TEEN: - Ongoing Legends of Zot: Lord of the Rend (Prologue I posted!)

[Autofire]

Greetings, greetings. This is my second try at writing a 'Diary of a Crawler.' (Although this one does build on the first DoaC I wrote, you do not have to read it. Here it is.) I won't be posting Lord of the Rend anywhere else until it's completed.

A quick rundown: This is what I might call a dramatized playthrough of a classic rogue-like, Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup. (Abbreviated "DCSS") This time around, the formula is a tad different; I'll still be basing the story on my own playthrough, but I'll add a little more creativity to the mix. For example, DCSS doesn't have a Rend-dimension at all. That being said, I won't deviate too much from what truly happens. (So I won't say that my character uses a mace when he/she actually is using a sword.)

I have a few reasons for writing a story this way: 1) it guides the story, 2) it keeps everyone (including myself) guessing, 3) it's a nice way to pay tribute to a genre I love, 4) there is no fourth reason, and 5) it helps motivate me to write regularly. (Basically, I must write in order to find out what happens next, as weird as that sounds.)

One last thing: If you intend on playing DCSS without spoilers, turn back now!

I think everything's out of the way. I eagerly accept criticism, just...please keep it civil. Comments/reviews make this forum go around. :spin:

Credit goes to to the Dragon's Inn's English to Elvish dictionary.

Table of Contents

Spoiler

To be filled

 

[Autofire]

Re: Legends of Zot: Lord of the Rend

Once upon a time, there was a Tengu and a Rend Wolf. Together, they challenged the Dungeon of Zot. Were they successful? Well, I shall tell you. But first, I must make a few things clear.

Rho is pronounced the same way you'd pronounce “Row.” Koal is pronounced like “Co-all,” with emphasis on the first syllable. All other names (at least, the ones I can think of right now) shouldn't need explanation.

The Rend is a key part of this story. You'll learn more about it, but for now, just consider it a second set of dimensions which sits right on top of the one most of you humans live in.

But I've already delayed more than I should. I shall begin...let's see...I suppose the beginning is a good place to begin a story.

No, no, the beginning is boring! I'll spare you of that boredom for another day. Let's start from...yes, that's a good spot.

== Prologue I: Impostor ==
I dashed through the town, plowing through any wall or building that stood in my way. (Which was quite easy, since I was in the Rend) I reached Koal's favorite tavern and peeked inside, but I couldn't see him in there. I was quite baffled. If he wasn't home, and wasn't at the tavern, where was he?

My eye was caught by something in an alley not far away. That's not going to work twice!, I thought.

As I guessed, a certain Tengu named Koal was hiding in that alley. “Koal, this's a habit you really need to kick!” I shouted. (Though he was the only one who could hear me, since I was still in the Rend.)

“Argh, Rho!” Koal hissed. “Go chase some rabbits!”

“Only if your coming!” I charged at the Tengu.

“Leave me alone!”

I left the Rend as I sprung for Koal. I careened into him, sending us both into the alley. I stood on top of him and growled, “You are not going into that bar.”

“Why do you care? Get off, you mutt!” He struggled to get me off. “I'm not a kid anymore!”

“No! I know you had a hard day, but drinking yourself silly doesn't fix anything!”

“True, but I need to blow off steam!” Koal plunged one of his clawed feet into my side, making me yelp and lean to one side. He threw me off.

Picking myself up, I shouted back, “Oh, sure, make some more problems, will ya! Dumbledwen can't keep you in check, but that doesn't mean you can get hopelessly drunk for every small thing!” I chomped on Koal's baggy sleeve before he could get away.

Koal tugged on his sleeve, trying to free it from my teeth. “Practically killing one of your clients is not a 'small thing'!”

“You can never get better unless you screw up from time to time,” I said through my teeth.

“What?”

I let go, causing us both to fall. “Experience comes through mistakes!”

Koal sat up. “I told you before, I'm not cut out to be an apothecary. I'm not interested in getting better.”

“Well, you've gotta do something. Learn a different trade. Become a magician. Learn how to sell stuff. Anything other than--hey! Get back here!” This time, Koal got away from me.

