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Author Topic: Thob Goes to the Surface  (Read 57465 times)

Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #45 on: June 24, 2020, 08:44:52 pm »

The temple at Quakegloves was probably a good place to store books for the moment: after all, it had kept these ones safe for a thousand years. Thob stowed his collection before turning in for the night. If he came across more books in his travels, he’d try to bring them back here.

When dawn came Thob felt… creative. All this reading had given him an idea: why not try his hand at some writing? He’d read enough to have a general idea of what it should look like. He found an empty scroll in the old library, and a guide on how to write:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
In a few hours, he was done:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

NOBODY FORETELLS

No one can tell you what will happen in your life. My name is Thob, and I was a miner for most of my life. But now I am a writer and a librarian. I will tell you how it happened.

I

I found a lot of books on my travels. I was trying to find alcohol, but I found books. But I think that books are important also. So I started taking the books I found. There was a book about some old dwarf I found in a hillock. I found the book, that is, not the dwarf, he’s probably dead because he lived in the 200s and now it’s the 1000s. It wasn’t the first book I found, but it’s an example of what I do: I find books, and take them where they won’t be lost anymore, so that people can read them.

II

Then I found a fortress full of books, or rather a temple in a fortress full of books. That is, the temple was in the fortress, and it was full of books. There was a library in the fortress also, but there were no books in it, just paper. So I read the books in the temple, but not all of them, just the most interesting. There were many books about that value of knowledge, like “Ignorance: Problems and Solution.” I think this an important point, and it’s why I want to save the books I find: so other people can learn that knowledge, which is important.

So you see, no one told me I would find a lot of books and become a librarian, but here I am. I still wish I had found some alcohol, though.

Well, it wasn’t perfect—but not bad for a first attempt, he thought.

Before he left Quakegloves, Thob wanted to try one other thing. His dealings with deities had so far not been very fruitful, but now that he’d found a shrine of his own goddess, Egesh, he thought he might try again. Maybe she’d be more helpful—he was a member of her religion, after all. He went down to the shrine, stood before the golden statue, and rolled the twelve-sided die:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Huh. Maybe the gods were good for something after all.

Thob could head almost straight west to reach Stoneclasped again, and find his way back to Dawngloves from there. But between him and the western mountains was the tower of Brightplums, citadel of the Plates of Scouring.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
King Urvad had said he shouldn’t go there, but Thob felt confident after his exploits against the hyenas. He could at least scope the place out. But he would wait until dusk: he could see well in the dark, and any hostiles might be at a disadvantage.
   The tower itself was a ways off, surrounded by a field of smaller outbuildings. Thob knew some of these structures might hold treasures: maybe Chieftess Onget had stored some artifacts in them? He snuck up to the nearest and peered inside:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   The entrance was guarded by a terrifying beast: a six-legged feathery thing with two long horns. But it didn’t seem to notice Thob. Keeping himself pressed against the wall and taking small steps, he worked his way to the stairs across the room. And it worked—he climbed to the upper chamber.
   There was indeed some treasure up here, but it looked to be mostly armor of a size too big for Thob. Still, he stepped over to take a closer look—and suddenly:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The whip flew out of the central pillar and caught Thob right in the solar plexus, punching the wind out of him. Dazed and gasping he retreated down the stairs and, cautiously, out of the building. Maybe the king was right—this place was too dangerous. He crept away, trying to get his breath back, towards a nearby stream, where he camped for the night.

With the dawn Thob was back on the road. The way back led near an old monastery in the desert, which Thob stopped by to check out. It was called “Moonpillars,” built for the Hateful Sect, a religion worshipping—who else?—Ôggon Bridemenace.
   Thob looked in at the local shrine, a small structure named the “Temple of Tentacles.” An odd name for the temple of a lust goddess, he thought… until he saw the artwork:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Well, that was an image he’d not forget soon—however much he wanted to. Thob hurried on his way.

