We have arrived at the eastern border of the jungles. The shamans predict we will continue to drift to the west for some time. Among other interests down in the jungle, it may be worth it to see if anyone can figure out what lurks further west. Our primary goals while we’re here is to see what wonders we might learn of and adopt to our own tribe before we continue on. This is an opportunity to expand the tribe beyond what any tribe before has accomplished, at least that we know of. The island can support many more inhabitants, we should see who clans might be interested in joining us.
To recap, the Kapiya are currently our friendliest contact. Their interest seems to be in simply learning what we know about the world and its wonders. We have several warriors staying with them at their village and have been allowed to operate out of their village for the time being. I have arranged to send them some gifts to show our gratitude.
The crow folk in the jungle are a major problem despite their lack of organized clan as we saw across the plains. I suspect their independent nature has made every one of them as strong as they need to be to survive on their own. The Raven Witch is apparently the strongest, and judging by the Kapiya’s description of the myth either the tale has grown in the telling or it is the strongest crow we will have encountered thus far. Many of these people were former members of various clans before acquiring the crow’s mark, and all of them are in exile for various crimes. So there is good repute to be gained if we might be able to get to deal with them for the local clans. Be cautious if you should encounter any of them, especially without sufficient reinforcements.
Of similar problem is this entity known as Xiomac. Though one of the Kapiya have given us more information on this enigma. He is to the jungle what Sawiri was to the plains, capable of enchantment and procurement of wondrous items. While he is referred to as a lone entity he is not without allies. We learned from the southern grasslands that Xiomac associates in some ways with the arakkoa. While the Kapiya know of these people, they do not know where or how to find them.
We also know the Akoa live nearby, and thanks to Chants by Moonlight we know precisely where they are. The absolute center of the jungle living among a massive tree of their own making over the last few generations of druids. We have some relations with them through Tehanau and they do seem more interested in cooperation than anything else. Though they are harboring refugees of the elven clan from the plains who might hold a grudge against the recently recovered Avonaco. These druids are likely to know the most about the jungle.
While our new gryphons can assist us in traversing the skies quickly, there are only so many places where they can break through the thick canopy. They can fly between the trees once they get through the canopy though may have some difficulty and be forced through certain pathways. The jungle is a place filled with danger at every turn, even the bugs and plants seem to want to kill us. Groups deployed into the jungle should have some plan to deal with navigating such dangers. For example, while Coszacatl is able to traverse vertically and ignore most common threats, Iiniwa may be less suited to handling the dangers that can lurk in every bush. So be sure to use a measure of teamwork centered around those who are well suited to this place.
It is also worth keeping an eye out for any wild life we might find useful to bring onto Auwana. The ashen plains provided little opportunity and it was a struggle just to find a handful of snails. The jungle is much the opposite.
Wehilani will be able to assist any plans to capture territory that might help our new gryphons enter the jungle. She is the only member of the tribe who can navigate the jungle on every level due to the summonable nature of her spirit wings combined with her somewhat catlike nature. This gives her the unique talent of getting in and out of the canopy at will as well as navigating the maze of trees below, in case anyone should need someone with such abilities for anything specific. With the new scrying pool Chants by Moonlight has constructed we do not need her to serve as messenger so often. Also with the gryphons being available for such messaging.
Yeah not sure what to do with the old guy thing. I’ve spent years looking for any further evidence of him. Though I suppose as we reach the jungles we can ask around if they’ve heard of him.
Also my diplomacy skills are fiiine, its not my fault that everyone thinks they’re captured when the tribe that defeated their own takes a bunch of them aboard. Though I suppose Nenetl is a bit better at communicating the finer points. Though I’m still the only one that gets in and out of hostile camps easily.
As for the new girls, some of them are foragers. A few know how to manage pets, running food around and cleaning enclosures and such. Makes sense given that’s what their clan pretty much did.
You still did not really specify what you wanted Nenetl and Cit to actually do. I sent them to the Kapiya in the meantime as that’s at least doing diplomacy work. They have managed to help us figure some more stuff out about the jungle at least, as the elder chief covered.
I wonder if the jungle has any particularly interesting bees for honey production?
Ha ha jokes on you, it was a mass ritual, you literally had to be there for it! Also, boom big bone beast. Now we just need to add some spikes so the children stop trying to climb it. It is a little devoid of personality, just stands around when we don’t tell it to do anything. Though I added an extra necklace so that it can still roar. No sense having such a big creature to run at the enemy if it can’t roar at them.
I’ve started mass enchanting some of the good bones for structure building, mostly femurs. So that will help hold things up here and there. Though without bones as big as the tallest person in the tribe, which is Uyitzan, not sure if we can really build all that high up. Though he has fur, he can just wait outside.
The project overall has been successful, the ritual circle at the center of the island can be used to get down to the ground in a properly hasty fashion. Haven’t figured out how to make it go back up though. Oh well.
Alihana is back from retrieving Avonaco. Apparently Eerihild managed to escape and several crow folk were killed but they took a lot with them and whoever did survive did so by running off.