I wrapped myself in the Rend and charged into the tavern. Koal had already taken a seat at the oak counter. “Koal!” I shouted, but he ignored me. “Get out of that chair!” No response. “Get out before I make a scene!” He ordered a drink--it would be the first of many, I knew.

That crossed the line. We talked about this before, but would he listen? No! Ignoring the fact that I was surrounded by raucous tavern-goers, I materialized.

“Woah, that dog jus' poofed!” I heard a someone cry.

“Naw, yer fooly. It warhic was just sneakstery,” someone else said.

I certainly caught the humans' attentions, but the only one who didn't seem to notice me was Koal. Making a show of things, I strutted up to him. When I was right behind him, I growled, loud and clear.

“Uh, sir?” the bartender said. “Behind you. There's a...”

Koal sighed. “Rho, go away.”

“Last chance,” I growled. (Only Koal could understand me.)

Koal spun around and slammed his fist into my nose. I stumbled and yelped. Some of the crowd cheered, but most of them gasped.

“Stop following me!” Koal shouted at me. “Scram!”

That's how he wants it? I coiled and dived for his neck. Koal blocked with his arms, and the collision sent him onto the counter. A sharp pain went through my stomach, making me jump back. Koal flipped backwards behind the counter.

“You aren't supposed to be back here!” the bartender screamed at Koal.

Koal vaulted over the counter and tried to kick me, but I jumped to the side, causing him to miss. Before I could counterattack, someone else hit me. Koal took advantage of the distraction and clawed my face with his talon-feet.

Two or three people piled on me. A few more people helped Koal to his feet. I struggled against my oppressors, but they were too heavy.

“Are you alright?” the bartender asked Koal.

Someone else asked, “Do you know that dog?”

“No,” Koal answered between breaths. My heart sunk. “No. I don't know him. Been following me all day.”

“Ah, that's odd,” the bartender said. “Bessy!” A young woman appeared. “Get my axe!” When he noticed Koal's bleeding arms, he shouted after her, “And get something to patch up our bird friend!”

An axe? So he planned to kill me? The crushing force of those humans sitting on me was hurting, but I wanted to see what Koal would do. While many curious humans surrounded me and made the air stink of alcohol, the bartender helped Koal to the counter again.

I whined, but Koal wouldn't come back. Of course he wouldn't. The bartender barged through the crowd, carrying a rather large lumber axe. “Those of you who are squeamish, look away! Hold him down!” The bartender towered over me. “Poor ol' beast. Must have eaten something nasty. I'll put 'im out.”

'Eaten something nasty?' Take a hike! In a moment, the bartender swung for my neck. Poof! I vanished back into the Rend. Chaos followed. “Where'd he go!?” “I told'ya he poofed!” “Oh, there goes his head!” “Naw, that's ol' Bill's mug!”

On any other day, I would've been pleased with the prank I played, but I was too upset. “So, you don't know me?” I asked Koal. “Then...fine! Drink yourself to death! I don't know you, either!” I ran off and didn't look back.

As I ran out of the village, I processed the night's events. I never thought Koal would deny me like that. Why was he so determined to get drunk, anyway? If Koal doesn't want my help, let's see how he does without me! Like that, I decided to abandon Koal. I continued running through the Rend.

As I ran, I sensed that I was in a very familiar spot. If I would never come back, I wanted to spend one last visit. I materialized.

I was standing in the cemetery. When I reached a certain tombstone, I sat in front of it. The tombstone read:

Here lies
The healer of hundreds
Dumbledwen

“I'm sorry, ol' chap,” I said. “But...Koal would be better off without me.” A pang of guilt hit me. What was I doing? I had promised I'd protect Koal until Dumbledwen came back. Of course, Dumbledwen would never come back, but the promise still stood, right? If only Doireann was here...

Where was Doireann? She vanished four months ago. Granted, she'd frequently disappear, but only for a week at most. We never knew where she would go or what she was doing, but she always stayed in one piece, at least.

The icy wind blew through my fur, waking me up from my trance. I looked up at the moon. If I was like most wolves, maybe I would've howled at it. But I didn't know how to howl, so the only thing I could do was stare at it.

