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Hounded Curiosity (Continued..)


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The original thread has a better introduction and the first two parts of the story so I'd suggest reading that first.

...The king himself. Begrudgingly, we took him and and we all worked together to survive the Summer. He looked a lot frailer than before, decidedly weak actually. Dapper gent though. And that book he was carrying was quite interesting, allowing him to fragment his mind to create shadow minions to do mundane tasks for him. Pretty cool actually. Not Summer though, Summer still sucks.

By Autumn we could finally settle down enough to where I could actually talk to the king. He said he'd actually helped Maxwell build the portal, which seemed fair enough. Apparently he'd been dethroned by Wilson, and they both ended up in the same world after Wilson was dethroned by Charlie...The whole mess was awfully confusing, and I'm not even going to bother making sense of it.

Things were boring for a while. Me, Wendy, Wickerbottom, and Maxwell were doing relatively well at setting up a new camp. The portal was gone apparently, which we couldn't explain, but oh well. Maxwell was quite interested in Kiwi for a while, but since I didn't have the collar anymore I couldn't show him the thing. I could've built another of the one I finished right before the raid, but I didn't want to bother. So that was that.

Skipping ahead, Wickerbottom accidentally got herself caught in the swamp at night and died to tentacles. Again, no ghost. And we lost our book-savvy support. So that sucked. Maxwell did try to show me his Codex, that book he carries around, but I couldn't figure out how to work it. Read it, sure, but I couldn't reproduce the same effects that he could. It makes sense, we all have our own little perks. But it would've been cool to have shadow minions.

I learned little to nothing on that world. Wendy died in an attack with that snot monster I can never remember the name of, which is actually a new thing to these worlds that I'd never seen alone. Maxwell perished to nightmares eventually, leaving me alone once again. I looked to Kiwi, wondering what he does when I've disappeared to the next world. I purposely let myself go insane at the end, my senses returning and making me...well...a monster. I sprinted about the landscape in the dark, occasionally stopping to snack on a spider or two or harassing pigmen. And always outrunning the nightmares. Even the dreaded Terrorbeak. But I was hungry. Always hungry. And eventually, I lie down and let the nightmares finish me off.

~~~~~

I awoke at a new portal, seeing friend and foe work together and plenty of world to explore. And so the cycle continued, and did so for a few worlds until one day something finally changed. The portal changed. Vines had sprouted, and a faint smell of roses filled the air. It was maddening. A cursory exploratory mission led me to find a sinkhole, which I immediately set about gearing up to explore. Caves! Home! I ignored Wendy and Wolfgang, the only two I saw in that world before descending into the dark. They warned me against it, saying the caves were dangerous. Bah! Of course they were dangerous, but no more so than staying on the surface was. And there was science to be done!

I forged ahead, bringing out Kiwi and pushing my way through some new sights on my way to find the way to the ruins. The mushroom forests were rather pretty, I didn't remember seeing them before. Eventually I did come across the ruins, but I didn't need to descend even deeper to find them. Apparently the caves were rearranged. I returned to my old habits, studying the altar and setting up base in the dark. It was nice. I occasionally saw someone run by, usually with news about the surface I didn't particularly care about. From snippets I've learned that Charlie had taken over the throne. Great. As if we didn't have enough problems.

But regardless of that, I did manage to learn the ancient recipes. It took god knows how long, I'd lost track of time down underground as I was. Should probably have made a clock at some point, but ah well. But that was it. I'd learned the arts of the ancient altar. And I'd done even cleverer and found my way into recreating Thulecite out of gold and nightmare fuel. True they were only fragments, but it worked. I needed a lot of gold to fuel my habits, but fortunately the occasional cave-ins provided enough gems and gold for my needs, and living in the ruins led to an abundance of nightmare fuel.

I sat by the altar, thinking. I was curious about the world of the hounds, my own Kiwi not seeming to be unknown to the dark. How does that world work? Are the other hounds all friendly? Do they live in repeat like we do? Are they actually sentient? Looking at my little dog's gaping maw, probably not. Even asking didn't get more than a blink in response. Maybe hounds were deaf. But then, why would they bay before attacking? So many questions. I needed answers. There were no things in these worlds, but maybe...I tore down the altar. It hurt, someone didn't like that, but it had to be done.

After dismantling it I was left with an abundance of resources, and some scorch marks. I fashioned a new collar, this time without the glommer goop. Instead, I used nightmare fuel. And I summoned...her. The Denmother. A fleshy sort of beast..creature..thing. Even I don't like that thing. By this point the others could craft those hound collars as well though, as I'd taught them in exchange for surface resources. It was a nice trade system. I'd give them knowledge or crafted cavern gear, they gave me what I needed. The people above were useful in that regard, even if they were too weak for the caves.

I found the other hounds liked the Denmother, following her in a ring as if worshiping the creature. It's creepy, really. I'd found that most hounds willingly follow any of the pawns of the world, be it robot, man, or spider-child, but also the mother. So she served a purpose of some sort. At least to us, we could leave our hounds at the beast while we're out if we don't want to risk losing them. Kiwi wasn't interested though. My fluffy friend wasn't a fan of the beast, preferring to only follow me. Good boy.

