Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 3

Chapter 21

Next to the tower was a bloody skin hide, where the butchering happens. Iratus dropped the giant wasp corpses on it and headed inside. Aestus was sitting down on the community table now with several sheet bandages.

Iratus, "She good?"

Victoria, "Looks like it. Did you two have to get into a fight with wasps?"

Aestus had a slightly bloaded side from where the wasps stung her.

Aestus, "Yes!"

Iratus, "Probably not. Although I am sure we can find a use for their bodies."

Victoria, "Yeah, I'm a little busy. I need to find something to soak the animal skins in. I hate to waste animal parts, so I'll be going to the stone city because I have so many things to scavenge."

Iratus, "You want me to be your pack mule."

After a sigh, she said, 

Victoria, "I ain't got any other choice. From how you describe it, it sounds like there are too many treeskins for one person to fight off."

Iratus, "Treeskins, is that your name for the monsters?"

Aestus, "The wolfman told us the names of several of the monsters that roam here."

Iratus, "Well then, I'll get ready to go. Hope you feel better soon, Aestus."

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Chapter 22

Iratus lent his sword to Victoria and took a wooden spear. Victoria took her crossbow, and both of them had knives as well.

As they walked past the wasp bodies, Iratus spoke up.

Iratus, "Is it okay to leave them out in the heat? I myself have been getting my fur wet in sweat every day here."

Victoria, "I don't think a few hours is too bad, although it ain't like we are eating them ourselves, are we? Speaking of which, we need a way to preserve our meat; we have already wasted so much meat due to our lack of preservation abilities. What we need is a smoking rack. Think there are any nails in the city?"

Iratus, "I'm sure some of the furniture has nails in it; other than that, perhaps there is a blacksmith's stall or something. We will also need a cold storage space to store our foods stuff. If I knew what vinegar was, I'd suggest pickling as another way to preserve meat."

Victoria, "What is pickle, uh, that thing?"

Iratus, "Pickling is when you submerge meat in vinegar. One could even add salt and other spices to add flavor too."

Victoria, "Sounds like something, that's for sure. So, how do we make a cold space?"

Iratus, "Digging out a hole would be a good start. There are a few other ways as well, exploiting water evaporation and what not."

Victoria, "Perfect. The final thing we need are better butchering tools. A knife can only do so much."

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Chapter 23

The sun was high with very few clouds in the sky, and the stone city was the same as the last time Iratus visited it. The pair of Iratus and Victoria slowly walked up to the outskirts of the city.

Iratus, "I've already scouted most of this stuff out; I believe we will need to delve deeper into the city. Let's see, do you think we could lure the tree skins to a kill zone, like maybe we could be up in a tree or something?"

Victoria, "I've tried to shoot from a tree before; they are very fast climbers. I've even heard they can climb cliffs if need be."

Iratus, "Maybe we can use the building themselves? Perhaps lead them through a window or something?"

Victoria, "Better than nothing."

The two would slowly sneak into the city to find anything other than homes. Once they were found by a group of treeskins they quickly headed off towards a house. Victoria fired off a bolt, while Iratus took the table to block the door.

Victoria, "That's not gonna help!. Bless it, I don't have time to reload."

She pulled the long sword out and headed off with Iratus to a back room to leave through the back door. They ran to a window just in time to see the treeskins rush through the building, only changing their path when they perceived the pair. Three treeskins would attempt to pass through a window while Iartus and Victoria stabbed at them; unfortunately, the mindlessness of the monsters did not halt for a second when being assaulted, and they would come out on the other side.

Victoria would get a killing blow on one of them as the other two monsters crawled out the window despite Iratus's best efforts with the spear. Four more treeskins would run around the building, now making their numbers seven. Iratus and Victoria ran towards the tree line, but three of the treeskins were different from the normal ones, being taller but more slender. These three could actually run like a normal person could. While the party had a large lead on the walkers, they could not outrun the treeskin runners.

