Storming the Gates
- Thread starter Academia Nut
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Australia
[X] The path of the hunter
To the Mines
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] The path of the hunter
"Take me to the hunt then," Kirl stated, and the blonde harpy nodded while the other two just sort of wandered off after that, immediately taking flight once they left the grove.
"Come, I shall take you where you need to be," the harpy stated, gesturing with her wing-arm outside the grove. Nodding, Kirl then paused and asked, "Do you have a name I could refer to you by?"
The harpy tilted her head in a very bird-like manner before she said, "Few ask it, but I was once called Birga."
"Very well Birga let's..." Whatever it was that Kirl was going to say completely disappeared from his mind as he walked out of the grove and discovered to his shock and complete numbing of the mind that he wasn't in a grove, not exactly.
He was on the World Tree, yes, but he had never really understood what that meant until this moment. He was standing on the tree, in a little hollow among its twisting boles, looking out at a strange night sky that went on forever. There was no ground beneath him, just the tree twisting through the star studded blackness in either direction. He just stood there in shock, trying to process what he was seeing, when Birga hopped up onto his shoulders, grabbing them with her talons to hold Kirl firmly. She then took off and hauled him off into the void, racing "down" the tree, although Kirl rapidly came to realize that that word didn't really mean anything. Faster and faster they travelled, the green and brown tree so tall it seemed more like an enormous vine flashing past them. Eventually everything was going so fast that everything became a greyish blur...
Without warning the blur popped into clarity and they were drifting above the bleak, dark landscape of the Underworld. The shock of suddenly seeing something understandable if from a radically different angle than he was used to was enough to pop Kirl out of his stunned fugue and actually realize what was happening. A thrill of something approaching fear came over him as he realized that if Birga dropped him, he would die on impact, and he honestly had no control over anything here. While it didn't overcome him, the last time he had felt this sense of the world out of his control had been a decade or two back aboard a ship in a storm, and even then it had been more muted since there were things he could do to influence his chances of survival. Here if Birga decided to drop him the only thing he could do was attempt to take her with him, if that was even possible with what he had on hand.
Actually, considering the difference in appearance between the spectral and translucent Zwerjy and the much more solid seeming harpies, there was some possibility that he could do lasting damage. The differences were strange if both groups were supposed to come from human souls. Was it a difference between male and female souls, or whatever was done to them to transform them? Kirl felt unusually thoughtful while dangling so many leagues above the hard ground, and he wasn't entirely sure if it stemmed from his stay nailed to Yammdridding or from the fact that he didn't have anything better to do, other than look around. While much of his reputation had rested on his personal martial skill, becoming a mercenary captain of such skill that a city crowned you king meant that he had needed a very sharp mind. Careful attention to the world around him had always been a part of him, he just wasn't entirely sure how much of that being turned inward was new or not.
While he had never had much use for philosophy, they could sometimes pose interesting questions while under the influence of wine and having nothing better to do. Going down such pondering paths did help kill what time there was during which he could only contemplate his own relative fragility otherwise. Fortunately, it did not take long before they were circling a massive mountaintop citadel that had completely reshaped the dark stone tooth it rested upon. From the air the walls could be seen to mostly encapsulate an ant's nest of holes and a termite's mound of smoke and fire belching industry, but Kirl suspected that from the approach the central keep dominated the view, although he also suspected that much of the size was based on rubble and spoil from the mines and forges being used to bulk up certain structures.
Landing upon a platform that appeared to be set up for such things, Kirl found himself being flanked by a number of dead warriors and strange spirits all in black iron arms and armour. One in particular had a much more solid look to him, and he was dressed in a heavier, more ornate harness and appeared to be in charge around here. Much less solid spirits dressed as servants immediately ran forward to Kirl with bundles of clothing made from grey leather - from something like a crocodile if he had to judge - for him to don. Taking them as they were offered, the leader of the group said to him, "Welcome warrior, we were told to expect the arrival of a specialist by our Lord, and I, Castellan Tumbis, greet you."
Nodding at that, Kirl said, "Good, good, just let me get my pants on and then if you could fill me in on what exactly I'm supposed to be killing here."
"Of course, although that is part of the reason why we sent word requesting assistance. We're not quite sure what it is we're facing right now. It's in the deep tunnels, in the places were the stone hollows in strange ways, and while something is attacking the workers and guards, we haven't had any reliable accounts yet due to a lack of survivors up close. It's probably some form of titanspawn, but those depths brush up against Szvediding so it is possible something entirely worse has slipped in, out of the dark," Tumbis explained.
