Part 2
Eri traveled north-west, following the retreating storms, along the coast, and then the mountains. For two days travel there were no other signs of civilization. Just as the mountains turned westward, there was a valley, and deep in that valley lay a large stone structure; an ancient dwarven fortress. There was no sign of activity as Eri approached, nor any more once she had entered it. Deep below ground, when the stairs finally opened up into a room similar in size to a house, and revealed a tunnel, she came upon a single severed head. All through the rest of the halls was nothing. No living things stirred, except for Eri herself. There were few artifacts to loot, as well, reduced to a smattering of copper and silver gear back in the trade depot, old discarded foodstuffs, and too-small tattered clothing. "I wonder who built this place," she thought, "and what happened to it."
A few hours walk north was a volcano. The climb to the summit was exhausting, but rewarding. The view from the mountains was beautiful. She could make out in the distance where the treeline ended and the sea began. And she had never seen a volcano in person before. The descriptions she'd read didn't capture the calm elegance of the slowly churning lava. They did describe the smell correctly. With a head full of fumes, Eri slowly descended the mountains, and skirted the border of this realm and the next northwards again. Only a few hours walk away she spotted a clearing, and a structure built into it. When the trees parted on her arrival, she found a wooden fort. No guards patrolled the walls and towers. She let herself in.
Inside, the fort grounds were a scene of slaughter. Bodies and body parts strewn about where they had been slain by unknown hand. Not a single survivor remained to tell the tale. They were mostly warriors, as far as Eri could tell from their armor and weapons. But not up to the task of whatever cruel fate had befallen them. Indeed she began to feel the creeping suspicion, one of pure dread, that she was following in the footsteps of some monstrous killer of legendary make. The fort had been named Shipwheeled, according to a sign hanging from the wall outside. Eri fled, looking back only to see if some ghost would follow her. And indeed, one did.
Just a few more hours walk and she came upon a strange wooden wall built from local trees. No one seemed to be around to name it. So she crossed over its boundary where it ended, and continued again, and quickly came upon another stranger sight. A square trench surrounding a walled fort containing a series of buildings. Skeletons, impaled and tied in upright but grotesque positions adorned the entryway into the structure. A man waited a few yards away at the top of one of the hills overlooking it, so Eri joined him. "Greetings, I am Eri Silkenlands. What is this place?"
The figure turned to face her, and she looked upon the now-distraught face of Zar Evenchirped once again. "It is an evil place. I am Zar Evenchirped, a pleasure to meet you. I'm afraid I'm waiting for a friend to return from inside. I advise you do not follow in his footsteps. It has been many years since he left me, now."
"Wh-Why don't you leave? Go back to the others?" Eri thought about the town full of this man, how they almost crowded out the other folk in their numbers.
"I'm afraid I swore an oath to look after him. I followed him in, you see, but we became separated. There is only the one entrance, there, so I must wait and see."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Eri said, not quite wanting to meet his gaze. His demeanor was so unlike those she had met in Incenseordered, he was certainly a different man, here. Dutiful and wracked with guilt. "I suppose I should continue onward, then. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Eri saw another figure below, pacing slowly around the outside of the moat, so she descended the hill and hailed them. "Greetings, I am Eri Silkenlands. Can you tell me about this place?"
The figure turned, but looked at her with hideous false eyes of another creature entirely, grafted into the sockets that must surely be empty. The rest of its face was covered by some snarling bone mask, too large to fit yet firmly attached. Skulls of other nightmarish creatures were sewn into its shoulders, covered by scales. Every part of its body, it seemed, had something grafted to it, all of it on the verge of rot, but not quite turned. From it came a series raspy, deep, high pitched, and whispering voices, all speaking in unison. "This is the place of Weenie Le Puu," they said, "master of the flesh arts. I am Mokun, Chief Justiciar."
Horrified, Eri stood stock still, and could let out only a whimpered "Thank you."
"Good day," the figure turned back, and continued its route around the moat. Something, several somethings, writhed under the back of its cloak. Eri looked back up the hill, to see if Zar had seen this thing too. But he wasn't there. Eri decided to take the chance to leave as well, heading into the nearby woods, and traveling north-west.
The treeline ended again, as dusk fell across the face of the mountain range, this time covered in strange blue bubbles in place of grass and flowers. It seemed like such a peaceful place for a rest. In the morning She followed a brook further into the mountains, and encountered a strange sight; mountain gnomes.
