A Record of Ash & Ruin: The Grieving Lands

Of What Has Gone Before...

Of What Has Gone Before...

A university student on the brink of death is transported from his world to the magical land of Gesthe by the powerful Goddess of Justice, Avaria, as her Champion. However, a darker power, the primal force of Entropy, takes interest in him and places its mark upon him to better suit its purposes.

Disorientated, naked, and alone, he finds himself in a sea of grass, a hill with a solitary tree atop it, serving as the only landmark. This strange scene is as alien as it is familiar, for he has seen this before in his dream. He begins to see strange messages, reminiscent of the information boxes of the games that he used to play, giving him a quest and urging him to go forth. He is inexorably drawn towards the tree.

Arriving at the tree, he completes his first quest and gains his first level, granting him a new skill, Power Strike, and the magic spells Heal and Rust.

At the foot of the tree, he finds some old robes, a magical scroll, a broken half-spear, and a small shrine dedicated to Avaria. He is given another quest to repair the altar, but, angered at the Goddess who had brought him here against his will, he ignores it. Here, he also learns a spell from the scroll, Identify. Hungry and thirsty, he almost dies on his first night, from exposure, but is able to save himself by using his Heal spell.

Below the hill is a pool of water inhabited by Bibsis, amphibious monsters that spit solid balls of water. Needing to sate his hunger and thirst, he drinks from the pool, attacks the Bibsis and consumes them raw.

This teaches him a variety of new skills and earns him a few levels, which further reinforces his view that this world is nothing more than a game or a hallucination. The next day, he is violently accosted by a small mounted patrol of the locals, the Children of Tides. To our protagonist, from their dress and ethnic features, these people resemble the old Mongols of Earth.

He is thrown in jail to await his fate. There, he uses this time to train his body, improving his physical attributes. The old knowledge of Earth serves him well, garnering him boosts to his Intelligence and Wisdom. Using the Identify spell, and his improved intellect, he also rapidly learns the local language and the name of the place he is in. The great city of Ansan.

He tries to communicate with a boy called Jongshoi, but fails miserably and is only able to spook him.

Finally, Navigator Olai, a wizened crone, and one of the leaders of Ansan, meets with him to pass judgement. When asked of his name, the protagonist realizes that he can not recall it at all. Pressed, he instead takes up the moniker of Gilgamesh, the first and greatest of all heroes.

Olai pronounces, unjustly, that for his crimes of desecrating the shrine of Avaria, he is to be sent to participate in an event called the Winnowing, and fight in the arena for his right to live. This bloody event is a rite of passage for the Children of the Tides, marking the point where a boy becomes a man.

In the arena, he is paired against Jongshoi. Jongshoi is much better armed and armored than him, but ultimately Gilgamesh prevails.

Although victorious, his fate is still a grim one, as he is taken away, branded and collared as a slave. The iron slave collar is a magical collar, causing great pain on command, or when tampered with.

Alongside a new intake of slaves, he is escorted to his new home, the slave pits of Ansan. There, he makes friends with another slave, a Dwarf named Durhit.

Being told to wash, Gilgamesh moves to a small artificial stream to wash and relieve himself. However, the water is dirty and he searches for cleaner water upstream. A large man, a Nord called Harun the Iron, blocks his way. In an explosion of raw, unrestrained violence, Gilgamesh overpowers him and kills him. This earns him experience and improvements in his abilities, as well as giving him new skills, and teaches Gilgamesh that murder in this world is rewarded.

Shortly thereafter, he is beaten and healed repeatedly by the slave Overseer Degei, who thinks he has broken Gilgamesh. But the fires of rebellion grow bright within Gilgamesh, and it is this that draws the giant troublemaker Kidu, another slave, to his side.

A boy named Gunne, who adored Harun, threatens vengeance upon Gilgamesh one evening. Gilgamesh mocks and threatens him in turn.

Gilgamesh is worked nearly to death in the mines, the only thing keeping him alive was the restorative nature of his Heal spell. He begins to seriously think of escaping. Finally, he remembers that he had been gifted another spell when he first entered this world, Rust. For some mysterious reason, more than just mere forgetfulness, he had never thought to use this spell. Using the elusive Rust, he experiments on the manacles of the other slaves, and even Kidu’s collar, slowly eroding their bindings. Eventually, he is able to undo the magic of his own slave collar, but just as a path to freedom is opened to him, an earthquake occurs.

