2010-2015 (Big Bang-Heroes of Maple)

October 2011: Ellin Forest

(A/N: Technically, any class can complete the Ellin Forest storyline, but it completely breaks if anyone except a generic class like the Explorers, Cygnus Knights, or Resistance play through it. Absolutely no one seems to recognize you if you play as one of the Heroes (although it makes sense in Shade’s case).

Tess can be found in both the Ellin Forest storyline and the Explorer storyline, and he refers to you as Kao in both of them, and so I’m going with the assumption that the Explorer is the one who canonically completes the Ellin Forest storyline. Even then, it’s weird that they don’t seem to acknowledge that they recognize Tess either.)

While continuing their adventures, the Explorer heard a rumor that a Crack in Time had appeared in Ludibrium, allowing one to travel into the past, and so they decided to check it out. Traveling to the past, the Explorer emerged into an unfamiliar forest. Deeper in the forest, they discovered a camp full of strange people. They encountered a fairy named Yuris and asked her where they were. (A/N: Elves are one of the three races of fairies, and Yuris is a half-elf. It’s also why she isn’t frozen, as the Black Mage’s curse only affects pure-blooded elves.)

Yuris greeted the Explorer as Kao and told them that Loha was looking for them. They went to the center of the camp, where Loha called out to them and asked them where they had been. She also warned them that Crawls with Balrog was going to starve if they didn’t take their job seriously. Thoroughly confused, the Explorer told her that they didn’t know who Kao was. However, Loha merely told them to stop joking around and ordered them to work with Tess in order to get the materials Sion had asked for. The Explorer went to find Tess, who told them that their joke about not knowing their own name was hilarious. He also asked them how they got the bruise on their face.

(A/N: I’m guessing that the Explorer was somehow bruised in transit to the past, or they just have mud or something that looks like a bruise which Tess notices, as the only other implication is that your face was somehow morphed to look like Kao’s face as it appeared at that point in time, which makes no sense.)

The Explorer decided to play along and asked what Sion wanted from them. Tess told them that Sion had asked for Moss Snail Shells. As he was on guard duty, he asked them to collect the shells and bring them to Loha. They brought the shells to Loha, who admonished them, as she had needed them to bring her something to make porridge for Crawls with Balrog.

She then told them that Athena Pierce was looking for them, and so the Explorer went to the Camp Conference Room. Athena recognized them as Kao, but the Explorer explained that they were from the future. She immediately understood and explained that it was clear that they were different. They then asked Athena which time period they were in, as the forest seemed familiar to Ellinia.

Athena was intrigued to learn the future name for Ellin Forest and explained that it had been several months since the Heroes had fought the Black Mage. She told them that she had led a group of refugees to Victoria Island, and that they had crash landed in the forest from a dragon attack instead of the southern plains.

However, she explained that she had heard from Perzen that the Heroes had successfully sealed the Black Mage away. The Explorer tried to tell her what happened in the future, but Athena stopped them, explaining that knowing the future may change things for the worse. She told them that, at the moment, they needed strong warriors to help explore and develop Ellin Forest and asked if they would help.

After agreeing to lend their support, Athena directed them to Perzen, who was working on a Barrier Stone. The Explorer went to see Perzen, who had learned from Athena Pierce that they had come from the future. The Explorer asked them who Kao was, to which Perzen explained that Kao was one of the people who had ended up in Ellin Forest with the refugees, and that the Explorer looked identical to them. The Explorer asked where Kao currently was, to which Perzen explained that Kao had disappeared shortly before the Explorer arrived.

(A/N: Most likely, Kao stumbled into the past while trying to warn their past self after failing to defeat the Black Mage and regained enough of their memories to remember that they needed to return to the present, and so they’ve likely left for the Temple of Time by now.)

Perzen then told them that the Barrier Stone that he was working on protected the camp from dark energy. However, the sheer volume of dark energy was causing the barrier to grow weaker, and so he was using the life force of monsters in order to reinforce it. He asked them to collect Forest Stones from the monsters so that he could strengthen the barrier. As the Explorer set out, they ran into Yuris again, who told them that she was having cravings for sweet and sour food. She asked them to go speak with Ellin, a fairy who was one of the original inhabitants of the forest, and ask for some fresh fruit.

