Stories of Lore 18

The situation has developed further. The Nezatl and Xiaoshen have managed to produce enough warm gear for the champions to venture out, though not enough for the entirety of our warriors. So we are now free to take further action, however a complication has arisen.

Ragniva and her army have returned to the south, apparently she is faster than expected. We have since learned her clan’s huts are carried by the horde so that she is constantly mobile. Without ever needing to sleep or rest her horde can move surprisingly fast. It turns out the living among them have learned how to eat long dead corpses and can feed on their own minions to make sure there is no need to slow down and hunt or scavenge for supplies.

Her horde is moving directly towards Auwana. There is suspicion from Koamalu and Zhuan that she is about to lay siege to us. Even if the army cannot get up here, we will be limited in methods to get down as well. That army will never rest nor need supplies, but eventually we will. Without the gryphons it will be difficult to move. Those who are down below will not be able to return and those who are up here will not be able to go down below. Exception to those who can fly. I am sending some of my clan now while they can still escape Ragniva’s notice and spreading them further out so we still have a way to interact down below.

Haleh herself is at the Vargr village amassing her forces. Notably, not many of them can fly. Though there is the constant threat that she leads those who can up here with her wyvern, just that beast alone could cause a lot of damage. So be sure not to send everyone down below too hastily.

However, she is trapped in a position that is not advantageous to her. Hallvard has destroyed another village to the north and the Howling Horror claimed more victims. We are deep in her territory as well, which leaves her having to split her forces to deal with many issues at the same time. Thanks to Kaya we have learned that the Asvald and Hedin clans have been appointed to try and deal with Hallvard and Thorinson problems along with support from the other northward clans.

Haleh and Ragniva are focused on us with their handful of clans in the immediate Vargr area while Icno has been sent to try and figure out what is going on with the Howling Horror, accompanied by several champions to protect him.

This has in turn released some of the pressure on the Ivor clan, though they don’t seem all that interested in taking advantage of it other than rummaging the eastern forests for food and supplies.

Other than Alihana and myself, the rest have recovered from their wounds they acquired fighting Xiomac thanks to Xacalli’s persistent work.

I suppose I can take over as advisor to you along with running the temple for the time being. Though if there is too much to be done, my duties at the temple will take priority.

It would seem Kaya has infiltrated deeper into the Vargr, having been recruited by the Asvald. They even gave her a warbeast to ride around on. They still don’t actually know what her abilities are. So we know what the Asvald are up to in particular. It would seem they were originally clearing out the territory near the lake they set up by, though with the incoming barrage of problems they’ve been reassigned to try and handle both Hallvard and Thorinson.

Kaya doesn’t tell us much, but fortunately the scrying pool keeps tabs on her. The Asvald are a different ilk than most warrior clans we’ve met. They’re all…really coordinated. While the Dozen have some training, and Iiniwa once provided a village-wide level of basic training for those who wanted to go, the Asvald have almost daily training mandated by their chief Asa. They train in things they call formations, the art of walking together in unison. Not to mention weapon skills as well. They are divided into something smaller than a clan they call parties. Small groups of five who know each other well and specialize in specific tasks. The end result of all this is that they seem to win a lot of their battles. She has also learned how Asa became the chief. Asa isn’t as strong as even half of her own clan, but she is the most gifted in telling people what to do and when to do it. She also leads the training and was apparently the one to originally suggest the creation of the Asvald to Haleh. So the whole clan is her personal creation. It is likely that Kaya could defeat her one on one, but the Nezatl would be left in ruins in a clan battle.

Being deep enough among their midst to ask as many questions as she wants, we’ve also learned that the Asvald village is the furthest reach of the Vargr territory. Draw a line from it to the Hedin village and you get the idea of how wide they really are. It is also worth noting that the Asvald are more loyal to Hoskuld than Haleh, despite being the tribe’s elites they don’t seem to have a full grasp of what is happening politically back home. That being said, Asa bears the mark of the Chanai on her left forearm so she might know more than she lets on. Which leads me to suspect the Asvald serve a second purpose, most of the champions loyal to Hoskuld are now very far away from the Vargr village and under the control of one of the elusive members of the Chanai. This means a lot of those remaining close to the Vargr king are actually those who favor Haleh.

The Vargr tend to take prisoners of the villages they defeat but then relocate people from those villages. Very few remain left alone, those that are tend to be the ones that surrender to the messenger rather than requiring a conflict and subjugation. These relocated people are seldom seen again, and Kaya has learned that they are ‘put to good use’ to atone for their rebellion.

Slaves?! READY THE WARRIORS! I will lead a raid to liberate them within seven mornings.

Calm down Necatzlai. Even if that is true, we don’t know where they are taken and there is a distinct lack of slaves in the villages as far as we’ve seen so far. Though the men sometimes take captured women as additional wives-

SHARPEN THE SPEARS!

You do know that Kaya is the clan’s war leader right? As I was saying, we’re not sure where they’re taken. Judging by the materials coming into the Vargr village to expand it, as well as the sheer reach of the tribe, there is likely a village specifically made to contain these prisoners and make use of them. Originally I suspected they might be cannibalized for food in the winter but the Vargr don’t seem to have any issues hunting meat. There are also no crow-folk among the Vargr so mass ritual sacrifice seems unlikely. However, the fact that we have no idea where they’re taken is foreboding of something sinister.

The meeting with Ragniva was a confusing mess evidently. Though we learned some important things from it. Mostly that Ragniva is Esin but less so. Feigning idiocy to make it harder to figure out her real motives.

But Koamalu sent Esin to shut up Rohaka so what she has gathered is that Ragniva is a rather practical person but has somewhat of a loyalty to Haleh for reasons she did not fully disclose. There might be more digging to do but at least she’s not all ‘rawr kill all rahana’.

That being said Hamona arrived at the Rahana and they give a slightly different version of the story Ragniva gave. According to them they have been in friendly negotiations with another tribe that is extended from this strange empire Ragniva spoke of and the chief took a liking to one of them in particular, so she moved into the village for the time being. Ragniva was requested to travel to their village as a sort of cultural exchange of magic and stuff. Though it is worth noting, their empire sure do love human sacrifices so its not like Ragniva’s impression might even be wrong. It is also possible they recognized how powerful it would be to integrate her into the heartland of the empire.

Hamona gets the impression both are leaving out little tidbits here and there to make sure the other one is definitely the bad guy. Because they didn’t mention anything about her son’s involvement.

We learned more about the Ivor from Ragniva than we did the Ivor oddly enough. Kawil already found the clan albeit not Ashyln. They don’t seem to have a primary village, just live scattered across a vast distance. Though Ragniva mentioned that they are some of those who Xiomac has reached out to in the past. They probably don’t know he’s dead. This tells us we can expect them to be hiding magic items and the like though.

Judging by Kawil it is a talent that can be learned, though judging by the amount of effort it has taken the Nezatl to acquire any of it, it may be more difficult than we might be inclined to think. With the Akarona here there is at least a place to attempt it and see if any learn the art.

Kennae has returned to Auwana and is now just sitting by the fire of Auwana with the others.

Contacting Ashyln is not too difficult really. Kawil already found her clan, it shouldn’t be too hard to ask to meet with her. Though Kawil the talking tree of horror might not be the best first impression. Then again her clan seems to indicate she is used to such oddities. Either way, we can probably find her if we just figure out how we want to approach first contact.

<The monsters of note are few and far between. Most have been hunted within the realm between two mountains. Most of us must seek shelter within the eastern mountains where few men go. I am one of the strongest, so is the elemental who also came to your mountain. We do not see other monsters too often, usually this leads to conflict over food or to eat one another. So we do not have as many rumors and legends as those that persist among men evidently. All know Vandrad, but few know others. Though there are strange scents the further north you. I lived closer to the south side of the white lands as you describe it. The elemental is from further north. With the information I have learned from those around here, I can surmise that there is a pattern. Those more inclined to flesh, fur, and fang like to live a little further south. We are dependent on the bounty of the forests. The further north you go, the more…bizarre the inhabitants become. As for rumors… I do not know of many. As I said, we do not talk to one another often.>

You’re adapting quite well though.

This is Tzelac, he didn’t have a name so I gave him one. As he says, the monsters out here tend to be quite isolated compared to ourselves. Though that is a recurring story everywhere we seem to go. He is a frost troll, and capable of regenerating his wounds and withstanding the cold. He is adapting to fitting in around here still, though he is quite well spoken in the monster’s tongue. Not so well with the common one of the village. We’re working on that. Don’t send him to talk to humans.

Though he propositions the theory that the further north we go, the more magical the monsters become. Similar to Kawil or the elemental. The further south we are, the more they rely on flesh and bone to produce raw power. The problem with recruiting such creatures is that though they are powerful, they don’t need food in the same way as most others. So it is hard to offer them much if they are already dominant in their territories since the security of Auwana is not as necessary for creatures of their kind. Upon questioning all of the new recruits, I’ve gathered that they don’t talk to each other much as Tzelac said. Few know rumors beyond Vandrad. Though there are notes of strange scents or signs of powerful monsters across the land, these never develop into rumors because they were very quickly avoided and their territory is rarely ventured within by anyone smart enough to form a social structure as those we have recruited.

One of the most peculiar is a creature described to live within the forests just a little southwest of us. This is deep within Vargr territory, few monsters survive here due to being hunted. Actually a lot of our recruits that are clearly far from apex predators came from this area since they had nowhere to escape to yet doom seemed impending. They mention that there is a creature here that is everywhere within the forest yet has never been seen. No one knows what it eats, where it lives, or what tracks it leaves. Just that there is something there that is a bit off but always present.

There is one mention of a terror that might be the second strongest monster in the north. It lives far north, in the land of what the Vargr call the savage folk. It is the only one known by rumor instead of ‘someone came across the scent’. Supposedly it is the only beast to survive a targeted hunt by members of the Vargr hunting parties. Information from Kaya leads us to believe the Asvald are actually hunting this specific creature before the village they inhabit can bring common villagers to the area.

The last one is less of a rumor but a well known and confirmed ‘we don’t go there’.  Far to the north, farther than we can see from here, there is a single smaller mountain. There is nothing alive in that area, no man, beast, nor monster. It is a dead place, but it is well known to monsters that something lives there. Something so dangerous that even the northern clans have learned that they must never go there. Supposedly, even Vandrad does not go near that mountain. Granted, Vandrad’s territory is the south anyways so there is no reason for him to be near the mountain.

