It is interesting to know about this new pond Ragash has created. It also does help us figure out how to collect water. Inspired by the dew on the trees around here, I have had the Nezatl craftswomen weave leaves into a large square over a bowl. It does a fair job of collecting stray water and dripping into the bowls after we pass through clouds, so that is at least one avenue of water collection. It isn’t much but the idea could be expanded upon. Obviously fixing the lake would be better since it collects water from all around the island without much work being needed.

Mor also brought up the ring of needle trees around the island’s forests and unfortunately even Kennae isn’t sure what they are supposed to do. Kennae knows how to survive, but he doesn’t necessarily know how all the trees work and grow. We would need to find someone more talented in the natural flow of the land to decipher these strange trees.

We could cut one down but Alihana is against the idea, in case it bears some important significance to what makes this island work. Though she is against poking at a lot of the things around here for fear that we might bring the island to the ground on accident. Perhaps she is simply too cautious.

Trees and rocks should not be trifled with lightly. They are difficult to replace, as the ashen plains below can attest to. The island is like no other, assuming we are simply too small to affect is likely the line of thinking that led the Chanai to start the fires that destroyed the territory.

As the priestess of Auwana I agree that we should treat the island with care. The sanctuary it provides us must be met with gratitude not careless exploitation.

Exa- wait priestess of Auwana? What did I miss?

The goddess graces us with an island to save us from the disasters that claimed all our homes below. We Nezatl recognize this is a gift from the heavens…quite literally.

I knew this was going to happen. Enough clans worship rocks just for being slightly weird, seems inevitable the simple minded would believe the island to be of divinity.

Can you truly say that it is not?

 

Anything can be divine just as anything can be not divine. For all you know its just a floating rock, while rare it could be nothing more.

 

Not now girls. On to other topics. Wehilani informs me that our absence of the territory below hasn’t gone unnoticed. While most assume the Chanai wiped out the Huanacan, and are willing to assume the Nezatl might have suffered a similar fate, the other three of us left a power vacuum. Without Sawiri down below people aren’t sure where to go for certain tools and trinkets, or where to trade their stockpiles of bones they would often sell to him.

Without us, the Chanai have grown bolder. No one has confirmed the Dozen are missing yet though, as they were always small in number and elusive. However, they are beginning to suspect as much. It turns out surprisingly few have deduced where we went, some even think the moving island destroyed our clans in some freak display of supernatural incident.

This tells me that the elves still are keeping to themselves. Because they know where we are, but clearly haven’t told anyone. Alihana and Kaya both can see through their shapeshifts, so I have had them keep an eye around the island to see if they can find one to talk to if they visit again.

The cannibal tribes are also starting to move based on the change in dynamics down below. They are the only clan who have a food source unaffected by the fires so far. With the dozen missing there is no ‘wrong target’ for them and they are abducting anyone they find from other clans for dinner. The Chanai are at war with them but the cannibals are one of the stronger clans to go against. By day the Chanai raids slay them, by night the Cannibals catch them unawares.

This especially affects the clans who were not based in war. The Halik have already lost a quarter of their population to these skirmishes and were recruited into an alliance with the Chanai for protection. The scattered remnants of the orcs have formed into two nomadic war bands who seem to be having issues finding each other. The two war bands number perhaps only two dozen members strong each. The Chanai hunt them relentlessly to insure the death of their shamans in particular. I think there are only three left.

Of a similar note, the elves are elusive as ever. It is unlikely the Chanai can even find them, but they are making no major moves at the moment and were not for some of our own experts we would have no idea that any of them still lived.

The demon clan in the southeast of the territory however are doing well. The Chanai avoid them for now, not wanting to fight both them and the cannibals. The cannibals would likely consider an alliance with the demons had they the foresight to engage in diplomacy. As a result the demon clan has actually taken over my clan’s old lands and are comfortable to mind their own business. They were a neighbor to me before, I do not begrudge them for taking my old home. They are a little intense, but they just want to be left alone. That being said, if they got involved in the conflict it could sway heavily. They boast powerful warriors rivaling that of the orcs or beastkin. However, it is unlikely the Chanai would consider peaceful relations with them. It is inevitable that should they successfully defeat the cannibals, that they will engage the demon clan next.

The witch doctors are also being pressured to join the Chanai, and though unconfirmed I believe the Chanai are intentionally trying to attack the witch doctors without being too direct about it and sway them to accept the same offer they gave the Halik clan.

In total about six clans have been wiped out in the chaos or absorbed into the Chanai’s recruitment efforts as they attempt to build a tribe of their own.

