Stories of Lore 16

 

After a rather long and…windy ride. We have arrived within the White Lands. First things first, it is really cold. While the Nezatl and Xiaoshen have been hard at work equipping us for this, we are still focusing primarily on protecting the villagers from this weather. As such the harder work of equipping our champions to make extended trips into the White Lands has been hindered. For now, only those best suited to handle the cold should be deployed any measure of distance. At least until we know for sure how well they can traverse the ice.

I have been observing the improvements to the scrying pool that Chants and Sawiri have made. It has revealed a lot of information to us before arriving. We are blessed with more forewarning of what we are walking into than ever before. We must not waste this opportunity and take action swiftly. I will review what we know.

 

Haleh Chanai has been found. After the war in the southern plains, we didn’t even see her at the final battle. We knew she fled north, but it appears now we know precisely where she is. Haleh is more powerful than ever before. She has created a new army, though her riders are weaker than before as they are not from clans that have spent generations on the back of a beast. That being said, she has many many champion level warriors at her disposal thanks to the upbringing of the Vargr. She seems…convinced we are here to finish her off.

She has been raiding other villages around the north to expand her power, though we’re not entirely sure why. Though she was trying to do this before so that might just be a thing she always does.

While she has many champions, Ragniva stands out among them. Not only for her power but for her relation to Chants. The Rahana are the parent clan of the Hariwana, Ragniva is an exile from them. She has Mor’s ability to drain life from others, though we do not fully know the extent of her abilities. We have seen her in command of an undead army of a size we have never fathomed before. Though it is likely she has apprentices helping to control such a force, it is still a formidable feat.

Apparently she was something of a mysterious monster living in the mountains until Haleh somehow convinced her to come down and join the Vargr, and thus her.

 

Icno is Haleh’s constant aid. He is almost always near her and has a special talent for uncovering information. While many of Haleh’s champions are strong, this is the one who is clever. As such, Koamalu agrees with me that Icno is a great threat to us. While we know his role, we do not know his methods. Icno is always well protected, if not by the queen herself than other powerful and loyal champions will be nearby. We have reason to assume Haleh’s rise to power is as much Icno at work compared to her.

We also know he is from the south east, a foreigner to these lands who developed a kindred attachment to Haleh and saw fit for foreigners to rule the White Lands. While we don’t know his abilities, we do know he is considered a very powerful shaman. Respected by even the most elderly of the craft, but he has never  shown any sort of power for us to see. I caution again, he may be the most dangerous person in these lands for all we know.

 

On to another matter. Eerihild, last of the wolves. We have reason to believe she is the one who sent us the omen, because we have learned that she has acquired the Great Wolf as her spirit totem. This puts her on par or perhaps even above the likes of Wehilani and Alauna’i for ridiculous spirit totems. She was once a proud warrior, honorable to a fault and respectful to even her enemies. She has since become hateful, filled with rage and bloodlust. Operating within the night and killing without challenge or mercy. She has no interest in anything other than spiting Haleh. She was last seen rescuing prisoners of war from a camp that the Vargr had recently taken. So I would not say she is truly as lost as it might seem…but she is definitely struggling to remember who she is.

Losvir Thorinson is the Standing Stone of the Thorin tribe. A chief praised for his strength more so than his wisdom. That being said, we haven’t seen anything actually hurt him yet. He seems invulnerable, and definitely aware that he is such. He has become the leader of the northern clans who rebel against Haleh’s new vision for the Vargr. Many of whom were once members of the Vargr themselves. Since Haleh tightened her hold on the individual clans under her rule, many found they liked the old king and the freedom he offered. Losvir is the only one to survive a challenge against her, and so he became the leader of this movement. Some clans who have never been a part of the Vargr have also joined him out of a need to survive against the invading force. Though they find themselves in a very bad position. To the south they must face Haleh and her growing army. To the north they face…

Hallvard, the Savage King, and oddly enough also titled as “The North”. The savage folk are a people who cannot form large clans as they live even further north. There are barely even trees to be found, just a land of endless ice. They tend to be quite strong. Almost as if their homeland gave them a natural edge in becoming dangerous warriors.