That covers rumors of big scary things out here in the north that we might take interest in.

Aside from rumors, some of our scouts were rummaging through the ruins of human villages. Northwest there are reports of a scent described as a burning cold that stings the nose and marks of a powerful, and large, creature roaming the land. Those who have encountered this territory suggest the creature must be made of stone, ice, fire, and rage. Vague, but interesting at least.

We have seen to equipping Taike with some of the charms from the armored serpent. Though before we can proceed with the drain experiment, it must be noted that your weapon only is reversed when affecting Alihana. In order to create a new weapon that is reversed when used on Taike we will need another weapon that channels your same power. So basically we need to create a second one like yours, which requires some specific bones. Fortunately, as this is just for an experiment, we do not need quite the same scale of bones as would be needed for an exact copy of your weapon. Unfortunately, in the north it may be hard to find something aligned to the necessary aspects. We were able to create a similar tool for Esin using Dalyn’s bones, but we’re out of those now. Sawiri says something parasitic would do well, or just something that drains blood. Mosquitos don’t have bones unfortunately, and there are no blood sucking bats this far in the north.

As for mining, according to Esin she hits rocks really hard with harder things. The problem with exacating the caves below isn’t avoiding the crystals, but knowing where they are before striking into the rock as many are hidden in the rock walls.

Zhuan reports that Hallvard can easily move that axe in any direction. I think the Xiaoshen have more on the matter.

We can deploy the hunters now that the warmer gear has been prepared for a larger number, though they didn’t do anything these last few weeks.

The “east” is still in the white lands. Look east of the island. Also the Travelers are along the southern border of the white lands. We may wish to consider sending someone to get them properly dressed.

As for the curved spear blade, its currently still too brittle to see much use with how its been made. Though if it could withhold its shape, as we know to be at least possible, there is merit to the idea. It would open new offensive opportunities, likely ones people are not used to seeing.

Lokala’i is currently traveling. It is a long journey from the southern end of things all the way up to the Thorinson in the north.

To be fair, Haleh didn’t use any bones to make her armor. They are made from the scales. That being said, I suppose the travelers can start trying to hunt down the trail while they’re not doing anything in the south. Not sure where it died at though.

As for looking for the sacred spring, we know thats two territories south in the grasslands in some mountain or other. Up here…not so sure where they’re making these things.

I suppose I’m here while Zhuan is away. He has managed to slip into Hallvard’s…horde as you call it. As their adviser to the chief…and their strategist. So…that’s convenient. Apparently Hallvard likes it when we do that Wenhai fireside storytime thing where we are really unnecessarily wordy and exaggerated. We’ve learned a lot from this though.

First off, Hallvard’s physical strength was given to him. Similar to how Kaya received hers, though he did not say from who. Though his strength is somewhat bizarre. Zhuan described it as being unlimited but he doesn’t move like someone who is actually that strong. Esin is the strongest in our clan, physically speaking, and she has a certain weight to everything she does. She can also move very quickly very suddenly, like when punching. Hallvard lacks that. He’s not prone to bursts of momentum nor does he seem to have to obey the weight of his own strength or weapon. It’s kind of like he just moves normally, but nothing can prevent that movement from happening no matter what is in front of it.

We’ve also learned he’s not invulnerable, Zhuan was able to dislocate something just as well as he could have against anyone else. Again this is a strange contrast to our strongest tribe members. Esin, Wehilani, and Uyitzan are all just as hard to take down with a spear as it is to survive them hitting you with a spear. He’s really tough, enough to rival maybe Uyitzan. Though not enough to rival Xacalli or Coszacatl. Not even as much as Esin actually, which is unbefitting his supreme strength.

Then we learned he’s kind of smart. Smarter than we might normally assume but still kind of an idiot? His understanding of warfare and logistics is terrible basically. Zhuan is in a position to fix this weakness or exaggerate it though.  As it stands, Hallvard is a terrifying enemy to face but his army is sort of wild. Given the reports from Kaya about the Asvald, it is likely that he won’t make it all the way into Vargr territory as he is right now. The Asvald will cull most of his forces, and if he makes it through the northern border the Hedin will finish the job. Especially if Haleh herself goes to face him.

On to other news, Caowei took another route into Hallvard’s forces in case Zhuan’s mystic man approach didn’t work. She just walked into them overnight and no one questioned it. The army is not well put together, everyone keeps assuming she’s from some other group and that’s why they don’t know her. The army itself is pretty much being held hostage by Hallvard as he conscripted them by way of murdering everyone who resisted. That being said, at least half of the army truly believes in him. He is promising to lead them to defeat the Vargr and take the southern areas of the White Lands for themselves, which is richer in food and resources. Since he managed to “unite” so many people into one large group they are willing to take this chance. Though the other half might be fairly willing to give up and go home if they could, maybe even turn on him for murdering their clan members.

We have also learned that Hallvard has five major champions…only five. He kept dueling them all to death as his method of forcefully recruiting various clans so he is kind of lacking in that department. That being said the five he has are pretty terrifying.

Zhuan and Caowei are able to retreat at any time you like…since as I mentioned before he’s not so good at logistics. Most people in his army have nowhere to go and no idea where to start walking but Zhuan and Caowei can just come back here. Though we’re in an interesting position with Zhuan as his adviser and Caowei sneaking around among the troops.

Also, we managed to make enough winter clothes for all the major champions of the tribe. Hakenu’e covered that one for us but we should be able to send everyone out now. Though we’re on a bit of a narrow time frame to do so since Ragniva is on the way.

Speaking of which, Esin says if we trade off some of our old silk stuff we have laying around we should be able to get a large amount of hides from Ragniva. I’m still not sure how she worked out that deal but…well we have unlimited silk up here thanks to the Huanacan and maybe it would be worthwhile. Though we would be trading with the enemy, not sure how I feel about that. Also we did get kind of volunteered into it without being asked….also not sure how I feel about that.

Stories of Lore 17

Kaya is off sneaking around and defining the edge of the Vargr territory, which seems to extend to the northern lake of Asvald. Beyond that is the Savage Lands but it is a gradual transition. It seems the Vargr intend to take over the lands within that transition right up until the great north where there is little more than ice. Basically once the trees stop growing, that is the edge of the Vargr’s intended territory. Conquering all of that land would make them the largest tribe in the world I’m sure.

In terms of fighting the Vargr specifically, they do have a lot of champions around the area due to their culture practically spawning them as a rite of passage. They’re not quite on par with crow folk on average but the sheer number of great warriors is notable. It is also notable that there are no crow folk here in the north. Apparently it was one of the first groups Haleh had hunted down and mercilessly slaughtered, she may have a bit of a grudge with them from the plains.

As for cold clothing, what we gave to Kaya is…I will call it sufficient. She still complains that its cold and definitely still needs fires. Though I’m not sure if anything can be done to truly mitigate it.

So the thing is…dragging up raw materials with the basket is kind of hard. There is also still the matter of not over harvesting our own forest here on the island in that process. Going over the idea of defensive structures and better buildings with the Xiaoshen and the Pride reveals that we will need a lot of trees. Given that the tribe doesn’t want to over-use the gryphons who already had issues bringing up heavy stuff, it will be difficult to construct anything actually defensive up here until we resolve that issue.

As for building atop the lake, I am sure there is something we could grow in the lake itself that would provide food…I just have no idea what grows underwater that we could realistically harvest.

We have built some tent shelters around our bee hives to help keep at least the wind at bay to alleviate the cold on them if only just a little. Though Kaya reports there is a source of honey here in the north, the natives use it to make their strange drink. It might be worth seeing what kind of bees they have around here.

Ah what clans are we dealing with. A reasonable question to ask, especially now that we have our scrying pool, and even Tehanau to help with scouting. Surely there are many things we know. Are you sure you don’t want to learn details bit by bit so we can deal with one problem at a time as we encounter them? No? You really want everything right now while we’re already getting our bearings with how much we know?

So… clans…there are a lot of them. Mostly smaller so I’ll focus on some major notes, largely from initial scoutings and the scrying pool. We may not know every detail but we have learned a lot since we arrived.

The Wolf clan is dead now, despite being the major clan we heard about before getting here. Their legacy still plays a large part in what is happening though. They were originally loners and very similar to The Dozen in the way they operated. Eventually they started to work closer with the Vargr for the benefits of having a tribe to back them up when things get out of hand…so The Dozen. After supposedly killing the king Haleh wiped them out too with one exception. Their defeat turned Haleh into a legend among the Vargr and is why most do not have any issue with taking orders from a foreigner. She is now revered as a warrior queen and people like that kind of thing around here. I still say sending our leaders to fight is a bad idea though.

To the west is the Hedin clan, living along a lakeside. They are the home of the Vargr’s shaman experts and often are the ending step in a Vargr shaman’s journey to become a full fledged shaman. They are…aggressive for shamans. Hakenu’e is generally more of a ‘don’t mess with me and I won’t mess with you’ type of guy. The Hedin are more of the ‘lets fight right now’ type of guys. They believe Haleh’s power to control living animals to be the pinnacle of their own type of magic and consider her one of the greatest shamans in the north. What is strange is that they were not the ones to train Haleh in her current shaman abilities nor did they train Icno, who is another of the greatest shamans in the territory. Supposedly. Anyways, the Hedin are very fond of Haleh for the aforementioned reasons. This village keeps others near it in check as they know the Hedin’s loyalties and the Hedin’s love for attacking things.

They are led by Hamund, Walks by Moonlight. I can’t help but notice you may need to kill him for the naming rights. Hamund is, as the clan might have given away, a very powerful shaman. He has the beast form that our shamans do, though remember how the Vargr seemed to have learned how to have multiple totem bindings? I have no idea what binding Hamund has, or if they fused together. Either way he is a physical threat as well as a spiritual one. We don’t know the full scope of his abilities, though he is known for having a lot of ominous visions. He has also personally defeated four dozen champions in Vargr duels having only lost a handful of times. Notably he lost outright to Haleh, which has perhaps played a role in the Hedin’s reverence towards her.

