Update 11: It Begins
Ah, yes, greetings to you again. I suppose if you're all here, you want to hear more of the story of Goatmurdered?
Right, right, I'll get on with it then. At least these tumultuous times have given me enough time to work through some more records.
Turn 115 - 140
We return to the story just after the Dance Macabre collected its new gear. At this time, a consensus was met that they would scour the land for more teammates, and more pressingly, newer food types. There was no saying how dangerous these god-given quests would be, and no immediate time limit either.
All the meanwhile, they'd work on gathering some new foods.
Been gettin' real tired of that bigos. About time, y'know?
Well, it'll keep me on my feet, I suppose.
You'll all get used to it, yeah. Not so bad, at least when there ain't undead.
-And don't worry about that. We haven't met anything we haven't easily taken down without harm. Haven't forgotten anything have you?
Not that I can think of.
---
DON'T LEAVE ME HERE WITH THESE NUTCASES
Alone, I stand valiantly upon these war-torn fields...
What, afraid of a little magic?
Kehehe...
Ye foul leafy beings, cower in despair for you meet the Reaper!
Can I just go back to the mines...? It's too bright here...
Around this time, Drakenel committed herself to studying more materials and crafting more trinkets.
Unusually, those who'd make a scientific discovery that day were those on the road.
So, you're telling me all "Elven Wood" has shaggy bark?
Pretty much. The oldest wood is usually smoother though.
Does the sap always make it yellow like this?
From what I've overheard, that just suggests it was an older tree.
Older wood, yellow...
Wait a second.
*Facepalm*
What is it?
I think I just remembered where an ancient grove might be.
Excellent! Though, how do you plan on getting past the poison?
Don't you know?
I may have been a druid, but I was on the military side of druidism. I only know some information about trees that I gathered from our woodcrafters.
Ah.
From there, our adventurers settled down not too far outside of town to gather more food. For the time being, mushrooms would be their first addition to their diet, despite not doing much but being an alternative to vegetables.
At home, the only thing of note was a visit by the Lapiduch which did precisely as it usually did. Truth be told, I'm not sure why it even did, or what made this visit different.
Hey, uh... did something feel off about that summon...?
Not at all... kehehe...
Oh, er, that might be it getting eaten by the Lapiduch outside. When did that get here?
Bad scheduling... I'm going back to sleep.
...Did we summon that one?
...Why do I feel so refreshed today?
Eh, back to work.
While the less gathering-oriented members of the Dance remained in camp to actively refine their important skills, the town back home was growing in skill whether they meant to or not.
Damn, what's with my eyes all of the sudden? It's getting all blurry and I'm not even wearing one of those...
...
*Pops head ot window*
YOUR HEXES AREN'T GOING TO WORK ON ME, WITCH!
--
What's that little hooligan yelling about now?
And she calls us crazy.
*shrugs*
Turn 127 - 131
In time, they'd gathered more than enough fungi, and moved onto finding some fruits they'd spotted in the marshes.
It was easier work than they had expected. Their job complete, they headed to bring it all back home to have it be cooked into fine meals suitable as travel rations.
...But the Darkness, (or a particularly hotheaded god,) saw it fit to test them one more time before they got back.
Damn these storms! I'm not losing all of our hard work a half mile from home!
...Behind me. Quickly!
Huh? What happen?
You there, crow, cut through the winds like a mighty albatross! Keep hold on our supplies!
Ca-
CAAAAAAW!
I am the master of the skies! Pitiful winds, take heed of my power and QUAIL!
Caw-haw-haw!
Was makin' the bird go crazy with power necessary? This really ain't nothin- I got this.
You'd be surprised at what helps sometimes.
Me not understand why pack scared. Just water.
Everything's safe and sound it seems. Let's go get us some lezco. It's been forever.
Caw... my great wings... caw-haw...
Great, now ya done depressed 'im.
I suppose anyone would be if you temporarily gave them the power they craved. Nothing lasts forever after all.
And this is coming from the, what, 200 year old gal? How old even are -mmphmph...!
