I mean I could get you honey now but that’d sort of go against our ‘take it slow’ approach when it comes to messing with the island’s environment. I advise against it for the time being.

Also the attempt to force Coszacatl into a trial has been…interesting. Having humans attempt to pass judgement on her has not yielded much cooperation from her and were not for Iiniwa telling her to calm down there is a chance she might have just outright killed Nenetl for the effort. She is still somewhat distrustful of the tribe in general evidently. We kind of need the Huanacan to convince her to even show up to some sort of formal trial. Though I suppose we could also hold said trial wherever she happens to be at the time while she mildly ignores us too. Regardless of our intended ruling she doesn’t seem interested in letting us even hold such a thing.

As for cleaning the lake there is still always plan A of draining the lake so the oozes can get to the bottom and eat almost everything, leaving just enough for our snail project. Though Cosz’s idea is to throw even more stuff in it so that its not so much water and then just have the oozes eat everything entirely. Would need a lot of stuff to throw in it though…it is a lake. A very large lake, though thats part of the foil with both plans.

As for blood, Cosz says literally any blood works. As its more about how much liquid to nutrition is in it rather than any specific magic.

We sent the demon and Cosz back down to try and talk with the demon clan, they’re still making a bit of a trip regarding that one.

As for expanding the caves, uhh in theory maybe. Depends how many rocks we find buried in there. A small lair that it just sits in would be easy enough but I don’t imagine that would be too comfortable for them to just sit in a hole all day until we had them come out to do something. It’s not like he could wander the island much given that if anyone just looks at him wrong they could die. Maybe we make him a really big winter coat and a blindfold so he can roam the island…not sure how to make a coat that fits a serpent though.

I’ve had some people start planting the fruitier bushes we have on Auwana around where the foliage was cleared out. Hopefully that’ll grow nicely.

I sent a pair to go and relay your message to Coszacatl. She sent us back two cripples. They’ll be alright after their bones set back in place, and at least they can keep you company while yours do as well. Also we have helped you plenty, now just sit there and don’t move too much until your bones fix up.

With the discovery of how many tokens it takes to make one complete token for said jumps, we don’t quite have enough birds on hand for it. Turns out it doesn’t work with small regular birds. Sawiri was able to get us eight of them, though we may have to go hunting if we want more.

In hindsight, while we have non-humans we don’t really have monsters that Kinich might be able to particularly relate to. However, he was planning to meet up with orcs in the first place. So we could just send those guys who are loafing about the camp if we want to. Alternatively, since the Huanacan just sent their demon and ooze girls down there we could ask them to make a detour while they’re away. Could also send Ragash since she’s an orc and a bit more liable to do what she’s supposed to then our newest collections. They haven’t been broken in yet.

The next thunder storm will be on the far side of the mountain we hiked up to get onto the island, something about the mountain messing with the clouds from traveling across into the plains. That’ll be in two weeks time, so we’ll see how that goes.

Our scouts watching over the demons have noted them also preparing food, which makes sense that they are setting up logistics for a march. It is interesting though that very few other clans could afford to make any such effort in these times, but the demons have control of two territories since they took over the beastkin’s land and their original grounds are somewhat hidden behind it. We also noted a few agents visiting their village and taking some of these supplies out with them. They were gnolls, which leads us to believe that the demons are working with Kinich. However they haven’t done anything interesting yet, likely waiting for Kinich to get back with the orcs.

I suppose the most obvious untapped talent in the tribe is the demon girl of the Huanacan. She currently just does gathering and typical camp work. We also know that she was until recently rather unaware of the demon clan’s existence, she likely has never really tested the limits of her demon abilities which we know can be quite strong. It might actually be worth experimenting with having her learn any kind of magic, the demon clan itself doesn’t seem to use any so we don’t actually know how good demons are with the stuff.

Another hidden talent might be Coszacatl. She uses skeletons to grant herself movement and can use them to create more ooze children. I don’t think she would be good at learning any other clan’s magic simply because she’s too apathetic to really study it, sort of the opposite scenario of Alihana. However, if Sawiri were to enchant the skeleton she uses with something actually useful she might become even stronger than she is now.

Another good place to scout in general is those training under Iiniwa with various weapons, he is currently the main trainer for all of the tribe’s members seeking to better their martial skills. While currently none of them stand out to us in particular, the fact that they’re showing up to train with him at least shows some motivation that is worth commending.

