Here once again the 5 Stories for August. As you may see the magical forest instance lore really captured my immagination and I hope there will be more news , lore especially about the ape and the spirit of the blue menace:
Finding the lonely ape
Although I got up today with a terrible headache from my night at the Beach Bar, I still remember a conversation I had with one of the locals about the lonely ape. In fact, since the ape never was seen near a civilisation of Next Island and according to the description lives where not many people pass by, the local insisted to rather call him a very lonely ape. From the description I got the local told me to go to Hillside Hideout and travel north from there on.
After some time of traveling with my Sleipnir I finally arrived at Hillside Hideout, there was a small Shed where Joan the Gentle stood firm, but he told me to mind my own business, so I moved on the slope up the mountain. Always checking my compass that I should be heading north. When I reached the top of the slope, I enjoyed the view back and, in the distance, I could see a river crossing the planes. After a small break I went on passing through mountains in the middle of nowhere. I checked my compass once again since I wasn’t sure anymore if I was heading to the right direction. Suddenly a tower appeared in the far distance and a big pillar, I was not sure if this was a natural rock pillar or if it was human shaped. Anyways I got into my Sleipnir and flew across the canyon.
To my surprise when I reached the big pillar, I suddenly explored a teleport in this deserted place. The Death Valley Teleport seemed to be a fitting name for a teleport where you could fall down a cliff in almost all directions. There was only one path leading down from my location and to it’s right there was a natural platform. And there I saw the lonely ape just standing near the edge.
Decipher the Inscriptions of the Pyramid
Despite my genuine interest of solving that old Next Island mystery, my mining addiction carries me away from time to time, especially when it looks like there are many claims that like to be discovered in a deserted place. Instead of speaking to the lonely monkey near Death Valley Teleporter as intended yesterday, I dropped a mining probe, since I instantly hit a lysterium deposit. I pressed on and did a big mining run all the way from Death Valley teleporter across the river and up again to Conq’s Rest. When I arrived there in the late afternoon, I needed a rest myself and sort all the ores I have mined.
Today I was fresh and ready for finally solving that mystery. I ported to Death Valley and spoke to the very lonely ape. Surprisingly the ape was already expecting me to ask him about the pyramid. He said I look as if an interesting question was about to leavy my lips. Something is strange with this ape, because the next thing that he said was: “Most people who pass me by have nothing to say that I want to hear”. This sounds to me as if this ape can read minds. How is he otherwise supposed to know what people that are passing by would want to say without them even speaking to him. As well before I even asked my question, he knew I was different, and I had something special on my mind.
After my question and the short conversation, he told me to go back to the pyramid and decipher the text. I ported back to shadow hill and made my way back to the pyramid. This time when I approached the symbols of the pyramid, I could finally read them, but I still could not really make sense of them. I guess I must think about them while drinking a Black Mamba at the bar. Maybe it will inspire me for some smart idea that will make sense of these words.
Wild thoughts about the mysterious Pyramid
“Spirits of the blue menace, this we build for you. You who seem to move through dimensions and possess others, this we build for you. We wish you now give us peace, since this was built for you.” This is the inscription on the pyramid. As for now it’s hard to make sense of these word but yesterday I had several ideas at the bar how I could interpret them.
My first thought was not about the writing itself but why did this lonely ape know how to read the ciphers on the pyramid. There are three options:
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He witnessed those spirits of the blue menace
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He was part of the group that was originally building the pyramid
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He is a spirit of the blue menace
Let’s pick all those theories apart one by one.
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If he just was witnessing either the building of the pyramid or the spirit of the blue menace it would still not explain why he can read their language. From this standpoint he needed to at least have interacted with either the spirits or the group that built the pyramid. When he interacted with the spirits it would be strange that he would not be affected by such powerful beings. Only explanation for this theory would be that he was trading with the group that built the pyramid and therefore knew their language.
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What supports the theory that he was helping in building the pyramid is that he knew how to read all those signs. He knew about the pyramid from the start. In this case I would assume that he and all other Papoos on Next Island might have been smart beings before they started to get possessed by this spirit of the blue menace. Going by this theory this lonely ape and Sebastian would be some of the only ones that got not possessed and therefore are still able to speak and express themselves.
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He is himself a spirit of the blue menace or is possessed by one of these. What supports this theory is mainly a feeling… the feeling that from my first interaction with him it did feel as if he could read my mind.
Despite my theorizing I think finally there is no other way of finding out what this pyramid is all about than confronting this lonely ape again. I really hope I will get some more information after we talk.
The cluster of pillars I
Since I couldn’t find any more information about this pyramid, I visited the lonely ape again. When I approached him, he told me that there is no reason for me to speak. This was quite an odd way to start a conversation, or was it more stopping a conversation, but since I met him before I knew he can be a bit strange. He went on telling me that he already knows what I want to know and that he can’t answer my question and is not sure that anybody could. Still, he provided me with the information that I should look for something old and out of place on the planet. And before I got to ask him where I should start my search or what exactly I should look for, I remembered that I think I have read something about it somewhere in the northern part of the desert.
This time I didn’t search the northern desert around Shatterrock. Instead, I started my search just south of flashpoint and explored around the coast of this desert if I find any of those pillars. I went a long way along the shore and after some time I reached Salvation Outpost, I haven’t really found any special pillars but at least the view of the big lake in the middle of Next Island accompanied me along the way. I made a short rest and pressed on towards Kamba Outpost, crossed a small river on they way and arrived in Kamba Outpost a bit later.
Since I already covered over half of the north of the desert, I thought I go and ask some locals if they have heard or seen those strange pillars. Even tough I didn’t get any helpful information Hiresh hired me to kill some Arges and promised me some crystals I can choose from as reward. Since I needed to kill some Arges anyways for my Ascalaris Mission, I got side-tracked once again and made a trip to Ancient Greece for the rest of the day.
The cluster of pillars II
Today was finally the day I found the cluster of pillars. After having a sleep and getting my rewards from Hiresh in the Mmrning, I went to the west of Kamba Outpost near the cost. After a short time, I realized that there are many wild boars in the distance. I went out of reach on a ledge and soon saw a forest in the distance, when I realized that to my left there seemed to be some pillars below me. I stopped took and slowly approached them. After all this talk with the ape and thoughts about the spirit of the blue menace, I was cautious to not make any dumb moves. As I approached, I saw something between the pillars, it did strike me quite odd to see something growing in the middle of nowhere. Something different than the usual trees that have acclimated themselves to the desert.
In the middle of those pillars there was a big mushroom, with a strange fog around it. Not only the fog was strange, but the size of the mushroom was really impressing as well, also from the distance I could tell that he was quite a bit taller than I am. Quite near the mushroom there was a broken cartwheel that looked to be quite old from a long forgotten time. In this moment I realized that I have seen some sign like that mushroom on the pyramid. I went on and touched the mushroom and had a feeling that reminded me of my first travel to Ancient Greece, but I didn’t teleport away. Something still seems to be missing. I may need a teleportation key that this mushroom works.
I decided to go back to the pyramid and have again a close look at the signs and there I saw some symbols that were familiar. It looks like I would need some magic flowers, amazon legs, chimera hearts and cyclops wrist guards. From the paintings I need them all when I go to the mushroom.
Some of those ingredients I already have in my storage, but I am afraid some of them like the amazon legs still are missing. I am not as confident as I was before in revelling this mystery after knowing that I need a leg of a creature that outright kills me when I go near them. For now I have come far with the mystery, but I might wait a few months till I can hunt amazons myself, before I will attempt to solve this mystery completely.