Basically, the leader of the war shamans is himself a very powerful war shaman. Who would have seen that coming? He only respects people that duel him, doesn’t need them to win, just needs them to try. Supposedly he should be on Hakenue’s level as a shaman. Which is either inaccurate or frightening since he is considered only the fourth greatest shaman in the White Lands. Inaccurate because Haleh shouldn’t count, they don’t realize her powers are not based in shamanism and she lucked out on having an extremely powerful totem spirit. Frightening because the next two ahead of him are Icno and Eerihild.

I will remind you, shamanism is a unique practice that can take on many forms. Different does not mean stronger, even if they are stronger than me it may not be by as vast a margin as you imagine. Eerihild can use lightning in ways that defy my knowledge of the ability, but she cannot use it in the way I do which is has its own uses. Jula also has many abilities they might not have ever seen. The diversity of shamanism comes from its close ties to the spirits, and every spirit can be very different.

Back on topic. Another important clan is in the northeast by another lake, known as the Asvald. It was formed by taking the second or third strongest champions from every other clan within the Vargr and composing an elite clan whose sole purpose is to conquer new territory. Behind them will be other clans to do things like building, hunting, and gathering. But the Asvald go first into dangerous new territory. They have the most resources and not a single member among them is less than a champion. Every member of them has a personal warbeast from Haleh. Apparently part of the tradition was that only warbeasts who won a duel against another warbeast would qualify to be a mount for the Asvald.

They are led by Chief Asa. One of Haleh’s direct apprentices in the art of riding. She’s the best on beastback in the north with the exception of Haleh herself. Though that still puts her quite a bit behind Hassan, who had a lifetime of riding experience to call upon. Though she is still dangerous and has had specialized equipment crafted for her to perform this role in combat. I am very curious as to who made her that bone armor and weaponry. I must consume them and steal their knowledge.

Asa is really not that mean or aggressive. She’s just proud and blindly loyal. People like her because she’s so easy to get along with. She has skills but not power. Without being a true born Chanai, her ability to control her beast is definitely a lot different than those we have fought before. Though she is excellent with whatever that weird spear is. Notably, her bones are not enchanted like ours so despite appearances she is not as powerful as so many bones might imply.

That being said, she is still the leader of the elite Asvald clan. I’m still not sure how or what she did to get that position. I think there is something to her we don’t know and should not be taken lightly despite how lighthearted she is herself.

Next we have the Dead Clan as they call it. Because Ragniva is an exile but has enough followers to be considered a clan despite having no real standing name to give to them. So they are just known as the Dead Clan. They’re all necromancers and help control the vast army of the undead that she has at her disposal. This is the largest group we have ever encountered by body count. The horde numbers in the hundreds upon hundreds, even if the actual living among them are only half the size of an average clan. They apparently mastered the art of permanently animating the dead. Kind of like our bone guardian but they have an easier way to do it than just enchanting bones with a very powerful ritual. It seems every member of her clan can animate bodies on a whim and the best among them can create monstrosities of ‘spare parts’. This is why the Dead Clan are so important to the Vargr, it gives them an uncountable mass of bodies to send into war that grows with every battle yet requires no food or shelter. That being said, the undead are a lot less dangerous than a true warrior. Its just the sheer overwhelming number backed up by Ragniva herself that makes it hard to combat. Also her zombies can sprint, so running away doesn’t work.

The Vargr as a clan instead of a tribe consists of Haleh in particular. Though they are actually loyal to the king not the queen. They are mostly those talented in long voyages to manage all the other clans the Vargr hold in their domain. There are a few great and proud warriors among them, but they play very minor roles compared to Hedin, Asvald, and The Dead Clan. Were not for what we know about Haleh, they would be important as the central managers of the tribe.

There exists another clan the scrying pool revealed to us that few among the Vargr even know about. A sort of secret clan made up of members from other clans. The Chanai. A group who have pledged loyalty to Haleh instead of Hoskuld, and are fully aware of how the Vargr actually work. They don’t bear her name formally, though they all share a tattoo so they can recognize each other. The oddest part is the tattoo is like none we’ve seen, it is very intricate and difficult for anyone to imagine drawing multiple times to perfection. This clan keeps the Vargr under Haleh’s control and the clan Vargr itself is being slowly bled of its power by the hidden Chanai clan.

This is all we know of the Vargr so far.

On to the Thorin clan. They’re the home of Losvir, the Standing Stone. He is the main resistance against Haleh. He is fully aware of what Haleh is doing to the Vargr and doesn’t appreciate it. Though his problem solving for this situation is “just defeat the Vargr”. Not the most nuanced approach, but he has become the representation of those who stand against Haleh. As a result he found himself allied with others who don’t like Haleh, as well as several smaller non-Vargr clans who just don’t want to be conquered, thus inadvertently forming an alliance that is on the verge of becoming a tribe itself. The Thorin have powerful shamans though not quite as mighty as the Hedin. Just as aggressive though. They became the face of the alliance because Haleh hasn’t figured out how to kill Losvir yet. We also have no idea what his durability is tied to. He’s not quite like a crow, they still take damage but shrug it off. It seems like nothing can actually hurt Losvir at all, and he lacks their overwhelming physical strength. Still plenty strong, just not Nihaul strong.

The Volsung are another of the resisting clans to help Thorin in traveling the land to try and fight off the Vargr’s invasions or liberate their already conquered villages. They are considered witches by many and few would want to be their ally. It just so happens that Losvir isn’t picky with who he associates. They really just like to be left alone, and the Vargr aren’t leaving them alone. Though they held out for a long time, they were defeated by the Asvald and forced to flee their ancestral home. So now they’re out for revenge even if they are weakened. However, because they are one of the few clans that are not shamans it is worth noting their existence.

They are lead by Haki. The newcomer to power ever since the battle with the Vargr killed the former chief. Their clan elected to appoint the greatest warrior among themselves as the new chief during this time of war. They have an odd system, apparently they rotate chiefs all the time based on whatever immediate problem they want solved. Haki is kind of like a northern Alihana really. He loves magic and the study of it, he also has abilities no one really understands. Among them is that he can induce cold onto all in his presence, similar to the plague sight. It bypasses clothes and he can cripple even northerners with it as they succumb to the chill. Unlike Alihana, it is not based on what he can see but proximity to himself. It helps that he’s really good with a spear too so he has no problem getting up close. His most powerful ability is to melt ice and match it to his own body temperature. In the White Lands, it means his people never go thirsty. Also he cannot feel cold. Which you’ll notice is a common ability among the magic users of this land.

Kawil found something along the eastern mountain range,  there exists a…uh… clan known as the Ivor. They are lead by a powerful elven druid whose origins are unknown. She is the only elf in the clan, but the clan itself is composed of misfits. Somewhat similar to the Huanacan. Instead of being directly related, they just banded together. They have demons, weird creatures, an elf, several orcs from the plains who fled north found a home with the Ivor.

Led by Ashyln, who is clearly not an Akoa elf judging by her lack of thick. She is perhaps as talented in druidic arts as the demon druids we faced, at least the weakest among them. Not quite a Dalyn or Esin situation. That still makes her the strongest druid in the White Lands, a convenient place for her to live since druids can withstand the cold. She doesn’t shapeshift, but has the unique ability to control water. Apparently all this white stuff is water, because she controls that too. You can see how she became known as a threat. No Vargr lives near mountains because she has destroyed one of the Vargr clans by making something they call an ‘avalanche’. I am told it is the most destructive thing anyone in the north has ever witnessed, and no one survived. She can also control animals and such.

She is currently trapped along the mountains because she is a direct threat and rival to Haleh. Haleh isn’t foolish enough to attack her on the mountainside, but Ashlyn is not dumb enough to leave the only thing she has protecting her. In an open field she has no chance against Haleh so she can’t leave, but Haleh can’t defeat her whole clan while the threat of this ‘avalanche’ is constantly available to Ashlyn. We have no idea which of the two has the stronger power of domination, but if they were to collide it would weaken either side’s major asset.

I don’t have confirmation from the pool or our scouts, but there have been two mentions of a mythical clan from two different sources that implies I should mention it. Supposedly there is a “clan” known as the “Lost Blue Clan”. It isn’t really described as a clan, more like a group of people who have notable similarities to each other. The story is that the clan was wiped out generations ago. Those of the Lost Blue Clan are born as shamans and do not need to learn the art. They just pop out of their mothers already wielding spirit totems and seeing dead things. The marker of this lineage is white hair and blue eyes. This is where the myth gets muddy, because Haleh achieved white hair and blue eyes when she became a high shaman. We also know that Icno bears these physical features but is a foreigner…and one of the four strongest shamans. Different villagers will give you different explanations as to why that is if it was a originally an inherited feature. Ranging from a mysterious force living in the north that is the true greatest shaman in the world but rarely reveals itself or takes on students, to the transformation being something the Lost Blue Clan were just born without needing to learn. Another theory is that those who achieve the Lost Blue features are those who managed to learn shamanism from a lingering spirit of that clan, or that the lost blue clan’s descendents are the only ones capable of doing this and that they weren’t actually born with the power but had to undergo the clan’s secret rite of passage. You get the idea, no one really knows what is going on with these super shamans.

However, there exists a shaman in the north who was born with these features. Eerihild, you know that shaman born with a wolf aspect who didn’t know she was a shaman and was then able to figure out lightning just by seeing Hakenu’e do it? However, if all this is true there is another person of note among the north. Hallvard also has these features yet no seeming knowledge of shamanism.

There are two more mythical clans. Supposedly there is another lost clan who had purple eyes and whose skin was cracking like a stone trying to contain an immense evil. We know this is the crow folk, and before Haleh came they were regarded as something special…this also means that the north barely understands what the crow folk are. They have no idea who the King of Crows is apparently. To be fair, the only reason we know he actually exists is because Xacalli met him and we had to deal with those cannibals for years. They were few and far between, and Haleh made a deliberate point of wiping them out wherever they might be. Out here in the White Lands, they weren’t a known element to every clan and Haleh hasn’t bothered to correct the myth other than to make it clear they should be reported to her so she can deal with it. Apparently allowing the legend of them to persist has done well for her reputation as that means she has killed many mythical figures including the Great Wolf and the descendants of the Lost Evil.

