"Moldath II", Part IV, Turn 63 15th Galena 826It is night fall when I arrive on the outskirts of Relicward and a cool breeze blows from the east. I spot a square low-walled keep squatting over a small brook. There is no obvious way in, although I eventually find an mpassable drawbridge.
Scattered far and wide are fantastic crafts of every kind, and I quickly find some well-made steel armour. And wine! Beer! Alcohol touches my dead lips for the first time in years and I feel some semblance of life again. I help myself to a barrel of rum.
Having found no other means to enter, I slip into the brook and swim under the walls, before making my way down the central stairway. Inside are great rooms and crafting halls but not a single living soul. I find what disturbingly appears to be a shrine to Dreamypuzzled the Tenebrous Obscurity, the demon.
Delving yet deeper I see a few demon corpses, with a thick layer of dust. These creatures have been dead for decades but their presence might explain why this place has been abandoned to ruin. Finally I chance upon the admantine shaft the the hellspawn must have escaped from. Claw marks and demon filth are all I find there. I do not find a single living dwarf.
Now armoured in fine steel, I retrace my steps back to the entrance and head back towards the island of Moistening, and Ancientknowledge.
16th Galena 826 After a long swim, I arrive back on the shore of the Luxurious Swamp, and follow the coastline south east.
A short while later, I stumble into a goblin bandit camp, and the leader is wearing some finely crafted gear, including a masterwork bronze shield.
I relieve him of it.
17th Galena 826 The journey south east continues, interrupted by occasional bandits. Soon I arrive at Atticmuffins, erstwhile capital of Mong Uthros.
I have heard rumours that this place has been infiltrated by the goblins of the Most Sin... I sneak into the keep and see many goblins, and even a monstrous troll claiming the pretence of being members of the human nobility... I slay them all, taking care not to kill the humans who rightfully own these lands.
I make my way to Drillshrine, and slay as many goblins as I can find.
Hopefully, removing the cancer of goblinhood from the proud Mong Uthros will help restore some honour to this place. Wiping the goblin filth from my sword, I head westward to Shiptrails, a rumoured dwarven fort. I am suddenly ambushed by howling freaks! Shedim Tunneldust the Night of Dusk and Spos Tombburial the Shady both fall to my sword.
18th Galena 826 I arrive at Shiptrails just after dawn. It seems to be a small, compact fort and the first faces I see are elf merchants.
I do find a militia commander, and some fresh corpses, who remain not very chatty despite being raised as fell ones. I find little treasure or conflict here, and move on.
19th Galena 826 To the east, the tiny tower of Mysterydressed is empty and there are no books to read. This is where Frothbone should have come, had its owner not been so incompetent.
I head north. In Trammeledjudges there is a small keep, with a few books but little else. I spot a sparkling blue star sapphire tome entitled “Mastering the Elf”, and cannot resist pocketing it.
No foes are to be found here but on the outskirts of town is what appears to be an elven camp! Could these be displaced refugees? More likely, a warband from the Ribiromini come to sack Trammeledjudges! I investigate and within the hemp tents find a ringleader and his Hand of Planegifts retinue - all have strange titles; members of the queen's government? Military commanders? If they are here, then perhaps the Dark Queen could be here too.
I know from my time studying in the libraries of Crownhall and Ancientknowledge that the queen of the elves is a Dark One, raised into undeath by Thranan Echohails, a disciple of the evil necromancer Oddom Girdergroves. None can surely know her true allegiance, but many heroes have tried to end her life. King Bralbaard himself set off on a mission to seek diplomacy with the Dark Queen but could not find her...
Suddenly, emerging from a tent a short distance to the north, I spot pale skinned elf of regal bearing - Queen Vafice Lutecover!
She is thin yet muscular and possessed of glowing unnatural eyes. I know at once she is like me – a wight. Dark Ones are spellcasters; I must be wary.
I leap at the dead queen with my scimitar raised. Suddenly I am thrown from my feet as she gestures with her bony hands. She has powerful magic indeed. I am launched through the air like a rag doll and land with a thud, my steel armour sparking on the cold earth.
Her Planegift retinue descend upon me as I scramble to defend myself - scaled beasts with wings and claws who have allied themselves with the Dark Queen. Vafice is not the only undead sorcerer - I too know magic, and paralyse her with a gesture.
Amazingly, she quickly shrugs off my spell and sends my flying once more. We trade blows in close combat, neither tiring or backing off.
With a final arc, Godenrigoth slams into her head, lodging deep and cleaving her ancient skull asunder. I discern the faintest look of surprise as the eldritch forces which animate her dissipate. She falls to the ground like a puppet bereft of strings, the necromantic energy sustaining her broken by my blade.
I take her mangled skull as a trophy, it will be a fitting counterpoint to the star sapphire book Mastering the Elf and, as I grin to myself, would make a wonderful Museum submission!
The progeny of Thranan Echohails lies defeated, but what of the necromancer himself? From what I know, there are still some of Oddom Girdergroves apprentices abroad in these parts, even if they have denounced their membership of the Scholarly Manors.