Hallvard has named himself their king by going from group to group and offering them to challenge him or surrender to his authority. It is similar to the Vargr’s dueling tradition, except it is to the death. The catch is Hallvard kills the first person to surrender. So with their life on the line they must choose to die for the good of the rest of their clan. He considers it a good way to ensure the whole clan has truly despaired and submitted to his might. Hallvard will then train them to his own standards, though logistically offers no support. Many of his warriors die to the elements on the long march, unable to procure food while still being forced to travel with the group. He instills within a mindset of dying for the good of the war over anything else. His people’s duty is to die to fulfill their objective rather than for the good of the clan. Most of his followers are a little bit crazy.

Hallvard himself seems to believe his own mantra. He just keeps making up missions and nothing manages to kill him while he tries to fulfill it. He is a man who has grown too strong and only desires fulfillment in his actions, but with no challenges left he cannot find a reason to go on without a mission to accomplish.

He wields an axe made of the blue stone, we’re not sure where he got it from but we’re very curious. Oh also he is apparently coming for Auwana, though we’re not sure if he can even get up here.

The odd one out, we don’t know what it is or why it does. We have named it the Howling Horror. It’s howl can kill anyone who hears it, and it is loud with a voice to carry far. It appears to be very unnatural, we have reason to think it was created by someone for some purpose and has just been turned loose upon the world.

It wields a weapon unlike any we have seen before. It is like a knife…but very long. It is made of a material that gleams like water when struck by the sun, though we have not seen it actually need to use it. Whatever this creature is, it came from the southern river and is now moving north into the White Lands.

Atop of this we are presented with another particularly interesting feature. While the jungle was difficult to traverse due to its winding paths and extremely dense with foliage and fang alike…the White Lands are more of a vast land. The forests are frozen but the snow packs itself atop of the terrain to make it a little less difficult to cross…once you can put your feet into the ice.

The scope of the terrain before us is also affected by the presence of Haleh. Mobility has always been her specialty and it extends the range of her influence vastly. While many of the forces at play here move at a mild pace, she is able to position herself and her riders across vast distances with ease since she has taken to enslaving beasts native to these lands. However, her existence hinders our own mobility as the gryphons were once hers to command. She could retake them by force just by coming close to them. So we must consider her location if we intend to employ the beasts.

While we can only see so far from the island, we know of events happening even further away that affect what is happening here.

Also I would like to take a moment to remind you all that life out here seems kind of awful and I would not be surprised if a lot of people wouldn’t mind a trip out of here. Maybe find some people who know how to deal with the cold.

I’m back.

So in the Auwana recruitment campaign, we managed to sucker in the Ranoni under our family. They are not particularly talented as warriors in general though they are good at building things on top of water, and by proxy strong flat things to put more things on top of. Which is actually kind of useful. However, one of the other clans, a splinter of the Ranoni, east along the river took an interest in the huge floating island that was accepting all comers. So here’s this guy.

Nikolce is one of the warriors who fought against Xiomac in an admittedly smaller capacity than some of the others we’ve seen. Though not for lack of effort. He has an ability supposedly handed down through his bloodline, he can move without moving. He sort of just…re-appears somewhere else. He has a limit of only being able to go perhaps fourty paces with this, and it does tire him out, but it does let him get around in unique ways. Apparently his combat style involves a lot of appearing behind people with pointy objects.

He’s a bit cocky and well aware of the fact he stands undefeated due to his cheating magic. He was particularly interested in joining the Nezatl because we have, in his words, ‘all the pretty girls’. Also because he is from a sister clan to the Ranoni and figured he was one-upping them by joining the Nezatl proper instead of as one of the clans under our family.

