Realm Quest - A Fantasy Text Adventure

[stagnantAntler]

Realm Quest

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This adventure was somewhat inspired by alexthewhite's War of the Rose

I hope it'll be noticed as I have a long story to tell which I'd like you all to take part in. Guess that's all I have to say enjoy your adventure.

The World

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Welcome to the world of seven realms, a world much like our own, yet so different. This world has no sun, instead lights from all over the sky illuminate the world. None of them constant, a light might shine for hours before winking out forever, one might flash up out of nowhere then disappear again moments later. The lights are not as numerous as the stars in our sky, but each light up the world almost as much as our sun. When there are no lights the world becomes dark as coal, although most of the time there is at least a faint light in the sky. There is no pattern in the passing of days and nights. Thus the people have little sense for time, and use words like old and young rather than using numbers to specify age.

The weather is equally unpredictable seasons changing from summer to winter temperatures over a few days (days can be counted in a somewhat inaccurate manner by the amount of times spent sleeping, most people don’t bother counting at all).

Life in this world is chaotic, unforgiving and cruel, only the most adaptable creatures and plants survive. Such an adaptable creature was the human race. Though times were tough, and man was little more than an animal at that time.
This world had gods however and they took a liking to mankind. The gods descended onto the realm of beasts and men and gave them a small piece of their own souls. This is how man was granted the power to control nature through the five elements of fire, water, earth, wood and metal. The power brought with it prosperity, great cities and castles and unbelievable riches, but also war and death. The power also brought great inequality, as not all were born with equal potential to “wield” the elements. Some had only the power to say light a candle, why some possessed enough control over the elements to move mountains or turn rivers by sheer will.

Other than their newly acquired ability to wield the elements, the bodies of the human race also changed, granting them a longer life. When they died, instead of their corpses decaying and rotting, their corpses would slowly fade into a fine white dust like substance, which would seep through the ground never to be seen again (at least by human eyes). This made them different from the animals that were part of the ruthless cycle of nature.

Prologue



We begin our story in the small neutral country of Aegar. A country that wasn't a country, but just a bunch of small city states until about a generation ago. A man named Garn Whistleweeper, who some called a fallen god, unified the nation through brute force. Taking over the domains of 8 former lords of the land. He gathered the strongest and most clever men and women of the land, built a massive city on top of a mountain and called it Tearingskies. In the middle of the city he built a tower reaching halfway
into the sky and there he locked himself away, leaving the ruling of Aegar to his 4 warlords. Such was formed the Kit'Aegan empire.


It’s getting late and all is quiet in the small farmhouse on a hill overlooking the village of Graylawn. The whole family is gathered around the roaring fireplace. The man and his wife both in their forties sit at the far right. The woman is cradling a toddler in her arms, humming softly. In the center sits an old man in his sixties, he speaks of the old times, before the rise of the mad god-king. Two young children, wide eyed and full of wonder listen carefully to the stories, while an older boy no more than 13 by the looks of it has his attention elsewhere. His mind is on thoughts of magic, great heroism and things beyond the clouds in the sky.

Suddenly a loud knock on the door stops the whole family dead in their quiet night. “Who knocks on the door at this hour?” the man complains as he stands up to get the door. There’s another knock on the door louder than the last “Hold on hold on, I’m coming” the man says as he goes to unlock the door to reveal the rugged face of a Kit’Aegan officer, wearing the official plate mail and colors of the Kit’Aegan army. Behind him are three equally menacing soldiers of lower rank, “oh, officer I’m sorry come on in”. “Silence dog!” the officer spurts out. “Our records show that this household has yet to make a contribution to the war effort. You are clearly too old to be enlisted into the army, but I see you have children. What of the young lad? He looks a little scrawny, but I bet he could grow to be a fine soldier.” The officer pushes the farmer aside and moves up close to the boy who’s just stood, his entire body stiff as a board, a defiant look in his eyes, despite his trembling legs. The Kit'Aegan officer returns the stare with a smile on his lips, “so boy, what’s your name?”

