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Author Topic: Thob Goes to the Surface  (Read 57467 times)

PlumpHelmetMan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #165 on: September 05, 2021, 08:23:16 pm »

I concur, definitely wouldn't want to run into Thob in a dark pit looking like that.
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It's actually pretty terrifying to think about having all of your fat melt off into grease because you started sweating too much.

mightymushroom

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #166 on: September 05, 2021, 08:39:59 pm »

Thob is a rebel without a beer.
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King Zultan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #167 on: September 06, 2021, 02:32:18 am »

All he needs now is a motorcycle hog to ride and he'll be the true leader of this gang.
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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?

PlumpHelmetMan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #168 on: September 06, 2021, 02:34:45 am »

That's a good idea. Hey Loam, any chance of getting Thob a giant boar mount?
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It's actually pretty terrifying to think about having all of your fat melt off into grease because you started sweating too much.

Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #169 on: September 12, 2021, 06:09:18 pm »

I'll keep an eye out ;)



Silent Hillocks

On the outskirts of Humidglazed the party came across a group of large hoofed quadrupeds: something like the elk birds from back home, but without antlers or feathers. More necromancer experiments, Thob guessed as he shied away from the big creatures.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
To his surprise, his companions seemed charmed by the beasts, walking up to them and speaking to them, even stroking their flanks and noses. Evidently these creatures – “horses” they called them – weren’t hostile killers like everything else on the surface.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   “You know, Thob,” said Strodno, “we could use these horses.”
   “Use them? How?”
   “Well, ride them of course.”
   “Ride them?” Thob had never ridden anything but a minecart.  “You mean… get on its back?”
   “Yes, that’s what ‘ride’ means.”
   Thob looked up at the smallest horse, which still stood about twice his height at the shoulder. “How?”
   Alisa gave him a boost, and suddenly he sat astride the creature, as though on some tall and very unstable tower. He felt dizzy.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   “You’ll get used to it,” said the human. “Just take it slow.”
   There were four horses here, and four adventurers, so the others chose a steed and mounted alongside Thob. Now they were ready to set off.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On horseback they traveled south through the foothills of the mountains. To their right rose the peaks; to their left lay a blasted land, with the ominous shape of a tower in its midst.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The next day, around mid morning, they passed near an old dwarven fortress. The surrounding lands were dotted with a few hillock villages. The fortress itself looked abandoned, but there were signs of life in the villages. Thob decided to check them out – hopefully the dwarves there could tell him more about these lands.
   But as the party drew closer to the nearest village an all-too-familiar scent wafted to them on the wind. Soon they saw the cause: among the scattered trees wandered a handful of undead.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   “Not too many,” said Thob, “and they’re unarmed. We can take them!” With that he urged his horse into a charge at the nearest zombie. The horse slammed the goblin corpse to the ground with its hooves, and Thob’s pick sailed down to cleave off its head.
   Then Thob looked up. Having charged further into the woods he could see across the little stream to the northeast, where stood a dozen more zombies – all shambling toward him.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
And they weren’t alone. In their midst stood a dwarven figure, thin but incredibly muscular, with long unkempt white hair streaming from its head. It wore no armor, but bore a shield in one hand, and in the other a sword so big even a human would have to wield it with both hands. But this thing hefted the sword with ease, and obviously knew how to use it.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Thob knew by now he was in over his head. As if to drive the point home, the dwarf-thing across the stream raised its sword-arm and flashed its glowing eyes. Suddenly from all corners a thick fog boiled into the forest, obscuring all but the nearest objects.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   “Nevermind, guys,” Thob shouted to his comrades, “let’s just get out of here!”
   As it happened, the fog was more of a help than a hindrance. Thob and his party were able to lose the horde in the mist and make their escape.