"Hello?" Eri asked, "Have you names?" The beings did not respond, only looking at her with some curiosity and trepidation. Eri realized she had indeed seen creatures like this before, in the mead hall with the nobles, and in some of the huts in Incenseordered. But those ones had a cruel demeanor, waiting patiently for some misfortune. Eri left the silent creatures behind, and then climbed a ridge to get a better view. Another volcano waited, across only two more ridge lines and another brook. Several hours later, exhausted again, she sat on the hillside overlooking another inferno, almost identical to the last, she realized. The shape of the lava pipe was indeed very similar. It also sat a few stories below its surrounding ridges. "Maybe they're all like this," she thought.
After several more hours, Eri came down from the mountains, and traveled a more-or-less straight line east, towards the sea where rain clouds again formed. There she found a large inlet, and decided it was time to go for a swim. The waters were warm, like the air, unlike the cold of her home. A giant hamster scurried away into the woods after spotting her in the surf. That night she lay on the coast under a large tree, watching the storms in the distance. In the morning she continued following, roughly, the path of the coast northwards. Jumping spider men chittered at her passing from their nests in the trees.
In the forest, the sound of a rattlesnake alerted her to another creature, and Eri froze in her tracks, and slowly crouched down to the ground. A grizzly bear sow, but so massive and muscular it could surely topple any tree in the forest. It hadn't noticed her, distracted by the snake it had been pestering. Soon it grew bored and lumbered away from the poor serpent, and began digging at the roots of a tree. Eri realized, this was her opportunity to hunt the greatest beast she had ever dreamed. Her crossbow bolts surely would only stick inches deep in its thick hide. But the pike, that thing so astoundingly hard and sharp. It could pierce the creature entirely through, if she hit it hard enough. But she would have to go for the throat, the most guaranteed way to kill a bear quickly. Slowly, she inched up behind the massive animal, distracted as it was raiding some giant ant colony. Slowly, until she had a mostly-clear shot at its neck. She made her move, and plunged the pike with all her strength into the sow's throat, twisted it, and yanked it out. The beast let out a startled, gurgling grunt, and turned away from the sudden pain, before turning and searching for her attacker. Its eyes locked with Eri's, and it let out a blood-choked belch before charging her. Eri narrowly avoided being crushed under one paw, then another, before planting her pike firmly in this paw, causing the bear to rear back on its hind legs briefly to escape the bone-piercing wound, leaving an opening for Eri to plunge her pike again into the opposite rear foot. The bear came crashing down, nearly on top of her, pinning her pike, but now all the fight had left it, as it struggled to stand, and then crawl, only to slowly cease to shudder altogether as its life blood flooded the surrounding soil and turned it slick with pools and rivulets of red-brown mud. The beast lay dead.
Eri rested a moment, freed her pike from below the beast's belly, then quickly set to work. She wanted a trophy. Then she realized, she was going to have an entire wardrobe. Skinning the beast was nigh-impossible in one segment, butchering its corpse would take all day. Nevertheless, by dusk she had several sections of hide cut out, fitting her with a cloak, a shirt, a new hood, trousers, and a thong, drying in the sun. The skull of the beast was thick enough she could only enter it from where the vertebra connected, and she used the brains to complete the tanning process. Much of the meat was already being taken away by the remnants of the ant colony, now turning their predator into their feast. Eri worked around them, taking flexible bones to shape a new, lighter crossbow, strung with hide, and bolts shaved from the bear's massive femurs. She took its huge canines and carved them into fine daggers, and made of its tail vertebrae, the only ones small enough, rings to adorn an amulet of its finger bones and claws. When all the work was done, she still had plenty of meat to store away from the voracious ants.
Giant chipmunks were waiting on the edges of the clearing now, each nearly as big as her. Other scavengers would come, too. And so Eri left, and washed the blood off in a nearby river. The next morning was uneventful, though storm clouds slowly settled overhead. Eri was slowly reaching the northernmost point in the world, and realized she really wanted to be on the other side of the channel, where the other human civilization was. There was an island in the middle of the channel, just south of the narrowest straits. It would provide the shortest swim across the channel. Camping on the coast one night, she was awoken by a great splashing from the sea, and a loud thud behind her in the trees. Concerned she was being attacked, she took up her weapon and peered into the darkness where the crash had come from. Something thrashed violently on the ground at the edge of the jungle.
