountains, the team face various ice-themed monsters, a series of velocity-based puzzles, as well as sludge. They then come across the Wisdom Temple, the entrance of which has been barricaded by thick ice. Lacking any fire-based options, Peanut has the idea to throw bombs at the wall to crack it. After a while of doing just that, Peanut then sticks his sword through the ice, causing it to break and reveal the entrance to the temple.

The temple contains even more velocity-based puzzles and sludge, and a plethora of ice-based enemies. After traversing the temple, the trio reaches the room where the last Wisdom shard would normally be located, which has now been taken over by the Toxic Ice Queen, Froxique. She jokingly mocks the trio for going out of their way to take back the Wisdom Piece from her, before taking out her axe and stating that she won't give up the shard without a fight.

After she is defeated, she dramatically proclaims her final words before accepting defeat, falling over, and exploding in a cloud of dark energy. After the dust settles, the last Wisdom shard materializes where she stood, and the trio collects it, enabling the shards to form into the Wisdom Piece. causing the sludge polluting Mayham Side to clear. A heavy rain also occurs for the first time since Malistor took over, signaling that rain and water have returned to Loonastia.

The trio travels back down to Glacien Town, where the townsfolk thank them for defeating Froxique. The trio then rests at the local inn, and in the morning, after breakfast, Stablynn proclaims that they should head for the Power pieces next, in Dragon Canyon. So, they do.

### Chapter 7 - Out There On the Dunes

To get to Dragon Canyon, the team have to trek through the Searing Desert, where oddly enough, it’s super cold. Fina is very hesitant about this, as she has never been in the desert before and doesn't know how she'd survive in it. Nonetheless, Peanut is unfazed, pressures her and Stablynn to move on, allowing Fina to stay in his pocket for the time being.

Fighting through the desert's sandstorms, harsh conditions, and hostile inhabitants, Peanut and his friends eventually make their way to an oasis, but as they get close it simply vanishes. This is apparently a common occurrence in the desert, oasises teleporting. However, a villager from a nearby town offers to escort the trio to his tow. After they get there, the heroes rest up, and the next day, they find that the town is being raided by Malistor's minions from the Smokewave Badlands, who Peanut of course defeats.

However, the inhabitants of Desanu Town will not let them pass until they fix their ice problem. Ice chunks have formed all over the town, and they’re blocking trade routes. Using the Wisdom Piece, Peanut can get rid of the chunks. The townspeople reward him with the Fire Charm.

### Chapter 8 - By Candlelight

After the ice is taken care of, Peanut can go to Dragon Canyon for the Power shards, but like the Desert, there is no heat to be found. The volcanoes are dormant. He and his squad are ambushed and chased by a dragon that Malistor corrupted (because by now he knows about Peanut), and they end up in the Candle Manor. Oddly enough, the manor has a lot of ghosts in it, alongside the candles and candlings, since it’s very dark and as much fire as anyone can get in this element-less age. Nonetheless, the team finds six of the Power shards around the manor. Among the mess, the team finds a witless but kind slime who helps them reach higher places. At the end of the manor, they find Chandelle, who decides to invite them for dinner. Stablynn doesn't trust her, however, as he is a hermit, and Chandelle is annoyed at his attitude and battles Peanut. In her defeat, she is sent to the future. The last Power shard materializes in her place and joins its buds, and the Power Piece is reformed. Heat comes back to Loonastia.

### Chapter 9 - Blackbug in a Web

With the Power and Wisdom pieces in hand, Stablynn says that they should head for the Courage shard next, in Pitpat Jungle. To reach that place, they must first trek through Whipper Woods, and Eightleg Expanse. Peanut, eager to continue, runs off to Eightleg Expanse, with Stablynn and Fina struggling to catch up.

The trio make their way through Whipper Woods, paying repsects to the Great Whippin' Tree along the way, and reach Eightleg Expanse, where they are soon stopped by a travelling bug collector who tells them that his brother is missing, and will not let them continue until they find him. The bug collector tells the them that he last saw his brother entering a particularly large spider nest somewhere in the expanse. Peanut, being chivalrous, steps in to help find the missing brother, with the bug collector advising the trio to look for a "particularly large entrance with lots of flies stuck to it." The quartet then set out for the bug collector's missing brother. They also find out that they can make some cobwebs into a parachute to glide over certain gaps.