There was another hillock village nearby – hopefully this one wouldn’t be under an undead siege. Everything looked quiet, anyway, as the party rode in among the mounds. Maybe too quiet…
   Then Thob heard muffled noises from the closest mound, emanating from the hatch in the ceiling. He drew closer. Suddenly the hatch burst open – a decaying hand rose, clawing at the earth, and behind it the rest of the goblin corpse crawled up from below!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   So much for a peaceful stay here. Strodno rushed forward and decapitated the zombie in one blow. Noises still rose from inside the mound. Soon the hatch flew open again, and another zombie climbed out: an elf, maybe, though it was hard to tell since it was almost all bones. Thob’s companions took their time putting this one down, apparently preferring to dismember it slowly:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   At last they finished it off. “Guess we better check this place out,” Thob said. “There might still be dwarves here… living ones, I mean.”
   So saying he opened the ceiling hatch and peered down into the dim mound below.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The basement was swimming in blood, decorated with slain bodies and smashed furniture – and inhabited by one large, shaggy-haired humanoid thing.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   Thob tried to slam the hatch shut and run – but the thing was faster. As it bounded up the stairs Thob had just time to throw his buckler up to block its sweeping claw. Suddenly it reached an arm up and grabbed Thob’s leg; with a swift pull it dislocated his hip and sent him sprawling down the stairs. He managed to pick the monster in the leg and sent it likewise to the ground – but it deftly stretched out a hairy leg and caught Thob’s throat in the crook of its knee. The mighty leg began to tighten its grip… Thob felt his air closing off… he swung his pick frantically…
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   Thob pried the dead leg from his throat and crawled up the stairs as fast as his broken leg would let him, letting the hatch thud heavily behind him. “Nevermind, guys,” he gasped through the pain. “Let’s just get out of here – and I mean it this time!”
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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: Part V
« Reply #170 on: September 13, 2021, 01:47:44 am »

These places seem to be more dangerous than the last areas with undead.
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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?

PlumpHelmetMan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #171 on: September 13, 2021, 11:12:56 am »

Not often that you see night trolls and undead in cahoots. Wonder what the story there is.
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It's actually pretty terrifying to think about having all of your fat melt off into grease because you started sweating too much.

TheFlame52

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #172 on: September 13, 2021, 07:57:18 pm »

Considering it had just finished killing some Lor's soldiers... maybe not so much in cahoots. I'd say you just got caught up in an attack.

mightymushroom

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #173 on: September 14, 2021, 02:16:23 pm »

I felt a little panic right when she grabbed Thob.
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Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #174 on: November 14, 2021, 09:26:17 pm »

I'm still alive! Just haven't had much time.



Noon found the party in a flat valley, between an old dwarven fortress, and a menacing tower.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Seeing a few somethings patrolling around the latter, Thob decided to steer clear of it—he’d had enough run-ins with undead for one day. For several days, actually.

The fort was, like most others, abandoned. Being so near the old necromancer tower, Thob couldn’t blame the dwarves for leaving.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The temple in the upper chamber was in partial ruins. Among the scattered debris lay a few old books—guides to the surrounding hillocks, mostly.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The interior of the fort likewise housed some literature, mostly medical texts detailing surgical techniques. At least that was what Strodno said; the handwriting was so bad Thob could barely make out the titles, much less the contents.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
In the depths of the fortress, however, the party encountered a wonderful surprise. The tunnels were unusually hot down here, and around a curve in the passage Thob saw a red glare lighting up the walls. He turned, half-expecting to find a dragon or some similar nasty. What he saw took his breath away.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A rift opened in the fortress floor, a rift filled with magma, boiling up from the great sea underneath. In the middle of the red rift was a pillar of brilliant aquamarine stone, radiant in the magma glow yet seeming to shine also with a light of its own. “What is that?” said Cañar.
   In all his years of mining Thob had never beheld this stone before, but he knew the old dwarven legends about the most precious metal, found only in the deepest caverns and mines. “Adamantine,” he half-whispered, “it must be!”
   “Adamantine?” said Strodno. “Like diamond?”
   “No, no no!” said the dwarf. “A metal, harder than steel, sharper than glass, light as feathers! Whole kingdoms could be bought with a single wafer!” He pointed at the pillar. “The veins were said to go down to unimaginable depths… This must only be one end of a much vaster column!”
   “So… we’ve struck it rich?” ventured Alisa.
   Thob looked at his pick, then back at the pillar. “Well,” he said, “if you’ve got a way to cross that lava. And then—so the stories say—you’d need a team of specialists to pull strands of metal from the stone, a task that could take months. So no, we’re not rich. Not yet, anyway.” But it might pay to remember this place for later.

