Okay, first adventurer. Story should follow soon.
The Wondrous Tale of Kulur Meetrights, a female peasant, part 1
Kulur stood in the decaying ruin of the house. Once, it was an ordinary house, just like any other in her village, but years of neglect and outright vandalism brought what was once home to several families to little more than a ruin, a stern reminder that all things come to pass.
She rummaged through the rotten floorboards, hoping to find something interesting to show to her friends and peers when she saw a faint metallic glint coming from one of the walls. She moved up to it and examined it. There was a secret compartment behind the rotting board.
She grabbed the board and pulled with all her might. The board was not entirely rotten through, so it took her two good pulls before it snapped in two, revealing a patina-stained copper spear. Kulur's expression turned to a smile when she took it. "Lo and behold! It is I, Kulur, knight of the realm!" she said in a joyous tone. "But what do I see before me? Vile spawn of evil!" she shouted at a wall. "Take this! And this! And a little bit of that!" she exclaimed as she stabbed, bashed and mauled at it with her blunt copper spear. After several strikes, she was incredibly tired and collapsed to the ground. The wall was in even worse condition than before, the rotten wood full of cuts and dents. Kulur started to laugh. "I am the greatest knight in the kingdom of Linannath, and by the power invested in me by this magical spear, I now crown myself Queen of all humans!" her laughter echoed across the village.
Kulur heard someone approach. She turned her head and saw Pena, one of her friends. "Hey, Pena! Look what I found!" she shouted and raised her copper spear. Pena looked at it and let out a snicker. "Where did you find that old thing?" he asked. "Well, I was rummaging through this ruin when I found a secret compartment, and this was hiding in it. Pretty neat, huh?" She replied and swung the spear at empty air.
Pena took a step closer. "Well, it's definetly well-made." he caught the spear's shaft mid-swing and examined the copper head "But it's also blunt." He said. "If you want to use it on something, you should sharpen it."
"What can I sharpen it with?" Kulur asked.
"Well, you can use this." Pena produced a sharpening stone from his belt. "I only use it to sharpen newly-made bolts for my crossbow, and I don't plan on making any more any time soon" he tapped his quiver, full to the brim "so I think I can lend it to you."
Kulur took the stone. It was cold to the touch and very heavy.
"Now, here's how you use it." Pena took the spear and stone from Kulur. "First, you wet the sharpening stone" he took his waterskin from his belt and poured some water on the stone "Now, you press if firmly against the spear edge, like so, and you drag it across the edge, like this." Kulur watched his demonstation carefully. "That's about the gist of it. Be careful not to overdo it, though, as that will damage the edge." Pena said and handed the spear and stone back to Kulur.
"Okay," she said "now that I know how to make it work, what can I use it on?"
Pena scratched his head. "Well, I heard the village elders talk about some night creature lairs, about an hour or two's walk outside the village. You can try your luck there, I heard there's a night creature by the name of Anir. It's not a full moon, so it shouldn't be in its beastial form."
Kulur smiled. "Great!" she said and stood up. "I'll get ready and set off. Do you want to come with me?"
Pena swallowed. "I'd like to, but the militia have to report to the village elders for something." he said.
"Oh. Okay then. See you when I'm done!" Kulur said and ran off.
"Kulur! If you think you can't handle it, don't go!" Pena shouted after her, but she was too far away already.
Pena shook his head and set off to meet the village elders.
Kulur took stock of her belongings. A copper knife she took from the kitchen (It's not like the family she shared her house with would mind), a waterskin, some food, a backpack and a dress made from leather of some kind of shark, the closest to armour she had. She put on her backpack and waterskin and set off eastwards. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and it was a glorious day to start an adventure.
After a short walk, she came upon a lair of that horrible beast. She tried sneaking towards the entrance but gave up on the idea. The lair was located on a sandy plain, and there weren't a lot of places she could hide behind.
Slowly, she approached the lair entrance and steeled herself for an encounter with the beast that lived within.
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Inside the lair, Anir was pissed. His lairmate Itke, a vampire, thought it would be a good idea to invite his girlfriend Omat, an Olm Woman vampire, over for no particular reason other than to gloat about how he killed that one guy, Sarvesh Lovechannel or whatever it was and how he's now "The Bane of All Things Living". For Gods' sake.
"Hey, babe, did I ever tell you about how I killed that adventurer, Sarvesh?" Itke said to Omat. "You did, Itke. Fifteen times in the last hour, in fact." She replied. "I'm hungry. Where do you keep the food here?" She asked "Well, Anir knows. Anir! Show the lady where you keep the food." Itke shouted. Anir sighed. "Right this way." he said and set off to the other end of the cave.
It was when they were halfway there when a realisation struck. "Wait a minute. You're a vampire. You don't need food." he said to Omat. She smiled weakly. "Guilty as charged." she said. "But why did you ask Itke..."
"Did you listen to that man for more than 15 minutes once?" Omat interrupted.
"No."
"Well, if you would, you'd find out that he is boring as hell."
"But why-"
"Why do I date him? Well, I'm an Olm Woman Vampire. Humans and dwarves want to kill me on sight, olm people and elves hate me for being a vampire, and most vampires aren't into me. Someone like Itke doesn't come along very often, and it can get very lonely when you're a vampire."
Anir frowned. "But why don't-"
"Why don't I date non-vampires? Again, the vampire thing puts most men off. Not to mention that whole sucking blood thing. It's hard to maintain a relationship when you also see your lover as 'lunch'."
Anir opened his mouth.
"Don't even think about saying it. Most people resent the vampires who turn them. Again, not something you want to base your relationship on."
Anir decided it would be best to remain silent.
They walked in silence for a while. Then, they heard something.
