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[brewer bob]

Part X:
A Decision Is Made



18th of Obsidian, 370

The sun was setting behind the clouds in the west as the companions set camp at the shores of the Lakes of Saturninity, a short distance to the southeast of Waterlures.

“This constant snowfall is beginning to get quite annoying,” Ova said as he pulled his leather hood tighter over his head, “Despite all my years living in Waterlures, I'm still not used to it.”

“Hah! Wait for it. We're headed south, so it'll get ever the colder,” Rin laughed as he huddled closer to the fire Suwu was making. “You know, I'm all for this 'let's do some good' business and all -- bringing peace and such,” the goblin said, rubbing his hands before stretching them over the flames, “But you know what? Discord is a part of life. It'd get awfully boring without it, but still we got to learn to live together.”

“I very much disagree with that!”, Ova replied looking slightly upset by the statement, “We should all be as one. Work together. There is no need for all this struggling. Why don't we end this suffering?”

Cañar nodded approvingly. Rin noticed it and continued, “Well, you're wrong in that one. Strife and conflict are a healthy part of society and--”

“Oh, don't waste my time with this drivel!”, the mandrill man interrupted. He didn't really want to get into this argument again with Rin. It was something that they had gone through more than once, and he'd rather not have it happen again.

“Will you two cut it out?”, Suwu snapped. She didn't want to listen to this now. She was tired and hungry, eager to rest for the night, “We have a long ways to go tomorrow if we want to reach the hillocks of Tradeplay before nightfall.”

“Fine. Let's drop this then,” Rin replied extending his hand to Ova as a sign of truce. Ova shook the goblins hand as Suwu began to hum and sing the song 'Amethysts'.

Rin joined in imitating the uzo, only to make a mockery of it with his shameworthy performance.




19th of Obsidian, 370

The following day the companions traveled through the Dune of Influencing, followed the broad river east and upstream to a fordable part where they crossed it before they could continue their journey south towards the hillocks of Tradeplay.

They stopped in the Forest of Constructing to hunt in the bamboo woods for they had not taken much supplies with them.

The weather was warmer in the region. There was no snow here, but it didn't mean that the sky was clear. No, it was gray and cloudy here, too, and instead of gentle snowfall a heavy rain drenched the companions as they searched for prey in vain.

But despite not finding any game, they managed to forage quite the bunch of edible plants.




In the Ochre Hill, as they were nearing Tradeplay, a flock of giant keas was found. The companions made quick work of the foul green feathered menace, Suwu and Ova pelting them with arrows before they managed to fly away, and Rin finishing them off with his short sword.

Giant kea was on the menu!



Ova and Rin competed who had killed more giant keas as Suwu butchered the despicable avians, taking their skulls as trophies.




It was evening when the companions arrived at the hillocks of Tradeplay nestled in the Ochre Hill.




They headed to the local drinking mound, or what they thought was one due to the reek of old alcohol and drunk dwarves. It was a rather small place, the air heavy and sweaty.

Suwu began recounting stories of Edu, starting with how they climbed up the slopes of the volcano named the Fires of Yelling. She thought it only fitting that the hill dwarves knew of Edu, who had been an important part of those of Waterlures who had kept these hillocks safe.



Suwu's stories were of the highest quality and the drunk dwarves listened to them with interest: of how the giant coyotes attacked them  in the Full Field , how Edu became 'lord' of Lonecanyons, how he settled in Waterlures and raised a family, only to be struck down by a wicked werebeast in his late years.

After the stories, they asked the drunkards if the locals had faced any troubles, but there were none. Tradeplay was a peaceful and safe place.



They went from mound to mound, telling the same stories and asking the same questions, yet the answer was always the same: there were no troubles.

It was good to hear that the hillocks counted as lands of Waterlures were safe.

Finally they entered the civic mound when the last rays of the sun fell from the west. They were quite astonished to see that there were not only dwarves, but animal people too: weasel folk and more of the kin of the capybara people of Waterlures!



More stories were told before Suwu discussed with the local leader Edëm, asking about life in the hillocks and if they needed any help.

But there was no need for help or heroes here.

So the companions asked permission to stay in the hillocks for the night before they headed to the surrounding settlements.




20th of Obsidian, 370

The following day they traveled to the next hillocks: Obeygates.

And at the civic mound the same stories were told before Suwu spoke with the one who had appeared to be the local mayor.



But there were no immediate threats facing Obeygates, either. However, mayor Likot told that a long, long time ago his uncle, one Kivish Syruptorch, had been kidnapped from the hillocks of Syrupbeard by a goblin named Song Ghoultops.

It was a name that Ova and Rin recognized: the same goblin who had abducted relatives of Datan the dwarf!

Alas, the whereabouts of this evil snatcher were unknown. Still, Song could be alive and somewhere to be found -- assuming the viciousness of goblin-life hadn't seen her killed or murdered -- for goblins, like elves, were immune to the ravages of time.



As the companions were preparing to say goodbye, the mayor coughed into his fist, and spoke, “Well... There is one thing,” he paused and continued when the attention of the travelers was turned to him, “I have, uhm, lost a family heirloom, which I would dearly love returned to me. A large copper cap, an artifact named 'Lurchblind the Dishonest Dot', is missing...”

The companions five looked at him with expectation.

“It has come to my knowledge -- from travelers like you -- that it had been seen in the possession of Snodub Crossterrors. He's a dwarf, mind you, despite his name. Yes, a goblin name,” the mayor explained, “And he resides in Inkedwhims. You surely know of that place, the capital, eh?”

Suwu and the others nodded. Rin rolled his eyes.

“If you could retrieve it to me, I would be very grateful,” the mayor said with a wide smile.

“We will see what we can do,” Suwu replied, bowing her head slightly.

“Wonderful! I would go first looking for it in the Competition of Fences, a local guildhall. That is where Snodub is said to frequent.”





In the civic mound of the hillocks of Rope-entries, after telling the stories of Edu, the companions finally heard of troubling things, of tasks worth to investigate:

Skulking vermin -- “The work of kobolds certainly!”, in Rin's words -- had pestered the locals from a place called Clobberpulls located somewhere in the Playful Hills; a marauding warband coming down from the Static Dunes, from an encampment called Sensesfiends, threatened the existence of Rope-entries; a titan from a time before time, twisted by the evil that entered and changed the Enchanted Dimensions, had killed forty-nine in its lust for death and was said to make its lair in the Dignified Swamps; and finally, there were rumors of foul deeds and goings-on over at the tower of Finderblunts.