"Hmmmmm..." Kirl said as he dressed, beginning to move into the castle after he had boots to prompt further motion so he could follow while still working on his shirt. He had some vague recollection from stories and the like of the things being described, but he had to admit that he was a little out of his depth on some of the terms. While he wasn't particularly keen on revealing his ignorance, he also didn't want to go charging into an unknown situation without information. Eventually he asked, "What are conditions like down there?"
"Cramped and dark for the most part, as one might expect, but there are veins of void glass created by Szvediding pressing against the deep stones of the Underworld that attracted us into an ant's nest of natural tunnels, many with enormous open galleries and strange things taking root down there, almost in imitation of the forests and fields of the living world. Those can provide a source of rare and valuable materials beyond just the void glass, but they also make dangerous hunting grounds for whatever is down there," Tumbis detailed out.
"I was afraid of that. I was told that I would be issued arms and armour - don't know where my last stuff went - so I will have to consider whether or not to ask for a Zwerjy sword or if you have something else available," Kirl mused out loud.
Considering, Tumbis said, "We were told to avail to you at the very least a minimum amount of equipment, and while for the most part we just transform ores into bars for shipment elsewhere, we do have our own smithies for making finished goods, so we have an armoury full of whatever a warrior might need. I can make a few recommendations on equipment best suited to tunnel fighting, as I agree that the arms of the Zwerjy would be of less use in the majority of places down there."
Kirl's weapon of choice from the armoury...
[] Write-in
His first action was to...
[] Learn more about the mine and its operations
[] Poke around for additional work he could do while achieving his main task
[] Head off for the mines immediately
"Take me to the hunt then," Kirl stated, and the blonde harpy nodded while the other two just sort of wandered off after that, immediately taking flight once they left the grove.
"Come, I shall take you where you need to be," the harpy stated, gesturing with her wing-arm outside the grove. Nodding, Kirl then paused and asked, "Do you have a name I could refer to you by?"
The harpy tilted her head in a very bird-like manner before she said, "Few ask it, but I was once called Birga."
"Very well Birga let's..." Whatever it was that Kirl was going to say completely disappeared from his mind as he walked out of the grove and discovered to his shock and complete numbing of the mind that he wasn't in a grove, not exactly.
He was on the World Tree, yes, but he had never really understood what that meant until this moment. He was standing on the tree, in a little hollow among its twisting boles, looking out at a strange night sky that went on forever. There was no ground beneath him, just the tree twisting through the star studded blackness in either direction. He just stood there in shock, trying to process what he was seeing, when Birga hopped up onto his shoulders, grabbing them with her talons to hold Kirl firmly. She then took off and hauled him off into the void, racing "down" the tree, although Kirl rapidly came to realize that that word didn't really mean anything. Faster and faster they travelled, the green and brown tree so tall it seemed more like an enormous vine flashing past them. Eventually everything was going so fast that everything became a greyish blur...
Without warning the blur popped into clarity and they were drifting above the bleak, dark landscape of the Underworld. The shock of suddenly seeing something understandable if from a radically different angle than he was used to was enough to pop Kirl out of his stunned fugue and actually realize what was happening. A thrill of something approaching fear came over him as he realized that if Birga dropped him, he would die on impact, and he honestly had no control over anything here. While it didn't overcome him, the last time he had felt this sense of the world out of his control had been a decade or two back aboard a ship in a storm, and even then it had been more muted since there were things he could do to influence his chances of survival. Here if Birga decided to drop him the only thing he could do was attempt to take her with him, if that was even possible with what he had on hand.
Actually, considering the difference in appearance between the spectral and translucent Zwerjy and the much more solid seeming harpies, there was some possibility that he could do lasting damage. The differences were strange if both groups were supposed to come from human souls. Was it a difference between male and female souls, or whatever was done to them to transform them? Kirl felt unusually thoughtful while dangling so many leagues above the hard ground, and he wasn't entirely sure if it stemmed from his stay nailed to Yammdridding or from the fact that he didn't have anything better to do, other than look around. While much of his reputation had rested on his personal martial skill, becoming a mercenary captain of such skill that a city crowned you king meant that he had needed a very sharp mind. Careful attention to the world around him had always been a part of him, he just wasn't entirely sure how much of that being turned inward was new or not.