This earthquake causes damage to the mines, and Gilgamesh, Durhit, Kidu, and a few others slaves are sent to clear out the mines. Among their number is a fearsome Orc, and a rascal who introduces himself as Elwin Tucker, a Forester.

They begin to clear out the mines, but there is another earthquake. The roof of the tunnel collapses on them, trapping them underground. The boy Gunne is grievously injured, and Durhit asks Gilgamesh to put him out of his misery. Wanting more experience points, Gilgamesh has no qualms in ending Gunne’s life.

They reunite with Elwin and an unconscious Kidu. Elwin begins to despair, and Gilgamesh lets them know that he may be able to free them from the pernicious effect of the slave collars. Gilgamesh Heals Kidu and casts Rust on their slave collars. The Rust spell successfully erodes the iron of the collars to negate their magic. Durhit complains that Gilgamesh could have healed Gunne. Kidu defends Gilgamesh, stating that Gilgamesh was under no obligation to aid Gunne, who had sworn vengeance against him.

With the matter of the collars taken care of, Gilgamesh, Kidu the Hunter, Elwin the Rogue, and Durhit the dwarf Sapper decide to venture deeper into the mines. Of the Orc, there is currently no sign.

Exploring further, they find themselves in a nest of Echo-Stalkers, a monstrous insect-like group of monsters. Trusting in Durhits dwarven instincts, they go deeper into the nest and find some basic weapons and equipment in the garbage pit of the nest. Searching for a way out, they fight more of the creatures, only to find some Echo-Stalkers that have been killed by a third party. Durhit posits that it was the Orc that had killed them. The Dwarf also comments that it is possible that the pain from the collar has driven the Orc into a bestial frenzy.

Following the path of destruction left behind by the Orc, they hear the sound of running water. Excited, for running water would mean a potential way out, they hurry to the source of the sound. They encounter more Echo-Stalkers and fight their way through to find a massive cavern and an underground river.

The Orc is fighting here, alone, against a teeming horde of Echo-Stalkers. Without warning, Durhit is killed by a near invisible chameleonic strain of Echo-Stalker. With his dying breath, Durhit croaks out his sister’s name and “Bronzegate”. Gilgamesh takes a moment to cast Rust on the Orc’s collar, wounding the Orc, and they flee. Now, should the Orc fall, Gilgamesh would be informed of its death via a death notification.

They make their way out of the cavern, escaping into the Great Sainba. Gilgamesh receives the Orc’s death notification and, fearing pursuit, they keep running until exhaustion threatens to undo them. They decide to rest, and Gilgamesh dreams of a dusty room filled with many objects. Each of these objects represents a Class Choice. Gilgamesh chooses the Paladin Class, but at the same time is forced by Entropy to also take up the Reaver class. Both these grant Gilgamesh new skills and magical abilities.

While resting at their meager camp, with the aid of Elwin’s lockpicking skills and Gilgamesh’s magic, they are able to fully remove their remaining bindings. Using his magic, Gilgamesh is also able to heal the scars of their slave brands, removing the last traces of their bondage.

The next day, they see some smoke in the distance and decide to go in that direction. While wandering under the trees of the Sainba they are pelted by a rain of heavy Caru nuts. Elwin is knocked unconscious by one of the nuts, but Gilgamesh drags him to safety. Healing the knocked out Rogue, the group finds shelter in the hollow of a giant tree.

Gilgamesh awakens to find his arm being gnawed on by a Tree-Laur, a six legged arboreal species that looks like a cross between a Terran warthog and wolverine. Gilgamesh struggles against the creature and is saved by Elwin, who threw a dagger into its eye, killing it instantly. They turn the Tree-Laur into jerky and continue on their way, to the source of the smoke.

Finally arriving at their destination, they find a camp of Children of the Tides Charcoal Burners. They scout the camp. Desperate, Gilgamesh decides to launch an attack against them with the intent on killing them, to the man. Just as they are about to begin their assault, a group of Echo-Stalkers begin their own attack against the Charcoal Burners.

However, hoping that the two sides would weaken one another, Gilgamesh continues with his plan and begins to attack. Between the two groups of humans, they are able to fend off the Echo-Stalkers. The leader of the Charcoal Burners offers them the hospitality of their camp, but Gilgamesh, fearing that they wanted nothing more than to take him back in Slavery, stabs him through the neck, killing him. Gilgamesh’s party then proceeds to swiftly kill the rest of them.

