Mystic Grove

"A primordial forest on the southern tip of Little Nuk, brimming with strange flora and fauna."

The **Mystic Grove** is one of the four **Main Dungeons** that can be visited, and is the first dungeon in the main quest available to be explored.

A lush forest filled to the brim with strange creatures, the Mystic Grove is where you will complete your first major objective: Finding ironbark to build a small ship for your errand to Sage Asmodius in **All Hands on Deck.**

The Mystic Grove is also the location of your first side quest: Silencing the pestering goblin tribe in **Trouble in the Woods.**

## **Native Creatures**

The most striking feature of the Grove is the colourful creatures that call it home. The first beasts that you can encounter are simple, oversized bugs, wandering around their habitat and shielding themselves in thick carapace.

Ogrish goblins also share a home with the critters, with a centralised settlement constantly meddling with passers-by.

The Fey are strange, arcane critters native to the grove, being very fluent in manipulating the Aether. Their effigies will prove to be troublesome opponents with regeneration, and you will have to get through them if you want your precious ironbark.

Unfortunately, many humans take advantage of the low security around the area, settling into illegal trades such as poaching and smuggling.

### **Floor 1-12**

**Forest's Rim**
Upon your first steps into the Mystic Grove, expect to be faced with significant opposition straight from the getgo. While the enemies you can encounter here are not *too* dangerous, they are still very capable of killing a fresh character if you approach combat recklessly. Take the time to explore and learn about your opponents before you dive further.

Tier 1 Monsters

### **Floor 13+**

**Fey Forest**
Venturing deeper into the mystical grove beyond, as you hit **Floor 13**, you will discover that the enchanted glade is not so welcoming of you. The fey presence has only strengthened, in addition to a higher diversity of creatures coming to hunt you down. Still, it is remarkably easier compared to other areas at this tier. All previous monsters will continue to appear as well.

Tier 2 Monsters

### **Floor 16+**

**Depths of the Grove**
From this point onward, you will begin to notice the previous denizens of the Grove becoming stronger, as you venture deeper into the forest. Over time, their stats will gradually scale upward to better meet your own progression, preventing them from becoming easy pickings for you to stomp over.

**From this point onward, all monsters begin to scale stats, initially receiving +2 HP, +1 Attack Damage, +1 Armor, and +1 Spell Resistance, gradually growing as you delve deeper.**

## **Bosses**

The bosses of the Mystic Grove, while certainly the weakest out of their progeny in stats, are not to be messed with.

The first boss of the Mystic Grove can be encountered from character level 6 and floor 15: the **Fey Avatar**, the leader of all fey that guard the ironbark tree and the first true test of your combat capacity. Slaying it completes **All Hands on Deck** and unlocks the Low Harbor and Hollow Reef.

The second boss of the Mustic Grove can be encountered from character level 12 and floor 30: the duo of goblin leaders, **Clink and Clank**. A unique double fight against two supergoblins, your victory will drive the goblin encampments off and complete **Trouble in the Woods**.

Bosses

## **Minibosses**

At any point in this dungeon, you may be presented with the rare and risky option of fighting a miniboss. They are more powerful compared to your average foe, and can output enough damage to seriously dent your run.

**Journal Entries**

Plucked from your old life in prison, you were given a new identity and a singular purpose. For the public, you are to pose as just another adventurer who has come to the Isles seeking fame and fortune, and found employment with the imperial governor of Farhaven - the demand for daring fools ready to explore the beautiful and dangerous southern frontier is as constant as the Empire itself. In reality, you are an agent on a deadly mission of murder, one on which your very freedom depends.
You don't know much about your "employer", Sage Asmodius, save that he's the headmaster of the Sun Court and the leader of the Order of Sages - a mage of great skill and knowledge, whose influence and power is rumored to rival that of the Emperor himself. About your mission and your targets you know even less, as Asmodius was pretty vague on the details... A group of outlaw sages that need to be dealt with in discretion. One Sage Erideus, and a few of his accomplices, accused of treachery and treason. A promise of redemption and freedom...
You've concerned yourself with the latter, far more than the former. If you can accomplish the task set out for you by the Grand Sage, you will have a chance at a new beginning. As impossible as it seems, you have to at least give it a try... after all, what do you stand to lose?

