Not All Nethermancers
Or, But Definitely Some Nethermancers
Daldorer needed a bit of help making nice with the spirit in his armor, which is a fine endeavor that should well be supported. Karl, William, and Xeviouz joined us, so to be honest we were feeling pretty good about our chances.
Nethermancers do unfairly get a bad reputation. Daldorer is a fine gentlebeing, a Namegiver of great knowledge and unquestionable bravery in the face of whatever nonsense this post-Scourge Barsaive is intent on throwing at us. Bit overeager to tear his face off, if you ask me, but I think one time tearing your face off is probably one time too many. The hell do I know? I just hammer steel.
We routed ourselves up through Sosanopa, and that town is coming along nicely. Someone needs to start thinking about waste management and sewer systems and traffic planning but all in all it's growing fast. Good crafters converging on it, diversity of people, trade with other nations. Very encouraging.
We took a boat and then headed on foot into the mountains. William simultaneously came up with some absurd route that no doubt would have taken us through a desert, three swamps, and some Horror's arsehole. But upon abandoning that led us straight as an arrow to where we needed to go, because that's how William is.
As we camped, there was a shudder in the ground and some unnecessarily gigantic Rockworm made the terrible decision of trying to eat us. It, and its three friends, had eighteen whole seconds to regret everything about its life before it lay dead on the ground. Worth noting - these things generate intense heat. Wear protection before engaging.
We eventually got up to the ruins and Karl and William, who are sneaky and not just because they are Humans, scouted ahead. Good thing, too. Those ruins were filled with wandering Cadaver Men and sure, we can handle a few but there were a lot. We could have barreled in there but we would have been justly punished for that dumb-ass plan.
So I remembered that I was a damn Elementalist, and not just in the 'hammering living fire into the shape of a festive hat' way. Summoned up an Earth Elemental. Picked a nice shaded overhang where it was more earth than sky so the poor thing wouldn't be all flustered by the big open nothing on top of us.
Oh, the job. So the spirit in Daldorer's armor indicated there was some Nethermancer doing bad mojo up here in these ruins. And that's the thing I meant about not all Nethermancers - because it's bad to stereotype. But also some Nethermancers because damn, those Nethermancers do get their faces into some dangerous soup.
Okay. So, I send ol' Rocky, which is definitely not its name, to go find the Nethermancer and after a good long time, it comes back and tells us that the earth is all wrong. Basically, it says 'this ain't right' and I find myself quite fond of this Earth Elemental. It being an Earth Elemental, of course, it has no problems forming a lovely three dimensional map, showing where this inevitably downfallen Nethermancer is.
Turns out we have to get to a trapdoor in the middle of the damn mess, but that's what Metal Wings are for. So, up into the air and down into the tunnel before the dead bodies pile up on top of us.
Inside, there's the Nethermancer, clearly Horror touched. But there's one of him, and there's five of us and also a bear and a huttawa. So there are more life choices to regret, all of them his. Turns out the guy's name is Varintor, and Daldorer is happy as a kid in a gingerbread house and I'm sure he's not going to put his face in some dodgy soup.Statistics:Posted by bronzemountain — Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:30 pm
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