Cab's Crawl Chronicles
Welcome to Cab's Crawl Chronicles! Here you can read about The Unnamed Kingdom, and king Ayloran's evil grand plan. You will also be able to follow Cab in his quest for the orb of Zot.
I'm playing on CDO, trunk version, 80x24 console with IBM charset.
Contents
Prologue
The Unnamed Kingdom
In a world quite different from our own, in a kingdom known simply as The Unnamed Kingdom, some very strange things were going on. There was a good reason the kingdom had such a peculiar name, although most inhabitants did not care. There were humans, orcs, kobolds, trolls and a lot of other odd species living peacefully in this kingdom, unknowing of what was going on behind their backs. Not even the demigods, or the merfolk who roam the seas would in the slightest suspect anything out of the ordinary. Yet, things were not as they should be in The Unnamed Kingdom.
Ayloran the demigod king paced angrily back and forth in his throneroom, when a servant knocked on the door. "In!" the king boomed. "Y...your majesty... He has still not returned." The king stopped and glared at the servant. "Who's next?" he said angrily. "Cab, your maje-" "Yes they all are! But what is he?" the king interjected. "I will find out, your majesty", the servant replied.
The Chosen Child
It all started on a farm, as it usually does. Cab, the son of a brave adventurer who also happened to be called Cab, was growing up. He was almost ready, he knew it. He could feel it inside himself, and he could deduce it in the way his family acted around him. He was almost ready, almost. His family was among one of the 27 special families selected by king Ayloran himself to perform a sacred task. This task, kept secret from the rest of the world, had a great cost, and Cab knew it. He didn't know much yet, but it was time. It always happened too soon, or so they say. He had practised the 27 ways to use a sword, had studied the 27 ways to wave a wand, and got the hang of scrolls and potions. He was ready.
In the distance, a figure on a horse approached. Cab could soon see what he already knew; It was one of the king's servants, the one servant specifically assigned the most holy of duties: to take care of "the task". Cab knew about it. The task was to retrieve the magical orb of Zot, residing in a deadly dungeon of 27 levels. Much more than that he didn't know, for no one ever returned from the dungeon. He knew that he was special though, as his dad and granddad had been, personally selected by the king himself to perform this most important of duties. Therefore, when the servant arrived, he silently got up on the horse and let the servant take him away. He was ready.
King Ayloran heard a knocking on the door to his throneroom. "In!" he yelled, as he always did for he knew that the secret to commanding others was to yell louder than they could. A servant peeked in. "It is done, your majesty. The next one is in." Ayloran actually smiled. "Good, good. Let's hope for the best." Soon, he realised, his project might come to an end, and he might be possessing the legendary orb of Zot. With the orb he could rule forever. He had discovered that in one of his old books. The best thing was that the people of the kingdom knew nothing. The project had been going on for 27 years, and now finally, he hoped for the best. He knew after all that 27 is a very special number in many ways. He had made sure the Cabs' got the best education for their task. He isolated the 27 families from the rest of the world, and brought in special educators who had access to some knowledge about the dungeon they had acquired through his old books. Ayloran grinned evilly. This was going to be his lucky day.
And so, in the peaceful and quiet kingdom, another Cab was sent down into the dungeon...
Cab Orc-Freezer the Cutter, Discoverer of the Abyss
Morgue file: here.
Cab was ready. He was a human priest, and he knew his beloved god Yredelemnul would protect him. He was a priest of death after all, so he had no fear. You would not believe it, but as he entered the dungeon, Cab realised it was his 27th birthday. He sure missed some people, but he knew he would return, and when he would, he would meet his son who would be born pretty soon.
The encounter with Jessica
His footsteps echoed on the rock floor, and the stone walls didn't do anything to help either. He wouldn't exactly call himself stealthy, although he wasn't like those stupid trolls. As he descended the stairs to the second floor, he could hear something which sounded like a human voice in the distance. This might be someone I can turn to my side, either willingly or through my god, he though to himself. He moved as quietly as he could, aiming for a surprise. "Hey there! Who are you?" he yelled. "Jessica. And who might you be?" she said angrily. "I am Cab, and I come in king Ayloran's name, protected by Yredelemnul, and I seek the orb." Jessica looked even more angry. "You are all the same. Don't you see?" she hissed. "Why do you trust him?" Why do I trust him? "He is a good king, and will use the orb to end the evil in this kingdom for good," he said proudly. "You fool! When he gets the power, that is something he definitely will not do. I can not let you continue. I must do with you as I have with many other fools like you," she said, and suddenly she was running at Cab with a sword of freezing. Cab stood paralysed for a moment as he recognised the sword. His dad had been an ice knight, an ice elementalist trained in the art of swordfighting. "You have my father's sword!" he screamed and swung at Jessica. The battle was the toughest so far, but he had something which Jessica had not. He had recently found some potions of healing, and with those he survived the fight. Now, you will aid me, he thought as he called upon the power of Yredelemnul to raise the dead. "Give me the sword," he ordered, and the human zombie obeyed. With his dad's mighty freezing sword in his hand, he felt even more confident as he descended into the depths of the dungeon.