While he had never had much use for philosophy, they could sometimes pose interesting questions while under the influence of wine and having nothing better to do. Going down such pondering paths did help kill what time there was during which he could only contemplate his own relative fragility otherwise. Fortunately, it did not take long before they were circling a massive mountaintop citadel that had completely reshaped the dark stone tooth it rested upon. From the air the walls could be seen to mostly encapsulate an ant's nest of holes and a termite's mound of smoke and fire belching industry, but Kirl suspected that from the approach the central keep dominated the view, although he also suspected that much of the size was based on rubble and spoil from the mines and forges being used to bulk up certain structures.
Landing upon a platform that appeared to be set up for such things, Kirl found himself being flanked by a number of dead warriors and strange spirits all in black iron arms and armour. One in particular had a much more solid look to him, and he was dressed in a heavier, more ornate harness and appeared to be in charge around here. Much less solid spirits dressed as servants immediately ran forward to Kirl with bundles of clothing made from grey leather - from something like a crocodile if he had to judge - for him to don. Taking them as they were offered, the leader of the group said to him, "Welcome warrior, we were told to expect the arrival of a specialist by our Lord, and I, Castellan Tumbis, greet you."
Nodding at that, Kirl said, "Good, good, just let me get my pants on and then if you could fill me in on what exactly I'm supposed to be killing here."
"Of course, although that is part of the reason why we sent word requesting assistance. We're not quite sure what it is we're facing right now. It's in the deep tunnels, in the places were the stone hollows in strange ways, and while something is attacking the workers and guards, we haven't had any reliable accounts yet due to a lack of survivors up close. It's probably some form of titanspawn, but those depths brush up against Szvediding so it is possible something entirely worse has slipped in, out of the dark," Tumbis explained.
"Hmmmmm..." Kirl said as he dressed, beginning to move into the castle after he had boots to prompt further motion so he could follow while still working on his shirt. He had some vague recollection from stories and the like of the things being described, but he had to admit that he was a little out of his depth on some of the terms. While he wasn't particularly keen on revealing his ignorance, he also didn't want to go charging into an unknown situation without information. Eventually he asked, "What are conditions like down there?"
"Cramped and dark for the most part, as one might expect, but there are veins of void glass created by Szvediding pressing against the deep stones of the Underworld that attracted us into an ant's nest of natural tunnels, many with enormous open galleries and strange things taking root down there, almost in imitation of the forests and fields of the living world. Those can provide a source of rare and valuable materials beyond just the void glass, but they also make dangerous hunting grounds for whatever is down there," Tumbis detailed out.
"I was afraid of that. I was told that I would be issued arms and armour - don't know where my last stuff went - so I will have to consider whether or not to ask for a Zwerjy sword or if you have something else available," Kirl mused out loud.
Considering, Tumbis said, "We were told to avail to you at the very least a minimum amount of equipment, and while for the most part we just transform ores into bars for shipment elsewhere, we do have our own smithies for making finished goods, so we have an armoury full of whatever a warrior might need. I can make a few recommendations on equipment best suited to tunnel fighting, as I agree that the arms of the Zwerjy would be of less use in the majority of places down there."
Kirl's weapon of choice from the armoury...
[] Write-in
His first action was to...
[] Learn more about the mine and its operations
[] Poke around for additional work he could do while achieving his main task
[] Head off for the mines immediately
- Location
- the Netherworld Dood
[X] Shield and Ax
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[X] Shield and Ax
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
Dark Ness
Rises Where Silence Dies
- Location
- The Primordial Soup
[X] Shield and Spear, with an axe for back up
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
Nothing better for fighting an unknown monster. The spear to give you some range and the shield to give you some protection. The axe is if you need to get in close, or need to throw your spear.
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
Nothing better for fighting an unknown monster. The spear to give you some range and the shield to give you some protection. The axe is if you need to get in close, or need to throw your spear.
- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[X] Shield and Spear, with an axe for back up
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
Good point.
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
Good point.
Dark Abstraction
Infrequent Participant
- Location
- United States
[X] Shield and Spear, with an Axe for back up
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
I almost like this guy more than Harzivan. Watched with tremendous gusto.
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
I almost like this guy more than Harzivan. Watched with tremendous gusto.
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Chicago, IL
- Pronouns
- Any/All
[X] Shield and Spear, with an axe for back up
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
I wonder how people who weren't previously informed that Tree-Grave-Kirl would be coming are responding to us? We know that there are other transmutations that souls are subject to, but how common is the "Nailed to the World Tree" treatment?