The Explorer went to meet Ellin, who told them that she would help them in exchange for Moss Snail Shells. After bringing her the shells, she gave them a sweet and sour orange to give to Yuris. The Explorer brought it to Yuris, who suddenly realized that she wasn’t feeling the cravings anymore, though she pocketed it for the future.

She showed them the airship she was rebuilding and asked them for suggestions on its name. However, she hated all the suggestions that the Explorer gave and decided that she would go with her original idea of ‘Kyrin’. She told them that she was planning to name her daughter Kyrin once she was born, but told them not to tell anyone she was pregnant. She also mentioned that Athena Pierce was looking for them in the Camp Conference Room. 

Upon arriving, Athena told them that it rained too much in the forest and wondered whether they ought to relocate to a place with better weather. She added that Ephenia worried her as well. The Explorer asked who Ephenia was, to which Athena explained that she was the Fairy Queen, and that she wasn’t on friendly terms with the people of Altaire Camp.

She then changed the topic and explained that the able-bodied warriors of the camp were searching for a new land for them to move to. She asked them to check on Shadrion in the south in order to get his assessment of the situation. On their way, Tess asked them to bring him Tree Trunks, since he couldn’t leave his post to get them himself. The Explorer went to the south forest, where they encountered Shadrion. He told them that the south forest was endless, and that it would take years to cut down enough trees. He joked that alternatively, they could all live in treehouses.

Before they left, he asked them to defeat the Tree Rods in the forest, since Lohd wasn’t around. The Explorer defeated the Tree Rods and collected Tree Trunks for Tess. They then returned to camp and gave the trunks to Tess and gave Shadrion’s report to Athena Pierce. Athena was worried about the lack of ability for them to expand and asked them to check on Lohd near Mushroom Hill. On their way, Loha asked them to go check with Sion if Crawls with Balrog had liked her Snail Porridge.

The Explorer went to Sion, who told them that Crawls with Balrog had a high fever. She then asked the Explorer to get medicine from Loha. Loha realized that there was no medicine left and asked them to check with Perzen. After explaining the situation, Perzen told them that it would be fine, as he had foreseen that Crawls with Balrog wasn’t destined to die. (A/N: During the Tenebris expedition, Grendel the Really Old mentions that there are people gifted with the ability to see parts of the future. The Shamanesses of Azwan, Cygnus, and Perzen appear to be some of them.)

As Crawls with Balrog had likely gotten poisoned from traces of poison in the snail shells, he explained that the poison could be neutralized with another poison, and so he asked them to get Black Mushroom Spore from Mossy Mushrooms. The Explorer went to Mushroom Hill, where they met Lohd. He told them that the region had low hills and few trees, making it easy to build a town there. He then noted that the Explorer hardly looked any stronger since the last time that he had seen them, and so he gave them a challenge to hunt the Mossy Mushrooms.

As the Explorer defeated the monsters, they also collected the Black Mushroom Spores from them. Lohd was impressed and reminded them that they needed to depend on their own strength. For instance, he explained that he respected Athena Pierce for what she had done, though they disagreed on many things. (A/N: Lohd will eventually go on to become the first Dark Lord. It’s possible that even the title of Dark Lord comes from his name, Lohd. Their disagreements led him to found Kerning City, whereas Athena founded Henesys.)

He explained that he couldn’t follow someone blindly and emphasized the importance of remaining true to one’s own convictions. He told them that he would report back to Athena himself so that they could focus on their own mission. The Explorer then returned to Perzen and gave him the antidote ingredients. However, Perzen told them that he would keep them for another time, as Crawls with Balrog had beaten his fever on his own. The Explorer then went to check on Sion and Crawls with Balrog and saw that he had indeed become well on his own. 

Sion then asked them to check on her soulmate, Rius, who had gone exploring in the western forest, explaining that she was worried, since he hadn’t contacted her in several days. The Explorer sought out Rius, who told them that he had been caught up in his work of collecting Forest Stones for Perzen’s barrier, but as he had grown curious about how they worked, he had forgotten to contact Sion. He asked the Explorer to help him with his research by collecting Rubble from the Stone Bugs.

