You know considering the fact he is credited with killing a dragon god you'd think people would be more cautious of him. Nice description on the scripture though

Pit Damned Deserts Hated 2012/08/19(Sun)17:18 No. 445384 ID: a407a5
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"PIT DAMNED DESERTS!!!"

Even as the words leave my mouth, I continue trudging through the endless expanse of sand that seems to stretch in every direction. Nina is close behind me, guarded from the heat and sand itself by a quickly applied body enchantment. Isrenow was given the same, while Gilrenthal is flying high above us, avoiding most of the sand that's currently blowing into our faces. Or more accurately, my face. I get a mouthful of grit for my earlier shout, and spent the next few miserable minutes spitting it out, but for the most part continue on in silence. Another ten minutes of travel, and then Isrenow trudges up next to me and taps me to get my attention.

"Um... what were we doing out here again? This seems rather pointless. We've been here a day already and I have yet to see one of these supposedly numerous goblins."

I try responding, only to get another mouthful of sand, and angrily fire off a spell, dragging a canopy of rock over myself and the two women with me. Gilrenthal I order to stay above us, in case anything pops up that I won't catch. Like any goblin in the world.

"Look. I don't really know where the goblins are. They come from these deserts, and tend to enjoy ripping things down and dragging them off again, but other than that, I got nothing. This is the first time I've ever even been to this place."

Isrenow and Nina both blink in surprise, I guess they thought I'd been everywhere. Well too bad, no sparks in this place, no reason to come before. Still, I hiss in annoyance as I try, once again, to sniff for sparks, and, once again, come up with nothing new. This is more trouble then it's worth. At least, that's what I think half a second before Gilrenthal lands a few feet away.

"My God. There is something coming. Three things to be exact. There seems to be a man riding a horse, and what appear to be some sort of desert monster chasing him."

"Good for him. I don't see why I shou-"

I pause, thinking slightly, then turn to Isrenow.

"You mind popping into this bastards head and seeing if he has anything useful after we save his ass?"

Isrenow shakes her head, and I nod. That should work fine then. We'll dig around in his head if necessary, maybe he'll know something worthwhile. I close up the makeshift shelter some more, and leave Isrenow and Nina there, giving Isrenow instructions to kill anything that isn't me or Gilrenthal. Then I head out, spitting sand again as I follow after the angel, who takes to the skies above me. I pump some speed into my legs, free to move quickly now that I'm not hampered by the two women, and follow after Gilrenthal, arriving minutes later atop a sand hill thing, watching a man on a horse racing wildly away from what appear to be odd giant lizard things. I feel Gilrenthal land nearby, ignoring her presence as I ponder how to kill these things.

"... four, five, six. Six of them. This is almost a joke."

"Of course, my God."

"... New rule. No more 'my god' bullshit. I am not a god. Use... I don't, my lord or something. My god just sounds stupid."

"As it pleases you, my lord. Shall I kill them for you?"

"Not all of them. I need to relieve some of my stress. Let's see... you take the two closest to the coward. I'll deal with the other four."

"Understood." Gilrenthal takes of again, raising a cloud of sand and grit, further annoying me, but I quickly turn my attention to the remaining four lizard things. I brace against the sand a moment, letting sparks traveling into the ground, then I drive my hand into the ground and make a grabbing motion, at the same time a solid hand of sand exploding from the ground underneath the last of the lizard-pack and grabbing onto it. I drag my hand out of the sand, and the sand-hand pulls the lizard thing under, ending it's life. I'm moving before the process even finishes, shadow-stepping underneath the next of my targets and driving my fist straight up, punching a hole into its chest through skin, flesh and bone and spilling its blood onto my arm. I wrench my arm back out after grabbing something, and watch as its intestines spill out onto the sand. Good. I roll out from under it as it collapses and scan the area for my next target. Luckily, it decided to come to me.

I react on instinct as the third one attempts to bite into me, grabbing each half of its head in a hand and yanking apart, the result leaving the thing's mouth far wider than it should be. It lets out a pitiful shriek of pain, then I grab the top half of its head and plant my foot against its body, yanking hard until the bloody piece of meat separates from the rest of it. I drop the now lifeless head to the ground I find that my last target had decided that facing Gilrenthal was more conducive to living. It chose wrong, either way.

Gilrenthal had long since finished with her two, a spear seemingly made from lightning piercing her first target and the second electrocuted till it cooked alive in its own body. The last was not spared a similar fate. As it dove forward, jaw opened to snap at the angel, Gilrenthal seemed to regard the thing with disdain and pity. Her arm snaps around, slamming into the side of the things face and redirecting its momentum to the side of her, then that spear of lightning is in her hands, and she shoves it easily into the things side, then simply lets it cut itself open as it rushes by her, spilling its blood and organs everywhere.

It's only then I notice the rider is still on his horse, regarding us with shock and awe. I frown in annoyance, you'd think magic would be more normal with all the people running around who can do it, but regardless, I wave at him to get his attention.

"Ah!" He snaps out of his shock at the motion, then scrambles off his horse. "Um, uh... I'm called Raim, I'm a disciple of the Hated One... if, you know what that means at all..."

I frown, not having any clue what he means at all. What the hell is a disciple of the Hated One. I certainly don't remember teaching anyone anything worthwhile. Whatever. Not in my interest.

"Yeah, whatever. Look. Here isn't the place to talk, you think we could head to a shelter I built not to far from here?"

Raim nods, and we're off, Gilrenthal once again taking to the skies while Raim and I trudge along, hating life(at least, I do). It takes considerably long to get back to my little makeshift stone hut, but eventually we do and Raim immediately get way more excited than I think he reasonably should over someone I didn't expect him to get excited over.

Namely, the minute he spots Nina he goes into a little crazy.

"Ah! A member of the Islands, like mysef! I can't believe it, I've been lost in this desert for months, and it's been even longer since I met any of my fellows!" The runs up to Nina and grasps her hands, practically bouncing on his feet. "Do tell! Which Family are you from? The Beloved? The Engineer? Maybe the Hated One? Oh you can't begin to guess how happy this makes me feel!"

Nina goes into her own shock, eyes darting everywhere trying to find a way out of this. I personally don't blame her, he seems a little out of it, but I don't interject, wanting to see how she'll handle this as I settle myself in a corner and watch.

"Uh... um... I... I..."

"Ah, but it has been ages since I've seen anyone as beautiful as you. Do forgive me, but I can't seem to contain myself-"

The next moment, Raim is pressing his lips to Nina's, dragging her body as close to his as he can possibly get it. A second after that, the man has been slapped, hard, and a knife is pressed to his throat. Nina, obviously, did not take kindly to that at all.

"Do not touch me. I have pledged myself to my lo- Vati, and shall give myself to no other man."

Nina blushes heavily while saying this, but her determination doesn't dwindle, nor does she remove the knife from the man's throat.

"I apologize. I was not aware you were spoken for. Please forgive me."

Nina seems to accept this, and settles herself down next to me, arm linking itself with mine and head resting on my should. Isrenow takes the other side, somewhat forcefully, while Gilrenthal once again takes up watch in the skies above us. The man settles himself opposite me, rubbing his neck gently before addressing me.

"So. You are Vati I assume. Odd that you would have three wives. What are a man and three women doing all the way out here in the desert?"

"Two wives and an angel servant. What does anyone come into this desert for? I'm looking for the pit damned goblins."

"An angel... so that's an angel..." The man ponder that, glancing at the roof of the thing as if he could see beyond it, then shrugs it away. "Well, then, perhaps we can help each other out. You see, I'm a missionary of sorts, looking for others to join the Hated Ones church, and I seem to have ended up in this desert somehow... I have come into contact with the goblins numerous times, and I can help you get into contact with them, but in exchange, perhaps you'd be willing to let me travel with you awhile? I can't seem to find my way out of this desert on my own after all."

"Sure. Whatever. Just watch yourself. Nina is the least dangerous of the people here."

