Guardians of Terraria II: The World of Calamity

Episode 22.3 - wasteland

"Well this ain't me piece o' sea," Red Beard said.

Sid stared out at the Sulphurous Sea. A land where the sand was a rotting brown, the water was an acidic turquoise, and the palm trees spotted a diseased colour palette that reminded Sid of the Lavender. Bubbles kept on popping out from the water and rising into the air a few blocks before popping, and within the waters were several murky shapes, seemingly peaceful at a distance but which he was certain would spell danger.

"This has for a long time been Yharim's dumping grounds for all the devious deeds he has ever wrought," Amidias said.

"What do you mean?" Meg asked.

"Long ago, this sea was once pure and serene, blue water and yellow sands like any other ocean. The beginning of Yharim's rule saw resistance, which was oppressed in the harshest ways. This sea was where he dumped the bodies of all who were massacred, turning a paradise into a wasteland."

Sid gazed out at the ocean again with this new perspective. Suddenly it seemed even more disgusting than it appeared on the surface.

"We'd best keep out of the water then," Meg said, getting out some wooden platforms from her inventory. "It almost looks radioactive. Somehow I don't think I'd be surprised if it is."

"You remember that rogue who attacked us in the underground, Meg?" Amidias asked.

"I was just thinking of her too. That exploding green canister she threw on you and Red Beard was radioactive."

"Perhaps she crafted that weapon using materials found here."

Sid recalled Meg mentioning the rogue when they'd been recounting their stories to each other. Most likely an assassin sent by Yharim to hunt them down, but ever since then Sid and nobody else had seen any sign of her.

If she turns up again, we'll be ready.

"I saw you were back to using a gun against Cryogen earlier," Meg said to him.

He made a face. "Yeah, I kind of needed it to take it down as fast as I could. And the Statigel armour didn't come with any sort of cool mech suit like the Wulfrum one."

"What about your summons?"

He shrugged. "They were too slow."

"Maybe you weren't believing in them enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe their feelings got hurt when you chose a lowly shotgun over them."

He shrugged, then shook his head. "Come on, it's just a video game. My summons don't have feelings. They're like... mobile weapons."

She gave him a hard look, but seemed to give up on talking, instead just sighing and looking into her inventory. She crafted some wood into platforms, and began to build a bridge out across the water, towards one of the round islands in the distance. While she bridged Sid stared down at the teal water, unable to see much of what lay down there. He was sure that if they were going to find anything to help them get stronger here, they were going to have to venture into the deep. He stretched a foot over the edge of the bridge.

Just a quick dip. Just to see how much damage the water deals. If any.

He dropped straight in.

As he expected, the acidic water was slowly chipping away at his health. He wouldn't drown, as he was wearing the Ocean Crest that he and William had gotten way back from the Desert Scourge, so the toxicity of the water was instead going to be his limitation for how long he could survive down here.

As he dropped he was quickly surrounded by darkness, barely even able to see the surface above. He held out a glowstick, the glowing green light illuminating his surroundings. As he sunk deeper, he spotted a ledge illuminated by some glowing teal vines, and below the vines – score! A chest! One that looked quite rusty and waterlogged, but a chest regardless.