Wealth beyond anyone’s wildest dreams was all well and good, but Thob had come looking for booze—which somehow was proving harder to find that fantastic super-metals at the bottom of the world. This fort was dry, but there was another a little ways to the south. The party marched on.
   There were more hillocks in the plains nearby. Despite his recent experiences Thob decided to inspect them further. He was hoping to find more dwarves.
   The first hillock they came to was inhabited… but by humans, mostly. Perhaps these humans had sense enough to live at least partially underground, like normal folks?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
There were some goblins here also, including one who called himself “administrator” and called the place “occupied territory.” Thob didn’t quite understand—obviously the place was occupied.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   Further south the hillocks were surrounded by towers and trenches, sure signs of goblin presence. In the western mountains the smoking spire of a volcano loomed over the hills below.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Nightfall approached as they wandered into another hillock. A couple of strange-looking beasts stood among the mounds: sort of hunchbacked horses with cow-like heads. “Camels,” Alisa called them.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Inside the nearest mound Thob was delighted to find dwarves! The mayor, sheriff, and militia commander of the village of Dipoils, as this place was named.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
So the night passed in friendly fellowship, a welcome break from the anxious nights the party was used to.

The dwarves of Dipoils pointed Thob to Boldwhipped, a mighty dwarven citadel in a dry valley to the west. In the morning, therefore, he and his companions set out over the badlands toward the fortress, and the booze it promised to provide.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The fort was nestled at the end of a narrow ravine, a flat floor of red sand between two great spurs of mountain stone. At the mouth of the valley Thob stumbled across two little burrows in the earth: lairs of wild beasts, or wild people, perhaps.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As he progressed he found that the whole valley was riddled with such burrows:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He avoided poking his head into any of them—he’d had enough of peering into dark holes for a while.

He could see it: the walls of the great fortress rising from the desert. He could hear the din of many voices engaged in conversation and trade. A living fortress, a dwarven capital, sure to have alcohol flowing in fountains! He stepped forward…
   Time seemed to slow. His step hovered in the air, slowly sinking to the sand. He tried to take another step: his foot barely budged from the earth, moving a little, then finally not moving at all. For a moment that dragged on to minutes he stood frozen in time and space.
   Then he was back at the entrance of the valley, looking through its narrow walls at the distant fortress. He sighed. “Another enchanted barrier,” he lamented. Another fortress barred to him. Something really didn’t want him to get a drink.
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Thob Goes to the Surface (Adventure Mode story, in progress)

Maloy

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #175 on: November 14, 2021, 10:12:44 pm »

To be so close and yet denied!
I appreciate Thob's resistance to becoming a necromancer btw
Seems like it would be so easy to take that same old route in this world

King Zultan

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #176 on: November 15, 2021, 03:44:41 am »

Damn the evils of this world, why won't they let poor Thob get his booze!
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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: Part V
« Reply #177 on: January 02, 2022, 01:04:43 pm »

Happy New Year! Have a two-parter season finale:



Heading south from the unapproachable Boldwhipped, Thob and his friends entered another hillock-village. This one was mostly populated by goblins, who were, as usual, brawling among themselves when Thob entered.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Among the goblins was one more finely dressed than the others, who stood self-importantly apart from the rest. Thob greeted him and inquired about his station—and was surprised when the goblin introduced himself as a King!
   “A goblin king?”
   “No—well, obviously yes, but also no. I am king of the Dwarves.”
   “Really? Shouldn’t you be in the mountainhome then?”
   “He ain’t the king,” said a nearby dwarf. “Just calls ‘imself that ‘cause ‘e’s married to the Queen!”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   “That still makes me king!” said the goblin, looking a little deflated nonetheless. “Granted I can’t make laws, or lead armies, or…”
   “Other kingly things?”
   “And how does a goblin become king, or queen, of the Dwarves?” asked Thob.
   “Same way a necromancer does,” said Strodno. “They outlive the competition.”

