Mystical Acres

The **Mystical Acres** are a location in *Turtle Man and DaPhantom*, being a village located in faraway lands outside of an enchanted forest. The magical energy from this forest has partially spread onto the village land, causing it to inherit some strange properties. This area is where Lisa Frolic, Dan Rider and John Blemington lived, who created the Amulet of Souls until they stopped being friends and the latter two had to seal the amulet away within a distant cave system.

## Description

The Mystical Acres are located on the outskirts of an enchanted forest, standing atop a wetland of moist, dark coloured grass. Across the entire wetland area, there can sometimes be spotted magical particles floating through the air due to the magical energy of the nearby forest spreading into the wet grass, which soaks it up. The village area spans across several acres of land (hence the name) that is connected by a trailing path of lighter coloured grass and features the occasional patch of grass sprouts or pinewood tree. Across the acres are several different sights, most of which being old houses made of rotting pinewood and occasionally stone too. There are a few small farms growing dried out crops around, some of them having tattered scarecrows guarding them to scare off any pesky birds as well as lampposts or campfires to provide some light. Some of the other buildings across it include what appears to be a tavern where drinks are served, a school for children and a small museum made out of stone. The most notable of all these buildings would have to be the ancient library, covered in cobwebs and books that haven't been touched in ages. This building is almost never visited by anyone anymore, but there is a secret area which can be accessed by pulling a lever hidden behind a book; within the room are some secret books.

These acres are inhabited by a community of townsfolk, who all seem to wear mysterious clothing like rugged robes and capes. The civilians here all speak a strange language that seems exclusive to the Mystical Acres, and this same language is imprinted on the many signs across the place as well which can be confusing for outsiders. However some people can also speak English, such as the woman who led Turtle Man, DaPhantom, Officer M. and co to the library and some of the books there are in English too.

## Background

The first buildings within the Mystical Acres were set up by a small community of travellers hundreds of years ago, being made of simply pinewood from the nearby forest. These travellers had no idea of the magical properties of the nearby forest at the time and assumed it was a normal area to set up housing, but they weren’t aware of the enchanted spores that were spreading to the area and causing side effects. These side effects included a strange oder that constantly flowed through the village’s air and also causing the wood on the buildings to rot faster then usual so it had to be replaced often. Nobody knew how to get rid of the spores or stop them from spreading onto their land, so the townsfolk just had to live with it as the village expanded further and further with new sites. However, many people living in the acres at one point moved away due to these issues which has resulted in many places such as the library becoming seemingly abandoned as years have passed. Another mystery of the place is the strange language that the inhabitants speak and is written across the place, as it is not a language that seems to be spoken anywhere else and is mostly made up of weird symbols. As a result, the acres can be pretyy confusing for outside people who may have come all the way there for a visit.

Long ago, the villages was inhabited by two inventors named John Blemington and Dan Rider who were acclaimed by the hamlet for their many creations which had contributed to people’s lives. One day they had came up with the idea for a contraption which could harbour the souls of both the living and the dead, but this featured quite complicated tech and so they got the help of a woman named Lisa Frolic to finally create the Amulet of Souls. The trio wanted to show off their newest invention to the public, but this ended in catastrophe and messed with the souls of many across the village so they were prohibited by the mayor from ever using the Amulet around others again. This resulted in many fights between the three creators over who should get to keep the Amulet, but it ended with John and Dan deciding to shut out Lisa and keep the Amulet for themselves to try and improve it, for they thought that her involvement is the reason it was so dangerous. Lisa swore that one day she would get her hands on the Amulet again, no matter what means would be necessary to retrieve it. Meanwhile, John and Dan made tweaks to the Amulet to try and make it more safe but their tweaks ended up making it cause even more damage then before when testing it again. The two finally decided that the Amulet was too dangerous and that it had to be buried away somewhere where nobody would ever find it, so they travelled for days on end and found a distant mountain range to bury it away in. Before hiding it though, they implemented a feature where the Amulet would have a meltdown and stop functioning normally if it were to absorb too much soul energy. This story was learnt by Turtle Man, DaPhantom, Officer M, Victor, Mort and Snappy when they visited the place to learn more about the Amulet’s origins to see if there was a way to stop it, as it was becoming unstable and their enemy The Devourer had taken it. A hooded woman took them to a secret room in the library to tell them the story, but then the Devourer moved to the acres and began attacking the village using the amulet. After a fight between the Devourer and the heroes, the amulet was destroyed in a huge explosion which made a vortex that drew in millions of souls from all across the world. These souls made their own ghostly vessels for them to possess, and those millions of both good and evil souls were brought back from the dead due to the amulet. This included the maniacal Evil King and several other villains but also heroes, who all clashed in the Soul War.

## Appearances

* S8E13 - Quest to the Acres
* S8E14 - The Mystical Acres
* S8E15 - Soul War

## Trivia

* The original name for this location was Mystical Hamlets, but it was quickly changed to Mystical Acres because Max and Mikhael agreed that it sounded better.
* No one seems to be able to understand what the mysterious language written and used here means, aside from the village's inhabitants of course.

**Mystical Acres**