The Story Sections:
The Decision (September 22, 2017)
The Decision: Part II (September 26, 2017)
A Shared Concern (February 26, 2018)
The Molnea (January 11, 2018)
The Wolf Pup (October 8, 2017)
If At First (July 11, 2018)
If At First – Part 2 (January 5, 2019)
Where Darkness Dwells (June 1, 2019)
The Plan (August 11, 2019)
The Journey – Thronefast_P1 (August 15, 2022)
The Journey – Thronefast_P2 (This)
The Journey – Faerthale (todo)
The Dark Lord's Gift (February 15, 2018)
The Journey – Oldassan Citadel (todo)
The Bargain (todo)
The Deception (todo)
"The adventure is the journey, not the goal."
- Gran (Saida Oakfaren of the Kiri)
Topping a rise marking the end of the isthmus that connected Wild's End to Kings Reach and the Steppes of Ru'lun, Wosel suddenly stopped. "It's so open." he gasped and pulled his cloak tightly around himself.
Before us, to the west, lay a wide open expanse grassy plain. Fairly flat except for scattered rock outcroppings, some low hills, and a few trees. A wide river flowed down from the mountains in the far north, disappearing to the south, dividing the steppes from the Silent Plains to the west. We could just make out the tower of the Silent Sanctum in the belly of the Roan mountains on the far side of the plains.
As the party gazed at the vista before us, Sor'gal offered "Aye, a bit different than the towering trees of Wild's End, but see it as another side of nature." At this, our druid shrugged.
"And with all this openness" Darsyth added, "we can see anyone or anything approaching from a good distance away."
It seemed a good time to stop, so the party set up a small camp for midday meal and a bit of rest before trekking out into the steppes towards the river. There we could stop for the night and replenish water.
"The map shows that we should follow the east bank of the great river northward and cross over at a bridge near the foot of the mountains to the north." I said. "We should arrive at the bridge by nightfall."
'Come on, Wosel." Jin'tyn urged, "maybe that river has some nice fat fish to be caught from." Wosel responded with a little be less of a shrug and the party broke camp and headed west to the river.
* * *
That night, when the party reaches the norther mountains, Sornir scouts on ahead.
"Stand outsider! What is your pack and why are you in our lands?" addressing Sornir as Yakek and seven other wolves emerged from the underbrush.
Looking around at the others, Sornir replies "I am called Sornir. I have a pack of two-legs by common bound to one of them."
"What?" the Pack leader scowls "You've haven't even seen as many night bringer rebirths as claws on the end of your legs. What makes you think that you are wise enough to make this choice?"
Before he can respond, an older she-wolf emerges from behind the pack leader. "Sornir?"
A strange scent drifts though the air. A scent that Sornir has not encountered since he could first smell the wind. "Mother?" he gasped and slowly stepped towards the she-wolf.
Yakek moved in front of the she-wolf to block Sornir's advance. "Explain yourself Agruna. How can you know of this outsider?"
"Because he is my son, Yakek." and she tells the story of the bear attack and the rescue of the last remaining pup by a two-leg that promised to protect him. Then, after a long recovery, had found Sornir, but it was after the companion ritual had taken place.
"By the time I found you, your scent had changed. It had a new flavor to it; one of a two-leg. This confused me greatly. As I was about to return to the pack, a two-leg wise-one called out to me. She shed her form and became one with nature so that we could run together. She explained to me the companion bond and how it was needed to allow you to grow without a pack to depend on. You would not have survived if left without one or the other."
An older wolf spoke up. "Isn't this as when long ago, Hijuk mated with a she-wolf from the Misty Bog pack that he met when we were hunting the forest past the great river?" "He left our pack to join hers. The agreement was that he would no longer hunt our land since each pack respects the other's territory."
"Yes" Agruna replied softly. "He was my mate." "That pack was destroyed by the undead two-legs. This caused me to seek out my mate's pack, as you know, many cycles ago."
* * *
Upon entering Thronefast, Sor'gal asks a guard about where records of history would be found. As they continue on
"That's kinda nice. An Elf leading group of children on a history exploration outing." one of the guard remarks. "Yeah, they even dressed up as warriors." the other replied chuckling.
Mylah was about to turn on the guard when I put my hand on her shoulder. "Relax Mylah" I warned "I'm sure there will be worse comments to come from others."
She ground her teeth in a low growl and turned back to follow Sor'gal.
* * *
These are snippets of sections for the next chapter. The reset of the content diverges too greatly from the current game lore. So here, I'll end these tales. They were generated to follow the game development as each new area was presented. The characters would encounter the lore of the new area as part of the adventure. Unfortunately, there have been too may changes to the original lore and now with a total remake of the map, the story stopped making sense when describing the environment and encounters.
Hope you all enjoyed the tales and maybe see you in the betas.
-Gelfzin
Aww, man... It's not salvageable? Even the Steppes of Ru'lun being renamed Easter Plains on the map don't mean that can't be a local or regional name. I thought the passages you chose to show captured the current state fairly well. Will be a bummer not to see the rest of this story...