Koal didn't need me, I decided. Maybe he could grow better without me nagging him. I gave one last look at Dumbledwen's grave before wrapping myself in the Rend.

From there? I ran some more. The Rend kept me from tiring, so I ran for hours. Running felt more freeing than walking. None of the forest trees could contain me in the Rend, since I could run right through them. Of to my right were majestic mountains, each capped with snow, and the thick forest continued off to the left.

Regrets still held me back. I felt like I was running from something I couldn't handle. Why should I flee from a friend? Sure, Koal had gotten rather crazy, but could I blame him? He was probably feeling depressed. Losing the only friend he had left wouldn't help at all...

But he had those men in the tavern! They'd be Koal's friends! If he'd rather be with them than me, so be it!

A quick movement caught my eye. I skidded to a halt and looked. At first, I thought I saw nothing, but I realized that there was something there. Something small. Wait...was that? No...

But it was indeed a little Spriggan crouching up against a tree. The Spriggan's bark-like skin blended perfectly with the tree. The creature reminded me of someone...

Before I could do anything else, zoom! Off was the Spriggan. I had a hard time keeping up, despite being in the Rend. Before long, the Spriggan got away.

The Spriggan was heading for the mountain before I lost her. Since I was curious and I didn't really have anything important to do, I decided to look for her destination. I roamed the area.

I didn't have to look long. I found a very dark cave that came right out of the ground at the foot of the mountain. For some reason, the moonlight hardly shone into the cave at all, making it look like a black hole. I didn't want to hang around but...

There was that Spriggan again! She ran right past the hole and up the mountain's base. Where was she going in such a hurry? I ran as fast as I could, hoping I wouldn't get left behind. Before long, she stopped at a little cave in the mountain. The Spriggan went inside, and I followed her.

Inside the cave were a couple of sleeping Kobolds, the Spriggan, and a few shoddy tools. The place was so cramped that, if I materialized right then, the place would have been too small for all of us.

“Wake up!” the Spriggan hissed while roughly shaking one of the Kobolds. “I need you both! Get up, you dither heads!”

Before long, both of the Kobolds were awake. To the Spriggan's annoyance, both of them complained of having to go to the bathroom. (Although they didn't say it like that.) The Spriggan went the foot of the mountain while the Kobolds went other directions.

I wasn't quite sure what to do. The Spriggan certainly did look like Doireann...heck, she sounded like Doireann. I decided to be cautious, though.

I ran behind a tree and materialized, and then approached her.

“Doir!” I called. “This is a pleasant surprise!”

The Spriggan jumped. She stumbled over her words for a moment before going silent.

“That...is you, Doireann?” I asked.

“O-oh! Yes...I'm Doireann. How's it going, um...what was your name, again?”

Something definitely wasn't right. “How could you forget my name?”

“I dunno...it's been a while.”

“What? Four months isn't that long!” I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe something happened to her head, I wondered. That would explain her absence. “Alright, I'm Rho. I suppose I should let you know...wait, you do know who Koal is, right?”

“Hm? Yes, of course I know who Koal is!”

“Okay, good. He's gone off the handle. He's got this nasty habit of drowning himself in alcohol. This is has got to be the sixth time this month!” I told her, before quickly adding, “Not that he's be my problem anymore. I'm leaving him.”

“No! Stay with him! For a while longer, anyway.”

“What? Hey, what about you and your little vanishing stunts you pull so often? Speaking of that, where have you been for all this time?”

“Ah, I'm...,” Doireann was silent for a while. “I'm sorry, I can't explain right now. I'll tell you everything when I get back. Just please stay with Koal until then.”

“In that case, when will you get back? What'll I tell Koal?”

“I'm not sure when I'll come back, or if I ever...,” she stopped herself here. “Just let Koal know that I'm alright. Please.”

I still wasn't convinced. Something was fishy, but I wasn't sure if I should press for more answers. She did promise that she'd explain everything after she got back, but it sounded like she might never come back at all!

“Hold on a second...if you didn't remember me, how will you explain what's been going on for years?”

She never got to reply. The Kobolds came barreling down the mountain. When they saw me, one of them shouted, “Hey, who's that? Is he going to help us!?”

