The Chronicles of Andreius, the Paladin, Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Cutthroats of Crawling Bog

The king's soldiers are protecting the wealthy merchants and nobles on the High Road, but bandits still prey on the common folk. The scoundrels hide from the soldiers in Crawling Bog, a sucking swamp so notorious for the dangerous plants and monsters that live there that the soldiers dare not enter. It's time someone brought the bandits to justice.

Andreius found tracks that led into the fetid swamps -- the thieves must have gone that way. The rain was pouring down through the leaves, feeding the churning river that Andreius was wading across. Suddenly, the stirring currents sucked him underwater. Andreius desperately held his breath while trying to resurface.

Andreius almost drowned when his lungs gave out. He thrashed about, gasped for air, took in water, and surfacing intermittently as the river dragged him along for what seemed an eternity. Nearly an hour later, Andreius emerged from the river battered and exhausted.

After a long afternoon of adventuring, Andreius came across a family and their wagon stuck deep in the mud. They were moving to the city because the father had gotten a new job in a prominent guild. He braced himself and, with a mighty heave, freed the wagon and pushed it to a drier patch of road. The family was grateful that they had escaped the swamp before night fell. They gave Andreius some money and a new weapon for helping them on their way.

While wading waist deep through a particularly sloppy patch of water in the swamp, Andreius was startled by a nearby splash and an unpleasant sensation of being bitten in the thigh. His armor was not quite strong enough, and it took several violent attacks with his Rusty Dagger to get the alligator off him. Back on shore, Andreius applied some first aid before moving on.

To say the size of the giant rat Andreius faced off against was unusual would be an understatement. Most townsfolk would never believe such a large rodent could exist. Nevertheless it had come thundering through the roots and brambles and was now smack in front of him with its teeth bared. Andreius almost had a hard time taking the rat seriously as he crushed it with his mace.

There were a great many old logs lying around the swamp. As they laid rotting, a thick and furry green moss had begun to engulf them. There was something peculiar about one of the mossy logs . . .

Unable to figure out what was so peculiar about that log, Andreius forged ahead through the swamp. Only much later did Andreius realize that he should have looked under the log.

Andreius rounded a corner and was confronted by a camp filled with bandits. He steeled himself for the fight ahead.

The bandit lord accepted Andreius's challenge to single combat! Andreius easily dodged the bandit lord's attacks and quickly subdued him, humiliating him in front of his band of thieves. Andreius was hailed as a hero when he returned the village's meager treasures.

The End

I got some $$ and a new rapier out of the deal, but only ended half the encounters successfully.

All in all, it's a neat little app. I just hope they can keep the servers running.

Posted by Warren Kelly at August 26, 2008 04:08 PM | TrackBack