"Yes, I think... I think I got to witness a little of that... Well, moving on. Perhaps we should get to know each other a little more. I've pretty much told everything there is to know about myself, I was raised as a Disciple of the Hated One for most of my life, eventually came out here, but have never managed to make it back home. Ah... if you have any questions for me, please ask. Take your time. Immortals know I need some time to think up some good, and appropriate, questions about you lot."

The man descends into thought, and I let my boredom show as I wait. I know your there, WTJ. Got anything we want to ask this guy about?

Oh wow someone ACTUALLY made a church/cult about a guy who is known to kill everyone in his path (No offense meant by that) but not a lot we could ask from this guy besides asking WHY even worship something like that to begin with. It's too bad we can't use this church/cult as a tool without drawing attention to you being the "Hated One" and all. I guess it doesn't matter in the long run the guy seems kinda chill so they could all be horrible at fighting anyways and I can't imagine this group be that big.

Ask about what the gobliins are like, and where you can find them. Also if he's seen a drum around.

Is there a reason why they're only worshipping what I assume are Original Immortals? Why not say Isrenow here? What makes you guys special?

What is his religion even based upon? I mean, what's the liturgy like, and what's the holy word? Who says what goes? You haven't been making any proclamations and commandments we don't know about, right?

What's the political situation like in the islands?

Try asking about what The Hated One teaches. I want to know out of morbid curiosity.

Also it will be interesting when we go to the islands.

Questions Answered and Questions Asked Hated 2012/08/20(Mon)22:15 No. 445801 ID: a407a5
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>Ask about what the gobliins are like, and where you can find them. Also if he's seen a drum around.
"A drum? Sure, all the goblin raiding parties I've ever seen have drums with them. If you mean a drum that is somehow more special than the other drums, then no. Can't say that I have. Although I've never been down into the tunnels, so who knows what's down there. The tunnels are where the goblins live by the way. I guess some of the creatures got it through their heads that nothing good comes out of roasting alive up here on the surface and decided living under it was somehow better.

Anyway, as for the goblins themselves, they're pretty small, squat little things, smaller than dwarves even, and most tend to be either mind numbingly stupid or insanely clever. Most are the stupid variety, and for the most part they don't really pose much of a threat unless you get a whole shit ton of them coming after you. It's the insanely clever ones you've got to watch for. Usually those are the leaders, and they tend to try some really insane things. I've seen one order dozens of it's fellows to their deaths against a wall, only to have the rest of them USE the dead bodies as ladders to get into the city. Course, they still ended up dying, but that's beside the point. There's also rumors of some goblins making... things. Things that shouldn't make any sense or work at all. I wouldn't know much about that.

For the most part though, goblins are known not for their intelligence or their size but their numbers. Every time you kill one another is usually there to take its place, and with the same fanatical zeal as every previous member of its race you killed. I can lead you to a burrow about a days tred southwest of here, but that'll have to wait till tomorrow. Nights beginning to fall and everyone here seems tired."

Damn clever goblins. Only goblin I ever saw in my life was the Hero. Fucking Tinktink. That's what he called himself. Had all sorts of crazy little... things. Did all sorts of things. Claws made out of metal that moved on their own, golems that moved without magic, a rod shot lightning. Fucking goblins... and now I hear there's more of the damned smart ones? Gods damn them to the pit...

>Is there a reason why they're only worshipping what I assume are Original Immortals?
"The elf is an Immortal? Do forgive me!" The man immediately shifts position, bowing his head to the floor in Isrenow's direction. This seems to make her a bit uncomfortable, but he raises his head quickly enough. "I was unaware another Immortal walked the earth. I have to bring this news back to the Islands when I can. Do you have a title?"

"T-title?" Isrenow seems confused, but the man shrugs the question away.

"No matter. From what I hear, it can take a very long time for Immortals to discover their title."

Funny, it took me a decade.

"What was your other question? Original Immortals? You mean the really old ones, from before the Hated Ones disappearance? There are only two I know of from then. The Hated One and Beloved. Although I've never seen either one personally. No, most of them are younger than that.

As for why we only have the seven, well, it's not like Immortals just pop up every day. I must admit this is the first I've heard of an eighth. I suppose that means another house might spring up, once Isrenow gains her title and finds her path in life."

>What is his religion even based upon? I mean, what's the liturgy like, and what's the holy word? Who says what goes?
"Liturgy? You mean like scripture and such? There is none. We each follow our own path. Such is what is expected. Your instinct and your desires are your liturgy, if anything. From the moment you are brought to the Island of Hate, you are left to your own devices. Your survival is up to you. Such things as written texts and hard scripture and orderly rules are unnecessary and unwanted."

Every time Raim mentions anything that seems like texts or rules an edge of distaste enters his voice, like the very idea is hateful. I suppose that makes some sense to me, I doubt I would do well with rules and such if I didn't have you lot keeping me in check. Or at least pointing out why rules can be tolerated.

"Most of our precepts are simple ideas. Better yourself. Make yourself stronger. The Island of Hate is truly a place where the strong take power, the weak are left to die. The strongest of us is known as the House Lord, but he only holds the title as long as he can keep it, and the only time that rule is never contested is when the Great Houses come together to deal with an outside threat or some such.

I heard something about some of those Beloved worshippers compiling a book or something called the Precepts of the Hated, or something like that, but most of us followers of the Hated One don't see the point of writing anything down. Logic isn't suppose to rule us at all. Well, we try to keep it out of things. The other Houses impose some rules on us when they can."

>Try asking about what The Hated One teaches.
"Teachings? The Hated One teaches nothing. No one has ever seen him. It's said that when the Islands first began worshipping the Immortals, Beloved was the first to show herself, and she aided in setting up the Houses, adding a new one each time an Immortal stepped forward and revealed itself. For some reason, Beloved was the one who also established the Hated One's house. Why, no one is really sure. And I suppose I should mention this as well, but the Immortals don't really teach anything if they don't feel like it. And our worshipping isn't really worship, in the literal sense. The Immortals aren't gods. It's more like... aspiring to be like that Immortal. To exemplify what they are as best you can. I admit many don't see the point of following the Hated One, but for those tens of thousands that do... it is glorious. The feeling of Chaos running through your finger tips. Those that follow the Hated One only feel whole when we can feel the Chaos trembling inside of us. For most that Chaotic thrill comes from combat, but for the artists... they'll spend years, just sitting around, doing nothing, then one day, one of them will just pick up a brush, or a flute, or a hammer, and they'll create something beautiful..."

Raim stops speaking for a moment, as if remembering something, then he shakes his head, and refocuses on the present.

"But for the most part, our worship is more like idolization. We wish to become like our chosen Immortal, although many houses have rules for selecting its members. The House of the Hated One doesn't, which is why it has the most members out of all the other houses. Anyone can join, as long as they have the will and the strength to survive."

>What's the political situation like in the islands?
"I'm afraid I can't answer that very well. I left nearly two years ago on this journey of mine. Last I knew, the House of Beloved was lording over everybody because Beloved had just shown herself for the gods now how many times. The House of Defender was busily being useless, Engineer hadn't shown himself in years. Teacher was, as always, trying to teach us Hated One's how to be civilized and failing. The House of Judger was trying to keep the balance best it could and the House of Dreamer was creating it's fine works of art. And as always, the House of the Hated One was being mostly ignored. Political power tends to come from the support of your Immortal you see, and we have never been visited by the Hated One. As a house, we don't have much political power at all. If it weren't for the fact that we make good soldiers, I doubt we'd be tolerated at all. It's the dream of most of us that the Hated One will return and show himself... and maybe kill a couple of the Immortals just to earn us some respect. Or course, it's also a dream of most of us to be killed by the Hated One, so I wouldn't trust in our dreams much."