All worthy goals for would-be heroes and guardians of the innocent.

However, there was one more hillocks to visit before they would make their decision of what to pursue first.

Their next stop: Granitehatchet.





The same stories were told in the civic mound of Granitehatchet. But unfortunately Suwu had eaten a bit too much before telling the tales and had to interrupt her recountings once in a while to retch.

It is not the wisest of things to tell stories when nauseous.

The hillocks of Granitehatchet had no worthy quests to offer the adventurers. It was a relief to hear that most of these hillocks expecting Waterlures to give them safety were, in fact, safe.





The companions made their way east from the hillocks, setting up camp at the bank of a stream as the sun began to set.

They had a decision to make: which would be their first goal? What would be a worth-while venture? What would benefit the people? And it had to be something that mighty Mestthos would deem as fit for his heroes, his bulwarks against the machinations of the Prince.

“All manner of folk wanting books to be returned: 'Could It Be Surveying?' wanted back in the Wise Treasury of Inkedwhims by a fellow named Zuntîr Trailspears,” Lòr began listing what they had learned, “Supposedly it was last in the Sanctuary of Geniuses.”

“I believe that's in Fencereined,” Suwu explained, continuing, “It's a library. In a fortress, founded by... What was it's name?” Suwu thought hard. It was something Tekkud had told her, well, when they had been at the Hut of Romancing for that somewhat awkward long date.

“Ah yes, the Mighty Ship! A kingdom of dwarves of yore. Now fallen into ruins and Fencereined controlled by the elves of Múya Loré,” she exclaimed somewhat excitedly that she remember the whole thing.

“Well, we're certainly NOT going to hunt for some dusty tomes that might or might not be in decrepit book-crypts,” Rin grimaced in disgust, continuing hastily when he noticed the expressions of the others, “I mean, that's hardly something that will help lift Lòr's curse or bring peace to the world...”

Cañar interjected, “Written words can be powerful weapons, Rin. But...” the elephant man paused for a moment, “But you are correct: retrieving codices is not something the gods would deem as heroic deeds.”

Suwu and Ova nodded approvingly.

“True,” Lòr said, “I was merely going through all that we heard.”



Rin walked away from the campfire, looking down the ravine where the stream flowed under the sheet of ice. He looked at the small frozen waterfall, thinking. The others were continuing the discussion around the fire. He heard them pondering all the options.

The tower. That's it. That's what they should go for, Rin thought. Sure, it would be dangerous. Maybe they wouldn't make it. He had heard much stories of the evil sorcerors residing there. The powerful sorcerors.



“You know?”, Rin raised his voice so that the others could hear him, “If we want to get the most out of this, to reach what we're striving for, we'll have to work for it.”

Cañar turned his attention to the goblin, “Well said, friend. I agree.”

“And retrieving objects for gods-know-who isn't much of work. We'll have to go for something big,” Rin continued as he began to make his way back to the fire.

“Go on,” Ova said.

“The tower. Finderblunts,” he said, excitement beginning to take over, “We'll put an end to the wickedness residing there. I have heard and seen what they have done. Foul, nasty things. Evil, wicked. Even the goblins of the dark kingdoms would envy them.”

Cañar stood up, his eyes shining with anticipation. Ova and Suwu did not look as sure. And Lòr swallowed: the thought was frightening. Yet it might be that something... Something Mestthos might be wanting from him. To prove his worth in the eyes of the god.

And maybe, just maybe, with it remove the curse.




21st of Obsidian, 370

And so a decision was made.

The following morning the companions set their eyes on the north, retracing their steps back to the wide river, crossing it at the ford, coming to lands they were not so familiar with as they entered the Tressed Steppes: a grass covered land with not many a tree.



They followed the river upstream all the way to the Teal Swamps where it was not as wide. By that time the sun was high in the western sky, but fortunately it was a clear day, and the mire was not as dismal a place.

Among the reeds and cattails they saw many flocks of white storks. It was a beautiful sight and they took it in happily (well, most of them anyway). A swamp was not a bad place devoid of life -- that was obvious to the capybaras. No, it was a rich place, abundant with all manner of Ôsed's creations. A treasure trove of sorts.

It was good that there were no dwarves among them. Oh, the complaints the bearded ones would have voiced constantly in such a place!




When they reached the shores of the Water of Cruelties -- or what they presumed to be the foul lake they had heard stories of -- the weather was much colder and the land was covered in snow. Here one was reminded that it was winter still.

Ova and Cañar were discussing about the horrors of war, how people had been forced to seek refuge after the forces of Múya Loré had come. It was horrible business and they all very much agreed that bringing peace and putting an end to all the madness was something to strive for.

Even Rin, who was a rather chaotic person, thought so. War was different than the balance between harmony and discord.

But it was Suwu of them all who was of a differing opinion: it had its uses. After all, it was during war when heroes were made, when unbelievable deeds were accomplished against all odds. That is what the epics and songs were all about.

“I don't know what to say,” the elephant man said to Suwu's remarks. And the others, they too looked at Suwu in a disapproving manner, which made her uncomfortable.

She dropped the argument, but it made her bitter: the others never understood her stance. Not in Waterlures, and not here during this adventure.

But they would eventually understand.

=====

Surprisingly little combat happened despite traversing savage regions. Ain't complaining.

The animal people in Tradeplay are an experiment I made just before setting on the adventure. Made a bunch of them into that hillocks and thought to see will they eventually do stuff on their own. Made them also fertile/changed their orientation, but doubt they'll breed on their own.

I was originally intending to head towards the capital, but the stuff about Finderblunts changed my mind. It's actually quite near to the place (bandit camp) where Rin, Odda and the pilgrims started. Can't remember if the foul-doers mentioned during the pilgrims' voyage are the same as the ones who reside in Finderblunts. Probably not.

I'm really enjoying this adventuring stuff and learning new things about some our citizens. Hope the reports aren't too long. There's quite a lot of "unnecessary" stuff, I guess, but hey, it's my crappy writing style (also, pretty much how I used to DM/GM ttrpgs, hah).

Also, do you guys ever feel that no matter how peaceful and cheerful you try to play DF, things tend to eventually lead to tragedy and darker more "serious" stuff?