As you make your way through the gloomy shade cast by the ancient trees, you can feel the invisible pressure of countless ages weighing heavily upon your spirit, making you feel small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The feeling is only amplified by a strange, almost palpable sensation of static in the air, as if the forest itself resists your passage, sending shivers of unease down your spine, and making the Warden's Sigil on your chest shimmer with sorcerous light...
The Mystic Grove, a lush primordial forest situated south-east of Farhaven, has been a reliable source of natural resources for the colony's ever increasing appetites since its founding. One of its most prized commodities, ironbark, is a unique sort of tree that grows in the area. With its unmatched sturdiness and inherent resistance to magical energies, ironbark is an invaluable resource in shipbuilding, producing ships capable of withstanding the chaotic weather and magically imbued waters of the isles. Lately, however, the Glade has been teeming with bandits, goblins and fey - strange little creatures of pure aether - preying on the industrious folk of the colony, and all but stopping the local shipbuilding industry.
If you are to embark on a journey across the archipelago in pursuit of Sage Erideus this issue must be dealt with first - you'll have to locate and acquire a sizable amount of ironbark, and get it to a local shipbuilder in order to commission a ship.

Your search for ironbark has drawn a crowd of unusual spectators: fey, small aetherial spirits that reside in the area, their glowing eyes following your advance from dark corners of the forest, studying your every move with interest and obvious disapproval. It is unnerving at first, but you get used to it as the time goes on - just like you've adapted to the occasional, seemingly unprovoked attackes by the creatures and their creepy effigy dolls. If there's a story behind those grotesque creations of straw and leather, you are not entirely sure you want to hear it. Anyhow, the attacks seem to be getting more frequent as you venture deeper into the forest. You must be getting closer to whatever it is that the fey don't want you to find...
On top of that, the dampening spell that Asmodius put on your Warden's Sigil seems to be weakening. The accursed tattoo is active once again, and doing its designated purpose - in order to discourage prisoners from escaping, the Warden's Sigil acts as a lodestone for elementals, creatures of pure arcane essence, driven to madness by its abhorrent nature, and seeking to destroy it, together with its wearer. You've encountered more than a few of those mindless creatures already, and the frequency of their attacks seems to be steadily increasing as you progress to the south. Just another obstacle you'll have to deal with on your way to freedom...

**Ironbark Glade**
You find yourself so deep into the maze-like interior of the Grove that you're not entirely sure you know the way back anymore. To make matters even worse, the tree canopy in this part of the forest is so dense it almost completely blocks out the Sun, forcing you to trudge onwards in a state of perpetual gloom.
Hundreds of glowing eyes of the fey usher you forward, and you soon find yourself in a glade, a wide open area with a single, gargantuan tree sprouting in its center - ironbark! As your eyes adapt to the sudden burst of sunlight, you can see fey converging around the tree in scores, their small flowing robes fluttering in the vortex of aetherial wind of their own making. Not sure what to expect, you prepare for the worst, and cautiously carry on...

A particularly hostile tribe of goblins has been rampagin through the Mystic Grove for some time now. Their efforts seem all too cunning and organized to be categorized as usual goblin mischief, and could pose a serious threat to Farhaven if not dealt with in time - or so the local authorities claim. Someehow, you suspect it has more to do with the dwindling supply of goblin slave workers, and the insatiable crowd at the Arena demanding more bloody entertainment.
Be that as it may, the imperial governor will pay a hefty sum to anyone who puts an end to the goblin infestation and restores order to the outskirts of the Farhaven. All you have to to do is follow the goblin trail deeper into the woods, not all that difficult a task, with so many of the creatures prowling around the area...