The other rumored clan has such concrete details that are shared among so many that I’m pretty sure its a real one. They are known as the “Erland” clan. Supposedly they live hidden within the eastern mountains. A place no one really goes poking around because of people like Ragniva and Ashyln. Since no one goes there, no one hunts there either. So now its also filled with monsters, some of which are loyal to Ashyln so people can’t figure out what poking will accidentally bring them to war with her. It is said that they are a group who know how to make all the wondrous items of the land that no one knows where they come from. Particularly weapons and armor. Their many creations sometimes fall down the mountain and are found by the natives, others claim to have received it directly from one of them when they come down from the mountains to wander around for food in the winter. Either way, everyone attributes the best tools to the Erland Clan and their reputation is known across the entire White Lands. I’m pretty sure they’re real to some capacity because if someone else was making this stuff they’d definitely be taking full credit for it. I wouldn’t shut up if I made all this stuff. I do make all this stuff for us and I don’t shut up about it.

Moving on! We sent a rider to the Rahana, we’ll…hear back from them someday hopefully.

It turns out Tehanau and Lukia do not remotely understand the bone spells. I spent two weeks trying to teach them the most basic thing and they couldn’t really grasp the basics. Most importantly, how to channel their power into the magic. They are not talented enchanters I can say.

Made some bones, handed them out. Gave Silas the nicest one. Moving on.

Tehanau found other stuff I went over while looking for Eerihild. Though as for Eerihild herself, it has been very difficult to find her. Tehanau thinks she is in hiding to avoid Haleh mounting an attack on her own terms. Though we have found signs of carnage that are attributed to her. Villages have had to call upon riders from the Vargr to protect the village because supposedly Eerihild is in the east mauling anything and everything that she can get her hands on. We’re not sure why, though she has gone truly mad with bloodlust. Sightings of the Great Wolf, who we know is a spirit bound to Eerihild, have been told about destroying village populations. There are dead champions laying in the forest where it appears they dueled such a wolf. Women are laying dead in scores out in the forests where they looked for berries and other plants, and dozens upon dozens of children have just gone missing entirely. Warbeasts have been killed and barely any of them eaten all over the eastern area. While we cannot say all of this is Eerihild, that seems to be the running belief of the village people. We also have reason to believe Eerihild has turned to the crow’s ritual as of late.

I think she’s just attacking the Vargr in any capacity she can from any angle she can. Hoping to eventually weaken the tribe so much that she can strike a meaningful blow. She has no allies anymore and must challenge a force unlike anything ever encountered in the form of Haleh.

Aaaaanyways. Lukia also found that flower you wanted her to look for. Very easily actually. It turns out druids have a knack for this kind of thing. She hasn’t returned to the island from scouting yet, but she has a bunch of it. So far she says eating it doesn’t taste good so we still don’t know what its for.

As your advisor I must remind you we last saw that our lost relative was being recalled to the Vargr Village to help defend it from….well us, on Haleh’s orders. We are unlikely to find her in the mountains. That being said she is still in transit and if you have a plan for that…it is very trivially, laughably, comically, and stupidly easy to find her. There is a number higher than I can fathom of undead animations marching across the snow, I swear I can see it from up here. The dark spot over yonder that moves a bit every day. I think that’s her. Just a hunch.

As for Alihana’s recovery, Xacalli has nothing to speed that up. She describes it as not being a truly physical illness. She could help with the recovery of the symptoms, but her long sleep is beyond us to do anything about. This is actually more of a shaman thing.

To be honest you should not have let her do that. Its like her spirit was torn asunder, for all I can tell she is dead. Sawiri informs me this is the normal recovery process but if you could see what I can you would never let her do this again. It looks like she shapeshifted her spirit the way druids do their body, and formed it entirely of spikes and teeth that tried to tear its way out of her body. Imagine putting a wolverine in a waterskin, that’s what her soul looks like right now. Trapped between life and death as she tries to prevent her soul from leaking out of said waterskin and disappearing into whatever awaits beyond forever. In the name of Auwana, I cannot fathom out how she has survived doing this twice before. I would say that Xiomac, who Xacalli exploded from the inside, has a better chance of waking up than she does.

Be silent wolf. She will live.

I don’t think you understand what she has done to herself. If she-

I said be silent. My sister is the greatest of all the legends to ever walk this world, she will not die without taking half of it with her.

Immune might be a bit of a stretch. Though we have been able to send out those who are resistant to the cold for a shorter venture. Mostly the gnolls.

When it comes to monsters of the north we have learned something about Haleh’s frost tyrant…as apparently everyone in the north knows about that thing. It is one of a kind and no one knows where it came from. It was known to wander the north and no one knows what it actually eats. Though its quite big and could easily destroy a clan if it got a little peckish. That’s the bit everyone knows, other monsters happen to have more insight.

The frost tyrant’s name is Vandrad. They are…particularly strong. This is a beast that could comfortably challenge a chimera or a hydra. It has the ability to spew a blizzard from its mouth so they say, similar to a wyverns breath but…cold instead of hot. It is the size of an elephant and unlike similarly large monsters can sprint extremely fast.

Vandrad is an omnivore. Most people think its a predator but its perfectly fine eating trees, which there are plenty of. Apparently before Haleh came along, it was known for just wandering the north snacking on whatever it came across. It is completely intelligent and speaks the language of monsters as well as humans. Which means one of two things. Either Haleh can now dominate anything, or that she didn’t need to in order to enlist Vandrad’s aid. It is known to have always had a rivalry with the Great Wolf. Apparently with the Great Wolf slain it is now the big beast of the north, undisputed. No one is sure why its working with the Vargr, it doesn’t need food from them given its ability to eat practically anything. Its personality is described as devious. Having a way with words that monsters do not often possess. There is also apparently a myth that anyone who can slay it will be cursed. I have a hunch Vandrad started that rumor.

We also recruited a few odd monsters here and there purely by merit of “we don’t live in a hole” and “you won’t be hunted”. Among them includes a some creatures who are good in the snow. Though we have elected to let them settle into the village up here before we actually deploy them for anything further since that was what enticed them to our clan. Among them most notably includes a dire sabretooth, a frost troll, and a frost elemental.

Kennae has been having a rough time foraging out here. He isn’t used to snow and even giving him our set of warm clothes he is…well not good with cold. He spends most of his time by fires or trying to sit in the sun.

Esin sent Harakino to take the gryphons with them back to the Akoa, Esin herself didn’t want to leave pride village so early into the winter. It is worth remembering that Esin is a druid and immune to the cold, so she’s been doing a lot of the work around her village on her own.

The driders were already making blankets and warm things with the Xiaoshen, though their silk is not the best at retaining heat by comparison to hides.

As for a heatstone, Sawiri mentions they need creatures aligned to fire to do so. Which is why the only one we have is the fire of Auwana, made from the bones of the wyvern that once inhabited this island..

As for your own abilities…its hard to tell. You have a tendency to just blow things up and I don’t know how much more it could evolve beyond that.

Also our clanmates can attempt studying with Kawil, though judging by Maxhui from the Nezatl, learning druidism is difficult. Though the current druids around the island have made some stuff we’re keeping in jars that should help against any future poisons. They did pointedly mention that it wouldn’t stop whatever Esin’s venom is. No one seems to know what she’s using or why its so incredibly potent.

Lokala’i has taken to visit the villages and engage in some casual dueling. He won half of them. It is worth noting that Lokala’i is on par with the travelers, so all this talk of how many champions the north possesses is definitely not exaggerated. Anyone defeating Lokala’i is someone to take seriously. Though also to be fair, he was specifically challenging champions rather than the average folk so it is a bit of a focused perspective. They seem to naturally respect him since he just walks around shirtless and barefoot in the snow. He is still a druid after all.

Caowei has been digging around for the strange flowers and found a few. We still don’t know what they’re for though.

The farmers however are not having much luck, they’ve never had to grow anything in this kind of cold. The ground is frozen. I’m not sure how to help them handle that. We could have the warriors punch the ground a few times maybe and loosen it up? I don’t know if that’ll solve the problem though.

The other winter preparations have reached a point of people not dying of cold at least. Still mighty uncomfortable and productivity rates are quite low. We’ve almost finished making enough blankets so that we can focus more on the production of winter clothes for those intending to wander out into the wilderness.

Which has led us to some notice from Caowei. While they do keep people warm enough to function for awhile out there, they will still need to find shelter now and then. So be wary of plans for more extended trips out into the cold. Exception to those who are naturally resistant to the cold.

The blue stone is a rock that is blue. Though more importantly it has properties that are useful in weapons, we have seen them in use within the grasslands though the secret to shaping them is unknown.

As for the sword, currently the dozen seem convinced it isn’t that useful due to its lack of range compared to the common spear.

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.

Stories of Lore 15

Battle reports are more about numbers and stats so its more of my thing than your advisors. Here we go.

Island Defense

Nezatl: 12 kills 8 deaths
Nenetl: Dead | Battled Dalyn

Hariwana: 16 kills 6 deaths
Rohaka: 4 kills, 1 boss kill, minor injuries | Battled druid boss
T-Rex bone guardian: 18 kills, severe injuries | Battled Dalyn and ate a bunch of birds

Huanacan: 4 kills, 2 deaths
Iiniwa: Dead | Battled druid boss, died from venom

Dozen: 34 kills, 1 death

Xiaoshen: 8 kills, 4 deaths
Laisun: 4 kills, severe injury (broken arm) | Defended Xiaoshen and Nezatl sector, battled Dalyn
Zhuan: 2 kills, severe injury (venom) | Defended Xiaoshen sector, battled Dalyn
Caowei: 3 kills, uninjured | Ran around defending Xioashen sector from arakkkoa

Beastkin: 18 kills, 7 deaths
Hakenu’e: Severe injuries | Battled Dalyn
Koamalu: 3 kills no injuries  |  Reinforced Hariwana sector
Usukan: 4 kills, Defeated druid boss. Minor injuries.

Orc Clan: 7 kills, 0 deaths  | Defended their sector from light arakkoa attacks. Put out fires.

Pride Clan: 0 kills 0 deaths  | Did next to nothing, except convince Esin to help
Esin: Killed Dalyn, no injuries.

