(sorry it takes time, some days were busier than others)
The story of Pictham, woodcutter of the Kingdom of Silver
Prologue
SunflowerIn the southern village of Uddainan, fire is pretty much everything. As snow covers the landscape in all seasons, the farmers would freeze to death if it wasn't for the sweet comfort of a nightly chimney fire. Here, the sun hardly pierces the cloud and if the cultures and the vegetation had adapted to the extreme climate, the villagers had to grew ever so reliant on their wood consumption. Venturing outside is prohibitively dangerous and frostbites are not the only danger looming.
It was a morning of summer if summer means anything here. Pictham was looking around the forest, alone, to find some dead tree to fall. Surely she wasn't the only lumberjack in the village, but today, she surely was the earliest. Time and experience taught her to work alone and although she would often appear quite gregarious, she enjoyed those calm, lonesome mornings.
This morning, had she waited for the other lumbermen to start off her day, things likely would have been different she wouldn't have travelled half the world and probably wouldn't have died before the end of the month.
She was daydreaming in the white forest when she heard screams at first she thought people were fighting, but as she lend an ear, she heard bone chilling shrieks. It wasn't human it probably wasn't even natural but it was near.
She thought about fleeing, but soon, human screams joined the terrible howlings, and Pictham realized someone else was in danger. She had her axe in hand and against her better judgement, she ran in direction of the screams.
An aging woman, maybe a poacher, was attacked by a strange creature a scaly, winged humanoid with knife like fangs was pinning her down.
₯ita Gujegesmin
A large scaly humanoid. It has thin wings of stretched skin and it howls into high winds. Its slate gray scales are large and close-set. Now you will know why you fear the night.
The poacher was holding her crossbow between her and the monster, but her seconds were numered.
« Hold on ! » Pictham shouted, as she ran toward them holding her bronze axe. « I'll help you ! »
The creature was fast and scary but she wasn't much bigger than a man. Pictham didn't hesitated a second the head of her axe bursted the monster's scales apart a couple times and soon, the creature fell like a tree. Pictham lifted her axe again and gave the monster a couple more hits for good measure it was a good axe and the monster surely stopped moving.
The woodcutter then turned to the other woman. Her blood was melting the snow in which she laid. She was severely wounded and needed urgent medical attention...but as Pictham came closer to try to lift her, she shriek and jumped at her savior.
Pictham didn't understand at all at least, not immediately. She disarmed her, told her to yield and tried to calm her in vain. The woman kept trying to hit her like a fury, with everythging she could get her hand on.
Desperate to calm the wounded woman, Pictham placed her in a chokehold and the poacher fell unconscious. She would never wake up. It turned up that the woman was a bandit and being bring back to the village would have been the death of her.
Pictham stood above the two corpses, afraid, shaken and full of guilt, unsure of what to do.
She would then go to the meadhall, ask for the judgement and the guidance of the local ruler, Lady Onaf.
She found the lady taking to a priest the village of Uddainan was deeply religious. When Pictham entered the meadhall, all bruised and bloody, all eyes turned to her.
What she had met earlier was a « Howling Freak », a creature of the night. As for the murder it was decided that because she acted in self defense, it was not necessary to atone.
Pictham however, was still shaken by the confrontation. Those last decades, she thoughts, the villages were emptying and growing abandonned. Survivors were forced into banditism under the extreme cold of the region. Soon, that would be the turn of the Uddainan village.
« It's the will of the gods that we live in a perpetual winter » a priest said.
But maybe if that is the case, the will of gods can be changed ? The people of Uddainan were a faithful lot surely the gods would not let them freeze into extinction.
« Who knows ? » answers the priest. « It's likely they will as for why, your guess is as good as ours »
Maybe the best way would be to ask the gods herself. Their nearest temples were in the town of Licstalcon, and praying there was said to have given many answers in the past.
Resolute to bring back the sun to the village of Uddainan, Pictham went to her home a last time, bid farewell to her friends, took a bit of cooked game and before noon, she had left Uddainan.
The curseAgainst curses and adversity, Pictham was blessed with a beaming smile and an ironclad optimism. If the gods wanted her to do some peregrinations, of course she would do so. She travelled the countryside, and the sun was setting in the west when she arrived at Lictsalcon.
She entered the first tavern she saw. A man was sitting at a table drinking. As it was the first time she visited the city, she decided to sit in front of him and to start a conversation.
Pictham, if anything, was extremely sociable and made friends easily the man was most eager to help. However, he knew very little. He told her about the ills of the town bandits, beasts and monsters roaming the countryside. Pictham was but too aware of those.
