Descension & Ascension

Chapter 5: Enter Pyrony

Karenna Stone felt that she was ready to go to Pyrony, having just obtained all of the Familiars in the Familiars Guide. She set her Familiar to the cube that let her walk on lava, got flint and steel, cobblestone, a wooden door she could open, a workbench, furnaces, and chests, all of which she felt she needed to make a good base there. She went down to the bottom of Mai and broke enough layerstone that she was now fully in Pyrony. She continued to break layerstone sheets until she reached Pyrrack, which was what most of Pyrony was made of. She dug out and made her base, adding ladders to the Mai side of the hole in the layerstone. Her base was made of cobblestone to stand out and secure the opening, as even cobblestone resisted explosions better than Pyrrack. To secure it further, Karenna made a wooden door that she could open but would prevent Pyrony's inhabitants from entering Mai, since none of them had both the dexterity and intelligence to open them. After setting up the chests and furnaces, she felt that she was ready to explore Pyrony.

When she got out into the open of Pyrony for the first time, she saw that it was empty space in solid rock. Elyon contacted her and said, "Wow, you're now in Pyrony. Look for the Pyrony forts."

Kareena replied, "What do those look like? I know the term, but-"

"They are complexes of bridges, corridors, and towers. They are made of Pyrony Bricks, which can be made from Pyrrack to strengthen it against blasts, like-"

But Karenna saw a white jellyfish with a face and ignored the god. It saw her from an impressive distance away and spat a fireball at her. She dodged, and it created a small explosion that broke some Pyrrack and lit some more on fire.

Elyon said, "And that's why you don't use Pyrrack to build in Pyrony. Instead, use the furnace to make it into harder bricks, then combine those bricks together to make something as resistant to blasts as cobblestone, which is immune to the jellyfishes' fireballs but can be destroyed by Bombplant explosions. But Pyrrack can burn forever and not spread."

"When I get to the Pyrony Forts, what am I looking for?"

"You're looking for the Memphi, which are living fire and smoke. They can shoot fireballs and have greater health than the jellyfish, but their fireballs don't blow up or have the range those of the jellyfish do. The center of their bodies has a blazing rod with more floating around it. First, you should use that rod to make a place to brew potions. Afterwards, crush ones you get later into powder and combine them with the Neofin Pearls that the Neofinians have. You need to kill them to get their pearls."

"Got it... master."

"You don't need to call me that, although I am a god."

Karenna went back to her base, made a waypoint to it, and went back out. During her journey, she encountered a cube of living rock. Its eyes were molten, and when it saw Karenna, it jumped by separating itself into vertical segments. This exposed its molten core, which Karenna had a feeling its eyes were part of. It became whole after each jump.

The heroine swung her weapons in both hands at the monster. Its thick rock crust acted as natural armor, making her blows deal less damage. Karenna killed it despite using a less than optimal strategy, but it split into four smaller ones of itself. They had less health and thinner armor, but she still managed to come out on top. Each of the four smaller ones split into four even smaller ones, but those were the smallest and weakest size.

Karenna survived the encounter, but ate some food to aid her recovery. She continued to where she hoped led to a Pyrony fort. On the way there, she encountered what looked like zombified crosses of a wild boar and a human, with some exposed bone and green blood. They did not attack her, but she was put off by them, so she walked away.

Karenna made it to a Pyrony fort. She broke in and saw mushrooms growing on brown sand that looked to have screaming faces on it. She took the sand and mushrooms so she could grow them in Mai.

Inside, she saw two tall reanimated skeletons colored like coal. Instead of having a bow, they had a stone longsword. They saw her and chased her with the intent to kill. Quick thinking allowed Karenna to make a hole she could enter but the skeletons were too tall to go into.

Continuing her search, she found the Memphi. Using hit and run tactics and a cobblestone wall she built, she got what she felt was enough rods. She teleported back to her base in Pyrony and climbed back up into Mai, using one of the rods and some cobblestone to make a stand for brewing potions, which she put in her foyer along with the sand with faces that she grew the Pyrony mushrooms on.

Going to bed in her home due to a lack of sleep in Pyrony, Karenna had disturbing dreams telling her to create unnatural life through necromancy.