17th of granite 746The journey has been quite an experience. For the first days we travelled through elven territory. Having lived in the home tree al my life, the outside world frightened me at first. I however found that it is a beautiful place, and I need not fear, for I know Umrist can protect me. There are endless forests, and I’ve seen many wild animals. I’m looking forward to see the megabeasts of this world. I know they are dangerous, but I have heard many great stories about them. Though frightening, they are the true guardians of this world, and the protectors of nature.
I sleep in the treetops at night. It almost feels like home.
18th of granite 746The last day was definitely a change for the worse. We have emerged from the elven forests and are now in a strange land. The forests here have been destroyed. Endless acres of barren lands, scarred by the use of plowshares, stretch as far as the eye can see. Yet despite the clear influence of civilisation, we could not find anyone. The towns are in ruins, the people that lived here must have fled after the ecosystem collapsed. I was happy when we finally found an encampment near one of the larger towns that appeared to be inhabited.
The encampment was strange. It was like a tent, but much larger than I had ever seen. It was made entirely out of groundhog leather, and there was a concerned looking groundhog nearby.
There was a giant man inside, even taller than an elf. Based on the stories I’ve heard I made the assumption that the giant must be a human.
I was still seated on the giant grizzly bear and I felt confident enough to adress him. The man introduced himself as Omo Chaosmark, but then he got this strange look in his eyes, and I knew I had made a terrible mistake. Judging by the tent that was made of skinned animals he was a fur trader, and he looked at my bright orange skin with great interest. The man drew a giant warhammer and lunged at me. I managed to evade the blow but fell of Umrist's back.
I had expected that the giant grizzly bear would immediately jump between me and my enemy, and that he would maul the giant with the greatest ease, but instead Umrist just stood there and looked at me with a puzzled expression. The human swung his massive hammer at me several times, (a blunt weapon, so my fur would not get damaged, I noted). I dodged behind Umrist’s legs. But still he bear would not defend me, I mounted Umrist and ordered it to attack the villain, but it just allowed the human to bring its hammer down on me without raising a paw. I was hit several times by Omo’s hammer, luckily not with great force, but it was clear I could not defeat the giant on my own. Instead I commanded the bear to carry me away, and luckily it obliged.
19th of granite I made it to Razorbridge. Before I got to the fortress I had to step over dozens of dead animals; camels, cows, and other cattle.
A dwarf explained me that they all died of old age, but that made no sense at all. The disregard for animal life of these dwarves was shocking. I was about to speak out, but remembered what happened with the human fur trader earlier and tried to conceal my anger.
The fortress itself was indeed a bridge, over an ocean. I am completely at ease walking over the narrowest tree branches at great height. This however.. This endless water, and this bridge.. it scared me. A dwarf which had apparently spotted my hesitation, walked up to me and said: There's nothing to it lad, just jump in yonder minecart! The dwarf made it clear that I was not supposed to object, and once he shoved me in the cart he just pushed me down the hill without warning.
I plunged down towards the bridge at incredible speed. It was terrible! the bridge made several sharp turns but luckily so did the track. Umrist was running behind me all the time, trying to catch up. Just when I thought I was going to be fine I saw dwarves on the track!
The dwarf only jumped away at the last moment.
When I got out on the other side of the ocean I was trembling and shaking. Umrist looked as if he had great fun chasing the minecart.
21st of granite. THE ELVES WERE WRONG. I have made it to the museum. though the journey started out well, it got worse and worse. The world is not the place I imagined it to be. It is not longer a wilderness that the elves at home spoke to me about. No, it has been tamed by dwarf, goblin and men, and they have left the place in ruin. I have not seen one of the megabeasts that are supposed to guard the world. I had expected that the museum would cheer me up and that inside I would find the true wonders of the world. But it was not so. The elves were wrong OR THEY LIED TO ME. There is nothing in the museum but weapons and corpses, stacked up as trophies. It is all a lie, and I will find out why!
This is were the journal of Raki ends. Everything before this point was well documented, but from here onwards, most that is known about Raki is from witness reports. The staff of the museum report that the Lion Tamarin man appeared shocked after viewing the throne of skulls and other more gruesome contributions to the museum. They also report that Raki then collected all the adventuring journals he could find, and that he withdrew to the throne of knowledge, where he started reading. They report that he read for many hours, not stopping to sleep or eat, with a feverish look in his eyes.
Then, suddenly, Raki had gotten up from the throne, and had thrown all the journals across the room. He had accused the museum staff that they had brought the world to it’s knees. He claimed that before the museum was founded, there had been a time of balance. The age of myth: when great beasts and wild nature spirits ruled the world. Yes, there had been disasters, and sometimes the world had fallen into an age of legends, but it was always brought back into a new age of myth. Even after the elves and dwarves had been nearly wiped out, the world had recovered. Raki had continued his tirade, and had claimed, with an ever more frightening look in his eyes that after the museum had opened it’s doors, it's adventurers had pillaged the world. This had triggered an age far worse than an age of legends. The number of beasts had been so decimated that they were close to extinction, and the world had fallen into an age of “heroes”
Heroes that were worshiped in this museum, BUT THAT WERE ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DOWNFALL OF THE WORLD. Raki had then vowed to destroy everything the museum stood for, and then he had left, still screaming and raging.
Slightly shaken because of this unusual visit, Theb Hearthsnarl and the other museum staff had resumed their day to day activities.
Suddenly, two hours later there had been a commotion outside of the museum, people were pointing to the horizon, and screaming. Theb ran outside and looked into the indicated direction. He saw a thick column of black smoke rising to the sky just beyond Healerlashes.
People were screaming that the monastery of Scouredbelly was on fire. A woman had fallen to her knees in the mud and was praying. Other people were crying. Even from this distance it was clear that the monastery could not be saved.
Later, when the fire had burned out rescue crews would enter the buildings, these brave men would find that the statues had been toppled, the altars desecrated. They would find dice between the ash and rubble, seemingly randomly scattered about.
But Theb did not know this yet, all he saw was big clouds of black smoke that were blotting out the sun, causing an unnatural darkness to fall over the valley. And all he could think about was the look of madness and rage he had seen in the lion tamarin man’s eyes when he had descended from the throne of knowledge.
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Topic: Museum III, adventure succession game (DF 0.47.05) (Read 473189 times)