I can get behind these motives.

In other news, we’re here in the cold lands annnnd the bees are not doing well. They’re all just hiding in their hives and shivering. Though Tehanau tells me that is simply how they get through the cold times. As planned, we have left them much of their honey to see how much they need before we begin truly harvesting it. The bee girls are also keeping up with it to see about cross breeding the one that don’t die in the cold. That might be important.

Our crafters have also discovered something interesting. The blue rocks we’re always being told to play with, they’ve suddenly become much more workable than in the past. Particularly if we warm up some by the fire before striking the ones we just left laying around in storage baskets outside.

One of them managed to augment the Dozen’s long stick with a lot of sharp rocks in it with these stones. Able to form a single flake the entire length of the wood core. They call it a “sword”. I have no idea how they came up with that name. I don’t even think we use that letter in our dialect.

Of course it is useless right now because in the cold while the stone is more workable, it kind of shatters on any sort of impact. Though at least its a step towards figuring it out. It is possible that there is something that allows them to work in the cold as well, judging by the vision pool and seeing that man who wielded such stones in his weapon.

 

I left some ritual circles with the Akoa for contacting us should they need to. Though after that upgrade to the scrying pool I’m starting to wonder if we should have made one that lets us contact them. The north is spookeh.

 

The Ranoni are nearly impossible to work with in finding a way to coexist. They seem to have taken a hard stance that the jungle just isn’t big enough for the two of them no matter what.

The Nezatl did well to recruit some more people to the island. Including the entire Ranoni clan. Xacalli helped with that one. See, no coexistence possible. Ignore the fact that they get along fine.

It is worth noting that the Ranoni have figured out how to build atop of water, as their village was built on top of the river in a very literal sense. They also know how to build raised homes in general, combined with Esin’s knowledge of such things it looks like we’re on the way to nicer homes. Which we’ll definitely need as the north approaches. Or as we approach the north…does the world revolve around us or was it the other way around?

Anyways, Tehanau has agreed to join us on this voyage. Since its technically a promotion for her and being the best druid we have is a cushy gig for her. At least that’s what I think her motives are.

As we know her, Tehanau is a beautiful elf who can shapeshift into various animals and travels around the world causing mischief of a sort. She is also a talented schemer. Her druidic abilities really only amount to shapeshifting and the ability to empathize and communicate with beasts. I think that makes her default to the new gryphon manager…since she did get us them in the first place. This is the form we see her in most often as she likes to be ‘pretty’ for some strange reason.

However, inducting her into the tribe resulted in us learning something that Koamalu already knew but we didn’t ask so he didn’t tell us.

 

Her true form is quite intimidating, not quite Esin but definitely coming up close. She is known as the Beast of Akoa in her true form. As with all Akoa warriors, she was trained since a young age. However, her shapeshifting and elven heritage made it hard to tell her age. She’s lost count of the seasons but she’s older than anyone except Hakenu’e and…how old are you again Chief?

In essence, while she has grown older and less excited to fight everything that moves, she can still smack somebody pretty hard. She is not as much of a master as Dalyn when it comes to shapeshifting, but she’s still pretty good. She spends most of her time in her false younger form. I caution of forgetting what she really is. She DID manipulate a war on the plains into happening after all.

She brought with her a chosen champion. Since they’re in our family we can send her to do things too.

Lukia is one of the elves that came along with us during our final offer before we disappeared into the wind. She isn’t Akoa, she’s from the plains with us. Actually she has one of my spears. She has apparently always been a little…intrigued by us and with her original clan becoming the Akoa’s bitches and us having a recruitment drive she has opted to just come with Tehanau and us by proxy. She actually spends more time in our side of the village than the Akarona.

She has the ability to raise dead animals similar to our own ability, but while it tires her out she is able to restore a level of their nature so she does not need to constantly focus on it. According to her, animals are more useful for this trick than human corpses due to the simplicity of their original minds. What intrigues me is that this is a very similar method as what we used to animate the bone guardian. Also she can cause creepy dead thorny vines, like the Milani wall, to do things. She carries a bunch of seeds around for these.