"Now then, if you don't mind. Can I ask you why your out here? Your name is Vati, correct? Odd, I feel like it's oddly familiar, but I can't quite place it... not that it's really important. But seriously, what would you be doing out here with three women, one an Immortal and the other an angel? I couldn't possibly think of anything that could be desirable. Even the goblins don't really have much of value... Although I suppose you could be here for that black powder the goblins have been draggin around... Ah! And have you any news of the outside? I think I said this before, but I haven't really been outside this desert much..."

...Yeah, okay, for the most part, this religion of mine sounds more like a loosely cobbled together cult. But whatever. Don't really care. The man certainly doesn't smell of sparks, so there's no reason I should care really.

Moving on, how should I answer this bastard? How much information am I giving him? And should I do anything else before going to sleep as best I can in this pit damned sand filled deathtrap?

Now this sounds interesting. Having a cult at your disposal might be usefull. Perhaps it might be fun to tell this human what you are, just to see his reaction. If your not up to it you can allways wait till later though. I believe this whole religion bussiness might become an interesting tool for your conquest.

You can't really use this cult when you are trying to keep the whole "I'm the Hated One" under wraps. You could only really do it when people knowing you are the "Hated One" won't matter anymore after getting enough power and by then you have no real need for this group unless they have yummy sparks which you can get at other places without dealing with some cruddy cult. Just go to sleep I guess and just tell the guy you are obviously looking for something the goblins have. I mean why else would you even come to a dump like this.

Say you are treasure hunting (which is true) and then refuse to say more.

>>445801
"Call me Victor. Vati is... not appropriate for you to use. News- there's a war going on between the barbarians and Everfrost, and between Everfrost and the Island of Seven Shadows. Everfrost was losing last I checked. And I'm here looking for goblins. Once I have at least one, I'll go from there."

>>445865
That should probably be "Vincent" not "Victor". The rest works though.

You should also tell him his religion is dumb and Hated was a sucker with mother problems who got chained up by a bunch of mortals because he's an idiot. See, it is funny because it is you who will say it and he wont get it at all. Also his reaction should be amusing.

So, uh, if the ladies had enchantments protecting them from the heat and sand, I assume you did too. Why such a whiner? And just figure out a different spell to keep the sand off of you. Low-level proximity-trigger wind aura or something.

>>445959
>"Vincent" not "Victor"
Gah. Right you are.

A Goblin Warren Hated 2012/08/21(Tue)21:27 No. 446164 ID: a407a5
File 134560965393.jpg - (446.19KB , 2500x1515 , Goblin-cave.jpg )

"Call me Vincent. Vati is... not appropriate for you to use. News- there's a war going on between the barbarians and Everfrost, and between Everfrost and the Island of Seven Shadows. Everfrost was losing last I checked. And I'm here looking for goblins. Once I have at least one, I'll go from there."

Raim looks a little surprised, then frowns in thought. "Everfrost? Can't imagine why... unless someone higher up decided it was time already... but that doesn't make any sense..."

>You should also tell him his religion is dumb and Hated was a sucker with mother problems who got chained up by a bunch of mortals because he's an idiot. See, it is funny because it is you who will say it and he wont get it at all. Also his reaction should be amusing.

Yes. Yes it would be.

"Regarding that religion of yours..."

"Yes?"

"It's a load of bullshit."

Raim looks shocked, completely taken by surprise. I feel both Nina and Isrenow tense against my arms, obviously caught off guard as well. I manage to hold down my smirk of amusement, although I can feel open amusement coming from Gilrenthal. This should be fun.

"The Hated One, right? From what I've heard, he was useless. Absolutely useless. Fights with mother dearest, barely contained his destructive tendencies. Heh. Couldn't even fight off five mortals. Got himself locked up under the ground somewhe-"

"You know where the Hated One is?"

"Eh?"

Raim's confusion has disappeared, replaced instead with barely disguised excitement. This reaction wasn't what I wanted at all. This is getting boring already.

"It's just what I've heard. Now shut up. It's time for sleeping."

I drag some thing out of the supplies we brought with us, dropping sleeping furs onto the floor even though it hot as hell. It's better than sleeping on the sand. After a few minutes of getting comfortable, I lay there, thinking over the last thing you commented on as the two women with me get closer and increase the heat some more.

>So, uh, if the ladies had enchantments protecting them from the heat and sand, I assume you did too.
The spell I used on them is an enchantment for the body. It technically allows one to walk in any environment and come out relatively fine. I don't know any others for keeping the sand out of my face without expending a lot of sparks to push the damn stuff out of the way.

Now then... time for sleep...

----------------------------

The next morning is spent repacking everything and preparing for the journey ahead, then comes the day long trek to this cave. Raim badgers me endlessly about what I know concerning the Hated One, but I ignore him in favor of silent hiking. He eventually goes silent about midday, finally getting it through his skull that I want nothing to do with him. The rest of the journey is carried out in silence. Just as night begins to fall, we reach our destination. The large cave mouth is just large enough for someone of normal human size to fit into. I shift down to my more normal looking appearance, surprising the hell out of Raim yet again, but then I'm scrambling my way into the dark. It takes mere minutes before I realize that my fellows can't see in the dark. This little facts dawns on me mostly after Nina nearly kills herself tripping over a rather obvious rock in the path. I pause in my descent to cast another enchantment on the woman, letting her eyes see through the darkness around us. Then we're moving again, Isrenow taking care of herself and Gilrenthal having no trouble at all. Raim is following us as well, having ditched his horse up above. He seems to have little difficulty in the task, but in the end I could care less. I got what I wanted from him. His life is his own problem now.

I don't know how long we spent down there. Time seems to flow slowly, the descent eventually leveling out to a relatively horizontal hike. Nina is sticking far closer to me than even she normally would, but I leave it be. I doubt she's comfortable being down here. Isrenow seems to take it a bit better, although even she remains close. Raim and Gilrenthal both keep their distance, although the angel seems to have done something with her wings, as they aren't on her back anymore.

An undetermined time later, I begin to feel something through the ground. I pause in my movement, straining to hear something, and I find I can just barely catch it. The dull thrum of drums. Isrenow and Gilrenthal seem to have caught the sound as well, but Nina looks at me in confusion and Raim seems oblivious. I resume walking, this time with greater speed, following the sound as the volume increases, and eventually the smell as well, which is unmistakably disgusting, even for me. Eventually I turn a corner and I get to see my first spectacle of a Goblin... town.

The cavern is massive, small campfires and such dotting the walls and ledges of the thing. There's a natural lake in the middle of it, and I see what looks like small boats being used to traverse the thing. Holes in the walls seem to serve as homes, and I can spot various small pig-like animals grazing around at the moss. The most surprising thing to see, though, is the sheer number of goblins.

There's literally thousands of the things. They swarm the entire cavern, screeching and jumping and dancing about wildly as some sort of ritual is performed, a set of massive drums laid out on top of a stone altar being pounded in a somehow steady rhythm. The goblins don't seem to spot me at first, then one at the very edge catches sight of me and my band of followers, and it screeches the alarm.

"MAN-THINGS! MAN-THINGS! MAN-THINGS IN WARREN!"

The alarm spreads like fire, and soon the sound of drums dies away to be replaced by screeches of rage and hostility. Something holds them back, and minutes later a goblin draped in what looks like ragged cloak with a staff fashioned out of bits of bone and a pig-thing skull waddles forward to regard me. I stare back. The squat little thing can't be more than 3 feet tall. If that. It's got a squashed in little face, like someone to a hammer to it, and it seems like it can barely carry the weight of its own clothes, much less the weight of anything dangerous.

"Man-thing! What you doing in warren of Lot-Dead?"

"... Lot-Dead?"

"Tribe! Tribe be Lot-Dead! Lot of Gobbos die in tribe, chief decide be called Lot-Dead! Answer question! What want, man-thing?"