All this may soon be irrelevant to us though. The Nezatl have watched the stars and inform me that the island is drifting westward. Huanacan mention a vast wetlands in that direction they once were considering moving to up until recent events. Due to the island’s drift we should be sure to accomplish all that we need to here before we find ourselves elsewhere. I have placed highest priority on recovering the ooze known as Coscazatl,

Coszacatl

 

Right, Coszacatl. I have placed highest priority for Kennae and Wehilani to find Coszacatl, of all our affairs it would be our greatest shame if we left our own behind to the mercy of this war on the ashen plain as the island drifts. We do have some time before we will venture too far westward but it is worth remembering we always have a limit of time before opportunity escapes us to do what we wish to do.

Journeying westward we will be in unfamiliar territory, it might even be a struggle for Kennae to figure out what is edible or not. We know there is a vast jungle to the west, it was near the Huanacan, but not what lurks within it. With the help of the basket we can send some of our own down below to continue the search for Coszacatl and other resources worth retrieving. As well as pursue any business we might have with the remaining clans. I know Jarthromoth wanted to look into the basilisk too while we’re at it. Due to our inefficiency of raising and lowering said basket for now, we will send them on a longer excursion. They will spend a few weeks on the ground, setting up temporary camp to the west in the old Huanacan territory. With any luck Coszacatl will just wander into it. As the island moves that way we will be in position for them to send up anything of relevance and hopefully by then we work out raising and lowering things from the island a bit better. I’ll be sending Ka’oana, Wehilani will act as the messenger between the group and the island back here.

The Chanai and the Cannibals are still at war down there, so we will each send at least one of our strongest, though there is still work to do here on the island as well. The main priority is to find any resources to stockpile on the island. It may be summer but winter creeps up all too quickly when you are not prepared. Let me know if there is anything else you want the excursion to focus on while they are down there.

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I am not calling my baby sister ‘elder’ anything you little pipsqueak.

The tribe uses a sort of larger scale food storage, mostly controlled by the Launi Kau’hale. So…we swapped a few baskets around in the storage tent if that counts. As for sweets no but yes kind of. We have some honey in the storage and there are bees on the island we’ve been able to get some more from. Though we’re being careful about that as we don’t know how well the bees handle winter way up here and we’re waiting to see how much of their honey they need to keep for themselves before we accidentally kill them over the winter or anything.

I’m not sure the sundial idea works well because they already don’t have the exact same time. We’re the only clan that ever made sundials or calenders, that was one of our contributions. So not too hard to give them misshapen ones as a joke but also not that effective as they already don’t have precise time keeping.

I added some holidays to our calender and gave that one to Elder Hakenu’e to put in the tribal council’s meeting hut. I’m not carving another one of those. Though I did make it easy for them to read when seasons tend to change so that we don’t mess up the tribe’s food storage things.

As for weapon training within the clan, we’ve always done that to a degree buuut I suppose we are kind of terrible at it. I think we can get Iiniwa to help us on that front as he has been collecting weapons from around the tribe to see what we have access to and can train in. You have the only bow in our clan, though we’re hoping to get more made. The Dozen seem to know how to do all that but still waiting to get enough materials together for that.

We scheduled the festival marking the day we all came aboard a year from now, that’ll give us time to prepare awesome festivities. Also get people to actually participate in it since they’ll know the significance of the day and right now we’re all kind of in survival mode so not as much fun going on.

In regards to recruiting harpies, we’re leaving that to the Huanacan. I have been stealing their feathers in the meantime though. We can help recruit them to the Huanacan though, given my talent for not dying its at least useful when approaching the more dangerous ones.

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I’m back from looking at rocks. I knocked one of the green ones out of the wall to bring back for further investigation and it shot straight into the ceiling and embedded itself there. By embedded I mean it broke the ceiling and burrowed in until I couldn’t see it anymore. I think they’re the reason we’re floating, and such properties are stronger than Sawiri’s noodle basket. If there is a way to raise and lower the island it’ll be by messing with those things.

The blue and gold rocks on the other hand look pretty. That’s all they seem to do. They’re quite sturdy though actually, broke the tools I was using. I can chip the rock around them to try and pull them out but I don’t have time for that. I sent some other apprentices to do that, they brought a chunk back and no one’s really sure what to do with it at the moment. They seem to be harder and stronger than Sawiri’s enchanted bone axes we used to get it out of the rock, but also ridiculously hard to shape into anything.