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Chapter 24

The party was about to stop and face their foes when four round creatures came out of the denser part of the woods. They were quadropedal, but seemed almost as light as air, as when they ran, they seemed to flap for a second, bouncing along the ground. Some nasty-looking gas would exhaust from their bluish-green bodies stained with some red bits of skin; they didn't seem to have a head, just a body and limbs, but close up, one could see their four eyes and what looked like nose holes. These new creatures were large, but still slightly smaller than an adult.

Iratus was ahead of Victoria and decided to take the lead and peel off to the side. The two tried to avoid both groups, but both groups converged on the party. Iratus would wait for Victoria to pass him before holding all the creatures off with his spear, with Victoria turning around to help fend off the sides. Once the two groups were close enough to each other, they would start attacking each other, giving the party time to back up and run out of their battle.

Iratus would rip out a few vines from his armor before looking back at the chaos, with Victoria reading another bolt next to him.

Victoria, "Edax Examina, I've been told they are an intelligent fungus."

Iratus, "Yea, nice that they came to our aid."

Iratus would look at his spear and see the tip melt off.

Victoria, "They can eat just about any organic material."

Looking up, he saw two Edax Examina hugging down one of the treeskins as their bottoms opened like an octopus and were melting the creature down as the other two struggled against the other two runners. Two of the runners fell, mostly intact but melted enough to no longer be functional. One of the fungal creatures dropped to the ground, with bits of it spreading out from its body and snapping off the runner treeskin. Iratus and Victoria would start to jog around, leaving the two monster groups to continue battling without them.

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Chapter 25

The part finished hiding behind another building before taking a breather. After a minute, the two began to talk.

Iratus, "They were burning, but it wasn't fire. What, do they spit acid or something?"

Victoria, "I don't know; the only thing known to me is that they melt things and then suck them up. Hey, do you mind if I ask a personal question?"

Iratus, "Shoot."

Victoria, "Are there other reasons you allowed us into your home? Seems kind of strange to just say yes with two strangers, female strangers."

Iratus, "Truth be told, I just don't care. I am in some bizarre world, a mismatched land with flora and fauna from different kinds of climates inhabiting the same region. I just don't have the ability to care what happens next, and I prefer some bodies to help me with being alive in this monster-infested world."

The two looked back once more to see more Edax Examina come out of the forest; one was an even larger one, the size of a car roaming on six legs. The party eventually headed deeper into the city, using the Edax Examina to pull the treeskins away so that they could explore in relative peace.

They scavenged some sheets and then found a blacksmith's building. They loaded up as many tools as they could, as well as some nails, and then Victoria took a very large clay pot. With their loot, they ran out of the city as the two monster factions fought over the city.

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Chapter 26

Once at the tower, Victoria got to work soaking the skins in water using the large pot. Irtus checked in with Aestus and saw she was just sleeping in her room. Iratus would eat some fruit and then sit with Victoria to play a few games. After a while, Aestus woke up and made her way to the community floor to join everyone else.

Aestus, "Have we talked about how everyone has been speaking the same language?"

She grabbed a spearman figurine and moved him across the table.

Victoria, "I actually don't remember, I just blamed the Holy One and moved on."

Iratus moved an archer figure and a spearman figure into a flanking position next to Aestus's four other units.

Iratus, "I use skirmish."

Victoria, "Just a second, what do I roll for? You only taught me, like, yesterday how to game master?"

Iratus, "Light weapon multiplied by two D-six. So, has God ordered silver chains destroyed as well or...?"

Victoria rolled two dice and read off a piece of wood with rough writing on it.

Victoria, "Twenty-one damage, but there was also some bad ground, so you lose one maneuver with your skirmishers for the next turn."

Aestus used a few sticks to keep track of her unit's health. She set eleven sticks next to her sword figure and one of her spearman figures. She had four units in the back and one spearman out on the borders of the battlefield.