... My annoyance is quickly rising, and I get the feeling that this is either one of the smart ones, or it just hasn't started to show the stupid yet. Either way, I pause to consider my answer. As I do so, I feel Nina slide discreetly behind me, only head head poking out from behind my shoulder as she stares at the little things, her interest temporarily overriding her shyness. Isrenow stands a little of to the side, frowning in disgust and covering her nose, muttering something about needing to a bath. Gilrenthal stand further behind me, seemingly relaxed, although I can feel her tense state through our link. Raim is following along with Nina, looking utterly in awe at the place around us and the little squat things that call this place home.

Now for the situation at hand. I have two ways I can see to deal with this. I can try being nice about it, talk it out, maybe figure out a way to avoid the many, many goblin deaths that would ensue from me getting angry. Or I could just skip to the killing part.

What say you, WTJ? That is what you decided to call yourselves, right? WTJ? Yeah, I think that's right... whatever.

What'll it be?

Nice and boring or Destructive and fun?

I say you be straight up blunt about it. Tell them you're here for the drum and crush the first one who gives you any lip. If they say you can't have it show them why there wrong. Have gilrenthal keep an i on the girls if you want to cut lose. Though their numbers might be worrisome. Hmm you could try for intimidation be resizing if you can fit. Though if they aren't to aggressive we can probably do this without to much trouble, this clan might not even have the drum, but they should know who does and if we're lucky we might get to kill the hero's descendants while we're at it.

You should just start talking nice to it just so you can save the sparks for something useful. If that doesn't make you feel better just keep in mind you always have the "Killing everything in sight" card in your back pocket. In the end though you will probably have to kill a whole bunch AFTER you take the drums but hey at least this way you don't have to look for it.

yes, lets try talking first. it shouldn't be to hard to out wit them. if things go sour you can always start slaughtering the little nuisances.

Destructive and fun sounds good to me.

need to let loose occasionally, ya'know?

Boss Gobbo! Hated 2012/08/23(Thu)22:10 No. 446819 ID: a407a5
File 134578501389.jpg - (107.42KB , 600x450 , dungeon_goblinking.jpg )

We'll go with nice first then, I guess. Or at least try talking first.

"I'm looking for something. Some drums. Also any children of one Tinktink, if you happen to know anything about that."

There's a considerable amount of chatter, this time in some chittering language I don't recognize, likely whatever form of communication these things usually use, and then the small "shaman" leader... thing... starts gibbering quickly and harshly. Minutes pass before it quiets enough for us to hera anything again, and Nina is now hiding behind me completely her interest having waned enough for her instinct for self-preservation having kicked in, I suppose. Gilrenthal is now visibly tense, while the other two of my party seem completely relaxed and uninterested.

"Man-thing want Great Drum? Not have Great Drum. Not take you where Great Drum be. Great Drum gobbos. Not Man-things. Not help get Great Drum.

Know Great Tinktink spawnlings. Tinkboom tribe. Big tribe. Many gobbos. Bad gobbos. Not like. Kill many Lot-Dead. You kill Tinkboom?"

I pause, staring at the face of the little goblin in front of me, then I let myself smile.

"That was the plan."

The little goblin gives a surprisingly vicious smile himself, then turns to the goblins behind him. "MAN-THINGS BE NICE GOBBOS!"

The call rings out across the cavern, and is quickly picked up by the rest of the goblins. They all start up a chant, the same words proclaiming us to be what I assume are friends being called over an over again in a wild and somewhat random cadence. The drums start up again, someone apparently having scrambled over to start attacking them wildly with a stick, although the beats start to oddly get somehow musical after a few minutes of it.

In the meantime, our little band of adventurers is surrounded by goblins, the little things tug at us, dragging us off further into the crowd, Nina clinging ever closer to me as I let myself get dragged along. We're eventually sat before a fire, one of the pig-things being roasted on a spit, and I find the shaman goblin sitting across the fire, accompanied now by a goblin messing with a barrel full of black sand and another goblin that is considerably larger than it's peers, standing at maybe 4 feet tall, and a lot bulkier. It stares at me, clearly interested, although for what reason I can't say, but in the end it really doesn't matter. The damn thing pisses me off too much I'll rip his head off.

Still, for the next hour or so nothing much happens other than the cavern echoing with the sound of drums and revelry and the occasional dying scream of a goblin. My band is given food, lots of it, and drink, most of that a watery substance that tastes somewhat like the juice from an apple, only sweeter. Much sweeter. Nina takes to the stuff quickly, happily sucking it down almost as it's given to her. The rest of us drink sparingly, although I dig into the food happily.

As the party seems to wind down, and by that I mean the goblins get slightly less loud, the shaman finally speaks up.

"Man-thing! This Boss Rugzug! Want talk with you!"

The larger goblin puffs its chest out somewhat pathetically while I try to keep a straight face. Big Boss... right. What's next? Giant walking trolls? Damn this thing is annoying.

"Yeah? What's he want?"

"Rugzug want Man-thing power! Give Rugzug loy-al-tee, Rugzug give help!"

The goblin looks positively pleased with itself. I decide I'd much rather kill the thing and take control, but I have no idea how the rest of this tribe would react to that. I know for a fact though I'm not following this things orders...

Well then, what should I do? Beat the gobbo repeatedly till it stops demanding my loyalty? Try the talking thing again? Or maybe I should just have Isrenow mind fuck the little bastard...

he's probably pretty stupid. i'd say make the little thing your mind slave and let Isrenow have at it. then you can use these goblins for something useful.

>>446819
See what he wants. He might just want you to kill the Tinkboom tribe. Talk for a bit to see what he wants, and if it isn't something that you'd do anyway, have Isenrow mindfuck him.

>>446822
I agree with project mindfuck but let us see what he has to say first because for all we know they might just want us to promised them to not attack them latter. They better not want us to obey what he has to say though because if they do then just send Isrenow loose at the dumb goblin leader.

This is starting to remind me a bit of the barbarian tribe introduction. Tell Rugzug that you're a leader of a much bigger tribe, but you wouldn't mind if he wanted to join your... let's call it alliance. Offer him protection and aid in return for getting access to his shamen and the drum. After all, getting more sparks and artifacts is always good, right?

BOOM! Hated 2012/08/25(Sat)15:07 No. 447548 ID: a407a5
File 134593242722.jpg - (45.31KB , 514x351 , explosion.jpg )

>>446943
Uh... this isn't correct. By numbers, they have a lot more than I do. Men I mean. I have at most, what was it, some 12-14 thousand? I know what that looks like. There are a lot more goblins.

"Um... Loyalty? What do you mean by that exactly..."

"You serve Boss Rugzug! Do what I say! Be good gobbie man-thing!"

Yeah... no. I open up the mental link with Isrenow and give the command. Rip this Rugzug bastards head to shreds. Make him mine.

I get the confirmation and watch as the goblin suddenly goes rigid, staring empty air, before his whole body relaxes and he seems to fall asleep. The shaman frowns, then begins poking the boss goblin. Said boss remains unresponsive however, and eventually the shaman just gives up trying. Instead, he introduces the other goblin with us.

"This BOOM-master! Make things BOOM with dark sand! Called Boomie!"

This other goblin finally seems to drag his attention away from the the thing in his hands, and stares at us a moment. Then a manic grin shows itself on his face.

"Man-things, yes? Man-things good gobbos, yes? Fight bad gobbos, yes? Help Boomie, yes? Boomie make BOOMS! Have many BOOMS! Will use BOOMS on bad gobbos! Need gobbies to carry BOOMS! Need gobbies to make BOOMS go BOOM! Will help Boomie, yes?"

I stare that "Boomie", trying to figure out what the hell he's talking about. What in the hell is a "Boom"? I assume it kills things, but that's about all I can get out of it.

"What the hell is a boom?"

"Ah! Boomie forget! You Man-thing! Not boom! Show you BOOM!" The little goblin starts fiddling with the thing in his hands, then grabs a nearby torches, touches it to some sort of rope thing sticking out, and hurls what looks like a round rock towards a random group of goblins. The round thing lands right in the middle of them, the rope sparking as it burns away, and the entire group of goblins gathers around it to stare at it in confusion. The rope ends at the ball, disappearing into it, but nothing seems to happen after that. Boomie seems a little disappointed.