Spirits walk the world
Soon it was time to eat, so he found a place he thought was secure and started eating his bread ration he had brought with him. Suddenly, something otherworldly came around a corner. Cab was only slightly startled, for he knew about all things otherworldly, or so he thought. This was a ghost of a deep elven conjurer named Cryptic, his senses told him. With this knowledge a quote popped into his mind. "Know thyself," it said. Cab was certain his gifted ability was granted by Yredelemnul. The prescense of his god had grown stronger recently, and Cab now knew that if he desired it, Yredelemnul would mirror any harm done to him onto his foe. The ghost soon became a victim of the mighty freezing sword before it could conjure as much as a smoke cloud.
At the fourth floor, Cab found an altar of some other god. He could feel Yredelemnul's disgust at this, and he knew immediately that it was an altar of Fedhas, a minor god who was far beneath his master. He felt the urge to kick the altar, hard, but he realised how silly that would be and continued on.
He had taken a 27 day course in scroll reading, and this knowledge came in handy next, as he sat down to examine all the scrolls he had gathered. He had also came across a scroll shop where he had bought some additional scrolls. He recited them, one after the other, and all sorts of strange things happened. After awhile, he felt a new skill awaken inside him. He now knew that in the event he found a spellbook, he would know how to use it. Yredelemnul growled.
Orcs and ogres
By the time Cab reached the fifth level, he had received his very own servant of Yredelemnul. A mighty wight who stood at his side in every fight. He had also heard the characteristic sounds of orcs nearby at numerous places, and he soon encountered a very large group of them. In the midst of all the grunting, he could hear something that chilled him; An orc priest was reciting some alien incantation at him. He ran back a bit and let his wight go forth and destroy, and destroy it did. 46 orcs perhished in a very short period of time. Suddenly though, he could feel the bond between him and his wight vanish, and Yredelemnul's anger overwhelmed him. He peeked around a corner, and saw it. An orc warrior stood there in full battle gear, grinning evilly in that stupid way only orcs can manage. With no undead setvants of any kind, it was time to run. Cab knew orcs were stupid, and he had potions of speed, or had he? Now that he thought about it, he didn't remember whetehr that red liquid was a speed enhancer or what. The stupid orcs can't catch me anyway, he thought, and ran, still unworried.
Cab ran down the stairs to the eight floor, and thought he was safe. Just as he thought so, he saw a large ogre come around a corner. " Eroooolchaaaa!" it said in a deep voice. Suddenly, a magic dart hit Cab in the shoulder, and he ran back up the stairs. By this time, the stupid orcs had probably already forgotten about him, and were nowhere to be seen. He decided to sneak by the orcs and explore the rest of the level. Somewhere along the way, he encountered two ogres. They would have been able to kill him, but Yredelemnul mirrored his injuries, and had granted him a new wight servant, so the ogres were easily dealt with, and Cab felt far more experienced.
In the 27th corridor on that level, he found a spellbook of spatial translocations. He decided to study this book, as he knew that blinking could be a useful ability to have access to. While training, he experienced very strange effects, and even managed to hurt his wight, althought not badly so. Soon he found a jewellery shop, and had two more valuable items in his backpack: an amulet of the gourmand, and a ring of see invisible. On the way a thief named Maurice came along and stole some of his scrolls, but he only laughed as he froze the thief to death and took the scrolls back. He decided the thief wasn't even worthy of reanimation.
Everything changes
The catastrophe came suddenly. Cab descended to the next level, and Erolcha stood there waiting. Before Cab could do anything, he had been banished...
He found himself in a twisted place, and he felt that it wasn't the same world. Although he knew much about the otherworldly, he felt that this was different from anything he had experienced before. Yredelemnul appeared somewhat confused as well. Cab started wandering around aimlessly in this unfamiliar dimension, and soon encountered some lesser demons. These didn't scare him, for he immediately could feel their weakness. This was far from the worst though, and soon he had strong demons chasing him, and calling new ones into battle all the time. Soon, a pack of what must have been 27 strong demons were hunting him. He ran for his life!