(I'm just looking for a first name here, since most last names are gonna be represented by location rather than heritage, thus the boys last name will be "of Graylawn", at least for now[/SPOILER]

[alexthewhite]

Darde of Graylawn.

Primary personality trait: nigh-suicidal quantities of sass.

[stagnantAntler]

"Darde... of Graylawn" you say slightly hesitantly. You tense up as the officer reaches out for your head, you shrink away from him, but your father intervenes "it's alright son, let him have a look at you." You rather grudgingly stay put as the Kit'Aegan officer inspects your features. Opens your lips to have a look at your teeth, grabbing your arms to test out your muscles. You feel like a piece of cattle. Finally he steps back "He seems to be in fine condition. Now boy, tell me, what can you do?"

You know instantly that he's not talking about farm labour, cooking or juggling balls around here. He means how well you wield the elements, it's the only thing the Kit'Aegan army is interested in. You look questioningly at your dad. He nods, seems there's no use lying here.

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This is when you pick your primary elemental magic. You can pick the following:

Fire: you're able to lit fires and have experimented with controlling bursts of fire ignited directly from the air. You seem to be able to "feel" the fire up to five meters (about 17 feet) away. Fire is a dangerous element and you have burned yourself on it several times, it's by far the most aggressive and uncontralable of the elements

Water: you're able to lift water from rivers and wells with your mind and use it for various purposes, it's very useful when you're working at a farm. You instinctively know that there's water all around you just floating in the air, that you can condensate into small drops at will, though this leaves the air quite dry. In combat (even though it's not something you've ever done) you could probably concentrate the water into a single beam to knock someone over or simply hover a sphere of water over a persons head until they drowned. You've also heard of water wielders who could turn water into ice or steam by sheer willpower.

Earth: The rocks and dirt around you almost feel like they're part of your body at least up to 3 meters away (approximately 10 feet) you can hover the dirt and rocks above the ground, though it requires a good deal more concentration than it would for a water wielder. And you can mold rocks and dirt with your mind, another very useful skill when you live at a farm.

Metal: Metal wielding is hard and you've only just mastered the basics of lifting the material and shaping it at will. The local blacksmith appreciates your help immensily and it is there among the metal and furnaces that you feel most at home. Metal wielding is a rough art, but is absolutely devestating on the battlefield. Wearing heavy suits of armor that weigh nothing and can be mended when broken, suddenly extending weapons, thrown daggers suddenly changing course.

Wood: Plants are your life, you live and breathe plants. You help them grow and change them for them to better survive or to wield more fruit. You can also wield dead wood and even though you don't feel the same connection and life through it, it's alot easier to bend to your will. You've been an immense help at the farm, both with the field and in case a cartwheel breaks or a roof needs thatching. You have a wooden staff in your room that you practice with sometimes when nobody's looking, you figure if you ever need to fight something completely made of wood would be your best bet, since you'd be able to shape it at will during the fight.

[alexthewhite]

>Water. Waterbenders are always OP. Always.

[stagnantAntler]

You hesitate for a second "I have quite the feeling for water sir, I use it alot on the farm."

The officer smiles, "water eh? you may not know this, but water is powerful tool when it comes to war. Grell!" He calls and one of his soldiers marches up beside him "yes sir?"

"See what this boy can do outside at the well. Everyone outside!"

Your family and the soldiers walk outside to the farms well. Outside is about 20 more soldiers and between them, young boys and girls most of them around your age, some quite alot younger and some quite alot older. There's 15 of them in total. You look away from them as the soldier you know as Grell yells at you "alright boy! let's see what you can do"

Apparently Grell has already lifted a large amount of water out of the well. You start doing your thing, you split out an orb from the mass of water and start hovering it around. You try shaping it in the air to form a long snake of water, though it isn't at smooth as you might have liked. In an instant you split the entire thing apart into almost invisible drops of water, letting them fall to the ground. You bend over with your palms to the ground pulling out all the fallen water plus what was in the ground to start with, in order to form an even bigger sphere and catapult it into the sphere Grell is holding with as much force and you can muster. Grell instantly replies with a much stronger wave of water from his side which splits yours in half and crashes into you, knocking you over.

