heRO Library: sketch contest!

[GM-Pandora]

GM-Loki has taken the time to re-write each chapter, this is the (almost-final) text that will be displayed for the book in game. Obviously the image for each chapter has to represent it.

http://pandoraonline.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=208

History Lesson #1 Skirmish in the Sand:

Three centuries ago on a dune near morocc, the followers of Erebos were gathering to launch an attack against Rune Midgard. Thea, the protector of light, had received news of this and assembled a team of warriors in attempts to fend off the minions of the evil lord. The two sides met on the dune that cold morning ready for a battle, the soft kiss of the wind blowing grains of sand from one dune to the next almost as if it was clearing a level battlefield for the warriors.

Cessy, a courageous hunter, rallied his troops, reminding them not to be afraid, for under the divine protection of Thea they would have greater strength then they ever known. Sora Aihara, a swordsman, drew his mighty blade and thrust it into the sky offering his sword as protection to the land in which Thea governed, "To victory!" he shouted. Ragnar, the lone priest of the group, chanted softly in the background imbuing his allies with courage, luck, and more energy as they felt Thea's loving touch place a barrier around them.

The black knight Laurana sat silently atop her peco, her eyes showing no emotion towards her opposition, merely staring forward, her hand sitting gently on the hilt of her blade by her side. Avenger, the aspiring dark priest, placed his hands on a shoulder of each of the two assassins he stood nearby, calling upon the priestly powers he swore only to use for good, now twisted by the hate of "their" God. A black aura surrounded the two assassins before a violent sand storm engulfed the battle field only to die down a few moments later... The assassins were nowhere to be seen.

Caught off guard by Pyronic and Maverick, the followers of Thea succumbed to the first losses of battle. Pyronic and Maverick mercilessly continued to slaughter any unsuspecting opponent by using their ability to cloak and blend in with their surroundings. After the first drop of blood hit the ground from Thea's followers, Laurana drew her sword and signaled the full out assault. A great battle ensued and many times the powers of Thea & God were called upon by Ragnar to heal and revive his party members much like Avenger used the twisted power granted to him by Erebos and the demon lord he followed. Wanting no more senseless murder of his comrades, Cessy used his companion bird to uncover the stealthy assassins and quickly dispose of them.

Francis, the dark crusader, charged into the battle atop his grand peco, relying on his large shield to cut down on any attacks from Cessy. Cessy, along with Elwind the archer, and Roman Fist the monk, battled hard against Francis and at times Francis held the upper hand against the long ranged attacks of the two archers but unfortunately due to the sheer number of opponents Francis was up against, he fell in battle.


As the day wore on, the hot breath of each combatant still standing showed, sweat rolling down their foreheads. Gasping for air, each side stood trying to regroup what forces they had left for the next wave of attack. Not wanting to be defeated by Thea's followers, Erebos used his magic to pull another warrior from another time and place, calling upon Vivi, a powerful black market merchant to reinforce his side. Worried about the well-being of her team, Thea countered, calling upon one final warrior, a bard who was known only as "Mr. Bard."

Lightning struck the ground between the two groups of warriors, creating a gigantic hole in the ground between them. Both sides charged after the bolt dissipated only to be slowed to a halt as gigantic bones rose up from the ground where the hole was ? they moved of their own accord, clawing at the warriors. Upon closer inspection, the warriors from both sides noticed a spell circle in the middle of the hole floating there, glowing ominously. The warriors ignored it and once again clashed in combat, the first blow from both sides being so fierce that rain poured from the heavens as if God himself was crying over the lives being lost and the bloodshed. The warriors of Thea overtook Erebos' minions with a surge, shredding through the last of their numbers with ease.

Just when they thought the battle was theirs, a dark red aura shot out of the hole where the spell casting circle was. The aura, while dark in color, was still so powerful that it blinded all who were left standing alive and when their vision recovered, they all gasped when they saw a man floating there in mid air, his eyes pure red - his body was that of a human. One could tell that this was no ordinary man, but the followers of Thea just continued on with their fight, unaware that this person was not their ally. A voice boomed through the sky, almost as if a loud clap of thunder had just echoed.