Midmorning came, and water began falling from the sky again. Thob was crossing a grassy plain, keeping to the sparse tree cover to stay reasonably dry, when a shriek brought him up short. He glanced around for the source—
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
One of those feathered things with branching antennae was bearing down on him! But this time Thob would not run: he steadied the hand on his pick and readied his buckler.
   The demon swung a fist at him, but he caught it on the shield; in the same movement he struck the creature in the hollow of the knee. The force of his blow and the razor point of the steel pick sheared off its leg, and it fell; it grabbed for him but he dodged aside, planting the pick into its ribs; another strike punctured a lung. The beast gasped and lay still, but Thob’s weapon was already aloft again, and the plunging point smote through the creature’s skull.
   Thob was victorious—but he didn’t feel like it. This wasn’t like the hyenas: they were animals, but this… despite its feathers and antennae, it was almost dwarf-like. They could think and speak like dwarves. True, it had attacked him first, but that didn’t change the fact that he had brought death to a sentient creature. It made him feel…
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Thob drew quickly away from the grisly scene. He would not be the same dwarf when he returned to Dawngloves. He would be changed, somehow older—a hardened individual.
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Thob Goes to the Surface (Adventure Mode story, in progress)

King Zultan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #46 on: June 25, 2020, 07:28:58 am »

A lust god with a hentai temple, these are the kind of random funny things that make me like this game so much.

Also if Thob was traumatized by the imagery on the walls lets just glad for his sake there was no basement.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

TheFlame52

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #47 on: June 25, 2020, 03:47:11 pm »

I love this update!

Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #48 on: June 29, 2020, 08:27:20 pm »

I love this update!
Glad to hear it! It's good to have feedback. And I agree, it's a pretty good one (the book is my favorite part, because of course Thob would write a book about stealing books :P)

Here's another brief intermission - I'll still do a proper update sometime this week:


Again Thob passed down the dry valley to Dawngloves. It was now midspring.

When he showed his only find, the artifact mug, to King Urvad, the spooky noble recognized it at once:

   “Thank you for returning my—ah, our treasure… the treasure of the Sandaled Key.” He turned the beautiful goblet over in his bony hands. “And where’s the rest?”
   “That’s it,” said Thob.
   “What do you mean ‘that’s it’? That’s not it. I told you to bring all the artifacts from Scarredpaddles, yes?”
   “Well, they weren’t there. That’s all I found—and not even in Scarredpaddles.”
   The king screwed up one eye very tightly, and his thin lips started to quiver. “You aren’t… holding out on me, are you? Because that would be… most unwise.”
   “No, I am not holding out on you,” Thob replied, exasperated. “I walked all the way to Scarredpaddles and back, at your request, and on the way I got lost in the caverns, attacked by monsters, ambushed by hyenas, whipped in the chest, and rained on—and all I found was that cup! You should have guessed that stuff wouldn’t stay put for three hundred years, if it’s really so all-fired valuable! You ought to be glad I went at all!”
   The king was visibly taken aback by Thob’s vehemence. After a pause he seemed to relent a little, though his voice was markedly cold. “Perhaps… you are right. No doubt some of my rivals got to Scarredpaddles before I.” He looked at the mug again. “You have done well, considering. You may go.”
   “Wait a minute,” said Thob as the king turned away. “What about the booze? And the brewer?”
   “Don’t fool yourself,” Urvad snapped. “You’ve been out there, you’ve seen what it’s like. There’s nothing left—nothing—no kingdoms, no towns, no breweries, no booze. It’s all gone, and it’s been gone for a long, long time.”
   Thob was stunned. “No booze… anywhere?”
   “Nowhere anyone knows.”
   “How… how did you survive?”
   “Me?” Urvad shrugged. “Never touch the stuff.” And with that he walked away.

A dwarven king who didn’t drink. Thob guessed he had seen everything now.
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Thob Goes to the Surface (Adventure Mode story, in progress)

IncompetentFortressMaker

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #49 on: June 30, 2020, 09:30:14 am »

Ahahaha. Poor Thob. Does he even realize his king is a guy with a penchant for zombies?

Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #50 on: July 04, 2020, 08:48:27 pm »

Thob had had enough of empty promises and vague directions at Dawngloves. Tomorrow he’d set out on his own. He might be a dwarf alone and basically lost in a strange world, but he knew a thing or two about adventuring now. Besides, things were getting desperate:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

All the next day he spent marching, back through the desert and into the dry hills beyond. Toward evening he struck a road heading north:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It was barely a dirt track now, overgrown with dense grasses, but still discernable. He followed it until it branched in two: the left-hand path leading due north, the right hand north and east. Here Thob halted. There were no signs or anything else to suggest which way to go. So, Thob reached into his pouch and took out a silver coin—there wasn’t anything to buy, or anywhere to buy it, but he kept some lucky coins on hand.
He flipped the coin—heads for left path, tails for right. It came up tails.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Perhaps, Thob thought, it was unwise to follow the advice of a coin depicting a bunch of dwarves being killed. It almost seemed like a warning. But it was just a coin; and anyway, he had already made up his mind.