Soon, he spotted a magical portal which looked like it would lead back to the dungeon. He stopped and prayed to Yredelemnul. He would be safe soon. He checked his backpack for useful wands of potions just in case, but found none that would help against those demons. He got closer to the portal, but suddenly a white imp froze him, and soon he was surrounded by the pack of demons, and found himself utterly helpless. "You artless beef-witted beggar!" the white imp screamed at him. The last thought he had, as a demon clawed him to death, was of this strange place. How could Yredelemnul, the god of death, stop demons from killing him? Had Cab been punished for something? The strange thing was that Yredelemnul appeared confused. Perhaps this place was even beyond the gods' understanding. Desperately, he hoped there was a way to communicate with his family so he could tell them abot this new discovery, but, it was impossible. His only hope, as he was torn to death, was in Yredelemnul.
Emergency Meeting of the Gods
In an altogether different dimension, the Gods were having an emergency meeting. To describe the environment would be impossible with our mortal words, and if someone were to try in any case, they would probably just burn up.
Not all of the Gods were present at this meeting of course, even though it was an emergency meeting. Naturally, some Gods didn't care. Why should they?
Zin, God of law and purity, was holding the meeting.
Zin: Fellows, calm down! So, so, can we start the meeting now? I need to write this down. Attending: Zin, Xom the God of chaos, Cheibriados the God of all things slow, Sif Muna the God of magic and mystical secrets and Yredelemnul the evil God of death.
Yredelemnul: Eeeevil, don't forget that, and why do you have to write, you're a god!
Xom: Oh cut that chatter! I want to continue examining that chaotic place.
Zin: Must you always be so.. chaotic, Xom?
Suddenly, what could only be described as a gigantic blue banana landed on Zin's head. Of course, just before it struck it had been transformed into something even sillier.
Xom: Yeees, yes! More chaos!
Cheibriados: Take it easy now.
Zin: So, what is that place?
Sif Muna: It looks interesting, but I have no idea.
Yredelemnul: It was fun to see Cab die, but I had such high hopes for him. And no Zin, I have no idea where that is.
Cheibriados: It is special. It changes... and so fast, ugh!
Xom: Yesssss!
Sif Muna: Hmm, indeed. I'm sure that if our friend Nemelex Xobeh the trickster God was here, he'd find this funny.
Zin: Siffie, you're good with mystical things. What do you say?
Sif Muna: Quit callimg me that will you. Anyway, I still don't know. I have never seen anything like it.
Suddenly, the television vortex the gods had conjured up started to flicker.
Zin: What is happening?
Sif Muna: It's closing. Do something about it.
Silence...
Sif Muna: What are you waiting for, you're GODS!
Cheibriados: Umm... you're in control of the televortex today, remember. It was your turn.
Sif Muna: Urrrgh... pfft... well... I can't control it!
Suddenly, a booming voice came through the television vortex (which of course had full godly dimensional sound).
Unknown voice: I will be meeting you again.
All except Cheibriados: WHAT, WHO!?
Cheibriados, after a few seconds: WHAT, WHO!?
Xom: Strange place gone, not fun. I'm leaving!
Xom disappears in a puff of smoke.
Zin: Oh my demigodess! I... I call off the meeting...
In Ayloran's Throneroom
A servant was stealthily creeping through the corridor which led to the almighty demigod king Ayloran's throneroom. Why this sneaking about? It is no wonder the servants were afraid of their king, but this time some very special circumstances had surfaced; From Ayloran's throneroom, sneezing and coughing could be heard. The king--almighty--actually suffered from a bad cold, and unfortunately for him, that cold had weakened his most important weapon, namely his excessively loud voice. If I can't shout, I'll have to force them to whisper, he had reasoned, and so it was that when the servant tapped very lightly on the door, the king just said "in" in a very pleasant way.
"Your majesty almighty demigod king of the Unnamed Kingdom," the servant whispered. He had been thinking for a long time about how to introduce himself this time, and of course on the fact that the kingdom which was supposed to have no name actually was called the Unnamed Kingdom. "What is it now? Can't you see I'm coughing and sneezing too much to even consider wasting valuable energy talking to you." "Cab has not retu-" "WHAAAAAAT!!?" The king actually managed to shout quite convincingly, just before his voice died completely, and he had to call in his scribes whom he could, by his demigod powers, communicate with telepathically. He was a demigod, and sometimes some prophetic messages from the gods would come to him, and his scribes would write them down. This is where much of his library had come from. This time like the last however, he had not received any message from the gods. Soon enough the servant was shown a piece of parchment with the words "Send the next one!" hastily inscribed.
