He could see it, the massive fiend stood before him and raised it’s huge blade to strike him. In an almost instinctive reaction the knight leapt out of the way as the huge blade came crashing down. As the fiend began lifting it’s heavy weapon back up, the knight plunged his blade into the devilishly glowing crystal on the beast’s back. As the crystal shattered the massive fiend known as a Trojan let out a grunt as it fell, turning back to stone.

The knight known as Maxis turned to the young recruit behind him as said “Trojans are some of the toughest monsters this world has, but they are simpleminded, keep your wits about you when fighting them and look for an opening”. The young recruit’s name was Amber, and it was her first time into the depths of the planet and she was thankful to have a powerful and wise ally. “So where do we go now?” she asked while looking about the strange environment. The place looked like a garden of some sort and in it were statues similar to the monster they had just slain. Much like the rest of ancient structures in the planet the builders of this place seemed to have disappeared long ago as the shadows crept in.

Maxis turned to her and said “Why don’t you check your map?, your onboard radar should map out where you have been as well as nearby areas”. Amber pushed a button her helmet and a display lit up. After a few moments of deliberation she pointed towards the north most gate. “The elevator should be that way”

After an unusually quiet walk they made it to the elevator, a strange mechanical thing that stood out from the natural feeling of the garden. Maxis and Amber got on the elevator, their weight activated some mechanism on it and a rusty button popped out of the back. Maxis reached over and pressed the button. With a whir the elevator began to descend, Amber looked up to see the garden fade upward, she carefully peered over the edge to get a glimpse of the next stratum they would explore. All around them the gears of the world churned, steam and smog expelled by the massive machinery that rotated the stratums of the planet obscured their view. Almost as if by magic the elevator dropped below the clouds to reveal the next floor. It was a strange and dark forest, likely the habitat to some beasts and other creatures. On the edges was what appeared to be a Gremlin logging operation, however none of the nefarious creatures could be seen.

As they got off the elevator Amber asked “Why would the Gremlins leave?” Maxis walked over to the small area cleared out and looked around “This is the Gloaming Wildwoods, take a look. They left their axes and there are parts of broken machinery, they left because they had no choice. Something attacked them.” As she walked over to Maxis her foot brushed by something. She turned around and picked up a large black spike tipped with crimson red. “This doesn’t look like it belonged to a Gremlin…” Maxis turned to see what she had found. “Hmmm, this is a barb from the Snarbolax, a massive spiny beast that is the king of these woods. We should hurry through these woods to the next elevator” Maxis looked around nervously. “Aw, c’mon. We can beat him.” Amber said; Maxis turned to her “We’re not in the section that the Alpha squad went through and prepared, without the bells we can’t stun the beast to make him vulnerable. If we are cautious we can make it out of here without him noticing us”. Amber was checking her map to find a path “I don’t know which way to go” Maxis sheathed his blade and trudged into the woods. “Well we won’t find it by standing here, let’s get moving”