They loot the camp, finding supplies, a few valuables, and weapons. More importantly, they are able to find new clothes to disguise themselves as something other than slaves. Gilgamesh is offered a claim to the Charcoal Burner’s camp, Nyamdor’s Hold, by the System of this world. Not wanting to be bogged down by managing a settlement, he rejects it.

Better equipped and supplied, the party decides that their best course of action would be to return to Ansan to find a caravan travelling away from the Grieving Lands. On their way to the city, they are accosted by a cruel group of mysterious Elves. The Elves leave them for dead, and it is only thanks to Gilgamesh’s healing spells that they are able to survive.

With heavy hearts at their near brush with death, they succeed in bribing their way past the guards at the city gates. One of the guards advises them to stay at an inn called the Twisted Boar. Advice that they decide to take.

Gilgamesh, looking for a way to make some money, speaks to Athinad, the owner of the Twisted boar. The innkeeper suggests that they might join the Adventurer’s Guild in the city.

During the night, whilst practicing his magic spell Drain on random passersby from the inn’s window, Gilgamesh accidentally kills an unborn baby.

After fencing their stolen goods, a drunken Elwin gifts Gilgamesh with a heavily damaged book that explains some aspects of magic, as thanks for saving him, before falling asleep.

Wanting some new equipment, they are advised to visit the Soot-Stained Pig by one of the Twisted Boar’s patrons. Gilgamesh and Kidu decide to go there, while Elwin sells some of their more valuable items at a fence.

At the Soot-Stained Pig they find a beautiful blacksmith, Cillis. After some bargaining, Gilgamesh and Kidu are outfitted with better armor and weapons. Gilgamesh chooses to buy a Tsengelt-tum, a hybrid weapon that can be used as both a mace and a flail. As part of the deal, Cillis agrees to teach him in its use.

Although married, Cillis is a rather free-spirited woman and invites Gilgamesh to lie with her. Having no reason to refuse, Gilgamesh takes her up on her offer.

Gilgamesh and Kidu leave the Soot-Stained Pig to purchase a bow for Kidu. After buying Kidu a new longbow at the market square, Gilgamesh sees the jail where he had been incarcerated by the Children of the Tides before. Spying a guard retching in a nearby alleyway, he walks up to him and casually murders him. Kidu, who has sworn vengeance against all of the Children of the Tides, praises him for this deed.

Walking away from the scene of the crime, they lose themselves in the flow of the crowd and find themselves at Ansarai’s fighting pit. Here, Gilgamesh discovers that he can use the Identify spell to gauge the relative strengths of the fighters. The next fight is between a human and the favorite, an orc. He realizes the fight is a setup, and places a bet on the human, Vidone, against the orc. He wins the bet and is rewarded with a considerable amount of money.

On the way back to the inn, they accidentally bump into a nobleman and his escort. The nobleman’s wife looks at Gilgamesh in shock, a shock Gilgamesh attributes at first to his impertinence at delaying her progress.

They reunite with Elwin at the inn. They decide that they need a more reliable and steady source of income to get enough money, so they decide to join the Adventurer’s Guild.

The next day, they go to the Adventurer’s guild to register. They meet Darcen Tsend, the Guildmaster, who inducts them into the Guild and makes them touch the Bonding crystal and swear the Adventurer’s Guild oath. “To do your very best to always uphold the reputation of the Adventurer’s Guild,” are the simple words of the oath.

After registration, Gilgamesh reads the job board at the Guild. This triggers a quest to warn the Guild of the Echo-Stalker’s nest. Feeling that the quest aligned with his current goals, he accepts the quest and informs Taciano, one of the Guild clerks.

Taciano also suggests that they buy some potions and gives them directions to a local Alchemist’s. While they wait for the Guild to confirm the legitimacy of their information, Gilgamesh and company decide to take up three other requests, to collect some Moon Moss, some River Root, and to acquire three River Lurker hides in the Sainba forest.

Their business concluded, the three of them leave the Guild and head off to the Alchemist’s. Here they meet Hamsa, owner of Hamsa’s Wondrous Apothecary. After some negotiation, Gilgamesh is able to get a discount from Hamsa in exchange for promising to get the Alchemist some Broomshead mushrooms.

On the way back to the Twisted Boar, Gilgamesh sees a very large donkey with a lame leg being led to the butcher’s block. Seemingly against all reason, Gilgamesh purchases the donkey at a very steep discount. After returning to the inn, he uses Greater Heal on the donkey, healing its leg. Gilgamesh names the donkey Patches.

Gilgamesh and his companions are now journeying to the Sainba forest to fulfill their three requests from the Adventurer’s Guild…