Anir looked at Omat. "We'd best help him." he said. She nodded in silent agreement.
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Kulur jumped away from the vampire. She heard stories of vampires, and they were definetly not creatures to mess with. This one also kept the skeleton of the previous adventurer as a trophy. Defnietly not pleasant. "Come closer, human girl." The vampire said with a grin. "And I'll show you what happened to the last fool who tried to cross my path."
Kulur turned and ran out of the lair. It was a bit safer outside, she decided.
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Itke stood at the lair entrance proudly. That'll show those humans. Then, he heard panting behind him. "Oh, Anir. You have returned from the pantry."
"What was that noise?" Omat asked.
"Hmm? Oh, that? an adventurer, nothing to be afraid of. I scared her off." Itke replied.
Omat facepalmed. "You fool!" she shouted. "She's now going to go back to her village and return with an angry mob! We cannot possibly stand up to them!"
Itke shrunk in size a little. "Well...." He began.
Omat waved her arm in disapproval. "Gods damn it, Itke. Come, we'll go and take care of that adventurer girl."
"Erm, I'd rather stay here and prepair the lair for an attack. Take Anir with you. He's better at this fighting thing." Itke said.
Anir's face turned red with rage. "WHAT?" He exclaimed. "YOU COWARD! YOU IDIOT YOU-" He was interrupted by Omat, who grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Okay, Anir. We can do this. Let King Coward here"
"Hey!" Itke yapped
Omat ignored him "hold the fort while we take care of his dirty work."
Anir nodded.
"Good." Omat said and released her grip. She and Anir climbed out of the lair.
Itke scrambled for the deepest end of the lair, taking his prized skeleton with him.
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Kulur waited in ambush next to the cavern entrance. The vampire would come out and she'd stab him in the face with her spear. Or so she planned.
She saw a human figure come out. Kulur thrust with her spear and hit it in the arm. It grunted in pain and looked at Kulur. It opened its mouth
Its voice boomed. It pulled the spear out of its arm and swung its arm at Kulur, who promptly dodged it. When she looked at it again, she noticed that "it" was not in fact "it", but a "he", and that it was, in fact, a completely naked human being, not a vampire.
Kulur grinned. A human she could deal with. She charged at him and stabbed him in the other arm with her spear, the spear embedding in the wound. The human counterattacked and missed and the spear remained embedded in the wound. Kulur twisted it and pushed it deeper into the man's arm. The man howled with pain, ripped out the spear and ran.
Kulur ran after it, but felt something grab her. She turned and saw a hideous Olm Woman.
The Olm Woman said and barred her teeth. Kulur saw the fangs and knew that she was dealing with a vampire. She squirmed and freed herself from the vampire's grip. The vampire tried to bite her but struck just empty air. Kulur turned, pulled the knife from her belt and threw it at the olm woman. The knife spun in flight and hit the Olm Woman in the foot with the hilt.
Kulur tried to run, but the Olm Woman caught up with her and punched Kulur several times all over her body, badly bruising her and breaking one of her fingers. Kulur dropped to the ground and tried to crawl away. The Olm Woman punched her in the foot.
Kulur struck back and hit the Olm woman with the shaft of her spear. The Olm Woman stumbled backwards. Kulur saw the opportunity and charged.
The fight descended into a frenzied melee, with both sides dealing and receiving hits, with Kulur at an obvious disadvantage.
When it looked like she was about to be overpowered and salin, Kulur stabbed at the Olm Woman with her spear one last time. She stabbed her in the upper body and the Olm Woman howled with pain, jumped away and ran off, shouting cuss words at Kulur.
Kulur tried to catch her breath. The battle was intense. She walked to the dagger she threw and picked it up when she heard a loud panting noise. She quickly turned, checking to see if the vampire returned. She didn't.
What was causing that panting noise was the human she wounded before. He returned, his bleeding stopped. He saw Kulur and started to run towards her. She did likewise.
They reached one another and Kulur struck first, stabbing the man's lower body. He fell over and retched. Kulur raised her spear and stabbed the man, again and again, spraying everything with his blood and vomit until his breathing stopped.
Kulur pulled out the spear and wiped it in her already blood-stained dress. Then she spat on the body and left.
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Itke cowered in the deep end of the lair with the skeleton next to him. He then heard footsteps approach him.
"Who are you?" He shouted. "I'm not afraid of you! Show yourself!" he raised his fists.
Out of the dark, Omat stumbled into view. "Omat!" Itke shouted and ran towards her.
She raised her hand and stopped him. "Anir is dead." she said. "That woman killed him."
Itke's eyes widened in shock. "Wow." He said. Then, he saw what Omat looked like. "Gods' sake, Omat. It looks like she gave you quite a beating as well. You should've remained here with me, I'd keep you safe."
Omat rolled her eyes. "Just shut up and give me a hug."
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Katslet's day was pretty ordinary so far. He was sitting in his house, eating his lunch when someone knocked at the door. "Gods damn it, whoever has the nerve to interrupt me during lunch..." he muttered under his breath. "Yes?" he said as he opened the door. Then, he went pale.
Outside the door stood Kulur Meetrights, her thumb broken open and she was stained with blood and vomit.
"Hey, Doc. I've just came from my first successful adventure! I have slain Anir Fragranttrussed, the creature of the night!" she said in a cheerful tone.
It took a while for Katslet to process all of this. "Well, that's great news!" he said, after a long while. Kulur smiled. "Thanks!" she said and was off.
Katslet closed the door behind him and returned to his lunch.
What a strange girl, that Kulur, he thought.
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OOC: Okay, Part 1 is up. Stay tuned for Part 2!
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Topic: Necropia: Adventurer Succession Survival Game (Players Wanted!) (Read 21907 times)