Part 25: Vodyanoy

We head to the caves for some fishy business, and finally get to explore the abbey’s basement.


_{* The image is derived from a Russian postcard, showing a water spirit from a Russian fairy tale. Fairy tales are fucked up, Russian ones probably even more so.}

We’ve got a small matter to vote on. What are we going to do with the dead Saint’s ring? Wrench it off the hand, most likely destroying the hand, or are we going to give it back, hand and ring all intact?

There are a few things about the lore of the DLC I’m still not sure of, but we’ll probably get more background soon. When the Azunite faith was still young there was, it seems, an emperor that also served as the Azunite Patriarch, Hathra’unok. After he was slain by the 3rd Legion and the position of Emperor was usurped by Maximander (who seems to have been opposed by the 10th Legion), a group of Azunites, humans and giants, fled to the Aranoi desert under the leadership of the patriarch Molochi.

This is where there seems to be a gap in the story so far. Somehow the Azunites under Molochi turned heretic, and the Azunite church send St. Hiram to convert them – who promptly died a martyr’s death, as befits a proper saint. This pissed off everyone and led to a crusade, involving the Grand Mage Olvis who was apparently a bit too enthusiastic, went a little overboard, and turned everyone undead. Nobody seemed to take the hint that Olvis was more fucked in the head than the average guy, and so he soon tried to usurp the whole kingdom as well.

I’m curious to find out what the false god of the heretics is and what made them turn to their heresy. I’m rather happy I remember so little of the DLC story.

Lore dump