By midmorning the next day he was well into the northern hills. Coming over a ridge he saw a curious sight.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Large areas of the terrain had been cleared of trees and divided up into oddly-shaped patches: uneven but clearly not natural. Little clusters of structures sat in the middle of the clearings. Thob thought he saw movement out to the east, but couldn’t tell what it might be.

He approached the nearest of the clearings, and the patchwork landscape came into focus: fields, just like the plump helmet farms back home. They were planted with some strange surface crops—well, they had once been planted, he guessed; after some centuries they had gone awfully to seed.
   At last he was among the buildings:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It must have been some sort of village, like the hillocks he’d been to. Only the buildings weren’t made of stone or earth, but from the wood of the above-ground “trees,” which felt a lot harder and heavier than fungiwood or tower-cap.
   Of course, no one was around, but there were a few statues here and there. They didn’t look like dwarves, though: they were roughly the same shape, but distinctly taller and less bearded. And the houses seemed to be built for folk almost half again Thob’s height. He’d heard of supposed “giants”—maybe the people who used to live here gave rise to those rumors?

More importantly, did they know how to brew alcohol? There was a much larger settlement to the north—maybe he’d find something there.
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Thob Goes to the Surface (Adventure Mode story, in progress)

TheFlame52

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #51 on: July 05, 2020, 11:27:59 am »

Maybe a human will be the one to save the dwarves from their sobriety!

King Zultan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #52 on: July 06, 2020, 03:29:16 am »

Hopefully someone still has booze, as a future without booze is a future I don't want anything to do with.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #53 on: July 06, 2020, 08:36:00 pm »

Cities of the Dead

A wide paved road led between rows of houses, all run-down, some falling in on themselves. As in the small village, the houses were sized for someone noticeably taller than Thob. They seemed to look down on him as he passed between the rows.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He walked through the desolate streets until he came to a high wall of white stone, encircling an inner town. The towering gates opened slowly, creaking on hinges almost rusted through, and Thob stepped into the narrow streets beyond.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Here the houses were bigger, and older. Two tower-like mansions stood side-by-side by the road, overgrown gardens lying before them. The towers were in absolute shambles, a mess of collapsed walls, fallen pillars, and broken stairways. But among the ruins Thob saw the remains of grandeur, such as the vast feasting tables in the southern tower.

As he surveyed the wreckage Thob noticed that, while much of the decay was due to time, in many places the destruction seemed deliberate. Evidence of burning, battering, and the blows of axes and hammers still marked many of the torn-down buildings. This town hadn’t been abandoned on a whim: whoever had lived here had been driven out.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He wandered up the main hill until he reached the fortress at the top, surrounded by a curtain wall of the same white rock. A nearby sign called it “The Invisible Palace,” which Thob didn’t understand—he could see it perfectly.
   The palace was deserted, like everything else. In the dark throne room, though, he found a few books lying around: if these people kept some records he might find out what had happened. He picked up a small book called “Factual Human”:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He didn’t know why anyone would write so incriminating a document: was this some sort of confession, or were assassinations a thing these “humans” took pride in? Either way, at least he knew what these tall folk had been called. Maybe he’d meet one yet.

He went back down into the outer town, still on the hunt for a tavern. Just as he passed through the eastern gate, however, a detestable smell met his nostrils:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He didn’t see anything dead, though, and the smell was faint, as if… as if something dead had been here a while ago. But there was no sign of scavengers feeding either…

At last, as evening was coming on, Thob spotted the unmistakable sign of a tavern! And what a tavern—even in its ruined state, it was enormous, and he could only imagine what a place it would have been in its day:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
But his joy was short-lived. Although the place was stocked with dozens of huge casks, not a single one had even a vestige of alcohol. What sort of booze-draining plague had struck this country? No wonder the town was abandoned.

Night was coming, and Thob looked for a relatively stable shelter. As he drifted through the streets, he heard a shuffling noise—then came the awful smell again, but far stronger. Suddenly, something shambled from the ruins:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It—she?—it was clearly dead a long time, although well-preserved—yet there it was, walking towards him. Walking? No, it was running, straight for Thob with its claw-like fingers raised. Its black mouth gaped horribly.
   There was no time to run. Thob swung his pick and struck the thing’s foot. The desiccated flesh gave way, tore, and the corpse collapsed to the street. But it kept fighting. A scratch barely missed Thob, and he sank his pick into the thing’s abdomen with a sickening squelch. But he couldn’t pull it out; it was stuck. As he was trying the corpse kicked him across the face—the blow bruised him, but it also wrenched the weapon free. With a final swing Thob broke open the creature’s skull. It lay still—but he watched it for some time afterward, just to make sure.

