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Voting closed: November 04, 2022, 09:24:51 am

[Salmeuk]

This land is a violent one. Glorg was happy to fall in combat. However, Grugni's slow injury and death are sobering indeed.

[King Zultan]

Yeah what happened to Grugni was pretty bad.

[Maloy]

Yeah what happened to Grugni was pretty bad.

Yeah sorry if it was too heavy. Definitely the game that chose the suffocation route rather than decapitation, but narratively once his hopes of returning to his old trade were lost with his arms this was the ending he wanted!

Also Ral is 100% getting an entry. She did something that I didn't know was possible post world-gen: She defected to another civilization. I'm really curious if, for example, I could fill a near-extinct goblin civ with humans now
--------------

All of you quietly make your way out of the fortress. At the top are two more corpses of dwarves beaten to death viciously.
You use the rest of the day light to make your way to a small hillocks east of the fortress with the sun setting behind you all. Grugni, Glorg and the spear are safely wrapped up and fortunately modern techniques on body preservation allow you all to carry them without fear of rot for a long time.

Hal attempts to lighten the dour mood of the party, but it doesn't go over well.
Oddly in line with Hal's original personality description

Despite his failure he masters comedy and flattery!

After words you three enter a drinking mound. Dirt floors with little furniture to provide nothing to break in a bar fight. There are only two dwarves present, both deeply inebriated.

You ask one of the dwarves if you can stay the night. For a global shortage in alcohol it is strange to see a dwarf drunk enough to slur their words. He boldly describes himself as a drunk! "It'd be a blasted shame to leave wande-wend-w." He struggles to say "I mean travelers! Like yourself out. Animals and cultists out and about, y'know?"
Any reactions or questions?

The next day is a quiet trek back through peaceful countryside that goes uninterrupted other than finding a wild strawberry bush.

You camp out enjoying a clear summer evening with fair breeze and the beautiful skyline above.
How do nights such as this make you feel? Do any of you talk to one another? It's reasonable that after so short a time since tragedy you may be less talkative.


You finally make it back to the castle by late morning. The guards wave you in without stopping or searching you. A gesture of trust certainly, but you hear them grumbling to one another about the latest laws decreed.
Reaction?

When you enter the commander, baron and usual guards are present although the commander is speaking to a new man. This human wears both bow and sword upon his back and is clearly capable with both. He does not wear the uniform of the Union.
Salmeuk this is you. If you want you can intro yourself otherwise the commander will upon the next entry! The commander was catching you up on recent events of the party leading up to leaving to fight the cult.


The commander sees the party enter and cuts his conversation short. "Ah, warriors welcome back!" He notices the absence of two party members "Perhaps you'd give me a report on your most recent expedition?"
You guys can decide how you wanna tell the tale to the commander, the spear, friends, all of it or however much you want to share.

[King Zultan]

Burt tries to get the drunk to tell him what he knows about the cult as the info could help when they return to finish the job. He also tries to get a little bit of alcohol from the dwarf.

Burt doesn't really talk to anyone while they camp as he is to deep in thought, at least the area is peaceful and calm, it makes it easier to sleep at night.

He tries to find out more about these new laws before he continues into the castle.

He thinks telling the commander everything is important, he has nothing to hide and thinks it would be the best to lay it all out, the spear, the fight with the cold hunter, the deaths, and the two high ranking cult members they killed.

(Also can Burt stand now that some time has passed or is he crippled?)

Yeah what happened to Grugni was pretty bad.

Yeah sorry if it was too heavy. Definitely the game that chose the suffocation route rather than decapitation, but narratively once his hopes of returning to his old trade were lost with his arms this was the ending he wanted!

Nothing wrong with it being heavy as being heavy is just the way things go sometimes in the game, I was just saying it was a pretty bad way to for poor Grugni to die.

[Salmeuk]

Galtran is generally annoying and ignorant, but looks the part of the noble warrior, and so manages to insert himself into situations he is completely unprepared for.

Sir Galtran III listens to Burt's tale, chiming in at the end with a snarky aside to the castle's commander, "If I had been there, no one would have died..."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

OOC: I was there, and I did die   

Galtran continues. "Commander, I request you install me as a member of this adventuring party. Seeing as they are wont to take on dangerous and legendary foes, I would be well suited to assist them. I have a lot of experience in the area, trust me!"