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
I wonder how people who weren't previously informed that Tree-Grave-Kirl would be coming are responding to us? We know that there are other transmutations that souls are subject to, but how common is the "Nailed to the World Tree" treatment?
Last edited:
Gathering Resources
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Shield and Spear, with an axe for back up
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
Lead to the armoury, Kirl examined the weaponry there and selected a short spear and shield with a small axe with a prominent back-spike - it was almost like a cross between a hatchet and a pick-axe, really - for utility purposes, along with a pair of daggers for general purpose work and as a back up for the first dagger. The axe and daggers were of the ubiquitous black iron of the Underworld, but the spear and shield were somewhat different, being of a particular construction taking advantage of the peculiar materials available to the Underworld and the mines here.
Kirl managed to subtly get information on the 'void glass' that had been mentioned before as he tested out the spear. It was apparently made when the realm of Szvediding pressed up too close to the Underworld, the ultimate darkness of the place seeping out the material substance of the stone, leaving behind a sort of glass that was almost perfectly transparent, weighed very little, and was significantly stronger than steel. It was in fact such a problem to work it that was usually only used like panes of glass for the fantastically wealthy and powerful, with certain simple designs like weaponry being possible if combined in certain ways with black iron and other fantastical metals. While the material would be perfect in terms of strength and weight for making armour, it was too stubborn to work into the proper, complex shapes. Kirl was actually a little surprised at the value of the spear he received, since it wasn't just an alloy of void glass and black iron, but it also had a special metal mined in an entirely different plane of existence alloyed into the black iron, giving it a silver sheen like flowing water and apparently enchanting it for quickness. The balance was peculiar since it didn't have the sort of flexibility of a wooden haft and most of the weight was at the ends due to the void glass haft barely having any weight at all, but Kirl could feel that this was an exceptional spear compared to what he had used in 'life'. The shield was similarly a melding of black iron and void glass that made it tougher than a hundred pound shield of solid, sword quality steel while weighing less than even a linden wood shield.
Kirl also managed to get his hosts talking about the virtues of the weapons such that he could fish for information. While better than mortal steel, the primary reason for the use of black iron as the material of choice for making weapons for spirits was that the stuff had a certain spiritual weight to it that allowed it to interact with the dead whether or not they had gained a semblance of material form by drinking of wine made from pomegranates grown in the underworld, and objects of black iron were one of the few substances that 'bound' to the dead even in a worked state. So when a Zwerjy was 'slain' in battle, when Wyr's magic reanimated them at midnight, they returned with their weaponry instead of it all having to be retrieved from whatever battlefield they fell on. This also meant that the souls of the dishonourable dead could be sent down into the mines with black iron picks and their rations of pomegranate wine could be kept miserably low for the most part. The only ones who needed a significant ration of the substance giving wine were the ones hauling out the ore, and if they were mining the ore for black iron they didn't need even that... although mining black iron for the dead was a truly miserable experience since dust and shards and slivers of the stuff could bind to them, inflicting considerable pain that required even more painful methods to work the stuff out.
Being ever aware of how slave rebellions could brew up, having been hired by and against such groups in the past, Kirl also made sure to check against the possibility that this was the groups running off, and he was assured that while the freshly dishonourable dead were just the sort to dream up such things, honourable service could elevate you out of the mines quite quickly and being an outlaw was even more miserable in death than in life. While only the gods knew how to permanently destroy a soul, there were monsters that could get close enough by destroying memories. Individuals who had been drained of all personality and left as empty husks unable to function were kept around as general labourers to perform the simplest and most repetitive of tasks and as reminders of what defying the Lord or Lady of the Underworld brought about. All but the dumbest and most belligerent souls preferred to just do what they were told and work their way out of the mines and to less miserable and dangerous work.
That no souls had been found wandering about, drained of memory and dulled in thought, in the wake of the attacks was extremely concerning, hence why a call for help had been made and why Kirl had been given the assignment.
Before he actually made his descent, he also made sure to grill the castellan and his staff and the barely corporeal workers about the mines, poring over maps to get the lay of the land. Map reading was perhaps his strongest 'abstract' skill, which he knew contributed massively to his success on campaign, and he had always kept that skill sharp. While he knew that the map was not the terrain, just having something to orient against in unfamiliar terrain could be tremendously useful. Aside from learning more about the network of tunnels, he also learned about the various hazards he might encounter. That also let him pick up more about the sorts of materials that gods and spirits had to work with by finding out more about their ores and the sorts of rocks they might be found in. Knowing that infernal stone was used for firing the forges for working the strangest and toughest of materials might be useful knowledge for later, but down in the mines he wanted to know about the way the stuff could produce explosions or toxic vapours if a vein was exposed to the air, although fortunately he wouldn't find any still active veins in the explored areas. There were about a dozen other things that he learned this way, and while he knew that only an experienced miner would be able to instinctively have a feel when down in the dark, just having asked about these sorts of things could be of immense use down there and mean the difference between life and death.