As for a telekinetic ritual I have looked into the concept and created such a ritual with the magic we currently know. Judging by the size of the island it will take a few thousand participants and all of them need to be good at that spell. Okay its really less of a ritual and more having thousands of people cast the same spell at the same time. I am working on amplifying the effect via the ritual but…well that’s going to take some experimenting so more on that as progress gets made. We’ve never really tried to amplify that effect, especially on such a scale. I’d see if the rocks could be used to help in that regard buuut I’m sort of afraid to poke at those too much because if we break one too many and my theory is correct, we’re going to hit the ground.

In regards to the underground holding area, I can do that but I need to confirm that you do understand if I hit any of those green rocks while burrowing that it could be bad. Though realistically a few wouldn’t hurt while just digging a little holding cell so likely nothing will come of it, but I would be wary of underground expansion if such a thing became too commonplace.

As for the basket adventures things are going…slowwww. Very fucking slow. Its an unwieldy thing and putting stuff on it to bring up and sending it has the problem of it overshooting the island and going off into the sky. Not to mention it can flip over, so while it helps with the weight of sending things up, that thing better be holding onto the rope. Then we have to pull it back in on the rope the same length as it goes all the way to the ground. It took us the last two weeks to make a rope out of drider silk, the drider’s are refusing to do anything else for a little while now, and it doesn’t go straight up and down. Either it blows in the breeze or the island is still moving. We’ve made about two trips and sent up nothing really as we just work out the kinks of using it.

In other news Sawiri has made some more clubs to distribute-
CLUBS FOR EVERYBODY, YOU GET A CLUB, YOU GET A CLUB, EVERYBODY GETS A CLUB!

Yes that. Wait how did you hear me? Are you eavesdropping on the chief?
Nope just you.

 

Gee that’s reassuring. While you’re here did you at least do something with those wyvern bones?
I MADE A FOREVER FIRE FAGGOT. Its a bunch of bone sticks bound together that stay on fire all the time, using the essence of the wyvern. Bonfire sized! Saves time on starting fires, keeps camp warm. Will help a lot in winter. Also makes you redundant.

I DO MORE THINGS THAN START FIRES YOU KNOW!
Yeah but that was literally the only accomplishment in your life anyone cared about. “ooh Alihana can you come help me start this fire, hey Alihana can you cook this thing for me” At least people come to me all the time for all kinds… kinds… of… things. Hurggh I feel like I’m going to throw up.

OH HEY ALIHANA, MAYBE YOU COULD STOP PUTTING A FUCKING PLAGUE ON ME. MAYBE YOU SHOULD COME TO ME FOR THAT TOO YOU LITTLE SHIT.

Jokes on you I can’t throw up while I have my mask on. I just feel a little queasy.

 

Oh I know, but I also know you can’t eat with the mask on and that was the long lasting hex. Have a fun week Sawiri, I’m going to go work on the ritual. YOU KNOW, THE OTHER THINGS I DO AROUND HERE.

Shh, she doesn’t know I made a bone charm that dispels that hex. She tries to put it on me all the time. No idea why. With the left over bones I also made some new picks for Kennae. They are super hard so its good for hitting rocks. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find that charm because I really feel quite ill.

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What in blazes is all that commotion from Moonlight’s tent? Also finding Coszacatl shouldn’t be hard. I can tell the flyers to keep an eye out during their excursions. Coszacatl shouldn’t be far from the old camp, without a home to return to she likely found a cave or something to protect from the rain and eats whatever is growing in it. She is a very calm creature, and likely to think this through rationally and attempt self preservation. If we’re lucky we’ll find a suspicious clearing of trees that will lead to her. I doubt she’s in much danger, while the other slimes are a bit more susceptible to damage the mother of all oozes is a bit more resilient. The real issue would be getting her up here but the basket might work. The flyers definitely couldn’t lift her for long.

The driders have been kept busy with the Nezatl making a really long rope out of their silk for this wild basket thing they have to get up and down the island. Also people want the dozen to make more bows using their silk so they’re a bit occupied to make anything for trade at the moment. We also have to keep them well fed that’s a lot of silk they’re being made to produce.

I asked Sawiri to look into some sort of bucket of holding as you speak of but he says we need very large bones to attempt that. He said preferably from a creature that is aquatic or that stores a lot of water in itself.

As for the water cleaning project, it has worked for the short term to make the lake water safe to drink at least. Though it definitely takes a toll on the oozes, even if they aren’t submerged it is still a lot of water to pass through them with little food inside of it. They can continue doing so in the meantime as necessary though they definitely have to alternate days they work on it and eat a lot of dirt in between those sessions to make up for it. Not that dirt is rare or anything but it is evident of their discomfort as usually they would be trying to eat plants instead, but they can’t be bothered to travel into the woods and just plop down next to the water bowls to consume dirt immediately. I’ve had some plant matter thrown around the area for them to eat without having to travel to at least ease their troubles. Also ooze water definitely has an aftertaste. Not really an unpleasant one though depending what the ooze normally eats. So if you drink the water don’t be surprised if there is an aftertaste reminiscent of a plant…or dirt if you get the earlier batches.