Internally, Galtran recalls the many days spent hitting trees with sticks, and how little it actually taught him about fighting. These introspections would never stop Galtran's quest for fame and fortune, of course, but the insecurity of his status as imposter knight would always plague his conscience.

As well, Galtran sizes up the returning party.. what do they look like, who appears the most important of the group?

[Maloy]

I'll let Burt and Egem act out how they wanna respond rather than respond for you guys to your new team members question!
Also your hooves recover, Zultan!
incoming lore entry!

Can love bloom in undeath? Legend of Ral Ivoryinks

Ral Ivoryinks is one of the most notorious figures of the old world, but she was not anyone of note in history until after her death!

She was born in year 39 in the age of the swamp titan and bronze colossus and within the same year kidnapped by a traveling snatcher from the elder hell in the artic north. The goblins likely desired dwarven smithing techniques and suspected that it was an inherited trait as they immediately began attempting to train the newborn in blacksmithing. By the age of five she had made a friend in her abduction named Fath. This dwarf lad was 7 years older than her and she was infatuated with him and his many tales of the habitable lands to the south. In particular of traveling bards seeing the many sights of the world.

So, Fath being aged 12 decided to brave the arctic to head south in order to become a bard and he refused to abandon the five year old girl. They both miraculously survived the trek, avoided the dangerous patrols, and the packs of rabid monsters to make it to the elven forest of Fierygrowls. Did the elf need more apprentices? Highly unlikely and the dwarves would have understood very little of art to even qualify as apprentice bards, but it could be fair to assume that the elf saw two children, ex-slaves no less, desperately in need and stepped up to protect and raise them. The two dwarves knew nothing of their homeland or original parents, although the truth was that both of their parents were alive as well as many siblings who would outlive them both.

The two adopted the elven force of the forest as their patron deity.

By year 73 Ral was still barely an adult at age 34, but had her own apprentice now: The elf who would one day nearly destroy the human kingdom of the Amethyst Confederacy, Cacame Streamcry . She had also authored three books of her own: We See Starvations, Destruction Ever Onward, and Traps; Only the Fool Foretells.

At this era before the hordes of the dead or demons plagued the world dwarves and elves were at war, and one of the greatest warriors in dwarven history led the battle against Fierygrowl: Stukos Sellmanors the Last Discovery. He slew Ral. In the face of this tragedy her childhood friend fath left the forest to start a bardic group called The Flies of Disgusting and would attempt to bring art to the goblin people until a stray demon would kill and devour him in year 124.

From here she rested in the bowels of the forests cradled under ancient roots until the goddess Cor found her. From here she was raised a Cold Hunter with superdwarven powers and would wage war for many years against countless enemies. In particular of note was her participation in the Night of Tears.

The undead need no rest and so within a single day the same army of cold hunters, wights and zombies attacked elven forests and many dwarven settlements leaving both enemy armies in disarray.
This culminated in a final battle at the dwarven capital of the Silver of Staves. After so many years she took her revenge on the dwarves in a duel with the great king Tholtig. Tholtig wielded the great spear: Dreamedsun - The symbol of the office of the king of the dwarves and fought a vicious battle against Ral, but ultimately lost to her.
Injury was not enough for her however and she took the spear from his corpse claiming it as her own and departed.


She spent her years after continuing her campaign of destruction, but as a background character. She was content to allow her former apprentice, Cacame, to reign and rule what their goddess gave them to manage. She was one of the many cold hunter guards in the city of Inkrouts when Kanil Inchwhip and his men invaded. She was one of a handful of survivors of the battle.

Following the death of Cor and the loss of so much land most of the Cold Hunters turned inwards fighting each other over rulership of what little remained, but Ral had no interest in this. Instead, she was caught totally by surprise by something else completely: Love.

She had never known love in life, but in undeath she met Snang Rusthell. This dwarf was born and raised under the demonic rule of the Blue Curses and it's cult of followers. In year 125 he had become chief executioner, merely one year before the great purge of goblins to come, but he found Ral Ivoryink wandering the forests and lost. Immortal and disenfranchised with the world she was shocked by how much interest the dwarf took with her and after a brief relationship they married.

She renounced the necromancers and their infighting and settled in Leapbodice with her husband living as a protector and guard.