Stories of Lore 3

Still working on the honey thing, not entirely sure how well each part is working and the bees have to actually make all the honey. It is likely we won’t begin actually harvesting until after winter as to make sure we don’t over harvest the bees. Its a good chance to see how much they actually need to get through a winter and all.

As for griffons, they tend to live in mountains. Though we also know the Chanai tend to seek them out for their own mounts. Which might explain why we didn’t really see any visit pride rock recently. I had one of the flyers go look around the mountain but there wasn’t much sign of any of them.

As for the Halik, it would be a hard argument to make given that the Chanai are actually protecting them from the Crow Folk which is a significant threat to those still down below. Especially now that they’ve been more active. Kaya hasn’t been able to find any convenient damning evidence or anything.

With the return of Coszacatl we have a bit of a discussion going around. In her time away from the Huanacan she has become one of the great monsters of the plains, having killed several clans of humans; women, children, and all. As the general adjudicators of the tribe its worth considering how to handle this. We could simply enact a punishment on her for such sins, or we could make a hero of her in some fashion or another. However we handle the return of Coszacatl will likely set a precedent and expectation for the tribe that we haven’t really had.

Either way, the tribe is still not completely unified in outlook. Some are fine with ‘us versus the world’ and Coszacatl’s actions as a mass murderer, others are wary that this could push us towards becoming the true villains of the plains. Not to mention some are perhaps concerned that Coszacatl is precisely what people think of when they say ‘monster’. It leaves some of the villagers uneasy to know they share the island with a potentially random killer of men. If the tribe takes an official stance on Coszacatl and her actions it will at least let the people know what to expect going forward, especially if we put a bit of a spin on it.

Of all the people to come by while the chief is absent, they sent the child chief? Bizarre choice.

In regards to the orcs, we still haven’t moved over the camp to pick everyone up. More importantly we still haven’t solved how to bring everything up, utilizing the basket over and over could take over a week with how long the trip up tends to be.

Whats a xylophone?

We found Coszacatl, since bringing her back she has been in the woods eating bushes after almost killing half of us by way of slime hug. She hugs kind of tight.

The only slime we’ve ever known to become self aware, or at least capable of communicating that awareness. While others in the clan share that feature, they are her direct children so they didn’t become sapient, they just were born that way. They call her “The Mother” for some reason, not sure why they don’t just say “my mother” or “our mother” but I guess they like to hype up her importance. Either way she is the most powerful member of the clan barring yourself, but if left to her own devices she will just sit in the woods all day eating plants. She can be a little lethargic sometimes. Coszacatl is extremely difficult to kill not only due to her slime body but her intelligence allows her to come up with rather crafty plans when needed.

It is worth noting that she has a maximum size she can sustain before she splits and creates more slimes even if unintentional. Despite her abilities to consume everything, whatever slimes are made of definitely strains their ability to control their body if they grow too large. She can get a bit bigger than she is now but don’t try to turn her into a slime rhino or something.

Also our own demon knows very little of the demon clan. Honestly we didn’t even know they actually existed until Elder Hakenu’e informed us about the details of them. That was probably why she settled into living with us in the first place. So instead I shall divert the question to the Elder Chief.

The demon clan is reclusive due to a general inability to get along with others. I suspect they would be easy to convince to join the tribe as the island suits their isolationism. We could just offer them to place their own village slightly further away if they want some space. The deal should suit them well, but it is a matter of convincing them that we won’t cause them much trouble. I had originally invited them but they refused. They generally fear prolonged interaction with any other clan after years of being generally disliked, and I think the idea of living in a larger tribe of multiple clans warded them off. They can be a little short sighted sometimes. I do not think it is my clan nor yours that concerns them. They have gotten along well with Coszacatl judging by her story, and I have dealt with them in the past on good terms. It is a matter of soothing their worries about the others.

In regards to the bushes the oozes like, they like literally any bush. you can just let them grow and the oozes will eat them. I suppose they prefer leafier ones or fruit. The tend to eat fruits and berries that might be poisonous to others. Its also worth noting they will eat rotting meat with little complaint. Though if given their choice, their favorite food is blood. I’m told its because its liquid enough to provide the liquid they need to keep their body from solidifying and rich enough in substance to act as a food anyways. We can try to cultivate the bushes I suppose, though they kind of spring up on their own anyways.