For the sake of your personal safety, I'd suggest you don't pursue this line of questioning.
*Holds up axe, and stares grimly*
*Pulls out sword and raises an eyebrow*
Fine, fine, just get your dirty paws off my mouth. Sheesh.
--
'Ey, what's got you down, Jim?
...I had the greatest wings...! A king of the skies I was, ruler of the winds...!
Oh, right, that magicky thing. I heard about that- 'ey, better to have had and lost than never had at all, little guy. Ya got to experience it, at least. No more wonderin' and waitin'.
Ah, but what am I now? Nothing to crow at in the slightest, caw-haw...
Horsefeathers! Yer a fine lookin' bird. Just haven't found the right ladybird, y'know? Look at me, I ain't had any luck since joining up with this group- they're all busied up with their weapons and magic and ain't got the time to look my way.
Horse feathers, how ridiculous, caw-haw-haw!
When, this whole darkness thing is over, you and me's gonna go lookin... How long you think it's going to take to find a lass with a lady-bird on her shoulder?
Caw-haw-haw! Not long at all, if my expert senses have anything to say about it!
After dropping off the food, the group thought they were done with unusual happenings for a while, but it was not to be. Just a brief stroll outside Goatmurdered, past the bend in the road and they came to a place they'd never seen before...
No... is this even possible? Why is this even here?
Do you know this place?
It's... Silveroak. One of the largest and oldest elven cities, it fell under a curse long ago. It's people fled as refugees...
What kind of curse?
That, I don't know. I had only come here a few times in the past...
Wait, this ash, this means someone still has to be here, otherwise this retreat would've faded away by now.
C'mon, follow me. And watch your step, these pathways were made for those who step lightly.
Amazing...
It's like the houses are part of the trees. How did they do this?
The work of Elven woodweavers is truly exceptional, and it's secrets are locked behind an ancient tradition of magic I hardly know of. These buildings, though, they've been here for nearly ten-thousand years, I'd say.
Hm, I guess even if they aren't immediately practical, they're at least built to last.
Indeed- Hold, something is watching us. I can feel it.
Alys?! You're still alive?!
Indeed, though the definition of living must be strained in these times.
Mm, indeed.
Anyhow...
So that is the curse here...
Ah, then you know of it?
Only minorly. Most of the other clans had very little knowledge of what happened.
I'll stand back and let them hear it from you.
I was wondering how just one curse could destroy a whole city. I mean, Evil King here's already put down some strong ones but...
The rules of magic become convoluted, yes.
(Truly? "Evil King"?)
(Long story.)
Hey, when ya "say thousand suns", are ya talking years?!
Sounds fine to me- I see no reason not to help.
I'm up for it, but for a curse this bad, how powerful was your ex-boyfriend?
Not very. He was always quite awful with magic and much more the harmless sort- something must've helped him, so do be careful.
---
Truly? A lover's spat?
Touche, but still, you know I never had any luck with men.
Still, I'm assuming the Darkness is likely at the source of this curse somehow- the timing's right.
This Darkness, what did cause it?
Human greed and foolishness. An incorrect line of thinking that magic was holding them back somehow.
Oh, I suppose I should've come to that conclusion. Still, it makes me wonder...
What, that this might have been avoided had we properly trained them to use magic?
Indeed. We were afraid of their warfaring nature, and their pillaging of the land, but, although that thread of fate might have been better than this one.
Only time will tell.
As the adventuring party set out for this wizard's tower, the Cold Iron Chef of the kitchen was back to work producing meals at an astounding rate. People had started to forget that there was other food than bigos, but every dark age passes.
Oh, and conveniently, the wizard's tower just so happened to be where they were gathering fruits at.
How did I not see this?! It's in the middle of a flat swamp!
Alys mentioned to me before we left that the curse also had a cloaking aspect to it. We've walked down the main street of Silveroak many times now without knowing it, and the same goes for this tower.
But I never sensed anything in these places. Is my talent not strong enough?
It would not have been, but that was an incredibly powerful curse. We searched for that place for centuries and could not find it.