As for limbing the de-limbed, we have a surprising lack of test subjects. So if you’ll just let me see your arm real quick…
As time goes on the four warbeasts we discussed before have gotten a bit more difficult to handle now that Tehanau left to return home. Usukan in particular. Majid is just violent so you have to be careful when feeding him and stay a good distance away from the cave. Usukan keeps getting sneaky about it though and there is now a whole ritual required just to approach his cage to make sure he hasn’t set up some way to grab you. One of the lamia who were bringing him food was severely injured when we learned he had found out how to unlock the first of the two layers of cages yet kept the door shut so someone would come inside.
Vaksha remains well behaved at least, often hanging out with our owlbear or lurking near the lake by the rest of the village proper. Perxtli is still in a cage but hasn’t been too troublesome by comparison to the other two.
The driders have managed to help with building Sawiri’s device under the island. Some of them are now scared of heights, though a couple have taken the opposite approach and now climb around the bottom side of Auwana for fun.
The girtib…ghibli…giru…the scorpion people’s venom was tested on some woodland critters. In hindsight, a man sized scorpion’s venom might have been a little too strong for rabbits to give much meaningful information. They started thrashing wildly for about two seconds, then lay there panting, and then they just died.
We have an issue in finding test subjects as it is quite clear we shouldn’t subject a tribe member to this. With the ashen plains having been either burned or hunted into its barren state its hard to find any larger grazing animals to test this on. We may wish to keep an interest in any medium sized creatures in the jungle for further experimentation.
The Kapiya said that they, as well as a few other clans including the wealthier Akoa, would be willing to pay well if we could kill the crows. This came with some backstory. The crow folk in this region seem to be former members of a few of the smaller clans. One even being from the Akoa. It seems they are less of an organized force like those on the southern plains and just rogue wanderers with seemingly no connection to the clan we know of. There are six in total that were told to us.
The travelers have seen to their duties. We’re quite well equipped to forage in the jungles now. With regards to the wood of the larger jungle trees, they can support incredible weight. Which might be obvious just by the size of the trees in the first place. Potentially good for bows, not sure who could really manage to draw such a thing though. Worth experimenting. The wood is however not particularly hard, so I don’t have much faith in it for things such as spear shafts as they can be gouged in combat fairly easily.
As for how others traverse the jungle, notably the Kapiya stick entirely to crossing branches and other elements of the canopy. They never venture to the jungle floor but they do know of some clans who live down there. So techniques may vary. The most impressive trick the Kapiya seem to know is their confidence in the earlier mentioned wood. The branches in the canopy will bend under their weight but don’t break easily
Of interest there is a waterfall northwest of the Kapiya that pours into a rather large pool. If we were to uproot some of the bushes that have overgrown its shore it could serve as a good landing area since the canopy can be flown into with ease by entering from the top of the waterfall and into the clearing above its waters before the branches reach out far enough to hide it from the sky. Not the most obvious spot from the skies. But once you know the angle to approach, it is not too bad of an option. The downside is that the pool at it’s base certainly attracts a lot of wildlife looking for a drink and the area is filled with all sorts of things with teeth.
A few days west of Kapiya village is another village run by a clan called the Misani. They have built at the very peaks of the tallest trees. The platforms they build their houses on along the trees would make for easy landing area but the Misani are described as hostile savages. We would need to exterminate them to make the area safe for landing, though they are a minor clan so it would not be too difficult for the tribe if we made an effort of it.
We asked Tehanau where the Akoa actually are before she took off having fulfilled her agreement with Koamalu. They are in the heart of the jungle, almost right in the center of it. Apparently they live around a specific tree they are rather fond of. Though the location is known, notably the Kapiya have no idea where it is they only know the stories. Apparently, the clans of the jungle interact less with one another on a large scale given the dangers of long travels. Though we could assume the druids who fly around so often would have somewhere we could land.
Also we have a whole lot of people at the Kapiya village about now since that’s where everyone keeps winding up. Maloth went with the team as requested too. At this point the Kapiya probably worry about us invading them.
In regards to the ‘big four’ they can understand basic commands at least when it comes to language. Its not too hard to teach them the important words, and Vaksha in particular has a strong level of empathy to just pick up on what people are going for. I don’t think any of them are quite qualified to be a full operating member though, I suppose it would be interesting to try.
Avonaco is back though barely, the crow folk broke both his arms while taking him in. He has learned a little bit about them though. Namely in that their ritual sacrifices require a fair amount of set up. Despite the cannibal clan worshiping the King of Crows, they don’t actually know much about him. He simply appears every so often and showed them how to conduct the ritual that allows him to grant them power. Though he himself does not need to personally be there for it. Avonaco was not with them long enough to actually see the ritual in action though.
It seems this tribe indeed knows the mystery behind the blue rocks and use them as weapons. They use them as spear tips, apparently they shape them by throwing them by taking them up to the mountains in the winter and leaving them in a sacred water they have a storage of but no recollection of where it came from. They aren’t as sharp as obsidian, but they don’t break as easily.
I know the wood here is supposedly good for bows, but there sure is a distinct lack of trees with all this grass. At least we got some to take home for now. No sign of obsidian though.
It’s quite evident that this village was destroyed long ago. Though I do see signs of fire. A lot of jars and other storage are still around the village, the place wasn’t raided in a traditional sense. The animals came for the food but it appears the place was just left for the wilds to reclaim, bodies and all.
Also no it is not a quetzalcoatl. ((Its really just random ass art I found while trying to find things to diversify the flying mounts))