I decide to investigate a few of the towns nearby rumoured to have harboured these necromancers in the past.
21st Galena 826 I arrive at Orbsnarled, to the south, at dusk.
The keep is oddly quiet, with no souls in sight. I search the town for clues and find, in a shrine to the east, the entrance to a complex maze of tombs under the city. Ancient skeletons line the walls of this sewer, and I spot the corpses of some strange beasts as well.
A tall human woman gasps in surprise as I swing a door open in his face. She appears gaunt and ageless. Thranan Echohails the Rapidity of Helms. Despite her great age and power, she is no match for my skill or the sharpness of Godenrigoth. Thranan was a devout worshipper of Rogon the Umber, who cursed me as a vampire and I take satisfaction in harvesting her skull.
A short distance later I find cowering in the dark an ancient and dishevelled dwarf. Cerol Basinbolt the Pleated! This necromancer was Oddom Girdergrove's only apprentice, and for nearly eight hundred years had terrorised the civilisations of Orid Xem. As the last of his foul blood gurgles in his ruined throat he whispers of Zefon, his own apprentice, cowering in a hovel to the south. Zefon it seems was the master of Thranan, each passing on the knowledge of Oddom Girdergrove to the other.
There is one more necromancer in the lineage of Oddom and Zefon is her name. I find her lair eventually near the outskirts of Filledfastened. Despite my torture she will not give me any information.
I take her skull too as a trophy, and surely now the lineage of the Scholarly Manors is over.
22nd Galena 826 I head westwards towards the narrow peninsula at the base of the Quick Steppes, towards the fabled bridge of Razorbridge. The bridge itself is most impressive, and within no time I am in the Jungle of Dents.
To the south lies the vast expanse of human and dwarven civilisation I remember from my previous journeys. My first stop is the allegedly abandonded tower of Passionspirals.
As I approach the tower, there are many creatures on the march, and I stumble into an enormous troll recruit, and a strange black-winged creature spitting globs of magma... what madness is this?
The tower complex is large and sprawling but seems devoid of intelligent life.
More magma crabs are wandering the low structures and inside the main tower are some mangled crundle corpses, but no sign of any necromancers. I spend a day reading, but learn no new secrets.
I am accosted by a giant cave crocodile as I leave, and practice bone crafts on its corpse.
23rd Galena 826 In Ghoulcreek, I meet Ketas Indigovaulted. He is not interested in chatting. Within the camp is an iron sarcophagus, containing the mangled partial skeleton of Kosoth Salvesank. This ghoul, under the direction of the necromancer Ketas, is responsible for infecting the nobility of Treatyseed and the court of Omon Obin with what is now known as the Omon Blight.
The body of Kosoth is too damaged to raise into unlife.
I resist the urge to attack Ketas, respecting the rule of King Bralbaard that other adventurers of the museum are to be unmolested.
I head towards Ghoulspray, a dark pit, and slay some goblins to vent my frustration.
24th Galena 826 I continue through goblin territory, finding many encampments with soldiers, and occasional blighted thralls. They all fall to my blade.
The Dark Fortress Horrornut appears before me, teaming with goblins. I sneak through the fortress towards the spire, finding many goblins, trolls and beakdogs, who are quickly slaughtered.
I fight my way through waves of goblins as I ascend the tower, and in the great throne room sits the goblin leader, Olngo Crestwraiths the Everlasting Loves, lady of The Comedic Wickedness – the sect of the Knowing Deceiver who rule Horrornut and the thousands of goblins who reside within its dark walls.
She immediately panics and tries to run, but I am too fast. I grasp her evil throat and strangle her, before feasting on her blood.
The foul goblin regains consciousness but refuses to yield. Despite losing her tongue, nose, hands, ears, to the Blind Sadist’s torture she still blazes defiance.
Finally, I strangle her to death and raise her as a mindless zombie, whereupon she is set upon by her own troll retinue. I take her masterwork goblin hair crown, and bestow the name Crestwraith the Death of Rulers upon it, and leave the tower awash with blood.
Fighting my way out is relentless... waves of goblins and trolls pour into the spire to avenge their fallen lady, and I am caked in the gore of scores of greenskin filth.
Leaving the trenches of Horrornut awash with goblin gore, I head west to the small fort I can see nearby; what hardy dwarves struck the earth in the shadow of this Dark Fortress?
Lashjade is built on a towering mesa above a confluence of three rivers, with sheer cliffs joined by precarious bridges. At the entrance to the fort, I meet the hammerer Dobar, who cries out that the armies of Egu Craftlenses march upon Lashjade.
I try to tell him that the demon lord was vanquished years ago, but he runs off in a panic.
The manager Vucar is also convinced that the demon is on the march, after insulting the smell of my rotten flesh. I leave Lashedjade and its babbling fools and continue my journey south west.
25th Galena 826 While travelling in the wilderness I come across a most curious sight. A headless dwarf gaunt zombie wandering aimlessly through the forest.
He is unsurprisingly unable to converse with me. He does not seem hostile, and so I let him continue his wandering unmolested.