In her life she had been a slave, an artist, teacher, and soldier. She had never known love before though. She did her best to be in a happy marriage for two years until the cult finally faced justice for their many crimes.

She did battle with the heroes: Burt, Egem, Grugni, Hal, and Glorg. In a brutal battle that led to the deaths of Grugni and glorg; She also met her fate and so her story finally ended.

[King Zultan]

Burt is unsure who is the most important of the group especially after the recent death of two of it's members.

Also I didn't know undead could marry.

Also your hooves recover, Zultan!

That's good to hear as I was worried it was permanent.

[TeaKing]

Egem is gonna meet the new guy with Complete hostility

How vile is his ego!
He is obviously inexperienced and yet he acts as if he's a legendary swordsman...
How dare he insult this party and its fallen members?!

If he wants to join us, he'll have to prove himself...
I shall challenge him to a duel...

"Constantly getting into fights, Egem?... A nice thing for me, hehehe... However, i dont think this is good enough... Collect heads for me... What i desire is the skulls of your foes... The sooner you bring them to me the better..."

Now is not the time for your nonsense...

”Sure... But you better keep your task in mind... I shouldn't have to remind you that you're practically a slave to me..."

[Salmeuk]

If he wants to join us, he'll have to prove himself...
I shall challenge him to a duel...

Sir Galtran III is affronted by this challenge, but knows enough about swordplay to know he likely doesn't stand a chance at defeating the battle-hardened Egem. Galtran now tries to defuse the situation, ignoring the challenge.

"Ah, erm, my apologies for the earlier tone, I am merely used to the common rabble that mill about these places, claiming great adventures but secretly knowing nothing about the greater world. I, of course, am not at all one of those types of people."

"I take it you have suffered great losses, yes? Take this leaf as proof of my sworn allegiance to your future survival. I would be honored to fight alongside this party." The leaf is, by all appearances, a completely normal leaf, slightly crumpled after being stuffed into Galtran's pocket for the past few hours.

 "That leaf is from the sacred tree of my clan. Consider it a blessing!"

Galtran manages a proud smile here, but his lies are thin...

===

Awesome writeup about Ral. I wasn't sure what to expect with this thread but we've obviously found an interesting and involved way to explore the worldgen history. So Ral ended up having quite the backstory, involving death at the hands of another legendary fighter before resurrection by a god.

[Maloy]

Burt tries to get the drunk to tell him what he knows about the cult as the info could help when they return to finish the job. He also tries to get a little bit of alcohol from the dwarf.

The drunk's other friend joins the conversation with Burt's questioning. The friend is a little more sober, but not much "Some soldiers went there a few weeks back! Humans all armored up from the confederacy saying they were gonna stop the cult! All dead!"
the first drunk raises his empty mug "Humans thought with the goblins all gone the cult would be weak, but they had Ral Ivoryinks and the other dwarves." he shakes his head "It's a shame." The second drunk nods agreeing "They're trying to prove that they're the actual government after all the chaos of the war, but it didn't work." the first drunk eyes jump open and he looks back to Burt "Oh you asked about them! Should only be dwarves left in the cult after that rhino-god thing killed all the goblins" the second interjects "Ain't no gods except the ancestor gods no matter how tough a rhino might be"
The first continues unabated "Whatever, anyway they also got a hole at the bottom of the fort. Leads all the way to the underworld, they say." The second interjects once more "They still got some of the monsters alive, I think. Not all of them are smart, like us. Some of the demons are like animals and they keep them pinned up with the other ones supposedly"

After hearing Burt's final request to purchase alcohol the drunks look at each other than him with the first saying "No can do, sir! We are drunks! Our alcohol is provided to us by the drinking mounds!" the second interjects again "We are professionals!" and then the first continues "We are tasked with the noble purpose of ensuring the quality of alcohol in all dwarf lands" he throws his arms while saying this as if trying to create flair
"Also we drank all of ours just a short while ago. Not sure where you can find some for sale with the shortage and all"

He tries to find out more about these new laws before he continues into the castle.

Both guards look to you with the older looking more worried "Sorry to bother you, sir. New law in the union with the famine here. All food is stockpiled and rationed out. They also reversed the Pauper's Promise" There's a momentary silence as if you all are expected to know what that is "Oh. Outsiders, right! Pauper's Promise has been around as long as the Union. Anyone walking through villages may grab as much food as they can eat, but no more. This way starving travelers and vagrants don't pass away in our lands! It's a promise more than a law, see?"

