[rocky cliffs, canyons, hills, bumpy patchwork terrain, lots of verticality, ambushes]
BOSS: WORLD EATER (The Worm That Turned)
[A deep crevice, with holes in it. Big Magic Eater appears out of one of the holes, gurgles, eating through the ground and attacking.]
Zdzislaw Beksinski
BOSS OVERVIEW:
[World Eater is massive, charges, eats the ground, can be ridden, oozes liquid, vomits clumps of magic.]
DROPS:
Solid Earth Soul
A Soul with a physical structure, reminiscent of a boulder.
The World Eater was once a simple Magic Eater insect, in the place now known as the Rotting Stones. It became separated from its home and predators, and has since grown gigantic, eating stone and Souls alike. It is still a simple animal, but does that make it innocent?
Use this staunch Soul to gain a large amount of Souls, or else create a unique treasure with its essence.
Connections:
-UNENDING WOODS-
SHADE DISPERSED
The shadow lessens. But the light that borne it will never fade.
[A dark, strangely cohesive forest past the canyon. It has a malevolent, hollow aura. Wind blows through the trees, producing an empty sound as the trees shift]
Art by Zdzislaw Beksinski
AREA OVERVIEW:
[A massive, complex, multilayered area. Bizarre creatures roam the wood, pursuing Explorers through the nonsensical layout of the trees]
(Difficulty Level: [4] Terrifying)
APPEARANCE:
[The light of the Hills are twisted through the treetops here, in the half-shadow of the woods. Shades hide in shadow, and there are holes in the ground, lined with wooden spikes.]
MANIFEST BEING: THE HOLLOW DEMON (Cruelty Manifest)
[Darkening the world around it, a withered, bark-skinned creature emerges from a tree, with gashes down its body and a small hole on its mostly featureless face.
It releases an inhuman screech and begins to bound like a maniac, throwing filthy thorns like knives.]
Art by Zdzislaw Beksinski
BOSS OVERVIEW:
[Fights with a manic, insane style. Weak physically, but incredibly quick, and adept at misdirection and scare tactics]
DROPS:
Ring of the Hollow Demon
A diabolical off-white ring, with no decoration but a single hole.
Consumes the power of any Ring equipped alongside it, transforming it into a Blank Ring.
Once there was a man whose cruelty was a catastrophe unto itself.
He would lead children into deep woods, and slaughter them by the dozen.
Existence rebelled against him, and the woods were absorbed into the Aeon Ruins.
The man was never seen again.
This ring has the fearsome power to devour everything.
If you value your other rings, wear this one rarely.
Connections:
Hill of the Skylights
Dark Cottage
-DARK COTTAGE-
ABOMINATION DESTROYED
Its foul existence has ended. But the world turns on, unaware...
[A path beyond the Hollow Hollow leads to an unusual structure: a cottage, at the far end of the wood. Here, the sky is dark, and the cottage itself is consumed with shadow, its door hanging wide open.]
Art by Zdzislaw Beksinski
AREA OVERVIEW:
This area holds nothing.
(Difficulty Level: [0] Effortless )
APPEARANCE:
A silent cottage at the furthest end of the Wilds. The interior shows signs of a single occupant, preserved as if frozen in time, food still fresh on the table. But still, the cottage is empty, devoid even of Shades. There is nothing within it, and nothing beyond.
It stands alone.
BOSS:
A Boss does not dwell in the Dark Cottage.
You leave through the door you came in by, unharmed and empty-handed. Yet something about the cottage leaves you shuddering, hands at your temples as a nameless dread descends upon you.
Why is it there? A prisoner of these woods? Its presence here, untouched in the Ruins, is at once a comfort and a terror.
Someone lived there once. But they are gone now, taken without a trace.
You get to your feet and run, never looking back, for fear that... something... will stare back from beyond the black doorframe.
