March 27, 752 Barovian Calendar (BC)
My birthday. My daughter, Kysera, gave me this journal as a gift so I could compose my thoughts and keep notes on where we are and where we will go. Who knew I would be spending it at on an island in a sea unknown to the Core. Our adventuring group consists of: Kamar Briarshield, a dwarf druid from Darkon; Katarina Droski, a dark-haired, dark-eyed, pale-skinned half-Vistani beauty of an archivist/scholar of the Morninglord from Barovia; Jo’Nah, an tiefling warlock, who, an outlander like me, has been with me since the beginning; me, Gabriel Fox, human soulknife/spirit shaman; and, of course, my adopted daughter, Kysera, not even 18 but already an accomplished spellscale sorcerer. We left Egertus by ship, the Iron Mermaid, a month ago. The Nocturnal Sea is aptly named; pitch-black at night, heavy overcast by day. The type of overcast you normally see before and during extreme weather conditions like tornadoes but only constant. The Iron Mermaid took a course to Liffe, made port briefly for supplies and then made way to Vechor, but we never made it. In the near-tropical waters that mark the approach to Vechor, the ever-prevalent Mists that seem to mark the edges of this world decided to intrude upon our vessel a mere twelve hours from Vechor. Despite the captain’s and the crew’s best efforts, the Mists enveloped the Iron Mermaid with ease. This wasn’t the first time we (my companions and I) had entered a Mistway but none were known to exist between Liffe and Vechor—at least according to the captain. Given what happened after we left the Mistway, I won’t question the captain’s veracity, the point would be moot.
For nearly a day, we sailed in Mist-shrouded waters. At least I think that it was water. The Mists were adhering that close to the ship. The captain was concerned we would end up beaching on the sands of Har’Akir or the shores of the Nightmare Lands, which would probably have been better options. On the second “morning” of our journey, the Mists began to clear and the mid-morning sun greeted us upon a new, unfamiliar sea. While the captain and crew cheered for safely coming out of the Mists, I looked to my companions and we shared looks. While the captain and crew had missed it, we had felt it—brief, and simultaneous, sensations of being hunted and claustrophobia. No, that’s not right—straining, against….something. The sea is very warm and a tropical island could be seen on the horizon and the captain made for it, as the ship supplies weren’t meant for this apparent side trip and were starting to get low. While we could supplement ourselves, and the crew, with spell-created food, the captain insisted on attempting to fish as schools of fish and spiral-shelled squid could be seen moving under the ship. The fish themselves were large, as long as Kamar is tall. The fish looked like a distant relation to salmon except that it had larger eyes and it had saber-like teeth extending from its mouth with its upper and lower incisors the most prominent. Kamar was fascinated by the fish and squid as he had seen fossils of such creatures while working in the mines near his home in Darkon. While several of these fish became a definite meal for the ship, even the captain began to wonder about this new sea. If the fish are this vicious-looking, what are the predators that prey on them like?
It wasn’t long before we had our answer. Up until mid-day, we had seen dark shapes in the water and occasionally the cresting dorsal fins of sharks. Shortly after noon-sun, we got a glimpse of a hump, the back of something, cresting the water about 30 feet starboard amid the splashing jumps of those saber-toothed salmon. At first, we thought it was whale but no sign of a spout became apparent. After the hump fell back into the water, a head attached to serpentine body shot out of the water a good 20 feet with a salmon in its mouth. The body turned out to be the neck of the creature, an elasmosaur to sages. To his credit, the captain snapped out of his fright quickly and ordered best speed to the distant island and asked our spellcasters to aid our speed in any way that they could. As we got closer to the island, shoals and reefs began to hinder our progress, blocking a direct, straight-line passage. Many of the larger shoals appeared to be built upon underlying reefs, creating a “jagged shoal,” to coin a term. A ship running aground one of these would potentially tear out the bottom. While we never ran aground, it was these shoals that did the ship in. The beach of the island was in sight and with a little aid, people could be seen. In what appeared to be a clear stretch of water, something large struck the ship—HARD; knocking a majority of the crew off their feet and few into the water. For those of us still on our feet and on-deck, we ran to the nearest railing and peered over the side. A huge shape could be made out in the water, easily bigger than our ship. From what I could see, the shape was reminiscent of a cross between a snake and a crocodile. The shape disappeared for half a minute and the ship shook again, this time the sound of wood was heard snapping and the ship began to list noticeably. We were taking on water and just as the captain began a call to the lifeboats the sounds of screams could be heard in the water. The sailors that had fallen in the water were being attacked by large creatures, mosasaurs. The ship shook one more time. This time, however, the ship rose out of the water as a mosasaur of incredible size punched through the upper deck from below, splintering the ship in two. My last conscious memory was of falling into the water and thinking that this was going to be the way I was going out of this world, not fighting a lich or defeating a darklord in this forgotten dark corner of the multiverse, but by becoming a meal for a sea-going giant reptile.
That’s all for now—my companions and the native islanders want to throw me a birthday party. I’ll continue tomorrow.
Jagged Shoals Log
Jagged Shoals Log
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Morning, March 28, 752 BC
Oh, my head. What a party! The locals certainly know how to celebrate. This island’s culture is based around the dance, hula they call it, and it definitely makes for a more lively party. Kamar got involved in a local drinking game and then proceeded to hula…or at least tried to. I’ve known Kamar for almost Jo’Nah’s and my time in this dark world and the sight of a dwarf swinging his hips side-to-side energetically (and without much rhythm) is still making me laugh even now as he sleeps off the night’s festivities. I am going tease him mercilessly when he wakes up. I noticed that Kysera was getting very friendly with Jo’Nah at the party, despite his brooding nature. Apparently even the festive mood of the party infected Jo’Nah, although it must have been strange for him. He’s been like a surrogate uncle or brother to Kysera for all her life and then to find a romantic attraction from and towards her had to have been awkward. Katarina is currently sleeping next to me; we’ve been romantically involved long before our journey from Egertus, and I’ve noticed that her normally pale skin has acquired a light tan and it really accentuates her beauty.
Looking back at the previous entry, I see that I need to continue my story: I, obviously, didn’t end up being a meal for the local fauna. My next memories are a little vague but I remember waking, albeit briefly, in a large dug-out canoe with Kysera tending my wounds and two dark brown-skinned men paddling the canoe in rhythmic strokes. Kysera told me to rest and I fell back asleep. I later awoke on a hammock with my Kata looking over me, smiling. Apparently, I was out for several days while my wounds healed and regained my strength—I had swallowed enough seawater to cause severe poisoning, sustained several large bite wounds, and also had my left leg bitten off just above the knee. Kata brought me up to date. As the mosasaur struck the ship for the last time, Kysera and Jo’Nah took to the air while Kamar had wildshaped into water elemental form and dove into the sea while Kata and I tumbled in afterward. As the Iron Mermaid sank beneath the waves, the captain and crew were becoming meals for assorted mosasaurs and sharks. The screams were terrifying according to Kata. I could see that the memories of those cries were going to haunt her for awhile. Fortunately, Kysera and Jo’Nah had presence of mind to pull Kata out of the water and deposit her on a nearby shoal. Kata said that Kysera noticed my floating body near the wreck and flew to get me, but before she could reach me, a very large shark had grabbed me in its jaws and dragged me underwater--but not for long as Kamar had “convinced” the shark to let me go. It wasn’t long before help arrived from the island. Despite the liberal application of curing spells and a regeneration spell applied by Kamar, I still have some deep scars in my right leg and torso, while my left leg still twinges with pain as the new flesh gets use to actually doing work. Katarina had lost her main prayerbook (which contained her greater restoration spell) in the shipwreck and has had to rely on her smaller prayerbook—even so, Kata and Kamar still had to pull out 10 shark’s teeth from my wounds before they could heal me. I now have them as a necklace around my neck.
Gotta go. Kata’s waking up and I still need to perform my own meditations (with a hangover no less).
Oh, my head. What a party! The locals certainly know how to celebrate. This island’s culture is based around the dance, hula they call it, and it definitely makes for a more lively party. Kamar got involved in a local drinking game and then proceeded to hula…or at least tried to. I’ve known Kamar for almost Jo’Nah’s and my time in this dark world and the sight of a dwarf swinging his hips side-to-side energetically (and without much rhythm) is still making me laugh even now as he sleeps off the night’s festivities. I am going tease him mercilessly when he wakes up. I noticed that Kysera was getting very friendly with Jo’Nah at the party, despite his brooding nature. Apparently even the festive mood of the party infected Jo’Nah, although it must have been strange for him. He’s been like a surrogate uncle or brother to Kysera for all her life and then to find a romantic attraction from and towards her had to have been awkward. Katarina is currently sleeping next to me; we’ve been romantically involved long before our journey from Egertus, and I’ve noticed that her normally pale skin has acquired a light tan and it really accentuates her beauty.
Looking back at the previous entry, I see that I need to continue my story: I, obviously, didn’t end up being a meal for the local fauna. My next memories are a little vague but I remember waking, albeit briefly, in a large dug-out canoe with Kysera tending my wounds and two dark brown-skinned men paddling the canoe in rhythmic strokes. Kysera told me to rest and I fell back asleep. I later awoke on a hammock with my Kata looking over me, smiling. Apparently, I was out for several days while my wounds healed and regained my strength—I had swallowed enough seawater to cause severe poisoning, sustained several large bite wounds, and also had my left leg bitten off just above the knee. Kata brought me up to date. As the mosasaur struck the ship for the last time, Kysera and Jo’Nah took to the air while Kamar had wildshaped into water elemental form and dove into the sea while Kata and I tumbled in afterward. As the Iron Mermaid sank beneath the waves, the captain and crew were becoming meals for assorted mosasaurs and sharks. The screams were terrifying according to Kata. I could see that the memories of those cries were going to haunt her for awhile. Fortunately, Kysera and Jo’Nah had presence of mind to pull Kata out of the water and deposit her on a nearby shoal. Kata said that Kysera noticed my floating body near the wreck and flew to get me, but before she could reach me, a very large shark had grabbed me in its jaws and dragged me underwater--but not for long as Kamar had “convinced” the shark to let me go. It wasn’t long before help arrived from the island. Despite the liberal application of curing spells and a regeneration spell applied by Kamar, I still have some deep scars in my right leg and torso, while my left leg still twinges with pain as the new flesh gets use to actually doing work. Katarina had lost her main prayerbook (which contained her greater restoration spell) in the shipwreck and has had to rely on her smaller prayerbook—even so, Kata and Kamar still had to pull out 10 shark’s teeth from my wounds before they could heal me. I now have them as a necklace around my neck.
Gotta go. Kata’s waking up and I still need to perform my own meditations (with a hangover no less).
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Mid-afternoon, March 28, 752
I think, as a party, we’re starting to get restless. Most of our gear (magical or otherwise) was lost to the depths or ruined during the attack. We’ve been relying mostly on our spells and what few magical items that we were wearing at the time. Sea water ruined the scrolls and potions, the dire shark that had almost made me its dinner ruined my leather armor with its bites. While I can form a mindblade, manipulating the shape and “improvements” on it, I still feel almost naked in a magical sense. I guess, for awhile any way, further adventures will be a test of our own skills to see how far we’ve come. Kata has been scribing scrolls with spells she still had in memory for weeks now and then transferring them to a new prayerbook made of tree bark and palm leaves. It helps but she admits that the loss of her other book has made her feel helpless. Kamar has been feeling rather guilty, even though he has no reason to be, as most of his gear (armor included) had merged into his wildshaped form and escaped destruction. Jo’Nah has always been minimalist with owning any magic items, but apparently during the attack, he lost his magic cloak to near-miss by a leaping mosasaur. I told him he’s lucky he still has his hat of disguise to hide his fiendish traits; I doubt the natives would’ve been as friendly if they saw his true appearance (Adventuring brought out more of his fiendish heritage—he’s got wings and more natural spells now). Kysera, on the other hand, has always reveled in her appearance. Through all our adventures, despite being treated as a caliban by whatever society we’ve encountered in this world, she’s never stopped her from pursuing her two passions—magic and fashion (I still don’t know if this is normal for spellscales), and if she can find a way to combine both, so much the better.
Speaking of being minimalist, both Kysera and Katarina have gone native with the local clothing, especially with flowers and grass skirts. In such a tropical environment, most of what passes for clothing is made from plants (primarily grasses, leaves, brightly colored flowers) and small amounts of leather. These are gleaned from the skins of small animals that inhabit the island and some of the smaller predators that prey the shallows. Kata says otherwise but I don’t think I look good in a loincloth or grass skirt. Kata has been finding new ways to show off her violet panther tattoo and the local shaman (kahuna) has been fascinated by how she acquired it. Now that I think about it, there are a few similarities between these people and the Abber Nomads—but, if any, it probably is in the remote past.
It’s interesting; the native people are the only mammals on this island. According to the king, this is the same on many of the inhabited islands. Other island creatures are primitive birds and small reptiles or dinosaurs. The sea, however, is home to the large predators and monsters. Supposedly, the Iron Mermaid hasn’t been the first ship to enter these waters and each foreign ship that has come here has been attacked shortly after arriving (Kata ascribes a supernatural affect to the ship attacks but Kamar believes that large ships probably look like certain types of prey from underneath, and the creatures attack). When I heard this, I used my ability to detect spirits; I detected many spirits—sailors and other boatmen that’ve fallen victim to the beasts of this sea. Peering into the Near-Ethereal, I saw many weak ghosts, even some ghost ships in the distance; I also saw something unusual, spirit creatures—of “modern” animals. What type of place has dinosaurs as the dominate life and creatures such as the wolf, seal, and parrot relegated to the spirit world? Given this information, I asked the king on how the canoes make island trips without being attacked by the local sea predators. He said the canoes are enchanted with some of the simplest spells—spells that Kamar and I could prepare without much effort. While the enchantment won’t prevent incidental encounters with the animals, nor will it prevent encounters with magical beasts or undead, it does prevent outright attacks by normal predators. The fishermen also stay to the shallows as much as possible to avoid becoming a meal when hunting for one, especially when the fish have saber-teeth.
I think, as a party, we’re starting to get restless. Most of our gear (magical or otherwise) was lost to the depths or ruined during the attack. We’ve been relying mostly on our spells and what few magical items that we were wearing at the time. Sea water ruined the scrolls and potions, the dire shark that had almost made me its dinner ruined my leather armor with its bites. While I can form a mindblade, manipulating the shape and “improvements” on it, I still feel almost naked in a magical sense. I guess, for awhile any way, further adventures will be a test of our own skills to see how far we’ve come. Kata has been scribing scrolls with spells she still had in memory for weeks now and then transferring them to a new prayerbook made of tree bark and palm leaves. It helps but she admits that the loss of her other book has made her feel helpless. Kamar has been feeling rather guilty, even though he has no reason to be, as most of his gear (armor included) had merged into his wildshaped form and escaped destruction. Jo’Nah has always been minimalist with owning any magic items, but apparently during the attack, he lost his magic cloak to near-miss by a leaping mosasaur. I told him he’s lucky he still has his hat of disguise to hide his fiendish traits; I doubt the natives would’ve been as friendly if they saw his true appearance (Adventuring brought out more of his fiendish heritage—he’s got wings and more natural spells now). Kysera, on the other hand, has always reveled in her appearance. Through all our adventures, despite being treated as a caliban by whatever society we’ve encountered in this world, she’s never stopped her from pursuing her two passions—magic and fashion (I still don’t know if this is normal for spellscales), and if she can find a way to combine both, so much the better.
Speaking of being minimalist, both Kysera and Katarina have gone native with the local clothing, especially with flowers and grass skirts. In such a tropical environment, most of what passes for clothing is made from plants (primarily grasses, leaves, brightly colored flowers) and small amounts of leather. These are gleaned from the skins of small animals that inhabit the island and some of the smaller predators that prey the shallows. Kata says otherwise but I don’t think I look good in a loincloth or grass skirt. Kata has been finding new ways to show off her violet panther tattoo and the local shaman (kahuna) has been fascinated by how she acquired it. Now that I think about it, there are a few similarities between these people and the Abber Nomads—but, if any, it probably is in the remote past.
It’s interesting; the native people are the only mammals on this island. According to the king, this is the same on many of the inhabited islands. Other island creatures are primitive birds and small reptiles or dinosaurs. The sea, however, is home to the large predators and monsters. Supposedly, the Iron Mermaid hasn’t been the first ship to enter these waters and each foreign ship that has come here has been attacked shortly after arriving (Kata ascribes a supernatural affect to the ship attacks but Kamar believes that large ships probably look like certain types of prey from underneath, and the creatures attack). When I heard this, I used my ability to detect spirits; I detected many spirits—sailors and other boatmen that’ve fallen victim to the beasts of this sea. Peering into the Near-Ethereal, I saw many weak ghosts, even some ghost ships in the distance; I also saw something unusual, spirit creatures—of “modern” animals. What type of place has dinosaurs as the dominate life and creatures such as the wolf, seal, and parrot relegated to the spirit world? Given this information, I asked the king on how the canoes make island trips without being attacked by the local sea predators. He said the canoes are enchanted with some of the simplest spells—spells that Kamar and I could prepare without much effort. While the enchantment won’t prevent incidental encounters with the animals, nor will it prevent encounters with magical beasts or undead, it does prevent outright attacks by normal predators. The fishermen also stay to the shallows as much as possible to avoid becoming a meal when hunting for one, especially when the fish have saber-teeth.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
March 30, 752 BC
Last night, as a group we talked about the possibility of exploring other islands in the surrounding ocean. The island we’ve been staying on, an active volcano, is called Moku Noe Kolo (Creeping Mist Island) and the ocean Moana o Kamohoalii (Shark-God’s Ocean). Aside from what looks like an abandoned tower on the far side of the island and the caldera (which we avoided both at the king’s request), we’ve thoroughly explored Moku Noe Kolo. We had decided to approach the king in the morning. Imagine our surprise when we awoke to find the king and the kahuna meeting us at our huts. The kahuna told us that their goddess, Pele, would like to meet us. Now, admittedly, we did react with a touch of suspicion, as we had only reached this decision last night and, by now, we’ve heard tales about some of the volcanic sacrifices that supposedly occur on other islands. The natives believe that one of their gods, the goddess Pele, dwells in the volcano. The kahuna said that we were in no danger as none in the village would be able to stand against us, even in our weakened state. Flattering, but hardly reassuring.
