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[Megaman_zx]

when you're done I'll put the thread on hold for some time,

That may be the best way to do it. I love adv mode succession, but pacing 1 week per adventurer is probably too fast. Indigo did a great job telling the story, but I don't know how you were able to do it so fast. I'm fine with slowing things down to get some cool pics set some guidelines to try to prevent save corruption and do more legends dives.

[IndigoFenix]

Though renowned in far-off lands, unsubstantiated claims of heroics bore little weight in Watershield.  Sisha set out north in search of more heroic deeds to accomplish.

Not far north, she came upon the bandit camp of Charcoalthieves.  But this hideout seemed different from the camps back in the Land of Confining.  Directly in front of her was a fat goblin criminal, and all around him stood dancers and poets - some armed, but not all.

Spoiler: Arstruk (click to show/hide)

"Are you in charge here?"
"What makes you think I'm the one in charge?"
"Well, you've kind of got this whole-"
"Oh, don't mind him," a nearby goblin said.  "Old Arse Truck gets this a lot.  Because he's the only one here who isn't an entertainer and he's fat, see?  But actually, he's just fat and talentless."
"Why you little-"
"The captain's the dwarf back there."

A concave-nosed goblin bridge dancer stood next to the captain.  Curious, Sisha went to talk with her.

"So what's with this place, anyway?  Never seen a bandit camp with so many entertainers before."
"Oh, we're not just entertainers," she laughed.  "We just believe that culture is no less important than the art of war.  So don't underestimate us.  But-" she whispered, "to tell you the truth, I've always wanted to travel the world."
"Well, come with me then.  A camp like this is no place for a dancer, even a fighting one."
"Really?  Well, then, let's get going!"
"Excuse me," barked the captain, "But where do you think you're going?"

Spoiler: Sudden faction split (click to show/hide)

About half the camp suddenly started fighting the other half.  Some were marked as "ally".  So we killed all of the ones that weren't.
Strangely, the "bridge dancers" became "bridge (weapon skill)", meaning that Osta became a "bridge wrestler" for this fight.  I don't know what that means.  Later she just became a regular wrestler.

Sisha and Osta the goblin dancer set out to right more wrongs.
Strangely, every camp they entered seemed to be in a state of civil war.  Osta sometimes would join in.

Spoiler: You crazy goblins (click to show/hide)

"So, are goblins on this continent just...like this?"
"I don't know.  Probably?"
"How do you know which ones to fight?"
"What makes you think it matters?"

(By the way, the whole fake name thing seems to be normal for the criminal goblins in the area.  I'm not sure exactly when her name changed.)

Wandering the wilds, suddenly a strange man wielding a silver great axe jumped out at Sisha and Osta Snodub!
His skill with an axe was far, far beyond anything Sisha had ever faced before.  Even with an ally by her side, she quickly realized how far outclassed she was as he easily parried all of her blows and effortlessly passed every attempt she made at blocking.  If his axe wasn't near-useless against her iron armor she wouldn't have lasted ten seconds, and even with his ineffective equipment the situation looked grim, until she remembered that even the best axeman in the world is far less effective without his axe...

Spoiler: A Wild Axe Lord Appears! (click to show/hide)

"Who was that guy?  Friend of yours?"
"As if!  Probably some self-identified 'hero' out to kill some goblins."
"His clothes were goblin-made, though.  What did he say his name was?"
"I don't know.  I didn't ask."

[Megaman_zx]

But wait, there's more!!!

haha, nice to see you continuing the journey. Sisha is a fun character. I'll try to load your save into 43.05 and use armok vision to take screenshots of watershields.

[Cathar]

Yeah guys... Sorry. Can't keep it up. Useless for me to even try. Even if we stop here I'm stuck for a month. Gonna lock the thread now.

Not going to criticize too much, I know people do their best, but the magic is gone for me. The world I'm trying hard to create and to give life to feels like a succession of mindless hack and slash and assumed meta I stated multiple times I don't want to see.
For a moment I thought that maybe I could just take some easy time off and just draw the story on my terms, but even that feels like yet another chore I don't want. At some point I gotta be honest with myself and realize what I want to do with the lil time I have.
So...yeah. We're stopping here.
I'll keep hanging around the forum and keep dolling doodles to people I like, but for Minbazkar and Mong Kima I'll do that solo from now on. People who know me know where to look for.

