Unsure of what I should do to break out of this illusion, I decide to just slowly walk in a straight line examining my surroundings. I wasn't really paying attention earlier because I was too panicked to think straight.
Starting at the tree with the vines, I start walking forward. I look closely at every tree and bush I walk past but fail to see anything out of the ordinary.
After about 10 minutes, I again find my self at a tree with vines. The only thing I managed to notice is the lack of any sound.
Other than the sound of my footsteps and the sound of my heart beating against my chest, there's nothing.
No sounds of birds.
No sounds of leaves rustling.
No sounds of anything!
I can feel the unsettling feeling starting to gradually get worst as time goes on. I know it's the illusion causing this, but it doesn't stop the panic starting to build.
I stop and take some deep breaths, trying to ease my mind but I doesn't seem to be working. The longer i'm here, the worst it seems to get.
I need to do something before I turn back into a panicked mess. I start walking in a straight line again, but this time I use scratch on every other tree that I pass. I'm trying to figure out if I'm walking in circles or if its just an endless stretch of forest
I keep doing this until I again end up at a tree with vines. I keep going looking for any scratch marks on the trees to signal that I have been here before but find nothing.
Great... At least I now know I'm not just endlessly walking around in a loop.
I turn back to follow the scratch marks on the trees, aiming to retrace my steps back to the previous tree with vines but I can't seem to find them.
I check all the trees around me, thinking I might just be looking in the wrong direction but come up empty handed.
It's as if all the marks I left just up and vanished into thin air!
The panic is really starting to sink in now. My illusion resistance skill helped me keep my emotions in check before, but the longer in here the less effect it seems to have.
I use scratch on a random tree again but this time I just sit in front of it. I want to see what happens to it.
Will it just suddenly vanish, or will it gradually fade over a set period of time?
I don't even know if finding out what happened to the mark will actually achieve anything but at this point my mind is all ready in shambles. I've been here too long and am struggling to stop my self from just giving up.
I stare at the mark on the tree for a while and nothing happens. It didn't vanish suddenly and it never started fading.
"aargh!"
It a fit of frustration I charge at the tree head butting it, completely forgetting the use of skills.
A wave of dizziness comes over me as I bounce off the tree, sent rolling across the ground.
"hahaha"
I laugh crazily to my self, having lost all sense of reason.
Maybe it's like a dream. Maybe once I cause enough damage to my self i'll simply wake up from this nightmare.
I get up to charge at the tree again, aiming to try and knock my self unconscious.
Smack!
My vision blurs as I stagger backwards. Just one more and this will all be over. Just one more and I'll finally be free.
I charge at the tree again. Well it's not really a charge more like a stagger. Im practically tipping over my own feet as I go towards the tree.
[ding!]
[illusion resistance has levelled up to level 2]
I stop dead in my tracks. My vision cleared up almost instantly and my sense of reason returned. My panic subsides and that uneasy feeling almost completely disappears.
I quickly realise what had happened. I had come dangerously close to loosing myself to the illusion again.
If I don't find a way to break this illusion soon, then it really will be the end of me. I doubt my illusion resistance will be able to level up in time to snap me out of it next time.
I rub the spot on my head, that I had been smashing agains the tree. Strangely enough there's no marks and no pain. It's as if I had never smashed my head into the tree to begin with. It feels strange to me but I realise that this is just an illusion and in reality, i'm properly just laying on the ground unconscious somewhere.
I look back at the tree with the vines. I don't know if I keep seeing the same tree or many different trees but I still think that it must have something to do with it.
It's the only thing that is different in this illusion than the real forest I was in before.
Walking up to the tree I notice that it's exactly the same as all the other trees apart from the vines.
I use scratch on it just to make sure it's not some kind of tree monster or anything. the chances were slim, but I don't want to leave anything to chance.
I decide to pull on one of the vines. They feel super soft and strangely smooth, not at all how I would have expected them to feel. They're also very sticky, so sticky that I'm struggling to let go of it.
Coming up with a plan I try pulling it down. I want to use the vine the same way people use rope in caves not to get lost, this way I should be able to find out whether there's only one tree with vines or many.
I keep pulling and pulling until the vine eventually becomes taut. I give it one las tug expecting it to finally fall down, just for it to start stretching.
I carry on pulling it and even after 5 minutes it's still just stretching longer and longer.
Eventually I see another tree with vines on it, but as I get closer I notice a vine being stretched out away from the tree. It must be the vine I'm currently pulling, meaning that iv'e just being going round in circles this whole time.
As I get to the tree I stop pulling for a moment, wondering what I should do next. the vine seems to stretch forever and it doesn't seem to be doing anything to the illusion. That being said I don't want to just let go of the vine either.
I decide to just wrap it around the trunk of the tree for now but as soon as the vine touched the trunk, there's a sharp,
Twang!
And the vine completely disappears! I look at the tree to see if the vine simply snapped back but it's completely gone. There were 5 vines on the tree originally but now there's only 4 so I decide to do the same thing with the other 4 vines.
You never know maybe getting rid of these vines is the key to breaking the illusion. Sure enough once the last vine touched the tree trunk there was no twang sound.
Instead there was a large smashing sound like glass breaking and I was plunged into complete darkness.