"Boomie sorry. Not work right. Still practicing! But still goes BOOM! Torch BOOM please, yes?"

The last bit is directed at the group of goblins, and one happily complies, grabbing another torch and shoving the fire end against the rock thing. Again, nothing happens at first, and then there's a thunderous BOOM and the area around the rock explodes with fire, killing the little pack of goblins and sending bloody bits of flesh everywhere. Boomie starts cackling madly.

"BOOM! Have more BOOMS! Bad gobbies go BOOM! EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!"

The goblin seems a bit unhinged to me, and whatever the hell he did, it didn't look at all pleasant. That's the first time I've ever seen anything like that without magic, and he definitely doesn't have any magic in him. I stare again at the barrel sitting next to him, filled with this... "Dark Sand". I move over to investigate, scooping some of it into my hands to get a better look. It doesn't feel like anything special, maybe a bit more shiny than sand, but otherwise unremarkable.

I glance back the crazed goblin, who's already messing around with something else in his hands, and frown. I didn't think goblins would or even could come up with something like this...

Suddenly, I get a message from Isrenow, just about the same time the Boss goblins stirs again. The little thing sits up eying the world around it, then spots me. It staggers to it's feet and rushes over, then puffs it's chest out and blurts out something unintelligible. I frown, and the little goblin tries again, this time with better results.

"Rugzug and tribe follow you! RUGZUG BEST MINION FOR LORD! NEW TRIBE NAME! MINION TRIBE!"

Once again, the call echoes across the cavern, and once again, the partying seems to swing back into full force, the goblins getting worked up into another frenzy of activity... dear PIT.

Anyway, I suppose that means we control them now...

I doubt this party thing will end anytime soon, and since we have them all here...

We got anything we want to ask these goblins? About anything? And what's the plan for tomorrow? I suppose I should start keeping track of that...

Remaining Days Till Invasion: 10

well first of all you should know that the "Dark sand" is called black powder. it is used to make explosions just like the one you just saw, only they can be much bigger and require no magic. this could be a valuable resource in battle.
now that we have a goblin mind slave it should be good to ask about the drum again, this time they might just tell you where it is.
we should also find out what kind of forces we just acquired; number of troops, what they can do, and such.

Ask to see the drums now and any strengths or weaknesses the Tinkboom tribe has. Otherwise, see if they mind strapping barrels of the stuff to charge into combat so you can throw fireballs at them.

>>447548
Well good for us now we have good old fashion black powder. We could watch how they make it but based on how the goblins act I'm guessing the way they make it cause a lot of accidental explosions which would be HILARIOUS to watch.

>>447586
"Black powder"? Sure, I guess it kinda looks black, but... eh, I don't know. This stuff doesn't seem like it would do much to anyone. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but still... No magic? That seems a little... unnatural, although I can really afford to be pointing fingers. I know I'm unnatural. Eh, let's put it to use then. What was the suggestion? Strap a barrel of the stuff to a goblin for target practice? Sure, why not.

"You think you could do something for me?"

"What you need, BIG BOSS!"

The shaman practically flips at this, screaming something in some language I don't understand. Almost immediately, however, he is backhanded by the larger Rugzug and told something very angrily. I really don't know what. The shaman throws a couple more phrases at us, then dashes off for Pit knows where.

"Right... whatever. I need to know if we can strap this... Black powder... to a goblin and have it run at something."

Boomie seems to jump at the chance to throw himself into the conversation, practically bouncing in anticipation. "Make GOBBY BOOM, yes?! YES!? GOBBIES! NEED DARK SAND! BRING DARK SAND! BRING RUNT GOBBY! MAKE GOBBY BOOM!"

Within seconds there's a rush of activity, and minutes later a very small looking goblin is paraded in front of me. Another minute and the pathetic thing has a small barrel of black powder strapped to its back. It is then told to run. To run very, very fast. The little thing takes off, whooping in joy for some reason, likely because no one told him what was going to happen, or maybe he just doesn't care. Either way, I watch him run off for a little, then ignite the barrel with fire. Then... BOOM! The much larger content of the barrel causes a much larger exlposion, and I find my ears ringing as the sound echoes off the cavern walls. Cheers spring up from various groups of goblins all over the place, even though I'm fairly certain most have no idea what just happend and are going along with everyone else. Either way... that could be useful if the goblins could be convinced to continue doing that.

"You think you could find more... gobbies... willing to do that? Run at the enemy with barrels of... black powder strapped to them?"

"For the master? EVERY GOBBY WILL DO IT!"

"Hold on! NO! Don't need all of you to do it. Just... the runts, I guess."

"BRING RUNTY GOBBIES! BRING DARK SAND! MAKE GOBBIE BOOMS!"

Dear gods. This things are so easy to convince it's almost sad. Anyways, time to gather information.

"Hey, you know where these drums are?"

"Great Drums? Bird-Man-Thing took them. Go with Guard tribe somewhere. Not know where. Find them? Gobbies find Great Drums?"

"Not right now." Bird-Man-Thing? An angel, perhaps? What would an angel want with these things. You can barely called them a tribe, much less Ordered in any way. Maybe that's why there have been less goblin raids? Something similar could have occurred with the orcs...

"How many of you are there? Goblins I mean. And of what?"

"Of what? What mean?"

"Like archers, spearmen, sneakers..."

"AH! Gobbies do what you want, Boss! Stab, sneak, run, eat, throw selves at enemy uselessly. Sometimes fun, when die lots."

Oh heavens. Fucking goblins. Of course they don't have structure like that. More than likely they'll just grab whatever is handy and try killing the enemy with it. Still...

"So? How many goblins are here?"

"Dunno boss!" The little goblin even says that with his chest puffed out. Damn the stupid thing to the Pit.

Anyway... what the hell should I do now? I'm not going to sit around counting all the damn things. That seems stupid and pointless. They don't really seem to have a lot of variety either, they just grab a weapon and go...

Got any advice, you lot in my head?

>>447928
Nope not at all at least as far as the goblins are concern because they are dumber than a sack of rocks and any plan you make would probably be to hard for these goblins to follow. I could tell you which ingredients make black powder if you want but the goblins are already making it for you so it seems like a waste of time. I guess you can check if your companions are tired and want to rest.

well these little goblins could make excellent meat shields. just throw them at the enemy till they run out of arrows, magic and the like. they'll make great cannon fodder.
i guess the only thing we can do is set them loose to find the drums, then we can blow them up during the fight to take the drums.
perhaps we can ask if they have anything else useful like the black powder. perhaps a smart goblin that builds things.

We could also ask how long would it take to get to tribe Tinkboom. We kinda have to kill all of heroes descendents and all. We have no idea how big that tribe is though due to the fact that goblins can't count for shit.

We should go and kill that Tintin guy, you know, get started on all that revenge thing?
Also, need to find that drum. Ask them again about it

More minions is always good.

>kill that Tintin guy
He was a MORTAL. They don't live forever, like me. He's probably long dead by now. Long, long dead.

For now, I figure the rest of my companions need sleep. I spend a few sparks, creating something infinitely more comfortable than hard stone, and leave it to Isrenow and Nina to sleep on. Raim I leave to his own devices, I could care less about him. Gilrenthal I order to watch over the sleepers, her body sleepless and without hunger. She nods her agreement and silent takes up her post, eying a goblin that seems to be trying to lamely sneak up on the sleeping woman. I don't pity the poor bugger.

Instead, I grab hold of the chieftain, whatever his name was, and drag him along with me. I have things I want to see and ask, I'd rather have him on hand than anything.

"These Great Drums. What are they? What do they do?"

"Great Drums? BIG DRUMS, MASTER! Make strong noise, make gobbies strong! Great treasure from Mother Gobby! Not know where Winged-Man-Thing take it!"

"Yeah, You told me that already. How far is it to the Tinkboom tribe?"