The other guard is younger and seems more frustrated with the first "We'll be fine! If we do our duty and resist evil and temptation than days of abundance shall return to us" the phrasing sounded less like an argument and more of a ritualistic mantra.
The older guard waves him off "He hasn't been around as long as me so he has more enthusiasm, but I've never seen anything like this! People gonna be upset and some will starve, probably"
The younger guard mutters "Better than all of us"



You give the full tale of your adventures and battles to the commander.
When you reach the deaths of Glorg and Grugni he seems distressed, but the claiming of Dreamedsun puts a new light in his eyes
"These losses are truly heavy. Those two deserve to be buried with honors and accomplished more than what 20 soldiers of the confederacy dared attempt on their own."
Seeing Egem and Sir Galtran begin to argue the commander interrupts with his loud voice "We have no time for these petty squabbles! We will continue this discussion in the other room"
he leads you to a modest conference room. The only other people present are two guards and the baron from earlier. The guards stand at attention while the baron reclines in one of the chairs.

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/andreasrocha/art/Forgotten-Meetings-732143827
"Take a seat, warriors"
What do you do?


The commander sits "I will not exaggerate to you that we are in dire straits right now" he puts his hands together in a steeple as if in deep thought "Killing Ciba opened the door for settlers to move west, but even when they do it will be a year or more before we see any return on this. Starvation is happening now and there is very little land to go around. For anyone." He pauses and looks around to each of you "Our long time allies amongst the dwarves have been stretching the bounds of our alliance"
The portly baron interrupts with a sneer "Even while zombies marched through our lands they began colonizing lands that were ours!"
The commander spares a glance towards the Baron, but continues "Yes, and things are just as bad in their lands. People are getting antsy on both sides. Something will break soon"
"What he means to say is that right now each leader is looking at his neighbors and asking if we should all starve and we just happen to be the one they are all looking at!"

The commander stands up now "So, to your task. We need to prevent war by whatever means or it might not spell our doom, but that of all of humanity. I have three tasks for you to complete!"  One of the guards steps forward and hands paper dossiers to each of you with information

"First and foremost I wish for you to go the old city of Lashedfurnace. It was lost many decades ago to a monster from the depths. Between it and the dwarven city you just came from the dwarves had no choice, but to remain on the surface using land we also need. If you kill the beast that will assist us in our talks of convincing the dwarves to reclaim their underground lives as your dearly departed companion wished.
Questions? Comments?

The second task I will permit you to reject. The dwarves are split into two civilizations the Craterous Glazes and the Silver of Staves. Dreamedsun belonged to the Craterous Glazes and they would likely join the Silver of Staves in a war against us. By right of conquest that spear is now yours, but if you would be willing to sacrifice it please return it to the dwarves and tell them that we are still their friends.
Questions or comments? Thoughts?

The third task is the most important and secretive and is why we are meeting in here. You will go far to the west to the most western dwarven settlement and find a vault hidden in the earth. Ancient beings, supposedly from the heavens, reside there. They were in an alliance with the Swamp Titan of old to prevent us from moving west and are no friends of ours. I want you to acquire weapons and armor from their location, a body too preferably. Bring it back here afterwords
Comments, questions or thoughts?

I do not wish to leave you short or unsupported. How many of you have heard of Kanil Inchwhip? Regardless, following his defeat of the necromancers he traveled north to do battle with the swamp titan himself. He failed and shortly after returning home he fled in exile and has been living in such a manner since. Our scouts found him dwelling in the old goblin fortress of Cursewax . If you think you could use him then find him and convince him to join you. He knows where the vault is and found it in his travels."

The baron chimes in waving a ringed finger "Naturally if you complete these tasks for us and the final one after we will reward you with half a man's weight in coin!"

The commander nods at him and returns his gaze to you all "Any questions?"
What do you do first?
OOC:

Same I'm really enjoying this method of playstyle and I could see a steam version adventure mode game like this too!
I knew undead could marry, but I didn't know that people could abandon their civilizations outside of world generation!

Oh also Kanil is a sword MASTER. So if you feel that is too unbalanced for the party you can just not take the commanders advice and leave him at the fort

[King Zultan]

"Take a seat, warriors"
What do you do?