Here's the stuff I've made so far, and since I won't use them, that's my parting gift. Playing with you guys was cool, I hope you had fun.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Cathar]

Thread unlocked, we're almost ready to go. Lot of changes to make, stories happened all over the place and I've got some searching to do on a sustainable format, but the story needs to continue. We're moving on tomorrow o/

[Glass]

[Sir Knight]

Ooh!

[Imic]

I am watching.

[TheImmortalRyukan]

I may not post much, but I still exist and read this

[Megaman_zx]

It's back baby!!!!

Can't wait to see how the story progresses.

[Cathar]

Alright guys, since it's restarting and we went through a lot in Watershield, we'll get back to it slowly, because the world has changed quite a bit as we were witnessing the descent into chaos of the eastern borders.
For the format we'll go for, in the immediate future, it will just be narrative and descriptive, because before we make a quite difficult choice (there will be one), we need to fully understand the situation - what exactly is Mong Kima and what is happening to it right now.

*-*-*-*-*

Back in the days


Last we heard of Luki, the captain of the Tetzobsha Second Reserve, she spawned a resistance force in the ruined city of Edetledir, summoning help from various factions – local criminals and bandits, dwarven mercenaries and travelling fighters. She successfully organizing them into a cohesive combat unit and fending off incursion from both the goblins of Osme and the elves from Wulemaapasi.


After defeating three enemy incursions – one in 132, two in 135 – Edetledir proclaimed its independance from Mong Kima and became a refuge for sellswords and mercenaries. While the city may never recover its former glory, it is in the year 142 the main resistance node against the aggressive expansion of the Osme Empire, along with the knights of Thomocemir.

Then Luki disapeared without a trace. The city was given to the care of an Egapesor bard by the name of Lucmen, and manned by the former members of Luki's band, the ex Tetzobsha Second Reserve.

Seven years have pass. Things have changed drastically. Before, the war was mostly fought in the western shores and the central mountains, against the elves of Pilalene and the dwarves of Desorusol. Now, the forces of the kingdom were concentrated in the east of the interior sea, against the Empire of Osme. And despite the fire and fury of the eastern front, the inlands were now at peace.
The glory days of Tetzobsha and its heroes have passed, and have been replaced by the knights of Thomocemir, now covered in fame.

Luki was still alive, but was keenly aware that her own time had come and go. Sheoppened a small butcher stall in the village of Ulerdosla, in the deep south of MongKima,next to the southern sea, and has since then lived an unremarkable life.

However, when she heard of the final defeat of Odlug, the Dominant Scar, she decided  to undertake the trip to see its remains for herself – part for curiosity, part for old time sakes. Besides, as Edetledir and Thomocemir were pretty close of each others, this would be the opportunity to meet her old times friends and companions again.

In a morning of summer 142, her decision was made ; she'd travel alone from her little village of Ulerdosla to Thomocemir.



Ulerdosla is one of the three holdings Mong Kima has in the Dune of Thunders – which is, due to its remoteness to the intense political strife of the rest of the kingdom and unlike its name suggests, a peaceful and growing place. Ulerdosla itself is one of the breathing lungs of the kingdom, sporting almost 130 souls – which is a lot for the current standards. It is cornered by two trading cities, Quenironmo in the north, Dasmirabe in the south.

Unlike the mainland, which is mostly agrarian and rural, the settlements in the Dune of Thunders are harbor cities and generate their revenues with mostly sea fishing and trading. They are also the gate to the yet unexplored Lands of Confining, which is almost an another world altogether.

A local landlord, Lord Tista of Dasmirabe, is himself married to a woman of these foreign lands, which indicates that travel between the Land of Oak and the Land of Confining, albeit limited, is very well a thing in those remote areas.

Leaving peaceful area – even for the time of a trip to the east, is not something that is done without consideration. Luki has been in the mainland for long enough to know what kind of dangers lie there. However, even if time had made her slower than she used to be, she was very confident she could undertake it.