"Huh?"

"How long does it take to get to the Tinkboom tribe?"

"Oh! Must go deeper into caves, Master! Lord! Savior! Deeper, past Grubsuckers and Dungflingers and Tunnelcrushers and Flamebelchers and Beastrunners! Many tribes in path!"

.......

I have no comment. I have literally nothing to say. What the hell. That's... 4 fucking tribes. 4! And if they have this... blackpowder... as well, then explosions we'll be going off all over the place. Who the hell gave these stupid things this stuff anyway? WHY can they even comprehend how to use it, when they can't seem to get proper grammar? Please... please... just... someone... someone make some gods damned sense in this place...

And please tell me we have a plan? Because I really need a plan right now, before I decide murdering everything is the best plan.

((Sorry about the extremely late post, for those who actually read this. I've been starting up Breaking Reality, and have just recently found myself capable of thinking multiple stories at once. It's an amazing thing, being able to do that.))

You could just stick with plan mind rape. You can go on a one way path towards the next chieftain and let Isrenow at him. You could also try diplomacy with the dumb goblins or you could pretend to be a weak human and let them capture you so you can mess them up from the inside with Isrenow. If needed your goblin minions can attack from the outside while you do this.

Just bring Isrenow is what I'm saying.

Y'know, what if murdering them all IS the best plan?

Can you just like...find the Goblin God, and kill it? Like you did with the dragon one?

These things are awful and need to die.

Especially all their technology.

>>453505
He can't kill the goblin god because he is the strongest god due to how many stupid goblins are around. The dragon god was the weakest of the race gods because there was almost no dragons to begin with.

>>453506
Dammit.

In that case, I vote for a good ol' murderfrenzy on these gobbos.

How about this: we go to each tribe in the path and kill gobbos till this will follow us (or the tribes dead), Once we command/killed all the tribes in the way we kill the winged man and get the drums. Have the gobbos help or not depending how you feel. I think this plan is simple enough to work.

On the Side we should see if the gobbos have any mages we can get sparks from.

I think there are no goblins that have sparks. Kinda the whole point why Hated never came here before now. But the plan is simple enough to work so let's go with that.

Yeah. Goblins have vast, vast numbers, but no brains, etc. . . So use them like you would use ammo. There is no need to carefully preserve them like with your human followers. Don't just waste them, but acceptable losses for them are far higher than for any thinking being. Just don't try to use them for anything that needs a mind.

>>453543
Goblins are now lowest tier minions. If you ever feel angry and need to kill something to calm down, use a goblin.

please dont abandon this quest, this was my favorite quest here.
perhaps we can ask Gilrenthal what she thinks about the situation.

the author is busy with classes right now. But they aren't gonna abandon their quests.

Tell the truth, I thought this one had died out. I'll see about getting something posted tomorrow or the day after or something...

*grumbleclassesgrumble*

I'd like to see the continuation of this too.

I thought OP started another quest? don't know what's it called but I think it's this one http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/459093.html , right?

this is true. the OP shifted focus to the new thread.

So we have the mindfuck idea, the killthemall idea, and the actual take over the old fashioned way idea. Eh. Whatever works. I think I'll go with the mindfuck plan first. Goblins may breed the fastest out of any critter I've ever seen, but it never hurts to have more of them. I let Gilrenthal know that I'll be heading out the next day with a few goblins and Isrenow to investigate the next tribe in our path, while she, Nina and the cult idiot stay behind. Maybe they can get some more useful information out of the little buggers while I'm gone. The angel sends back her understanding, then it's time to turn in for the night.

========

The next day I wake early, waking Isrenow as well, then head off, taking a few goblins with me to show me the way. After hours of trekking through pitch black tunnels and lightless caverns, we eventually find it. The home of the Grubsuckers. The goblins with me are practically giddy with excitement, while Isrenow is only grinning. I raise my eyebrow in question, and Isrenow responds through the link, happy herself over how easy it is to convince the goblins to do things. She can practically knock out every single goblin in the entire tribe with a thought, if she wanted to. Still, I frown in thought as I suddenly notice something. I can smell sparks. Not our sparks either. Sparks from something else.... and there, and there, and there. Delicious sparks. They taste... wrong somehow though. Like something had tainted them with something. Either way, they're in that tribe's encampment somewhere. If Isrenow can't feel them, that means they don't have minds. Golems or artifacts then. Either one is just something for me to eat.

Final chance WTJ. We gonna walk in there, or we gonna kill our way in?

Let's walk in first because we can always just skip to plan kill our way in at anytime.

take it slow first. walk right in, you can rip them apart easy if you need to.

>>472164
>>472262

this

>>472151
Don't eat the Sparks if they taste wrong, by the way. There are tons of Sparks that don't taste wrong, and last thing you want is to get supernatural food poisoning, especially since we have little to no idea how we would fix such a thing.

>>472829
Agreed

Walking in it is then. Hopefully they'll put up some resistance so I can kill them. Or at least kill some of them. I enter the cavern home of the Grubsuckers, eyes scanning the area with disinterest. The place is unremarkable, fairly similar to the last tribe's cavern. Nothing at all of interest in the entire place. Goblins scatter upon spotting me, seeming to want to get out of the way. I frown in confusion, then one of the spark masses suddenly moves, and I step, making sure to grab Isrenow and bring her with me, the spark mass slamming into the rock I'd been standing on mere moments before.

It stands, creaking metal marking its moves, and it starts making clicking noises as it "eyes" focus on me. One of my goblins decides charging it is obviously the right course of action, and it runs up to the thing, swinging away with a crude spear. The weapon does absolutely nothing, and the metal thing merely backhands the critter, sending the creature flying. Isrenow seems completely confused, but that's somewhat expected. She can't feel the thing with her magic like I can. I tell her to take care of the goblins, so they can't interfere, while I deal with the new threat. Whatever the thing is, I'm gonna have some fun.

Isrenow detaches from me and gets out of the way, while I test the thing using a straight punch to the face. Instead of crumbling, as I expected, the thing reels back slightly, then returns the punch, sending me skidding across the grounds as bones snap and flesh gives. I heal myself, but I frown in annoyance. Damn thing did-

I'm interrupted in my contemplation by another one trying to kill me, then another and another. and soon, there's five of the damn thing, all grouped together making their little creaking sounds, while I wait a few feet away, eying them with distaste. Punching them isn't seeming to do anything, and I still don't like the smell of those sparks... something seems off. Like they aren't even caring about anyone else. They seem completely intent on me. Little fuckers.

What should I try, WTJ?

Well we have no idea how durable they are or if they have range attacks so test the waters by blasting them. We might not have to beat them so we could try to bury them in rubble. Let's lead them into buildings before collapsing it atop of them. It probably won't do anything but we might as well try.

yes lets try some kind of ranged attack. they might only be able to smash things and wont be able to put up much of a fight at a distance.
use a concentrated fireball on one of the golem's knees. if they cant move quickly, they should also be easier to deal with. if they are indeed metal the fireball attack should heat the knee joint and break it.

>>473449
They also apear to have a slowish reaction time, use thing to your advantage and keep moving, abuse the fuck out of shadow step.

You know, these may be inventions from that bastard goblin hero. Maybe that's why they feel wrong, because they're intended to go against you.

Anyway, as for what to do, a couple of ideas. Going after their joints with rust or something else to muck up the works should make them less of a threat, if not completely immobile, and if there's a specific place where those sparks are in their bodies, you should try to go after that spot. Maybe teleport it out from them or something.

Making large, clumsy, near-indestructible things kill each other is always fun.

I drop a little farther back, then try reaching out, hoping to turn the things on each other. That works just about as much as trying to hurl a glass bowl and expecting it to break through a stone wall. Whatever the sparks in there are, they don't like being messed with. If anything, it feels almost... familiar... to my own sparks. Similar, yet... I don't know... different...