A weird shark? Had it somehow flung itself all the way up here, or did something else launch it? Nothing else was around. Eri settled on the former likelihood, and decided to put the poor creature out of its misery. The rest of her journey up the coast was uneventful. When Eri arrived at the narrowest point, she took the plunge. The waters were warm enough, and calm, the currents weak. Gently swimming, she arrived in only a few hours.
The far shore was at first an unremarkable jungle. Then the treeline opened up to reveal a field stripped bare of trees, some of it tilled. A small... workshop? And bodies. Old, decrepit skeletons. Of dwarves, it appeared.
In the hillside further back was a wide tunnel, which Eri felt compelled to investigate. She drew her pike and shield, and entered. Around the corner was a trade depot, the sort made by dwarves, behind it a pile of metal bars and bins. And a door. Beyond it was a narrow stairwell, going straight down into the earth. Far below, something moved. Eri called out to it, "Hello? I am Eri Silkenlands, who are you?"
A voice responded "I am Urdim Menglazed. Broker of this fortress!" A face peered back up at her from the darkness, old and wrinkled. "This is no place for mortal girls."
"I was merely curious about it, I encountered the entrance as I was using this island to cross the channel to the east lands," Eri replied, trying to ease his apparent worries. She crept down the stairwell to where the dwarf exited it and headed into another tunnel. When she saw him again, she tried to continue the conversation, but instead the dwarf turned and made a gesture in her direction. Suddenly, the animal skins Eri had been carrying came to life in her bag and fought the buckle open, bursting forth onto the floor behind her. They each in their hollow half-shape of the former animals they had been attempted to attack her, but she bashed them down with her pike until none moved. The dwarf here was apparently a necromancer. Other voices resounded in the darkness, and Eri realized it was time to leave. Slinking away back into the stairwell, she decided she would not leave these violent isolationists empty-handed after being attacked. She stole away into other rooms just below, and took from them a book and an artifact before heading back up the stairs and out the trade hallway, and escaping north into the jungle.
Now back in the wilderness, Eri felt more at home, and soon found abundant game to hunt. Giant lizards, butterflies, birds, and crabs inhabited the island, along with some seemingly normal deer. She took the skins of some of the animals to replace those the necromancer had raised, and this time treated them into parchment as best she could, and bound them with leather strips into quires. She hadn't decided quite yet what she would write, but now the opportunity was there, and the threat of a necromancer turning her backpack into a weapon against her was not. After spending a few days in the jungle Eri arrived on the northern coast of the island. Just as she was about to enter the surf a gang of seven wolf women, with one man among them, stopped her. The lead wolf woman stopped in front of Eri while the others waited to her sides, and Eri knew she would not be able to escape them, even through the surf, without a fight. And so many opponents would be beyond her ability to defend against. The beast woman spoke first, "who are you who have been hunting our game, and leaving it dead untouched, but taking their skins?"
Eri was unsure what they would believe but they clearly knew the human tongue, "I am Eri Silkenlands, a hunter. I needed skins to make books with, to write for my stories, of the places I have been and the beasts I have hunted. I hunted the giant bear whose pelt I wear, and other giant beasts besides. I did this for my people, we have a museum, that records these great hunts, and all we learn about the creatures of the world through them," she thought quickly, tying in a purpose and personal need, and then thought better of it, "I leave the carcasses behind because I am well-fed and know that beast peoples need the food themselves, and hunting without my weapons is dangerous and difficult work." Maybe she could pass off her poaching as a gift...
"We survive just fine, your trespassing is only destruction, of what is ours. Why should we not kill you... Human?"
"I-I can teach you of my techniques in trade. For the game. Who taught you our language?"
"Your "scholar" came to us long ago and taught us, it is the only gift we desired," one of the other wolf women spoke up from the back, "Mother, we should see what she has to offer. It might still be worthwhile."
"Fine. Show us how you make these "books," and your hides," the first woman acquiesced.
So Eri showed them the finished quires she had made, how they were used to make maps and record events. They were unimpressed, but allowed her to hunt one more deer with her crossbow, which interested them more. So she showed them how to craft the crossbow, and bolts, and a quiver from leather to carry them, and that satisfied at least some of them. It was something they could practice and make use of, which these nude, unarmed people did not otherwise have. Fat as some of the daughters were, they clearly didn't need it. She met some of the others of the tribe, where they met in the middle of the island. They had their own song and dance to entertain them, but they let Eri show them the art of the High Confederacies. She was a competent singer and dancer, after all. In the end, they were happy enough to let her go, but as she prepared to brave the surf again, with her sacks inflated with air, she was surprised to find three of them had followed her, and were now begging to go with her. Estre, the older daughter who spoke up for her, one other woman by the name of Horros, and a man named Geth.