Strange and magical creatures aside, the Glade seems to be swarming with outlaws, poachers, smugglers and other mundane lowlifes of the worst kind. They are going about their shady business right under the nose of the imperial authorities, often causing even more havoc than the mischievous goblin or two... and yet, you can't help but notice that no call to arms has been sounded by the diligent imperial governor, except for a scant bounty or two hanging on the public notice board at the Salty Rat. All the wile, the governor's lavish mansion grows in luxury and size, despite the harsh economic situation that's been affecting Farhaven lately...
But you are h=not here to address the deep rooted issues that plague the frontier port town - not unless you get paid for it, that is. You've got plenty of woes of your own to deal with at the moment...

**Journals of Sage Erideus**

Pages 1-3 of the Journals of Sage Erideus can be found at floors 3, 8 and 13 of the Mystic Grove, obtained when you go over the dungeon exit even if it is locked.

I, Sage Erideus of the Sun Court, set these words to parchment in order to record events regarding my upcoming expedition to the Archipelago of the Southern Isles, on the behest of my old mentor and the headmaster of my order, Grand Sage Asmodius.
Just the other day, Asmodius approached me with an interesting proposition: he claims to have made a pivotal discovery that could forever change the way we perceive and utilize magic. I must admit my skepticism at first - Asmodius having a sort of reputation for bold claims - but the nebulous story he told me that evening in the Sun Court's central library has piqued my interest for several reasons, and has been keeping me awake at nights ever since.
For one, it is closely related with one of my fields of research, which is, I presume, why the headmaster came to me in the first place. The field itself is not very popular among my colleague sages these days, but has been a hobby of mine ever since my adept days - I speak, of course, of the Mua-Ta, the infamous natives of the Isles, and their unusual approach to magic, which baffles scholars of the arcane across the Empire. But the hour grows late, and I shall not bore the reader with fine academic details of why that is at this point...More on the subject later.

Back to Asmodius' proposition: the headmaster has informed me that he has come into possession of an ancient Mua-Ta text, etched into an ironwood tablet, and brought to the Empire by an unsuspecting merchant from the Southern Isles. From what he could decipher, Asmodius found that it contains instructions for an arcane ritual, supposedly practiced by the Mua-Ta of old. The purpose of the ritual itself is irrelevant at this point, but the fine details of its implementation are...Interesting, to say the least.
To understand why, one must first understand the basic principles of arcane art: all magic that we know of originates from the Outside, or, more precisely speaking, the six Arcane Realms of Magic - Elemental Realms of Earth, Fire, Air and Water that provide the "base ingredients", so to say, and Abstract Realms of Order and Chaos that bind them together or break them apart. Channeled through the Great Aetherial Sea by a trained arcane practitioner, a mixture of the above mentioned realms' arcane essences forms what we commonly call a spell. Or that's what we've been taught to believe, at least...
But, not so with the ritual from the Mua-Ta Text! It circumvents all rules of arcane spellcasting, and taps into something entirely unknown...And, if the text is to be trusted, powerful beyond comprehension. Asmodius believes it to be the seventh Arcane Realm - the fabled origin place of all magic - which, until now, we thought to be but a myth. I'm not so assured myself, but i'm inclined to give his hypothesis a consideration, if only for the immense implications of it all...

After going through the ancient Mua-Ta text and translating it completely, carefully separating fact from fiction, I have concluded the matter should be thoroughly investigated. The text is incomplete, though, as if the key element of the ritual is missing...If the necessary knowledge can be recovered at all, there is no better place to start looking than the distant homeland of the Mua-Ta, and the place from which the text originated: the Archipelago of the Southern Isles.
Asmodius was happy to see his theory supported, and has already peititioned the Emperor to fund an expedition to the southern colonies. I am to be its leader, as the foremost expert on the subject of the Mua-Ta language and civilization. We plan to set out as soon as we get the Emperor's funding, and agree on others who are to accompany me - the matter should be treated with discretion, though, as its implications are indeed huge, and could cause quite an uproar with the more orthodox minds at the Sun Court.
In the meantime, Asmodius is gathering a team of like-minded sages to conduct experiments based on the incomplete text. He's started calling it "Project Heaven's Gate" - a bit pompous for my taste, but that's Asmodius for you. They've already made some progress, but the results, as promising as they are, are still miles away from the ritual's full potential, as described by the ancient Mua-Ta...