Then why now? Why just suddenly lift like that?
I think it would suggest that the source of the curse has weakened dramatically. This probably won't be that challenging.
Well, we can hope that's the case, nonetheless.
Hey.
Hello there.
You Zadra?
Well, uh, to start, an elf lady told us to come find you.
Mm, that bad luck of hers really is something.
You knew about that too? I mean, I thought I'd be the one to change that but...
Hey, if you know that, you must be one of her friends... I don't remember you.
We never met. I was off doing druid work when this happened.
Ah, yes, well...
What I don't get is why you did it. You don't seem like that bad a guy, and my senses usually aren't wrong.
Senses? What senses?
The ones that told me to pick up you and your grim friend over there.
Actually, I consider myself more the solemn type, but-
Can we get back to the matter at hand?
Damn, the one time she tried to back out before the bad luck caught up with her...
What even are you mumbling to yourself about?
...It's an... interesting story. I'll tell you later. This does sound very much like her though.
Seriously, what's with it and these people reaching out to these dark powers?
Perhaps one day you'll understand, though it'd be best to hope that day never comes.
So, why'd you curse 'er? I mean, I've heard of bad breakups, but I mean, come on. Couldn't you just get over her?
Well, my original intent wasn't to do that, and well...
Could it have hurt you to read between the lines a bit? That's some creepy sounding stuff there.
Didn't realize it until after I'd already done it. I was young and dumb. Orcish adolescence is a hell of a thing.
Well, this's been suitably depressin'. Mind tellin' me if we can just undo this, or if we'd be best off going home?
We've got the ribbon, if that helps any.
Ah, but... I'm afraid I won't last too long during the ritual. Aging really has caught up with me, but I think I have everything we'd need to get rid of the Kauk. Damn thing is still here after all.
I calculated that the curse has weakened dramatically of late, we should be more than fine.
Ah, yes... I suppose it would have. It's connected to my lifespan after all. I'm not doing so well these days.
Can we g'ahead and do this before it gets any more depressin' around here?
Me wants see sparkle magic!
...No better time than the present. Let's get to it.
I... I can see it! Quickly, I think it's trying to go over there!
Here, I've still got some of these herbs you wanted earlier.
Perfect, it should hate these.
Whoa! Whoaaaah! Oggy! What the hell's in those plants? I'm seein' things here, old friend!
Ah hell, I'm seein' stuff too!? Why in-
Horos's flamin' backside that thing's ugly!
Quickly, where's it going?
Towards the old man!
Stand back, it's ready now-!
It's done... she's free! I'm free! It's finally done!
Well, it seems it worked after all.
Yes, it looks that way. Hey... wait a second, are you crying?
N-no! It's just the curse lifting, that's all.
Well, I always knew you had a bit of emotion in you past that grim face.
Hey, uh, not to interrupt gal pal time, but uh, are those two going to be okay?
Aw, heck, Jim, you do have some mighty big wings! And- whoa, there, Snaps, when'd your face get so long?
Hey, uh... Oggs, Oggy... old friend... since when were there three o' ya...?
I think the dreamweed Oggy brought may have unlocked some latent divination powers. They'll be fine in a bit. So, that settles that then, I suppose.
Wha- whoa! My hands! My hands are on fire! Blue fire! Why is it blue?! Why is it fire?!
They don't react well to discovering magical talent, do they?
Eh, it takes time to adjust.
What has been done is purely in the past now. There's been enough anguish here.
But... what do I do?
That's up to you. We're done here.
A fine day's work of good deeds, I'd say.
Well, that was nice, I suppose. Why didn't you say goodbye?
I'm expecting we'll cross paths again sometime. Though, mostly I want to get out of here before I lost my patience.
What? I thought you were as calm as ever.
A facade. What those two did caused a severe upset in the entire elven civilization, and a lot of needless suffering. The Cosmic Tree might have not even fell if Silveroak was still standing.
...Oh.