Iratus had a command figure, a spearman figure, and an archer figure. His spearman figure looked more armored than Aestus's, though.

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Chapter 27

Aestus moved her far spearman unit to Iratus's command unit and slowly advanced her other four figures to it as well.

Victoria, "We've talked a little about this before; my god, or God, shattered a mountain with his most holy statue on it. This freed my people from the old covenant, and we made a new one by parading around our capital. It was a thousand years ago, so things have been weird when it comes to religion."

Aestus, "I unleash my forces in an all-out attack!"

Iratus, "Reaction! I command my skirmishers to engage to hinder your attacks. This gives my command unit one extra defense."

Aestus, "The Divine One sent his only daughter to my world; she rewrote the old covenant and then died in a battle to defend her church, where she didn't fight but only allowed the enemy force to strike her down."

Victoria, "Blessings, why is your commander's unit so tough? That's only 25 damage."

Aestus, "But I used all five of my units!"

Victoria, "His commander unit is also in a fort; it has a naturally high defense and got a boost from its reaction."

Iratus, "The unit unfortunately does not have a high soak value, so he is nearly broken. Moral check?"

Victoria, "Says he has twelve? He auto passes at this point."

Iratus, "Cool. So for my world, our priests contracted a covenant with God by melting down the silver chains of the Thirteen Sins."

Victoria, "I'm sensing a pattern."

Iratus, "We've had a long history; we found many foreign religions, and most had similarities."

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Chapter 28

Aestus shrugging, "So we all have a similar religion and story. Would this also cause us to share the same language?"

Iratus, "Unlikely, unless language played an important part in the religion, it should not have any correlation at all."

Iratus placed eighteen sticks on his commander unit.

Iratus, "I'm going all out against your four groupings now. I use my commander's leadership to upgrade my attack."

The game would continue, with the game mostly being even until Iratus's last veteran spearman made a last stand and won the battle.

Iratus, "That's game, next time we should do a higher point game."

Vicrotia, "Maybe you can make more figures then? Anyways, what is the next goal for our survival?"

Iratus, "Check the river cave out some more. Make our way to the shore; if there are other people here, the coast is the best place to find them, as well as along rivers."

Aestus, "During one of our casual conversations, you said you got here by a cave? Think we could check it out; it could make a great backup base."

Iratus, "Sure, to the east is the stone city; follow the river to the northeast, and eventually, you'll come to a creek where, somewhere around it, is the cave. Now that I think about it, you two didn't tell me about you coming here or what you did before you met me."

Vicrotia, "Ha, nothing special for me," she started with an exaggerated tone, "I was just living with my friends out in the wilderness. It was my turn to gather some firewood, and while out I was discovered by the military enforcers and ran as far as I could, and while running I somehow ran into a snowy field with the trees and other flora being from a far and distant realm. I looked around to see I was in a different world and traveled out of the tundra zone and a few other weird areas until Aestus and I met you."

Aestus, "I jumped off a waterfall, and after I surfaced, I found myself in a strange place. It wasn't my river, but this strange world. I mostly stayed put until Victoria asked me to join her. What did you do before coming here?"

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Chapter 29

Iratus, "I spent most of my life in schools, but once I completed most of the advanced classes, my family had a...tragedy and could no longer finish my schooling. However, this wasn't that big of a deal; I had completed enough classes to get any education-required job. The bad news was that where I lived did not need educated people, and without significant money, I could never travel far enough away to get a real job, and any laborious jobs were already taken while I was in school. I spent a half year doing nothing, basically."

A few more minutes would pass with everyone continuing to chat with each other until Iratus said,

Iratus, "Can you tell me where the eastern path leads?"

Aestus, "A desert, then mountains, then the tundra place Vicy came from."

Victoria, "The dirt road leads to a busted-up tribal town; the Edax had turned it into a breeding ground of some kind, so I have no idea what the tribe was about or who they were. There was another road leading away from the tribal town, but besides a river and a strange metal bridge, I have no idea where it leads."