She thanked the man anyway and was about to leave, when she was approached by a creature she had never see before. It was a small creature, a bit smaller than her, looking like a green lizard, with a tail and clothes.
« What are you looking for, girl ? » it asked in a whistling voice. Pictham explained the situation once again.
The lizardman shrugged.
« Oh, well, good luck wiz zat. Your bessst bet isss the sssshrine down ze sssstreet »
And there she was again, roaming the streets of Licstalcon, visiting shrines and praying at them to no avail. The evening was starting to coloring the snow orange and the light was starting to dim. It was at this moment that, may be luck or fate, she found an open shrine with a twenty sided dice on it.
She prayed to Piram god of the sun, asking him to bring an end to the winter and rolled the dice. When it eventually stopped, « You're absolutely screwed » was readable on its upright face.
A night in the sewerNow the moon was clearly visible in the night sky and Pictham was back to the tavern.
« No luck ? » the reptile asked her.
« I think I'm the butt of some divine joke » answered Pictham. « And I don't understand why we have to live in that unforgiving cold if I could have an answer, I'd probably go to my village in peace. »
She had done nothing wrong, and as far as she knew the people of Uddainan were good people why would the god punish them with an eternal winter ?
« Look human, I don't know anything on your weather-related concerns, but...maybe I know someone who does »
In the sewers of the city, there was a goblin sage by the name of Melbe. Whatever you wanted to know, she would know it. She was like the living library of Licstalcon.
Despite the sky now being deep purple and tiredness creeping in, Pictham decided to go and look for that goblin sage. It was the only thread she could follow to bring summer back to Uddainan, and she was decided to follow it.
The sewers were a labyrinth. Completely dry due to the river being fronzen, they were but a depository for old corpses, which were but bones after having been catfood.
Cats.
They were everywhere. Running, jumping around. Their meowing reverberating on the tunnel edge. Meow, meow, meow. Everything was but meow, to the point Pictham lost the sense of time.
She stopped for a moment when she heard human voices above her head. By lending an ear, she could listen to full conversations between the people of the city.
« Of course » she thought. « I'm right under their feet »
How many hours did she spent in those abandonned tunnels ? Going up, down, avoiding cats. Still no goblin sage...Until eventually, she found a closed door in front of her.
She opened it and found a serie of chests, containing valuables : two decorated iron gloves, and two long bronze boots, and a big bronze halberd. Maybe her luck had turned ? It was a thing of a high value especially in those dangerous cursed times. The whole thing looked abandonned ; Pictham borrowed them.
If their owner ends up showing itself, it would be still time to explain the misunderstanding.
Smiling to her renewed luck, she kept exploring.
Maybe an half hour later, she stumbled upon a silhouette cut in the distance. A bit worried, she approached with caution. It was a chubby woman wearing a leather armor and sporting a mace.
Pictham greeted her from a distance with a beaming smile. The two women discussed, but soon realized neither of them was a threat for one another. A second later, they were joking together, relieved that they wouldn't have to fight each other.
« I'm on a quest to bring the sun back to the plains » explained Pictham. « I've been told that a goblin sage going by the name of Melbe could tell me where to look »
The chubby macewoman laught but didn't know any goblin, let alone wise goblin named Melbe.
« But hold on ! » she exclaimed. « I'll introduce you to the others ! »
That macewoman happened to be the member of a litteral underground organization. Probably thieves, altho Pictham didn't bother to inquire. Soon, she was in speaking terms with every one of them.
This was all in good fun. The thieves were happy to see a friendly face. They had stood with their head down for a time, it seems, and didn't appeared worried or aggressive. Their captain, a very corpulent man, laught at Pictham idiotic jokes about fluffy wamblers and all were very impressed by the description of the fight against the howling freak.
When it was time to leave, Pictham had totally forgot the path to the surface and appeared embarassed. One of the thieves, a man with a square chin sporting a copper warhammer, soon came to her rescue and shown her a shortcut to the surface.
« You said you wanted to bring the sun back to the region ? » he asked.
« Yes or at least, understand why we're cursed with eternal winter. »
They spoke together some more and the more they talked, the more it actually made sense. One after another, the villages were disappearing from the region. The snow was covering more and more of the ruins of old hamlets as stores of wood started to run down and people would freeze to their death or turn to banditry, unable to sustain themselves otherwise. The thieves were no stranger to the misery. The man, turning out to be a warrior going by « Ases », accepted to come with on her desperate quest.
They slept a short night in the inn. Pictham was no closer to her goal, but she made a friend. That was good enough.