The quartet reaches the nest that the bug collector saw his brother enter. They go in, and inside is a maze-like dungeon filled with spider- and silk-themed enemies. Conveniently, small bugs are scattered on the right paths, giving the heroes a clue on which way to go, although the right way forward is frequently blocked by puzzles involving parachutes and spider silk. They eventually make their way through the maze and reach an oddly circular room in the dungeon, where they are suddenly surrounded by large Aracknits and Webballs. Peanut, out of options, takes the spiders head on, and with the arachnid onslaught vanquished, they continue deeper into the nest.

The heroes go just below the surface of the Cave of Decay as they finally make their way to a large chamber covered in silk and spider eggs. The bug collector's brother is stuck to a wall, and covered in silk, struggling and making muffled screaming noises. As the group approaches, a large, jorogumo-like woman named Terroguma crawls down from the wall the captured brother is on, ridiculing the heroes for coming all this way to her lair to save the bug collector's brother. She then decides to have *them* for dinner as well, prompting Peanut to battle her.

After the woman is defeated, she tells them that she was originally a Terrortula, before being transformed into a woman by Malistor's magic. She then reluctantly frees the bug collector's brother, who she believes "doesn't smell delicious." The brother, traumatized by the fact that he was almost eaten, runs and cowers behind the others, though the bug collector happily offers Terroguma one of his collected bugs as thanks for freeing his brother. She eats it, and states that it is delicious, before telling her children to escort them out of her lair. After this, the rest of the Cave of Decay can be accessed.

### Chapter 10 - TBA

With the bug collector's brother safe and sound (if not slightly traumatized), the heroes are able to leave Eightleg Expanse. They return to Whipper Woods and reach the Pitpat Jungle. There, they find that the jungle's gusts of wind are congregating in tiny areas in the jungle, as well as geysers from the ground that hoist them high into the air. Peanut quickly has an idea involving using these "Wind Geysers" to help him glide higher with his parachute, which Stablynn is hesitant about as he dislikes heights. Peanut does this anyway, and the other two struggle to follow.

After some travelling, Stablynn suddenly has breathing difficulties and coughs uncontrollably. Fina shows concern for Stablynn as he struggles to breathe again, so he sits down on a conveniently placed tree stump. Peanut asks Stablynn how he got asthma, and Stablynn, after a brief moment of showing visible hesitation, he tells Peanut and Fina about his backstory...

He was once a stable boy who dreamed of becoming a knight. However, one evening there was a fire in the stable. Stablynn rushed inside to save the horses, but as he was evacuating them, a small flame spark somehow jumped into his mouth and charred him from the inside out. For what seemed like minutes but was only a few seconds he felt unable to breathe, He was supported by the king, who told him "A knight's strength comes not from your lungs, but from your heart, from your oath, and your loyalty to the crown.” Peanut and Fina feel sorry for Stablynn, while at the same time retorting that he's as good as any knight in Loonastia, maybe even better. This boots Stablynn's morale slightly, and he gets back up so Peanut can continue his journey and collect the shards of the Courage piece.

The trio eventually reach the Windy Wood Temple, a dungeon similar to the insides of the Great Whippin' Tree, though its main obstacles involve Harpies, as they are native to the Pitpat Jungle, and strategic use of the Wind Geysers. At the end, they encounter a strange harpy wearing what appears to be foliage. She is seen mistakenly swallowing the last Courage shard, before spotting the trio and becoming frightened of them. Peanut cautiously approaches her and requests her to spit the shard back out, but she flies into the air and calls the other harpies, as well as summoning a leafstorm around her. She then fuses with the harpies and foliage, transforming herself into a terrifying wood spirit, who the trio then battles. Her wind blasts are powerful, but with the help of the Fire Charm and Wind Geysers, the heroes prevail once again.

The harpy explodes into corrupted energy, similarly to Froxique, leaving behind the Courage shard she swallowed. The shard and its brethren assemble into the Courage Piece. (more to be added)

## Gameplay

### Combat

Sword -

Bow -

Parachute -

### Skills

Blunt Smack - Hit an enemy with the blunt side of your sword, with a chance of stunning them. Obtained with the stone sword upgrade.

Weapon Toss - Enables Peanut to throw a weapon for extra damage, but extra durability is taken off, and Peanut must pick the weapon back up to use it again. Taught by Stablynn.

## Characters

### Protagonists

Peanut - A fearless Legumian who's always ready for adventure! He may be small and young, but he makes up for it with his quick wits and skilled swordplay!

Stabblyn -

Princess Rose - The princess of Leguma Province. She used to be a lot happier and livelier before Malistor beheaded her dear father, but shock of hearing such news hit so hard that she cried all night! To this day, she still weeps for her father, even after Peanut answered her plea for help.