Grell let's out a laugh and then starts clapping, the rest of the soldiers chime in. The officer walks into view again "A splendid display boy. In fact I haven't seen such natural talent in a young lad for quite some time. Farmer!" he turns to your father "we're taking the boy, his talents are wasted here."

Your father nods "I thought as much. Let me at least say goodbye to my son in private." He waves you over and the two of you walk away from the crowd of soldiers, though not further than they can still see you. "Son, I know it's a big thing to make you do, but I'm afraid we have no choice. The Kit'Aegan are relentless, but I promise you. Life in the capitol is much better than here and though we will all miss you, you'll be able to make so much more of yourself there. With your talent you'll go far in their hierachy."

You can hardly say anything through the tears as your father gives you a long hug "thanks pa." The rest of your family join the two of you and you make your teary eyed goodbyes with them. You all know that it's very possible you'll never see any of them again.

Finally the officer comes over and yanks you away from them. "Alright boy, it's time to put this behind you. The glory of Tearingskies awaits you."

You're lead into the rows of boys and girls and within no time at all you start marching towards the gray wastes and ultimately the capitol.

The walk to the capitol is long and harsh. The soldiers walk with a brisk determination, though the same can't be said of you and the other youngsters. Every time you stop for rest you collapse on the ground, panting for breath. There's no talking while you march and you're often too tired to talk to the others while you rest, but you do get a few words in with the others. Apparently the boys and girls are from all over the country, they're all decent elemental wielders and some have even shown you their abilities. Some of them have a great respect for the empire and the godking, while some wish he'd never taken the crown. There's one thing you all have in common though, you're all nervous and don't know what to expect.

You also try talking to one of the soldiers, asking him what it's like to be in the army. He replied "well, I can't complain, I have my own room in the barracks, I can have all the food, women and booze I want whenever I'm not on duty and I get to travel the land from time to time, like on this trip. I even get to visit my family sometimes. Getting to where I am now was hard work, but it was worth it in the end I'd think." This cheers you up a little bit, perhaps life in the capitol won't be so bad.

"I like you kid" he continues, you remind me of myself at your age, is there anything else you'd like to know? I might just be a soldier, but I've seen a thing or two in my day.

[Jetroid]

>"Tell me about distant lands."

>Darde: Wonder if you should try and escape.

>Random Kid: Run away. Be shot with crossbow.

[stagnantAntler]

>"Tell me about distant lands."

"Well my boy, I've been to both Tralenia and Kartus, but they don't seem all that distant to me. Tralenia is a tough country, home of the great mountains and its people. They're famous for their many mines and excellent blacksmiths and merchants from Tralenia have been selling weapons to the other lands for years, my sword was actually made there." He says with a smile drawing a very elegant blade. "Finest steel in the world." Sheating the sword again he continues "Kartus is the nation of the sea they have the biggest fleet in the world. Would you believe they have not a single city midcountry, almost all their cities are placed by the coast. The midland is one big jungle, few dare venture far in their and many parts are completely unexplored even by the Kartusians themselves."

"and what of the truly distant lands?" you ask

"I suppose only the gods know what lies beyond the white ocean, I don't think anyone has ever come back from a journey across the sea, it's more traitorous than you could imagine, not like in our cozy waters to the south I'll tell you that much. I've heard rumors about the wild lands, they seem to be inhabited mostly by savages, they say the worship the gods of the earth rather than those of the sky and that they are more like beasts than men, but you shouldn't believe anything they tell ya lad."