Indeed. Though, the both of them have suffered for the last five centuries as well. With the Darkness, however, there has been far too much of that already. The prudent thing is to just forgive and forget now.
A very wise approach, I must say.
--
Once these clowns get adjusted, where do we go from here?
We'll where the wind takes us, I suppose. We should keep an eye out for any good looking food.
Having resolved a curse and possibly saved a relationship, the Danse was out to gather more fruits while they were in the area. However, the unusual events would only keep stacking up on this day...
I'm surprised to see anyone alive wandering the lands alone. Our camp's over here, if you want to stay with us for now.
Oh, sure, help yourself to whatever you like. I'm not really any good with gathering, so I'm mostly just keeping a watch around the area.
From that point on we can only assume that Shei-kun tried to convince the old man to come with them, though what all they talked about is still unknown. Nobody ever wrote it down, it seems.
What we do know, however, is that the man told some folktales for the camp that they had never heard before. You may know them both as "Mother Bear" and "Lunar Cheese".
No? I suppose then those are tales for another time then.
If you're beginning to wonder why I talk so little of combat anymore, it's not because there was any lack of them. On the contrary, the Dance Macabre got into fights with creatures spawned from the Darkness all the time, but they'd outclassed most enemies by this point.
Shei-kun was a veritable wall of silver by this point, and for the others...
Well, let's just say that having Great Evil King as a teacher meant the enemies almost never landed a blow.
Oi, look what the rats brought us. Let's see here- hrk! Damn! That bloody thing weighs a ton!
...Hmph. Terrible construction.
Look at those gaps in the chestplate- tch, no better than well made leather.
Sounds like we oughta scrap it then. Might get some useful steel out of this.
As the caravan made their way further northeast, having eventually decided to gather more silver while they were out, the going ons at home weren't entirely of note.
The same child that had been saved from the slavers had grown up- rather quickly in fact. Though nobody had given it to him, (they were all too busy with gathering, cooking, and crafting,) he had claimed the name the name of Zengetsu all his own, and nobody was about to argue with him over it.
As it seemed, during all the times the village could not find the young man, he was in fact fighting off wandering creatures that had approached the village. He claimed he'd learned everything by simply watching Shei-kun and Fat Samurai spar on the times they'd come back to the village.
He swore himself to keep Goatmurdered safe, and as the most combat proficient person still around, nobody was going to argue.
Meanwhile, the Dance Macabre was to find themselves in the path of even more strange events today.
(Rgh, more of these self-proclaimed royalty types?)
(T'would seem so.)
(Gods, everyone's older than us these days.)
(And, what of this proclaimed princess? Who is she, even?)
(...Ah, yes, this one. I've heard of her.)
(By Horos, she sounds so terribly spoiled. Though, isn't that common for royals?)
(In my experience, yes.)
(That's... that's a rather terrifying tale. But what now?)
(Ah, Horos's backside, she's gonna drag us into this mess now.)
(Just play along for now.)
Ah, yes, your majesty, what is it you need?
...That fell apart quickly.
Hey, hold on a second, wealth and power sounds pretty nice-
Listen, princess, what proof do we even have of any of this?
Hey, this doesn't sound like that bad a deal, y'know?
It sounds like a trap if I've ever heard one.
I never said it wasn't one. Just think of the treasure!
*Sighs deeply*
We've got other things to do. Judging by this map, it's a far ways off, and there's still silver to mine.
Faced with even more potential objectives, the Dance continued their way to the silver in the northeast. They weren't considering any more plans of action until they made it back home.
Meanwhile, our heroes grew ever more experienced. They figured that soon enough, the Darkness wouldn't be able to throw anything at them that they couldn't beat.
#
Looks like I'm finally catching up to you, eh, Sammy?
#
...That's what you think.
All the while, back in town, Slaan had come across an unusual discovery out in the cabbage patches.
Someone who she claimed was a "captive of those vile leaves", it seems she found a short old man buried up to his head out in the cabbage patch. He wasn't much for words, muttering complaints about "kids these days" and "what's wrong with the world these days", but his medical skills seemed to be exceptional.