The rest of that day they traveled south through the Twinkling Forest. The trees were in full bloom and the air sweet with the scents of late spring.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
On the way Thob overheard Strodno and Alisa debating the proper use of martial skill—or rather, Alisa was debating while Strodno tried wearily to avoid giving offense. A fruitless endeavor, as it turned out:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   “Why must she be so quarrelsome?” Alisa lamented to Thob. “It’s like she’s trying to make me angry!”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Within the Twinkling Forest the party came across the ruins of elven settlements: trees taller than ordinary, with wide smoothed branches woven into firm floors, towering over neatly-rowed orchards of fruit trees. But there were no elves, nothing at all actually, living among the trees. All, presumably, had been swept away by tides of undead.
   Unusually for elves, there was a vast and very redundant road network crisscrossing the forest:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Cañar suspected it had been made by humans, who may have driven out the initial undead invaders and taken the forest for themselves.
   They emerged at nightfall into the hills, where a few human villages lay. The first of these, just outside the forest, housed only two humans. One was an armed warrior, and the other called himself “Overlord Hathur.”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   “Overlord?” said Thob. “Sounds important. How wide is your rule?”
   “As far as I can see,” said Overlord Hathur—which, since they were indoors, was not actually very far.
   “And, uh… are your lands well-guarded?”
   “None have dared challenge me yet,” the overlord replied.
   “But if they did challenge you?”
   “Ah… yes, that might be a bit of a problem.”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The next day they traveled eastward by road, passing through more ruined human hamlets and towns, but finding little of interest in any. Most importantly there were no taverns, and no alcohol.
   At one point they saw a castle, shining strangely brightly in the hot southern sun. On approaching it Thob was astounded to find that it was made entirely of native aluminum—a fabulously rare and precious metal:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It was not, however, the best choice for building a strong fortification, being light and rather easy to bend. The castle must have been for show, an extravagant display signifying the lord’s wealth and power.
   Inside the keep was another surprise: the castle was full of books!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A quick scan of some of the books confirmed Thob’s intuition: very nearly all of them concerned the lives of two necromancers, Edri Rootshrines and Lokum Letterrighteous.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
And, as he expected, a few more than half the books dealt exclusively with the writing and storage of other books.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This was a familiar situation, and so Thob was not surprised when he found a wizened, white-haired woman in simple garb pacing aimlessly through the castle—one of the necromancers, he guessed, imprisoned here after the war centuries ago. He was surprised, however, when she greeted him, introducing herself as “Overlord Edri”:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Evidently all it took to be an overlord in these lands was the gall to claim the title, because this Edri certainly didn’t have much else.
   There was another necromancer imprisoned here, a dwarf, probably the Lokum mentioned in the many books. But she did not speak when Thob addressed her. The guards in the castle whispered that she was not only immortal, like Edri, but actually undead, and they gave her a wide berth.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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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: Part V
« Reply #178 on: January 02, 2022, 01:24:07 pm »

This world is ruled by the immortals. Have we even met a mortal ruler?

Loam

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Re: Thob Goes to the Surface: Part V
« Reply #179 on: January 02, 2022, 01:29:09 pm »

This world is ruled by the immortals. Have we even met a mortal ruler?
I think there was one dwarf (non-necromancer) king way back at the beginning, but you're right - there's a seriously lopsided power distribution going on here...



The party pushed on to the east, for Thob had heard that a human city yet stood, not ruined by the endless wars with the undead: the town of Equaledbaths.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
If so, it looked like it might be his last chance at a ready drink in the whole wide world.

A short ways down the road Thob spotted another dark lair. Ordinarily he’d have passed it by, but a glint of metal from within caught his eye. He approached cautiously, and peering inside saw that the floor of the cavern was filled with gold and silver coins, gems, pieces of armor, and other treasures—a veritable hoard!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He was about to venture further in, and perhaps claim some of the loot, but something else caught his eye: a track, a deep footprint in the earth, shaped like a lizard’s foot but much, much larger:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
No treasure was worth being toasted—except booze, but Thob didn’t think dragons drank. He quickly ducked out of the lair and back to the road.