The hike up the volcanic mountainside took several hours. We were part of a procession with the king and the kahuna in the lead. For awhile, we could hear the sounds of exotic primitive birds and reptiles in the jungle and grassland undergrowth. As we got closer to the volcano, we began to feel the heat coming up from the ground through our sandals. The terrain had become rockier and the tree line was behind us. Our guides took us to cave several hundred feet below the caldera and bid us to enter with them. Cautiously, with me in the lead behind the king, we entered the cave. Despite its proximity to the magma flowing in the mountain (the cave walls were hot to touch), the cave was cool. There was also a peaceful feeling here. We all recognized the effect of a hallow spell and relaxed. As we did so, a feminine shape made of earth and stone began to coalesce out of the air. The eventual form was that of an elderly woman with white smoke hair. Upon this entrance, the king and kahuna bowed and introduced this “woman” as Pele. Pele welcomed us and asked the king and kahuna to go as she had to discuss some things with us privately. Once they had left, Pele became less formal, even telling Jo’Nah it was alright to drop his disguise as she had known what he was since he set foot on the island. As it turns out, this wasn’t the real Pele, but a herald of the goddess that had come to this world to protect what little of the goddess’s worshippers that had become trapped here centuries ago. For sake of appearances, she has taken on her goddess’s name and we should address her as such. Pele had been watching us since our arrival on this island and was pleased on how we comported ourselves with the natives. Many past survivors have tested the villagers’, and by extension, Pele’s hospitality; but we have been the first group in awhile to not make an attempt to take over the island. It appears if we hadn’t behaved ourselves we would have become sacrifices to the volcano. Pele then asked us of our journeys and where we came from. What interested Pele the most was the fact that Jo’Nah and I were outlanders to this world. She peppered us with questions about our respective childhood homes and the natural features of said places. It turns out that Jo’Nah and I are from the same world that she was drawn from (this was based on her descriptions of the stars and the moon before she came here. I had admitted that the northern sky looked similar to the one back home but I thought that it might be a coincidence as several of the constellations I was familiar with were skewed, had either extra or missing stars, and were…well, north; whereas back home they were always in the south or overhead. Pele assured me it wasn’t coincidence as the dark forces that created this world “don’t do coincidences.” Believe me, Jo’Nah and I almost hugged Pele as we were fighting back tears. I hadn’t realized how much we’ve missed home (it’s been over 18 years since I’ve seen my birth family) and to meet another person from there was almost too much.
It’s getting late, I’m emotionally spent, and we’re still in the cave. Pele says we can spend the night here before heading back down to the village. Tomorrow, I’ll have to remember to ask Pele about who rules here and how this ocean realm came to be.
Last night, as a group we talked about the possibility of exploring other islands in the surrounding ocean. The island we’ve been staying on, an active volcano, is called Moku Noe Kolo (Creeping Mist Island) and the ocean Moana o Kamohoalii (Shark-God’s Ocean). Aside from what looks like an abandoned tower on the far side of the island and the caldera (which we avoided both at the king’s request), we’ve thoroughly explored Moku Noe Kolo. We had decided to approach the king in the morning. Imagine our surprise when we awoke to find the king and the kahuna meeting us at our huts. The kahuna told us that their goddess, Pele, would like to meet us. Now, admittedly, we did react with a touch of suspicion, as we had only reached this decision last night and, by now, we’ve heard tales about some of the volcanic sacrifices that supposedly occur on other islands. The natives believe that one of their gods, the goddess Pele, dwells in the volcano. The kahuna said that we were in no danger as none in the village would be able to stand against us, even in our weakened state. Flattering, but hardly reassuring.
The hike up the volcanic mountainside took several hours. We were part of a procession with the king and the kahuna in the lead. For awhile, we could hear the sounds of exotic primitive birds and reptiles in the jungle and grassland undergrowth. As we got closer to the volcano, we began to feel the heat coming up from the ground through our sandals. The terrain had become rockier and the tree line was behind us. Our guides took us to cave several hundred feet below the caldera and bid us to enter with them. Cautiously, with me in the lead behind the king, we entered the cave. Despite its proximity to the magma flowing in the mountain (the cave walls were hot to touch), the cave was cool. There was also a peaceful feeling here. We all recognized the effect of a hallow spell and relaxed. As we did so, a feminine shape made of earth and stone began to coalesce out of the air. The eventual form was that of an elderly woman with white smoke hair. Upon this entrance, the king and kahuna bowed and introduced this “woman” as Pele. Pele welcomed us and asked the king and kahuna to go as she had to discuss some things with us privately. Once they had left, Pele became less formal, even telling Jo’Nah it was alright to drop his disguise as she had known what he was since he set foot on the island. As it turns out, this wasn’t the real Pele, but a herald of the goddess that had come to this world to protect what little of the goddess’s worshippers that had become trapped here centuries ago. For sake of appearances, she has taken on her goddess’s name and we should address her as such. Pele had been watching us since our arrival on this island and was pleased on how we comported ourselves with the natives. Many past survivors have tested the villagers’, and by extension, Pele’s hospitality; but we have been the first group in awhile to not make an attempt to take over the island. It appears if we hadn’t behaved ourselves we would have become sacrifices to the volcano. Pele then asked us of our journeys and where we came from. What interested Pele the most was the fact that Jo’Nah and I were outlanders to this world. She peppered us with questions about our respective childhood homes and the natural features of said places. It turns out that Jo’Nah and I are from the same world that she was drawn from (this was based on her descriptions of the stars and the moon before she came here. I had admitted that the northern sky looked similar to the one back home but I thought that it might be a coincidence as several of the constellations I was familiar with were skewed, had either extra or missing stars, and were…well, north; whereas back home they were always in the south or overhead. Pele assured me it wasn’t coincidence as the dark forces that created this world “don’t do coincidences.” Believe me, Jo’Nah and I almost hugged Pele as we were fighting back tears. I hadn’t realized how much we’ve missed home (it’s been over 18 years since I’ve seen my birth family) and to meet another person from there was almost too much.
It’s getting late, I’m emotionally spent, and we’re still in the cave. Pele says we can spend the night here before heading back down to the village. Tomorrow, I’ll have to remember to ask Pele about who rules here and how this ocean realm came to be.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
March 31, 752 BC
Before we returned to the village, Pele gave us a map of the surrounding region. While the map was a nice surprise, the real surprise was that I recognized the handwriting and drawing style of the map’s author. During our early adventures in the Core, Jo’Nah and I came across several maps while in the Core. Each map was very detailed, describing natural and artificial hazards, local conditions, and even occasional monster lairs. Anybody we talked to about who made the maps only knew the person as the Mapmaker and that he (or she) disappeared from all knowledge shortly before Jo’Nah and I arrived in this world. If the Mapmaker made his way here, it goes a long way to explaining his disappearance from the Core.
I did ask Pele about the history of this realm. She gave us a short version of the tale and said that the villagers had a more complete story. What follows is what we (Kata and I) could get in details about the overall history of this realm from Pele and the natives, not to mention a few guesses from stories that I heard from my grandpa when I was a boy:
In a time before gods; an Age before Ages, the world was covered in water and only simple life existed in the sea. As the life began to blossom into more complex forms so did the concepts of predator and prey. An elemental force began coalesce as more creatures began to take shape and prey upon each other. By the time of the first aboleth empires, the Great Earth Mother gave birth to her first child—a representation of all sea-going predators, great and small.
For eons the Predator swam among the predators, feeding as they would, even feeding on them in turn. Eventually, the aquatic empires of the aboleth had fallen into memory, but this ultimate predator didn’t care. Even as the sea become more constrained by rising lands, the Predator witnessed the rise of more powerful predators, many reptilian, as many of his early tentacled and bug-like kin faced extinction. The Predator was only aware of the land and sky creatures as potential meals as his lesser kin fed on them. As the predators grew bigger, so did he/it. It was a golden time for him/it, but like all things, this golden time was to come to an end. A massive cataclysm had come to the Great Earth Mother and most of her children were becoming extinct in one long moment. The Predator could feel the pain and the deaths of kin across the globe and it became intolerable. In a brief flash of savage brilliance, the Predator dug deep into the deepest trench of the sea, his/its mother bosom, and began to hibernate.
When the Predator awoke, the world had changed. The land had moved, the water was colder, but he could still feel the presence of predators. Many of them, the fishes and sharks, had changed little. Only cosmetic changes in appearance. Most of the great sea reptiles were dead with the exception of a few isolated lake dwellers. The sea was now inhabited by birds and mammals. Small aquatic birds dominated coastal regions, competing with seals and whales for food. The Predator marveled at the whales, for they rivaled the variety of their reptilian kin at its height. The largest of them fed on the smallest of prey and the smaller mammals, while mainly feeding on fish, would compete with the sharks to occasionally feed on the larger of them. Then the Predator noticed something on the water’s surface. What the Predator could only describe as floating logs was crossing the seas with deliberation. On those logs, more mammalian predators; a few created by gods, but the most numerous appeared to be descended from some type of land creature. But these were in great variety even among their race. The Predator even recognized fully aquatic variations of these new creatures. At his own amazement, the Predator extended his senses further than he ever had before and beheld the gods. Powerful beings nearly as powerful as he/it, and some he recognized as siblings—fellow children of the Great Earth Mother. It was then the Predator felt something he had known of but never experienced: fear. While there was still predator and prey, there were gods that had taken his role, his very definition while he had slept. He felt that he would go extinct like his early kin in the face of these gods if he didn’t do something…and he did. He summoned the most ferocious sea predators in the world and bid them to attack any and all the intelligent predators anywhere in the world. The seas ran with blood as predator great and small attacked ships, simple fishermen, and pleasure seekers alike. The great underwater cities were under siege as it appeared the sea had turned against them.
Hearing the pleas of their followers, the gods of the seas united against the Predator and the oceans looked as if they were boiling as these gods fought to destroy the Predator. The battle went on for weeks non-stop, but the Predator would not be worn down while the gods’ power was waning with the loss of worshippers and the expenditure of all their power. It was during a lull in the battle that a pantheon of gods from an island-rich tropical region of the world came up with a plan to trap their ancient brother. The Shark-God challenged the Predator to single combat—if the Predator won, the gods of the sea would defer its control over to him; if the Shark-God won, the Predator would return to eternal slumber to never bother the world while the gods ruled above. The Predator hungrily agreed. Like every battle before, it was long and fierce. All the gods watched from the safety of their heavenly abodes, even the Great Earth Mother paused to watch her two children fight. But the battle went to the Predator and he/it slayed the Shark-God and greedily consumed him. As the god-meal was digested, the Predator became aware of the memories of Shark-God—the battle was a ruse. All the while, during the battle, the Shark-God’s sister, Pele, was crafting a prison for the Predator, attuned with the divine essence of her brother. The Shark-God had known he was going to lose. It was, after all, survival of the fittest; the one thing the Shark-God and the Predator could agree on, and while strength had won the battle, intelligence had won the war. Now the Shark-God’s essence suffused the Predator, making him vulnerable to the gods’ magic. The gods imprisoned the Predator inside a gem, stripping the Predator of his form, only the Predator’s essence intermixed with the Shark-God’s, alone with his/its primitive thoughts and nothing to hunt.
Centuries passed. Pantheons died and new ones arose, and the battle between the Predator and the sea gods passed into legend. One day, a mortal, a sage or wizard [the translation is uncertain] came to the island where the Predator’s prison lay, wholly unaware of the legend, and the Predator stirred. For deep within the sage’s soul was burning desire to become one with the sharks of the sea and to share the gift with the rest of the world. The Predator subtly influenced the sage, guiding him, herding him as a predator would herd his prey. But the Predator became impatient, it was taking far longer to free him/itself than had been originally been supposed and the Predator was becoming sloppy has he/it accelerated the plan. Near the culmination of his plan, the Predator’s plan was interrupted by others [adventurers] who had been alerted by the oldest of the newer gods about the Predator and the danger he/it posed to the world. The Predator was defeated again; this time by mortals, and the Predator was cast back into his prison-gem and the gem was tossed into the deepest part of the sea (ironically, where he first hibernated).
That’s where the story ends. I know there’s more, but the villagers don’t have much beyond that. Legend maintains that the Predator is still inside the gem but occasionally escapes to inhabit one of the local sea creatures as the gods had stripped him of his body. I recall a tale I heard during a voyage on the Sea of Sorrows: a storm-tossed reef or shoal appearing out of nowhere forcing the ship to run aground, tossing sailors into the sea. A solitary creature, usually a shark (in one version of the tale, the description was similar to a plesiosaur) would attack the sailors in the water, leaving very few survivors. Could there be a connection between this tale and the Predator?
It’s time to go; the natives have been kind enough to supply us with a couple of their long-distance sailing canoes and some supplies. While the king states this was at the behest of Pele, I think they would’ve done this anyway. Tomorrow morning, we’re leaving this island, but tonight, the natives want to hold a farewell dinner (a luau, they call it) for us.
Before we returned to the village, Pele gave us a map of the surrounding region. While the map was a nice surprise, the real surprise was that I recognized the handwriting and drawing style of the map’s author. During our early adventures in the Core, Jo’Nah and I came across several maps while in the Core. Each map was very detailed, describing natural and artificial hazards, local conditions, and even occasional monster lairs. Anybody we talked to about who made the maps only knew the person as the Mapmaker and that he (or she) disappeared from all knowledge shortly before Jo’Nah and I arrived in this world. If the Mapmaker made his way here, it goes a long way to explaining his disappearance from the Core.
I did ask Pele about the history of this realm. She gave us a short version of the tale and said that the villagers had a more complete story. What follows is what we (Kata and I) could get in details about the overall history of this realm from Pele and the natives, not to mention a few guesses from stories that I heard from my grandpa when I was a boy:
In a time before gods; an Age before Ages, the world was covered in water and only simple life existed in the sea. As the life began to blossom into more complex forms so did the concepts of predator and prey. An elemental force began coalesce as more creatures began to take shape and prey upon each other. By the time of the first aboleth empires, the Great Earth Mother gave birth to her first child—a representation of all sea-going predators, great and small.
For eons the Predator swam among the predators, feeding as they would, even feeding on them in turn. Eventually, the aquatic empires of the aboleth had fallen into memory, but this ultimate predator didn’t care. Even as the sea become more constrained by rising lands, the Predator witnessed the rise of more powerful predators, many reptilian, as many of his early tentacled and bug-like kin faced extinction. The Predator was only aware of the land and sky creatures as potential meals as his lesser kin fed on them. As the predators grew bigger, so did he/it. It was a golden time for him/it, but like all things, this golden time was to come to an end. A massive cataclysm had come to the Great Earth Mother and most of her children were becoming extinct in one long moment. The Predator could feel the pain and the deaths of kin across the globe and it became intolerable. In a brief flash of savage brilliance, the Predator dug deep into the deepest trench of the sea, his/its mother bosom, and began to hibernate.
When the Predator awoke, the world had changed. The land had moved, the water was colder, but he could still feel the presence of predators. Many of them, the fishes and sharks, had changed little. Only cosmetic changes in appearance. Most of the great sea reptiles were dead with the exception of a few isolated lake dwellers. The sea was now inhabited by birds and mammals. Small aquatic birds dominated coastal regions, competing with seals and whales for food. The Predator marveled at the whales, for they rivaled the variety of their reptilian kin at its height. The largest of them fed on the smallest of prey and the smaller mammals, while mainly feeding on fish, would compete with the sharks to occasionally feed on the larger of them. Then the Predator noticed something on the water’s surface. What the Predator could only describe as floating logs was crossing the seas with deliberation. On those logs, more mammalian predators; a few created by gods, but the most numerous appeared to be descended from some type of land creature. But these were in great variety even among their race. The Predator even recognized fully aquatic variations of these new creatures. At his own amazement, the Predator extended his senses further than he ever had before and beheld the gods. Powerful beings nearly as powerful as he/it, and some he recognized as siblings—fellow children of the Great Earth Mother. It was then the Predator felt something he had known of but never experienced: fear. While there was still predator and prey, there were gods that had taken his role, his very definition while he had slept. He felt that he would go extinct like his early kin in the face of these gods if he didn’t do something…and he did. He summoned the most ferocious sea predators in the world and bid them to attack any and all the intelligent predators anywhere in the world. The seas ran with blood as predator great and small attacked ships, simple fishermen, and pleasure seekers alike. The great underwater cities were under siege as it appeared the sea had turned against them.