Estre spoke "My mother and the other elders have agreed to let us come along with you on your journey. We wanted to see the rest of this world you described anyway. We want you to be our guide." They brought nothing with them, but that was little trouble compared to the task of bringing four people across the ocean safely, together, without a boat.
"How well can you swim?" Eri asked, "The tide might be treacherous, although the coast is long. It will take hours at least."
"We can run for hours, we should be able to swim for hours. We all know how to swim." The other two nodded beside her.
Eri thought quickly, "You will need bags full of air to help you float regardless. And something to keep us together." She spied a downed tree further down the beach. "There, if we can push that into the water and keep it going out, we can use it to guide us to the other side." It was a gamble, a struggle, but the only idea she had, not knowing how to build a boat. But she had rowed in one on the river before, when she was little. If they could get the log out to sea, they could use branches as oars, at least keep themselves partly above water. It wasn't big enough for all of them, but with her keeping it stable, she thought she could keep the teenager-sized wolf people upright on it. After several hours, and with the tide receding just in time, they pushed their makeshift raft into the surf and rode it, paddling as much with their feet as with its branches. As night fell over the sea and the tide pushed into the coast of the mainland, they were within arms reach of the shore, and swam the rest of the way in. Alive. Eri built a fire and they slept through the night in Elven lands.
For the next three days they wandered south-westwards, the elven forest retreats empty, but Eri kept their spirits up with what she knew definitely awaited them in the High Confederacies. The trip took them through abandoned hamlets and castles. Eventually, though, one mead hall proved to house civilized folk. Elven priests intermingled with Hands of Planesgifts clergy, and even a few goblins made themselves known. These people were fascinating enough to interest her charges, it was briefly relieving to take a back seat. But she didn't give up dancing and singing with them. They even enjoyed poetry, for various reasons. One figure they were most interested in meeting proved to be the wolf-king Maloy, one of their kind, however ancient. After a week's travel, they crossed the famous Razor Bridge, home to angels as well as others now, particularly the spooky, undead, headless sort that both fascinated and horrified. A goblin patrol at the south end of it that harassed them but stayed their hands for a few performances by the group. Mostly, they were just bored with their wandering the wilderness.
Their eventual arrival in Incenseordered was heralded with much excitement and anticipation. And Eri could finally relax.
Maloy, thankfully, was in a more sociable mood than last time, though annoyed somewhat by being something of a tourist attraction, a celebrity for these outsiders to gleefully interrogate. Their biggest questions revolved around his origins, his rise to power, and how, according to everyone, he had been in power for so long. That he was centuries old and possessed of magic powers deeply interested them. His and Eri's warnings about the perils and pitfalls of necromancy at least appeared to stifle their enthusiasm. Maloy was grateful, at least, for Eri's report of the northern lands. The bear-man necromancer was indeed still hiding in the north, with his abominations. The group left Incenseorder some time later after visiting some of the other homes there. Then they arrived in Clenchportent. The nobility of the place had not changed at all. When the group entered, someone in the back exclaimed "You brought King Maloy! Finally!" The law-giver however stated flatly, "none of you are King Maloy. What have you brought us, woman?"
"These are my traveling companions, Estre, Horros, and Geth," Eri replied. "Maloy is still in his keep, but he has been informed of the situation. We were on our way to the museum at Boltspumpkin, now."
"Which one of them is the lord of this hamlet?" Estre asked. Before Eri could explain, the law-giver interrupted, "There is none. This hamlet is not organized, only we reside here. I am law-giver, and this is my throne."
"Maybe you should be lord, Eri." Estre suggested. "Then the place would at least have an organization."
"Of course!" the law-giver exclaimed. "Someone to deal with interruptions, that you're so fond of creating. You will be our Lady. Eri is it?"
Eri cursed under her breath while nodding to the affirmative.
"Well, when you're done with your vacation, come back and help get the place in order."
Eri knew the law-giver's word was, after all, law, and the law to which she as a citizen of the High Confederacies must abide. She glared at Estre, but the wolf-woman seemed not to understand. They stepped outside again, Eri having forgotten exactly what she intended to do here for the time being. The wolf-people seemed somewhat excited by the exchange, suddenly. "Looks like you've gotten me a permanent job. In the nobility, nonetheless. I suppose that you should become my hearth person." She jabbed at Estre's shoulder.
