I, Baldagast the Redautumn, write this in my dying moments. Mayhap someday, some miner may find my charred corpse after reading this that I write, that I may gain entry into the annals of the valiant heroes of this realm! But alas, my time is short... So many horrors have I seen... but there is no hope.
Before I ever discovered this place, or fell into these foul pits of ruin, I chanced upon a horde of goblins, laughing merrily at their gains. Such simple fools I took them for, and charged into their midst, slaying each and every one of them in a bold frenzy of destruction. Yet they wore chains of gold around their necks, and their packs were filled with gems... I knew then there must be some great horde of wealth lying in abundance nearby, and I took it upon myself to discover it. What would I do with it? Find a place to settle down? I, Baldagast the Redautumn, who singlehandedly slew the giant who had tormented the village of Treeforest for years? I, who slew the Night Hag of the depths of the Deep Abyss? Nay, but with this gold and these gems, I could buy a suit of armor the likes of which had never been owned, and with this armor I could challenge the very might of Armok himself! I vowed then I would not leave until I had gems of this worth.
I traveled for but an hour before I came upon the ruins of a Dwarven settlement, at the far edge of a river. The name "Incestchained" was chiseled crudely in large dwarven runes beside the entrance - I had never heard of this place, not in all my travels. Not a waft of smoke issued from within the halls - no sign of pillaging or burning - yet scattered everywhere were the tattered remains of those who had once dwelt within. Bending down, I picked up a young child's doll - of Dwarven make it was: hewn of stone, yet finely crafted and set with jewels. What child had once played with such a toy, and what fate had befallen it? Evil was near, I was sure of it, and with haste I set myself to cross the river. To the right of me, the water was pitted with whirlpools, swirling and churning, colliding, combining and splitting apart once more - did some evil monster lurk beneath the depths? If so, I, Baldagast the Redautumn, would put an end to its life, I was sure.
Bracing myself against the current, I swam across, only to find myself in the midst of a group of hungry, hungry hippos! With a slash of my sword I removed one's leg, then another's head, easily decapitated. To the third I gave it's heart the gift of sword point. It wasn't long before the water was stained with blood, and I, struggling against the current, neared the churning water at hand, and was sucked into the depths.
But 'twas not a simple monstrosity I faced, as I swam through the belowground torrent. Torches lined the walls, growing dim with age, some put out by the splash of the water. I took one with me, though it burned low - I, unlike Dwarves, cannot see in the dark. It was the good hand of fate that gave me that gift, and from then I knew - these halls were but recently abandoned.
The narrow passageway opened into a wide hall, and I looked about - this was no Dwarven settlement, surely! The walls were of roughly hewn dirt, and bits of roots stuck out. I grabbed one as I passed to stay myself from being sucked into the whirlpool dimly visible ahead in the darkness, ever deeper into this pit, and I thought I would wait for the water to subside - but it never did. The level grew, and I soon realized I would have to continue.
Wading across the hall, I encountered a troll of enormous size - it must've been the size of a giant, or even a titan! The battle was long and fierce, but I ended it finally in victory, plunging my sword into its eye and destroying its foul brain - one less evil stain upon this earth. For I am the self-appointed paladin of these lands, Baldagast the Redautumn, and none shall stand before my blade! But it was soon I realized I'd not watched my footing, and I was swept ever deeper into the caverns.
Another horde of goblins awaited me, easily dispatched, and I then took the opportunity to look around me - these halls were unlike any of dwarven make that I'd ever seen. Not a smooth floor was visible anywhere - piles of untidied stone were strewn about where they had been mined, and I was forced to climb through the rubble in an attempt to escape the slowly-flooding halls. My sights were set upon a narrow hallway to the left, as dim as it was by the light of my torch.
Traveling through this dark, damp tunnel, mercifully free of water for the moment, I came upon a gigantic hall filled with statues. The floor here was cracked and uneven, and I took pains to be careful as I approached. But the statues... they were not what I expected. They depicted scenes of death, drowning, goblins massacring dwarves by the hundreds, and dwarves praying desperately to their gods, which showed blatant signs of refusal. Half the statues were smeared with blood, and little of it was the welcome black blood of goblins... So many had died here... deaths beyond count. and it was as if they had not raised a hand to stop it - it was as if their deaths were welcome.