Hearing the pleas of their followers, the gods of the seas united against the Predator and the oceans looked as if they were boiling as these gods fought to destroy the Predator. The battle went on for weeks non-stop, but the Predator would not be worn down while the gods’ power was waning with the loss of worshippers and the expenditure of all their power. It was during a lull in the battle that a pantheon of gods from an island-rich tropical region of the world came up with a plan to trap their ancient brother. The Shark-God challenged the Predator to single combat—if the Predator won, the gods of the sea would defer its control over to him; if the Shark-God won, the Predator would return to eternal slumber to never bother the world while the gods ruled above. The Predator hungrily agreed. Like every battle before, it was long and fierce. All the gods watched from the safety of their heavenly abodes, even the Great Earth Mother paused to watch her two children fight. But the battle went to the Predator and he/it slayed the Shark-God and greedily consumed him. As the god-meal was digested, the Predator became aware of the memories of Shark-God—the battle was a ruse. All the while, during the battle, the Shark-God’s sister, Pele, was crafting a prison for the Predator, attuned with the divine essence of her brother. The Shark-God had known he was going to lose. It was, after all, survival of the fittest; the one thing the Shark-God and the Predator could agree on, and while strength had won the battle, intelligence had won the war. Now the Shark-God’s essence suffused the Predator, making him vulnerable to the gods’ magic. The gods imprisoned the Predator inside a gem, stripping the Predator of his form, only the Predator’s essence intermixed with the Shark-God’s, alone with his/its primitive thoughts and nothing to hunt.
Centuries passed. Pantheons died and new ones arose, and the battle between the Predator and the sea gods passed into legend. One day, a mortal, a sage or wizard [the translation is uncertain] came to the island where the Predator’s prison lay, wholly unaware of the legend, and the Predator stirred. For deep within the sage’s soul was burning desire to become one with the sharks of the sea and to share the gift with the rest of the world. The Predator subtly influenced the sage, guiding him, herding him as a predator would herd his prey. But the Predator became impatient, it was taking far longer to free him/itself than had been originally been supposed and the Predator was becoming sloppy has he/it accelerated the plan. Near the culmination of his plan, the Predator’s plan was interrupted by others [adventurers] who had been alerted by the oldest of the newer gods about the Predator and the danger he/it posed to the world. The Predator was defeated again; this time by mortals, and the Predator was cast back into his prison-gem and the gem was tossed into the deepest part of the sea (ironically, where he first hibernated).
That’s where the story ends. I know there’s more, but the villagers don’t have much beyond that. Legend maintains that the Predator is still inside the gem but occasionally escapes to inhabit one of the local sea creatures as the gods had stripped him of his body. I recall a tale I heard during a voyage on the Sea of Sorrows: a storm-tossed reef or shoal appearing out of nowhere forcing the ship to run aground, tossing sailors into the sea. A solitary creature, usually a shark (in one version of the tale, the description was similar to a plesiosaur) would attack the sailors in the water, leaving very few survivors. Could there be a connection between this tale and the Predator?
It’s time to go; the natives have been kind enough to supply us with a couple of their long-distance sailing canoes and some supplies. While the king states this was at the behest of Pele, I think they would’ve done this anyway. Tomorrow morning, we’re leaving this island, but tonight, the natives want to hold a farewell dinner (a luau, they call it) for us.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
April 5, 752 BC
Has it been already almost a week since we left Moku Noe Kolo? Amid good-byes, we headed out to brave the dangerous sea with only a decades-old map as our guide. The map details a lot of islands, large and small, giving general notations on fresh water springs, but the level of detail needed to map out every little shoal and atoll we came across would’ve required a much larger map; to say nothing of islands on the map that no longer exist. The king gave each of us a special gift during the farewell dinner: a suit of sharkskin armor for me; an finely crafted obsidian dagger for Kamar; a couple of clay tablets (the equivalent of scrolls here) for Katarina; a new leather cloak for Jo’Nah; and a basalt ring with a coral setting (reputedly had belonged to Pele) for Kysera. I told the king we couldn’t accept such gifts, but he said that these items were destined for us and as such, they weren’t gifts…can’t argue with that logic. I hope to one day return to Moku Noe Kolo and repay the islanders for their kindness and generosity.
As I’ve already mentioned, we’ve been at sea for almost a week and we still haven’t made it to the eastern edge of the oceanic realm—we’re not even halfway and that’s with magic. We’re actually using 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-tier spells that we’ve haven’t needed to use in years. Unlike the ill-fated Iron Mermaid, our canoes easily glide over many of the sub-surface shoals (jagged or otherwise) and reefs that would hamper bigger ships. According to the map, there is a forested land to the east; the map shows nothing past the land so it might be the eastern edge. Even with the protection of the canoes, it is still a harrowing trip. The ocean water is warmer than bath water—almost hot and the heat can be felt through the canoes. Everyone is tense, as we dare not sleep overnight in the canoes in the middle of open sea. I even yelled at Kata today on some trivial thing about how our supplies were stored. Watching sea-going reptiles breach like their mammalian counterparts is fascinating but I’d prefer not to be this close. Fortunately, we’ve come across several uninhabited islands or large shoals to sleep on at night and refresh what supplies we could. While the endure elements spell can protect us from the extreme heat, it does nothing about sunburns (the sun is very bright here, comparable to the Amber Wastes or Kalidnay). We’re starting to get worsening sunburns…there is nothing more cantankerous than a sunburned dwarf.
We’re currently making camp on the southern shore of a small island with a fresh-water spring. As the sun started to set and after we set up camp, Kysera had noticed a dark spot on the southern horizon. It hasn’t moved, so it might be a fixed location. There is a black spot on the map, but initially, we thought it just might be a smudge of ink. It was only through a trick of the light that Kamar noticed something under the “smudge.” When the map is backlit, the shape of an island could be made out underneath. Since we’re exploring this new realm, it would be appropriate to see what’s in it besides aquatic dinosaurs and oversized fish.
Gotta go. I need to make up to Kata for my snapping at her earlier today.
Has it been already almost a week since we left Moku Noe Kolo? Amid good-byes, we headed out to brave the dangerous sea with only a decades-old map as our guide. The map details a lot of islands, large and small, giving general notations on fresh water springs, but the level of detail needed to map out every little shoal and atoll we came across would’ve required a much larger map; to say nothing of islands on the map that no longer exist. The king gave each of us a special gift during the farewell dinner: a suit of sharkskin armor for me; an finely crafted obsidian dagger for Kamar; a couple of clay tablets (the equivalent of scrolls here) for Katarina; a new leather cloak for Jo’Nah; and a basalt ring with a coral setting (reputedly had belonged to Pele) for Kysera. I told the king we couldn’t accept such gifts, but he said that these items were destined for us and as such, they weren’t gifts…can’t argue with that logic. I hope to one day return to Moku Noe Kolo and repay the islanders for their kindness and generosity.
As I’ve already mentioned, we’ve been at sea for almost a week and we still haven’t made it to the eastern edge of the oceanic realm—we’re not even halfway and that’s with magic. We’re actually using 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-tier spells that we’ve haven’t needed to use in years. Unlike the ill-fated Iron Mermaid, our canoes easily glide over many of the sub-surface shoals (jagged or otherwise) and reefs that would hamper bigger ships. According to the map, there is a forested land to the east; the map shows nothing past the land so it might be the eastern edge. Even with the protection of the canoes, it is still a harrowing trip. The ocean water is warmer than bath water—almost hot and the heat can be felt through the canoes. Everyone is tense, as we dare not sleep overnight in the canoes in the middle of open sea. I even yelled at Kata today on some trivial thing about how our supplies were stored. Watching sea-going reptiles breach like their mammalian counterparts is fascinating but I’d prefer not to be this close. Fortunately, we’ve come across several uninhabited islands or large shoals to sleep on at night and refresh what supplies we could. While the endure elements spell can protect us from the extreme heat, it does nothing about sunburns (the sun is very bright here, comparable to the Amber Wastes or Kalidnay). We’re starting to get worsening sunburns…there is nothing more cantankerous than a sunburned dwarf.
We’re currently making camp on the southern shore of a small island with a fresh-water spring. As the sun started to set and after we set up camp, Kysera had noticed a dark spot on the southern horizon. It hasn’t moved, so it might be a fixed location. There is a black spot on the map, but initially, we thought it just might be a smudge of ink. It was only through a trick of the light that Kamar noticed something under the “smudge.” When the map is backlit, the shape of an island could be made out underneath. Since we’re exploring this new realm, it would be appropriate to see what’s in it besides aquatic dinosaurs and oversized fish.
Gotta go. I need to make up to Kata for my snapping at her earlier today.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
April 6, 752 BC
I am such an idiot. After spending nearly two months here, only today did I notice that the sun sits to the north. This realm is “south of the equator.” As we headed south, I noticed that our shadows were gradually swinging to the front of us as noon approached. For one who has made his adventuring career of spotting signs of supernatural activity, I should be shot by one of those pistoleers back in the Core for not noticing a natural one before now.
We had visitors this morning. I usually take the early morning watch while in the wild, so I got to meet them. As I stoked the fire to keep it going, I detected the presence of spirits. Peering into the Near-Ethereal, a couple of ragged-looking ghosts were standing near the camp. They looked like they wanted to approach the fire but were afraid to. I beckoned to them to sit by the fire but to mind my sleeping companions. With a closer look, their appearance was like they were shipwrecked sailors during the last days of their lives. Both of them looked like they had committed suicide with a pistol as their respective exit wounds were plainly visible. Their translucent bodies were emaciated, as if from hunger. I’ve heard of stories of shipwrecked sailors and exiled pirates committing suicide when hunger became unbearable and I guessed these were such ghosts. I asked for them to tell their story. Theirs was a shared story and it had some eerie details that matched our own recent shipwreck. Their ship had entered a fog bank on their home world and found themselves in uncharted waters. In less than an hour, the ship was attacked by largest shark they had ever seen and the ship began to sink. Amid the screams of their fellow sailors, the pair made their way to this shoal in a damaged dinghy and made it to a small shoal (this one as it appears these events happened decades, even centuries ago, as this shoal island has a natural water spring now and plenty of trees). They sat there for days with their hunger and thirst getting worse. Rather than face the sin of cannibalism, they committed suicide. With the end of their story, they asked for food and water. I gave them my waterskin and some of my rations which they eagerly consumed. They thanked me, stating that I was the first living being they’ve seen here since they became ghosts. As a final request, they asked if I could relate their story to whoever would listen so they or their plight wouldn’t be forgotten. As I write this, I am fulfilling this last request. With my promise kept and the sun starting to break the horizon, they faded from view and in the Near-Ethereal they also faded as they began their journey to their final reward. I related the tale of our visitors when the rest of the party awoke.
It took us nearly half the morning to make it to the dark island. The island isn’t observable as a dome of impenetrable blackness covers it. Kamar wondered if it was a manifestation of a “closed border” phenomenon, which would’ve been a problem as the tide was starting to force us toward it even as we sat discussing it. When the canoes were close enough, Kysera was about to cast an arcane eye spell when the tide shoved us through the dome. It was pitch-black inside—for those without darkvision. I mean blacker than the blackest night we ever experienced on the Nocturnal Sea or underground, and, normally, Kamar and Jo’Nah are the only two with darkvision; but not this time. I could see a black-and-white world around me. I became confused—I hadn’t done anything recently that warranted a gift for bad karma (not to my knowledge anyway). It turned out that upon later examinations the armor that I was given as a few extra enhancements beyond just protecting my soft skin. I wonder what else this armor can do.
This island was hot—hotter than the hottest days we had ever experienced in the desert realms; and muggy—we weren’t going to be here long, our endure elements spells were at their limits. As my eyes adjusted to the darkvision, I was becoming aware of a light, or at least what I thought was light. It turned out to be the etherealness of the trees. At first, I thought the forest was a ghostly one but the trees were alive. The ethereal resonance of the trees was “hard-bound” to its source. I ended up with a slight headache as my eyes adjusted. Before any spells were cast, Kamar lit a torch. While it worked, almost no light would come from it. We could see the flame but its light didn’t illuminate the area (which rendered low-light vision useless). Kysera cast an extended darkvision on Katarina and herself, but that would still limit our time on this island.
Once we adjusted ourselves to the light conditions (or lack thereof) we began to probe the interior. The plants were unusual. Kamar said the plants weren’t like the ones we had seen in the Shadow Rift and while he didn’t recognize any of them, they were natural—just alien. Due to the way I was looking at the world around me, I could see that there were animals here, or at least their equivalents. Their forms stood out like black spots against the trees, which made it nearly impossible to hide from my eyes unless they went behind something. Despite the darkvision and the ghost sight, I still have no idea what they actually looked like beyond their shapes (my guess is some form of darkvision camouflage).
It wasn’t long before we attracted the attention of something intelligent. The jungle had gone quiet in our location and with practiced ease we went into a defensive formation. Jo’Nah and Kamar couldn’t see anything with their eyes beyond the nearby trees, but our instincts were telling us something or someone was stalking us. It turned out to be a bunch of someones, a lot. High in the trees, at a distance beyond the darkvision the armor provided, I could make out the dark shapes of winged humanoid creatures reminiscent of gargoyles in shape. While I couldn’t see their features I got the impression from the body language as that I sustained a look at them, I had caught them off guard with their approach. It didn’t take long for them to overcome their apprehension of me as a spear landed, piercing the ground at my feet. The next moment, it seemed as if they were coming out of the trees, literally. They swarmed us and I could hear the others scream a little as what seemed like hundreds of these winged beings attacked us. The battle didn’t last long. Each of us easily dispatched two or three on the initial assault and we did take a few spear jabs but our tactics, honed from years of adventuring, caught them off-guard. What happened next surprised us as much as them. The creatures stopped their assault in stunned silence as our blasts, strikes, and spells lit up the area. It was during that brief respite that Kata cast a daylight spell that flickered out as quickly as it lit our surroundings (for some reason, this place impedes light-based spells that have a duration). We could actually get a good look at them. Those on the ground or in the branches were hunched over but the ones in flight were fully erect. About the size of a dwarf but definitely less stocky; dark, greenish-gray skin; lithe and graceful in flight with a long, spaded tail trailing behind them and wings reminiscent of a bat or demon. Their heads were small and bulbous with large pointed ears. What caught our attention was the number of eyes—eight of them! In less time than it took for me to write this sentence, the little creatures took flight and left. We all felt it prudent that we head back to the canoes and leave this island. Even with our spells and other abilities, we’re still at a tactical disadvantage and past experience tells us that these creatures would most likely begin ambush attacks to wear us down after they overcome their fear of light.
I wish I could say our flight and exit from the island’s jungle onto the beach was graceful. Kysera was sacrificing higher-level spells to keep casting darkvision spells (extended or otherwise) but she ran out by the time we reached the beach. It took Jo’Nah, Kamar, and I to guide Kata and Kysera out of the blackness. We journeyed back to the island we had rested at last night. It is nerve-wracking navigating after the sun set. I’m worried about the next leg of our journey. According to the map, there are no shoals or island between here and the next major island and my estimate puts the travel time at nearly two weeks!
April 7, 752 BC
No sign of yesterday morning’s visitors. May they finally find peace.
I am such an idiot. After spending nearly two months here, only today did I notice that the sun sits to the north. This realm is “south of the equator.” As we headed south, I noticed that our shadows were gradually swinging to the front of us as noon approached. For one who has made his adventuring career of spotting signs of supernatural activity, I should be shot by one of those pistoleers back in the Core for not noticing a natural one before now.
We had visitors this morning. I usually take the early morning watch while in the wild, so I got to meet them. As I stoked the fire to keep it going, I detected the presence of spirits. Peering into the Near-Ethereal, a couple of ragged-looking ghosts were standing near the camp. They looked like they wanted to approach the fire but were afraid to. I beckoned to them to sit by the fire but to mind my sleeping companions. With a closer look, their appearance was like they were shipwrecked sailors during the last days of their lives. Both of them looked like they had committed suicide with a pistol as their respective exit wounds were plainly visible. Their translucent bodies were emaciated, as if from hunger. I’ve heard of stories of shipwrecked sailors and exiled pirates committing suicide when hunger became unbearable and I guessed these were such ghosts. I asked for them to tell their story. Theirs was a shared story and it had some eerie details that matched our own recent shipwreck. Their ship had entered a fog bank on their home world and found themselves in uncharted waters. In less than an hour, the ship was attacked by largest shark they had ever seen and the ship began to sink. Amid the screams of their fellow sailors, the pair made their way to this shoal in a damaged dinghy and made it to a small shoal (this one as it appears these events happened decades, even centuries ago, as this shoal island has a natural water spring now and plenty of trees). They sat there for days with their hunger and thirst getting worse. Rather than face the sin of cannibalism, they committed suicide. With the end of their story, they asked for food and water. I gave them my waterskin and some of my rations which they eagerly consumed. They thanked me, stating that I was the first living being they’ve seen here since they became ghosts. As a final request, they asked if I could relate their story to whoever would listen so they or their plight wouldn’t be forgotten. As I write this, I am fulfilling this last request. With my promise kept and the sun starting to break the horizon, they faded from view and in the Near-Ethereal they also faded as they began their journey to their final reward. I related the tale of our visitors when the rest of the party awoke.
It took us nearly half the morning to make it to the dark island. The island isn’t observable as a dome of impenetrable blackness covers it. Kamar wondered if it was a manifestation of a “closed border” phenomenon, which would’ve been a problem as the tide was starting to force us toward it even as we sat discussing it. When the canoes were close enough, Kysera was about to cast an arcane eye spell when the tide shoved us through the dome. It was pitch-black inside—for those without darkvision. I mean blacker than the blackest night we ever experienced on the Nocturnal Sea or underground, and, normally, Kamar and Jo’Nah are the only two with darkvision; but not this time. I could see a black-and-white world around me. I became confused—I hadn’t done anything recently that warranted a gift for bad karma (not to my knowledge anyway). It turned out that upon later examinations the armor that I was given as a few extra enhancements beyond just protecting my soft skin. I wonder what else this armor can do.