"What does that mean?" Horros asked.
"That she get's to be my bodyguard and law-enforcer, to do as I say."
"I actually don't like the sound of that," Estre said sheepishly. Eri just rolled her eyes.
"I heard someone mention that we looked like a 'performance troupe,'" Geth interjected before any more arguments could break out. Maybe we could form one of those."
"That sounds better to me at least," Eri admitted. It didn't mandate that they had to perform but... "I'll go with that. I'd rather sing and dance for myself than for the nobles."
Geth looked at her excitedly "Is that what they do? I'd like that actually."
The women weren't convinced. Horros mumbled something, and Estre shook her head and thought for a minute before saying "No, I actually wanted to see this museum and learn what the scholars there know."
They spent the night tossing possibilities back and forth around a fire.
A few days later, they found themselves at the base of the mountains west of there, south of goblin lands. An ancient fortress had caught their attention, and they'd insisted on investigating though Eri assured them the fortress had been ruined for centuries at least. But they hadn't seen dwarven settlements at all. Hence they visited Pillartraded. The Exterior of the fort was cookie-cutter for the ancient dwarves; a square building two stories tall and more than a hundred yards to a side. The ceiling was seemingly natural stone. The entrance was hidden in a corridor too narrow for trade wagons to pass, though the trade depot was accessible directly inside it. At the center was a smaller room in which was a ramp heading down into the earth. With trepidation, the wolf people followed Eri down into the darkness. The ramps spiraled downwards for may stories, and the group quickly lost track of just how deep they were. There were intermittent shrines dedicated to dwarven religions with statues and pedestals for divination dice. Eventually, the ramp-way opened up into two wide, paved tunnels going off into the distance. Just below that was another room, wider than a shrine and lacking a statue. A single smoothed tunnel led off into the earth. It narrowed, turned, and after some distance ended in a door. Behind it was a room full of trade goods and materials of all sorts, scattered in piles across the floor. On the opposite wall was another door that led into another narrow hall, and in the corner left of that door was another that led to a second large room, with stacks of apparently still-viable food left on the floor, with another door that opened again into a narrow hall.
"Alright," Eri said. "We'll go back to the store room there, and you all grab some clothing and weapons. We've been getting a lot of bad comments about you guys running around naked, it makes people think you're raiders from the wild tribes come to kill them."
"Why are they so scared if we're naked?" Horros asked, "We don't have weapons. We never hurt anyone."
"Because there are wild tribes here too, and they attack and eat people, often. And they never wear clothing or bring weapons."
"We are part of a wild tribe," Geth reminded her. "So we have to hide our heritage to make people feel better?"
"Yes. Because people in the towns think naked people are dangerous and crazy. King Maloy wears armor. People listen to him, they always have. You at least have to wear clothes in town. So we don't get attacked. So let's find some things that are at least comfortable to wear. And weapons. I'll show you how to use them as bet I can."
The wolf people grumbled, but followed Eri back to the storeroom and started digging through the piles. They unanimously settled on skirts for leg wear, coats and cloaks and tunics or vests for body wear, and socks for footwear. They did immediately have a sense for the best craftsdwarfship, and chose finely decorated items where available. Next they sought weapons. While Geth found a quite practical scimitar, the two women chose whips - weapons which Eri couldn't even begin to instruct them in. They all chose silver, as well, a poor material for weaponry to begin with. Eri was tired, however, and was willing to let them learn this lesson on their own. Their next lesson had come up; divination dice. Eri had mentioned that the dice provided the will and blessings, or punishments, of the gods already. Apparently, Horros wanted to test her luck. Eri Showed her how to roll the die properly, by doing it herself. When the die came to a stop, its face showed a narrow crescent. A pet? A giant cave toad hopped up the ramp behind them, walked right up to Eri with its awkward gate, and blinked with its awkward frog-eyes. Eri reached out her hand and the animal eagerly nuzzled it and groaned.
"That's amazing!" Horros exclaimed, almost jumping with excitement. The others were now watching eagerly, too. Horros quickly repeated the steps, with Eri's help, rolled the die, and again it landed on the narrow crescent. Suddenly beneath her feet a shape emerged and grew and stretched until it was as tall as she had been, before she landed on her backside on the stone floor beside it. The thing looked at her with beady, unblinking eyes. Its skin was pink and wrinkled. Arms ending in grasping claws stretched from its shoulders. But below its waist was not just one pair of legs, but also a long cylindrical body, another pair of legs, and a long tail tapering to a stubby end.