Then they all charge me again, clambering over each other to try to get to me, but I just step again, muttering curses as I rip a chuck of the ground out and hurl it over my shoulder, the rock sparking from the bit of magic I'd used to help me rip it from the ground. The boulder slams into the pack of them just as they're turning around to hunt for me again, and dirt and rocks fly everywhere with the force of the impact. I stare at the cloud of dust for a moment, then step again as one of the things comes rocketing out of the cloud, slamming into the ground I'd been standing on, another comes at me from above, and I frown as the thing start seemingly getting faster and faster, using the walls to come after me. Soon, I'm using my strength to simply deflect blows, looking for opportunities to get at them, but getting left with little time to concentrate before I have to step again. Still, after stepping around awhile, I manage to get far enough away to call up some rust and drop it on one of them just as I step, lashing out with my hand and literally eating through the metal with a touch as I disappear. I hear a creak, then the crash as it fall over, one of the things suddenly missing a leg as it falls off. Fuck you, weird metal things.

The others continue their assault, but with one less to worry about, I begin taking them apart piece by piece. and soon leave myself with only one alive, the other sparks having fled. The local goblins have all been dealt with, according to Isrenow, who's having fun making them do random shit, so that leave me all the time I want to contemplate the thing in front of me. The thing is little more than a torso now, and looks completely unremarkable, but I can smell the sparks inside of it.

They smell... off. Different. So very different. No less delicious, but... different. Like the difference between a turkey and a chicken. Or something like that...

Anyway, what should I be doing with this hunk of junk?

>>476006
try eating the sparks perhaps?

>>476015
I advise against it. We don't know how they will react with the sparks already inside you, and there are not that many of them that are worth the risk of getting sick and losing some sparks.

If you can, just try tasting one of its sparks. Dont take them all at once. If its allright after the first go ahead and take the rest

I think you guys are totally missing it. This is a working golem with a relatively small number of sparks that feel wrong.

If we tried to eat them would it bite us on the ass? Perhaps not directly but then this working golem wouldn't be. I say we wrap it up, bring it home and get someone else to study it.

>>476238
This sounds like that smart plan.

>>476238
Or we could transfer a few of the golem's sparks into a goblin and see if it explodes...ok, that probably could wait 'til we get back to base.

Also, if the are any sparkless and still intact(ish) golems left you might want to see if these things cam run on normal sparks. (Unlikely? Yes. But still worth checking.)

Study it? We know how to make a golem, you shove sparks into a shape made of armor. Our last golem had issues because it was fighting Isa (whom vincent had throuble with) and vincent isn't an armor crafter, if he got dwarves to make the shell he empowered it would have been better.

This is not something you just cart away to study while it is active and hostile, nor is golemcraft something for vincent to pursue. But restraining it might be useful to keep the unusual sparks for study without eating them yet. Shape stone to trap all by its head in a solid block.

It attacked you exclusively which means someone ordered them to. Perhaps they know of your abilities and those sparks are a trap? Alternatively there is something special about their creator and the sparks aren't a trap but still could have significant and unexpected positive OR negative effects. Either way, cannot be risked until you know more.

1. Question local goblins about the golems, where they came from (not goblin made, goblins have no sparks).
2. Ask your angel to take a look at golem's sparks and see if she can tell why they are different.
3. Give nina max armor enhancement on her body like yours (she currently has mental speed and physical speed). She is way too fragile at the moment.

remember the last time he consumed an odd source of power? after eating that horse spirit he got a new ability, perhaps we should try those sparks. we might get lucky and get something cool.

>>477360
1. Could be good, could also be bad/a trap.
2. We are not saying don't eat it ever, we are saying don't eat it yet. Need further research (like examination by our angel).

>>477360
New power? I like the sound of that. Sure it might hurt me, but... eh, I'll be fine. Time to eat!

I crouch down next to the thing and start feeding, the odd sparks sliding into my soul. Moments later, a bolt of pain scorches its way through my body, leaving me doubled over in pain on the ground. The pain slowly starts to get larger and larger, and my head feels like it's going to explode, but and in a somewhat instinctive reaction, I use the sparks I'd absorbed to send a fireball down a tunnel, the shrieks of a few goblins letting me know I'd hit someone. the pain disappears as soon as the sparks leave my body, and I soon find myself breathing heavily as a lay in the dirt.

"Damn... that hurt..."

"My love? Are you alright?"

"Hm? Oh, Isrenow... yeah, I'm fine... just a little tired. Tried something I probably shouldn't have. You find out anything from the goblins?"

"Not really. They don't know much about the golems, although they keep referring to some winged-person. I think they mean an angel, but their heads are so chaotic I can't really make much sense of it. They can help us reach the next tribe, and I made them loyal to you... are you sure you're alright?"

"Just fine. Now then, I think it's time we headed back and collected our companions from that other tribe. Want to keep them with us and all that. Besides, I have a few things I need to talk to Gilrenthal about."

We head back that way we came, which goes faster now that I know the route, and arrive to find the goblin tribe geared up for war, looking incredibly ready to get murdered in the name of the master. I let the goblin cheiftin know what's going on, and that I've added another tribe to my dominion, then call for Gilrenthal. The angel appears within minutes, dropping from somewhere in the air and touching down next to me.

"You called, my lord?"

"I ran into some golem things. Fast little fuckers. Annoying to. They had some weird sparks in them. I tried eating and they hurt. A lot. Got any ideas?"

"Odd sparks? No, my lord, nothing comes to mind. I suppose sparks could be altered to cause harm when consumed, but such things are beyond my understanding. I can mention, though, my lord, that your own sparks are somewhat disimilar to normal sparks."

"What do you mean?"

"Your sparks felt different when they passed into me during the oath. Not like Tirfuldin's sparks. Much more... free and wild. Uninhibited might be the best word to describe them. I'm afraid I can help you no more with that."

So then... whatever made them was similar to me, perhaps? That doesn't make much sense. No sense at all. Still, we'll have to see for ourselves once we find the fucker. After consulting with my followers, and enchanting Nina with some protection, I'm left to make a decision.

The next tribe is at least two days away if I travel on my own. If I want to bring a goblin army, it'll be three days. The newest goblins also mentioned there being some kinds of crypt or tomb a days travel from their place, but they don't go near their. Say something about bad gobbies, or whatever. Still, they think they're might be some treasure inside, maybe even an artifact or two, if I want to check it out.

So then, what's the plan? We've got ten days till I've got to get back to my normal day job.

Plan: Send the goblins toward the other tribe, with most of your people with them to shepard them. The goal here is to get them there and KEEP them there while you're checking out that tomb for magical artifacts, then going to be a distraction for the battle.

The Grubsuckers seemed to have been enchanted by an angel to be completely focused on attacking you, so their *attack multiple people in combat* thing might be reduced. Particularly since these are the DUNGFLINGER clan, which implies that they stay away from their target and throw things at them. If your goblins go in and slaughter while they're focused on you (and hopefully you have a shield of some kind) you can probably keep them distracted enough for Isrenow to enslave them for you.

>>479405
Ok I think what happened was that you absorbed order aligned sparks and that did not mess with your chaotic soul. This underscores the importance of going neutral in the whole order/chaos fight.

Send your gobbos to the other tribe then nip off for the tomb so whats on the up.

Ya send your goblins to the next tribe, then head off to the tomb

>>479523
Reasonable explanation, odd that they were not overwhelmed though considered how few of them there were.
Also that would mean trouble if vincent ever consumed sparks from an unaligned angel. Have you ever actually consumed an angel before?

Vincent, before we do anything more time consuming... what do you know of BSD?

BSD? Home, I guess. Don't know where it is in relation to anywhere else. Mother dearest never really talked about it, she left before I turned 3. I remember bits and pieces sometimes, rolling hills, beautiful lakes, grand city... no people. Never any people. Just me and TB. Can't give you anything more specific than that. I remember some of the history mother tried to teach me, like every single person born in the nation being an arch-mage class magic user. Most of the rest of it is just cloudy bullshit. I've lived a long time after that obviously.