This island was hot—hotter than the hottest days we had ever experienced in the desert realms; and muggy—we weren’t going to be here long, our endure elements spells were at their limits. As my eyes adjusted to the darkvision, I was becoming aware of a light, or at least what I thought was light. It turned out to be the etherealness of the trees. At first, I thought the forest was a ghostly one but the trees were alive. The ethereal resonance of the trees was “hard-bound” to its source. I ended up with a slight headache as my eyes adjusted. Before any spells were cast, Kamar lit a torch. While it worked, almost no light would come from it. We could see the flame but its light didn’t illuminate the area (which rendered low-light vision useless). Kysera cast an extended darkvision on Katarina and herself, but that would still limit our time on this island.
Once we adjusted ourselves to the light conditions (or lack thereof) we began to probe the interior. The plants were unusual. Kamar said the plants weren’t like the ones we had seen in the Shadow Rift and while he didn’t recognize any of them, they were natural—just alien. Due to the way I was looking at the world around me, I could see that there were animals here, or at least their equivalents. Their forms stood out like black spots against the trees, which made it nearly impossible to hide from my eyes unless they went behind something. Despite the darkvision and the ghost sight, I still have no idea what they actually looked like beyond their shapes (my guess is some form of darkvision camouflage).
It wasn’t long before we attracted the attention of something intelligent. The jungle had gone quiet in our location and with practiced ease we went into a defensive formation. Jo’Nah and Kamar couldn’t see anything with their eyes beyond the nearby trees, but our instincts were telling us something or someone was stalking us. It turned out to be a bunch of someones, a lot. High in the trees, at a distance beyond the darkvision the armor provided, I could make out the dark shapes of winged humanoid creatures reminiscent of gargoyles in shape. While I couldn’t see their features I got the impression from the body language as that I sustained a look at them, I had caught them off guard with their approach. It didn’t take long for them to overcome their apprehension of me as a spear landed, piercing the ground at my feet. The next moment, it seemed as if they were coming out of the trees, literally. They swarmed us and I could hear the others scream a little as what seemed like hundreds of these winged beings attacked us. The battle didn’t last long. Each of us easily dispatched two or three on the initial assault and we did take a few spear jabs but our tactics, honed from years of adventuring, caught them off-guard. What happened next surprised us as much as them. The creatures stopped their assault in stunned silence as our blasts, strikes, and spells lit up the area. It was during that brief respite that Kata cast a daylight spell that flickered out as quickly as it lit our surroundings (for some reason, this place impedes light-based spells that have a duration). We could actually get a good look at them. Those on the ground or in the branches were hunched over but the ones in flight were fully erect. About the size of a dwarf but definitely less stocky; dark, greenish-gray skin; lithe and graceful in flight with a long, spaded tail trailing behind them and wings reminiscent of a bat or demon. Their heads were small and bulbous with large pointed ears. What caught our attention was the number of eyes—eight of them! In less time than it took for me to write this sentence, the little creatures took flight and left. We all felt it prudent that we head back to the canoes and leave this island. Even with our spells and other abilities, we’re still at a tactical disadvantage and past experience tells us that these creatures would most likely begin ambush attacks to wear us down after they overcome their fear of light.
I wish I could say our flight and exit from the island’s jungle onto the beach was graceful. Kysera was sacrificing higher-level spells to keep casting darkvision spells (extended or otherwise) but she ran out by the time we reached the beach. It took Jo’Nah, Kamar, and I to guide Kata and Kysera out of the blackness. We journeyed back to the island we had rested at last night. It is nerve-wracking navigating after the sun set. I’m worried about the next leg of our journey. According to the map, there are no shoals or island between here and the next major island and my estimate puts the travel time at nearly two weeks!
April 7, 752 BC
No sign of yesterday morning’s visitors. May they finally find peace.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
April 16, 752 BC
What a forsaken stretch of water this is—no birds (or their equivalent) flock the sky, only the occasional shark or reptile crests or breaches for air or the final result of an attack. We’re trying some new tricks to keep our canoes moving as the wind dies down at night: Kamar takes on a water elemental form and pushed the canoes or takes the form of one of the ocean-going reptiles and with a couple of ropes, a makeshift bit, and the liberal use of invisibility to animals and a tern’s persistence on himself, he pulls the canoes like a chariot. Jo’Nah has taken to pulling us along with the bit-and-ropes trick by flying ahead (with the same spells cast on him—flight is no protection here from a hungry reptile). Otherwise, we are rowing in shifts now. We don’t dare stop for the night as an incidental encounter might be the death of us.
It was an incidental encounter that would have done me in today if it weren’t for a fortuitous discovery. A mosasaur had breached the water with what appeared to be a shark in its mouth. This beast was close enough where I could count the shark’s teeth but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the mosasaur landed close enough to knock me into the water with its splash. I was almost in a panic when I realized I was in the ocean with a mosasaur munching on a shark—there was blood in the water. My second reaction was surprise when I found myself breathing water and I was down about 10 feet in some hot water (literally). [Looking back, I hope this armor isn’t cursed with wereshark lycanthropy or something similar—although Pele doesn’t strike me as the type to do this]. I wouldn’t be able get to the canoes fast enough as by the time Kamar had figured out that I had taken a swim, the canoes were over a hundred feet away. While the mosasaur was happily munching its meal, I noticed that there were other sharks coming (bigger than great whites), attracted by the blood and the splashing, and Kamar was coming for me from a different direction—he wasn’t going to get to me before the sharks. I formed my mindblade and waited. I should consider it fortunate that mind blades are not solid matter in the traditional sense as the sharks came close enough for me to launch a volley of mindblades at one while narrowly dodging the other shark’s bite attempt. The wounded one veered away and swam off in search of easier prey while the other shark was about to make another strike when a large beast came from below and grabbed the latter in its own jaws—the mosasaur, looking for another morsel. I don’t know if it was luck, but I would be next if it hadn’t been for Kamar’s quick thinking. He had wildshaped into a water elemental form and thrust me toward the surface. As we broke the surface, I suddenly found myself in the center of a whirlwind and being gently deposited in my canoe. Kata hugged me tightly. Me taking a swim and almost becoming shark food twice in two months can do that.
I don’t know how much more of this long-distance ocean travel we can take.
What a forsaken stretch of water this is—no birds (or their equivalent) flock the sky, only the occasional shark or reptile crests or breaches for air or the final result of an attack. We’re trying some new tricks to keep our canoes moving as the wind dies down at night: Kamar takes on a water elemental form and pushed the canoes or takes the form of one of the ocean-going reptiles and with a couple of ropes, a makeshift bit, and the liberal use of invisibility to animals and a tern’s persistence on himself, he pulls the canoes like a chariot. Jo’Nah has taken to pulling us along with the bit-and-ropes trick by flying ahead (with the same spells cast on him—flight is no protection here from a hungry reptile). Otherwise, we are rowing in shifts now. We don’t dare stop for the night as an incidental encounter might be the death of us.
It was an incidental encounter that would have done me in today if it weren’t for a fortuitous discovery. A mosasaur had breached the water with what appeared to be a shark in its mouth. This beast was close enough where I could count the shark’s teeth but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the mosasaur landed close enough to knock me into the water with its splash. I was almost in a panic when I realized I was in the ocean with a mosasaur munching on a shark—there was blood in the water. My second reaction was surprise when I found myself breathing water and I was down about 10 feet in some hot water (literally). [Looking back, I hope this armor isn’t cursed with wereshark lycanthropy or something similar—although Pele doesn’t strike me as the type to do this]. I wouldn’t be able get to the canoes fast enough as by the time Kamar had figured out that I had taken a swim, the canoes were over a hundred feet away. While the mosasaur was happily munching its meal, I noticed that there were other sharks coming (bigger than great whites), attracted by the blood and the splashing, and Kamar was coming for me from a different direction—he wasn’t going to get to me before the sharks. I formed my mindblade and waited. I should consider it fortunate that mind blades are not solid matter in the traditional sense as the sharks came close enough for me to launch a volley of mindblades at one while narrowly dodging the other shark’s bite attempt. The wounded one veered away and swam off in search of easier prey while the other shark was about to make another strike when a large beast came from below and grabbed the latter in its own jaws—the mosasaur, looking for another morsel. I don’t know if it was luck, but I would be next if it hadn’t been for Kamar’s quick thinking. He had wildshaped into a water elemental form and thrust me toward the surface. As we broke the surface, I suddenly found myself in the center of a whirlwind and being gently deposited in my canoe. Kata hugged me tightly. Me taking a swim and almost becoming shark food twice in two months can do that.
I don’t know how much more of this long-distance ocean travel we can take.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
April 22, 752 BC
Finally! We’ve made it to this remote island after sixteen days in canoes. When we sighted the island, we all cheered. It turned out that our approach to the island would be difficult. The island has strong, outgoing wind and water currents and to make matters only slightly worse, the island has only two beaches. It was as if the island didn’t want to be approached. According to the map, the island is triangular in shape with an extinct volcano at each corner. Despite the novel shape of the island, the map failed to mention one thing: The hills above the beach we approached are dotted with giant statues. Each one was like a sentinel, staring out into the ocean. They’re reminiscent of the statues on the beaches of Markovia but not as detailed, as if carved by mortal hands instead of supernatural ones.
We’ve only recently made landfall and the sun is setting. We’ve set up camp in a cave above the beach. If all of the remainder of caves on this island is like this cave and other caves we scouted, then this island is riddled with lava tubes. Fortunately for us, this cave’s lava tube collapsed farther back; which means no unwanted visitors from within the island—if any.
Finally! We’ve made it to this remote island after sixteen days in canoes. When we sighted the island, we all cheered. It turned out that our approach to the island would be difficult. The island has strong, outgoing wind and water currents and to make matters only slightly worse, the island has only two beaches. It was as if the island didn’t want to be approached. According to the map, the island is triangular in shape with an extinct volcano at each corner. Despite the novel shape of the island, the map failed to mention one thing: The hills above the beach we approached are dotted with giant statues. Each one was like a sentinel, staring out into the ocean. They’re reminiscent of the statues on the beaches of Markovia but not as detailed, as if carved by mortal hands instead of supernatural ones.
We’ve only recently made landfall and the sun is setting. We’ve set up camp in a cave above the beach. If all of the remainder of caves on this island is like this cave and other caves we scouted, then this island is riddled with lava tubes. Fortunately for us, this cave’s lava tube collapsed farther back; which means no unwanted visitors from within the island—if any.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
April 23, 752 BC
Something’s wrong here. Aside from not waking up until mid-morning (we all didn’t), I woke up slightly nauseous, not enough to inhibit having breakfast or possible adventuring but noticeable. At first, I thought I might be sun-sick combined with exhaustion but then I noticed that Kamar was also a little subdued. When I asked him what was wrong, he complained about some slight nausea. What was bewildering was that Jo’Nah, Kata, and Kysera were feeling fine. After breakfast, the nausea subsided but both of us were feeling off all day.
We stowed our canoes in the cave and used a stone shape spell to hide the cave. From there, we proceeded up the hill and past the statues. The statues were impressive—at least 20 feet tall. They looked completely carved by hand—no magic whatsoever. Along the base, there were strings of petroglyphs. One petroglyph stood out—what appeared to be a birdman figure. Hmmm, there were aarakocra in the mountains near where I lived back home—I wonder if there are any here.
When we reached the top of the first hill, we surveyed our surroundings. Much of our immediate area was sparse grass and weeds on shallow hills. Nearby, a dirt road could be made out and further in the distance trees could be seen. On the road, we took note of certain features. A lot of stumps could be seen, there had been some massive deforestation on this island. While most of Kamar’s and my examinations of the stumps indicated a natural source, occasionally we would find a supernatural or magical indication of the deforestation. What made the finds even odder was the nature of the weathering on the stumps. If one would compare two stumps that were next to each other, you couldn’t tell which had been cut first. But if you compared two widely separated stumps you could make a comparison of which tree went first. The trees were being cut down at an alarming rate.
It wasn’t long before we came to a village. It was very apparent that they weren’t used to strangers; not the first time we’ve had a spear-point welcoming committee. Once we assured them of our good intentions, the villagers let us into the village. The first thing that was obvious was the number of people here. For what looks like a small village, there was at least twice the number of what one would expect. Another thing that became quickly apparent was a high percentage of calibans. I would say a safe estimate would be about one-quarter of the population was caliban. The village leader, an elderly human female, greeted us somewhat coolly and asked us why we had come to the island. I told her that we were travelers trying to get to the land to the east. It would take several more questions to each of us before she relaxed and invited us to her hut for refreshments. After receiving some local tea, we asked her about this island, its name, what happened to the trees here, and the statues. The people arrived to this island a long time ago from a heavenly land. Due to its isolation, the first settlers called it the “Navel of the World.” They were the ones to begin construction of the statues (moai). The moai are dedications to their bird-god Makemake. The statues are carved from a quarry and moved to a position along one of the edges of the island. Kamar, ever the druid, asked quietly how many statues were on the island at the moment. The answer was about one hundred, and more were being carved and/or moved every year. The sheer logistics are staggering (in terms of manpower) given the size of the moai but I then asked how many people were on the island. The elder didn’t know the exact amount but gave a guess of about 80 people for each moai in place! There are nearly 8000 people on this tiny island! No wonder the forest was being clear-cut; most regions of the Core would have trouble sustaining such a large population in a tiny area. I do have to give credit to Kamar keeping his temper in check, I don’t want any bad karma visiting us and I’ve been getting the occasional feeling of being watched since we came to this oceanic realm.
Kata then asked a delicate question about the high number of calibans. All the elder could say was that the births of such children used to be rare, usually when an expectant mother wandered into a cursed area in the forests. But in recent generations, whatever curse acted upon the location has spread across the island. Kysera was curious about this curse and asked the elder if she could have someone guide us to the original location (How does something like that expand so quickly?). The elder said that only men and women of her advanced years remember the time before the curse spread and she’s admitted to being too fragile make the trip. She did, however, draw us a map in the dirt and I committed every detail and direction to memory with a little autohypnosis. We were about to leave and head back to our camp when the elder invited (I’d say almost insisted) us to stay the night as it wasn’t safe to travel the island after sunset.
We’ve accepted the offer but I have some misgivings about staying the night here. I’ve asked Kysera to put an alarm spell with the mental alert in place before settling down for the night and Kata said she would activate her tattoo as well.
Something’s wrong here. Aside from not waking up until mid-morning (we all didn’t), I woke up slightly nauseous, not enough to inhibit having breakfast or possible adventuring but noticeable. At first, I thought I might be sun-sick combined with exhaustion but then I noticed that Kamar was also a little subdued. When I asked him what was wrong, he complained about some slight nausea. What was bewildering was that Jo’Nah, Kata, and Kysera were feeling fine. After breakfast, the nausea subsided but both of us were feeling off all day.
We stowed our canoes in the cave and used a stone shape spell to hide the cave. From there, we proceeded up the hill and past the statues. The statues were impressive—at least 20 feet tall. They looked completely carved by hand—no magic whatsoever. Along the base, there were strings of petroglyphs. One petroglyph stood out—what appeared to be a birdman figure. Hmmm, there were aarakocra in the mountains near where I lived back home—I wonder if there are any here.
When we reached the top of the first hill, we surveyed our surroundings. Much of our immediate area was sparse grass and weeds on shallow hills. Nearby, a dirt road could be made out and further in the distance trees could be seen. On the road, we took note of certain features. A lot of stumps could be seen, there had been some massive deforestation on this island. While most of Kamar’s and my examinations of the stumps indicated a natural source, occasionally we would find a supernatural or magical indication of the deforestation. What made the finds even odder was the nature of the weathering on the stumps. If one would compare two stumps that were next to each other, you couldn’t tell which had been cut first. But if you compared two widely separated stumps you could make a comparison of which tree went first. The trees were being cut down at an alarming rate.
It wasn’t long before we came to a village. It was very apparent that they weren’t used to strangers; not the first time we’ve had a spear-point welcoming committee. Once we assured them of our good intentions, the villagers let us into the village. The first thing that was obvious was the number of people here. For what looks like a small village, there was at least twice the number of what one would expect. Another thing that became quickly apparent was a high percentage of calibans. I would say a safe estimate would be about one-quarter of the population was caliban. The village leader, an elderly human female, greeted us somewhat coolly and asked us why we had come to the island. I told her that we were travelers trying to get to the land to the east. It would take several more questions to each of us before she relaxed and invited us to her hut for refreshments. After receiving some local tea, we asked her about this island, its name, what happened to the trees here, and the statues. The people arrived to this island a long time ago from a heavenly land. Due to its isolation, the first settlers called it the “Navel of the World.” They were the ones to begin construction of the statues (moai). The moai are dedications to their bird-god Makemake. The statues are carved from a quarry and moved to a position along one of the edges of the island. Kamar, ever the druid, asked quietly how many statues were on the island at the moment. The answer was about one hundred, and more were being carved and/or moved every year. The sheer logistics are staggering (in terms of manpower) given the size of the moai but I then asked how many people were on the island. The elder didn’t know the exact amount but gave a guess of about 80 people for each moai in place! There are nearly 8000 people on this tiny island! No wonder the forest was being clear-cut; most regions of the Core would have trouble sustaining such a large population in a tiny area. I do have to give credit to Kamar keeping his temper in check, I don’t want any bad karma visiting us and I’ve been getting the occasional feeling of being watched since we came to this oceanic realm.