As he was collecting all of this knowledge, both practical and esoteric, word came up from the mines that there had been another attack. This attack had been bolder, striking into more worked areas instead of happening in the relatively well patrolled areas instead of the unmapped natural caverns they had broken into. While there were no good witness accounts, those more distant in the account had all agreed that it had been a bestial thing that had struck a mining group, although the exact details were blurred by distance, shadows, and confusion. The creature was probably some sort of titanspawn then.
Titanspawn. Kirl had quietly been refreshing his mind on the stories of the gods creating the universe and finding out where they differed from the truth, and found that the titanspawn were a notable gap in mortal knowledge, although some sorts of monsters in the mortal realm were likely related. In any case, in creating the cosmos from chaos, the gods had warred with older beings. Unable to kill them but still able to wound and subdue them, they had slain Yamrunyin to create the Underworld as a place to chain the titans away from the rest of the universe. The beings still thrashed against their imprisonment, but the Underworld cut them off from most of their powers, and so they most they could do was spawn powerful but mortal monsters to try to dredge them up from the deeps they had been buried and gnaw at their chains. While they came in myriad forms, they were the chief source of dead souls being drained of their memories in attacks.
While now better armed with knowledge, Kirl did have to admit that had he gone down earlier, there would have been a much better chance of being able to confront the beast in patrolled areas and thus been able to get back up more quickly, and have an easier time retreating should things go poorly. As it was, he would be tracking it back wherever it came from, giving it the home field advantage.
So, he had what knowledge he was seeking, and there should be a fresh trail to follow down below. He could spend some more time seeking out other information and other tasks he could achieve while hunting, but that would likely let the trail go cold, and he didn't want to tarry too much on this lest his patron grow irritated with him.
His next action was to...
[] Learn more about the mine and its operations
[] Poke around for additional work he could do while achieving his main task
[] Head off for the mines immediately
[X] Learn more about the mine and its operations
Lead to the armoury, Kirl examined the weaponry there and selected a short spear and shield with a small axe with a prominent back-spike - it was almost like a cross between a hatchet and a pick-axe, really - for utility purposes, along with a pair of daggers for general purpose work and as a back up for the first dagger. The axe and daggers were of the ubiquitous black iron of the Underworld, but the spear and shield were somewhat different, being of a particular construction taking advantage of the peculiar materials available to the Underworld and the mines here.
Kirl managed to subtly get information on the 'void glass' that had been mentioned before as he tested out the spear. It was apparently made when the realm of Szvediding pressed up too close to the Underworld, the ultimate darkness of the place seeping out the material substance of the stone, leaving behind a sort of glass that was almost perfectly transparent, weighed very little, and was significantly stronger than steel. It was in fact such a problem to work it that was usually only used like panes of glass for the fantastically wealthy and powerful, with certain simple designs like weaponry being possible if combined in certain ways with black iron and other fantastical metals. While the material would be perfect in terms of strength and weight for making armour, it was too stubborn to work into the proper, complex shapes. Kirl was actually a little surprised at the value of the spear he received, since it wasn't just an alloy of void glass and black iron, but it also had a special metal mined in an entirely different plane of existence alloyed into the black iron, giving it a silver sheen like flowing water and apparently enchanting it for quickness. The balance was peculiar since it didn't have the sort of flexibility of a wooden haft and most of the weight was at the ends due to the void glass haft barely having any weight at all, but Kirl could feel that this was an exceptional spear compared to what he had used in 'life'. The shield was similarly a melding of black iron and void glass that made it tougher than a hundred pound shield of solid, sword quality steel while weighing less than even a linden wood shield.
