NOTE: My HTML skills phail. It’s corrected now, now that I’ve edited this 100 times and given myself a ton of views.

Greetings, MMOTers of all ages, genders, races and sizes! Harken to the Tale of the Cursed Dolls, the fourth installment in the Legend of Erk series. (Spiffy name, don’t you think?) If you haven’t seen the mystical, legendary tales of Erk’s previous adventures, then go get your head lodged in a drainage pipe. Or, you could go read “Erk and the Not Quite Adventure of B3” “Erk and the Witchgrass of Misery Mire” and “Erk and the Trojans of Secret Factory.” Comments and “Liked its” are still welcomed, mainly so I can see how I’m doing, and which ones are the most popular.

With that aside, you shall nw hear the tale of the Cursed Dolls.

Our amazing hero, Erk, finds himself suddenly backed against a wall. His heart races, his blood pressure builds to amazing levels. Erk can barely see, for the sweat running from underneath his bandana runs down his face, blocking his vision, and kinda stinging his eye. His attacker has wits Erk cannot hope to parelell. The ribbon pig moves closer. “Stay back, fiend!” Erk yells at the top of his lungs. The scream attracts the attention of a party of three, a Chief Bandit, a Hermit, and a Priest. “Help, anybody!” Erk screams. Erk is out of luck, for the party can’t quite seem to reach him. (Or maybe they’re back there laughing. I don’t know, I can’t read Engrish.) Finally, Erk summons up the courage to attack the pig, and finally defeats it. “Victory!” He screams. A beginner who was onlooking shouts out “OMG y u not us claw u nub?” Erk ponders a moment and replies “Claw? Whaa?”

Overjoyed by his victory earlier, he decides to take a look at his Quest Notebook, a major upgrade from the Clipboard he once posessed. “Lessee here… Rowen the Fairy? Didn’t I help her get a glass shoe? I object!” Nevertheless, he walks to Ellinia to visit Rowen the Fairy. Upon his arrival at Ellinia, he passes a Fairy who looks very familiar, but he can’t put his finger on it. [Picture 1 shows this event, provided kindly at the top of this blog.] He finally spots Rowen and they engage in a very intelligent conversation. “Rowen. What it is this time?” Erk says. “You. I need you.” Erk stands motionless for a while. “Care to tell more?” “I need you to.” Erk sighs. “Drop dead, Rowen, just tell me what I need to do.” “Cursed Dolls. Zombie Lupins. Bring them. Grendel made them. He’s bad.” Rowen replies, moving only her mouth. “Thank you.” Erk says as he walks away.

After recovering from the tumble he took out of the treetops, and pondering why there are only a few bridges in the trees in a state of dismal repair, Erk heads toward a familiar spot. Monkey Forest I, the Tree Dungeon. Erk has had encounters here before. Flashbacks play in his mind of a more innocent Magician-hood, suffering defeat under these undead monkeys. Once inside the tree, he uses his telekentic powers to see the alternate worlds. [Picture two(2).] Shortly after, a dark-haired girl comes into the tree, right where Erk is standing. He gathers from her clothes, her wand, and her title of “Wizard” that she’s definitely a Wizard. “Hey, do you wanna party?” She asks politely. Erk contemplates this for a minute, and decides to trust the old cliche’ “The more the merrier.”

Soon, carnage ensues as they attempt to combine their strength to recover the cursed dolls. Erk also enjoys a significant EXP spree. [Picture 3 pl0x thx.] After destroying many Zombie Lupins, it’s nearly time for the two depart ways. A warrior enters the tree, wondering if anyone will sell their Cursed Dolls to him. Erk decides he merely wants to use them for evil, and he declines. Afterwards, using more of his telepathic powers, he gets a vision that tells him how many Maplers have been “killed” for breaking the law. [Picture 4, nothing too special.] A few minutes later, the same warrior comes back in. Our hero once again declines, taking the sage advice of his companion, citing, “I can sell them for 200 mesos each at the Free Market, compared to your 120 each.” The warrior is outraged, and soon, as little noobies do, he uses “banned black magic” to “magically attack” all the monsters when he “can’t reach them.” He also uses a “whirlwind spell” to “suck” the “items” to “him.” (He was hacking, people, hacking.) Erk shrugs this off, reporting the user to the proper authories. He doesn’t get far, as he can barely hit the Lupins to begin with, and he quickly gets frustrated and leaves.

Then, our hero bids goodbye to his companion, and travels off. Vowing to strike down the Zombie Lupins whenever duty calls, the two go their separate ways, awaiting the day when fate will bring their might together again.

* FIN *

That was a spectacular ending, wasn’t it? Yes, I admit, there’s not too much action here, but I thought I’d share it anyway, and it was very exciting for me, because this was when I first saw the GMs in action. I also thought I’d revive the series, since I’ve been away for a while. I urge you to leave a comment, and an “I like it.” (You know you do.) Because I want this to frontpage so it doesn’t get lost like the second in the series did. It’s okay, I’m not “I like it” crazy, but the second installment appeared too near Thanksgiving, and didn’t get many hits at all. Go read the other tales in your spare time, too. They’re not very long, and I’ve been commended on a few occasions for my humorous pictures. Four isn’t a very good number for movies, games, or books, so I’ll blame any flame comments you may have on that. Like I said, it’s never too late to comment or “I like” the other stories. I want everyone’s opinions on things so I can improve. Oh! And also, I captured the most amazing Maple moment ever! Check it out, it’s the last picture! (Yeah, it’s a cameo. An unusable joke I had captured, so I decided to use it there. If you don’t get it, shrug it off, and admit you’ve never played the world’s greatest RPG. *coughTalesofSymphoniacough*

Now excuse me as I edit this to see if I properly built it.