Kata then asked a delicate question about the high number of calibans. All the elder could say was that the births of such children used to be rare, usually when an expectant mother wandered into a cursed area in the forests. But in recent generations, whatever curse acted upon the location has spread across the island. Kysera was curious about this curse and asked the elder if she could have someone guide us to the original location (How does something like that expand so quickly?). The elder said that only men and women of her advanced years remember the time before the curse spread and she’s admitted to being too fragile make the trip. She did, however, draw us a map in the dirt and I committed every detail and direction to memory with a little autohypnosis. We were about to leave and head back to our camp when the elder invited (I’d say almost insisted) us to stay the night as it wasn’t safe to travel the island after sunset.
We’ve accepted the offer but I have some misgivings about staying the night here. I’ve asked Kysera to put an alarm spell with the mental alert in place before settling down for the night and Kata said she would activate her tattoo as well.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Morning April 24, 752 BC
We were set up! No sooner than I had finished the last entry, put the book down for the night, and just loosened my armor as the sun was setting, when the sounds of screams could be heard outside and the hut door was smashed in by a large club and a giant humanoid came through the entryway. The giant was at least nine feet tall; brown, warty skin; vicious looking talons on its hands; and a distended jaw with sharp-looking teeth. I also noticed that our fire’s light had grown dimmer upon its entry. The giant never had a chance: It bore the full brunt of a thrown mindblade, an eldritch blast, and a volley of magic missiles—the blast knocked him back out of the hut. Racing outside, we saw at least a dozen more of these giants but they ranged in height from the size of the one we had just slain to about 20 feet. Six of them were standing about fifty feet away as if waiting for us; the remainder was dealing with the rest of the village.
With a roar, the six giants charged us. Jo’Nah took to the sky dodging a small giant as one of the larger giants made a successful grab at his legs; Katarina cast a flame strike positioned between her two attackers; Kysera let a blast of telekinetic force fly at one giant while Kamar wildshaped into a dire bear and charged after the same giant. That left the largest giant charging toward me with a thick tree as a greatclub. As he charged, I empowered a psychic strike and threw a volley at him. The blades hit true and the giant stumbled in his charge but didn’t fall. I dodged his blow as I attempted to re-empower my mindblade. Looking around, I could see that Kamar had his giant in a literal bear hug, Kysera had gone to help Jo’Nah (who was limp on the ground), a bright flash and thunderclap from behind told me that Katarina had cast call lightning. My opponent took another swing at me; the roots of the tree-turned-club connected with me and would’ve knocked me off my feet if it weren’t for a backward somersault. Despite my quickened pace, the giant grabbed me with his free hand and didn’t seem to be disturbed at all by my sharkskin armor. To make matters worse, the grab had pinned my arms to the sides. Lifting me up to where I could see his face, he leered, gave a gloating chuckle, and proceeded to squeeze. As the air was being squeezed out of me, I could feel my ribs begin to crack. Fortunately, a mindblade doesn’t need to be focused around hands. With my legs free, I reformed a single mindblade around my feet and kicked him in the wrist! With a roar of pain, he let go, dropping me to the ground at his feet. Not wasting time to empower a psychic strike and forming two separate mindblades instead, I cut loose with an assault of quick strikes at his legs while he tried to defend himself with his claws. The giant fired a ray from his hands which I narrowly dodged. I saw no sign of spellcasting; it must’ve been a natural spell. With this new information, I reshaped my blades back into one blade, empowered a psychic strike, and I expended my focus on something I haven’t used since I came to this dark world—I converted my mindblade into a psycarnum blade (making it glow blue), and struck him hard in the abdomen. That finished him. He didn’t even fall to his knees, he just fell over.
As the leader fell, one of the giants in the village roared—calling a retreat. The remaining giants fled into the rapidly fading light with many victims. As much as I wanted to chase after them, I was needed here. Kamar had finished crushing his giant and was making his way to Jo’Nah; Kysera was unconscious; Kata looked battered and exhausted but otherwise fine as she tended to Kysera; Jo’Nah was laying on the ground but conscious; he was putting his hat of disguise back on before any of the villagers noticed his true appearance. I could smell a faint whiff of brimstone coming from the giant corpse near him. He had used hellfire, a desperate gambit. I was the only other person that knew that he had explored that path, as he was the only one who knew I could manipulate incarnum. The others don’t know our secrets, not even Kysera. It took a long time before Jo’Nah revealed his true form to Kamar and Katarina and the use of hellfire could potentially undo all he’s done to earn that trust. Me, I haven’t used my psycarnum attack since I discovered how necromantic magic is affected here; the use of incarnum as it would be understood would smack of necromancy to them and I can’t risk that possibility at the moment. I might tell Kata in the near-future but not now.
Jo’Nah had his legs broken; I had to reset them before I cast a cure serious wounds on him. While we were tending to our own wounds, the village elder’s daughter approached and began to beseech our aid. With a leap to my feet (and a wince—I forgot that I had cracked some ribs), I angrily approached her. What follows is our conversation:
Gabriel Fox: “What do you mean ‘We need your help’? We came to this village peacefully, welcomed at spear-point, made every effort to prove our good intentions, and even stayed at your mother’s request. And for what?! To be ambushed?! You, your mother, and, by extension, your village has violated your own hospitality to set us up as sacrifices. Give me one…good…reason…why…we should help you.”
Elder’s Daughter: “It is true. We have deceived you. When the curse spread from its isolated location, the royalty was fearful that the commoners would blame them for its spreading for they were becoming decadent. They began to turn us into slaves, forcing us to continue build the moai, saying that curse’s expansion was Makemake expressing his displeasure with the workers for not completing his moai in a timely manner. This worked for awhile, but when it became apparent that the royalty’s newborn heirs were also suffering from the curse, the commoners began to rebel and civil war broke out. Food was becoming scarce as the fighting continued. People on both sides began to practice cannibalism in an effort to curb their hunger. Whatever dark force is behind the curse gradually turned the cannibals into those giants. Now they consume us not only has a means to curb their hunger, they also consume us to gain power and size.”
GF: “Nice story, but you still haven’t answered my question, and where is your mother?” [Kata quietly came up to my side at this point and gently took hold of my arm as if to restrain me while touching my back with a cure spell to heal my ribs.]
ED: “For our children. The raids have been occurring for decades but they’ve only been taking men and women. Recently, however, they’ve been grabbing young children as well. And it’s just not this village; the other villages are suffering from these new raids. I know my mother has wronged you and you have every right to walk away. Mother only wanted to protect the village, and the giants took her. Now I’m the village elder. Please, I beg you, help our children.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Kata was looking at me. She already knew what I was going to say but that didn’t stop her from silently reminding me. I wasn’t sure if we could still help the ones that were taken tonight, but there was no way I was letting future children worry about being taken from their parents. It was bad enough having them worry about losing their parents.
I consented to help but stated that we would have to wait until morning to go after them. When the new village elder protested, I pointed out that we were in no condition to go after the giants, especially at night. If we went now, the captives would surely die and the children raids would continue. After all these years and adventures, cannibalism still makes me want to throw-up. It is a grim and ironic humor that the humans on this island are now being preyed upon in an attempt to re-balance nature (I shared this revelation with Kamar and even he saw the dark humor). I’ve seen this natural correction to an overpopulation problem occur with rodents and other small, fast-breeding vermin but this is the first time I’ve seen it happen with humans on such a large scale (undead predators don’t count).
As I finish this, Kamar is returning from tracking down the giants’ lair (a wildshaped druid makes a great spy) and Katarina is finishing up her meditations. Part of me still wants to leave these islanders to their fate. It is well past mid-morning, I just hope we’re not too late.
We were set up! No sooner than I had finished the last entry, put the book down for the night, and just loosened my armor as the sun was setting, when the sounds of screams could be heard outside and the hut door was smashed in by a large club and a giant humanoid came through the entryway. The giant was at least nine feet tall; brown, warty skin; vicious looking talons on its hands; and a distended jaw with sharp-looking teeth. I also noticed that our fire’s light had grown dimmer upon its entry. The giant never had a chance: It bore the full brunt of a thrown mindblade, an eldritch blast, and a volley of magic missiles—the blast knocked him back out of the hut. Racing outside, we saw at least a dozen more of these giants but they ranged in height from the size of the one we had just slain to about 20 feet. Six of them were standing about fifty feet away as if waiting for us; the remainder was dealing with the rest of the village.
With a roar, the six giants charged us. Jo’Nah took to the sky dodging a small giant as one of the larger giants made a successful grab at his legs; Katarina cast a flame strike positioned between her two attackers; Kysera let a blast of telekinetic force fly at one giant while Kamar wildshaped into a dire bear and charged after the same giant. That left the largest giant charging toward me with a thick tree as a greatclub. As he charged, I empowered a psychic strike and threw a volley at him. The blades hit true and the giant stumbled in his charge but didn’t fall. I dodged his blow as I attempted to re-empower my mindblade. Looking around, I could see that Kamar had his giant in a literal bear hug, Kysera had gone to help Jo’Nah (who was limp on the ground), a bright flash and thunderclap from behind told me that Katarina had cast call lightning. My opponent took another swing at me; the roots of the tree-turned-club connected with me and would’ve knocked me off my feet if it weren’t for a backward somersault. Despite my quickened pace, the giant grabbed me with his free hand and didn’t seem to be disturbed at all by my sharkskin armor. To make matters worse, the grab had pinned my arms to the sides. Lifting me up to where I could see his face, he leered, gave a gloating chuckle, and proceeded to squeeze. As the air was being squeezed out of me, I could feel my ribs begin to crack. Fortunately, a mindblade doesn’t need to be focused around hands. With my legs free, I reformed a single mindblade around my feet and kicked him in the wrist! With a roar of pain, he let go, dropping me to the ground at his feet. Not wasting time to empower a psychic strike and forming two separate mindblades instead, I cut loose with an assault of quick strikes at his legs while he tried to defend himself with his claws. The giant fired a ray from his hands which I narrowly dodged. I saw no sign of spellcasting; it must’ve been a natural spell. With this new information, I reshaped my blades back into one blade, empowered a psychic strike, and I expended my focus on something I haven’t used since I came to this dark world—I converted my mindblade into a psycarnum blade (making it glow blue), and struck him hard in the abdomen. That finished him. He didn’t even fall to his knees, he just fell over.
As the leader fell, one of the giants in the village roared—calling a retreat. The remaining giants fled into the rapidly fading light with many victims. As much as I wanted to chase after them, I was needed here. Kamar had finished crushing his giant and was making his way to Jo’Nah; Kysera was unconscious; Kata looked battered and exhausted but otherwise fine as she tended to Kysera; Jo’Nah was laying on the ground but conscious; he was putting his hat of disguise back on before any of the villagers noticed his true appearance. I could smell a faint whiff of brimstone coming from the giant corpse near him. He had used hellfire, a desperate gambit. I was the only other person that knew that he had explored that path, as he was the only one who knew I could manipulate incarnum. The others don’t know our secrets, not even Kysera. It took a long time before Jo’Nah revealed his true form to Kamar and Katarina and the use of hellfire could potentially undo all he’s done to earn that trust. Me, I haven’t used my psycarnum attack since I discovered how necromantic magic is affected here; the use of incarnum as it would be understood would smack of necromancy to them and I can’t risk that possibility at the moment. I might tell Kata in the near-future but not now.
Jo’Nah had his legs broken; I had to reset them before I cast a cure serious wounds on him. While we were tending to our own wounds, the village elder’s daughter approached and began to beseech our aid. With a leap to my feet (and a wince—I forgot that I had cracked some ribs), I angrily approached her. What follows is our conversation:
Gabriel Fox: “What do you mean ‘We need your help’? We came to this village peacefully, welcomed at spear-point, made every effort to prove our good intentions, and even stayed at your mother’s request. And for what?! To be ambushed?! You, your mother, and, by extension, your village has violated your own hospitality to set us up as sacrifices. Give me one…good…reason…why…we should help you.”
Elder’s Daughter: “It is true. We have deceived you. When the curse spread from its isolated location, the royalty was fearful that the commoners would blame them for its spreading for they were becoming decadent. They began to turn us into slaves, forcing us to continue build the moai, saying that curse’s expansion was Makemake expressing his displeasure with the workers for not completing his moai in a timely manner. This worked for awhile, but when it became apparent that the royalty’s newborn heirs were also suffering from the curse, the commoners began to rebel and civil war broke out. Food was becoming scarce as the fighting continued. People on both sides began to practice cannibalism in an effort to curb their hunger. Whatever dark force is behind the curse gradually turned the cannibals into those giants. Now they consume us not only has a means to curb their hunger, they also consume us to gain power and size.”
GF: “Nice story, but you still haven’t answered my question, and where is your mother?” [Kata quietly came up to my side at this point and gently took hold of my arm as if to restrain me while touching my back with a cure spell to heal my ribs.]
ED: “For our children. The raids have been occurring for decades but they’ve only been taking men and women. Recently, however, they’ve been grabbing young children as well. And it’s just not this village; the other villages are suffering from these new raids. I know my mother has wronged you and you have every right to walk away. Mother only wanted to protect the village, and the giants took her. Now I’m the village elder. Please, I beg you, help our children.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Kata was looking at me. She already knew what I was going to say but that didn’t stop her from silently reminding me. I wasn’t sure if we could still help the ones that were taken tonight, but there was no way I was letting future children worry about being taken from their parents. It was bad enough having them worry about losing their parents.
I consented to help but stated that we would have to wait until morning to go after them. When the new village elder protested, I pointed out that we were in no condition to go after the giants, especially at night. If we went now, the captives would surely die and the children raids would continue. After all these years and adventures, cannibalism still makes me want to throw-up. It is a grim and ironic humor that the humans on this island are now being preyed upon in an attempt to re-balance nature (I shared this revelation with Kamar and even he saw the dark humor). I’ve seen this natural correction to an overpopulation problem occur with rodents and other small, fast-breeding vermin but this is the first time I’ve seen it happen with humans on such a large scale (undead predators don’t count).
As I finish this, Kamar is returning from tracking down the giants’ lair (a wildshaped druid makes a great spy) and Katarina is finishing up her meditations. Part of me still wants to leave these islanders to their fate. It is well past mid-morning, I just hope we’re not too late.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Evening April 24, 752 BC
The giants’ trail led to a series of caves along the island’s second beach (I hesitate to think what would’ve happened if we had landed here instead). Kamar informed us that they were in a large cave that was open to the sea. At the time, the villagers were inside what looked like a corral with dozens more (most likely from other villages) people inside. Kamar said he saw seven of the giants left and they were arguing among themselves. He believes that they were trying to determine who was going to be the new leader, as none of the other giants were as big as the one I had fought last night.
We made good time getting to the cave. There were no guards posted, which I thought was odd, given that they know that powerful strangers are on the island. Kamar thought it odd too when he scouted earlier but from what he’s seen, this isn’t a main camp—there are no young, no female or old giants; just a bunch of oversized young male hooligans having a raiding party.
It was easy sneaking into the cave, the sound of the surf drowned out any sound we might’ve made and the rocks made it easy to hide behind. We got close enough to gather behind a large rock and get a good look at the encampment. The corral could be made out at the far end of the cave. From what we could see, there were only four giants in the camp at the moment and it appears that they were feasting. They were getting bigger right before our eyes. Our odds were improved, but those odds were dwindling fast. Where were the other giants? One of the giants moved to one side to get something and it became clear on what they were eating. They were eating one of their own! Apparently, some of the giants didn’t like the ideas of the new leader. With this revelation, both Kysera and Katarina threw up their breakfast (my stomach didn’t like the view either but it stayed put); fortunately, the surf was still drowning out any sounds we made, but it wouldn’t be long before they would smell the vomit.
Katarina recovered enough to identify these monstrosities as dusk giants and gave information on their weak points. They were far enough away where Kysera could blast them all with a couple of fireballs but the confining space of the cave would’ve taken out quite a few, if not all, of the people we were trying to save. We needed them to come to us. Jo’Nah fired a vitriolic eldritch spear (I could smell the fumes); hit the closest giant squarely in the back, killing him as the acid ate through to the chest. The other three giants actually fell back toward the corral when they recovered their wits. So much for luring them close enough for a fireball. I underestimated their intelligence and we were going to pay for that mistake. I called a change in tactics and targeted fire only, concentrated one at a time while Kamar and I made our way to the corral. It was a bit of overkill for the concentrated fire but we didn’t know how much they had eaten and advanced and we barely held our own with six dusk giants of varying size. Kamar wildshaped into a tiny bat and flew to the corral while I leapt and bounded over rocks. One of the remaining dusk giants fired a ray—similar to the one that was fired at me last night; only this time this one connected. The sudden weakness and exhaustion caused me to tumble headlong into the rocks headfirst, knocking me out.
I came to looking at Kata’s cleavage while she cured a wound on my head; I’ve had worse post-combat wake-ups and I said as much. Kata made a comment that made me blush. Where did she learn such language? She helped me to my feet and I surveyed the surroundings. Kamar was examining a lava tube that we hadn’t seen earlier, while Kysera and Jo’Nah were helping the captives out of the corral. I then notice something was missing—where were the children? The captives said that two of the smaller giants had gathered the kids together and herded them down the lava tube that Kamar was examining. One of the captive thought she heard one of them say something about bringing the kids to someone. Could these dusk giants hooligans actually be hired thugs?