Kirl also managed to get his hosts talking about the virtues of the weapons such that he could fish for information. While better than mortal steel, the primary reason for the use of black iron as the material of choice for making weapons for spirits was that the stuff had a certain spiritual weight to it that allowed it to interact with the dead whether or not they had gained a semblance of material form by drinking of wine made from pomegranates grown in the underworld, and objects of black iron were one of the few substances that 'bound' to the dead even in a worked state. So when a Zwerjy was 'slain' in battle, when Wyr's magic reanimated them at midnight, they returned with their weaponry instead of it all having to be retrieved from whatever battlefield they fell on. This also meant that the souls of the dishonourable dead could be sent down into the mines with black iron picks and their rations of pomegranate wine could be kept miserably low for the most part. The only ones who needed a significant ration of the substance giving wine were the ones hauling out the ore, and if they were mining the ore for black iron they didn't need even that... although mining black iron for the dead was a truly miserable experience since dust and shards and slivers of the stuff could bind to them, inflicting considerable pain that required even more painful methods to work the stuff out.
Being ever aware of how slave rebellions could brew up, having been hired by and against such groups in the past, Kirl also made sure to check against the possibility that this was the groups running off, and he was assured that while the freshly dishonourable dead were just the sort to dream up such things, honourable service could elevate you out of the mines quite quickly and being an outlaw was even more miserable in death than in life. While only the gods knew how to permanently destroy a soul, there were monsters that could get close enough by destroying memories. Individuals who had been drained of all personality and left as empty husks unable to function were kept around as general labourers to perform the simplest and most repetitive of tasks and as reminders of what defying the Lord or Lady of the Underworld brought about. All but the dumbest and most belligerent souls preferred to just do what they were told and work their way out of the mines and to less miserable and dangerous work.
That no souls had been found wandering about, drained of memory and dulled in thought, in the wake of the attacks was extremely concerning, hence why a call for help had been made and why Kirl had been given the assignment.
Before he actually made his descent, he also made sure to grill the castellan and his staff and the barely corporeal workers about the mines, poring over maps to get the lay of the land. Map reading was perhaps his strongest 'abstract' skill, which he knew contributed massively to his success on campaign, and he had always kept that skill sharp. While he knew that the map was not the terrain, just having something to orient against in unfamiliar terrain could be tremendously useful. Aside from learning more about the network of tunnels, he also learned about the various hazards he might encounter. That also let him pick up more about the sorts of materials that gods and spirits had to work with by finding out more about their ores and the sorts of rocks they might be found in. Knowing that infernal stone was used for firing the forges for working the strangest and toughest of materials might be useful knowledge for later, but down in the mines he wanted to know about the way the stuff could produce explosions or toxic vapours if a vein was exposed to the air, although fortunately he wouldn't find any still active veins in the explored areas. There were about a dozen other things that he learned this way, and while he knew that only an experienced miner would be able to instinctively have a feel when down in the dark, just having asked about these sorts of things could be of immense use down there and mean the difference between life and death.
As he was collecting all of this knowledge, both practical and esoteric, word came up from the mines that there had been another attack. This attack had been bolder, striking into more worked areas instead of happening in the relatively well patrolled areas instead of the unmapped natural caverns they had broken into. While there were no good witness accounts, those more distant in the account had all agreed that it had been a bestial thing that had struck a mining group, although the exact details were blurred by distance, shadows, and confusion. The creature was probably some sort of titanspawn then.
Titanspawn. Kirl had quietly been refreshing his mind on the stories of the gods creating the universe and finding out where they differed from the truth, and found that the titanspawn were a notable gap in mortal knowledge, although some sorts of monsters in the mortal realm were likely related. In any case, in creating the cosmos from chaos, the gods had warred with older beings. Unable to kill them but still able to wound and subdue them, they had slain Yamrunyin to create the Underworld as a place to chain the titans away from the rest of the universe. The beings still thrashed against their imprisonment, but the Underworld cut them off from most of their powers, and so they most they could do was spawn powerful but mortal monsters to try to dredge them up from the deeps they had been buried and gnaw at their chains. While they came in myriad forms, they were the chief source of dead souls being drained of their memories in attacks.
While now better armed with knowledge, Kirl did have to admit that had he gone down earlier, there would have been a much better chance of being able to confront the beast in patrolled areas and thus been able to get back up more quickly, and have an easier time retreating should things go poorly. As it was, he would be tracking it back wherever it came from, giving it the home field advantage.
So, he had what knowledge he was seeking, and there should be a fresh trail to follow down below. He could spend some more time seeking out other information and other tasks he could achieve while hunting, but that would likely let the trail go cold, and he didn't want to tarry too much on this lest his patron grow irritated with him.
His next action was to...
[] Poke around for additional work he could do while achieving his main task
[] Head off for the mines immediately
- Location
- Australia
[X] Head off for the mines immediately