Suggestions, wishes, etc. are welcome as per usual.

[Salmeuk]

nice. this is the part where the characters travel overland, in a sort of montage. The part with the white storks reminded me of hiking through backcountry and happening upon some wild creature, spooking us both in the process.

I agree - the game itself presents only so many possible configurations of reality, and a majority of these configurations involve pain, whether physical or mental. Your character's inner will to power must be supplied by the player's imagination, because the game itself does not simulate that motivation. This leads to a kind of inevitable decline as injury is often permanent, and a majority of the available interactions are, well, intricate violence. These mechanics guide you towards the consideration of a violent reality at all turns. So even if you walk a peaceful path the shattering of that dream is somewhat inevitable.

That being said, this makes the truly beautiful encounters even more astounding when they DO occur.

[King Zultan]

You can have a peaceful game if you try, I mean if you want you can just sit in the woods and make little crafts to sell in town or just tell stories to random people and never fight anyone.

[brewer bob]

this is the part where the characters travel overland, in a sort of montage.

The best parts of movies!

Your character's inner will to power must be supplied by the player's imagination, because the game itself does not simulate that motivation. This leads to a kind of inevitable decline as injury is often permanent, and a majority of the available interactions are, well, intricate violence. These mechanics guide you towards the consideration of a violent reality at all turns. So even if you walk a peaceful path the shattering of that dream is somewhat inevitable.

I do truly love it in DF that the stories are in the end a collaboration of the player's imagination and what information the game offers. The vague information practically forces you to piece things and fill in the gaps, which in my view is only a good thing.

You can have a peaceful game if you try, I mean if you want you can just sit in the woods and make little crafts to sell in town or just tell stories to random people and never fight anyone.

You would have to fight to get the bones for the crafts! No wood/stone crafting in vanilla adventure mode.

But telling stories is a different thing.

Maybe our companions will end up sitting at a tavern for the rest of their days, just telling stories of Edu and Waterlures, hah.

[brewer bob]

Part XI:
Through Swamp and Cavern



22nd of Obsidian, 370

The Teal Swamps stretched on and on for as far as the eye could see. The sun was still low in the eastern sky, but the companions had been awake for some time, making their way through the snow covered swamps. Travel in the wetlands was smoother when the ponds were frozen and one didn't have to watch out lest they fall in a boghole.

Ravens -- regular and giant ones -- could be seen in the skies and scrounging about the snow in search of what little food was to be found during winter.

Suwu was still a bit bitter from the previous night after arguing with the others over peace and war. Were it not for that, she would have been satisfied and happy. Now, she just felt grouchy.




The companions were surprised when they found a salamander in the snow. A cleaned salamander, readied to be eaten. Odd.



A little way further there was more things poking from the snow: wooden and bone crafts of various kinds. What was this place?

Suwu picked up a well-crafted amulet. It looked nice. It would look nice on her. She put it on.




They followed the trail of scattered crafts, walnuts and fruit until a steep limestone cliff rose in front of them, reaching as high as the persimmon trees.

“This has to be a lair of sorts,” Cañar said and looked around carefully, “Some creature fond of collecting treasures must reside here. Be prepared.”

“Pfft, could be just as well a nest of a giant magpie,” Rin said as he put on a badger bone crown he had just picked up from the snow.

“Nevertheless, even giant birds can be dangerous,” Suwu said, putting her hand on the handle of her sheathed short sword.



“Over here, come. There's a cave entry,” Suwu whispered to the others as they snuck through the area looking for any signs of life.

They looked into the winding passage leading into the dark, a smell of musty, dank air emanating from the depths.



Down, down they went...



They saw clusters of citrines in the rough limestone walls. Mayhaps this would be a suitable place for a mine? But one would need to be a dwarf, or have one among you, if proper prospecting was to be done.

And the companions were not here to start a mining operation.



“Look! Isn't that an ore of iron?”, Rin pointed at the large veins of limonite on the cave walls as they walked further into the depths, Suwu in the lead sword in hand.



Ever deeper they delved, limestone giving way to walls of grainy schist. Gem clusters of citrine and milk quartz could be seen in the stone.

Maybe a mining venture wouldn't be such a bad idea after all?

But that would have to wait until they returned to Waterlures and consulted the others. For now, they would continue their exploration.



And schist gave way to sturdy, strong granite.

They were deep now. Deep within the world birthed by Ôsed.



A gust of dank air wafted into their nostrils from the deep: they had reached a vast, open cavern within the stone!



It was unlike anything that Suwu, Ova or Lòr had ever seen: the caves seemed to stretch farther than the eye saw, though, in the dark they did not see very far. But they could feel it. The openness. Vastness.

The cavern floor was covered in a pale, blue-tinted fungus and massive trees -- no, mushrooms -- sprouted up from the ground, their tops disappearing into the dark.

“Have you seen anything like this?”, Ova exclaimed in awe, jaw agape, “Truly, this is a sight to behold. I would never have imagined that the caverns Datan spoke of were so beautiful!”

“Dank, musty, foul,” Rin replied, not paying much attention to the surroundings as he admired the donkey hoof amulet he had just acquired, “Full of vicious creatures. Things. Come and snatch at you from the dark...”



No sooner had Rin finished what he had said when Erib, the remaining grizzly, rushed to the right growling.

Cañar unslung and readied his war hammer and shield.



A hulking giantess, not unlike those encountered in Waterlures, charged in from the dark: it had somehow managed to sneak close to the companions despite its enormous size!

Erib bit the monstrous humanoid in the leg as Cañar instinctively brought down his hammer, hitting their foe with a strong blow that caused the giantess to fall over.



The giantess lashed from the ground as Cañar beat her and Erib bit her, trying to get a hold of Lòr. But Lòr broke free of her grip, striking with his pick.

It hit deeply and the giantess' howl of pain echoed ominously through the caverns.



“I AM THE VANQUISHER OF EFOME VINECONTROLLED, WHO WAS FELLED LIKE A SLENDER SAPLING!”, the giantess boomed as she grabbed Lòr by his blunt snout. It did not hamper Lòr and he struck with his pick once again, giving Suwu an opening to slash the giantess in the neck.

Blood began gushing from the wound as the giantess flung Lòr away.

Lòr slammed into the walls of the cavern, dazed.



For a moment it seemed Lòr was in trouble, but the situation changed quickly when Cañar and Suwu managed to land in a few devastating blows, which caused the giantess to pass out from pain.

