Haven't played for a few months, a while ago I stuck a bunch of mod content together (Dark Ages, Adventurecraft, Fear the Night, Genesis, Spellcrafts, and some creatures, plus some of my own things) in the raws and made changes until worlds stopped crashing. I finally got a chance to try it out today after updating everything to 44.09: I created a high savagery world and made a regular human hearthperson adventurer.
Osmol served some lady in the corner of a land bordered on two sides by sea, Mountains to the East and frosty wastes to the north. She commanded him to slay a night creature that was resistant to everything but "burning" which it turns out does not mean that I can literally set it on fire, but instead need to make a weapon out of a material called "burning," which he cannot do. So he grabbed a mercenary named Stena and headed to the ruined capital of the extinct high elves to the south. Striding through the barren streets and beneath the silent crenelations of the city's keep, Osmol stood upon the throne and declared himself lord. Stena replied "I don't know anything about that". Osmol's newfound lordship was short-lived however. As he left the city he heard a sound around the corner. A master vampire! Before he could think, Osmol was bitten on the neck and became a creature of the night. Stena was quickly decapitated as Osmol fled, eventually reaching a mead hall inhabited by a couple of mercenaries. They told him many tales of the lands that lie beyond the long stretch of wild hills to the northwest: the homes of Lizard folk and Dark Elves, beset on all sides by fearsome beasts and set within the evil biome that takes up most of the known world.
Inspired, Osmol declared himself lord of that hamlet and proceeded to several nearby abandoned villages, collecting an assortment of mismatched arms and armor, including a cobalt tower shield and bronze backsword. He then strode out in the wastes, until cackling filled the forest around him. Bogeymen! Osmol had always been warned not to travel alone at night, and now he was afraid that he would learn the reason why in a very painful, visceral way. A hideous winged creature with compound eyes and a trunk swooped down out of the trees, and tried to scratch his face. Osmol swung by reflex, and the creature's face exploded into gore. Another came around the wall of burning grass that Osmol had lit, and he swatted it in the throat, flinging it into the fire. Osmol sprinted due west, and creatures crept out of the trees on all sides, but were slain whenever they got near. Osmol was deep into the wild when the sun finally rose over the eastern sky, and the cackling ceased.
It wasn't until the sun was over the eastern horizon that Osmol finally reached signs of civilization, although this too was abandoned. After declaring himself lord, Osmol wandered over to the next hamlet and met some mercenaries in an abandoned mead hall. Osmol discovered no fewer than 12 such abandoned settlements, each of which he claimed as a fief. Osmol ventured north to investigate the ruined Dark Fortress that lay in that direction, but on the was was blocked by a cave. After much searching he finally found the entrance at the base of tall column of stone. and ventured below. He ventured a short way into the caverns that he found there until he met some reptile people and was attacked by some reptiles. He made a nice scale cloak and then climbed back to the surface. And then he bumped into the Hydra as it was coming home. An epic battle ensued, in which two skulls were caved in by the cobalt shield, and five necks were severed. Osmol suffered a single broken rib and bruised body. To celebrate, Osmol butchered the body and decorated the sword and shield with Hydra fang, and created artifacts worthy of legend. Osmol proceeded to fabricate a variety of crafts from the remains, including a helm, mask, goblet, and totem from four of the skulls, armor from the bones, a crown, amulet, sword and bow from fangs, and a cloak from some of the scales. Osmol hauled the rest of the carcass to his base in Frillhells, near which he had set up a camp and had begun to build a secure hillfort. After putting his things in order (and finding somewhere to put the meat) Osmol set out to conquer the heartland.
This turned out to be straightforward, since most hamlets were abandoned. Osmol recruited 12 saurian mercenaries during the course of his "conquest", who he slowly turned into vampires one by one. While investigating the criminal gang in Demonnightmare, however, the unturned witnessed Osmol as he feasted on the blood of a sleeping criminal. The mutineers were slain or scattered to the wind to tell the tale of the horrific Osmol the master vampire. Osmol had met a friendly Saurian King who possessed an artifact bronze pike among other riches. Osmol was directed to the abandoned slade Dark Fortress to the north, to which he traveled (fighting dire wolves and wendigo along the way). Osmol explored the tower and found a gate to the underworld.
There he fought packs of devilkin, snow tetrapods, ash theropods, glass spiders and flying web spinning sheep. Once the land was safely clear, Osmol built a ramp up to the ceiling (DFHack AdvFort) and mined the tubes of adamantine from below, enough to craft himself a sword. Osmol fought with an eye of damnation and was dying of poison and necrosis, and was blind, so he regenerated as a bat and flew up to the tower, where his companions finally started to catch up to him. Trying to find somewhere to rest, Osmol flew down a deep shaft near an old Goblin/Orc burial site and travelled East until he felt safe. Upon waking up, he realized that he was completely lost. He wandered for two days until he found the body of the slade spire, and from there, a shaft that led upward. During his meandering, he met many strange and exotic creatures, and fought horrific monsters thanks to ZM5's lovely "What Lurks Below". He traveled back to hell to slay a few more beasts and collect more adamantine, claimed a few choice items from the tower's vaults, including a masterwork silver scimitar and a "grown" cobalt rapier which must have been stolen from the fae,then headed back to the King Lames.
Osmol was surprised to find that Lames had acquired an artifact slab, from which Osmol learned the secrets of fate weaving and resurrection. Osmol returned to his stronghold in Frillhells and then raided an occupied site, driving out the lady and claiming the secrets of silencing others and a saurian egg to raise. Osmol then investigated the bone-chilling horror to the north and found it to be a harmless druid with a bunch of dead ritual corpses. Osmol obtained a mortar and pestle on the way back to Frillhells and created the essence of transmutation from the Hydra's heart. Next Osmol plans to travel to a Dwarf Fortress far to the northeast and see if he can use its smelters to refine his adamantine. Perhaps he will also slay the Forgotten Beast that lurks in the halls of its neighbor, opening the way for a reclamation.