After helping the former captives out of the cave and making sure they were headed in the right direction, we headed down the lava tube that had been indicated. Kamar wildshaped into the form of some type of dwarven hound and began tracking them by scent; two giants and a bunch of frightened children shouldn’t be too hard. Earlier, I had mentioned how the lava tubes appeared to riddle the underground of this island. I see that this was an understatement. There are so many tubes down here, large and small, twisting and turning, I’m amazed that the island hasn’t collapsed. Few sections of the tubes we navigated had sea water in them. Most of these were shallow, the water seeping in from somewhere, but the giants’ path led to a tube that went completely underwater. Fortunately, it wasn’t underwater for long; the tube went down under the water, leveled out at 20 feet down, continued on for 5 feet, and then returned up at angle. This leg of the journey wouldn’t be a problem for giants or accomplished adventurers but it would be very problematic for young children. Sure enough, when I surfaced, Kamar was already on the lava tube “shore” kneeling over a couple of small bodies. Two children had drowned and the giants had cast them off. It did give us a boost in grim determination to save the rest of them.
The giants’ path went through a lot of different tunnels. The path led to a series of small, inter-connected caverns. These empty, former magma pockets smelled of seawater. One or more of these caverns had a connection to the ocean while others showed groundwater seepage from above in the form of stalactites and stalagmites. Fortunately, no darkmantles were present. As we passed among a stalagmite-riddled floor in one cavern along a path, the sounds of crying children reached our ears. About ten feet off the path, half-a-dozen children were huddled together whimpering, cowering from us. Katarina wanted to go to them but Jo’Nah stopped her—he detected an aura of illusory magic about them. Next thing we know, we’re being attacked from behind by child-sized beings with warty yellow skin and the children in front of us dropped their disguise, revealing the same features. The sheer corruption of these beings almost paralyzed us. Is this what was happening to kidnapped children? If so, how was it being done and who would do this? Were we already too late?
Despite superior skill and power, we were hampered by sheer numbers and the fact they were children. I, for one, only hesitated a moment before I began to swing to kill. It broke my heart that I had to kill these children, but I was not going to allow myself to be killed by innocence corrupted. It was better to release them from this madness. The others protested until became apparent that I was telling the truth. Kysera detonated a fireball point-blank, killing most of them, scattering the rest into the island’s tunnel network.
We returned to the path and picked up our speed to catch our quarry. The trail brought us into another cavern, this one half-filled with seawater. As we entered the cavern, the nagging sense of unease that plagued Kamar and myself since we arrived on the island, hit us full-bore here. Even the others could feel it. Kamar noted that we were probably only about 100 feet below the surface. Remembering the crude map that had been shown to us the night before, I mentally compared it our trip to this location. If my guess is right, we were right under the original “cursed area.” Keeping our voices down, we also heard other voices, female ones. Fortunately, the cavern’s floor had plenty of things to hide behind as we followed the voices. Overlooking a “beach” from a small cliff in the cavern, we peered down and saw three old-looking monstrosities with hair like dead seaweed and warty yellow skin oozing with pustules—a sea hag covey! Nearby, the two dusk giants we tracked were herding their prizes into a small pen while the hags were performing some type of blood-letting ceremony over what looked like a small, platinum goblet affixed to a small staff imbedded into the cavern floor. We haven’t fought many hags in our adventuring careers but the pieces were finally falling into place: the cursed area, the dark force behind it, the dusk giants, the unease that we all felt as we entered the cavern—the corruptive aura. These hags were OLD. It still didn’t explain the corrupted children beyond these hags had corrupted them nor why Kamar and I could feel the aura from miles away nor how their aura was spread. We had our work cut out for us.
The plan we came up with was for Kysera and Katarina to deal with the two giants and get the children to safety; Kamar and I were going to take the hags on directly while Jo’Nah lent us some fire support in the form of vitriolic eldritch blasts. Because of our exposure to the corrupted children, the hags’ appearance, even at a distance, didn’t seem to be as effective as it should’ve been. These hags were dressed in grass skirts and coconuts. “Young” sea hags have a decent resistance to spells—one can only imagine at the resistance enjoyed by a really old hag. Jo’Nah’s acidic variant, however, renders that particular defense useless.
The battle went off without a hitch—at least for Kysera and Kata. A couple of good blasting spells made short work of the giants. The rest of us, on the other hand, had our hands full. As Kamar and I charged, bolts of green energy rained down from above, first striking the chalice. Whatever ritual they were performing, striking the cup disrupted it, as it appeared to stun them briefly. Following blasts turned onto one of the hags and was consistently striking. Kamar wildshaped into a dire tiger and leaped, sinking his fangs and claws into another hag as I made leap at the last hag. My blow never struck as the hag recovered and back-handed me, sending me skidding to the edge of the salt water pool. To my surprise, the hag did a flying tackle at me as I attempted to rise and we both ended up in the pool. The pool was dark but fortunately I could see and I could see surprise on the hag’s face as she realized I could breathe water. That wouldn’t help me though as this was her playground. I dodged a couple of times as she tried to swim-by attacks but each attack came closer. Her third attack tore into me. Her claws dug deep into my gut and I began to bleed…a lot. What happened next I can only describe as a vision. The hag faded from my view as the vision took hold. It was of a man swimming in the armor I was wearing and he was battling some sea monster (the image was vague). As he fought, he invoked some sort of transformation and his features subtly changed. One thing was apparent was that he became more adept in the water and promptly slain the sea monster. As the vision faded and my eyesight cleared, I could see the hag making another attack run and a deep voice, sounding almost like my own grandfather, said: “Dig deep.” Never one discount visions when my life was on the line, I did so. My body became awash with power. My now bluish-black skin felt rougher, I could smell my own blood in the water, as well as the horrid stench of the sea hag, but more importantly I was faster. I easily avoided the hag’s charge. My thoughts were a hunter’s, but I didn’t need to be a hunter right now, I needed to be a killer or the sea hag was going to kill me. Kill or be killed. With that thought, my size increased, my skin even rougher, my senses more acute, my speed faster, my hands claws, my jaw gaining strength, and the urge to use them. Despite the urge, I formed a mindblade empowered with a psychic strike. The sea hag’s charge faltered at my new appearance and I attacked with a ferocity I didn’t know I had within me. Several good hits out from my blades knocked her out of the water and back into the cavern. I swam to the surface after her and went ashore. My opponent lay on the cavern floor at the feet of my companions, dead. The looks on their faces was a mixture of concern and fear. Before I could explain, I collapsed into unconsciousness from blood loss.
I awoke a few minutes later, lying on my back with both Kamar and Kata kneeling over me, tending my wounds. Jo’Nah and Kysera, I was told, were guiding the children back to the village. As soon as I was strong enough, I described the battle, the vision, everything that happened. Kata wants to destroy the suit, believing it to be cursed but Kamar disagrees. He said that there are many battle spells, arcane and divine, that precipitate a transformation for increased abilities in the user instead of blasting his opponents. Kamar pointed out several of the spells from Kata’s lost prayerbook that did just that, it was just that this one was a lot more visual. They then asked if I had lost any control or had a blackout and I responded with a negative. I described the smells of the water and the fact I empowered my mindblade—I even told Kata I was worried about some type of lycanthropy. To Kamar, it sounded like the armor had been enchanted with a powerful nature-spell to be used by the wearer in times of need, but he would check for lycanthropy at the next earliest convenience. The armor’s material was probably no coincidence: sharkskin armor equals the power of a shark.
The treasure of the hags was pretty considerable given the financially poor state of the island’s inhabitants. A Heward’s handy haversack, several divine magic scrolls, a metamagic rod, several lesser restoration wands, a portable hole, and an unusual figurine of wondrous power made of whale-shaped coral. More importantly, we found several books. One of the books was a book on hag magic (while this would be of interest to friends and colleagues left behind in the Core, this one is being destroyed). The second book described the ritual the hags were performing. Apparently, when the blood or equivalent is placed the platinum cup by a creature with an aura of some type, the aura spreads across a large geographic area. Weakened, yes, but still strong enough for effects to take place. The third and final book was the most horrible. The book described a land or world recovering from a recent war between gods and titans called the “Scarred Lands.” There, hags are even more diverse. Occasionally, the hags there get a maternal instinct and will force captured children through a process similar to what creates hags in the first place. The children then become miniature versions of the hags; gaining similar, but weaker, abilities of the “mother” hag. The process is quite detailed and formulae for every hag known (that I was aware of), and a few unknowns, were within the book. These foul books must be destroyed.
As I finish this entry, we’ve been back at the village for several hours now. I’m writing by the firelight of the bonfire that burns the foul books to ash. I swear, even now, I hear a foul hiss in the air as the books burn. It is as if the dark forces of this world are taking offense to our thwarting them. The nausea that Kamar and I were experiencing has subsided and none of the kids captured last night had been corrupted with the hagling process; which is small comfort when I think about the haglings that escaped when we turned the tables on them. I’m going to bed.
The giants’ trail led to a series of caves along the island’s second beach (I hesitate to think what would’ve happened if we had landed here instead). Kamar informed us that they were in a large cave that was open to the sea. At the time, the villagers were inside what looked like a corral with dozens more (most likely from other villages) people inside. Kamar said he saw seven of the giants left and they were arguing among themselves. He believes that they were trying to determine who was going to be the new leader, as none of the other giants were as big as the one I had fought last night.
We made good time getting to the cave. There were no guards posted, which I thought was odd, given that they know that powerful strangers are on the island. Kamar thought it odd too when he scouted earlier but from what he’s seen, this isn’t a main camp—there are no young, no female or old giants; just a bunch of oversized young male hooligans having a raiding party.
It was easy sneaking into the cave, the sound of the surf drowned out any sound we might’ve made and the rocks made it easy to hide behind. We got close enough to gather behind a large rock and get a good look at the encampment. The corral could be made out at the far end of the cave. From what we could see, there were only four giants in the camp at the moment and it appears that they were feasting. They were getting bigger right before our eyes. Our odds were improved, but those odds were dwindling fast. Where were the other giants? One of the giants moved to one side to get something and it became clear on what they were eating. They were eating one of their own! Apparently, some of the giants didn’t like the ideas of the new leader. With this revelation, both Kysera and Katarina threw up their breakfast (my stomach didn’t like the view either but it stayed put); fortunately, the surf was still drowning out any sounds we made, but it wouldn’t be long before they would smell the vomit.
Katarina recovered enough to identify these monstrosities as dusk giants and gave information on their weak points. They were far enough away where Kysera could blast them all with a couple of fireballs but the confining space of the cave would’ve taken out quite a few, if not all, of the people we were trying to save. We needed them to come to us. Jo’Nah fired a vitriolic eldritch spear (I could smell the fumes); hit the closest giant squarely in the back, killing him as the acid ate through to the chest. The other three giants actually fell back toward the corral when they recovered their wits. So much for luring them close enough for a fireball. I underestimated their intelligence and we were going to pay for that mistake. I called a change in tactics and targeted fire only, concentrated one at a time while Kamar and I made our way to the corral. It was a bit of overkill for the concentrated fire but we didn’t know how much they had eaten and advanced and we barely held our own with six dusk giants of varying size. Kamar wildshaped into a tiny bat and flew to the corral while I leapt and bounded over rocks. One of the remaining dusk giants fired a ray—similar to the one that was fired at me last night; only this time this one connected. The sudden weakness and exhaustion caused me to tumble headlong into the rocks headfirst, knocking me out.
I came to looking at Kata’s cleavage while she cured a wound on my head; I’ve had worse post-combat wake-ups and I said as much. Kata made a comment that made me blush. Where did she learn such language? She helped me to my feet and I surveyed the surroundings. Kamar was examining a lava tube that we hadn’t seen earlier, while Kysera and Jo’Nah were helping the captives out of the corral. I then notice something was missing—where were the children? The captives said that two of the smaller giants had gathered the kids together and herded them down the lava tube that Kamar was examining. One of the captive thought she heard one of them say something about bringing the kids to someone. Could these dusk giants hooligans actually be hired thugs?
After helping the former captives out of the cave and making sure they were headed in the right direction, we headed down the lava tube that had been indicated. Kamar wildshaped into the form of some type of dwarven hound and began tracking them by scent; two giants and a bunch of frightened children shouldn’t be too hard. Earlier, I had mentioned how the lava tubes appeared to riddle the underground of this island. I see that this was an understatement. There are so many tubes down here, large and small, twisting and turning, I’m amazed that the island hasn’t collapsed. Few sections of the tubes we navigated had sea water in them. Most of these were shallow, the water seeping in from somewhere, but the giants’ path led to a tube that went completely underwater. Fortunately, it wasn’t underwater for long; the tube went down under the water, leveled out at 20 feet down, continued on for 5 feet, and then returned up at angle. This leg of the journey wouldn’t be a problem for giants or accomplished adventurers but it would be very problematic for young children. Sure enough, when I surfaced, Kamar was already on the lava tube “shore” kneeling over a couple of small bodies. Two children had drowned and the giants had cast them off. It did give us a boost in grim determination to save the rest of them.
The giants’ path went through a lot of different tunnels. The path led to a series of small, inter-connected caverns. These empty, former magma pockets smelled of seawater. One or more of these caverns had a connection to the ocean while others showed groundwater seepage from above in the form of stalactites and stalagmites. Fortunately, no darkmantles were present. As we passed among a stalagmite-riddled floor in one cavern along a path, the sounds of crying children reached our ears. About ten feet off the path, half-a-dozen children were huddled together whimpering, cowering from us. Katarina wanted to go to them but Jo’Nah stopped her—he detected an aura of illusory magic about them. Next thing we know, we’re being attacked from behind by child-sized beings with warty yellow skin and the children in front of us dropped their disguise, revealing the same features. The sheer corruption of these beings almost paralyzed us. Is this what was happening to kidnapped children? If so, how was it being done and who would do this? Were we already too late?
Despite superior skill and power, we were hampered by sheer numbers and the fact they were children. I, for one, only hesitated a moment before I began to swing to kill. It broke my heart that I had to kill these children, but I was not going to allow myself to be killed by innocence corrupted. It was better to release them from this madness. The others protested until became apparent that I was telling the truth. Kysera detonated a fireball point-blank, killing most of them, scattering the rest into the island’s tunnel network.
We returned to the path and picked up our speed to catch our quarry. The trail brought us into another cavern, this one half-filled with seawater. As we entered the cavern, the nagging sense of unease that plagued Kamar and myself since we arrived on the island, hit us full-bore here. Even the others could feel it. Kamar noted that we were probably only about 100 feet below the surface. Remembering the crude map that had been shown to us the night before, I mentally compared it our trip to this location. If my guess is right, we were right under the original “cursed area.” Keeping our voices down, we also heard other voices, female ones. Fortunately, the cavern’s floor had plenty of things to hide behind as we followed the voices. Overlooking a “beach” from a small cliff in the cavern, we peered down and saw three old-looking monstrosities with hair like dead seaweed and warty yellow skin oozing with pustules—a sea hag covey! Nearby, the two dusk giants we tracked were herding their prizes into a small pen while the hags were performing some type of blood-letting ceremony over what looked like a small, platinum goblet affixed to a small staff imbedded into the cavern floor. We haven’t fought many hags in our adventuring careers but the pieces were finally falling into place: the cursed area, the dark force behind it, the dusk giants, the unease that we all felt as we entered the cavern—the corruptive aura. These hags were OLD. It still didn’t explain the corrupted children beyond these hags had corrupted them nor why Kamar and I could feel the aura from miles away nor how their aura was spread. We had our work cut out for us.
The plan we came up with was for Kysera and Katarina to deal with the two giants and get the children to safety; Kamar and I were going to take the hags on directly while Jo’Nah lent us some fire support in the form of vitriolic eldritch blasts. Because of our exposure to the corrupted children, the hags’ appearance, even at a distance, didn’t seem to be as effective as it should’ve been. These hags were dressed in grass skirts and coconuts. “Young” sea hags have a decent resistance to spells—one can only imagine at the resistance enjoyed by a really old hag. Jo’Nah’s acidic variant, however, renders that particular defense useless.
The battle went off without a hitch—at least for Kysera and Kata. A couple of good blasting spells made short work of the giants. The rest of us, on the other hand, had our hands full. As Kamar and I charged, bolts of green energy rained down from above, first striking the chalice. Whatever ritual they were performing, striking the cup disrupted it, as it appeared to stun them briefly. Following blasts turned onto one of the hags and was consistently striking. Kamar wildshaped into a dire tiger and leaped, sinking his fangs and claws into another hag as I made leap at the last hag. My blow never struck as the hag recovered and back-handed me, sending me skidding to the edge of the salt water pool. To my surprise, the hag did a flying tackle at me as I attempted to rise and we both ended up in the pool. The pool was dark but fortunately I could see and I could see surprise on the hag’s face as she realized I could breathe water. That wouldn’t help me though as this was her playground. I dodged a couple of times as she tried to swim-by attacks but each attack came closer. Her third attack tore into me. Her claws dug deep into my gut and I began to bleed…a lot. What happened next I can only describe as a vision. The hag faded from my view as the vision took hold. It was of a man swimming in the armor I was wearing and he was battling some sea monster (the image was vague). As he fought, he invoked some sort of transformation and his features subtly changed. One thing was apparent was that he became more adept in the water and promptly slain the sea monster. As the vision faded and my eyesight cleared, I could see the hag making another attack run and a deep voice, sounding almost like my own grandfather, said: “Dig deep.” Never one discount visions when my life was on the line, I did so. My body became awash with power. My now bluish-black skin felt rougher, I could smell my own blood in the water, as well as the horrid stench of the sea hag, but more importantly I was faster. I easily avoided the hag’s charge. My thoughts were a hunter’s, but I didn’t need to be a hunter right now, I needed to be a killer or the sea hag was going to kill me. Kill or be killed. With that thought, my size increased, my skin even rougher, my senses more acute, my speed faster, my hands claws, my jaw gaining strength, and the urge to use them. Despite the urge, I formed a mindblade empowered with a psychic strike. The sea hag’s charge faltered at my new appearance and I attacked with a ferocity I didn’t know I had within me. Several good hits out from my blades knocked her out of the water and back into the cavern. I swam to the surface after her and went ashore. My opponent lay on the cavern floor at the feet of my companions, dead. The looks on their faces was a mixture of concern and fear. Before I could explain, I collapsed into unconsciousness from blood loss.