Some great evil had befallen here... some evil that could not be undone. I had felt it in my flesh as I'd approached... Something lurked here, darker than anything I'd ever faced.
As I contemplated this, a door behind me burst open, revealing the hippo whose leg I had severed earlier, and a fresh torrent of water flinging debris at random. Something hit my head, and I dropped my torch, and as I reached to draw my sword I heard a terrible roar - a roar of vengeance and pain. I saw not what it was, but I knew... and then all went black.
I know not what passed between those times, but I awoke somewhere deep and dark... the air is heavy down here. The whispering of ghosts echo eerily throughout the caverns, and bone-chilling, inhuman screams issue forth from a dark abyss across the way. But Hell would be of fire... this hell is a bloodsmeared, flooded, Dwarf-hewn hallway...
I went to stand, and with great pain discovered that the cursed beast, that monstrous hippo, had devoured both of my legs - a double restitution for the wounds I had given. I could not walk, but I could drag myself along, and by touch, I found broken writing tablets scattered about the floor. They were in the Dwarf-runes, and with my fingertips I could read their crude scrawls: "We cannot get out" "The bridge is gone" "Curse those monsters, they killed our kin" "We are all doomed", and the most chilling of them all: "We were sent here to die. Cog told us it wasn't true, but now I know. These halls are cursed - I heard his aide say it with her last breath. Despised by Armok and the gods, there is no hope. There is no hope."
I knew now why the dwarves had not fought their deaths as they came - I know now why with their last breath they worked to flood these halls. They desired death - no halls could have been so evil, without comfort - these very walls are cursed. They broke the dams and spilled the river's rushing waters into their home to keep outsiders like me from venturing inwards and meeting a fate the same as theirs: Incestchained is Armok's Hell.
I began to wish I'd never challenged his might.
With an earth-shattering crash, I felt the ground give way beneath me, the heavy weight of the water too much for the floor to handle with my added weight, and I fell several stories into a murky pool. Serpents or snakes writhed about, and I shoved them aside, attempting to dog-paddle to the wall. It was with elation that I discovered a doorknob, and I turned it, seeking an escape - and immediately wished I had stayed put.
The door swung outwards, and a cascade of water poured out around me, sweeping me outwards. The door ended at a cliff face - ever more of these halls had collapsed - and it was with the last of my strength that I grabbed the doorframe in an attempt to stay alive, hoping to keep from being swept into the depths. I almost wish now I hadn't turned and looked, for behind me was a horrific scene - a massive cavern with twin gaping pits, like the eyes of some gigantic demon - one was filled nearly to the brim with magma, and the other was deep... a hole into the very core of this world. It gave a faint glow, and screams issued from within - something was alive down there... and it was being burned alive.
My fingers slipped and I plunged into the flow, falling what felt like a hundred feet before I fell into a deep, rushing current. It swept me out across the rocky, rough-hewn plain of this abyss, and down, down, ever downwards on a steep slope until I was almost on the level with the demon's magma eye. The water was slowly covering it over, and turning it to stone. Down the other eye a separate cascade was flowing... I knew not how far it dropped, but it was deeper than any mountain could ever be tall. I chose the slower death, hoping to stay alive... now I see there is no hope. The dwarves were right.
I write this on a glassy expanse of newly-formed obsidian. Unlike the halls above, these floors are smooth, and I have no handhold to keep my legless self from being swept, slowly, into the magma, as steam engulfs me. I am engraving the floor with runes as I slowly travel over it... it is the most permanent thing I have. my journal is soaked and lost, and these small stone tablets around me will soon be swept away into oblivion. Mayhap some poor fool will some day find this and see a fellow traveler's plight.
I am at the edge! The bubbling magma leaps up to greet me. Goodbye, fair world. I only regret
(the scrawl ends here in a long, deep scratch to where a skeleton hand sticks up out of the stone, clutching a stylus.)
Seriously... There's no entrance into the fortress and half of it is flooded. What happened? o.O Why so much water everywhere?
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Topic: Incestchained, a militaryless, trapless succession game (need players!) (Read 15671 times)