Akoa Defense

Kaya: 6 kills, uninjured   | Showed up cuz she felt like it. Ran around erratically and did a lot of damage.
Maxhui: 2 kills, light injuries | Part of initial ‘wtf is happening’ scramble
Citlanal: Acted as strategic relay, uninjured, did no fighting.
The Leper: 8 kills, light injuries. defeated northern druid | Defended choke point against boss
The Other: 6 kills, defeated northern druid injured    | Defended choke point against boss
Lokala’i: 8 kills, light injuries | Sallied and attacked the enemy
Tehenau: 3 kills, no injuries | Defended treatment area for injured

Xiomac Ambush

Wehilani: Defeated the 2nd demon druid and damaged armored serpent. Light injuries
Kennae: Got a lot of damage in. No injuries.
Alihana: Killed 4th and 7th demon druids. Comatose.
Sawiri: Carried Alihana away and annoyed people by shouting obscenities he made up.
Taike: Defeated Arakkoa lieutenant, did very high damage to three other enemies. Severely injured, but unaffected.
Silas: Killed Rekial (champion you didn’t meet), Lost to Arakkoa Champion and Tahi’o (village you never met) champion teaming up on him. Crippled Tahi’o. Severe injuries.
Sakazai: Racked up backstab damage. Minor Injuries.
Avonaco & Perxtli: Defeated 3rd demon druid, killed by Rekial
Alekona: Defeated armored serpent boss (with help). No injuries.
Necatztlal: Defeated Arakkoa Champion, defeated by 2nd druid. Severe injuries
Maloth: Damaged armored serpent boss, defeated 5th druid, defeated by 7th druid
Kuari: Defeated by 7th druid, did damage to Rekial
Alauna’i: Defeated 6th druid and Arakkoa Champion, damaged armored serpent
Mikaere: Defeated 8th and 9th demon druids. Killed by Xiomac.
Xacalli: Killed Xiomac. No injuries.

Hakenu’e is still recovering from his injuries, so I will conduct the tribal council today. It would appear Xiomac had been planning to cripple us with a surprise attack after learning the southern village had been attacked. While he knew the Akoa were involved, he suspected we had a hand to play in it though did not realize how large. It also seemed he expected Esin to help him instead of turn on Dalyn. He clearly did not pay attention to Esin’s… qualms.

We caught Xiomac as he was preparing to attack the Akoa, which was apparently the main focus of his attention and why all of the guardians were with him for one massive assault. They would have met up with the attack force comprised of several human villages and overwhelmed the Akoa together. We disrupted this plan and his elite forces remained split from his numerous ones.

The Akoa were able to defend their home with only one champion showing up to that attack. Three or four smaller clans were wiped out attempting that attack expecting reinforcement from Xiomac and his guardians which would have definitely turned the tide.

We were able to defend Auwana though there has been some damage. The fires didn’t spread too far though, while several huts were burned down it is less than a tenth of them. Those who are currently without homes can seek refuge at the empty village in the center of the island or the temple of Auwana while repairs are being made.

The assault of Xiomac was costly, as it turned out all of his best warriors except Dalyn were with him to prepare for the assault on the Akoa. Though in the end, we are victorious.

In the aftermath, we need to focus on rebuilding a little and so do the Akoa. The winds are growing stronger now though, and we find ourselves moving northward. If you have any unfinished business in the jungles, I advise taking care of them soon.

We had a chance to meet the archdruid, who stopped by to give us a very large seed for a tree that supposedly should help clean up the lake. Even if it is about to freeze over, its still nice to have. Other tidbits we managed to have answered is we learned that Esin is a byproduct of the Archdruid’s…creature making. Which explains her size for a demon.

. . . my name is Tlexictli. I’m your cousin.

Also in regards to this tournament thing you seem interested in, we could combine it with the festival plans we still have that we didn’t do this year due to the island still being new overall. Though it will be awhile before the year has passed, so we could do it sooner as a separate thing. The problem is certain people would not be allowed to compete as their entire fighting style is…unrecoverable.

Also Culures sounds somehow offensive and I’m not sure why.

As for “quests” I’m not really sure of any in particular. Kaya is currently busy standing ready with the team that is going to go after Xiomac. So that is probably a quest. Unless you wanted to start a new one and just go chasing after some obscure goal you invent based on the information we already have about the jungle and its denizens.

As for silk weaving, we’ve technically done something similar before just not on the scale the Xiaoshen like to do it. They seriously have people who spend all day everyday just weaving unnecessarily intricate things. I’ll have some of the girls try it out and see how it goes, if it catches on we’re definitely going to need a lot of people working on it I suppose.

This…government thing you speak of is getting confusing. I’ll leave that to you, I just need to update you on the major news after all.  Actually that’s Alihana’s job but she is sleeping…and she will be sleeping for awhile.

We’ve opted to name the original village as suggested, though people notably call it just “Pu’uwai” for short. The names might take some getting used to.

After the battle we have amassed a large collection of dead birds, we have been taking their feathers, blood, and bones one at a time. Though it is hard work processing so many, not to mention our own dead. Though Sawiri says we could make a bunch more of those tokens Mor uses to jump off the island at least. We’re working them on storing them in their new designated areas instead of just letting them pile up behind Sawiri and Alihana’s home.

Also Xiomacs remains were recovered by Taike extra fresh alongside his companions. Sawiri says he could make one of a number of options, only one though as he was mostly just a skull.

We could reanimate it as we did the rex skeleton and add to our list of bone guardians but it’d just be a floating skull with a big mouth.
Sawiri says there is a way to use it to enhance the lightning circle to possibly make it go back up which would give us a consistent way to go up and down from the island without flight.
Another option is a special weapon that can raise a barrier that deflects any magic that should impact it.
Also we could mount it on the bone guardian and make it shoot lasers.
Finally there is a method by which it could be used to store a single cast of any spell. For example, charging it with Alihana’s fire would let anyone use the spell at least once without needing to know how to do it. Which could add some utility to our options provided we know the spell to charge it with.

The idea of making a massive tent network near the temple is…one that no one has any idea what you’re trying to talk about. They could theoretically do it though they have no idea if that’ll actually keep anyone warm.

In taking stock of the winter ready among our tribe. The oozes notably stand out as doing the worst in the cold. We may need to fix the water issue before then as they won’t be filtering the water when the air and the water are literally ice cold.

The Snake folk also stand to fare badly.

Gnolls will do a bit better than usual and the owlbears will be fine. The Arakkoa are better suited to the winter than the harpies but the harpies are not enormously worse off compared to the usual folk. If anything they’re in a slightly better position just not good enough to ignore the environmental challenges.

Seriously though someone better save the oozes.

As for Pride Village, they might be worse off than the lakeside village because they cannot seek respite at the temple so easily. Not to mention getting firewood up to their cliff can be a bit more difficult than normal.

To which end if we don’t want to cut down all the trees on Auwana for firewood, we may consider harvesting that as well.

Also no I can’t enhance the lingering nature of any spirit by knowing them when they were alive.

I can’t imagine why this mechanic wouldn’t be allowed to exist. Hrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I suppose you could argue any given way in regards to the beastkin being the ruling clan. Hakenu’e is undisputed as the leader of the tribe, I mean if he tells you to do something you’re going to do it. Whether or not his successor will carry the same authority is another matter. We’ve never really discussed the position of power Hakenu’e holds since he doesn’t use it very much. He just sort of…advises. Though when it comes down to it, I imagine his command would carry enough weight to force things to go his way unless he said something impressively stupid enough to make us lose faith in him.

The Travelers appear to have broken off from their loop to assist Lokala’i and the Akoa after provoking Xiomac successfully. They do tend to…do whatever they want half the time.

Lokala’i has agreed to come along with us as a member of the Dozen, his reasoning being that the jungle was not going to need him anymore now that the archdruid was back. Also he is sick of all the spiders, ticks, mosquitos, and other such giant insects that bite him all the time. He is pushing to try and get a weapon like Alihana’s though, whiiich Sawiri isn’t sure can be made as hers is made from an especially large and weirdly shaped bone.

Xacalli has also agreed to join but notes that she is not a full time warrior. She is mostly running the healing hut in the village as our tribes only capable medicine woman. After years of fighting Xiomac I think she is just a little burnt out and wants to take it easy and resume her studying. She’ll be available if her talents are required but is liable to refuse scouting missions or anything else of the ilk that has no specific need of her. I will point out she is the strongest combatant we have though. Strongest not most skilled, she has an enormous amount of durability and strength so she can overpower most people easily, and even if the opponent is skilled enough to fight her they might not be powerful enough to do any significant damage.

Also that girl Sakazai brought back from the Ranoni is Xacalli’s apprentice in medicine now so we’re getting some progress made on people who can prevent us from dying all the time.

You see I was packing my things to head to the northern jungles edges…then we got attacked and I got poisoned. So…I’ll just be sitting here for a little bit.

Laisun managed to make her trip into the jungle to bring back some prey, though is currently incapacitated from further fighting for a little while since the attack happened after her return. Notably her hunting adventures got her almost killed again while attacking some very large creature, the Dozen seem to bring out a certain side of her.

We are helping the other clans…families…whatever with the great stitchings to see if the heat can be dispersed over more locations to brace ourselves for the winter. I have confirmed that Alihana can in fact create a fire anywhere at any time, though she’s currently unconscious after her battle with Xiomac and I am informed she will not be awake for some time…and even then she will not be fully functional. Apparently she has the ability to become enormously powerful for a brief period of time but it takes a toll on her equivalent to having lost the fight anyways. An ability they made use of during the battles.

A lot of our plans for moving in have been disrupted a little by the sudden attack on Auwana. We’ve worked to prioritize the housing situation, which was fine until a tenth of the homes in the village were set aflame in the attack. Though the Hariwana were most affected as they appeared to be the target of it all. Conveniently, the village seems to have a knack for building more homes as they were already planning to build more in case yet another clan climbed aboard with us.

A thought occurs though. With the new system they’ve put in place regarding the families and clans, you hold a central chief position as our clan was not a broken mess when it came to the tribe like the orcs or newly grown as with the Pride clan. I wonder if a family’s power at the table will be affected by who can bring in the most clans under their family in the coming while.

The weavers continue their work to make this leather and silk clothing. Though really its more composed of hide than anything else with the silk being used to bind it together securely and make it less scratchy on the skin.

As to the enchantment of silk, the Hariwana still haven’t quite found a way to do it to anything other than bones. Had they befriended Xiomac that might have changed, but I’m only alive because they befriended Xacalli so I’m not going to complain about that.

Since the rice is in no position to be planted just yet, the farmers suggestion is harvesting the trees of the jungle for fruit that could hopefully be stored for awhile. The hunting parties to the north along the river have been able to find enough to work with, they being open plains like we are used to.