I awoke a few minutes later, lying on my back with both Kamar and Kata kneeling over me, tending my wounds. Jo’Nah and Kysera, I was told, were guiding the children back to the village. As soon as I was strong enough, I described the battle, the vision, everything that happened. Kata wants to destroy the suit, believing it to be cursed but Kamar disagrees. He said that there are many battle spells, arcane and divine, that precipitate a transformation for increased abilities in the user instead of blasting his opponents. Kamar pointed out several of the spells from Kata’s lost prayerbook that did just that, it was just that this one was a lot more visual. They then asked if I had lost any control or had a blackout and I responded with a negative. I described the smells of the water and the fact I empowered my mindblade—I even told Kata I was worried about some type of lycanthropy. To Kamar, it sounded like the armor had been enchanted with a powerful nature-spell to be used by the wearer in times of need, but he would check for lycanthropy at the next earliest convenience. The armor’s material was probably no coincidence: sharkskin armor equals the power of a shark.
The treasure of the hags was pretty considerable given the financially poor state of the island’s inhabitants. A Heward’s handy haversack, several divine magic scrolls, a metamagic rod, several lesser restoration wands, a portable hole, and an unusual figurine of wondrous power made of whale-shaped coral. More importantly, we found several books. One of the books was a book on hag magic (while this would be of interest to friends and colleagues left behind in the Core, this one is being destroyed). The second book described the ritual the hags were performing. Apparently, when the blood or equivalent is placed the platinum cup by a creature with an aura of some type, the aura spreads across a large geographic area. Weakened, yes, but still strong enough for effects to take place. The third and final book was the most horrible. The book described a land or world recovering from a recent war between gods and titans called the “Scarred Lands.” There, hags are even more diverse. Occasionally, the hags there get a maternal instinct and will force captured children through a process similar to what creates hags in the first place. The children then become miniature versions of the hags; gaining similar, but weaker, abilities of the “mother” hag. The process is quite detailed and formulae for every hag known (that I was aware of), and a few unknowns, were within the book. These foul books must be destroyed.
As I finish this entry, we’ve been back at the village for several hours now. I’m writing by the firelight of the bonfire that burns the foul books to ash. I swear, even now, I hear a foul hiss in the air as the books burn. It is as if the dark forces of this world are taking offense to our thwarting them. The nausea that Kamar and I were experiencing has subsided and none of the kids captured last night had been corrupted with the hagling process; which is small comfort when I think about the haglings that escaped when we turned the tables on them. I’m going to bed.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
April 30, 752 BC
It’s been six days since we left that gods-forsaken “Navel-of-the-World.” I wasn’t the only one who was pleased when we lost sight of the island. Our adventure on the island really tasked us emotionally. Between the unabated and unforgiving deforestation, the desperate treachery of the village we visited, the cannibalism of the giants, and the corruption of the children into miniature hags, our sanity has been stretched pretty thin. Kata’s been complaining of nightmares involving children and the Iron Mermaid. According to the map, we should only be a few days’ more travel to the eastern land. We’re starting to see this realm’s equivalent to sea gulls—flying reptiles with beaks reminiscent of pelicans and some toothed birds. On the Nocturnal Sea and the Sea of Sorrows, with sea gulls, it usually meant that land was within a few days travel—I see no reason for it to be any different here.
I should say something about the weather here. In the three months that we’ve been here, there hasn’t been a day where we havn’t encountered or witnessed some type of shower or storm. I’ve said in an earlier entry that the seawater here is warmer than bathwater. Through my own connection to nature I know, barring supernatural or mystical intervention, humid air or large amounts of warm water tend to trigger storms; and this realm’s weather is no different. We’ve encountered light rain showers and decent storms during our travel across Moana o Kamohoalii. Control weather spells keep the worst effects away from our tiny boats but I remember stories one of my grandmas telling me about summertime, cyclonic storms that occur in the tropical regions where the summer sun heats the water. It is barely springtime here [author's note: the line through that sentence didn't translate through] It is barely autumn here and we have yet to encounter one of these big storms.
We’re sighting more ghost ships on this leg of the journey. I’ve sighted at least a dozen spectral ships over the past three days at varied distances. Most have been horizon sightings but one was close enough to read the name inscribed on the ship’s ghostly hull, Oblivion’s Wake (rather apropos). It was formerly a merchant vessel and its ghostly crew took no notice of us.
It’s been six days since we left that gods-forsaken “Navel-of-the-World.” I wasn’t the only one who was pleased when we lost sight of the island. Our adventure on the island really tasked us emotionally. Between the unabated and unforgiving deforestation, the desperate treachery of the village we visited, the cannibalism of the giants, and the corruption of the children into miniature hags, our sanity has been stretched pretty thin. Kata’s been complaining of nightmares involving children and the Iron Mermaid. According to the map, we should only be a few days’ more travel to the eastern land. We’re starting to see this realm’s equivalent to sea gulls—flying reptiles with beaks reminiscent of pelicans and some toothed birds. On the Nocturnal Sea and the Sea of Sorrows, with sea gulls, it usually meant that land was within a few days travel—I see no reason for it to be any different here.
I should say something about the weather here. In the three months that we’ve been here, there hasn’t been a day where we havn’t encountered or witnessed some type of shower or storm. I’ve said in an earlier entry that the seawater here is warmer than bathwater. Through my own connection to nature I know, barring supernatural or mystical intervention, humid air or large amounts of warm water tend to trigger storms; and this realm’s weather is no different. We’ve encountered light rain showers and decent storms during our travel across Moana o Kamohoalii. Control weather spells keep the worst effects away from our tiny boats but I remember stories one of my grandmas telling me about summertime, cyclonic storms that occur in the tropical regions where the summer sun heats the water. It is barely springtime here [author's note: the line through that sentence didn't translate through] It is barely autumn here and we have yet to encounter one of these big storms.
We’re sighting more ghost ships on this leg of the journey. I’ve sighted at least a dozen spectral ships over the past three days at varied distances. Most have been horizon sightings but one was close enough to read the name inscribed on the ship’s ghostly hull, Oblivion’s Wake (rather apropos). It was formerly a merchant vessel and its ghostly crew took no notice of us.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
May 2, 752 BC
We made landfall this morning. Our approach was, for the most part, uneventful. A migrating herd of duck-billed dinosaurs was strolling across the beach we were approaching. Of course, they only took notice of us when we stepped out of the canoes into the surf; startling them as we broke the enchantment on the canoes. As we clambered onto the dry beach, a sensation became apparent. This sensation was of a need to conform, to strive for perfection, to obey—it was very distracting. Katarina and Kamar were the only two that found comfort in it. Unlike other border-crossing sensations, this one didn’t fade—this land is a different realm! Moana o Kamohoalii is part of a cluster!
We decided to stow the canoes in the portable hole and hike inland. The map indicates that this is a long coastline—if we managed to hide them someplace near here, there would be no guarantees of us finding them again. This land is beautiful. There are tropical flowers that I’ve never seen before mixed in with flowers I’ve seen on some of the islands here. The sounds of animals in the forest was simultaneously familiar and different. The buzzing drone of insects in a forest is typical but animal calls that I would normally associate with birds and mammals are the calls of animals of a more reptilian persuasion. About mid-day, our hike through the forest came upon a cliff. The panorama was breathtaking—the forest continued from the base of the cliff, radiating outward for miles in several directions. A wide river could be made out at about halfway to the horizon. On the horizon, the treeline’s edge could be seen to the north and a small ribbon of brown was visible. Much closer, to the south, the river could be seen twisting through what looks like an arid prairie. The mosaic of colors was impressive. A faint mist hung over the trees as pterosaurs skimmed the treetops and the long necks of large herbivores occasionally poked their tiny heads through the trees. Occasionally, the calls of these massive beasts mixed with pterosaur screeches reached our ears creating a musical cacophony.
Descending the cliff was interesting—while Jo’Nah, Kamar, and Kysera had personal means of flight to descend the cliff; Katarina and I were out of luck unless we decided to jump (not that I hadn’t considered it). Fortunately, Kamar actually had an animal shapes spell prepared and he volunteered to cast it on the entire party. He stated that the duration would be long enough (about two-thirds of a day) where we could cover a lot of distance if we took the form of a flying animal and we could individually end the spell’s effect if necessary. The idea was novel enough that Jo’Nah and Kysera eagerly agreed as polymorph-type spells weren’t in their repertoire. Kamar cast the spell on all of us and chose the form of the pterosaurs that were skimming the jungle tops.
What a rush! The thrill of non-magical flight (so to speak) was exhilarating. It took Katarina and me few moments to get our wings but eventually we were diving in and out of the treetops, dodging branches and leaves. Even with pacing ourselves, we were covering a vast distance in a relatively short amount of time and found ourselves at the river and decided to follow it upstream. The river meandered through the prairie and back into the jungle several times before we settled down for the night just inside the jungle’s edge. Aside from a curious craving for bugs and small lizards; and, for me, getting scratched by thorny plant upon return to my normal form; the time spent in a pterosaur’s form was definitely a pleasant one. It’s been a long time since we’ve used any form of shapechanging magic without fear of lynching. Kysera’s mood has definitely improved and she promptly kissed Kamar on the forehead as we settle down for the night, much to Kamar’s embarrassment and our delight.
The only downer about sleeping out in the wild tonight is the question of what types of nocturnal predators this realm has. It’s one thing to deal with normal-sized animals or even animals that are the size of wagons—but what do you do about animals that are the size of houses and buildings? Even the non-meat-eaters are a potential threat just by their sheer size. We could be stepped on with no other intention than that they don’t see us. Let’s hope the night goes peacefully.
We made landfall this morning. Our approach was, for the most part, uneventful. A migrating herd of duck-billed dinosaurs was strolling across the beach we were approaching. Of course, they only took notice of us when we stepped out of the canoes into the surf; startling them as we broke the enchantment on the canoes. As we clambered onto the dry beach, a sensation became apparent. This sensation was of a need to conform, to strive for perfection, to obey—it was very distracting. Katarina and Kamar were the only two that found comfort in it. Unlike other border-crossing sensations, this one didn’t fade—this land is a different realm! Moana o Kamohoalii is part of a cluster!
We decided to stow the canoes in the portable hole and hike inland. The map indicates that this is a long coastline—if we managed to hide them someplace near here, there would be no guarantees of us finding them again. This land is beautiful. There are tropical flowers that I’ve never seen before mixed in with flowers I’ve seen on some of the islands here. The sounds of animals in the forest was simultaneously familiar and different. The buzzing drone of insects in a forest is typical but animal calls that I would normally associate with birds and mammals are the calls of animals of a more reptilian persuasion. About mid-day, our hike through the forest came upon a cliff. The panorama was breathtaking—the forest continued from the base of the cliff, radiating outward for miles in several directions. A wide river could be made out at about halfway to the horizon. On the horizon, the treeline’s edge could be seen to the north and a small ribbon of brown was visible. Much closer, to the south, the river could be seen twisting through what looks like an arid prairie. The mosaic of colors was impressive. A faint mist hung over the trees as pterosaurs skimmed the treetops and the long necks of large herbivores occasionally poked their tiny heads through the trees. Occasionally, the calls of these massive beasts mixed with pterosaur screeches reached our ears creating a musical cacophony.
Descending the cliff was interesting—while Jo’Nah, Kamar, and Kysera had personal means of flight to descend the cliff; Katarina and I were out of luck unless we decided to jump (not that I hadn’t considered it). Fortunately, Kamar actually had an animal shapes spell prepared and he volunteered to cast it on the entire party. He stated that the duration would be long enough (about two-thirds of a day) where we could cover a lot of distance if we took the form of a flying animal and we could individually end the spell’s effect if necessary. The idea was novel enough that Jo’Nah and Kysera eagerly agreed as polymorph-type spells weren’t in their repertoire. Kamar cast the spell on all of us and chose the form of the pterosaurs that were skimming the jungle tops.
What a rush! The thrill of non-magical flight (so to speak) was exhilarating. It took Katarina and me few moments to get our wings but eventually we were diving in and out of the treetops, dodging branches and leaves. Even with pacing ourselves, we were covering a vast distance in a relatively short amount of time and found ourselves at the river and decided to follow it upstream. The river meandered through the prairie and back into the jungle several times before we settled down for the night just inside the jungle’s edge. Aside from a curious craving for bugs and small lizards; and, for me, getting scratched by thorny plant upon return to my normal form; the time spent in a pterosaur’s form was definitely a pleasant one. It’s been a long time since we’ve used any form of shapechanging magic without fear of lynching. Kysera’s mood has definitely improved and she promptly kissed Kamar on the forehead as we settle down for the night, much to Kamar’s embarrassment and our delight.
The only downer about sleeping out in the wild tonight is the question of what types of nocturnal predators this realm has. It’s one thing to deal with normal-sized animals or even animals that are the size of wagons—but what do you do about animals that are the size of houses and buildings? Even the non-meat-eaters are a potential threat just by their sheer size. We could be stepped on with no other intention than that they don’t see us. Let’s hope the night goes peacefully.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
May 3, 752 BC
The night passed relatively uneventfully. A few curious, bug eaters took note of our presence and our fire but left us alone. The surprise came to us as the sun broke the horizon. As usual, I was on the early morning watch and I took note of the eastern sky beginning to lighten up. An hour later, the morning hoots and chirps fell silent, even the wind was still. As the sky became lighter, I detected a faint rumbling, like the sound of a quake approaching. I woke the party with a simple orison and we waited a few nerve-wracking minutes. Nothing happened for a few minutes but there was a sense of anticipation in the air—something was going happen. What happened as the sun broke the horizon was something none of us anticipated. From our vantage point at the river’s edge, we could see to the border of the jungle meeting the grassland; that border shifted—fast! On our side of the river, the grassland rapidly overtook the forest growth; the trees and undergrowth just collapsed; and we soon found ourselves in arid prairie, even the soil changed to match the new growth. Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, the tree line rippled as some of the prairie advanced while a few hundred feet away from the river, the trees were advancing on the prairie instead. And it wasn’t steady; it was like a battlefield, the forest would advance on the grassland, the grassland would take over another section of the forest, and then the forest would reclaim it a few seconds later. It was like nature was at war with itself. And, as quickly as it started, it stopped as soon as the sun cleared the horizon and the morning noises resumed.
Our camp was in shambles; the warring ecosystems had swallowed up our campfire and nearly swallowed our gear. Just what we don’t need—the need to resupply after nature took its wrath out on us, again. Needless to say, our respective meditations took a little longer than normal. We were all too jumpy; the thought of the ground shifting terrain beneath our feet kept popping into our minds. It’s not like we haven’t meditated in chaotic environments, such as the bottom of the Shadow Rift and the Nightmare Lands, but this was where nature could potentially, and quite literally, bury you in an explosion of growth.
It was mid-morning before we finally broke camp. Crossing the river, we decided to stick with the grasslands, skirting the edge of the jungle as much as possible. It wasn’t long before I noticed that we had attracted company. I couldn’t see or hear them but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Whoever or whatever they were, they were keeping pace with us and maintaining their silence. I was at the rear of the party while Kamar was in the lead. I commented to Kamar that this trek was like our time spent Kartakass. He agreed stating that Verbrek and Arkandale were also similar. Kysera stated that it felt more like the Verdurous Lands. I hadn’t thought of that, the awakened animals of the Wildlands were dangerous enough; was this land the dinosaur equivalent? The answer to that question came quickly as we were ambushed on all sides. Our ambushers were roughly man-sized with an appearance of a mix of reptilian hide and feathers, long tails, sharp teeth, decent foreclaws, and deadly feet with a sickle-shaped talon. Raptors? I did notice a slight metallic sheen to their appearance as we hadn’t noticed this on most of the other dinosaurs here. Their attack was swift and would’ve been deadly to a lesser prepared party. While Kysera and Katarina were knocked down onto their back by their respective attackers, Jo’Nah’s attacker received an eldritch blast-empowered slash from Jo’Nah’s heavy sickle; my attacker actually got a claw into me before receiving a psychic strike in the gut; and Kamar’s attacker got the surprise of its life when its dwarf prey suddenly became an armored reptile. Jo’Nah’s and my attackers were dead and we moved onto Kysera’s and Katarina’s attackers and dispatched them quickly. Kamar’s got the hint and left with several others that had been waiting in the bushes. Both Kysera and Katarina took a couple good claws hits but fortunately neither of them received any hits from those sickle claws. It was only after checking for our own wounds that we noticed that one of our dead attackers was actually wearing what appeared to be a harness or belt of some kind. It was non-magical and several unusual alchemical items were attached to it with loose, vine ties. Tool-using dinosaurs?
Moving on, we continued to hug the jungle border for several more hours. We had no further encounters with our attackers but we did see quite a few herds of grazing animals, usually the triceratops kind (or one of its kin) and a few long-necked behemoths. It’s amazing how much of their behavior is mammal-like. If it were not for their appearance, I would swear that we were hiking through“normal” grassland.
