Leaving Ashcinders and heading northeast, we once again crossed the great river and found ourselves amidst the cluster of hillocks that the fort protected. We stopped by a couple to rest and gather information. I was in for quite the pleasant surprise in Vigorbronze.
Inside the civic mound we were greeted by a battle-hardened dwarf mayor. Beside her, she had two of the most charming beasts I have ever seen! She called them “voracious cave crawlers” and told me how they were taken from the deep caverns and trained. She was surprisingly open to my request to take one as a pet. For the last of my soup rations, she gave me one of the crawlers as well as a fascinating book to keep me occupied on the long road ahead. Apparently, it’s hard to find good food out here on the frontier!
I name my new cave crawler Tishisshis. He is a bit too slow to be a useful mount, but I’m sure he’ll be quite fearsome in combat.
A mighty beast found in the very deepest parts of the world. It is a slow but relentless hunter, efficiently devouring anything in its path.
The “feet” of the cave crawler are finely attuned to vibrations and in the absence of eyes allow the creature to detect any disturbance nearby. They are so sensitive that they may pick out their prey’s heart beating from sixty paces away. Perhaps surprisingly, crawlers are incredibly loyal and affectionate creatures once won over. They can distinguish the heartbeats of people they and even respond to emotions. As guard animals, they will fight to the death in defense of their owners.
Cave crawlers constantly secrete a thin, waxy substance from their underside. Dwarves are known to rub it in their beards to keep them healthy and supple. It is highly prized by them for these beneficial properties.
After days of travel, we reached the great river known as the Purged Loot which marks the borders of the Realm of Silver, largest of the human kingdoms. We crossed at night when the river froze over and headed for the nearby hamlet of Speechrags.
I entered the mead hall of Speechrags. Inside was a human woman, naked and scarred, with a wild look in her eyes. She screeched something like, “They’ve gotten in!” and charged at me! She ignored my attempts to communicate, and her attacks were easily dodged. Reloth and Tishisshis swiftly put an end to the madwoman before I could get anything else out of her.
We burned the body and left to investigate the peasant homes. A figure in the distance caught my eye, but as we approached it revealed a grotesque visage. The man looked to be a hunter and was mangled so thoroughly that I wondered how he could still walk. His nose was missing, leaving nothing but a gaping hole in his face beneath his dead, sightless eyes. Yet he did see us, somehow, and sprinted toward me with alarming speed. I brought up my whip, but the thing shrugged off bone-breaking blows as if they were nothing! I shattered its skull, but even with its brains spilling out, it came at me again! Tishisshis finally managed to end the creature by chomping its head clean off.
We continued towards the houses and were greeted by a scene of bloody chaos. Slick trails of gore spilled out of once-idyllic homes, and bodies littered the ground. In the distance, another human…-? tore away at an unconscious opponent. I backed away, but Reloth stood, transfixed by the scene.
“The Omon Blight.” She said, with a shudder. “I thought it was a myth.”
Eventually I was able to snap her out of it and we left that cursed place.
Heading north, the next hamlet we encountered was completely abandoned. No signs of struggle. The one after that, we found two old bodies, but no living residents. By then it was nightfall, but we braved camping in the wilderness rather than stay there.
The next day, we reached a castle with a large garrison of soldiers. We were happy to see some friendly faces. The soldiers were welcoming, if a bit grim. Unfortunately, they had done their best to avoid the blight and knew little more than us. All they could say was that it had suddenly swept through the kingdom, turning everyone it infected into bloodthirsty monsters. A single bite from the infected was enough to spread the disease, they said. All but the most cautious attempts to cull the blighted thralls would only bolster their numbers. And so, they stopped trying, cut themselves off from the outside world, and hoped to wait it out.
We continued onward. The castle dwellers may not be hopeful, but of they managed to hold off the infected there could be other survivors. We risked checking the hall in the next hamlet. Sadly, we were disappointed. Just more blighted thralls!
The thralls looked up from their colourful meal of troll viscera and charged us. I was able to shatter one’s foot and force it to the ground, but again my whip failed to land a killing blow. Tishisshis proved his worth again by biting of the head of the downed thrall. The other one proved more challenging, but we held fast. Eventually it succumbed to the many wounds inflicted upon it.
It seems the fiends can be slain through decapitation or thorough exsanguination. I may need to pick up an edged weapon if all these lands are so blighted. I also noted that the two thralls were, if not cooperative, at least non-aggressive with one another. A large group of them would be quite deadly indeed. I’m just glad the troll did not get up to join them. I’d rather not find out what such a brute could do with the unnatural strength bestowed by the blight.
On our way out of town, we ran into another maddened, naked survivor. He was standing catatonic out in the middle of a field. He did not respond when I called out to him but screamed and ran away as soon as we crossed his vision. Even if the blight has not claimed everyone, finding survivors in such a sorry state is almost more disheartening than finding none at all. I fear for these lands and what we may find beyond them.
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Topic: Museum III, adventure succession game (DF 0.47.05) (Read 430449 times)