So maybe the town wasn’t abandoned just from lack of booze. Just maybe it had something to do with dead things coming back to life.
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Thob Goes to the Surface (Adventure Mode story, in progress)

IncompetentFortressMaker

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #54 on: July 07, 2020, 11:43:04 am »

I'm starting to think Thob is a necromagnet

Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #55 on: July 13, 2020, 10:38:33 am »

You don't need to be a magnet for undead to find you in this world.



Thob made it back to the castle, where he spent the night—he figured it was the safest place, and probably no one would mind.

Expecting there’d be little point to keep searching the town (unless he wanted to get jumped by the undead again) next morning Thob decided to move on. He could see another fortress not far away to the north.
   On the northern outskirts of town he found a marvelous structure: a vast temple, ruined but still magnificent.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The statues around the building depicted Egesh Bravedheather—this was “The Shrine of Worth,” a temple of the Communion of Saints! The carved walls depicted many ancient priests, some humans, others dwarves, and others stranger creatures: Thob saw a reptile man and even a troglodyte dressed in priestly garb. Clearly the Communion was much more than the obscure cult he had always thought it to be.
   He felt it appropriate to offer a few words to Egesh—after all, her blessing appeared to have gotten him this far.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
…he didn’t really know how to pray, though. Should he start with some kind of icebreaker?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Egesh didn’t say anything. Maybe she didn’t like him enough?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Maybe he should just say what was on his mind.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Hmmm…
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This prayer thing seemed a little one-sided to him. But he felt he’d done his duty, anyway. He left the Shrine and continued to the north.

The castle overlooked a small, abandoned village. Thob became eager when he saw the castle’s name on an old sign: “Beer-Yearling.” A promising name!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The fortress was built of microcline, shining softly turquoise in the light. The walls were high, but the front gate was rickety and opened easily. No one was around. Probably, Thob guessed, it was another desolate ruin, like the rest of them.
   He went over to the keep and swung the old doors open—and saw a living person! She was about his size, though slimmer; long hair of a striking scarlet color fell down her back; she had a daintily upturned nose, and big, round eyes framed by long lashes.
   She was, however, green:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   She started when she saw him. “Well,” she said, “you’re not what I was expecting. Have you come to get me out?”
   “Uh—not exactly. I was looking for booze.”
   She blinked. “Well, would you mind getting me out?”
   “…the door’s unlocked, you know. Couldn’t you get out yourself?”
   “With all those zombies out there? I have a dress and a thin stone knife—how long do you think I’d last?”
   “Alright… anywhere in particular you’re going?”
   “Anywhere but here. I’ve been trapped here way too long.”
   “How long?”
   “Oh, I don’t know for sure. I lost track after about two hundred years.”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   Thob must have heard that wrong. “Excuse me,” he said, “but… are you well? You look a bit, um, off-color.”
   “I guess I am a little pale. Comes of being stuck in a tower so long.”
   “That’s… not what I meant. You’re green.”
   “I’m in no mood for jokes,” she said. But when she saw the surprise in Thob’s face she arched an eyebrow. “You really don’t know, do you? What rock did you crawl out from?”
   Thob pointed out the window to the distant southern mountains. “That one, I think.”
   She raised her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a while. “Just my luck,” she muttered.
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Superdorf

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #56 on: July 13, 2020, 11:53:33 am »

“You really don’t know, do you? What rock did you crawl out from?”
   Thob pointed out the window to the distant southern mountains. “That one, I think.”

I laughed. :))
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mightymushroom

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #57 on: July 13, 2020, 08:19:08 pm »

Well the good news is she's not undead.

I don't suppose Thob is lucky enough that she knows anything about brewing or distillery.
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King Zultan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #58 on: July 14, 2020, 04:54:20 am »

A potential friend all the way out here in the middle of these lands of the dead?
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

IncompetentFortressMaker

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface
« Reply #59 on: July 14, 2020, 11:33:33 am »

A potential friend all the way out here in the middle of these lands of the dead?
Apparently. Said potential friend also appears to be a goblin... and Thob is ignorantly blundering around, so he doesn't even seem to know what a goblin is.
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