Pt. 2
After leaving Boltspumpkin, Pik and Desli's wanderings took them to the empty labyrinth of Mistmob, north again to the fortress of Princetomes where a few dwelled, east into the fortress of the Iron-Deep which was frozen in place early in the morning, disturbingly silent with its piles of icy corpses. North-east of there, in the hills around the mountains, they hunted down beasts, bandits and goblins alike. Rogue Hands of Planegifts roamed the hills, preying on travelers and attacking the pair on sight, so they were put down with relative ease.
Near the town of Paddleticks, they encountered a lone human pikewoman, and aging soul with long white hair and wrinkled skin. She stood guard for a bandit lord, but her own story was more interesting than simple thievery;
Neither Pik nor Desli had to their knowledge bitten anyone, and so they shared their curse only with each other. The weremammoths though had been terrorizing the countryside, which made them acceptable prey. The slaughter began there, with Themi, and continued with Ebdi in Paddleticks. A few days search of the surrounding region revealed no other werebeasts, but did turn up a few more bandits who put up little fight. The pair headed south-west again, seeking out Raki's victims. On the way, they met a pair of necromancers by the names of Lar and Kubuk in the otherwise abandoned Orbsmortals. Lar, a human woman, was quite talkative and friendly, but knew nothing of werebeasts in the area. Kubuk refused to speak until they had left. Returning to Boltspumpkin they asked around about Raki, and although stories of Raki's rampages were known, exactly who was cursed or where they may today be were not, besides the undead roaming around Scarletbronze. These were not only werebeasts but dead resurrected by Raki; the powerful beings Desli had had premonitions of years ago. Still, at the time she was alone save Engdul, and both were mere mortals. Pik and Desli together, as necromancers, undead and werejackals themselves, may fare better. Perhaps even have the advantage.
The decision was made, then, to return to their homeland. Following civilization south, they happened upon the long-forgotten cave of Suckechoes. Venturing into the darkness, the winding, confusing tunnels dripped with silver and copper laced water. Passages seemed to go on forever, so deep into the earth dwarves should have turned back, but the ceaseless hunters did not. Finally, somewhere between thirty and fifty stories beneath the earth, between the shadows of stalactites, a living shape loomed. A towering one-eyed humanoid rose from the floor and began swinging at the intruders, even as Pik's sword dug deep into her throat and became lodged. The monster collided into him, sending him reeling back against the stone floor, even as his shield struck her square in the jaw. Sword freed, yet lying on his back, Pik would make an easy target, if Desli had not entered the fray, burying her axe deep into her left arm. The cyclops fought viciously, swinging this way and that as Desli deftly dodged or parried every blow and reciprocated with her own, digging into the creatures lower back and legs, sending it crashing to the ground even as Pik inflicted yet another gaping wound in its throat. The cyclops gurgled and slumped to the floor, and never again moved from that spot. Nothing of value could be found in the cyclopes' lair, and the beast hunters made their way back to the surface world and continued onwards.
South and west they went, to the border of the Tundra of Heroes, but instead of crossing there, they chose a longer path, west across the mountains into the secluded valley of the Pristine Tundras, where the dwarven fortresses of Championvaults and Duskhome were built. The ancient fortress of Palacework they visited briefly in a premonition-dream, but it was a stupid place and that dream crashed after Pik was torn to shreds by invisible undead. Championvaults was all but deserted now, even the queen had abandoned the place, leaving only the mayor, captain of the guard, chief medical dwarf, and a single farmer. They passed on the opportunity to visit duskhome again, as it remained unchanged as well. So they marched south, through the ever-beautiful Merged Jungles, admiring the great glacial valley that separated the Bearded Horns from the Perfect Horns, crossing the great river and finally making it to the northern edge of the Sea of Blades a week later. Nothing had really changed her, in the wilderness of the south. Dingoes, deer, wolverines, wombats and owls were all still present in great numbers. The lone surviving necromancer in his tower at Glazedriven still hadn't written a single book and still refused to speak to Desli.
The pair looped around the west side of the sea, visiting the ancient abandoned fortress of Keyconjure, ensuring it was still, indeed abandoned and its dragon still lay dead. But they ventured deeper than previous adventurers, and in the fortresses vaults they discovered a horde of artifact treasures. Desli took a decorated steel battleaxe, and Pik a equally beautiful steel sword, and carried the rest, more artifact weapons, books, and an artifact grate, with them in their backpacks. The journey around the southern side of the Sea of Blades was scenic, but uninteresting. They even checked every known cave and lair, and found nothing to hunt. They climbed the mountains to the dwarven fortress of Deepvaulted high in the mountains. This place attracted hundreds of beasts, and so thick that Pik and Desli simply chose to leave without further investigation.
The full moon rose as they entered the hamlet of Dreamobeyed. To hide their curse, they fled, but not before being spotted by the lady of the hamlet as they walked back into the hills. So they ran. That night wandering the wild, they encountered a pack of creatures in the woods, a terrible sight.
A werehorse, a weremoose, a werecat and a howling freak stood in a clearing atop a hill and looked around at one another briefly. Suddenly, in unison they howled and charged, clashing violently. Pik stepped in and decapitated the moose, the cat and the freak in quick succession. The horse put up a fight, but eventually was cut down as well. They left the bodies on the blood soaked ground.
Shortly the pair returned home at last, to Stabbedechoed, to speak to old friends. Although most of those they knew were dead, the young were now old, but some recognized them. Those that survived the plague, many had turned to soldiering to combat the unrest. They were glad, though, at the stories of triumphs over night creatures and titans. The world outside at least was only somewhat less safe. They only stayed for a day, moving on to the north to search again for their prey. Nothing of note moved in the night in the woods between Stabbedechoed and Fluteplans, but it was there that they must cross the great river by swimming, as there were no more ferries and no new bridges. Pik made it to the other side, safely, but Desli was nowhere to be seen. Pik searched high and low, in the village and along the river banks, even when it was frozen over during the night, but after over a week of searching he never found Desli. He returned to Stabbedechoed, and asked there, but nobody had seen her there, either. Frustrated, Pik knew not what to do. He left for the island of clouting, where they intended to hide if they needed to. He built a small cabin there by a brook, and left a note for Desli, that he would return here after checking again in their hunting cabin to the north. He didn't make it far beyond Stabbedechoed before he encountered a night creature in the woods, and struck it down.
When Pik returned to Fluteplans, however, Desli was there waiting for him. Finally reunited, the pair returned to their task of hnting down weremammoths and other night creatures. They killed several bandits and bandit leaders, several howling freaks, bleak creatures and shadow creatures between Steammartyred and Scarletbronze. There on the outskirts of Scarletbronze they came upon a fell one. The fight was thankfully swift, and Pik and Desli stood victorious over the body. Over the next week they slaughtered half a dozen undead, bandits and yet another night creature while stalking the surrounding wilderness and the streets of the city. They continued the slaughter north and eastward through the heartlands of the Realm of Silver, all the way to and around Swordgleamed, where sane and lawful men dare not pass for fear of the bandit king's army. They killed four more night creatures, half a dozen bandits, and even a troll, before setting out across the Tundra of Heroes yet again, stopping at the towers of Combinedinsight to steal another tome of necromantic powers.
Their journey took them back to the museum, where they dropped the last of their trinkets on the second floor, before heading north into the wilderness, never to be seen again.
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Topic: Museum III, adventure succession game (DF 0.47.05) (Read 476004 times)