Hello Maplers!
We recently had a Pathfinder Journal Contest on our Official MapleStory Discord and we wanted to share our winning entry with everyone here!
This post will also be linked to a Twitch live stream command as well.
Hope you enjoy!
Author: NotLucifer of Demethos (also known as Hana on Discord)
Day XX 01
When I first set out from my home to become an explorer, I would never have thought I’d end up cursed by some old bow. Sure, I knew of the dangers of being an explorer, but to get cursed by some ancient relic? Now that isn’t something my folks would’ve thought of when they sent me off all those years ago.
It took me a few weeks to get adjusted to wielding a bow, and today I managed to defeat none other than Mushmom herself! It certainly wasn’t like any of the training I had done with all the dummies and spores. The adrenaline of almost getting trampled was exhilarating! I just wish I didn’t have to discover that orange potion does NOT taste like orange juice. Ah, I’m getting shivers just thinking about it.
I have a feeling I’ll be encountering a lot of more powerful foes during my travels, so I’ve decided to start writing a journal to record all of my adventures. Hopefully, most of them won’t involve foul tasting potions.
Traveler’s Tip: When fighting giant mushrooms, seek higher ground to avoid being stomped. Even without legs, they can still jump onto you and get you squished under their weight.
Day XX 87
Sand, sand, so much sand! Aah, I can still feel some of it seeping through my hood. I had been walking through the desert near Ariant, on my way to Magatia when suddenly an entire dune just collapsed under me! Imagine my surprise when I found this huge temple right underneath it all! It seems abandoned, with rocks and corpses of strange looking scorpions littering the entire place.
One would think that being an explorer didn’t involve spending hours digging through giant piles of sand - but that’s what makes me an archaeologist as well - and the result was well worth it!! I managed to salvage quite a few interesting pieces today. Most have an exquisite amount of details etched into their surfaces, and I’ve never seen anything quite like them!
I managed to spot a few walls further in with some writing on them, but it was getting too dark to decipher anything, so I decided to camp here for the night. I haven’t seen anything more dangerous than a few critters skittering between some boulders, so it should be safe enough to sleep. I do vaguely recall something big happening around here a few months ago, but I can’t seem to put a finger on it.. Ah, my lantern’s about to burn out. I’ll continue the rest tomorrow.
Traveler's Tip: Even if you’re covered from head to toe, don’t forget to bring sunscreen when traveling in the desert! Without it, the sun WILL find a way to burn you.
Day XX 88
The stories of Abraxas are few and far in between. Finding the ruins themselves had been something I have wanted to do for ages.
I had an inkling of doubt in the back of my mind when I first stumbled across all these rocks, but to think they were actually the temple’s guardians?
Now that I think about it, I do recall hearing that some ancient heroes were involved in some long forgotten prophecy a few months ago. I was in the middle of an underground expedition somewhere in the El Nath mines at the time and hadn’t had the chance to witness it myself. The townspeople had called it the “Demon Crisis”. The entire sky had gone red for a full day, and every bit of land around the world had seemingly decayed, all trace of life sucked out of it.
It had been quite the tall tale I had trouble believing - by the time I had gotten out of the mines, everything was back to normal, not a single trace of corruption in sight.
But now, after stumbling upon a sea of red cloaks at the bottom of the cliff near the exit of the temple and discovering an extensive amount of seemingly recently carved hieroglyphs on the temple walls, the story of heroes fighting blade wielding demons doesn’t seem like much of a stretch.
Traveler’s Tip: When climbing cliffs, it’s always good to have a good pair of boots to make sure you don’t slip off easily. I recommend Dark Wind Boots - they’re sturdy and hardly get worn down. I got them by commissioning El Nath’s shoemaker, but I hear some monsters drop them too.
Day XX 125
A few days ago, I ran into a strange door at the Temple of Time. It wasn’t anything like the Gate to the Past, where monsters were prowling everywhere. Not to say there aren’t any monsters here, no it’s quite the same in that. But there are also people, entire towns filled with warriors and civilians alike. From what I could gather from the similar looking areas, this place is our future.
Everything is dark and gloomy, but the townspeople’s attitudes seem much brighter since some guy came and killed the Empress for them. Apparently, she was causing quite a lot of ruckus and was the reason behind the destruction of the entire place. Now that is something I would have liked to see for myself. Imagine how much stronger I could have gotten if I had defeated her! Not to mention the entire reason behind her transformation in the first place - a mystery none of the villagers were able to provide an answer to. Future Ereve has been completely destroyed, so I have no way of finding it out on my own.
Her knights aren’t much of a threat anymore without anyone to order them around, so the only real danger to the people at this point is the local wildlife. To be honest, there isn’t much for me to do here, except train against these bigger and stronger versions of the monsters I’m so used to seeing around Henesys. And let me emphasize: these monsters are BIG. I swear I’ve never seen a slime so big before it sneaked up and jumped at me. I still haven’t managed to clean every-
Ugh.. the pages are all stuck together with slime now. I’m going to have to get a new journal.
Traveler’s Tip: Don’t forget to pack extra clothes when you know you’re going to be fighting monsters with.. excessive excretions.
Day XX 237
It’s been an awfully long time since I last wrote here. A few months, I’d say? And for good reason! The old baddie everyone called the Black Mage finally decided to step down and let someone else take the show for once.
The last few weeks were astounding - although I didn’t have much time to search for relics, I had the chance to fight so many powerful monsters and get that much stronger! I didn’t stick around for the final showdown, but that doesn’t really matter. I’m not going to stop adventuring just because there isn’t some evil dark mage for everyone to fight against! Some explorers might just be training and relaxing while waiting for the next big enemy to pop up, but that’s never been an option for a Pathfinder like me.
There are still so many mysteries and strange artifacts around the world just waiting to be discovered, and it’s up to me to find them! Just watch me - this is only the beginning of a long, fruitious journey!
Traveler’s Tip: If you ever come across a dark purple bird instead of an Elite, beware! These creatures are much stronger than the average Elite monster and will take more effort to defeat. I almost got caught the first time I saw it, thinking it was a skill of my own, haha! It certainly wasn’t as funny at the time though...