To make good time the party turned off the path and went cross-country, through the woods. Part of the forest ahead, Thob noticed, looked dead and ominous, and they steered clear:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
   In the afternoon the town came into view: a large city on a large river. But was it inhabited?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
They entered from the west, and pretty soon Thob saw something that surprised him…
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Humans! living ones, too, and in a human town no less! How novel. It seemed perhaps that Thob had found the last stronghold of non-goblin civilization left in this wild world.

Some of the shops and houses were boarded shut and dilapidated, but most were still intact.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Near the middle of town they entered a bustling market, full of human merchants hawking their wares. These wares, it turned out, were mostly meat—and specifically, to Thob’s wonder, meat from rattlesnakes…
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Evidently the rattlesnake-part trade was booming, for the town showed signs of great wealth. Thob passed by large and impressive houses, with well-maintained walled gardens, no doubt belonging to wealthy merchants:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The city’s temples were in fine repair as well, kept by multitudes of worshipers. The largest was the Ashen Cathedral, a tall sanctum of ornately-carved sandstone:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This was dedicated to a certain “Tamun the Fated Daggers,” who sounded like an unpleasant deity to Thob…
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
… but he supposed worship of war and death was natural for a folk that had known little else for centuries.

But Thob was not hear to find either wealth or religion. He walked the streets with eyes peeled for the tell-tale sign of a tavern, hopefully in good repair and well-stocked with the water of life. At length he saw it: a long, narrow building tucked away on a side-street near the market. The sign proclaimed it “The First Honeys.”
   He pushed open the door. The place was hardly bustling, at this hour, with only a handful of elven toughs hanging about among the usual litter of mismatched tables and chairs. But Thob saw, at the far end, a sight that brought tears to his dwarven eyes:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Barrels brimming with beer! filled full with the fruit of the prickle berry! overflowing with usquabae! Even the heady smell, wafting across the room to his sensitive nostrils, reinvigorated Thob—he had forgotten the lovely scent, it had been so long:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
At last, in this little pub at the end of the world (in more senses than one), Thob had found the object of his now months-long journey. This called for a celebration. Taking four goblets he filled them brim-full of sweet beer, and passed them to his companions. “A toast,” he exclaimed, “to adventure!” The cups were drained, and, in fine dwarven style, thrown to the ground with a celebratory clang!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After so long, and wearied by travel, the effect was quick, and mounted swiftly with each glass. Even the first brought about a powerful euphoria. “I feel so good!” said Thob, to anyone who would listen, who at the moment was Cañar. The elf, similarly tipsy, echoed his sentiments:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Alisa, the human, seemed to have a poor head for the stuff—this, however, was for the better, as drink seemed to diminish, rather than excite, his usual querulousness.
   “I want *hic* to be friends,” he said, “I want… everyone!… to be friends!”
   Thob put an arm on his shoulder, and slurred out “I couldn’t agree more!”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
If Strodno felt the alcohol she didn’t show it. To Thob’s exclamations she was noncommittal: “It’s okay, I guess,” she said, and “I don’t see what’s the big deal about a little drink.” Turning pointedly to Thob as the revelry continued she said, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Thob was forgetting something, a great many somethings actually, and intended to forget quite a few more as the evening continued. He knew there was a return journey in the future, another long toilsome road back to his homelands, contending all the way with wild beasts, goblin soldiers, and undead hordes. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on these things—he’d worry about them as they came. Now it was time for a well-earned drink… and another, and another, and another…



Alright, I think that's a good stopping point for right now. I intend to take up the story again - Thob still needs to get back home, and there's a certain jewel to reclaim - but I'm not sure when. Whenever I next get bit by the Dwarf Fortress bug. Right now, though, I think I'm going to join in Thob's toast...

Thanks for reading, everyone! And keep an eye out for Season 2...
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Thob Goes to the Surface (Adventure Mode story, in progress)
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