“Wow!” the other one shouted. “White Dagger certainly has cool looking wolves! Yes?”

I was stunned. “White Dagger! What are you doing with those cut-purses?”

Before I could do anything else, the Spriggan lifted one of her hands, and it flashed green. Some strange force lifted me off my feet!

“Rotten dither heads!” she shouted at the Kobolds. “Look at my beautiful cover! You've blown it right out of the sky!” The Kobolds looked liked a pair of naughty school children who were about to get punished, and neither of them said anything else.

I struggled against the stuff keeping me off the ground, but it was no good. Before I tried going into the Rend, I wanted to see if I could get more answers. “Is this how you've gotten to get enough money to pay for all of Koal's antidotes? Hah, you probably don't even know! I highly doubt you're Doireann!”

“Your doubt is correct,” the Spriggan answered, but her mind seemed to be somewhere else. Silence followed.

I was getting impatient. “Can you let me down?”

“No!” the Spriggan snapped. “Well, not yet, at least. First, I have an offer! I can see you have questions, but I shall only answer one! In exchange, you shall answer one of my own questions.”

“How do I know that you won't lie?”

“I could say the same to you. You ask first.”

I thought for a moment, since I only had one question. “If you're not Doireann, then where is she?”

The Spriggan jerked a thumb toward the cave. “In there,” she answered casually. “Who and where is this Koal person?”

I had a very bad feeling about telling her the truth on that one. “You want to know this for what reason exactly?”

“No more answers for you! Hold up your end of the bargain!”

“Ah, well...you asked two questions! I'll only answer one of them!”

“Alright. Where is Koal?”

At first, I was going to lie, but then I wondered...it was safe to assume that she lied to me, but what if she assumed the same of me? Then wherever I told her that Koal was, maybe she would assume that I had lied, so then she would look everywhere but where I told her he was!

“Off to my right, in a village.”

“That's not specific enough!”

“Your answer wasn't very specific, either!”

“Sure it was!”

We glared at each other for a moment.

“Fine,” the Spriggan said.

“Will you let me go now?”

“Naw, I don't see why I...” My captor got a rather disturbing grin. “Ooh, why not?” She lifted her hand, and her arm glowed a steady green. I began to float higher. Clearly, she was planning something. I braced myself for a quick transition back into the Rend.

Woosh! A force threw me down at an incredible speed! I barely got back in the Rend before I smashed through the ground. After I got over the initial shock, I realized that I was underground, though the Rend kept me entirely safe. I didn't want to miss the Spriggan's reaction, so I 'climbed' back up through the ground.

“Yes, how'd you do that!?” one of the Kobolds asked.

The other Kobold was equally mystified. “Where'd it go?”

I began to laugh. Certainly made a fool of you, eh, little Spriggan?

I thought too soon. The Spriggan shouted some magic word of sorts. A blue light blinded me. Before I knew it, I was out of the Rend and back in the air.

“We are in the presence of a Rend Wolf,” the Spirggan announced. “This one is rather...interesting.”

“Oh, does White Dagger have any of those?” asked one of the Kobolds.

The Spriggan shook her head. “They're quite a rare sight. Too bad this one isn't on our side.”

I was not going to waste any more time. “You've had your fun!” I tried to go back into the Rend, but I couldn't.

“Not so smart without your collar, hmm?” To my dismay, the collar that allowed me to jump in and out of the Rend was on the ground below me! The deep blue jewel on the front of the collar was flashing feebly.

One of the Kobolds spoke up, “If I wore that thing...I would be able to do the vanishing thingy, yes?”

The Spriggan laughed. “Fool! Creatures from this realm cannot live within the Rend for an instant! The Rend would shred your flimsy body! That's what makes Rend Wolves special.” She paused. “While I could persuade this wolf to see things our way, I don't think that will be necessary.”

My stomach churned as the Spriggan lifted me up again. I panicked.

But then I remembered something. Something from a long time ago.

I shouted, “Narki! A narki!” The collar below me began to glow and shudder. “Tuka ar tuupa si kemi!” The Spriggan looked distressed, and she seemed to struggle against the magic energy the collar was putting out. “Horta! O ilya horta!”

The collar exploded!