Related to that mission I was supposed to be on, Notably there are a lot of goblins up north. Caowei says this is because gnolls dominate the areas further south where it is warmer and the goblins dominate the north out of necessity since they can’t compete with the gnolls. Hunting should be okay up there though, as it is similar to the grasslands.

The beasts of the White Lands are not so different from those anywhere else, at least in terms of how easy they are to hunt. I would say the jungle we lurk above now has greater dangers from the stories of the others. That being said, its not the power of the beasts but the population of them. There are far fewer opportunities to find large prey, this is not only due to how much more scarce food is but how the natives are prolific hunters. It has produced a notable absence of beasts across the land, and within their culture exists the title of “manslayer” for all beasts who have proven their ability to remain a beast instead of a meal by defeating their hunters. Though not all hunters are created equal, so the title is not always a great indicator. Laisun can deal with most creatures I have encountered there, except for the Great Wolf. Though aforementioned Great Wolf is more man than beast and can be reasoned with, he leads a clan of similarly afflicted. They are called “werewolves”. The Great Wolf is probably on par with this Xiomac, so it might be best to avoid his ire. He spends most of his life wandering the open plains hunting though, so while this contributes to the lack of things for us to hunt it does bode well that we can avoid his attention as he isn’t very interested in other people.

Stories of Lore 14

Behold for it is I, the cosmic force of all things. I’ve had these cards just sitting in my folder for months now and I figured I would put them on the board just cuz they keep showing up. Well one of them just showed up for the first time in any capacity this week but it may be of interest to a certain someone to know who this is…annnd you should know who Harakino is by now.

That one harpy who keeps showing up in the stories or mentioned as the primary messenger. She was the first one the Huanacan recruited when establishing dominion over pride rock. There were several at roughly the same time, but she was definitely approached by Huanacan first because of her unique coloration.

She is mostly a messenger and doesn’t fight much, as thats not a strong suit for her. She’s just…hanging around. She comes to check in with the main village every other day to see if anyone needs her for anything and just to visit. She’s more sociable than the rest of them at least.

If not the best, than at least one of the most significant members of the Akoa warriors. He can is bold and a bit of an overconfident dick. Described by The Other as “everything Avonaco wished elves were”. He is eager and ready for battle, which makes him relevant to know about for planning in this war against Xiomac.

He doesn’t know shapeshifting like the Akoa druids, but he can control the wind. Which is something that doesn’t flow very much beneath the jungle’s canopy. While its not the most battle-savvy of the abilities we’ve seen, he has used it to surprising creativity. Such as placing himself upwind of things he is sneaking up on, or making those annoying birds that keep attacking people lose their ability to fly straight towards their target. Other then that, he’s just really good with a spear.

And now back to your regularly scheduled updates.

We have made the first move against Xiomac by attacking the least defended southern guardians. It was perhaps anticlimatic. The forces were comprised primarily of the Akoa, backed by Mikaere. They were fully prepared to battle the greatest of the southern guardians, and plans were made to retreat if needed. However, it turns out that the great southern guardian was nowhere to be seen. Koamalu threw a corpse into a fire and said that they had been dealt with by one of our people to spare the lives of those risking the assault, though they must not know that we assisted in killing the great southern guardian.

As I’m sure context has by now informed you, the great and terrible southern guardian is Esin. This has given Koamalu the chance to find out more about her, he has taken something of an obsession over this matter. I don’t think old whispering wolf likes having a mental equal in his midst. It turns out Esin’s absence was not known to the village she was supposed to be protecting. She has long since had a habit of locking herself away in isolated areas and demanding to be left alone…I can’t say I’m surprised. So the village was fairly surprised when no demon druid came to their aid under such an assault. The Akoa were inescapable, they sent some of their best druids including Tehanau. All survivors were hunted down throughout the jungle to prevent Xiomac from learning of our involvement, or that Esin isn’t actually dead. We’re not sure if she would tell him herself or not, but at least it sets up a potentially good situation for us for him to believe the jungle natives successfully defeated her.

Koamalu also apparently learned how strong Esin really is from the people that knew her. She is one of the mightiest in the jungle, but still feared Xacalli. Which gives us a range to guess from. Though I suppose we still don’t know how strong Xacalli and Xiomac actually are.

The Ranoni are hesitant to aid these operations without recompense. One thing I had our Nezatl look for in their village was a champion. Since they have so far been ineffectual in stopping ours from wandering by. I don’t think they have any, nor do they have sheer numbers. I feel we should offer them something for the deaths of their scouts at Sakazai’s hands, though in the words of my granddaughter… They started it.  When it comes to the war with Xiomac, they are small in number and spirit. Their involvement should be minimal or their clan could be wiped out. The Akoa are much better suited to war on this scale.

We also discovered that Nihaul is still alive and has joined with Mikaere to pursue the death of Xiomac.

However, among all this Xiomac himself made no appearance. There is a chance he was simply not nearby enough or had faith that Esin could deal with the matter herself. That or he reasoned that Xacalli was close by if Mikaere was attacking something. Whatever the reason, he has not yet shown himself.

Also on to another matter. We may need to name our village. The Huanacan village and Rock Village already have names, but due to them being separate to a degree we’ve started to establish that the lakeside village needs a name of its own.

We have managed to hand beetle many a newcomer. Though one of their warriors crushed the beetle in my hand with their firm handshake. That was messy.

Anyways! I don’t know what level upping is. Though Kaya remains the strongest of our clan still.

Also I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t paint the Dozen’s rock blue. They’re picky about that one. Settle down and eat your honey.

As for Maxhui, I suppose we could leave her with the Akoa to continue her training if we wanted to explore the druid path further. We could imitate the Dozen’s system of using some sort of symbol if she needs to speak with us, since we would always know where she is with the Hariwana scrying pool.

As Hakenu’e covered, the assault on the southern region began.

As for the council of chiefs, it seems to have passed by default with no real opposition. This motion would technically be handled by the-

This would technically make the Orc Clan a child clan of the beastkin, and the Pride Clan a child of the Huanacan. Though I do suggest a different name. Just because calling the orcs or Esin a “child” will probably not settle well, especially while Xoco is still technically a central chief.

This also leads to the notion of if a child chief can become a central one? For example, if the orcs were to breed like rabbits and recruit some clans under themselves do they become a central clan as well or do they just remain an extension under the beastkin?

While we’re naming things, we may consider changing the name of the Elder Chief. Because if Hakenu’e dies, the next person might be a bit younger. I suggest Big Chief, Grand Chief, Chief Supreme, or Lord of the Chiefs. Xoco agrees with me.

Also it leads me to ask if the intention is to leave the Beastkin as the ruling clan even if Hakenu’e should die, or if we need some other way to pick the heir.

Planning for my death while I’m standing right here is unsettling. Though if I were to pass, Koamalu would take over the beastkin. Also let it be known I did not pick my title.

Moving on. I’ve informed the bone collectors to of the new plan to bring as much back as possible. We already do something similar when we animate corpses and walk them back, the only issue is transporting them up to Auwana as a gryphon can only carry so much. Preservation is an issue though. We are good at preserving bones and Tupai keeps his corpses going by constantly animating them but stockpiling bodies in general will eventually attract the rot.

My pipe herbs are indeed calming. It makes you feel like you barely want to move. It’s a great way to keep one’s composure in tense situations. It also helps artisans with their creativity.

It also makes them sit around and stare at grass or the clouds for hours on end. Master Zhuan is one of the only people strong enough to maintain any level of productivity and even that is of questionable merit.

I can’t tell if that was a compliment or not.

Esin is now some sort of lesser chief as the orc one was before, but recognized as being under our authority and responsibility to maintain. She was hesitant but I convinced her it was a good offer. If she were to be a central chief she would have to come to all the meetings. I may have taken that idea from the Dozen.

The Xiaoshen’s warrior caste, an odd word choice but all of their words are strange, notably lack weaponry beyond the normal spears and knives. They’re also terrible at making bows by our standards, and even the standards of other clans. Though they have some sort of obsession with unarmed combat and are strangely effective with it. Zhuan and Laisun in particular just carry regular knives for utility purposes and emergencies. Though Laisun has defeated some rather serious monsters with just her hands. She favors choking them. Laisun demonstrated with Iiniwa at his usual training. We watched her crack a tree trunk with a kick. A trick she apparently learned by studying for years and kicking trees everyday until her limbs hardened. It is…interesting at least.

As for scouting clothes, silk is durable at the least so the odds are good. Though it has a bit of a sheen to it so it might not be ideal for stealth.

Sakazai is still lurking in the jungle waiting for an opportunity to track Xiomac. As mentioned before, he didn’t show up on this first attack.

I suppose you make fair points. Though for now I am still preoccupied with the hunt for Xiomac. We’ll see how much I like you guys afterwards.

As for the colors thing, it is still hard to describe what it was like when first learning what I could do. It was just the best attempt I could make, it wasn’t like I could actually see color. I just…felt like I could perceive something that isn’t there but I knew it was.

Why does your spear have such a long head sticking off to the side? Did you just tie a giant tooth onto a stick?

As for bloodline traits, no. That is not something I’ve ever tried at least.

Already beat you to it and made it clear why we’re never doing that one again.

When it comes to silk, Auwana has a few residents you’ve yet to meet. The Huanacan has driders among its number, which produce it far better than any worm we’ve worked with before. Not to mention easier to harvest from, they just lay it in long lines across the trees for us to pick up later. They don’t like being watched while doing this though for some reason. From there we just roll it up onto a stick. The drider silk is enormously thicker and stronger than what we’ve seen before, enough to be used as threads immediately instead of needing to be woven into such.  Apparently they use this for rope most frequently, and the Nezatl have had some ability to use it in clothing but since most of their clothes are made of hides it is again just used as rope or thread. I’ve had some of our weavers experimenting with the stuff, it is definitely a more efficient process.

Caowei went to look around the island in general. According to her the island is about thirty four thousand paces across. The lake itself is perhaps two thousand paces across. It is practically devoid of threats. Apparently once a very large wyvern and several mean birds lived across the island but since the tribe took over they were eradicated. With Pride Rock having the official job of patrolling the island to make sure threatening things don’t just fly up here idly, it has been difficult for anything else to really establish itself here. There are a few mean creatures along the outskirts, particularly near the ponds, though they are not significant enough to pose a clan wide threat. Just don’t let those less inclined to confrontation wander too far from the villages alone. Though the forest to the south of us is quite safe, it seems the presence of the Huanacan dissuades creatures from trying to lurk within it. I am told this has a lot to do with the speaking slimes that inhabit the huanacan, they have a naturally repulsive effect towards other creatures since they smell like acid and not very edible.