~~~~~

Note: Apparently all hounds are female. Reports of the surface account for inter-dimensional hounds suddenly starting to produce puppies all over the place every full moon. And apparently if they live long enough they turn golden. Kiwi refuses to be checked. I respect his wishes. Science is one thing, but there's no reason to be rude.

~~~~~

Okay, now we're catching up to more real-time note taking. I died. I was far too curious for my own good. I fed Kiwi a purple gem, as I'd found the red and blue ones would transform him into the fire and ice hound subtypes with their magical energies. While it didn't seem to do anything immediately, between worms and a queen spider my faithful companion ended up dying and...well...he changed. His body distorted, growing significantly in size and becoming a nightmare all in his own right. I backed away from the scene, seeing as all the monsters turned their focus on me, and unfortunately, Kiwi did as well.

I retreated to my base, Kiwi keeping up every step of the way and sending pulses of destruction through the ground now and then. It was simply insane. I grabbed my Thulecite gear just in time for him to catch up and bite into me, triggering my crown's shield. With little delay, he bit again and I started swinging my bat, quickly finding my sanity dropping. By swing four or five, I could clearly see nightmares in the background all around me. I'd never actually gone insane in the ruins, and it's terrifying. Just nightmares everywhere. Needless to say, I was slain by my companion's gargantuan strength.

And here I am, in a new world. Kiwi is back to his regular happy self, and I'm sitting in a base beside Wilson, WX, and Wendy. Turns out the robot isn't always a terror. Actually these guys forget almost everything between worlds apparently. Odd. Well, more odd that I remember at this point, but ah well. I've gathered a full set of Thulecite gear once again, and have been pondering the idea of trying to fight that demon-kiwi again now that I've got companions. We shall see. I'd have to gather more combat supplies for everyone. Plus explaining what the fight will be like. Not to mention poking Kiwi until he dies and transforms into whatever that was that he became.

~End of part 3~

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I can give a concise review of the three parts of your story now.

First of all, I found Polygone's point of view refreshing. Usually, you either get insanely bubbly personalities or complete "grimrocks" when it comes to DST fiction. Here, you managed to strike the right balance between collaboration and silent acceptance of being drawn to the shadows. Kiwi was adorable, although I would have loved more action with him. My impressions are the following: he's loyal, from another dimension, and he respawns from a magical collar. Perhaps the fourth part will tell us more?

I admit first person's point of view is not my preferred narrative, but you handled it pretty well. The literary workshop is neatly established. I noticed several repeating instances of "it's" where "its" ought to be, but it could have been "corrected" by your text editor. No ideas here. I would have appreciated more descriptions. Those you did include were quite neat, however. Basically including more sensory stimuli will be great for your writing. Learning more about the one-time opponents - Willow, WX, Webber and Wigfrid - would be interesting.

Lastly, you don't need that much of a cliffhanger every time you end a part. Your storytelling is already the level which defends itself without such artificial literary tricks. Maybe I'm just too old-fashioned though. Still, that's my opinion. Well done!

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(I'm slow to write and have school and such to work on oops. Also has poked at working on a kitty companion thing, so that'll be neat.)

The bees! Those stupid bees! I'd already fed Kiwi the purple gem, and was wandering through a hive biome to cross to the rocky region when Kiwi got stuck fighting the swarm in the middle. I could do little but watch as my companion once again died and transformed into the demon I had seen in the caves in a past life...and he proceeded to charge at me through the swarm of angry hornets. Naturally, I ran. I'm fast, and have my trusty cane to explore with so at the least I could keep him from nipping my tail.