You thank the soldier for his stories and go to talk with some of the other kids. "I was wondering, you ask in a low voice, has anyone tried to escape?" the kids go silent, then a boy around your age says "There was one boy, ran for it one night, he didn't get very far though, ended up with an arrow through his stomach."

"serves him right the fool," another boy barges in. "He should be honored to serve under the god-king. My pa always told me there was no greater honour than being called to the capitol to serve."

"I'm not so sure about that" a girl breaks in "I heard they're nice to you as long as your useful to them, but once you get old or sick, they cut your throat. There is no weakness in the capitol, only glory or death."

"Then it's glory for me." the second boy says "I'd rather be dead than old and weak any day. Anyone who can't take care of himself is not worth the meat on his bones."

"how can you even say that" the first boy says "a mans worth is not in his strength, it's in his honour."

"what use is honour when you're dead?" the second boy lifts his hand and a gush of fire appears over his palm.

"Fine, let's see how strong you really are" the first boy replies as a rock flies into his hand from below. The kids around you back away. You hesitate, do you interfere?

[stagnantAntler]

>"Tell me about distant lands."

"Well my boy, I've been to both Tralenia and Kartus, but they don't seem all that distant to me. Tralenia is a tough country, home of the great mountains and its people. They're famous for their many mines and excellent blacksmiths and merchants from Tralenia have been selling weapons to the other lands for years, my sword was actually made there." He says with a smile drawing a very elegant blade. "Finest steel in the world." Sheating the sword again he continues "Kartus is the nation of the sea they have the biggest fleet in the world. Would you believe they have not a single city midcountry, almost all their cities are placed by the coast. The midland is one big jungle, few dare venture far in their and many parts are completely unexplored even by the Kartusians themselves."

"and what of the truly distant lands?" you ask

"I suppose only the gods know what lies beyond the white ocean, I don't think anyone has ever come back from a journey across the sea, it's more traitorous than you could imagine, not like in our cozy waters to the south I'll tell you that much. I've heard rumors about the wild lands, they seem to be inhabited mostly by savages, they say the worship the gods of the earth rather than those of the sky and that they are more like beasts than men, but you shouldn't believe anything they tell ya lad."

You thank the soldier for his stories and go to talk with some of the other kids. "I was wondering, you ask in a low voice, has anyone tried to escape?" the kids go silent, then a boy around your age says "There was one boy, ran for it one night, he didn't get very far though, ended up with an arrow through his stomach."

"serves him right the fool," another boy barges in. "He should be honored to serve under the god-king. My pa always told me there was no greater honour than being called to the capitol to serve."

"I'm not so sure about that" a girl breaks in "I heard they're nice to you as long as your useful to them, but once you get old or sick, they cut your throat. There is no weakness in the capitol, only glory or death."

"Then it's glory for me." the second boy says "I'd rather be dead than old and weak any day. Anyone who can't take care of himself is not worth the meat on his bones."

"how can you even say that" the first boy says "a mans worth is not in his strength, it's in his honour."

"what use is honour when you're dead?" the second boy lifts his hand and a gush of fire appears over his palm.

"Fine, let's see how strong you really are" the first boy replies as a rock flies into his hand from below. The kids around you back away. You hesitate, do you interfere?

[stagnantAntler]

whoops double post

[Jetroid]

>Decide who you believe is right.
>Personally, I'd help the first boy.

[OrangeAipom]

What's with the broken image?

[Askia]

> Let em fight... stupid zealots always stay neutral

[stagnantAntler]

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What's with the broken image?

I have no idea what you're talking about

> Let em fight... stupid zealots always stay neutral

>Decide who you believe is right.
>Personally, I'd help the first boy.

1 vote for helping the first boy
1 vote for staying out of the matter

We need a tie-breaker

[stagnantAntler]

Sorry peeps, I'm new at the whole image uploading thing. I hope it works now

[alexthewhite]

Let the punks fight it out, then beat the shit out of the winner to assert your dominance.