From there on the victor was clear and Cañar dealt a coup de grâce to the head.

“Life is but a fleeting moment...”, Lòr panted, exhausted, “Begone fear!”



“Hey! What's going on there?”, Rin yelled from behind. He was still making his way to the scene.

“Oh...”, he said when he came upon the others and noticed the gruesome sight of his companions standing around the mangled and mutilated corpse of a giant, pools of blood seeping into the cave fungus and cracks in the stone.




They continued exploring the caverns, keeping track of where they had entered so that they wouldn't be lost in the winding maze-like passages.

And soon out from the darkness a huge form lumbered forth: another giantess!



The giantess swung at Suwu, but the small capybara woman was not an easy target for such an enormous creature. She easily dodged it and slashed the giantess in the foot, cutting deep. The wound was enough to make the monster stumble and come falling over.



The fight was over in mere moments: a few strikes from Suwu and a finishing blow from Cañar was all that it took.

It felt too easy. Or perhaps the companions were getting better and better?





Suwu pulled her sword from the giant's head. They had encountered a third one and the fight had fared no better for this giant.

“These ones are no threat to Waterlures or other places no more,” Cañar said as he wiped brain matter off his war hammer. He did not look particularly enthusiastic, but neither did he appear to be sad.

“It is a pity,” the elephant man continued, “Such a shame. I have often wondered what drives these beings? What makes them so violent? Were they always like this?”

Suwu put her hand on the elephant man's hip, patting it in a friendly manner, “It's best not to think too deeply. These beasts attacked us. And they have attacked Waterlures. Unprovoked.”

“Uh, we did come to their home uninvited...”, Rin muttered from behind.

“Unprovoked?”, Cañar raised his brow, “Are we certain?”




After some more exploration the companions were quite content that there were no giants left in the cavern. But there was the slight possibility that some were deeper in the depths. However, it would not have been wise to head into the winding passages and get lost, never finding the way back to the surface again.

So, they returned above, shielding their eyes from the sunlight. Even a few hours in the dark had made their eyes sensitive to its rays.

Now they understood dwarves a little better and why they were not so fond of the sun.




The journey towards the tower of Finderblunts continued, the companions making their way north and east through the Teal Swamps until they entered the Awe-Inspiring Forest, low mountains of the West Wall visible further in the east towering over the treetops.

Wild boar roamed these forests comprised of dense bamboo and thick ginkgo trees.





They made their way to the foothills of the mountains, following them. It was easier to move hear amidst the sparser bamboo thickets and stunted highwood. In the deeper forest one could easily loose sense of direction, but here the companions had clear, visible landmarks to help them navigate the territory unknown to them.



As Suwu made her way down a snowy slope, she noticed a gaping hole in the ground: a burrow of sorts, presumably.

Drawing her short sword she motioned the others to keep silent. It was worth to investigate the burrow and see if they could make camp there. For the sun was setting and the air and wind was getting colder as night crept in.



Sounds were heard further off as they snuck into the dirt passage. And heavy, fresh tracks were visible, too.



They came upon a body, long since decomposed and only the bones remaining. Judging by the grown wooden armor and items the skeleton was the remains of an elf.

“Be prepared,” Cañar said in a hushed tone as the companions five ventured deeper...



Another giant!

It hadn't noticed the companions and stood facing away from them.

Suwu crept slowly closer...



...And stabbed the crouched giantess in the neck from behind!

The giantess turned around with incredible speed and missed Suwu with a swing. Suwu dodged another blow and in turn slashed the giantess in the head, stunning the monster.

The others came rushing in from behind drawing their weapons.

But before they reached the fight, the giantess lunged again at Suwu, who once again sidestepped it, swinging her blade at its foot. It cut deep enough to make it impossible for the giantess to stand, and once more a giant came crashing down, making it a much easier target.




Soon the companions brought the giantess down in quite a similar fashion to the previous ones: after it fell down, slash and bash it in rapid succession until the pain sets in, and finish the deed with a deadly blow to the head.

It was the second giant Suwu had killed in her life.




23rd of Obsidian, 370

The following morning they turned north, following a winding brook until they reached the Tan Swamps.

It was another beautiful wetland, though much more heavily wooded than the Teal Swamps. And there was more snow here, too.

White storks could be seen once again amidst the reeds poking through the snow.



Lòr even managed to get so close to one that he was able to pet it.

“Hello there curious one,” the capybara man spoke to the stork, “I'm Lòr. And it is a fine day today.”

The stork tilted its head, clattering its beak and making a croaking sound before taking off on its wings to follow the rest of the flock.

It was amazing.




The Tan Swamps was a small wetland in the middle of the Awe-Inspiring Forest. Soon, the swamp gave way to the bamboo and ginkgo forest once more. Snow was less abundant here and in some spots one could see the green of the various grasses growing in the bamboo thicket.

As they made their way through the woodland in rather good spirits, happy of the fair weather, the scenery began to change in the east.



Life gave way to death, or more precisely, something had sucked out the life-force of the plants here.

The trees were gnarled and twisted, their branches leafless even in the evergreens. A sickly aura emanated from the trees and a foul presence could be felt in the air.

“We are getting near,” Rin whispered as he noticed the troubled and somewhat shocked expressions on his companions faces.





As the companions made their way through the dead forest, the evil in the air becoming denser by each step that took them deeper, they heard croaking voices speaking ahead of them.

A group of crow men -- similar to the ones seen flying above peaceful Waterlures -- were gathered in a tight pack bickering like a bunch of overgrown children.

Suwu stepped forwards and hailed the bird people, “Greetings. I am Suwu Cleanmusics and these are my companions Cañar, Rin, Ova and Lòr.”



And so Suwu began telling the crow men who they were and where they hailed from, starting with the foundation of Waterlures...



...leading eventually to the events of the past two days and their arrival here at this accursed place.



Suwu was quite astonished when several of the crow men volunteered to join them on their quest. Though, it was doubtful if the wild bird people fully comprehended what they might face, and that it might very well be the end of them all.

And some of the crow men, well, they clearly expected to be joining a traveling group of story-tellers.

But it was hard to explain to them what venturing to the tower meant, for it was not all that clear for the companions, either.




And so the five companions and three crow men and one crow woman continued the journey north, first saying farewell to the rest of the bird people.