We had the oozes continue to scout the caves, they aren’t too elaborate. This is probably fortunate because we definitely don’t want this island to be hollow. Though with your visit to the basilisk, its worth noting the caves are not large or extensive enough to house such a thing comfortably. Even if you say the basilisk is at least willing to chat, such creatures do not like cold or wind. Which is why they live in caves. That is of notable abundance here on the island.

As for the black stones we’ve mixed them with some other things, though we’ve observed no other interactions of note beyond fire. They definitely didn’t clean the lake by being thrown in there, a problem we still haven’t really found a fix for.

Ragash and Avonaco have successfully brought back the orcs to the base camp to help set up there. They seem quite happy to find some of those from the previous group had already been moved there. Now we have quite a few orcs adding to our tribe’s collection.

Since our last experiment, Sawiri has worked on the bone charms a little more. It seems six is the ideal number for jumping off the island. He has reworked the concept into singular tokens, he also noted that they lose a lot of their power once used. We’ll need to harvest more birds to make more. Getting back up is still an issue though. Sawiri has also mentioned a potential solution to that. But he needs the bones of a large creature of the skies, or one with electrical aptitude. Something about the essence of a storm.

Also we don’t have oil to soak a rope in. Not the kind that burns particularly well anyways. So we just threw the whole jug in a fire, close enough. The end result is that when the black stones burst pretty much nothing happened. Grinding them up caused them to do very little, so far its only been the larger stones that burst violently.

Also we found Coszacatl, so our trackers are freed up to work on other projects now. Though the demon clan is on the south east side of the region, whereas the rebellion group the orcs were looking for would have been in the western side leaning north. So yes, opposite sides would be correct. I am impressed you kept track of the map that well given we have no map.

The orc Shaman is still down at the camp so he can’t come to see them, though he is not sure what to make of it based purely on description. Hopes aren’t that high in that regard, the shamans deal with spirits and the like not trees. Also have to hold off on the green stone idea for now because they’re still at the Huanacan camp in the woods. We’ll need to find a way to bring all these orcs and supplies up once the island passes over as originally planned. While the ability to jump down has gotten better, the ability to bring things back up has not.

Blue and gold rocks do not make green rocks. At least not when we smack them against each other. Grinding them up would be difficult and we spent the week grinding down the black one for the jug experiment instead.

Sawiri points out that bone magic tends to depend on what he manages to inscribe. The ones he harden stay hard, but things like Chants by Moonlight’s sneeze ring can be activated at will.

We had Kaya head on down to try and find the Halik. The initial trouble proves that we took kind of awhile on that whole thing and they’re fairly deeply migrated into the Chanai territory. While the offer to live on a fancy floating island has its appeals, as far as they are concerned they are indebted to the Chanai for offering them protection in these rough times. Even if we’re preeetty sure the Chanai were the danger. So the Halik not totally interested in betraying the Chanai, and despite our super awesome flying island it seems that if we elaborate on the story on how we all went missing from the region it has been interpreted as us kiiiind of running away from the fight.

As for rumors of flying creatures, I’m not really sure what you consider tameable. As we’ve seen the Chanai can tame about anything though most other clans don’t have the same luck. If you’re interested in ones that can be possibly ridden in terms purely of size, I know of the manticore, wyvern, and roc. The new harpy girl mentioned that some four legged eagle thing called a griffin exists though I have no idea what that is.

Also I had the bee people also look into the environmental council thing, mostly because we only have so many people and the council isn’t exactly a full time job anyways. That and the bee specialists are already studying every flower on the island. To which end, they have made some progress and convinced a swarm to live in a log by making very tiny spaces in the log for them to come and go from and cutting the top off the log so that it can be replaced. The bees seem to like small spaces with small entrances and exits. The design is currently being experimented with still.

As the new environmental council has taken over the interest in the snails that we are testing out over by the swamp, it has come to my attention that the snails are picking up a bit. We lost a lot of the initial ones simply due to how cold it is up here. Now the remaining couple of snails have actually been doing okay and produced some baby snails. Not really enough to deal with the lake yet though, we still haven’t done anything about that one.

Wait whats a lever?

Contrary to popular belief, we do have some friendly people. Actually a good fair few, I think we just get a bad reputation because half of us are covered in bones or glowing. Also probably because of you, Sawiri, and myself. So I had a couple of the most tame individuals head down to the ground and make their way over to the camp. They’ll be helping secure the area officially, though they’re mostly working with the orcs. The orcs actually seem to be getting along with them decently well, in comparison to how they might normally react to us. I may have sent them wearing colorful things they borrowed from the Nezatl so that they don’t look like…well you, Sawiri, and myself.