Our trek led us to the edge of a deep, river-cut gorge. Kamar was ready to cast animal shapes again but Katarina spotted a fallen tree bridging the gorge. When we arrived at the “bridge,” the way across was blocked. Standing in the middle of the log, over the gorge, was a lone raptor. It appeared that it was waiting for us. Kamar offered to go confront the “toll taker,” and the three other spellcasters called a vote just to blast it off the bridge but I vetoed that idea stating that it might damage the bridge and it would be better to not waste spells. Climbing onto the log, I cautiously moved out over the gorge. The log bridge was fairly wide so balance was a minor issue. As I moved closer to the raptor, he showed no signs of moving to attack, just a marked interest in my progress. I noticed that the raptor was using his foot talons to keep him from slipping and I was wishing I could do that. I don’t normally have a problem with heights but I still made the mistake of looking down. How can a distance measured horizontally not be that far but when the same distance is measured vertically it looks like forever? Soon I was face-to-face with our opposition and yet he still didn’t attack. I decided to initiate conversation:
Gabriel Fox: Given the fact you haven’t attacked me yet and that one of your kind that we dispatched was wearing a belt of some kind, I’m going to guess that you’re intelligent.
Raptor (in a rough, gravelly voice): More intelligent than your kind, you hairless, soft-skinned rat.
GF: Possibly, but then again, superior intelligence doesn’t mean superior skill. Why do you block our path?
Raptor: I’ve been following you since your arrival on the beach. I’m in need of a new tribe and you're powerful warriors. Your recent skirmish with those Clear Sky tribe hunters proves this. I will lead you to many victories.
GF (raised eyebrows): You will lead? We already have a party leader and I’m not interested in a life of constant battle.
Raptor: But you are adventurers, are you not? Battle is part of your life.
GF: True, but so is exploration and righting wrongs. A life of pure battle isn’t life if you don’t get to enjoy the rewards. I will say that we do need a guide. Are there any cities or at least humanoid habitation in this land?
Raptor: Of course. There are seven cities, scattered throughout the land. Your generally eastward trek would’ve brought you to one of the main roads.
GF: Does this mean you’re willing to join us?
Raptor: We need to establish a pecking order; it is the way of things. You and me, one-on-one combat, here on this bridge. You win—I become your guide; I win—I will lead your group.
GF: I cannot attest to the willingness of my companions to follow you but I will duel. But to make it interesting, it will only be to first blood. You have many physical advantages and I do not feel like to be on the receiving end of those sickle-talons of yours.
Raptor (chuckling): Agreed.
GF: Can I, at least, have your name before we fight.
Raptor: Tobodin, and yours?
GF: Gabriel.
I don’t know how much of the conversation made it to the rest of the party’s ears but from the looks on their faces they had heard enough or they know me too well. I won’t go into the details of the fight as it was as much a balancing game as it is was fight. Neither of us could strike a blow as we were both making efforts to keep our attacks from striking the bridge as the bridge, a very wide log, was still unstable enough to be a challenge for any combat—it was only the most unlikely of circumstances that Tobodin had lost his footing. If it hadn’t been for my rush to grab him as he fell over the side, he would’ve fallen onto the rocks far below. Kata and Kysera were telling me to let him go as I was also slipping toward a similar fate. Even Tobodin agreed but I pointed out dying in battle was different than dying needlessly and I didn’t want a needless death on my conscious just because the raptor slipped. With much effort, the party pulled me and Tobodin to safety and we crossed the bridge to the other side of the gorge.
Tobodin has guided us into the forest to an abandoned temple. The temple is a stepped pyramid with its exterior choked with ivies and small plants. The entrance to the temple was at the top of the pyramid. Night was falling and Tobodin believed we should be safe for the night here. During the trek to the temple, we asked many questions about this land. He said that the native humans call this realm Tlacuiltlan, the “Painted Land;” and seven cities occupy this realm—each one in a different natural habitat. His people had been called through time or reborn (the concept is hard to convey has Tobodin’s people’s aren’t quite sure either) to serve in a war by a powerful mage. Legends say that the wizard needed the perfect warriors to deal with war from other cities and the raptors were the perfect choice.
It should be noted that Tobodin’s people are not magically awakened in the traditional sense. He registers as animal and would most likely be affected as such by certain spells and he shows no sign of the corruption that seems to take over awakened entities. However, Tobodin is intelligent; I would guess that an average raptor is probably more intelligent than an average human. As a race, there isn’t much in the way of true spellcasting. From his descriptions, his people are familiar with psionics, natural alchemy, and, if I understand him right, meldshaping incarnum. The larger and smaller raptors, while similar in appearance, do not share the intelligence of Tobodin’s people. Tobodin ascribes this to a legend involving his people’s god. Kamar has just reminded me that although calling them raptors might be appropriate, he says that he has seen texts with drawings calling Tobodin’s people “deinonychus” (singular). Also according to Kamar, none of those same drawings or texts even remotely mentioned feathers, much less non-magical intelligence.
We did ask about the events of this morning with the landscape. He said that the shifting landscape was remnant of the last war. The battles had become so intense in those last days that druids and other friends of nature attempted to use nature to stop the war. How has been lost to time, but every morning since, from the time the sun breaks the horizon to when the sun clears it, the various environments war with each other. The most stable sections are around the cities and most major, natural, geographical features will pass through such a “border” unharmed but artificial structures will eventually fall to the conflict. So long as a person is at least an hour’s walk from such a border there should be no harm.
According to Tobodin, not all of the land’s fauna are dinosaurs. “Modern” birds do grace the sky and smaller rodents inhabit the undergrowth and cities alongside their reptilian counterparts. One of the seven cities resides in a place known as the Valley of Jaguars, a last refuge for the predatory cats against the larger reptilian predators. Tobodin mentions that despite the cities are all technically ruled under one emperor which must follow his edicts; each city has its own ruler with his or her own goals. As such, skirmishes between neighboring cities are common but before such skirmishes spread too far, the Emperor’s eagle knights are dispatched to maintain the peace. These eagle knights, according to Tobodin, are one of two fraternities of knights within the realm—the other fraternity being jaguar knights. Since the end of the last war and the rising of the Mists at the realm’s true borders, the jaguar knights, while still loyal to the Emperor, have largely withdrawn to the Valley of Jaguars, leaving the eagle knights stretched thin in keeping the peace.
Currently, we are camping on top of the step-pyramid. Tomorrow, we’re going to explore the structure—“a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl” my grandparents would call it. Tobodin protested, saying he was “hired as a guide through the realm not to scour man-made caves for trinkets.” I pointed out to him that adventurers are truly hunters as we hunt for things not necessarily related to food and shelter, such as knowledge; and yes, trinkets. It was a weak argument but it mollified him when he realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere with continued arguing.
Tobodin is currently asleep and I just noticed how much like a bird he and his people truly are.
The night passed relatively uneventfully. A few curious, bug eaters took note of our presence and our fire but left us alone. The surprise came to us as the sun broke the horizon. As usual, I was on the early morning watch and I took note of the eastern sky beginning to lighten up. An hour later, the morning hoots and chirps fell silent, even the wind was still. As the sky became lighter, I detected a faint rumbling, like the sound of a quake approaching. I woke the party with a simple orison and we waited a few nerve-wracking minutes. Nothing happened for a few minutes but there was a sense of anticipation in the air—something was going happen. What happened as the sun broke the horizon was something none of us anticipated. From our vantage point at the river’s edge, we could see to the border of the jungle meeting the grassland; that border shifted—fast! On our side of the river, the grassland rapidly overtook the forest growth; the trees and undergrowth just collapsed; and we soon found ourselves in arid prairie, even the soil changed to match the new growth. Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, the tree line rippled as some of the prairie advanced while a few hundred feet away from the river, the trees were advancing on the prairie instead. And it wasn’t steady; it was like a battlefield, the forest would advance on the grassland, the grassland would take over another section of the forest, and then the forest would reclaim it a few seconds later. It was like nature was at war with itself. And, as quickly as it started, it stopped as soon as the sun cleared the horizon and the morning noises resumed.
Our camp was in shambles; the warring ecosystems had swallowed up our campfire and nearly swallowed our gear. Just what we don’t need—the need to resupply after nature took its wrath out on us, again. Needless to say, our respective meditations took a little longer than normal. We were all too jumpy; the thought of the ground shifting terrain beneath our feet kept popping into our minds. It’s not like we haven’t meditated in chaotic environments, such as the bottom of the Shadow Rift and the Nightmare Lands, but this was where nature could potentially, and quite literally, bury you in an explosion of growth.
It was mid-morning before we finally broke camp. Crossing the river, we decided to stick with the grasslands, skirting the edge of the jungle as much as possible. It wasn’t long before I noticed that we had attracted company. I couldn’t see or hear them but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Whoever or whatever they were, they were keeping pace with us and maintaining their silence. I was at the rear of the party while Kamar was in the lead. I commented to Kamar that this trek was like our time spent Kartakass. He agreed stating that Verbrek and Arkandale were also similar. Kysera stated that it felt more like the Verdurous Lands. I hadn’t thought of that, the awakened animals of the Wildlands were dangerous enough; was this land the dinosaur equivalent? The answer to that question came quickly as we were ambushed on all sides. Our ambushers were roughly man-sized with an appearance of a mix of reptilian hide and feathers, long tails, sharp teeth, decent foreclaws, and deadly feet with a sickle-shaped talon. Raptors? I did notice a slight metallic sheen to their appearance as we hadn’t noticed this on most of the other dinosaurs here. Their attack was swift and would’ve been deadly to a lesser prepared party. While Kysera and Katarina were knocked down onto their back by their respective attackers, Jo’Nah’s attacker received an eldritch blast-empowered slash from Jo’Nah’s heavy sickle; my attacker actually got a claw into me before receiving a psychic strike in the gut; and Kamar’s attacker got the surprise of its life when its dwarf prey suddenly became an armored reptile. Jo’Nah’s and my attackers were dead and we moved onto Kysera’s and Katarina’s attackers and dispatched them quickly. Kamar’s got the hint and left with several others that had been waiting in the bushes. Both Kysera and Katarina took a couple good claws hits but fortunately neither of them received any hits from those sickle claws. It was only after checking for our own wounds that we noticed that one of our dead attackers was actually wearing what appeared to be a harness or belt of some kind. It was non-magical and several unusual alchemical items were attached to it with loose, vine ties. Tool-using dinosaurs?
Moving on, we continued to hug the jungle border for several more hours. We had no further encounters with our attackers but we did see quite a few herds of grazing animals, usually the triceratops kind (or one of its kin) and a few long-necked behemoths. It’s amazing how much of their behavior is mammal-like. If it were not for their appearance, I would swear that we were hiking through“normal” grassland.
Our trek led us to the edge of a deep, river-cut gorge. Kamar was ready to cast animal shapes again but Katarina spotted a fallen tree bridging the gorge. When we arrived at the “bridge,” the way across was blocked. Standing in the middle of the log, over the gorge, was a lone raptor. It appeared that it was waiting for us. Kamar offered to go confront the “toll taker,” and the three other spellcasters called a vote just to blast it off the bridge but I vetoed that idea stating that it might damage the bridge and it would be better to not waste spells. Climbing onto the log, I cautiously moved out over the gorge. The log bridge was fairly wide so balance was a minor issue. As I moved closer to the raptor, he showed no signs of moving to attack, just a marked interest in my progress. I noticed that the raptor was using his foot talons to keep him from slipping and I was wishing I could do that. I don’t normally have a problem with heights but I still made the mistake of looking down. How can a distance measured horizontally not be that far but when the same distance is measured vertically it looks like forever? Soon I was face-to-face with our opposition and yet he still didn’t attack. I decided to initiate conversation:
Gabriel Fox: Given the fact you haven’t attacked me yet and that one of your kind that we dispatched was wearing a belt of some kind, I’m going to guess that you’re intelligent.
Raptor (in a rough, gravelly voice): More intelligent than your kind, you hairless, soft-skinned rat.
GF: Possibly, but then again, superior intelligence doesn’t mean superior skill. Why do you block our path?
Raptor: I’ve been following you since your arrival on the beach. I’m in need of a new tribe and you're powerful warriors. Your recent skirmish with those Clear Sky tribe hunters proves this. I will lead you to many victories.
GF (raised eyebrows): You will lead? We already have a party leader and I’m not interested in a life of constant battle.
Raptor: But you are adventurers, are you not? Battle is part of your life.
GF: True, but so is exploration and righting wrongs. A life of pure battle isn’t life if you don’t get to enjoy the rewards. I will say that we do need a guide. Are there any cities or at least humanoid habitation in this land?
Raptor: Of course. There are seven cities, scattered throughout the land. Your generally eastward trek would’ve brought you to one of the main roads.
GF: Does this mean you’re willing to join us?
Raptor: We need to establish a pecking order; it is the way of things. You and me, one-on-one combat, here on this bridge. You win—I become your guide; I win—I will lead your group.
GF: I cannot attest to the willingness of my companions to follow you but I will duel. But to make it interesting, it will only be to first blood. You have many physical advantages and I do not feel like to be on the receiving end of those sickle-talons of yours.
Raptor (chuckling): Agreed.
GF: Can I, at least, have your name before we fight.
Raptor: Tobodin, and yours?
GF: Gabriel.
I don’t know how much of the conversation made it to the rest of the party’s ears but from the looks on their faces they had heard enough or they know me too well. I won’t go into the details of the fight as it was as much a balancing game as it is was fight. Neither of us could strike a blow as we were both making efforts to keep our attacks from striking the bridge as the bridge, a very wide log, was still unstable enough to be a challenge for any combat—it was only the most unlikely of circumstances that Tobodin had lost his footing. If it hadn’t been for my rush to grab him as he fell over the side, he would’ve fallen onto the rocks far below. Kata and Kysera were telling me to let him go as I was also slipping toward a similar fate. Even Tobodin agreed but I pointed out dying in battle was different than dying needlessly and I didn’t want a needless death on my conscious just because the raptor slipped. With much effort, the party pulled me and Tobodin to safety and we crossed the bridge to the other side of the gorge.
Tobodin has guided us into the forest to an abandoned temple. The temple is a stepped pyramid with its exterior choked with ivies and small plants. The entrance to the temple was at the top of the pyramid. Night was falling and Tobodin believed we should be safe for the night here. During the trek to the temple, we asked many questions about this land. He said that the native humans call this realm Tlacuiltlan, the “Painted Land;” and seven cities occupy this realm—each one in a different natural habitat. His people had been called through time or reborn (the concept is hard to convey has Tobodin’s people’s aren’t quite sure either) to serve in a war by a powerful mage. Legends say that the wizard needed the perfect warriors to deal with war from other cities and the raptors were the perfect choice.
It should be noted that Tobodin’s people are not magically awakened in the traditional sense. He registers as animal and would most likely be affected as such by certain spells and he shows no sign of the corruption that seems to take over awakened entities. However, Tobodin is intelligent; I would guess that an average raptor is probably more intelligent than an average human. As a race, there isn’t much in the way of true spellcasting. From his descriptions, his people are familiar with psionics, natural alchemy, and, if I understand him right, meldshaping incarnum. The larger and smaller raptors, while similar in appearance, do not share the intelligence of Tobodin’s people. Tobodin ascribes this to a legend involving his people’s god. Kamar has just reminded me that although calling them raptors might be appropriate, he says that he has seen texts with drawings calling Tobodin’s people “deinonychus” (singular). Also according to Kamar, none of those same drawings or texts even remotely mentioned feathers, much less non-magical intelligence.
We did ask about the events of this morning with the landscape. He said that the shifting landscape was remnant of the last war. The battles had become so intense in those last days that druids and other friends of nature attempted to use nature to stop the war. How has been lost to time, but every morning since, from the time the sun breaks the horizon to when the sun clears it, the various environments war with each other. The most stable sections are around the cities and most major, natural, geographical features will pass through such a “border” unharmed but artificial structures will eventually fall to the conflict. So long as a person is at least an hour’s walk from such a border there should be no harm.
According to Tobodin, not all of the land’s fauna are dinosaurs. “Modern” birds do grace the sky and smaller rodents inhabit the undergrowth and cities alongside their reptilian counterparts. One of the seven cities resides in a place known as the Valley of Jaguars, a last refuge for the predatory cats against the larger reptilian predators. Tobodin mentions that despite the cities are all technically ruled under one emperor which must follow his edicts; each city has its own ruler with his or her own goals. As such, skirmishes between neighboring cities are common but before such skirmishes spread too far, the Emperor’s eagle knights are dispatched to maintain the peace. These eagle knights, according to Tobodin, are one of two fraternities of knights within the realm—the other fraternity being jaguar knights. Since the end of the last war and the rising of the Mists at the realm’s true borders, the jaguar knights, while still loyal to the Emperor, have largely withdrawn to the Valley of Jaguars, leaving the eagle knights stretched thin in keeping the peace.
Currently, we are camping on top of the step-pyramid. Tomorrow, we’re going to explore the structure—“a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl” my grandparents would call it. Tobodin protested, saying he was “hired as a guide through the realm not to scour man-made caves for trinkets.” I pointed out to him that adventurers are truly hunters as we hunt for things not necessarily related to food and shelter, such as knowledge; and yes, trinkets. It was a weak argument but it mollified him when he realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere with continued arguing.
Tobodin is currently asleep and I just noticed how much like a bird he and his people truly are.
Hindsight is, after all, caused by a lack of foresight.
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone
Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.
Charles V spent most of his reign aging.
This was beginning of Empire, when Europeans felt the need to reach out and smack someone