Iratus, "Intresting. I think I'll continue to head to the coast. I'll take a jar and gather some salt water. I can finally get something good to drink."

Aestus, "You'll go delirious if you try."

Iratus, "Jokes on you; despite my looks, I'm a cat! I can drink salt water for days. Anyways, I'm just giving you two a heads up that I am leaving again."

Victoria, "Oh darn, I got to strip down those wasp corpses. Give me a few hours, and I'll join you."

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Chapter 30

After a few hours, Iratus and Victoria began to get ready to depart. Iratus walked out with his sword, and Victoria walked out with her crossbow and wooden spear. They began their travels down the river, passing the hot springs cave.

Victoria, "Right, there is where the hot springs are; you two didn't get too far then."

Iratus, "Yeah, fighting those wasps was a total mistake."

Victoria, "I mean, you got some bug parts; they could be useful if not as fish bait as you suggested."

With only a few more minutes, they entered a new area. The trees were divided by a large grassland line that separated the two different zones, the semi-tropical area and now the new heavily tropical area. The parties traveling speed dropped considerably until they found a rocky road nearby.

On their way to the coast, they would find a longship crashed upon the shore of the river, greatly burned. The ship's wooden planks are blackened and partially burned, with the remnants of flames still visible in places. The ship's mast has snapped and fallen, with the ropes and sail tangled around it. The ship's prow, with its intricate dragon head carving, is still mostly intact but shows signs of damage from the fire.

The two travelers would scavenge the ship and find the scattered remains of the ship's cargo and personal effects. Burned and shattered barrels reveal the remnants of food and drink, while broken weapons and armor suggest a battle took place on the ship. The party also found some skeletal remains, likely those of the ship's crew, scattered among the debris.

Victoria, "Remember the clayfolk I was talking about that one time? These remains remind me of him."

Iratus, "I don't think I've seen ships like this."

Victoria, "Neither have I. We can do something about some of these metal scrapes. We can collect it on the way back."

They started to continue walking again but stopped early when the shadows from the trees came alive. Hiding in the darkness perfectly was a blackened creature, a monster of ebony. Two long arms hulled out its very tall body, four eyes peered from a bull-like skull head, and its skin was warped and stretched. No visible mouth was seen, but its face contorted into something that would be smiling with excitement, and it lunged out of the darkness with two long legs and charged straight at the party with bone blades covering the creature's hands and arms. It wore clothes that looked like they were taken from different people and had a lantern sucking in light with a black flesh mound in it.

Iratus and Victoria quickly pulled their weapons, their faces contorting into confusion and surprise as the abomination closed in on them.

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EPISDOE 3: END

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Chapter 3 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 14
Coverings: Blonde Fur, Gambeson (roughly repaired, leather patchwork), leather gloves (greatly damaged)
Weapons: Long Sword, Knife
Equipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 33 oval copper coins, 7 small silver bricks, 6 gemstones
Community Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, variety of kitchen tools, small metal pot, several leather items, a lot of animal bones, a lot of animal hide, 3 glass jar, 50 oval copper coins, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, trowl, woodcutting axe, several wooden spears, crossbow, some woodcarving pieces, wooden dice, some blacksmithing tools, lots of sheets.
Wounds: flesh wounds (nearly healed), several moderate wounds (nearly healed)
Year 0, Day 3

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Special documentary on Nexus Prime
Author: [DATA ERROR]
Report #: 22
Long forgotten is a term used to describe our research. We have found the past, and we desire to collect it. Many factions have risen up on why we must collect, but one thing is for sure: this is our destiny. With our refusal to let the past die, we have found everything, and we have found many things that should have remained long forgotten.

These days, long forgotten now means something different; it now refers to creatures and beings that were meant to be forgotten in the past. Now, they haunt our beautiful Nexus Prime.