[stagnantAntler]

Let the punks fight it out, then beat the shit out of the winner to assert your dominance.

You back away just as the two start fighting. Seeing as the two are unused to fighting its not much to look at. The first boy sends the rock flying in the others direction which he dodges while running towards the first boy, flame first. The boy gets a few burns as the rock turns midair smashing into the second boys head from behind. He keels over, then tries to get on his feet again, shaking. The first boy grabs the rock again hovering it over the second boys head. "not so strong now are you!?"

Before he can bring the rock down though, you bash into with your shoulder. "That's enough!" you tell him "you've proved yourself, if you still have a problem I'll beat it out of you." you threaten him. He doesn't seem to take it very well. Without saying anything he jumps you and the rock plummets to the ground. You exchange some blows, but he's alot bigger and stronger than you, so it doesn't take long before you're on the defensive. Just in time you reach out for your water skin with your mind and sling the whole thing into him. The force is enough to knock him off you and give you a little time to prepare. you open the skin and let water flow out into the air. There's not much water but you manage to sling it at him with enough force to knock him over. You proceed to beating the crap out of him. One of the kids starts to cheer and the other chime in "Darde Darde Darde!".

Before you can do anything else to him during your adrenalin rush though. One of the soldiers approaches and grabs your collar "what's going on here?". The kids fall silent and pretend they've no idea whats going on. "Well?" He looks at you

[alexthewhite]

"These two started fighting for basically no reason whatsoever. I tried to break it up, and Rocky Balboa over here decided to start attacking me, too. This was the end result."

[chimericWilder]

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Wait
you did what?
And didnt tell me
Awww

More relevant:

> Try to explain what happened, hope that the soldier has enough tolerance to hear you out.

> That one guy: be relevant much later

[stagnantAntler]

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Wait
you did what?
And didnt tell me
Awww

Bluh, you're hardly good at updating shiz these days, didn't think you'd be at all interested
also it's funny to see your reaction once you find out P

"These two started fighting for basically no reason whatsoever. I tried to break it up, and Rocky Balboa over here decided to start attacking me, too. This was the end result."

The soldier laughs "Ha! you three are gonna do well for yourselves, just save it for the training grounds alright?" You nod as the soldier turns around and goes to join the others again. You decide to keep out the way of the two boys as well as possible.

You make a mental note of their names just in case. The first boy, the earth wielder is named Kelt, the second is Crill.

The rest of the trip goes without too much trouble, you chat with some of the others from time to time, mostly about life back home in their cities and villages and your expectations of the future, but get no valuable information. As you finally reach the mountains, you're amased. You've never seen them up close before and didn't realise just how big they were.

You're finally here, Gulterra, the mountain holding the capitol Tearingskies, emerges defiantly above the flat terrain of the wastes. On the foot of the mountain is a city simply named Sorrow. You can smell its ragged inhabitants from far away. The entire city is made out of simple clay cottages with a similar color to the sand of the wastes, only slightly darker.

You walk through the streets of the city right into the most depressing sight you've ever seen. The streets are crowded with masses of old, sick and crippled people. Most are lying at the side of the road, though some rise to move towards you. Most of the people are so skinny they're hardly more than bone, and the air is filled with the smell of death. Your little group is quickly swarmed by the masses of half-dead bodies. The soldiers easily push them aside, but you can see the disgust in their faces. The people do everything in their power to grab your attention, they moan, cry and plead. You're filled with both disgust and compassion for these lost men and women. The whole experience is too much for one of the boys, who empties his stomach in the streets and some of the beggars scuttle around the stain and start stuffing themselves. You almost barf yourself at the thought, but keep it in.

