I'm gonna go ahead and make my LAST story entry(There'll be two in-between) I know that's weird, but I got a really good reason I'll bring up at the end of it. My turn isn't over and I'm still doing some other stuff, but this is my adventure museum story for sure.
Entry FiveArthur had returned. His scouting mission which was intended to avoid combat and gather information instead turned into a vicious battle with the blight, a cave dragon, forgotten beast, and ancient undead guardians. To Maloy he was an entirely new man: He was Arthur the Light Eagle.
All the pieces were gathered. Here in Maloy's paws was the final item needed, borrowed from the museum in exchange for Arthur's submission and official joining of the museum, Mortality:
"Read the book" The ear whispered
"What happens to me after this is all over?" The wolf man quietly questioned as he looked upon the dark tome
"I shall finally tell you my name, wolf-lord." The ear said in a tone that seemed to mimic trust and comradery "I am your predecessor. Pis Meadowshaft the Mucuses of Raunch"
For Maloy in his heart this was a moment that was both completely shocking and completely expected
"Then it's not your body I am rebuilding? Arthur was right that something was wrong with all this."
The ear continued in an uncharacteristically soothing tone "No, not mine, but I need it. When two spirits join together so do their destinies. Yours and mine. This body you see before you is destined to do unimaginable things. To wrestle with the gods themselves, and I shall take this future for myself"
This made little sense to the wolf man, but was not what was bothering him anyway "So. If I do this ritual you just end up killing me and moving on."
Pis was shocked "Why would I do that? I find the day to day ruling of filthy mortals taxing and unnecessary. I need a herald and a ruler over those who shall worship me,
Wolf-King. You will rule a great empire with Incenseorder as it's capital"
After so long this only mildly sounded appealing to Maloy, but in truth he was simply ready to end things now. "Let's get this over with" he opened the book. Learning the secrets of necromancy was like swallowing a bitter tonic whose taste never leaves the back of your mouth.
It was time. They had returned to Couragespray to the very altar that Maloy was cursed to his werefox form at. It's statue had somehow supernaturally morphed and was now a statue mocking him and showing his true appearance as a werefox. As if the goddess wanted all the world to know his secret. Goddess of misery and torture indeed. The altar waited beneath the statue.
Music for Ambience:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzHwj1azypA
All the pieces of the dwarf were laid upon the altar. Four candles: North, west, east, south. The directions gathered the powers of the winds and nature which were connected to the wolf-man and his species.
One candle for the powers of the underworld commanded through Pis and channeled through the ear
One candle for the powers of undeath and the negative plane which would bridge the gap
One candle for the powers of the goddess whose powers were connected to Maloy through the curse and so accessible here against her will
One candle for Bral's spirit. Lured through the presence of his body and the armor and weapons of his comrades worn by Maloy the ritual conductor.
The ear provided a simultaneous connection between Bral, Pis, and the ritual conductor Maloy. Allowing the dead tyrant to invade the dwarf as he returned to reclaim his body.
The ritual went on for a long time. Maloy had to all but beg Arthur and Mirailei to stay and protect him after all the things Arthur had seen on his journey, but they were needed for the ritual too.
"First was the power of undeath." Maloy raised the carcass of Bralbaard. Arthur and Mirai gasped and readied their weapons.
"Then the gods" Maloy reached forth as Pis had instructed him and he saw something. The entirety of the world and everyone in it was mere words in a language that seemed nonsensical to him. This ground, himself and even bralbaard were all words strung together. The world seemed cracked as if it was breaking apart and just barely held together. He pulled the strange letters he was instructed to find together and recited them. The carcass, still mindless, regenerated. Bralbaard was physical restored naked in all his glory. Despite the seriousness of the ritual this made Maloy uncomfortable seeing the fully naked king standing upon an altar in all his kingly glory.
"But the power of death entered to keep us in balance" Maloy removed one arm from his use in the ritual and signaled for Arthur to kill the former king. Arthur walked up and a swift thrust to the brain ended bralbaard once more. He fell upon the altar again, but substantially more put together than before.