The words ?AWAKEN NEO!? was heard clearly by all remaining warriors. Cessy turned to look for the man, his eyes going wide when the man was nowhere to be found. Before Cessy could blink the screams of his comrades echoed from behind him and he felt the icy chill of death?s kiss heading his way. Cessy?s trusted falcon dove down, landing its claws in Neo?s shoulder before his blade could make contact with Cessy, allowing the hunter a moment of reprieve to quickly draw his bow and launch and arrow. The crafty assassin wouldn?t be undone by a single shot, moving just slightly enough to where Cessy?s falcon had to let go or be hit by his master?s arrow. However, all was not lost, that arrow caught an unsuspecting dark follower off guard, making the battle an even 1 member left on each side.

The two warriors stared each other down as the sun began to set, each one ready for the other to make a move but neither did. Cessy started things off using his falcon to make sure Neo couldn?t use his ability to cloak for an easy kill, which made the fight drag on long into the night. The two warriors stood there, bloody and battered trying to catch their breath, ready to strike again and Neo almost did; however, Laurana yelled out for Neo, calling for enough of the senseless fight. Both sides had suffered great losses and while Laurana knew better, she was impressed by the strength of Thea?s followers. A truce ensued, and both sides headed back to where they came from, but each one knew that if this type of battle were to ever happen again that they would all need to be stronger. They went their separate ways to train as both sides knew that this war was far from over.

http://pandoraonline.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=294

Chapter 2: The treasure of Thuan Keep

A great lord, passing through the kingdom of Rune-Midgard, was carrying with him a wealthy treasure. He was attacked by a band of robbers, but he had time to get off his carriage and hide the treasure in a bush.

Sometime after the incident both Thea and Melot received news about this great treasure lost in the forest and each sent a team of brave warriors to retrieve it.

Melot's team arrived from the east, while Thea's team arrived from the west and both were eager to get the treasure; however, they could not pass without first clearing the way full of wild insects such as Argiope, Arclouse, Mantis and Ancient worms. Both Thea and Melot knew that the other would dispatch a search party for the treasure so they each enlisted the help of goblins and kobolds. These ferocious beasts and dog like creatures were sure to slow down the opposing forces they each thought. Little did each one of them know that these creatures would be nothing more than a stepping stone on their way to find the lost treasure.

Melot's team was the first to arrive at the entrance of the forest grove which held the hidden treasure; however, before they could proceed the earth began to quake. The sky darkened and thunder bellowed in loud thunderous claps above the warriors as a horde of hodes protruded from the solid earth intent on causing harm to those attempting to proceed into the grove. The debris from the hodes piercing the ground gathered and formed into creatures known as sandmen and a giant pink monstrosity with a large tongue appeared before Melot's warriors set on crushing their bodies and burying them in the earth from whence it came. Shortly after Melot?s team engaged in battle with the creatures Thea?s team arrived at the west entrance to the grove and the same creatures spewed forth from the earth in front of the entranceway. After a fierce battle both teams defeated the monsters and proceeded into the forest grove.

Once in the area of the treasure, the valiant warriors were not free of the wild monsters, Dragon Petite kept swarming as they searched for the much sought after treasure.

Many passed by the bush hiding the treasure without seeing it for it had been well hidden by the lord.

Finally, a sharp-eyed knight lady dressed in black noticed the chest in the bush; with a slash of her sword she broke the golden handle and uncovered the content. She was rewarded with a mighty shield, a precious diamond, a strange looking berry and a magical seed.

Sir Melot had no need for the content of the chest so he let his keen-eyed knight Laurana keep it for herself and rewarded the rest of the group with a gift for their effort. Thea did the same for her team, though they had failed to bring back the treasure; they had tried hard and came very close.

http://pandoraonline.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=946

Chapter 3: Neotilia befalls Kratos

On the twelveth day of the first month of the sixth year of the second millenia King Tristan III received a special guest, Kratos, from the country Elthabar far to the west. During the third night Kratos felt from his bed and collapsed on the ground. The next morning the maid noticed what happened to Kratos and quickly informed the King about the situation.