As they walked up a slope, they noticed a moose cow scrounging in the snow, looking for something to eat. But these lands were barren. It felt awfully familiar to Lòr.

“It is like from my dream...”, Lòr spoke with a slight quivering in his voice, “The trees -- they bear no fruit. The land, the very soil, it is dead. As if a sickening plague has taken root here. It--”

“Ca-CAW! The north! The north! Buildings rising!”, the capybara man was interrupted when one of the crow men flying above them exclaimed excitedly.

The companions turned to look north. They squinted their eyes, trying to get a glimpse from between the trees.



Indeed!

Dark, ominous structures were seen not so far away, one of them rising higher then the others in the dead, rotten land.

They had reached Finderblunts.


Meanwhile...



23rd of Obsidian, 370
Waterlures, Mayor Likot Languagehame's office

Likot walked to and fro in her office, her hands behind her back and head hunched down. Her form had grown rather corpulent -- just like Baroness Kasat had been. It was a common thing in Waterlures: being well fed by the masterful dishes provided by Kib and Edu, though now Edu was gone. Gone to the domain of Ôsed like so many others.

Likot was deep in thought and troubled. 'What is taking them so long? Where are they?', she thought. It was now several days since Suwu, Cañar, Ova and Rin had suddenly disappeared without a word. An important member of the Fenced Princes, two of the Turquoise Veils and Fayoba's assistant sheriff!

Were it not for Vabôk and the other Mestthosite monks who had been patrolling the surroundings, she would have no clue of what happened. Vabôk had encountered the four as they came out from the catacombs heading to the west. They had said that they were on their way to inform Lòr of his father's demise. Certainly an understandable and respectable thing to do, but they could have told her -- she was the mayor, after all!

And they hadn't returned...

Morningwilt was not even a day's journey to the west. 'They should be here by now. Has something happened?', she pondered, scratching the behind of her neck. 'I do hope nothing bad has happened... But if they come back-- No, when they come back, I will tell them that this is unacceptable.'

She looked out her window into the skies and began praying, 'Blessed Ôsed, Divine Rabbit, I plead you, bring my citizens, my friends back safe...'

=====

Came out quite long, but we're finally getting to the tower. The cave and burrow were a bit of an unexpected distraction from the "main" objective.

Bit surprised that the crow men joined on an adventure, but I guess our characters are experienced enough for such things. Though, one of them joined as an entertainer... Quite sure they won't survive the tower if there's a load of undead. Or at the very least they'll scatter and be unable/unwilling to return. (We actually "lost" the last grizzly in the caverns or sometime after. I realized it only in the end, so that's why there's no mention of it anymore...)

...But the whole tower could very well turn out to be quite unclimactic. This is DF after all.

Oh, and the Likot part was after I made a backup of the save to check legends, so I decided to take a look at Waterlures.

At the current moment of the save, unretiring will be quite a large hassle, I'm afraid. There's loads of elves and other visiting poets/bards/what-ever listed as hostiles. Much of the long-term residents were missing and probably some of our adventurer created capies are traveling. It'll be doable, but boy, do I not wait for it.

Let's hope the situation is better once our heroes return (if they return)...

Also, save with adventurer retired at a nearby forest retreat if someone wants to check Legends:
https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16180

(Edit. There's definitely something weird that happened during the retiring and starting the adventure run, if you check legends: several body impalings, capies who already lived there settling in and one of the young adults being encased in ice, which is probably the worst of these shenanigans. I do have several ideas how to fit these in, but it's gonna be a big changer then...)

[Salmeuk]

again, nice adventure update. I love crow people, and anytime I get to work with them I find their caw-cawing altogether charming.

hilarious how dangerous life is at Waterlures without the watchful overseer keeping tabs on the lil' bastards. .

[King Zultan]

Dang that's a lot of dead giants, wonder what makes them so prevalent?

You would have to fight to get the bones for the crafts! No wood/stone crafting in vanilla adventure mode.

I thought wood crafts were a thing, I guess it really has been a while since I played vanilla adventure mode.

[brewer bob]

I love crow people, and anytime I get to work with them I find their caw-cawing altogether charming.

hilarious how dangerous life is at Waterlures without the watchful overseer keeping tabs on the lil' bastards. .

I was happy to run into them and get them to actually join! But if they survive, it'll be doubtful that they'll join us in Waterlures without some dfhackery.

Yeah, I'm still wondering what caused the impalings. It's not supposed to happen so either I've messed up something with all the adventurer stuff or then it's just one of those DF bugs features you run into once in a while... I'd hate to ignore it though, since I see it as a part of the fun and game to work even the weird stuff somehow into the narrative. Have to be creative and think more that way, I guess?

That said, the solutions I have to make it "work" might be a bit too drastic. We'll see what I end up with or will we just ignore the impaling parts (and then be like WTF when some random statue/figurine/engraving depicts the scene, lol).

Dang that's a lot of dead giants, wonder what makes them so prevalent?

Guess that's because I boosted the amount of megabeasts and semimegabeasts dramatically for worldgen, iirc. They tend to always die off too soon, so a 5 or more times larger amount seems to help (with the drawback of some civs dying off quite quick if unlucky).

Edit:
Forgot to ask: would you guys be fine with me trying to do a report each day until the 24th?

My original intention was to start a new fort in a fresh world and do a sort of an 'Advent Calendar' thing. But it's the 4th day now and I've been posting Waterlures stuff each day, so might just as well do the idea with Waterlures. (Although, playing and writing each day for a month might end up being a bit too much for me...)

[Salmeuk]

big YES from me. my own story writing muse disappeared a few days ago and it is nice to see someone get invested in characters (this is one of the more involved narratives in years on these forums IMO). I will be gone for two weeks this Friday, so I might not be as vocal a supporter as usual at that point.

[AvolitionBrit]

Yeah feel free to make reports. Loving reading these updates

[brewer bob]

Part XII:
The Tower of Finderblunts



23rd of Obsidian, 370

A square flat-roofed structure loomed ahead of them.

“So, this is it,” Rin said, “We're in Finderblunts' territory now... At least the sky is clear and there's no damn snow blowing in your face,”

Ova, who was chuckling after a joke one of the crow men had just told him, bean walking down the slope to get closer.

“Wait,” Suwu exclaimed with a hushed voice, “Let's move together and keep quiet.”