In essence, the closer you are to large numbers of people, the less rogue monsters tend to fly in to take a look for a snack, and those that do wander across the island are often found quickly by the denizens of The Pride Rock village who patrol the area. Another notable feature of Auwana, the name of the big floating rock, is that the entire island is ringed by a different kind of tree than anywhere else upon it. They are tall and have needles for leaves, apparently they withstand wind better and make it less windy for all the other trees by breaking it up. This is also why if you stand on the very edge of the island, the winds up here in the sky could just rip you off the ledge. So don’t do that.

When it comes to water, Auwana has no shortages. Up here in the sky they have learned that the clouds are made of a wet material. By placing practically anything to catch the air, water will form on it and drip down. Actually the island is a little too wet sometimes. There is a swamp to the east. The main problem is the island is made of rock underneath the layer of dirt we stand upon. So water does not flow down into the earth naturally and can only escape off the sides. The main lake is stagnant and unsafe to drink as a result, they have not yet found a way to clean it quite yet though have been working on it. So growing our particularly moisture loving rice is not hard. Just dig a hole and stick something above it to catch water and drip down. I am told the Nezatl know how to do this particularly effectively.

Many of the trees in the forest glow, and no one is sure why. They apparently produce a similarly glowing fruit that is safe to eat though if you need to relieve yourself at night you may wish to make sure you have good coverage. There are also some hardy bushes that produce berries, though despite how vast the island is the food is not what you might hope. It is very cold up here in the sky, and only the sturdiest of plants are able to survive. This has been an ongoing issue for the tribe in finding things that can live up here.

The last thing is the caves, there are several ways to get into caves below us, particularly from the mountain. They are not exactly long winding passages unless you can squeeze through the tightest of spaces, but we are told to never ever touch the glowing green rocks. If they are dislodged from whatever they are in, they will fly upwards with incredible force that threatens to tear a person in half if they were to be tied to the ground whilst holding one. I get the impression they figured this out through experience. They believe they have something to do with the reason the island can fly, so they don’t want them messed with and have avoided digging any further into the caves.

As for village prospects, we are technically already set up along the lake in the “temporary” huts the tribe built to welcome us. Apparently they build empty homes in case they ever recruit a new clan, as this is a regular thing for them. We can move to another location if we wish, or just keep these as they already have another empty village to the north in the island’s center. It seems only two clans actually live distant from the lake village itself, which they are now considering might need to be named.

I have talked with the artisans about food, as well as the beastkin shamans. Winter will be here soon, and the shamans warn that it will be harsh. Not only are we so high up that it is already cold, but the island is drifting north towards what Caowei calls the White Lands. Caowei mentions a thing exists further north and in the mountains, it is white and turns into water if you hold it in your hands. She said it was called snow, and it will test the tribe’s ability to survive. We have never made homes particularly resistant to the cold since we lived in the grasslands, where even in winter the sun shines. As such the artisans are wary of planting the crops too soon, as we only were able to bring so many seeds with us. They have also figured out why clothes were of such interest to the tribe. It is going to be cold soon, very cold. While the war is going on, the beastkin and Nezatl have been primarily busying themselves with finding ways to keep everyone warm.

Koamalu, the large black wolf man, informs me that it is important we are aware of the temple of Auwana. Within it lurks the “flame of auwana” that Sawiri made. It is a bonfire that never extinguishes. The temple is also the largest structure on the island, run by the Nezatl Priestess Citlanal. If things become too cold, seeking shelter within the temple may become a necessity though it can only hold so many. So they are seeking solutions in the meantime.

While the artisans of the cloth are well occupied with such easy access to usable high quality silk, the farmers are a bit more concerned about the incoming winter as I mentioned. Caowei says that hides are warmer than the silk we normally use, which admittedly does explain why she wears them. The tribe has been hunting the jungles so ravenously. Not only to stockpile what meat they can, but to get more hides. I’ve been informed by Hakenu’e that we’ll be assisted in this matter as the jungles are too dangerous for the average hunter to even attempt entering, though it is still something we should keep an active focus on since the war they’re in isn’t really ours to deal with just yet. Though I still volunteer to go and see this jungle, if nothing else out of curiosity to see a new land.

As for provoking the tribe, that is honestly hard to do with the exception of the Nezatl. They are tricksters by nature though, it is never truly dangerous. So don’t worry about me angering anyone, I am well disciplined in my behavior. The Dozen might be a bit surly but if you ask them about fighting or weapons they suddenly cannot close their mouths. I am told the only real threat to the tribe’s unity is an ongoing thing the other chiefs are dealing with.

Speaking of which, I need a moment alone with your chief.

Very well, I will excuse myself.

The matter of the threat to our unity is only known to the chiefs and a few others. As a chief you are at least permitted to know about the situation. The denizens of The Rock to the south were normally overseen by the Huanacan. It consisted of harpies, arakkoa, other such flying folk and beasts alike. So it fell within the Huanacan’s domain. Though it had been awhile since anyone went to check in on them. As it turns out, they have found a new leader. Her name is Esin, who we know is one of the major guardians employed by Xiomac in the southern jungles. We didn’t know she was even here for a whole season.

In that time she was able to turn The Rock into a proper village. Where once various creatures made minimal nests for themselves. Now there are proper homes and the people have become organized underneath their newly chosen chief, Esin. The problem is we are having a hard time understanding her intent. She has set herself up in a way that is dangerous to us. By making herself valuable and positioning it such that if we were to turn against her then we would lose a valuable clan. Living here on a floating mountain, you can see how the flying folk are very valuable to the tribe. When speaking with her, she often covers her motives carefully and instead argues her points with very calculated numbers and logic. She could very easily turn on us at the command of Xiomac and cause massive damage in the upcoming war.

I have had reason to suspect her goal is to set herself up into a winning position. If Xiomac defeats us, she remains his guardian and can conquer Auwana for him and keep her position. If we win, she is now the eighth chief of our tribe and holds domain over an important people. It is an ongoing issue, ask Chants or Mor for their opinions on the matter as they have also been dealing with it. For now we’ve taken a welcoming stance towards her in hopes that we don’t make an enemy of someone who we don’t have to. As reported by the Akoa, Esin is one of the most dangerous guardians of Xiomac, so provoking her might not be ideal.

Stories of Lore 12

Still got awhile before the island leaves the jungle. Its almost as if some cosmic force prevents us from leaving until we finish some sort of purpose in each location. Sometimes I wonder if the goddess controls the island and determines when and where we will go arbitrarily by some sort of purpose, and if we had not chosen to go on the island -of all possibilities- we’d have more freedom even though the island can move. I don’t know man, sometimes it keeps me up at night.

The siblings have gone to meet with Xacalli. The particular hurdle they currently face is just finding Xiomac in a reliable enough way to launch any sort of attack on him. The jungle is fairly large.

Tupai has added a claw to a zombie annnnd that’s it. According to him adding new pieces and getting them to be functional is difficult when dealing with a corpse. Though he has started looking into it more and is in need of a humanoid corpse for experimentation. We mostly just store bones. We also may not want to necessarily tell everyone about his latest project.

We’ve gone around and made sure the village’s magical artifacts are concealed to a reasonable extent. Though there are a few Sawiri insisted on leaving where they were. When I asked why he just started giggling.

We’ve had some people start tending to the ponds, its not a particularly intensive task. Mostly just watching them to see how they’re doing. The only difficult part is the walk over there. Maybe we should get some steeds onto the island, it is quite large. As the whole Esin thing has proven.

Speaking of which, the snails are doing well. We’ve lost half of them in the lake but I suppose that was the intent in the first place.  The lake is looking better as of late, though its still not quite drinkable.

Kennae and the Vanguard are hunting through the jungle to see if they can find the Great Stalker a second time. I get the impression it is difficult to do.

As for the northern monsters that Uyitzan has encountered, they’re not too different from those on the Ashen Plains. It is worth noting the river the villages they found is the same river that runs through the old Chanai territory on the north side. So I suppose its not all that different. Less gnolls than usual though, a few more goblins. Gnolls are dominant in most open areas, I think they prefer to go south into the plains and the grasslands where its warmer. Once you go past the river for any meaningful distance things start getting uncomfortably cold. Though the goblins lurk around there as they can usually make clothes and simple shelters, as well as the area not being full of gnolls. Which eat goblins.

As for determining Esin’s standing, I can’t quite suck her brain out and read her mind no. Though we do have some people in the tribe who are very talented at finding out much deeper layers of information. Koamalu and Kaya come to mind.

If its any assurance, the travelers are much further south than the events at the river. They’re actually further south than Auwana. It seems they’re just taking a lap around the whole jungle…and they started on the northern side. So they are unlikely to find this plague creature. If that would even affect The Leper.

As for Mikaere’s weapons. They are snake fangs strapped to a stick with venom in them. I don’t think it has much application beyond the first hit or so that it lands. Though I doubt many encounters require repeated uses. Really its just a club with spikes on it, and the spikes happen to be taken from the giant snakes in the jungle. Though they are working on a new idea for a weapon similar to that along with Sawiri.

The Travelers have decided to start scouting out for the key edges. Just to know where they are, how well defended they are, and maybe lure out the archdruid in the process if they can figure the stones out. They requested we send someone who can figure out how the edges work in case the opportunity should arise.  As for druidism, their guide informs them that such things are possible and that was the end of it. Mostly because the Travelers are busy traveling. I’ll have the Nezatl druid students look into those things specifically though while they’re taking the time to just sit around and study.

The Vanguard have headed down below to join up with Kennae in the hunt.

So Silas took a different route to learning about Mikaere’s weapons on accident. More so he took a side trip along with Koamalu and this leads into…

Esin is a descendant of one of the original demon druids. She cannot shapeshift…fully. I have reason to believe she wasn’t originally as large as she is now, but she used her mother’s druidic talents to help her grow bigger and stronger than any other demon. Silas believes she might be the strongest demon he’s ever seen, and can likely overpower crows with just her physical might.

