It is the second year, the year after the first cities were founded. Amid some of the early inhabitants of this land, a stranger appears. Nobody knows where he came from, but all knew he was not of any local heritage.
In this land, there were three terrors known to the people. A Hydra, A Roc, and A Colossus.
Here is the tale.
Midsummer 2
I feel I am finally ready, having trained hard over the last season, and battling bandits. After some trading, I manage to get an incomplete set of bronze armor. Helm, gauntlets, boots, though the leggings were copper and the chestplate leather. A bronze shield, spear, and sword. I spend a few days in town, asking about what the surroundings were like. Most gave tales of a bandit or night monster, others told stories about history. One day however, I find what I was looking for. One person knew the location of the hydra. Gathering together a pair of peasants for the trip, I head out to the beasts lair.
Hydra, with seven heads full of teeth. I started by backing off a bit and pelting it from afar with thrown crossbow bolts, one or two sticking in the beasts hide. The tree of us went at the beast together, taking my spear and aiming for the feet, while the two peasants used knives. any chance they could find an opening. The foul beast just tore into my comrads, who were not nearly as protected, at one point, one head picking up one of them and flinging him about like a rag dog, eventually biting off a leg and spitting it out later. After seeing this, and having crippled one of the beasts legs, toppling it, I took out the sword and hacked away. One head, two head, three head four. I started to lop them off one after another. By the time the fifth head was taken off the beasts neck, he fell, and did not rise again. Neither of the pair I brought with me survived, and I lost my left ear and had a broken nose.
Before nightfall, I turn back to town, not wanting to be caught in the open. That, and I was exausted from the trip. Managing to get back to a hamlet, I spend the next day or two resting my wounds. The second target that I hear about, was the Roc. And the only way to get there, was over the mountains. Taking two more volunteers, we set off. Not long after however, we are set on by bandits. The bandits however only seemed interested in the peasants, and not me. They were even friendly to me, and I hire three of them, to replace the two I lost to them. It was not the first time however. Later on, while in the mountains and near the goal, we stopped to rest, only to be ambushed again, this time by goblins. To my amusement, the gobs took down the trio of bandits I had enlisted, outnumbering the three by four. The gobs still left me alone, and I take one of them as a replacement.
Moving forward, we reach the beasts lair. Swiftly, the Roc swooped down and carried off the goblin, leaving me to fight the beast alone, but I was still the faster. Taking out my sword again, my first task was to clip the birds wings. The beast was stubborn, more stubborn then I normally see. Even after inflicting a hundred cuts, and the bird passing out from pain, I jab my sword into its skull repeatedly, but the accursed thing simply refused to die, even got back up after twenty hits and started fighting again. Shifting my strikes, I go for the throat instead, and that takes it down. I take shelter in the creatures lair to avoid the terrors of the night.
The next one was much harder to track down. All the towns were in the northeast, and my next target was in the southwest. Once again picking up a follower, I set off, thinking I could beat this one also...
I was wrong.
The strikes were true, of both me and my companions, but the bronze colossus was far more then I had thought. None of our strikes hit home, after dancing with the brute for about a minute, trying every angle, nothing worked. I was forced to withdraw, heading for the trees and ducking out of sight, even as the colossus finished off my companion. I was left with only one real option. I started to make my way to the nearby elven retreat. They take me in, and I settle down, spending the next several months planning my next move.
(At this point, I retire in the elven village, then start a dwarf fort nearby, tossing out all the embark items and heading out with only a steel shield and sword. I abandon soon after.)
A year passes, going over every possible way to defeat this challenge, when word reaches me that some dwarves have started a new town not far away. Walking over to the fort, well, what could be called. It was not much to look at, the seven dwarves still at work. After explaining the situation, they offer me a dwarven weapon, far stronger then anything a human would make. Taking a dwarf with me, I return to fight the colossus once more.
This time, the strikes had more effect. Managing little more then to put dents in the creatures hide, at least I could cause it harm, but while doing so, I could only watch as the beast lifts the dwarf by the throat, strangling it. Erupting into a flurry of blows, I just bashed at the towering beast again, and again. A scratch here, a dent there. Eventually, all the damage added up, and I loped off the titans head with one final blow. I had managed to escape harm, but my companion had died, and much to my dismay, things did not end there.
Cackling all around me, as the shadows fell on the land, mocking me, even after beating the gods. Strike, retreat, strike again, I worked my way into the ranks of the boogeymen. Luck however, was on their side. One or two managed a lucky hit, and got through my armor, I flew into a rage, slashing left and right. What happened after that, I don't really remember, passing out as the pain overcame me. When I came to, I was surprised to find myself still alive, but my wounds were deep. Picking myself up, I headed back to the elven retreat. I had lost both ears, my nose was smashed again, my eyes had been clawed, my leg dragged behind me, and I had lost three digits, but I had done it, I had challenged the gods, and won. The world was young, and the common folk would enjoy a golden age, without worries, for thousands of years to come. Settling down again in the elven village, my wounds never healed fully, and had become infected. I could only wonder how much longer I really had to live.
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Topic: A golden age (Read 889 times)