They crept to the building, the crow men flying above and serving as lookouts.

Suwu entered the structure through an open archway, coming into an empty and dusty rectangular room with stairs leading up in the corner.

She snuck to the stairs and made her way up, sword ready in hand...




She was frightened by what she saw: a large humanoid with unkempt black hair and a long swinging trunk stood there, armored and bronze halberd in hand!

A foul, twisted beast and servant of the evil sorcerors!

Fortunately it had not noticed Suwu -- it was turned to inspect something in the corner of the passage.



Suwu did not stop to ponder what to do. She instinctively slashed her sword at the unaware abomination, hitting it in the neck and severing its head in entirety!

While Suwu did not feel any grief or remorse as the creature slumped lifeless to the ground, she noticed her hands slightly shaking in fear. She was not one to handle pressure well and it was not like of her to react on impulse and instinct.

She took a moment to calm her breath as Lòr walked up the stairs.

Lòr looked at the corpse, not saying anything. It saddened him that the creature had died: the companions would never know whether this creature was truly evil or merely a poor victim of the sorcerors' foul magicks.



The room the abomination had been guarding was empty. There was nothing in the whole building: only dust, pebbles and cobwebs, and a foul odor.

Walking over chert pebbles and dry grass that crunched under each footstep, they closed on the next building: a small ziggurat or pyramid-like structure.

“Shhh!”, Suwu whispered putting her finger in front of her lips, “I think I heard something.”

There were sounds coming from within the building.




“...those ignorant fools...the Distant Confederations...war with us...hahaha...end up dead like the rest...”

Voices. Words. Foul, wicked words.

It was hard to make out what the discussion exactly was about, but what caught Suwu's attention and deeply troubled her was the part where one voice said 'desire to kill all the living and any fools standing in the way'.

These certainly were no innocent creatures.



Suwu snuck into the entry of the ziggurat and once again was taken aback by the sight before her.

A very large, twisted and formless blob with little remaining of its original form. It had blocky charcoal-black scales and two narrow tails writhed from its back -- or what Suwu thought was its back.

Suwu lunged at the monster.



She struck it in one of its tails, her sword getting stuck in the scales, which were hardier than she had thought!

As she struggled to pull her sword free, the monster tried to bite her with surprising speed. Fortunately Suwu was nimbler and dodged the attacks with little difficulty.

As Suwu and the blob struck and dodged eachother's blows, the others rushed in: Lòr striking it with his pick, scoring a few grievous hits, and Cañar punching it with his fists until it fell on the ground unmoving.

“Foul thing!”, Ova looked at the corpse with disgust. He strapped his bow back to his back as he walked to the thing, “It's unlike anything I have ever seen... Even more sickening than those giant keas we have in Waterlures...”



Suwu did not stop to inspect the remains, but instead rushed straight up the stairs towards the voices she had heard.

And up the stairs, in a small dark room were two more of the blobs and another of those hairy abominations with a long trunk: this one was muscular, but it did not wield weapons nor have armor.

Regardless, these mockeries of Ôsed's creations surely had heard the commotion from below. Suwu did not wait and acted with immediacy.




The blobs and the hairy humanoid proved to be a rather challenging foe, yet the companions managed to put them all down without suffering nary a scratch.

Lòr pulled his pick loose from the body of the last of the monsters, thick ichor pouring out of the wound, “Abominations! Foul beings twisted by the Night!”

“Truly. We are doing the right thing,” Ova said as if to assure himself that attacking and killing these beasts was something necessary. While he saw these beings as monsters that needed to be stopped, he could not shake off the feeling that there must be another way than violence.




The companions went from ziggurat to ziggurat, from building to building, slaying more abominations and encountering undead goblins, elves and even a faun. Some fights were more tense than the others, but so far, they had suffered no losses and the only injuries they had were a few bruises. However, the crow men had scattered into the skies: maybe they were shocked by what they saw, and perhaps they did not want to have a part in all of this? Or maybe they were still flying about somewhere nearby, keeping lookout?

The companions knew not and they had little time to ponder it. Covered in blood and ichor, their clothes drenched in sweat, they approached what they presumed was the tower proper: a huge, chaotically twisted structure of gray unnatural stone rising from a field of sand -- even snow found this barren wasteland hostile -- high into the skies, ending in many a spire stretched upwards like sickly fingers.

Suwu turned back to look at the four walking close behind her. They were clutching their weapons tightly: Rin his short sword, Cañar his trusty war hammer, Lòr his pick and Ova wielding a war hammer of silver, which he had acquired from one of the buildings they had rummaged through.

“Are we ready for this?”, she asked them, “Are we ready to enter the den of evil?”

“Prepared or not, we must do this,” Lòr replied eyeing the sinister structure, “Let us pray that we are successful. May Mestthos grant us courage and strength to face whatever horrors await us inside!”



Suwu stepped through the large, crooked archway leading into the terrible tower, entering a high, dark hall. The evil in the air was heavy here, as if it tried to grasp her heart and crush what hope remained and plunge her into despair.

With uneasy steps she walked slowly inside, her footsteps echoing in the hall despite her trying to be as silent as possible.

And there, in front of her, she saw a dwarf and a human.

The dark brown-skinned dwarf had long gray hair with traces of its original color, pumpkin, visible. He was garbed in rather simple attire, wrapped in a cloak and hood pulled tight over his head, with a bronze knife strapped to his belt. What was most curious was that the dwarf had no beard: he was clean-shaven.

The chubby human was similarly garbed and a bow was strapped to his back. The locks of his white hair fell down all the way to his waist from under his hood, his narrow nose and dense eyebrows twitching in an unnerving manner.



As Suwu approached the rather agitated looking sorcerors, the human spat in her direction, narrowly missing the dwarf in front of him.

“Vile minions of the Night!”, she began, mustering all her courage to confront these evil-doers, “You who would blight this world and plunge it into the darkness and slay the living, fear us!”



“I am the vanquisher of many a giant and we have come for you, foul servants of the Dark!”, she yelled, ready to charge at the sorcerers.

“What madness is this?”, the dwarf exclaimed and began running down the hall away from Suwu and the companions. The human did the same, but in the opposite direction.



Suwu followed the frail dwarf up the stairs at the end of the hall, gaining on him just when he was running through a door in a room full of dusty scrolls. She did not pay attention to the black-scaled humanoid with large mandibles barely visible in the little light there was.