A short travel to the south and I arrive at a spectacular fort off the main road, which appears to be constructed of green glass, the whole structure hanging precariously over a bubbling volcano. Emeraldcrown!
The architecture is truly astonishing. On a gantry above the volcano is a series of cages - no doubt the dwarves here fed the volcano a steady diet of goblinflesh.
The well-appointed tavern is furnished with green glass tables and chairs, and a well-stocked cellar, to which I help myself. My undead body no longer requires nourishment, but it still craves the warmth of dwarven alcohol!
Strangely, there are a number of human mercenaries here, and even a goblin. I find some masterwork red woolen socks, but little evidence of monsters to slay. I continue my journey.
I soon arrive at Shieldflares, a dwarven fortress full of humans.
26th Galena 826 To the south lies Shotgleeful, an old fort which appears at first glance to be abandoned.
On entering, however, I spot some tracks which suggest I am not alone here... Delving further, I find thick webbing strands all over the hallways. This beast is a webspinner.
Soon I hear it lumbering towards me down the stairs! Thol Zebermuz Merrang, a huge one-eyed therapod. Beware its webs! There appear to be webbed cage traps around the stairwell; if the beast steps on one, it will be trapped.
It does not yet seem to spot me, and I unsheath my sword. With a flick of my wrist it is paralysed, and a single sword stroke beheads it.
I carve a masterwork forgotten beast bone ring to commemorate my first kill of a primordial beast of the deeps.
I explore the remainder of the fort and find no other living souls. In the cavern layers deep in the heart of the fort are a number of scattered weapons and armour, and one item catches my eye.
Ringedwires, a thin bright metal prong - surely a divine weapon. I have never seen such a strange implement, it is truly tiny and must be quite useless in combat. The metal is warm to touch and glows with a strange luster; this is truly a unique find.
I leave Shotgleeful and head south east, across the vast mountain range.
27th Galena 826 The trek over the mountain is uneventful, and I arrive at Craftblow. This curious dwarf fortress in the foothills has a road which leads directly to goblin territory, the dark pit of Hexwaxed.
Within its depths I am accosted by serpent people, their blowdarts patter off my masterwork steel armour. I travel along the road to Hexwaxed and am accosted by dingoes. I use a cave crocodile bone figurine to kill them.
Hexwaxed is brimming with goblin soldiers. I thin their ranks. One poor goblin gets my adamantine scimitar lodged in the ragged remnants of his scrotum.
I take a rather fetching gremlin leather cloak and head west, to the infamous tower Heroicgem, and at first it appears deserted.
Inside I find the corpse of Oddom Girdergrove and a huge number of artefact weapons, for some reason mostly crossbows, that she gathered over her centuries of unlife. I take a masterful steel warhammer.
As I turn to leave, a human appears. It is Pobe Cooktempted, human master Dark One, current leader of the Scholarly Manors.
Like Vafice Lutecover, he is a dark one who knows telekinetic magic. I battle him in the tower, standing over the corpse of his master.
We both blast each other with our dark spells, but he is no match for the razor edge of Godenrigoth, and he falls.
I leave the skulls of Zefon, Cerol and Thranan there as a reminder of the terrible reign of the Scholarly Manors, and leave Heroicgem.
28th Galena 826 To the south west are a few abandoned human hamlets, and then I chance upon the castle Wispygroups, which is well garrisoned.
Within the keep I find a scroll entitled "Commentary on Immortality" - I am unsure how this item arrived here, but by reading it I learn how to raise Dark Ones. It was written by a necromancer I have never heard of, Gel Moistnessesteems and I suspect it originated in Heroicgem.
I continue towards the mountain range, where Treatyseed lies, capital of the Walled Dye. I bump into a dwarf gaunt zombie, Solon Sculpturebells. He is covered in the blood of several creatures, including Goden Charmkey the Gates of Mightiness, a known necromancer.
I assume that Solon has killed Goden and thus done the Walled Dye a great favour. Solon is not interested in chatting, and seems in a hurry to be somewhere else.
I arrive at Treatyseed at nightfall to sounds of battle. The Baron of Copperluck is being torn to shreds by blighted thralls!
A terrified Sacred Evenness tries to escape, as no less than 9 blighted thralls roam the trade depot. I draw Godenrigoth and prepare to perform my civic duty.
I spot the corpse of the legendary vampire Asmel Minepass to the north west of the fort entrance, responsible for many of the vampires of this world.
I must cleanse Treatyseed of the Blight brought here by Kosoth Salvesank. I head into the fort and see a strange sight - ant men and women, fighting thralls of their own kind. A queen ant woman spearman blighted thrall is struck down and surrounded by a great deal of blood, human blood.
This human is either a thrall himself, or a brave hero. Their tracks lead south. I do not find the human easily, and venture further.
More clashes between ant men and blighted thralls ensue, and more than once, the ant people are twisted into blighted thralls themselves.
I lose count of how many fall to my sword, but in the end, every thrall in Treatyseed is vanquished. I do hope the capital can recover.
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Topic: Museum III, adventure succession game (DF 0.47.05) (Read 410016 times)