Burt picks the first chair he comes across as he isn't very picky and doesn't mind where he sits as long as he can hear what's being said.

"First and foremost I wish for you to go the old city of Lashedfurnace. It was lost many decades ago to a monster from the depths. Between it and the dwarven city you just came from the dwarves had no choice, but to remain on the surface using land we also need. If you kill the beast that will assist us in our talks of convincing the dwarves to reclaim their underground lives as your dearly departed companion wished.
Questions? Comments?

His only question is to ask what the monster inhabiting the place is.

The second task I will permit you to reject. The dwarves are split into two civilizations the Craterous Glazes and the Silver of Staves. Dreamedsun belonged to the Craterous Glazes and they would likely join the Silver of Staves in a war against us. By right of conquest that spear is now yours, but if you would be willing to sacrifice it please return it to the dwarves and tell them that we are still their friends.
Questions or comments? Thoughts?

"If giving them the spear would ensure peace I say we give it to them."

The third task is the most important and secretive and is why we are meeting in here. You will go far to the west to the most western dwarven settlement and find a vault hidden in the earth. Ancient beings, supposedly from the heavens, reside there. They were in an alliance with the Swamp Titan of old to prevent us from moving west and are no friends of ours. I want you to acquire weapons and armor from their location, a body too preferably. Bring it back here afterwords
Comments, questions or thoughts?

Burt is unsure if they could even be able to defeat such creatures but he keeps those thoughts to himself.

What do you do first?

Burt thinks giving the spear back to the dwarves would be the best thing to do first if the rest of the group agrees to give it to them, if not they could go and attempt to recruit Kanil Inchwhip.

[Salmeuk]

"First and foremost I wish for you to go the old city of Lashedfurnace. It was lost many decades ago to a monster from the depths. Between it and the dwarven city you just came from the dwarves had no choice, but to remain on the surface using land we also need. If you kill the beast that will assist us in our talks of convincing the dwarves to reclaim their underground lives as your dearly departed companion wished.
Questions? Comments?

Galtran listens, horrified. A monster? From the depths? He was totally unprepared for such a fight.

The second task I will permit you to reject. The dwarves are split into two civilizations the Craterous Glazes and the Silver of Staves. Dreamedsun belonged to the Craterous Glazes and they would likely join the Silver of Staves in a war against us. By right of conquest that spear is now yours, but if you would be willing to sacrifice it please return it to the dwarves and tell them that we are still their friends.
Questions or comments? Thoughts?

Galtran has no comment on this task, except to volunteer as ambassador to the Craterous Glazes.

The third task is the most important and secretive and is why we are meeting in here. You will go far to the west to the most western dwarven settlement and find a vault hidden in the earth. Ancient beings, supposedly from the heavens, reside there. They were in an alliance with the Swamp Titan of old to prevent us from moving west and are no friends of ours. I want you to acquire weapons and armor from their location, a body too preferably. Bring it back here afterwords
Comments, questions or thoughts?

Galtran perks up at this task. Sneaking? Stealing? Just his kind of thing.

Oh also Kanil is a sword MASTER. So if you feel that is too unbalanced for the party you can just not take the commanders advice and leave him at the fort

Galtran encourages Kanil to join the group - knowing very well his own skills were less than useful.

It seems the party has become useful pawns of the local landowners. Hmm. We'll see how survivable these adventures turn out to be.

[Maloy]

Can't do a full update this week, but I can drop a map with some points on it for easier understanding of geography for travel.


1.Castle Dawnedhop YOU ARE HERE
2. Bandit Fort Crusewax - Kanil
3. Lashedfurnace - Forgotten Beast
4. Oarpassionate - capital of Craterous Glaze Dwarves
5. Wardtorches - Vault

Numbers aren't a route just markers to indicate we can do whatever order is preferred. Also forgive my bad writing I never use desktop pens of markers lol

[King Zultan]

Well when you look at it on the map it like that, it seems like the best way to go about it would be to follow the numbered path as it seems to be the most logical path to take.


Also what are those P or R things at the top of the map, I've never seen those before.

[Salmeuk]

those are alternate "%" symbols, I believe, standing in for "Percent" as "Pt". tilesets really fuck with your head when they switch it up like that.


I agree with Zultan, wise lad that he is, in that we should go in relative order, skirting the mountains and traveling straight to our destinations. For better or worse!