No, her eyes were set on the dwarf.

She lunged at the dwarf, but he dodged into the room, muttering incantations and waving his hands.

The clacking of bones could be heard from under Suwu's feet as the skeletal remains lying there began to move: she had not noticed them even when stepping on them.



The others were still headed for the stairs as they heard the sounds of scuffling from above.



Suwu narrowly dodged the attack of the skeleton into the room where the dwarf had disappeared. A small study with a table and books.

She saw the dwarf slip down a hatch beyond the table and rushed for it.



Lòr was about to rush the stairs up after Suwu when he was surprised by the dwarf running back down the other stairs.

Clever dwarf trying to get them separated! But Lòr would not fall for the trickery of these Foes of Life.

He rushed towards the dwarf...



...But as Lôr turned to the dwarf he saw the sorceror's stomach open up, blood spraying and guts spilling: Suwu had struck from the stairs, bringing her sword down in a mighty arc!




“--Gah-- S-stop... --Cough-- Stop this!”, the dwarf sputtered out as she dragged her entrails behind her, “I... This... No, plea--”

Her words were cut short when Cañar swung his hammer down, crushing the skull of the sorcerer like a melon. This was not the same one who had fled up the staircase: Suwu had driven a different one down!

As Suwu noticed it, she leapt down the stairs.

“There are more,” she yelled looking around, “Our work is not yet completed -- after the rest of them!”



No sooner had Suwu said it when a sickly goblin with an upturned nose entered the fray, an unnatural glow in its empty eyes: an undead with special powers, raised from the dead to serve a special purpose for the necromancers!

Swords flashed, hammers were swung; strikes were parried and blocked.

And to the surprise of the companions, the scaly, mandibled humanoid who had been upstairs had come down and joined the fight -- on the side of the heroes!

Maybe things were not as simple as they seemed?



“I am the slayer of Zebna Brightpowers the Oaken Lanterns, a spineless slug who was crushed under my mighty hammer!”, Cañar roared with a fury not normal to him as he swung Nethlîlar Emlïd at the ghoulish goblin, cracking its skull and lodging the war hammer in the wound.

Yet it did not bring their foe down...



...And it swung at Suwu, missing her narrowly.

She returned with a wide slash from her short sword, striking true and cleaving the intact parts of the undead goblin's head asunder, Lòr yelling in the background.

The ghoul fell to the ground. It did not move any more.



They turned their eyes further down the hall to a different human than the one they had first encountered: this one, too, had long white hair, but his nose was slightly hooked and his hair the color of cinnamon.

The hooded man stood aghast, shocked at what he had seen, visibly trembling in fear.

Suwu approached him sword in hand, blood-thirst in her eyes.

“N-no... This cannot be...”, the man spoke with a quivering voice as he looked at the carnage, “Our work... Do not ruin... Our wor--”



The man's voice fell silent as his body fell to the ground with a thud.

Suwu pulled her sword from his head, wiping the blade clean on her thigh.

“We will avenge all those who you have fouled and corrupted,” Lòr spat on the corpse, “We will make things right. Mestthos be my witness: we will not stop until all of these Agents of the Dark have been sent into the deepest pits of the Underworld.”

The companions headed through a door in the hall. They had seen the other of the two sorcerers they had first encountered fleeing through it.





Lòr approached the fat human who stood back against the wall, Suwu and Cañar standing guard near him.

Lòr unslung his pick as he stepped in front of the human. He looked up, gazing deep into the eyes of the foul servant of darkness.

“I am captain,” the human spoke, “I rule over Finderblunts. What I do is right. What do you want, capybara man?”

There was no fear in his voice, nor was there any hint of other emotion. He continued, “Have you come to defeat me? Slay me, perhaps?”

Lòr stood there silently. He looked at Cañar and Suwu, who eyed the human closely, prepared to retaliate if he made any sudden moves. Lòr grimaced. His innards hurt. In all the scuffling he had taken several hits, and only in this moment did he realize that they may have been more devastating than he thought.

“You ignorant fools!”, the human laughed, “Do you think that by taking me, or any of my underlings, down you will accomplish anything? Hah! Such naïvety! You kill one of us and the gods of death will choose a new harbinger, a new champion!”

Lòr felt fear begin to creep in. He hesitated.

“Do it. Do it now,” Suwu hissed, gripping her sword hilt tightly, “Do not listen to him -- end it now.”

The human turned to walk down the hall, waving his hand down dismissively at the young capybara man, “Pitiful idiot. A mere pawn of the selfish gods.”



The necromancer's head rolled on the ground as his body fell to its knees, blood spraying from the neck: with unbelievable might Lòr had swung his pick so hard, so furiously it had ripped the head off the shoulders with a sickening tearing and slurping sound.

The captain was dead.




Exhausted Suwu looked around. None of the corpse pieces seemed to move any longer. Blood, innards and flesh was everywhere. The stone floor was painted a slick red and one had to be careful not to slip and fall down.

Ova was sitting in a crouched position, gasping for breath. He was wheezing and clutching his chest.

Lòr was panting, too. He had dropped his buckler and looked at his left thumb, which was twisted into an unnatural position. From the looks of it, that thumb would take a long time to heal -- if it ever would.

Things had not been as easy as 'walk into the tower, kill the captain and be off as heroes of the day'. No, not at all.

For you see, the moment they had left the room with the dead captain things had taken an unexpected turn, or perhaps it was something they should have expected: the power of Undeath is not stopped by killing the mortal flesh.

No, if not taken care of properly, flesh can come back over and over again.

And that is precisely what had happened.

Corpses rising from the ground. Necromancers in the dark, gesturing. Body pieces being severed. Only to come back with a vengeance. Put down once. Twice. Thrice. Suwu had lost count of how many she had killed -- if that is even the proper word to use when dealing with the undead!

She had lost track of her companions. Each was caught in their own fight for survival. She, Cañar and Rin had remained unscathed. But not Lòr and Ova. Lòr would survive, but of Ova she was worried... She was not sure he would make it.



“I swear...”, Lòr panted as he followed Suwu who was inspecting the corpses, poking them with the tip of her blade to see if they still twitched, “I swear I put that goblin down at least four times! By Mestthos, four times!”



“Our work is not yet done,” Suwu said, “There may be more of these foul minions of the Prince. How are you feeling, Ova?”

