Part V:A Longer Than Expected Journey10th of Felsite, 354The sun was already high in the eastern sky, clear of clouds, when Ova, Rin and Datan began their journey to the south. The night at the Fruit of Letters had been longer than intended (dwarven wine certainly played a part in that), and after a hard day of felling trees, they had been very exhausted. The night was almost halfway through when they finally went to sleep.
It was quite cold when they clambered up the grassy, wooded eastern slopes, taking a final look at Waterlures. It would be some time before they were back.
They soon reached the Dune of Influencing: a desert of silt and stone.
There they saw a flock of snow geese scrounging desperately for anything to eat around boulders of chert. When the geese noticed the companions, they quickly scattered and flew away.
Fortunately they didn't have to spend much time in the cold desert and soon the surroundings changed to the thick arrow bamboo, highwood and ginkgo forest of the Forest of Constructing. The forest floor was full of edible vegetation, yet the grapes and beans were not ripe at this time of the year.
Ova picked a handful of red spinach, cramming it in his backpack. It would serve as a sidedish for the stew he still had left.
However, their passage to the south was blocked by a rather wide and fast flowing river. There was no easy way over: they would have to head upstream to find a place to cross.
There was something on the river bank which caught Ova's eye.
A copper arrow.
Somebody had been hunting here.
Ova picked it up. It was still in good shape.
He put it in his quiver with the rest of his arrows.
As they walked along the river bank, they noticed some carp in the water.
The companions had just left the bamboo forest into the Strong Prairie when they noticed two very aggressive looking wolf women ahead of them. As the wolf women began to charge towards them, mouths slavering, Ova yelled, “There is no need to fight! Let us end this madness!”
The wolf women didn't listen.
Ova didn't wait and acted quickly. He fired an arrow at one of the wolf women lunging towards Datan, who had drawn his steel pick and was ready to face the onslaught.
The arrow struck true, straight in the chest where the heart lies! However, there is only so much a grown wood arrow can do: it was merely a bruise. But it was enough, for Datan struck the wolf woman from the side with his pick in a mighty blow that severed the feral animal persons head!
The second wolf woman fared no better: in mere moments she was down on the ground, helpless, being whacked and hacked by Datan's pick. Blood and viscera (along with severed limbs) soon coated the meadow-grass around the wolf woman's lifeless body.
It was a gruesome sight to behold.
“How fleeting life is...” Ova said as he lowered his bow.
I must not succumb to fear, he thought, trying to stave off the fear taking hold of him. Yet, despite being afraid, the mandrill man wasn't moved one way or the other by the deaths he witnessed.
They managed to find a spot to cross the river. They had anticipated that they would need to travel further to get across.
Now it was only a matter of heading south.
But their journey was cut short: more wolf men. It seemed that the Strong Prairies were teeming with them.
However these wolf men fared no better than the previous ones.
This time Ova didn't waste time in trying to calm things down, but drew his steel battle axe and sprinted to meet the wolf men. The first was struck down with only a couple of blows.
“Help! Save me!”, screamed a wolf woman who was facing Datan, steel pick already bearing down on her. The pick struck the wolf woman in the chest, digging deep and embedding in the wound. The wolf woman gasped for air as Datan pulled the pick out, a splurt of blood gushing from the gaping wound.
Severed limbs flew around and wolf man guts were spilled.
Two of the wolf people were decapitated in succession by Ova's axe as Datan dodged the desperate attacks of a third one.
Rin's axe got to taste blood, too, when he brought the blade down in a swoop, cutting the wolf man on the ground in half.
The last wolf woman fled in panic, leaving a trail of blood behind.
The companions did not follow. The wolf woman was certain to succumb to her wounds.
Ova looked at the map he had been given by Kasat.
It was not that long a way to the monastery. Maybe a couple of days or so. If luck was on their side, they might reach Lonecanyons -- a small hut constructed some years back -- before nightfall and rest there.
They passed through the Cremated Jungle -- yet another forest of bamboo and highwood.
The weather had changed: the sky was dark gray with thick clouds and a thin mist shrouded the forest. It was cold and the dampness made it even worse still.
Once they were out of the forest, they came to a river. They sat down at the river bank to eat, drink and fill their waterskins from the stream.
It was late night when they reached the grounds of Lonecanyons.
However, the place was not unoccupied: a short-headed dwarf lady rushed to meet them, her long braided hair waving in the chill night breeze.
She introduced herself as Kol Tombsnights and said that she and her husband Thob resided in this place. The travelers were welcome to stay here for the night, if they so wanted. And the companions accepted the offer.
11th of Felsite, 354It was a rainy day as their journey took them through the Ochre Hill. The companions expected to reach Silveranguished before the end of the day.
Unless, of course, they faced setbacks on the way.
Once they reached the Hills of Sloth, the Russet Points towering to the west of them, they new they were nearing their destination.
It was not a long walk to the monastery from here, if they had read the map correctly.
Indeed.
Just on the border of the Hill of Sweetness and the Regal Desert, on the other side of a river, they saw several buildings in the distance.
This had to be Silveranguished.
They crossed the stretch of silty desert riddled with rock salt to the first building they saw: a temple of some kind.
It was probably the Helmed Shrine. A temple dedicated to Messthos.
As they entered the temple, a strikingly familiar statue greeted them.
It depicted a capybara man -- garbed in common Waterlures attire -- making a plaintive gesture. What they could surmise from it was that the capybara man in question was being cursed by Messthos with vampirism (judging by the elongated teeth).