She gathered her old gear, oxidized by the salty southern wind, then, before sunrise, was ready to travel once more.



This is the first time in seven years she decided to take a trip like this ; probably thing had changed. Somehow, she hoped it was the case, as even tho she liked the calm of her unconsequential life in Ulerdosla, she was also missing her old adventuring life.

And so – against the advice of the villagers, she made her way into the Jungle of Shearing, first step in her two weeks walk.

[Imic]

I'm excited.

[Sir Knight]

I'm in the middle of total upheaval over here, but I needed to say how much I appreciate seeing more story.  Woo!  Yay!

[Haspen]

* Haspen rumbles excitedly.

_{next update when}

[Cathar]

Being a Mong Kima enclave set just right next to the southern shore, the Dune of Thunder offers only one practicable way in and out - through the Jungle of Shearing. In times of peace, like the one currently in order in Summer 142, this does not constitute a real problem. The jungle itself is kept in good order by the elven kingdom of Emepeaye - also called "southern elves" or "golden elves" for simplicity, and acts like a natural barrier against invasions.



However, should Mong Kima and Emepeaye ever walk the path of war, the southern elves would have the ability to totally lock the Dune of Thunder and operate an effective siege of the whole region, which makes good relations with them a matter of national security. Provocations southern elves is outright forbidden, and free commerce is encouraged in the region.

The last war against the golden elves happened some thirty six years ago, and was won thanks to the effort of a then heroic general, Lubbe Finbrush, who inflicted them consecutive defeats and forced a lasting peace with them in 106. Lubbe would meet her fate ten years later in the Kostupu massacre, trying to force peace with another elven kingdom.

Should war arise again, there is another path one could follow, in and out of the Dune of Thunder - through the north eastern hills. However this path is still savage, and strays far from civilization. Lone travellers could not find shelters along that road, and would often fall pray to darkness or to roaming predators. He would have to walk fast to the east, to join the town of Ulaocu, then follow the shore where civilization would be plentiful around the interior sea. This path is very hard to travel in, and nowadays is only accessed out of other options.



By comparison, the path through the Jungle of Shearing is a lot easier. The road is kept and maintained, and bridges cross all the rivers that dampen the forests. Luki asked for directions on multiple occasions - this is another benefit of good relations with elves : making up for her absolutely terrible sense of orientation.

"Don't take the road to the north" an elf said to her. "There are fights going on between elves and dwarves, further in the mountain. You don't want to be taken in the skirmishes"

That sure she didn't. Her fighting days were far, far behind her now, and she surely didn't want to meet her fate in a battle she had no concern for. She took the advice, and at the crossroad, decided she would follow the road to the east, walking at the base of the mountains without trying to cross them.

A few hours later, she had already left the jungle, and stopped for a while. She still had some time in front of her. Blessed is the country that doesn't need a hero, she thought. When the fighters are out of a job, it means everything goes well.



She then walked her path, following the mountain range at a reasonable distance. She crossed some hillocks, and when the sun was setting behind her, she had already crossed a long distance.

She decided she had done enough for the day and took refuge in the small hamlet of Nithrosinan, under Egapesor rule.


Egapesor can be considered as Mong Kima's brother kingdom. All along history, they developped in the same areas, fought the same enemies, collaborated both in trade and in war. The wedding of Egapesor's young queen with a pearlite man, in 139, was only one of the signs of good will that were common between the two kingdoms.

It may seem somewhat peculiar for a royal family to seek spouses in other kingdoms in this era of constant warfare, but to Egapesor, even without its ties to Mong Kima, it was an usual practice. Egapesor having a larger population - but being weaker than Mong Kima both in the art of war and in technological terms, sought to expend their power through arranged weddings. As a result, their population is extremely cosmopolitan and shows the biggest variation in term of appearance of the Land of Oak, and maybe of the world.

Egapesor farmers willingly gave hospitality Luki for the night - an usual practice. No one is that hateful and cruel that they would doom a lone traveller to the darkness that lurks at night. She had not much to offer, but stories about the ancient heroes she knew and fought alongside with - but for them, it was enough.