Unfortunate that I was headed away from camp, since I had to double back around through the hornet's nests to get back home, with only minor warnings to my friends. Also to note that even those blasted tallbirds don't take Kiwi's interest when angered. Actually, nothing did other than the four of us. Me, Wilson, WX, and Wendy. Only the 'humanoid' creatures, and not even the pigmen. Just the folk who traverse the big gates, which have somewhat recently turned into dark thorny doomscapes. Familiar, but in a different way than the last one. Anyway I'm getting off-topic and tangential again. I do that far too often, perhaps it's something to do with this place, but ah well.

Anyway, I eventually made it home and swapped my bag out for my crown and thulecite armor, WX ended up chugging a couple of gears during the fight and Wilson managed to set himself on fire somehow and ran off screaming. Poor Abi got destroyed in just a few bites from Kiwi's giant maw, reverting back to a flower, and Wendy kept pelting the beast's back with her boomerang. Not a bad strategy actually, though I wonder why she had so many. Surely they were breaking. I'll need to ask later. But yes, we killed the beast only to find our troubles not over yet. Four mechanical monsters suddenly warped into existence, accompanied by a monolith of some form, but more on that in a bit. Clearly we weren't prepared, as Wendy was right on top of a Clockwork Rook, immediately running away and leaving me and WX to fend off the two Knights and the Bishop. After that fight we were both banged up, but after taking out the Bishop WX used one of it's gears to heal and take out the rest rather easily. And Rooks aren't difficult on their own, sort of like taming a bull really. Just step out of the way, wack it a few times, then back up and repeat.

After the clockworks were done, the four of us turned our attention to the door. Yes, the door. A portal, really. At the base of it an explosion of gems and a few krampus sacks that we quickly grabbed up. The others had a mad look in their eyes though, it's evident that between the beast and the portal that this fight had completely taken their sanities. They left it to return home with their loot, but I stayed behind to research the door. And what I found was purely psychotic to continue researching. This was a window to a nightmare world, much akin to the rifts in the ruins. Somehow my tampering with Kiwi's structure had allowed him to tear open a portal to the home of these nightmare creatures. And oh, what secrets they whisper through the door. I had to 'activate' the door for it to operate. I'm not entirely sure of what it cost, but since then I've been seeing nightmare creatures spawning in waves, even while entirely sane.

The others won't come near me or the door anymore. I am alone with my research. But not for long. Tearing apart these waves has given me an ample supply of nightmare fuel, and my night light keeps me cozy and warm with an added boost to my sanity. Melting away the nightmares to fuel my research to getting more nightmares. Kind of funny, really. Self-destructive, perhaps, but I've learned at least one thing from my time here. A lot of their clues and secrets are hard to parse, whatever is whispering sweet nothings to me has proven to be either much more intelligently cunning or mischievously shady than I. But I've mapped out a ritual. I can't reconstruct my collar to get Kiwi back, as he's died in this world already. But, I can perform a rite to bring him back. Probably. I'll need to return half the gifts of gems, as well as a set of thulecite and a ton of nightmare fuel, but I can bring my dog back. But the question is...is it worth it?

~End of part 4~

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(Agreed. Puppies definitely worth. Best companions. <3)

(Also we're on hardcore. Die and you get bannedĀ from the server until a restart. RIP. >:D)

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I've finally done it. They took one of my gems, but I dealt with it. I'm faster than they are. I've tossed the items into the portal, and there it was. Kiwi's collar, just like when I'd come into this world. I turned it on and tossed it out, my faithful companion springing back to life, happy as ever. Curious. He doesn't seem to remember having died, or at the least he isn't showing any sign of it. Well it makes sense, he never has before, but this is...different. He died in this world, surely it should've made some form of effect? The only solution I could come up with is that these collars aren't portals so much as they are magical copying machines. My Kiwi is merely a clone of sorts of the original, but in that case how does Kiwi know who I am each generation? Very curious. More research must be done.