The king, worried about his dear friend, requested help from all the specialists in Prontera city; however, no one managed to help Kratos. Then, the last specialist to examine Kratos found out that he was suffering from Neotilia, a new sickness which no one had the proper treatment for.......except... a skilled doctor by the name of Tiobutsu. Upon hearing that there was indeed someone who knew of a cure, the king sent out a request for help to leaders of both of the main factions of heroes, Hitoo of the darkside and Hina of the lightside, once each of them arrived the king told them of their next destination and the prize that awaited them if they were triumphant in returning from Tiobutsu with the cure.

After the meeting ajourned both Hitoo and Hina returned to their respected towns and gathered a group of heroes to search out the man known as Tiobutsu. Kratos, before falling into a coma, gave indications on where the groups should go to find Tiobutsu. Hitoo and the dark group were the first to find Tiobutsu in Ayatoya. Tiobutsu, upon hearing of the conditions of Kratos, implored the heroes to quickly gather a group of materials so that he could create the cure for Neotilia. A copy of the list given to the heroes was found and documented here in the story:

- 1 Talon of Griffon
- 35 Feathers
- 15 Cyfars
- 2 Opals
- 15 Poisonous Toad Skins
- 3 Royal Jelly
- 30 Red Herbs

Hitoo gathered her troops after she received the list of items to gather and sent them searching all across the lands of Rune Midgard only to find out that Hina's group was close behind them in the quest to save Kratos. The last ingredient was given to Hitoo by a fellow hero who quickly delivered it to Tiobutsu. After a few hours of working at the potion Tiobutsu gave Hitoo the potion but warned her to be very careful with it since the amount of ingredients that was brought to him was only enough to make one potion. Hitoo understood this part and used her priestly powers to warp herself and her party back to Prontera castle only to find that Kratos' condition had worsened, the man laid there inches away from death, an icy chill was felt in the room as if the reaper himself was waiting to drag Kratos' soul into the underworld. Hitoo handed the potion over to the King's personal doctor who then used the potion on Kratos. After a few moments of tense waiting Kratos weakly open his eyes and smiled, the only gesture he could do in his weakened state to give Hitoo and her party his thanks.

With that action, the dark team had saved Kratos' life and was rewarded with 10 hero points from the King.

http://pandoraonline.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1742

Chapter 4: Thea's Tournament

Hestia, great goddess of the light followers, decided to send Valkyrie, her precious soldier, by Thea's request to hold a tournament on earth. Hestia was mostly concerned by the power balance ruling this world and this a good opportunity for Sir Merlot to prove to Thea that he can overthrow the Light power out of this world. So Valkyrie organized the tournament and asked all the participants to gather in Prontera. Two parties were created: ForTheLight and Dark Side.

The tournament was divided by three rounds. For the first round the teams were in a different room. Both teams were required to kill all the MVPs in order to get their points. The first creature summoned by Valkyrie was the femme fatale feline MVP from Payon, five each spawned and along with their trusty ninetails quickly swarmed the teams in their respective rooms; however, each team easily disposed of the Moonlight Flowers and their pet ninetails.

The score was recorded as 25 | 25. (Light | Dark)

After the first succesful round Valkyrie summoned the biggest teddy of them all, Eddga but there was only four. Each team set out in attempts to defeat the creatures and they fought valiantly; however, it was recorded that only the dark team was successful in clearing the room of the beasts, while the light team was overwhelmed by Eddga's awesome might.

The score after that round was recorded as 43 | 73.

For the last round both teams were teleported to Jawaii great city of the summer parties! Valkyrie summoned three Mayas each of them were embed with a number and amount of points. The number of those points were hidden and only known by Valk... BUT! All the monsters were in the same room... so if a dark player attack a light monster he/she gave an advantage to the light and vice versa. Even with the newly added challenge the dark easily defeated their three Mayas, while the light struggled once again and only managed to defeat one Maya.

The score after that round was recorded as 93 | 174.

The Dark Side was winning the tournament and Thea went upset. While thinking of a way to help her followers she got an idea, she asked Valkyrie to add an extra bonus to give a glimpse of a hope to the good of this world. Illegal or not? Who knew... Sir Merlot agreed knowing full well the superiority of his Dark side.
After the agreement from both sides Valkyrie acknowledged the terms, and released one of the most ferocious creatures known in all of Rune Midgard, Detale. After a long hard fought battle, the victor was decided, with the last breaths of his life a brave knight from the dark side named Osama delivered the final blow to Detale.