So basically she’s a creepy druid and fits in already. She made me an undead dog I use to fetch bones from the piles for me. Oh also she repaired the bone guardian for us, apparently that is a thing she can do too.

They’ve named their clan Akarona. It isn’t comprised entirely of elves but notably its leaders definitely are. They also have some members of the Kapiya who decided I am a good enough substitution for Xiomac anyways. I make them crunchy bone things. They’ve set up along the lake. I was expecting to offer them to move into the forest but they said they’ve had enough trees for their lifetimes. Open fields, a lake, and something resembling sunlight is a good spot for them.

As a note, Lukia and Tehanau are immune to winter. Due to their druidic abilities they don’t get cold or hot, though they can still get thirsty.

As for the bone guardian, we’re going to need some large bones. Specifically jaws to patch up- oh Mor has a pile of big snakes. I’ll just take one of those, alright we’re good.

I am sure Esin will love having the ability to sneeze whenever she wants. It is a truly formidable power. On the upside she seems to be settling down around here, and Harakino seems to have convinced her to become a guardian of the island. Which is nice because…she is kind of scary.

Majid is doing alright, still bites a lot though. I spent half an hour letting him chew on my arm because he wouldn’t let go in order to bring you this report.

 

Many monsters we find in jungle. Helped by Lifeweaver, good words said. Among many, one is special. It calls itself Kawil.

 

 

Kawil is large, larger than Uyitzan by tallness. Powerful, knows magic. Can use druid ways, control plants. Better than most. Very strong, made of tree. Hard to hurt. Tasty to slime.

Have one soul but four heads. Hard to kill. No vitals. Must be destroyed entirely. Species heal slowly, Kawil druid. Kawil grow back what is lost.

Speaks slow, boring to listen.

 

 

Esin is in state of confused. Needs time, has given up old life for new. For uncertainty. Esin is not a creature of maybe. Likes to predict things.

Slimes are hiding in temple. I join them for the cold times. New advisor.

Your home is small and I do not fit well. After the fall of Iiniwa, may his spirit rest, it has fallen to me to overtake his duties. Which seems fine since I am usually here around Auwana anyways.

 

The clan fares better than most, except for the slimes and snakes. They spend most of their time hanging out around the temple as well as near to regular fires. Most of the monsters are used to being naked to the elements though, so even something as little as a blanket can make a great impact for them. More so than the humans at least.

When it comes to monsters of the north, it seems they are few and far between. Sport hunting is popular here more so than anywhere else we’ve seen and they do not benefit from the power of the jungle to overwhelm the humans. Though, the pool reveals rumors hidden among its tales. It seems the eastern mountain range is where most of our kind have sought refuge.

Pride village remains solidified in its position as a clan within the family. While the two newer clans to join are getting used to the situation, the Pride Clan was sufficient enough in operating on its own to force us to invent the rule that they now reside under. The flying folk may become important here in the north. The gryphons are at risk because of the presence of Haleh. We will have to be careful when implementing their use. We must also be extremely careful of letting beasts like Usukan return to her domain. That thing is a fight and a half and I do not want to have to subdue it.

 

We have initiated Xacalli and Lokala’i, though apparently tiring out Xacalli is near impossible. She quickly returned to her work treating all the injured from the battle in the jungles.

We have also seen to the repairs of the lodge. Also yes I can’t help but notice despite Silas’ struggles he keeps managing to pull through. He is nothing if not tenacious. If only Avonaco had been like Silas in spirit.

Also the Travelers were nowhere to be seen at their own celebration. They’re doing laps around the lake in the middle of the storm. Lokola’i followed five paces behind them and prevented the wind from stirring around himself just to make fun of them.