On to other news, we’ve convinced another harpy to join our fold on the basis of having a protected home on pride rock. Though there was a scuffle with a small band of Arakkoa testing our commitment to keeping control of it. Avonaco was in the area and helped me and our three other feathered friends deal with it.

I have been asked by the elder chief to help out with combat training around the tribe, so that’s what I’m doing in the meantime. Kennae is still off on his regular excursions with Wehilani. They keep bringing back fish, I think he’s trying to find some way to get them up here still and when it doesn’t work we just eat the fish.

The Dozen asked our more cave-dwelling types to look into the tight areas in the network of pride rock. We found a lot of small passages that seem to be just naturally formed cracks and holes in the structure. However there is one passage that leads to a tight squeeze of a chamber. There is a rock there that is different from all others we’ve come across, it is nearly completely black and there isn’t much space between itself and the chamber walls. It is described as being the smoothest rock they’d ever encountered, but only the slimes could fit in to find it, we’re not sure what it is though. Without the ability to get it out or get anyone other than the slimes, who frankly have little experience or interest in rocks, we’re having a hard time figuring out what it is.

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We sent our wild life expert to experiment in the swamps. The snails we have for experimentation seem to be capable of working though slightly confused. Some died as well, it is likely due to being unfamiliar with the environment or how cold it is up here. Some have survived however, and it might do well for us to try and grow the population here to build them up to the environment and reduce their apparent confusion about their relocation. Due to the fires, there aren’t many to collect from down below anyways.

The problem with Ragash’ plan to bring something herbivorous up here is the very same thing that is starving the lands below. What is left is being hunted by the other clans and even Wehilani in search of food to bring back up here. Atop of which, we do not actually need to clear all the shrubbery. Nothing large and predatory lurks up here to hide within it, there aren’t even that many insects. If space is required to be clear, such as for a path to the Huanacan camp, I suggest a modification to the idea. Just let Huanacan’s oozes deal with clearing shrubbery. If we were to relocate the mother of all slimes she could likely produce some more that could help at least clear through important areas.

There is a distinct interest from the entirety of the tribe for our weapons technology. Especially bow and atlatl, things that work from far away. The wood for good bows is easiest to find to the south, the trees on this island can suffice for mediocre bows of quality you see among the other clans though. What they might consider a prized weapon is, honestly, not very good. Ragash once had a bow from the local area and it could, at best, kill a man from forty paces. The one we gave her after she joined will drop a deer from eighty with no trouble.

Drider silk happens to be better than the strings we have even now. We’ve never had access to such quantities of the material in such conveniently manageable shapes. Usually if we found a giant spider its webs would be all over the place and hard to roll into string. Driders can spin it directly into strands for us that with some simple wrapping turn into powerful strings, provided you stretch them before creating the bowstring. It takes some craftsmanship, but we already made one for Ragash as a test. She says it works very well.

Typically we don’t share these tools with others, for obvious reasons. Though now days we live with a tribe, it is unfamiliar after all this time. We’ll leave you to decide how much sharing we’ll really engage in when it comes to such things as the weapons that have given us superiority over the territory for years.

To which end, the stones Ragash found and Alihana brought back, they have a special property we can use. The reason everyone is having such a hard time shaping them is they warp slightly before they shatter. This could be especially useful for knives.

As for recruiting the strongest of the fliers, all of them are weak by our standards. They live in mountains away from others and are used to flying away from any threat they might encounter. I mean sure the Arakkoa you found is the strongest who wandered through but it has no chance among our members.

In regards to the magic of my people, I have no idea how it works. I was abducted as a child, and even then I was really more so of a gatherer. In the orcish tribes women are for producing young and work unfitting of the warriors. You will meet few like me, and it was only out of necessity that I learned the skills I have. I am far gone from my people’s ways and culture now, and am only a member of the dozen.

Avonaco is out by pride rock but he’s doing well over there. Maybe a bit too well, he’s been attacking all sorts of birds that mildly annoy him and claiming its to protect the two new flying members of Huanacan who like to live on that rock. I brought the bones back to Sawiri who might come up with something useful for it.

Also yes we can do all the things you were asking about in terms of weapons and tech.