You ask your soldier friend what's up with the city and he answers "Sorrow is not so much a city as a graveyard. This is where the rejected go, all those that are too old or sick to be of use to the capitol. Those that are able travel to the villages at the edges of the waste, but most aren't well enough to get that far alive. Instead they stay here at the bottom of the mountain, waiting to die. Unfortunately they've chosen to build their little hell hole right in front of the only passage to the city. So we have to pass through every time we want to go anywhere. It's one of the less attractive things about traveling, coming home to this."

[chimericWilder]

Ask why it has not been cleared out.

[stagnantAntler]

Ask why it has not been cleared out.

"Garn ordered us to leave the rejected alone a while ago, he never told anyone why. Some claim that it was out of mercy, but if you ask me it would be more merciful to just put them out of their misery. Scaring the people off would be useless, they have nowhere to go, so they just come back again. Some of the villages down west have been sailing here to deliver food to them, they sometimes take a few of them back home to their villages, but there's way too many for them to move. Just try to ignore them, we're almost out of here."

And sure enough, the gray cottages seem to be thinning out ahead. Soon you find yourself in front of a cobblestone road leading up the mountain. It's much broader than you would have expected. Broad enough for at least 30 people to walk side by side. A camp of soldiers is set up right in front of it. One of the soldiers rises from a game of cards the soldiers are playing and adresses the leader of your group. He's dressed in the traditional Kit'Aegan colors, but is wearing very thick platemail rather than the chainmails the other soldiers you've seen have been wearing.

"Welcome home officer. New recruits I take it?" "Greetings seargant. Slim pickings this time, but I think there's some good potential among them." The officer replies "I don't suppose I could take a couple of them off your hands for North Quarter do you? For a fair price of course. We're low on water and earth wielders" the seargant asks. "I suppose that could be arranged" replies the officer "Darde! Kelt!" You and the boy from earlier walk up by the officers side. "These two are my most promising earth and water wielders, I think they're currently at 3rd control level at the very least. Take one, I'd like to present the other to Southquarter acedemy." the seargant nods "Let's go talk price in private"

The two go into one of the camps tents, leaving you and Kelt standing there. You sneak a peak at him and he throws you a mean look, you thank the gods you won't be going to the same place. A little time passes before the two high ranked soldiers emerge from the tent. "We've agreed I get the strongest of you two, so I need you to fight it out. I heard you've already tangled so this should be interesting" the seargant says with a grin. "You can start whenever you're ready"

One of the soldiers toss you a water skin as you turn to face Kelt, who's already readied a large rock. Kelt doesn't move, he's already lost once to you and is not going to make the same mistake twice. You're gonna have to make the first move.

[chimericWilder]

Draw water out of the air around him and focus it around his head. Not to suffocate him, but to ruin his vision slightly and to fluster him. Follow up with a blast of water from the waterskin.

[stagnantAntler]

Draw water out of the air around him and focus it around his head. Not to suffocate him, but to ruin his vision slightly and to fluster him. Follow up with a blast of water from the waterskin.

You're not really skilled enough to suffocate someone with water at this point, but you do what you CAN do and draw water out of the air near Kelts head. You try to focus it as much as possible around his head. He acts immediatly by sending the large rock flying in your direction and starting to back away. You have the water out from the waterskin and ready to use, but maybe you want to deal with the rock before throwing the blast after him?

[Jetroid]

>Form the water into a shield and then transform it into a wave and carry the rock back to him, aiming for an impact if possible.

>Water Tornado.

[stagnantAntler]

>Form the water into a shield and then transform it into a wave and carry the rock back to him, aiming for an impact if possible.

>Water Tornado.

You start forming a shield, making the water swirl to create a force that will stop the rock. You concentrate as hard as you can as the rock comes into contact with the shield and you almost manage to repel it, as you realise the rock is gonna pass through anyhow, you dash to the right as the rock flies straight past you left cheek striking hard into your chinbone. The shock makes you loose your concentration and both water shield and the water in Kelts face fall to the ground. Kelt readies another rock and prepares to strike.