The outriders couldn’t leave the island, storm travel. Because sooome shamans decided storm magic was the proper response before every battle. Though I suppose it is, no idea why it kept up for so long this time around though and carried us all the way to the north at such speed. So the Travelers jumped off the island, floated far off course, and then walked there on their own. Beat us there somehow. They report that it is very cold and sufficient layers will be required. I’ll leave the Xiaoshen to cover that issue.

Lokala’i’s training had to wait for the storms to end, we’re getting started on that now.

Also you asked all the wrong people about herbs to the north. That is more of a job for-

Within the woods are a few plants of interest. They tend to grow on the trees to stay above the ground where the snow would suffocate them. They act as medicine to the local folk but are definitely less potent than that of the jungle. Though I think everything is less potent than what was in the jungle. They are also popular for making a strange drink popular with the locals. It tastes awful and gives you a headache but they still love it. Also if you let the needle leaves of the trees dry out they become very good kindling.

There is also a unique flower that blooms underneath the snow, you have to dig to find it. The shamans like to collect it though I’m not sure what it does.

Thank you Caowei. Moving on. We’ve had the warm huts made, thouuuugh they kind of fell apart. This is a bit trickier than expected.

Also it turns out snake jaw traps are quite easy for him to make. He absconded with two of the skulls to repair the bone guardian but I agree with chants that it is important to do so. It did prove its worth during the attack.

As for the demon druid carcasses, they are attuned to the jungle. They do have a lot of effects related to venom, poison, and disease. They are also demonic, making them quite excellent for just plain old ‘hit harder’. Given demons disposition towards abnormal physical abilities. Though for the same reason, the bones are better at affliction rather than resistance. Given their abnormally poor healing…and we saw how long Silas was recovering from the venom.

Esin is unfamiliar with the black rocks, but says we should make a knife out of them and stab something warm. I don’t think she thought it through, but I do notice a lot of her ideas involve putting something into a body to create problems. Her claws being a great example.

Also Sawiri says that he can probably make something bendy out of the armored serpent’s ribs. Though has no idea why you would want such a thing.

As it turns out, this village has one real healer. There are some who know…basics. But that Xacalli is the only true medicine woman who knows what she is doing. Apparently she was a member of a clan of witch doctors known for their healing knowledge. Before she became a blood magic powered crow warrior that is. She’s good but she can only tend to so many. At least she has an apprentice.

I’ve had our warriors help with rebuilding the homes, they’re pretty strong and we could use all the help they can get. Especially now that a new type of home is being built thanks to Esin and her knowledge of such construction. I told them it was a training thing, strengthens their body blah blah. It is very convenient no one questions me around here.

The funerals have been held at the temple of Auwana, along with those of the rest of the tribe.

The winter clothes are being produced as fast as we can, the artisans have chosen to weave a lot of blankets. They can be worn as a cloak if necessary and are easy to make. Just big squares of warm. The clothes for warriors and scouts are taking awhile to get done as we need a lot of warm clothes for everyone. Fortunately the Nezatl are helping us with this.

For now we will rush the ‘traveling’ version of the warm layers just enough for each clan to send one person to venture. We need to make sure they work and still keep up with the blankets. As Hakenu’e pointed out, the first moves as we arrive are important but we can only make so many with some still injured from the war in the jungle and only so much gear able to be made in time.

I’ve seen to it that everyone in the clan understands the temple of Auwana. I’ve also just had them walk to the southern end of the village where the Hariwana live to make it clear who we share a village with. Lot of freaky looking people there.

Also you’re crazy if you think Laisun being under ‘no obligation to support’ will stop her from picking a fight herself. You know how she is. As it turns out we’ve recently learned the Great Wolf is no more. So Caowei’s mission is just to find good hunting grounds. It would seem the most plentiful prey are found in the forests but the most valuable tend to roam more open areas for the most part.

I’ve had the farmers look into growing what they can, as well as just random plants the oozes can eat since they aren’t so picky.