"What the fuck is that." Eri said out loud.
"You're the one that should know!" came Geth's voice. He and Estre had drawn their weapons now, while Horros scrambled to her feet.
"Its the same symbol, it should like you like the toad does, it should be friendly," Eri reminded them. Horros looked at her with fear, as if she had been betrayed, before gathering her courage and facing the beast that was sniffing at her curiously.
"My name is Horros," she said. With a shaky hand outstretched, she continued, "Your friend."
The beast sniffed at her hand before reaching up with its hands and grabbing it, pulling her towards its face to the horror of the onlooking trio. Then it began cooing and licking her hand. After a moment of silence, they all laughed nervously. Whatever it was, it did indeed seem fond of Horros, and like the toad, not unfriendly towards the others. Like tamed animals. "You guys should try too!" Horros said, stroking her weird pet's face. It didn't seem to be intelligent in any real sense.
Geth and Estre exchanged looks, before Estre acquiesced. "Fine, hopefully I won't get something too ugly though."
She picked up the die, said the prayers, and rolled it. It stopped on an image of a shining sun. Estre stood there staring for a moment, before she felt a sinking feeling in her gut and surged helplessly towards the floor, smothered by something she couldn't quite name. Freeing her face from the confines, feeling altogether wrong in too many ways, she looked up to meet her motionless, seemingly gigantic companions.
"Oh my goddess I'm so sorry!" Eri whimpered, putting her hands over her mouth.
"You're a bird!" Horros exclaimed in shock. She only knew she could tell it must be Estre because she watched her body transform into the thing. Shrinking and warping and twisting. Every other sense she had pointed to her having been replaced.
Geth went from stony, rapturous silence to mad cackling. Suddenly overcome, he toppled to the floor rolling with laughter. "I swear it should only last a week! The inscription promises its not permanent!" Eri shouted over him.
Estre had no words of her own, all of them caught in her throat, the only sound that could escape was a half-baked squawk. She sat motionless, shaking on the floor under her pile of clothes.
"I'm sorry," wheezed Geth from the floor nearby. "I'm so sorry I can't-" He began coughing before calming himself. When he regained his composure and sat up he continued, "I thought you were dead, but then I saw you moving and I thought you were a baby! But then you clucked. You're a bird, Estre. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."
Estre glared at him from her perch on the stone, squawked once more, and looked at the base of the pedestal.
"Your turn Geth." Horros said flatly.
"Ok. I will." The wolf man hoisted himself off the floor and stepped over to the pedestal above Estre. Horros picked her up saying, "It's okay, I'll carry you. Geth you get to carry her things until she's better."
Geth mumbled under his breath, picked up the die, and said the prayer. Releasing the die on the pedestal, it bounced off the face, onto the floor and landed with a square faced upwards. Geth was overcome with a sinking dread now, and he knew it wasn't just guilt.
"Cursed. Bad luck for a week." Eri was leaned over the pedestal, reading the inscription. An the Library of Lathering had spoken.
Once Geth had stored Estre's things, there was one more adventure the trio had been asking to have here. They wanted to see the caverns. They descended back down the spiral and came out where the tunnels trailed off into the dark. Eri begged them to stay close. She had never seen the underground her self, only heard stories of it. Horror stories. They proceeded off on the right tunnel, and walked for what seemed like it must have been miles. Occasionally they left the path, only in short spurts, to view the cavern beyond, where it showed through cracks in the tunnels, but there was nothing but mud to be found. Not even a single beast. Eventually it turned right, and Eri noticed an odd smell. Like brimstone and smoke. Further down, a red glow slowly became apparent ahead of them. Realizing what she was seeing, Eri halted them, and then ordered them to turn back. "Lava." She said, "a volcano must have pierced the tunnel. We have to leave."
The long march back seemed almost longer. They all were growing tired, and hungry, but knowing the tunnels were unsafe kept them all going. The giant cave toad got left behind, but Eri convinced them it was safe enough to go back for it. Eventually, leading the tired animal to the surface, they collapsed at the trade depot. There was seemingly good food left in it, so they all ate some, and drank heavily once they reached the nearby stream. Estre had learned to walk and run well enough.
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Topic: Museum III, adventure succession game (DF 0.47.05) (Read 473551 times)