No title had been given to him, yet, but his skills would prove to give him one in time.
Yet, the journey to the northeast remained filled with unusual happenings.
So this's a Dwarven gravesite?
Looks like the ones I've seen before.
They must really not be that tall.
I'd say they're about as tall as you.
Hey! That's uncalled for!
Well, that's another grave dug. At this rate, you'd think we were followers of Veles.
'Ey, anyone wanna tell me why furball over here is sparkling all 'o a sudden?
Me see shiny magicks. Me like shiny magicks!
Is it really that unusual at this point?
I... I guess not, really. Huh.
Having finally reached the silver in the north again, the caravan went back to mining.
Turn 147
They'd been doing it for quite some time when they came across something quite notable.
(Oggy, King, go in quietly. I won't let this end up like last time.)
Hah, didn't even know what hit 'em!
My wings grow stronger yet! Ca- caaaw!
Hey there, little one. We'd best get you back somewhere safe. This place is probably a bit cold for you.
Get everything packed up, everyone. Let's head back to the town.
Fine by me, I think we've got enough of this stuff anyhow.
As they moved out, Fate's winding threads would have them cross with something highly unexpected.
Ah, another elf!
Hold on, he's cursed!
Truly? Then your skills have become quite adept. Even I didn't see it.
It's...very deep inside of him. I think it's connected to the Darkness.
... I just did a few tests and the reaction wasn't strong, so I think we can take this one rather easily.
We don't take people into servitude, that's nonsense. C'mon, you can just come with us as a friend. That is, if you want.
The gear the elf still carried was of high quality, though nothing was more surprising than the elf himself. Once the darkness cleared from him, he would prove to be more than a match for Fat Samurai in strength, as stealthy as Oggy, the fastest talker of them all, and perhaps the hardiest person they'd ever met.
He was reluctant to mention any of his past, but Great Evil King asserted that this man must have been part of the High Elven Royal Guard. The curse he had upon him would have killed a normal man in a heartbeat, yet he seemed to have resisted it all this time.
On that day, a great ally was met.
On that day, an even greater threat would awaken.
----
Voting time again!
First up, ZiegeDame is the last name in the pool, though I wanted to be sure if they specifically wanted to be a monster type or if anything is fine.
The name for our new Elven Hero is open, though I'm going to leave that up to you folks here at the LP Beach first, to celebrate it's creation.
Otherwise, we've got some serious voting to do now. Research-wise, we're still working towards Ancient Wood, and while we've got a lot of metals, we have a far more important vote to do.
What do we do now?
1. Go finish the God's Quest, now that we're more than strong enough.
2. We head to the Cosmic Tree. We should work on resolving that questline immediately.
3. Build up more weapons and such, and await the new threat.
We've officially spent enough time to enter the DLC territory, which is in a league far more difficult than what we've dealt with up to this point, and it's going to make the overworld incredibly dangerous from here on out. If you still want to vote for us to do nothing about our quests, we can, but
it's really not recommended.
Oh, and we've also got a ton of food on the Dance Macabre. They're officially ready to kick ass, so let's get to it.
Thread Participation
*incoherent grumbling*- Kids these days- *incoherent grumbling*
Er, yes... You can call me Beecher, if you wish. That's similar enough to your titles, yes?
Hmhmhm...It's about time. Though I must wonder, what could a pack of whelps like you do that I cannot?
Hrngh?!
Fear not, I go with you. We shall find the herbs.
Yaaagh?! SIMON?!
Yeah, pretty much... dude...
Ahaha! You fleshlings are ever so droll! Well, off with you for now, I suppose! Tua ghen da ra si!
It was just an act of survival, really. I can't imagine you'd have done different in our place, though I imagine you would've "fixed" this right up so you could put us in hiding again.
Yes, I knew it'd would happen from the beginning, but something must be done before all life is extinguished. Please, prepare yourselves for what awaits you, and swiftly.
Oh, are you? Then draw your weaponsssss, a fair fight will be more interesssssting.
Chaosssss!