Rainy dayThe next morning, the sky was obscured by black clouds and torrents of water were pouring to the land. It was a cold rain, with sharp, half frozen, needle-like raindrops.
Pictham and Ases woke up slightly before dawn and tried to assess their options. Asking the gods at the shrines just angered them. The wise people in-the-know where nowhere to be found. But so earlier in her journey, Pictham didn't wanted to give up just now. She still felt she would have to make it up somehow for having murdered the poacher. If at the end of July, she would still be empty ended, she would then decide she had tried everything she could and just go home, but until then, she wouldn't slack up.
With her new friend, she went to walk a bit outisde of the city. It was a quite disagreable experience it was cold, it was wet, and the wanabe adventurers were soon made grouchy by the experience.
They were considering going back when, next to the river, they saw a strange, naked cave-man. Many questions plucked into Pictham's head. She approached with caution and tried to talk to the ...creature that looked like a man.
It would not answer. Tho thankfully, it would not attack either. It was just standing there, oblivious, under the rain, watching the furious ripples at the surface of the river, under the storm.
« Pictham ! Watch out ! » screamed Ases, jamming its copper hammer into the creatures ribs. The caveman screamed back and ran. Ases gave chase, hurling swears and insults.
« Ases, what the hell ? » asked Pictham, trying to calm him down.
« I don't know he looked dangerous. »
How so, the girl could not tell, but she was done adventuring for the day. They soon came back to the city and took shelter in a guardhouse, carved into the outer walls.
When the weather would subside, they would try to find answers elsewhere, but for now, they would better rest. Tomorrow would start a journey that would lead the couple to the end of the known world.
The plan
After one more day in town visiting various religious places and praying to multiple shrines, Ases and Pictham were no closer to their goal. Maybe the town of Licstalcon ; though a local hub, was not big enough to warrant the attention of the gods.
« Or maybe » suggested Ases, « this is because we're just nobodies »
Think about it ; why would the allmighty gods pay any heed to the plights of a lumberjane and a common bandit in a small city hidden in the snow ? They wouldn't. Clearly they had to attract their attention, maybe become heroes or accomplish great deeds.
« It is said there is a dwarven museum, open far in the north » Ases remarked. « People who submit an artifact to them are said to be written down in history »
And so it was decided ; the couple would travel north, find an artefact, attract the attention of the gods and ask them to bring the sun back to Uddainan.
A perfect plan.
The following morning, they left the city. The wilderness, especially at dawn, was incredibly calm. Not a bird song, not a critter just pure white snow smothering all noise and drowning all landscape features.
Not to get lost, the diminutive group follows the main road eastward toward the hamlets of the Kingdom of Silver.
Even in that cold with that snow, foraging was not difficult. The flora had adapted seemingly easier than people to the harsh climate, and sweeping the morning snow would often reveal berrybushes, full in this season. For two more months, they would not starve in the wilderness.
Their path lead them to the village of Ithbidusem or at least, what was left of it. Flowery bushes were growing out of the snow and hugging the abandonned building most of them were in disrepeair, some of them missing a roof.
Surely, if there was anything here before, it's now gone. The travellers resumed their travels.
The kingdom in ruins
For a couple more days, Pictham and Ases travelled from town to town in an increasingly familiar desertic white landscape. They would go to a town, find it in ruins, then move to the next to find it abandonned also.
A goblin armed with a sledgehammer, who was standing guard alone in a meadhall, confirms the fears they had nothing was happening around these part of the world. Everything has fallen into disrepeair, and people simply disappeared as the snow covered the region.
Though, the travel was agreable. It was cold it always is but the days of July maintained the temperature somewhat around freezing water. To Pictham and Ases, used to harsher climates and wearing thick fur clothes, it was easily bearable.
During their travels, they were attacked by a pack of starving wolves if some plant life had adapted to the cold climate, most preys did not and the wolves of the region were notable for being aggressive and always lurking for meat. Luckily, both Pictham and Ases were seasonned fighters, and the beasts were driven off before they could do any serious damage.
Wolves of the region are well known to attack travellersAnother notable find they made was in the village of Unironu. Altho completely abandonned, including its meadhall, the village of Unironu had still some valuables in the form of artistic works, scultpures big and small and works of fine metallurgy.
« If we do not find anything better, we should bring some of those to the museum » suggested Pictham. « These are probably not artefacts...but surely they are valuable »
Ases acquiesced.
Author
Topic: Museum III, adventure succession game (DF 0.47.05) (Read 410080 times)