**Mua-Ta Memory Stones**

The first two Memory Stones can be found on floors 7 and 17 of the Mystic Grove.

**Sky-Mother's Gift**
...Surrounded by your brethren, you stand in a wide circle around the ritual grounds, holding vigilant watch as the old matriarch and her cabal of priestesses get ready to perform the Rite of Fertility - an annual ceremony to end the long summer drought. The weather has not been kind to the Mua-Ta (the short word translates as "children of earth and sky" in your mind, revealing hidden nuances and meaning in the pronunciation itself) as of late, and Earth-Father yearns for Sky-Mother's soothing touch. A long silence stretches as hundreds of gathered Mua-Ta wait in patient expectation, and you begin to doze off, lulled by the gentle sea breeze coming from the coast. You almost miss the opening act of the ritual when you are stirred to attention by the matriarch's sharp cry!
The rustling movement of about a dozen priestesses follows the matriarch's command, and so begins the arcane choreography as old as the Archipelago itself. Their skilled movement weaves an arcane pattern into the sand, a shimmering beacon and a plea for the Sky-Mother's aid. As the performance draws towards its end, all eyes are turned upwards, into the night sky, expectantly awaiting the Goddess' response. It is not long in coming, and you are startled by a sudden gust of wind, followed by rolling thunder clouds and torrential rain: the Sky-Mother weeps for her children - the realization comes with a swelling rush of pride - and you weep with her, tears of joy and exaltation running rivulets down your freshly-painted arath (strangely, the word translates as both "mask" and "identity" in your mind). All is well, and exactly as it should be; with Sky-Mother watching over you, and Earth-Father nurturing you, you feel as if there's nothing in the word that you lack at this time and place. With that thought in mind, you leave your post of honor and join your people in the celebration...
**+3 HP (permanent bonus)**

**Hunter's Demise**
... a sudden rustle of leaves to your right. Quick as a jungle viper, you crouch into a waiting stance and hold your hunting spear at the ready... nothing. First signs of fear gnaw at the back of your mind, but a quick glance at your trusty ka'arlach (the word translates as raptor-lizard-companion-friend in your mind) strolling lazily a few paces away gives you courage. The giant raptor at your side has been your hunting companion ever since your masking day, and you trust it with your life.
You continue down the slope, following the tracks of a giant boar in hope of scoring a kill that would elevate you into the hunter caste, when you hear the rustle of leaves again, louder. Your ka'arlach picks up the disturbance this time, and lets out a shrill cry of alarm - something is coming! You reach for your spear and glance about frantically, when your foot suddenly catches into something thick and sticky - spiderweb, and lots of it! You are stuck in place, you realize, with no time to wriggle free. The rustling is getting louder by the moment and you think you can discern scores of thin spider legs moving at a frenzied pace, closing in for the kill. You can only gaze in the horror as they rush from the bushes in waves - hideous black arachnids with clicking mandibles and multitudes of hungry eyes...
Just then, with the mighty roar of an apex predator, your ka'arlach is right in front of you, its muscled reptilian body shielding you from the advancing tide of murderous spiders. Its razor sharp claws tear their chitinous bodies to ribbons, spraying gore across the damp jungle floor and filling you with hope, if only for a moment. The spiders are too many, and a few of their poisonous stingers get through the thick skin of a ka'arlach raptor.
With the dying cry of your childhood companion resounding in your ears, you resign to your fate and close your eyes, turning your thoughts inwards, towards the Sky-Mother: you beseech Her to recognize your death - a death befitting a Mua-Ta hunter - and accept your soul into Her hallowed halls... when the spiders finally reach you, and sink their sharp teeth into your flesh, it is but a husk, your soul already departed for the trackless expanse of the dream-trance...

**+5% poison res. (permanent bonus)**