Sawiri has managed to make bone instruments before actually, they sound awful. But they are loud and hard to break I guess? I’m not really sure if its the fact that they’re made of enchanted bone, or if Sawiri just can’t make an instrument beyond a drum.

As for the black rocks, when heated enough they just shatter on their own. Actually they shatter quite violently and when we tested this the one standing closest to the fire had shards stuck in them that had to be removed.

We could get down even with just the basket, but we do not have any innate ability to sense the mother. Also we are busy with cleaning the waters until someone finds a way to fix the lake.

Iiniwa has headed down to the plains to continue the search for the mother, and the winged ones from the rock have been made to keep an eye out as well.

Hunting the Chanai in the night is especially for Kennae and the Dozen. The snake tails we have also have good eyes in the dark. Hakenu’e warns us that the night carries its own dangers in the crow folk.

Kennae finds no tracks, the mother is only one to be away from home and not come back in time to flee. She has a tendency to move slowly and roam far, nothing has threatened her for some time. She was bolder than most and traveled more.

But Iiniwa knows everyone, tracks aside he knows we are missing two of the snake tails that often scouted caves. Also missing a toothy one, who was likely looking for food south of home when we were attacked. He is looking for signs of them too.

Have built home for the mother as requested, near to the bushes she likes to eat.

The orcs are considered monster by men, but not really. Same said for the demon clan and elf clan. All who are not man called monster, but those with large numbers in a group become their own distinction. Other thought is that all who eat man are monster. Making orc, demon, and elf just other color of man. Though is difficult to think this way as long as crow folk exist. In regards to tribal council, depends how many orcs come to tribe. They could be their own clan with chief, if not enough then will likely be with the Hariwana since they are interested enough to send people to speak with them.

The bone caller can make the bone spikes as desired, that appears to be one of the easier concepts for him to do. As for specialized arrows, we haven’t found anything particularly more effective than a regular arrow. Though the recent discovery by the Hariwana might prove useful if we can figure out how to get the black rock to shatter the way it does when we desire it to. Though introducing fire into the idea would probably work just as well anyways. Its an ongoing idea.

Approaching the demons for information did not go as expected. It is quite clear the demons know who Coszacatl is, and likely where she went. Though they are unwilling to share such information, and notably are lacking for dead. It appears they did not qualify as victims for her vengeance. She seems to have visited them peacefully, and they are not willing to share information on her with our members who asked about a dangerous hunt. While that may have backfired slightly, it has revealed to us that the demons are quite willing to associate with Coszacatl. It was also no obstacle, upon seeing that such negotiations were not going to work, our trackers had the foresight to use the opportunity to keep a close eye on the village until they found some sign of her passing. She left their camp and headed north, so it wasn’t for nothing.

They also noticed something interesting, while they were there our trackers noticed that the demon clan had a lot more weapons around the camp than might be considered normal for them. The demons normally keep to themselves and mind their own business, the fact that they had so many weapons implies they are preparing for something. They didn’t wear the weapons constantly, nor have an abundance of scouts on watchful guard. They are not defending from some sort of skirmish, they are preparing to be the aggressors. That should be interesting if nothing else. With how rarely they come out of their lands, most just speak ill of their kind but do not dare engage them. The idea of the clan coming out to strike could shake the region, as they are among the strongest clans when it comes time for violence. It may be worth keeping an eye on them, to see who might make for the best recruits once we can see them actually fight. Though immediate recruitment is not so viable given that the demons are a very stable clan. They don’t have anyone lacking for a home or feeling any call to adventure. I feel that after a major conflict, the dead may cause more rifts as their social structure experiences some breakdowns. Nothing recruits quite as well as an orphan or an exile after all.

Ragash and Avonaco have found the other group of orcs. Of immediate interest is the lack of shared information between this group and the other one. They did not even know of some brooding retaliation against the Chanai, which indicates to me that the knowledge of this group was acquired in the northwest by the other group we found. This particular group was much more willing to come back with Ragash as they had no particular objectives in mind at the moment other than survival, we also may have omitted the information of the growing retaliation the other group was seeking to join. Limiting their range of options a tad. They are currently being escorted back to the base camp.

As for the tokens, are you not the bravest of us? *hands you four tokens*