"Then the power of the betrayers. Those of the underworld who not even the gods could contain!" He held up the tome and faced it towards Bralbaard and a presence entered the area. The king had been summoned to his body. It rose as a Hollow Zombie fully restored. Bralbaard returned.
"But who shall be the one to return truly?" The ear spoke. The spirit of the monster flung itself from the ear traveling upon the link between Maloy and Bral and flung itself at the dwarf. A titanic battle was happening in the spirit that none present could see, but could feel the conflicting changes in the atmosphere.
Maloy felt an urging being pressed upon him, but not by the ear and he reached in his backpack for the artifact Arthur had found in Bralbaard's tomb. This plain looking iron axe called to him.
Return me. Maloy felt more than knew that this axe was bralbaard's. He looked up and could see that Pis was very close to winning.
Return me Maloy was tired of being the pawn of so many for so long and he was ready for it to end.
He walked up passed the candles to the dwarf who stood perfectly still. He offered the axe to the dwarf and the dwarf took it.
The atmosphere changed immediately. What was a one-sided battle to dominate was now a battle of equals. Who would win it? Maloy was sick of it all. Other people's dreams, other people's plans and lives. He had outlived all his neighbors and still only ever do what others wanted.
Perhaps if Pis won it would keep it's deal. Perhaps it would kill Maloy. More than likely it would leave him alone as the insignificant wolf-man that he truly was deep down.
If bralbaard won he had no reason to remember the wolf-man or seek him out. Either way his role was over and he was done with it as well.
The ritual was incomplete
Maloy left anyway
Who would win and change the world as we know it? He truly didn't care anymore.
The dark ritual was the final straw on the relationship between Maloy and the two elves and they left him shortly after.
Arthur began a life of adventure with his love Mirailei. His first submission to the museum was the corpse of a cave dragon in pristine condition.
Maloy after spending some days in the wilderness also returned to the museum to submit what he had left. The head and tooth of Bralbaard. He laid it with the dragon.
Let's talk about these profane actsSo I went on a long long long long long long journey finding every piece of Bralbaard. It feels like I tore through the map.
1. Bralbaard's tooth was in Falsetower alongside the axe, but not the body
2. Bralbaard's reanimated corpse WAS wandering the Merged Jungles like legends said, but it wasn't the main body. It was the hand. For some reason it wandered off and was just chilling in the jungle. Took forever to find it and Arthur ran into some crazy stuff the other posts will detail.
3. His head WAS in herograves. Several artifacts including the sarcophagus it was in teleport constantly. Seriously the chance of finding the head was incredibly small, but even then if I lost sight of it at all by turning a corner around a tree it would teleport and I'd start over. The head was mangled.
So profane acts:
To get the head I embarked a fortress on top of Herograves the same size as the camp. This ended the teleportation and then I had the dwarves place the head on a pedestal for me to go and claim. It was mangled.
Realizing that the only viable part of Bralbaard left in the world seems to be the hand I went and got it and took it with me back.
I took bral's hand back, which is a no-no I know because he isn't my character.
I restored him using full-heal to give him the entirety of his body back. Killed him and raised him as an intelligent undead and restored him again.
It still reads as Bralbaard's hand name wise which is funny and makes sense, but it is the full body restored with intelligence! Technically this would either be a clone of Bralbaard or a reincarnation depending on how you perceive it
I committed three profane acts
1. I embarked on someone else's site
2. I took someone else's character and used them
3. I used dfhack commands
If what I have done is unacceptable to you all I want you to know this: I have a copy of this save that takes place BEFORE the ritual and so if everyone hates what I did(I hope you don't) we are not stuck with this timeline. The copy takes place before the ritual and before I embarked on top of herograves and so it's still safely an adventurer camp only
I left the ending of the ritual open ended, because IT'S NOT MY CHARACTER. If we do stick with this version of the story I've done then this will probably end me playing Maloy for the forseeable future. He has what he wants and the other posts will detail what he has achieved and why he doesn't have a motive anymore.
EDIT: ALSO the cave dragon is free game. I purposely made sure it's body was in great condition, stored in a bag to slow decay, and left it in the museum because I know we have necromancers who might want a pet cave dragon!
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Topic: Museum III, adventure succession game (DF 0.47.05) (Read 409709 times)