The final score was recorded as 93 | 374.

The laughs of Sir Melot towards Thea are said to still linger in the air around Rune Midgard whenever the wind blows... Who would've known that Thea would've lost her own tournament; however, there was said that another tournament was to be held, no documentation was ever found on such an event. Hopefully when it is held, this book will be updated with the information from the event, for the sake of Rune Midgard, hopefully the outcome is different.

http://pandoraonline.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=2008

Chapter 5 : In the name of the king, hunt & fight!

It was the eighteenth day, sixth month, and sixth year of the second millenia when Lord Feith announced an item hunt, in the name of the King Tristan the third. Both Thea and Melot assembled teams of Light and Dark followers to participate in this quest composed of 2 separate and interresting parts.

Each party held 3 participants of various jobs and guild but who shared a common allegiance, with teamwork, efforts, patience and luck they would gather the items toward one goal : being the first team!

Disciples of the goddess Hestia wore Golden attires, while the dark followers of Erebos were dressed of purple.

Once the list of item was given, all looked among their possessions for the items to see if they already had acquired them, they all knew that the more they had already, the better chances they had at finishing first. Each team then dispersed between them the remaining items to be hunted by the most qualified. The key to success resided as much in preparation as in good decision when it came to who had to find what.

Finally, a party of dark allegiance came back and presented all the items required. A short while after, a light team arrived with the list completed as well. The Item hunt ended there, and from there on began the second part : the fight!

Both teams were allowed to gather their combat equipment and any items they deemed necessary beside those that can resurect the dead, while others were allowed to come as spectators.

The rule was simple, kill the members of the opposite party. Last team standing wins!

The fight was watched over by Lord Feith who gave the starting signal. Both teams rushed to kill the other. A member of the light fell first, then another and two from the dark side as well until only two remained. A heavy armored fighter of the light and a dark axe weilding smith with a cowboy-ish look. The battle was fierce and it seemed as if the smith's life was about to end, but with a lot of potions to help her she managed to stay alive and bring death to her foe!

It was a close fight, but in the end there had to be a winner, and this time it would be the dark side. The dark team congratulated her leader Lucky Day and all three enjoyed their zeny prize as well as the recognition from their god and master.

http://pandoraonline.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=2009

Chapter 6: An evil presence invades the land (15th of August 2006)

An evil presence invaded the land and a lot of people fled or considered fleeing the kingdom. This presence was unknown even to Sir Melot, who approved of it since it was evil, even though he was not glad to see some of his followers desert the kingdom to go settle in other kingdoms.

Lady Pandora, in the name of King Tristan the third assembled a team of braves, both Light and Dark alike, to battle the evil presence.

The first step would be to find it; however, the evil presence toyed with them and only gave them clues as to the town it was located in.

The first clue that was given to the braves mentioned the 4th dimension (time) and an association of brewers (alchemists), a dark high priestess by the name of Hitoo was the first to find the evil presence behind the clock tower in Al de Baran. She was rewarded with a strange purple box while the other braves joined her.

The evil presence laughed, and it had no intentions of fighting them himself since it did not deem them worthy. It did; however, test them by telling them to be watchful for something, but it did not tell them what, they would have to figure out something in the end, not knowing what to look for, but only warned to pay attention to details.

Afterwards, he sent some of his minions such as Abyssmal knights and Assaulters to deal with the humans. The braves had little trouble fending off the monsters, but the evil presence had moved to another location so they would once again need to search for it.

Luckily, the presence once again sent a clue, it was on a wooden platform overlooking fishes. It was quickly guessed that he was on a dock and all members set out for the different cities with docks. It was a professor named J@h_Man who who found the evil presence on the dock in Comodo. He was also rewarded by a purple box and the others came to the spot of the discovery to find themselves once again surrounded by monsters summoned by the evil presence.

After a tedious fight, they managed to kill all the Creamy Fear and the Chimeras and were allowed a brief resting as other braves joined with them.

A short while after the exhausting fight a new clue was given and a new search began. The presence spoke vaguely of breathing well, but that they would not enjoy it as much. The message was rather unclear, but eventually someone found it in Einbroch (where the air is toxic). Once more, monsters greeted them and they had to raise swords against monster swords (Executioners) and out spell the monstrous casters (Evil Druids).