After collecting the rubble, they gave it to Rius, who told them that he would return back to Altaire Camp and suggested that the Explorer do the same. Upon arriving back, Loha thanked them for collecting the antidote ingredients earlier and gave them a new task. She reminded them about Duru, who had been wounded by a boar, making him unable to do anything except managing the supplies. Though she hadn’t fully believed him when he had first told her about the boar, many others had seen it since then, and so she had sent Kanderune to investigate the Boulder Mountain.

She asked them to find out what Kanderune had learned, and so the Explorer went to Boulder Mountain, where Kanderune told them that he had tracked a large animal near the caves in the area, though he first needed to figure out which one was its den. While he had the Explorer there, he asked them to help clear out the boars that had been attacking the refugees.

After clearing out a good number of them, Kanderune was impressed and told them that he would finish up. He added that while the Explorer had been thinning out their numbers, he had found the den of the giant boar and asked them to defeat the wild boar, Chao, as well as the Violent Primitive Boars inside. The Explorer defeated Chao and brought its tusk back to Kanderune, who was highly impressed. He told them to return to camp and tell everyone that Chao had been defeated. He also gave them the tusk to show Loha as proof.

After showing her the tusk, Loha was extremely pleased and gave them a heartfelt congratulations. She then told them that Yuris had been looking for them. Yuris complained to them that the humid weather was interfering with her machines, though she had managed to construct a communication device for Ellin so that she could ask her for more fruit directly.

She asked them to ask Ellin which color the device should be, but upon asking her, Ellin told them that she had more important matters to deal with. She explained that even the Explorer and the members of Altaire Camp would be affected by it and asked them to warn Athena Pierce that they were in danger. She told them that, not too long ago, she had sighted a minion of the Black Mage in the Fairy Forest and had realized that it was likely the reason why the fairies had been acting strangely. (A/N: This minion is actually Kirston, who accidentally summoned Pink Bean and corrupted the Pathfinder’s relic.)

She had then found out that Ephenia had joined forces with the Black Mage, and that she was planning to contaminate Victoria Island with poison in order to eradicate all humans. The Explorer rushed back to Altaire Camp and told Athena what Ellin had told them. Athena was shocked that Ephenia could agree to such a plan, as she was the queen of fairies. Though she acknowledged that fairies had little love for humans, she refused to believe that they had reason to join the Black Mage. She then told them that, as a fellow fairy, she would need proof before she turned on Ephenia.

Just then, Perzen arrived and convinced Athena that Ephenia was indeed a threat. He explained that his prophecy also matched the situation and told her that he would take a stand if she didn’t. Perzen then asked the Explorer to defeat the Ancient Fairies and Shining Fairies in order to stop them from spreading poison.

After defeating them, Perzen asked them for a final favor to defeat Ephenia. The Explorer went to the deepest part of the Fairy Forest and defeated Ephenia. They returned to Perzen with news of their success and also gave him all the Forest Stones they had collected during their missions, which would help fortify the Barrier Stone. Athena Pierce then thanked them for all their help and hoped that their time in Ellin Forest had helped them with their journey.

(A/N: I’m adding the Explorer 4th job advancement here because it happens right after and I don’t wanna make it its own section, since it’s so short.

Move to Explorer section BEGIN)

Soon after, the Explorer grew strong enough to attract the attention of the Chiefs of El Nath. They recommended that the Explorer undertake the test for their 4th job advancement in Leafre. In the Forest of the Priest, the Explorer encountered the Explorer Priests, who explained that the Explorer had ascended to the highest of their ranks.

They told the Explorer that they would conduct an examination to see if they were worthy of learning the strongest skills they could teach and asked the Explorer to defeat the monsters Manon and Griffey, and to obtain the Heroic Star and Heroic Pentagon from them. After defeating the two monsters and obtaining the objects, the Explorer returned to the Priests, who bestowed their knowledge upon the Explorer. They reminded the Explorer that their new strength was meant to help others, and that it was their duty to lead Maple World into the future as a hero.

(A/N: Move to Explorer section END)