~~~~~

Been a while. The others are all gone. I have gems though. All the gems. The thulecite was difficult to get, gold got scarce to recreate it. And these nightmares that keep hounding me are starting to get irritating. Blasted crawlers actually got a couple bites off on me earlier. Hurt like heck. Luckily I've acquired bandages and healing salves. But enough of that. I'm making a second collar. There's no telling what this could do, but I have to try it. Maybe nothing will happen, I don't know. But I have to try.

...Two Kiwis. Neither seem to care that the other exists. Well that was anticlimactic. And expensive. In other news, I ran into one of the hounds that got lost out in the wild while I was exploring, apparently her name's Dawn. She appears to like to eat these little morsels of meat. Kiwi just refuses anything I try to give him, so that's neat. Though, watching hounds eat is still makes me somewhat uneasy, what with the wild hounds. Though with three of my own protecting me, I guess I'm safe.

PUPPIES! Or, puppy! I was studying the portal some more, and suddenly heard barking and chirping. Turned around to see a little puppy running over to Dawn and a bird flying off. I've tried getting close to pet it, but the little thing just runs away. I guess it makes sense, they are just little things, but oh how cute they are. I'm not sure how I didn't notice...nevermind. I'm just gonna leave that be. And I think I'll name the little guy or gal Lana. I did know they could have puppies, but recently they'd reportedly stopped, and Kiwi's never had one so I haven't really gotten to play with them that much. So this'll be fun.

Okay. I'm a little annoyed now. Those morsels I was feeding Dawn? I've been tossing my boomerang at birds to get them. Unfortunately, Lana takes it upon herself as a personal mission to go and bark at every bird that lands nearby. Every. Single. One. And it refuses to eat anything, even gems. Not that a flaming puppy is something I particularly want to see, considering it already doesn't listen to me...you know maybe it's better that it didn't eat the gems. Ah well. In other news, I've made a brush. Hunted down an Ewecus, managed to 4v1 it with the help of my hounds. Who needs pigs anyways. And I've had an extra tooth I found at some point, don't even remember where. Been too long since the world's reset. Getting close to time I should move on I think, continue my research elsewhere.

Oh, and Dawn loves the brush. Lana still won't let me near her to try, and Kiwi doesn't want me to try it. Ah well, his loss. Evidently, hound fur has similar properties to Bearger fur. Collect enough little tufts and I should be able to make a faux-Bearger pelt. Which is cool. Really I wasn't even expecting them to let me try, but that's need. Perhaps it's just Kiwi that doesn't like being brushed. Well, and puppies. But they hold still for nothing. This does bring up a few questions about...mother...but...yeah no. I'm not going to try. NOPE. I'll just let that be a mystery forever. I think I'm just going to go run through a field of bees. That sounds like a good idea. See you all in the next world, then.

~End of part 5~

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