“I-I feel so fragile...”, the mandrill man replied from behind, “But there is still breath in me...”

'At least for the time being', he thought.

He was, in fact, feeling hopeless. Maybe this was to be his end? Maybe he would not see the green of the grass, nor hear the wind rustling through the leaves... Maybe he would die in this dead land, far from the reach of the benevolent gods, from the soothing embrace of Ôsed... No, he had to push on. This didn't discourage him. He would keep going.




The companions went from room to room, encountering numerous amounts of books and scrolls...



...They climbed narrow, twisting steep stairs...



...Walked through winding halls...



...Through seemingly endless maze-like passages...



...Passages that went on and on.

Until...



...Until they arrived at the topmost spire of the tower of Finderblunts.




The five companions stood in the dark chamber with a faint eerie light glowing in its center, casting sinister shadows on the walls.

In the center was a table forged from copper and on the table lay a slab -- an ancient limestone slab from which the light emanated. The light flickered and pulsed slowly, like a throbbing heart pumping poisoned blood into the veins of the body.

The presence of Death and Evil was tangible in the air. One could almost grasp it from the air.

They stared at slab, looking at it silently.

“That is it...”, Lòr said with a hushed voice that echoed from the walls, “That is from where the waves of Darkness came... In my dream.”

“Then it must be the source of power,” Cañar spoke looking at it deeply with a sense of unease creeping over him. He felt the hairs in his spine raise as he continued, “From whence the dark sorcerers drew their strength.”

“Yes,” Lòr nodded. He was certain this was it. This was where evil entered the world. This was key. This was what Mestthos had guided him towards, though it looked far less sinister here than in his vision.

“If it is as you say,” Cañar continued, “Then we must... Destroy it. One way or the other.”



Rin looked at the slab from the other side of the copper table, not paying much attention to what the others were saying: he was still shaken by the horrible massacre in the entry hall where they had been nearly overrun by the Dead.

The slab seemed to draw his gaze in. In and in. Deeper. Ever the deeper. It was as if he was gaping into a void. An otherworldy emptiness.

He could now only see the slab in the room...

'Gogollomoth Uja Sutar...,' Rin heard hundreds of dissonant whispers in his mind. 'Gogollomoth Uja Sutar... Crypttomb... The Urns of Fate...'

He closed his eyes and clutched his ears.

He still saw the slab.

And the voices did not stop.

'Rin... Rin... Gogollomoth Uja Sutar... Lomoth Lomoth Donu... Rin...'

No, they beckoned him.

=====

Surprisingly the tower expedition was far from the anticlimax I was waiting for. For once DF agreed to cooperate with the story!

Okay, maybe not such a surprising turn of events there in the end...

Spoiler: maybe slightly spoiler-ish? (click to show/hide)

But I noticed a curious thing when starting the adventure. Maybe some of you remember that Rin abbhors power and would see all masters toppled? Well, that is not the case anymore. For you see, after some incident in Waterlures (not sure what, but some kind of violent conflict?), Rin had a change of personality: he now respects power... And I believe he is the only one among the adventurers who has such a view. We'll see where this goes.

I cut out a LOT of combat, and by Mestthos, that was a horribly chaotic battle in the hall when suddenly necromancers and possibly undead lieutenants began raising corpses. I honestly lost track of what happened and am unsure how Ova got his wounds. Not surprised of it though: he is unarmored. Like most of our heroes. Cañar and Rin are the only ones with proper armor. I'm just happy we didn't loose anyone there. Could've gone really, really bad.

Completely forgot to butcher the corpses, but I guess it would've been meta-gaming if I'd done it. After all, our heroes don't know shit about facing undead.

Unsurprisingly we lost the crows somewhere when checking the other buildings (didn't yet go through all). Well, they certainly would not have survived the undead onslaught in the hall, so I guess it's a good thing they left?

Also as a note: even though I'm mentioning 'the Prince' (meaning Abod the Prince of Duty), these necromancers are not of the Abod strain. They're from a human death god. But our capies don't know that, so that's why I'm referring to the Prince.

But in any case, looks like my old Warhammer GM mode is kicking in since things are starting to turn a bit to the grimdark side after all. It was inevitable.

Let's see what happens next.

Speculations, ideas, etc. welcome.

[King Zultan]

Glad that went better than the last time I attempted such a thing, and as for the slab I say grab it and another such evil text and chuk em into a volcano. As the best way to stop such evil is to cleanse it with fire.

[Salmeuk]

oh no... the call to power caught Rin. things are gonna get Cthulu up in here.

But in any case, looks like my old Warhammer GM mode is kicking in since things are starting to turn a bit to the grimdark side after all. It was inevitable.

it was inevitable

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

But I noticed a curious thing when starting the adventure. Maybe some of you remember that Rin abbhors power and would see all masters toppled? Well, that is not the case anymore. For you see, after some incident in Waterlures (not sure what, but some kind of violent conflict?), Rin had a change of personality: he now respects power... And I believe he is the only one among the adventurers who has such a view. We'll see where this goes.

my favorite element of personality system are these changes. such good story fodder! and it remains fairly unexplored, or at least I am unaware of the exact mechanism or connection between stressful events and personality changes.

[brewer bob]

oh no... the call to power caught Rin. things are gonna get Cthulu up in here.

Haha, Lovecraftian (and WFRP) stuff always tend to come into play when the necromancers arrive.

my favorite element of personality system are these changes. such good story fodder! and it remains fairly unexplored, or at least I am unaware of the exact mechanism or connection between stressful events and personality changes.

I know SalfordSal did some science on memories and stress in 0.47.04, and I think it touches the personality stuff, though it mostly concerns stress. I believe long term memories are linked to personality changes?

[IncompetentFortressMaker]

I believe long term memories are linked to personality changes?

Yep! Particularly nasty or good things that get turned into long-term memories (such as seeing a dead body [for some], seeing someone die, experiencing trauma, giving birth to/gaining a child, being confined [for some], wearing old/tattered clothing) will all eventually cause personality changes. The changes can affect a unit's intellectual values or personality traits or both. You can even have two separate changes modify the same value/personality trait, in which case only the newest one's effect is shown at present - I think Toady is planning on fixing that for the Steam release though.
Exactly what is eligible for personality changing I don't know. There was of course the infamous "is frequently depressed after being rained on" thing but Toady did some changes with 47.xx so you don't really see that anymore.