A last clue was given, regarding pitiful human magic, the presence was found in Geffen, and after summoning some of Gajomart and Gryphon which the team fought bravely it finally agreed to fight them.

But before the fight would start, it asked if any humans had found what they were supposed to look for, none of them found the answer it was looking for (one came close), but all had failed, but in the end it would not matter, for surely the humans would then fight the presence and win!

The fight began with some technical difficulties, but eventually the team of braves assembled all their efforts toward beating the monstrous presence. They all dealt good damage, but surprisingly, the most came from an outsider champion. With his fist of fury he repeatedly crushed the presence until it was laying down with no more energy to raise.

The presence admitted temporary defeat, but fled the scene with some sort of magic. It no longer gave out clues, but all knew that they would eventually have to fight it again, for it was not completely gone. Perhaps on that day they would find out what they were supposed to discover.

All the braves were rewarded for their efforts and both the Dark and Light leaders were proud of them for their courage and willingness to save the kingdom.

http://pandoraonline.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=2038

Chapter 7: The end of the Evil Presence

The hour was late, when the citizens of the kingdom heard an evil laughter. The demonic laughter echoed sending a chill down the spines of most, though everyone kept a brave face.

All in the kingdom knew from that laughter, the Evil Presence was back once more and the braves were ever more determined to put an end to this malevolant creature! It made the people flee the kingdom and the rest live in fear, it was time for it to stop! Regardless of allegiance or personal quarrels, all agreed that they had to kill it once and for all!

Both Thea and Melot agreed to gather forces and unite to beat it, all the braves gathered in Prontera where they received their first clue.

"It all starts here if you are into the Zs". A clever light player figures the Zs were Zeny and headed to alberta where the merchant quest starts; however, he wasn't the person who found the evil presence, but a friend of his, a sin called Hael.

The braves saw a repeating patern in the fact that the Evil Presence, like last time, did not fight them himself, but rather sent monsters at them, such as Am Mut and Ancient Mummys.

Once the monsters were defeated, he fled to another town and gave a clue speaking of looking down at the clouds. One of the braves quickly found it in Gonryun, the cloud city.

Shortly thereafter the others showed up, only to be greeted by more monsters, Ghoul, Gibbet and Greatest General. After dispatching the monsters, it was back to searching for the braves with a clue mentioning the evil presence on its way to a great wonder.

It was found in morroc, near the portal that leads to the pyramid. A challenging fight awaited the braves. They were surrounded by Majoruros, Mantis, Marduk, Marionnette, Medusa and Megalith! Later on some Mutant dragons completed the portrait to finish the bloodbath. The braves emerged victorious, but the monsters had produced a difficult fight!

The next clue mentionned ranged fighters and juice making, which led our fighters to Payon to fight some more monsters, such as Penomena, Poison Spores, Punks and Pest.

Finally, the evil presence announced that it would fight them, if they came to his town. He was found in Neiffleim, very suiting for the Dark creature that he is! A short battle against Nightmare, Nightmare terrors and Nine Tails was won by the braves.

At last, the Evil Presence paused to ask them if they had figured out his mysterious riddle, but since he had not given clues it was too hard and none figured out what it was. It mattered not anyway, since he proposed them a deal which they agreed to: If the braves would beat the evil presence, it would go away and never come back!

So the fight began, the big evil presence against all the braves, the presence's resistance was strong for he had a lot of life and a lot of protection. But together as a team, the warriors slowly chipped his life and weakened it. Their common efforts were rewarded by the presence's sound of agony. The braves did not stop until it sighed its last breath, they gave all they had to make sure peace would once again come to the kingdom!

The presence was in disbelief, for it did not expect to lose to simple mortals! He left with his pride hurt and his body injured and promising himself he would never come back!

And there was much rejoicing! All were happy and congratulated each other on a job well done! Lady Pandora rewarded them with little gifts containing card and objects as well as the respect from their respective masters, in the form of Allegiance points.

So a sense of peace came back to the land, some of the former citizens even came back. The fight between Light and Dark was far from over, but both side earned a little respect, in the fighting skills of their opponents. There would still be fighting opposing both sides, but at least the Evil Presence was gone!