As for consuming an angel, yes, but they were aligned with a God.

So, to stick to the plan. Time to head for the tombs, yeah? Send off a little army of death in the form of goblins ahead of me first, let the rest of my team go with them... yeah, sounds about right. Alright then, I find Isrenow and tell her what needs doing, as well as giving her instructions on what to do with Everyone else. Gilrenthal is to act as my "voice" in my absence, since she seems to instinctively know what it is I want in life, while I instruct her to act as the commander of the goblins. Nina is to be kept safe and away from the fighting at large. In the meantime, I'll investigate the tombs. Gods know how long that'll take. Soon enough, I'm on my way, a single goblin sent off to lead me to my destination. Hours of dull, meaningless travel later, and we come across a massive archway, twin stone guardian statues watching over the entryway. The goblin stares at it dumbly then lets out a little shriek of fear as some rocks tumble nearby and takes off back the way it came. I snicker in amusement, then turn my attention to the tombs. Time then, to have some fun.

I stride through the gateway into the place, eyes scanning the area and find myself in an entryway, a sort of chamber where they must have prepped the bodies for burial. I sniff at the air, searching for sparks of some type, and oddly enough, I can taste them. Something strong, down below. Something very tasty. Normal sparks, on top of all that, not that weird bullshit from earlier. Other things to, things that move, fairly strong, and something else, something... weak. Something trying to avoid detection, by the way it avoids contact with the larger things. Still, the strongest source is the stationary one, suggesting an artifact of some kind. Still, there's multiple way I could go about this. I could, if I so chose, hunt down the other spark sources for the power, or I could ignore them and go directly for my target. Of course, there's also the possibility of other artifacts that don't have sparks in them at the moment either.

There's also... something else. Something... uncomfortable... about this place. Something that doesn't feel right at all. Almost like that... what did she call herself... that undead chick I got back home.

... Eh. Regardless, I'm not leaving till I've got whatever is down here. What advice you got for me, voices?

It seems we might have to deal with some kind of undead in the near future. We should probably root out those smaller spark sources first, while we're looking we might find something that will help us later on. Then move on to the big source.

Inch your way through in a spiral, try to avoid any paths and doorways laid out in the place as much as possible. As a rule traps and ambushes will be set primarily where folks are expecting folks to come from, so try to draw anyone and anything in there out of their positions instead of charging in. Try not to destroy everything but do make use of ceilings and walls as your doors and roads.

>>481026
The hiding sparks sound interesting we should check them out. But be careful because they are hiding you could have underestimated the true number of sparks.

The sorta strong moving sparks are probably defenses of some kind (golems, skeletons, ghosts, ghouls, ext...) you might want to try ambushing one of them to see how easy it would be to harvest their sparks.

That big strong thing could be an artifact yes, but it also could be a very strong "person" who does not feel the need to move a lot (Lich). Either way we should be really careful when approaching it.

Is there any reason you couldn't go after all of them?

The question should really be in which order.

I say go for the weakest first, see if it's something that could tell you more about this place, then go for the intermediate before moving on to the main prize.

And if this place reminds you of that undead girl, does that mean it reminds you of her specifically or of invoker magic, maybe Death in particular?

The place feels like the girl. I haven't really tasted of Death itself yet. Nor, thinking about it, do I really want to. That would suck.

Hunting the weakest then. The things will feed me just like everything else in the god forsaken hole in the ground. Still, I begin my descent, ignoring my normal tactic of kill everything to see about sneaking. A small spark payment and I slip into invisibility, making my way silently down the maze-like corridors and eventually stumbling upon one of the smaller spark sources. The clack sound of bones striking stone can be heard, and the picture of a walking skeleton clatters into view, empty eye sockets peering at nothing in particular. I regard the thing with some interest, but ultimately this thing is just another-

The sudden moan of something can be heard, and then the bone thing is fell upon by what looks like animated corpses. The bone golem starts hurling them off of itself, even as the things seem to be trying to eat it, but ultimately, the bone golem wins out, smashing the walking dead to the ground and pulverizing their heads. For a moment, there's silence, then the sound of boots on stone is heard, and I see a older man waltz into view, eyes scanning around the room. He glances at the bone golem, then strides over to a corpse and starts muttering to himself.

"Hm... more corpses. No magical residue, no sign of sigils or markings... what is making these things? Alchemy? Unlikely, there's no herbs I've ever heard of causing this kind of reaction, and they are clearly dead to begin with. A contract summoner? Again, unlikely. Magic would still be involved to some degree..."

The man's voice drops low, the mutterings continuing like that. I, on the other hand, continuing eyeing the skeleton, wanting to know if I could get my hands on it and eat it's sparks. There aren't much there, but it would be nice to have. Besides, more sparks never hurt anyone. Another golem wanders into the room, dragging a corpse along with it, and I watch silently as the man examines this one as well, apparently coming to a conclusion he doesn't like.

We might as well try eavesdropping and hope he says something worthwhile that might shed some light on what's really going on over here.

This might be the time for diplomacy.
After all, you can destroy them all and take what sparks they have either way, but fighting the golems isn't worth it.
He seems like the knowledge seeking type, so perhaps you can 'sell' him the knowledge he'd gain by watching you remove the sparks on these things?
That way, you could have him hunt down the undead for you.

The golem is too weak to be anything but a minor snack and you can eat it later when the crypt is explored.
For now I say talk to the old man, see what he knows about this place and what goes on here.

Dont react with violence. Listen for a bit first, then interact with them

I hiss in annoyance, more talking, but I stand and drop the invisibility. The golems move to defend the man, who glances up in surprise before calling them off.

"Well. I didn't think I'd find another down here. Are you a mage? Stupid question, of course you are. May I ask what you are doing down here?"

"Here in particular? I heard there might be something worth having in this place. Down below the desert is my business though. You?"

"Knowledge, at first, and then to find out what these things are. They keep coming out of the ground and trying to eat me. It looks like it was a good decision to buy some golems for the journey... regardless, I don't suppose you have any idea what they are?"

"No. Not anything I've ever seen. Corpses don't move without magic normally."

"Yes... most troubling. I suppose there could be a source somewhere... Ah another golem."

Another one of the bone things wanders in, dragging behind it another corpse. Another examination and the same conclusion. Nothing unusual about the corpse itself. I quickly come to the conclusion all of the smaller spark sources are golems, which would make about 7 golems wandering this place. There's that really weak ass one still as well, moving somewhere below me, and the stationary strong source as well. The feeling of... death... still hangs in the air as well, gotten stronger since I came further in. I don't think this bastard has even noticed.

Whatever it is, I get the feeling it knows I'm here. Or at least, knows something is here.

"Excuse me?"

"Hm?"

"Would you mind accompanying me? If your a mage, your skills would be invaluable. There's a place with a large concentration of these walking corpses, they seem to be guarding something, and I'd like to know what."

I pause to consider this. Something else is down here, that's for sure. But the issue is whether or not I want to get involved...

Your thoughts, voices?

Well sure, we came here to find and loot ancient secrets/items and found something that should be impossible.
If he shows you where the things coming from its ideal, you get to destroy a bunch of enemies and then hopefully loot something useful

>>493539
Why not both of you are trying to figure out this place, and working together now might open him up to longer term minonship.

On that note suggest that you and him should compare notes (but don't say how dangerous you really are, a few secrets are good.)on what we have learned so far.

go with him, at best you get some help while you're looking. at worst you can watch zombies eat him, which is still entertaining.
besides even if he tries something you can just bat him aside.

The weak source should be the next thing you check out then, since the large one doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

As for this guy, he claims the dead have been attacking him. That means he actually lives in this desert shithole and I'm curious as to why he'd want to.

Also, how fresh are the corpses? Just a though but if there's no direct magic involved maybe they are being puppeted by something alive. A parasite of some kind maybe. The plausibility of this idea does hinge on how fresh and intact the bodies are though.