Could it be true? Was this the Zas they had heard tales of? A vampire?
But there had been no mention of bloodsucking monsters from the others...
Regardless, they continued inside in hopes of finding the abbot.
The temple was devoid of life. Only some books lay in the inner sanctum, which the companions left be. They did not want to cause trouble or anger Messthos by defiling the shrine's sanctity.
However, another building -- possibly the dormitory -- housed a group of dwarves.
Finally.
But when Ova began questioning the dwarves where he could find the abbot, the answer was disheartening.
These dwarves were no monks. They were simple peasants sheltering here. The monastery was abandoned for the time being -- possibly a result of the war.
However, the dwarves suggested that the companions head to Inkedwhims. It was certain that somebody there was a member of the Armored Faith.
Ova sighed, turned to Rin and Datan, and said, “I guess we'll be off to Inkedwhims then. At least it isn't that far. We should reach it before the sun sets.”
Ova's estimation was wrong, though.
It was already dark when they finally reached Inkedwhims, their legs sore of the traveling and bodies eager to get some sleep.
Their first order of business was to head to the Honeys of Paint -- the local tavern and inn. A good night's rest was in order before they would continue their search for the abbot and monks of the Armored Faith.
Ova's JournalFelsite 15th, 354
“We've been several days now at Inkedwhims. This place is a maze. Twisting tight corridors turning left and right. Not much space to give way when someone wants to pass you. Luckily the main passages are wide. More room to breathe. Though the air underground is heavy and smells musty.We didn't find the abbot. We looked and looked. Rin and Datan seemed a bit frustrated and discouraged. I said we should keep looking. Good thing too: we found monks of Messthos who were ready to come and help us at Waterlures, abbot or not.Funny thing is, they weren't of the Armored Faith, they were of the Armored Cult. Dedicated to Messthos and all. Either Kumil gave us the wrong name or there is two sects with almost the same name. The latter is probably true. The locals did recognize the name of the Armored Faith, after all.Five monks: Vabôk, a dwarf, and clearly a leader type. He swore they'd do their best to safekeep us. Asmel, a hoary marmot woman. She seems like a competent one despite her small size (though, she doesn't seem so keen on jokes and such). Unib, another dwarf. Bald head and all (he has a beard, so not all shaven!). Then there were two elephant persons: Eman, very muscular, and Song. I'm not so sure about them: they seemed a bit...off.However, Vabôk assured they were trustworthy. I will have to trust his judgment on this.Anyway, we'll be heading back now. Hope the trip home goes smoothly.”
And so the group, now eight in size, headed towards Waterlures.
They passed through the hillocks of Swordwordy, Tombsrained and Relicstaves before entering the Hill of Sweetness -- the first leg of the journey.
As the sun began to set they arrived at Lonecanyons, where they once again spent the night.
16th of Felsite, 354The next day was rather uneventful.
Once again they had to make a detour to get across the wide river. When they had made their way over, they followed the river downstream and stopped for a meal under the shade of a sand pear tree.
The day continued without issue. Ôsed was truly watching over them this time. And Messthos, Messthos too guarded them -- one must not forget.
And as the day was nearing its end, so too, was their journey ending: in the distance, at the northern tip of the Lakes of Saturnity one could see the tower of Waterlures' library stretching to the skies.
“Welcome to Waterlures!”, Ova exclaimed in delight, taking a deep breath of the breeze blowing from the lake as he walked down the slope the others following.
“Here we see the--”, Ova was pointing to the recently finished stables when he was interrupted by Eman's yelling.
“A beast! A fight! I cannot stand by!”, the elephant man bellowed rushing to the south, the other monks following and roaring battle-cries.
Confused, Ova turned to look what was the issue, the cause of sudden anger and panic. Were they too late?
No. It was just a flock of giant peach-faced lovebirds that had landed next to the lake, minding their own business. Until now.
The monks with the aid of Rin managed to put down two of the giant birds before the rest managed to make a hasty retreat into the skies.
“I guess Kib'll be cookin' some lovebirds this evening,” Datan laughed.
Ah, home. Peaceful home.
But would the peace last?
=====
Took a bit longer than expected, but managed to pull the trip through today.
I had to change the Armored Faith to the Armored Cult since I couldn't find any place where you could create a character with it as their sect. (Wasn't really surprised that the monastery didn't have monks. Can't remember if I've ever seen anything but 'outcasts' in them.)
Tested unretiring. There were a bit of more issues this time, but nothing that couldn't be handled. For instance, half the adventure mode created characters were "traveling" (easy to fix by taking control of them and retiring them back at Waterlures).
There's still one hostile on the map. Different one this time, tho.
Oh, and I found out what was the mystery ambush and cause of death of the random human. Apparently the game had decided to teleport a forgotten beast from the caverns when I entered Adventure mode. Hate it when that happens (especially when the caverns haven't been breached!). Fix: teleport beastie back into the caves, since it was still on the map when unretiring the fort.
Other than that? Didn't spot anything out of the ordinary.
The next couple days I'll probably do other stuff, and after it I'll do the unretirement cleanup and see what happens.
Oh. And by bringing these monks to the fort our population went to 51. I guess I remembered our population wrong before bringing them. So, I just might have hastened the coming of danger, oops.
...Also, I made most plants gatherable in Adventure mode (used some Adventurecraft stuff and some from my own 'personal' moddings).