She seems to be far more intelligent than she might otherwise let on. For the most part her motives are somewhat hard to pin down. Koamalu had some things to report on the matter.

She seems to view the world very measured terms. I believe her to be shaped by a very peculiar youth. I need someone more talented in poisons to confirm this, but I think she killed her own mother with whatever is in her claws. It smells like no other poison I have come across. I suspect she made the only poison in the jungle that could defeat a druids natural immunity to such things, so no one would suspect the illness her mother died of to be a deliberately inflicted thing. I could be wrong, but she behaves like an orphaned exile. So at the very least I don’t think they had a good relationship. I have many other theories but the important part is that she doesn’t trust anyone or anything. She’s acting the way she is because as long as the people of pride rock consider her valuable and of similar motives to them she feels that she can trust them if only due to mutual self interest.

Her obsession with these things is why she’s the strongest demon we’ve ever seen, but she presents no attempt to use this to intimidate anyone she talks with. She is amassing traits that prevent people from desiring to enter into a conflict with her. This leads into the issue, we don’t entirely understand her motivations but may need to trade with her. Food and hides are not important in this regard. She knows a lot of things, information dies with the holder and that I believe this to be the reason she guards it so closely. As I mentioned earlier – it makes sure that being forceful with her is not going to produce a desirable result.

There are still many unknowns regarding the demon, but I can say for sure that she is the most intelligent adversary I have yet encountered. She will be more careful in the future, as she did not know what I specialize in until now. My advice is to decide very quickly what you want to do with her. The longer you wait, the more moves will be cut off from you. If you want her gone from Auwana, you need to kill her immediately. She already has the loyalty of pride rock and we will lose the village by going against her so overtly, but give her any longer and we may have to deal with other sympathizers. If you wish to put up with her ploys and try to affirm an alliance you should do so immediately before it is less a favor or gesture of goodwill from us and more an act of necessity she controls.

However, I will say I don’t think her ties to Xiomac are the concern to deal with. It is if we start losing perhaps, but by then we’ll be in deep enough that its not too risky. Xiomac won’t settle for a victory against us, he’ll want the island itself. So we’ll already be halfway into the ground by the time she turns around and burns the village to the ground.

This brings us around to your…initial grievance. She sees what she claimed as her own that she simply moved to the island. More accurately, she stole half of it from Xiomac to cement her position here. That or did so to enforce his goal of infiltrating Auwana. I am pretty sure it would be very easy to get her to tell us how these things work and where to find them now that she already has the largest collection of them. I don’t think she’s just going to hand it over…at least not yet. Once winter comes she probably will be a lot more interested in trading them. If I were to bet on it, she’ll give us the necessities you mentioned freely. Though not right now, only once people need it. To maximize the affect it has on people’s perception of her.

In essence, she’s very passive aggressive. Putting the burden of making a decision on us as an exploitation of our currently higher standing than her. We will have to anger all of the flying folk to take the supplies from them and cut off her trading plans. That or we will have to do nothing and let her have free reign to do as she wishes. I’ll leave you to decide what to do with her. In the meantime Silas has a different matter to mention.

She has weapons. Lots of them. Not necessarily in storage or anything, but she knows how to make them. She got the information from the western water people and Xiomac. I talked to Koamalu about it on the walk back here. We think she didn’t make any to show us so we can’t take them by force since the flying folk could not win if we were to try that. Instead we have to ask her for them directly.

While our own weapons and understanding of them rival hers, they are two separate ideas. Notably, she specializes in two aspects of weapons. I will call it ‘augmentation’ in particular. Her claws are a natural born gift, so is the venom on them. I think that asshole who attacked me was trying to imitate her craft. She makes non-magical…things to add to weapons to increase their effectiveness. Particularly, some sort of liquid that protects wood from the jungle. You know how we rub sticks to make them last longer? She has a better version of that. Her other aspect is materials. She knows special kinds of wood, stones, and such that make them just…better. While we know more thanks to your travels in terms of what materials work and don’t, she knows how to alter materials to make them just a little bit better. The thing she lacks though is craftsmanship. She has been trying to train some of the feathered folk in ‘making stuff’ but they’re not the most nimble with their talons. That is probably why she just makes stuff that goes on top of weapons.

I should mention that is another thing we still have that she doesn’t, yet probably wants. The Nezatl are the best weapon makers. Sawiri makes bone materials, your clan knows what the end thing they’re trying to make is, but the Nezatl are still the ones that make it not break the first time you swing it.

Basically if you want to beat Mikaere at his own game, Esin is the one to talk to. Though on our own end, Mikaere’s weapons are really just snake fangs strapped to a club with a rather small head. We’ve recreated that much without too much trouble.

Johnson’s Stories of Mor

So the builders are still helping out the Milani though Chants seems to be pushing for the abandonment of that project given that it is technically assisting Xiomac.

Kaya found, and snuck her way into, another village to the southeast. The people there are notably rather friendly though a bit…off. They’re just a little too friendly and fond of talking. On the other hand, they might just be trying to handle how bizarre Kaya can be if you don’t know she’s coming to visit.

Of those studying with the Akoa, Maxhui has made the most progress in actually learning the art. Currently her abilities are somewhat limited to having a rather deep understanding of plants and a seeming empathy with animals. Though she’s more accurate at attempting these things than any of the other girls have managed.

Maxhui is Citlanal’s cousin and helps her out around the temple for the most part. She’s generally just as zealous and has been with us for awhile, having been to a few of our raids in the past as support. Often helping to carry supplies or deal with the wounded as best she can. I’m not entirely sure if she can fight though. I wouldn’t throw her against anything too big to test her new abilities just yet. She’s still learning how to do anything more directly impactful but apparently druidism is a difficult thing to pick up and most of the Akoa have been at it their whole lives. Though I suppose the same could be said of anyone’s magic.

We’ll see how the vote goes, they are still deliberating it should seem. Apparently two weeks isn’t enough time to debate such a decision.

Given your current interest in the progress of the apprentices, one in particular is of some potential. They’ve a long way to go before I would really let them go outside on their own, but should you desire to focus on raising a new champion I recommend Taike.

She was born blind but with help from our assorted magic folk she has learned to see again. She can see through anything except stones of color, up to a certain distance. We’re not sure what she can see, and she has a tendency to miss obvious things, but she seems capable of navigating around on her own now. She was primarily an apprentice of Sawiri. That being said she is the weirdest member of the clan.

Taike was one of the bone collectors for the most part, though she has proven herself in this jungle outing as one of the more talented at avoiding death. Also nothing managed to sneak up on her. Her skeleton is enchanted much like Coszacatl’s, though Taike is the only person who could withstand the process while still being attached to that skeleton. Actually she did it to herself and seemed to enjoy it. This is why she is the ‘weird one’ among a clan of strange individuals. She has an affinity for pain like no other. Whether inflicted upon her or others, she seems to experience a thrill from being in the presence of suffering. Which leads into the one spell she knows that isn’t an enchanted piece of bone, she knows a lesser modified version of my curses that specifically inflicts direct pain. She can only do it one at a time and has to “look” at her victim though good luck prying her eyes off her victim anyways.

Enchantment wise, she is stronger than most people and her bones are as durable as our weapons. One of the inscriptions enhanced her unique abilities since its her own bones so that makes sense.

What has me interested in her potential is her talent for not dying in the jungles thus far given her attraction to things that should have killed her by now. She also might be capable of far more than she currently demonstrates, she intentionally cursed herself the same way I did to myself on accident. I told her how much it hurts sometimes and she then spent a lot of effort replicating the process. Originally I thought she was trying to figure out how to do it correctly, turns out she was trying to make it go even more wrong. Though if you do recall, I have the ability to become a lot stronger for a brief window of time at the cost of my health as a result of my curse. It stands to reason she might be able to do that too since she has a very similar curse. Though I am wary of letting her learn how to do that, she might overdo it very quickly. I suppose she is oddly durable at least.

Uyitzan’s scouting trip has found a couple of villages scattered here and there, especially along the river. Several are filled with corpses that look as if they died trying to flee something. They show no signs of battle, but they clearly died painfully. Problem is Uyitzan and the team are apparently not great at gathering information from any still-living villages as they start throwing spears at him the instant they see him. Racists.

Welcome back from your trip. While you were away…

The travelers and their elven cohorts traveled deep to the west. There is indeed a lot of water in that direction. They’ve found a small village who knew of the “water people”. Basically they are a people who ride across the water with houses that float and apparently can go quite a ways on the water much like Auwana travels the sky.

Along the way they also found a village which housed a strange rock at the center of the village that was overseen by a hooded figure who notably kept an eye on them only when they got too close to the rock. Judging by its description it might be one of the key edges Xacalli told you about now that I think about it.

The snail project is still coming along, though the lake still has a lot of peculiar stuff embedded into the dirt after Chants’ escapades with the bone guardian kicking it around a lot. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem though the lake itself is still not a good idea to drink from.

It seems Xacalli won’t be joining us for now at least, given her contract to kill Xiomac keeps her a bit too occupied. Though at least Sakazai and Silas are home now.

None of the huts except maybe the temple are really big enough for much of an echo.

Also whats a sail?

As for builders, kind of? Not exactly our specialty, though getting there with all this practice on the temple construction. Also I’m not quite sure what you want with this under water basket weaving thing, I can just put a basket in the water if that’s what you want?

Greetings Chief Chants. With Sawiri, Alihana, and Hamona all away, I shall take over the solemn task of keeping you up to date with the affairs of the clan. The skeleton has finished removing what it can, so some of the larger masses of unnecessary decay have been extracted. Though the smaller rot within the water still lurks deep within the ground beneath the waters. Placed within by the disturbance of the soil amidst the digging claws of the beast.

Alihana and Sawiri have taken to the deeper woods along the north to pursue the many legged witch that haunts the waterfall. After a brief encounter her attacks seemed to have ceased. It is not yet clear if she has fled the area of or if she lurks for new opportunities. Though she seems apprehensive of another engagement with the siblings. She has no weapons that can hurt Sawiri within his shadowed shell and no way to protect herself from Alihana. Not to mention for raw power she has been struggling to contend with Alauna’i and her many heads. Nihaul has returned to the area though Alihana displayed a particular disinterest in him, almost to the point of mildly insulting him though he has taken the opportunity to recover while the hunt goes on for the spider. Kuari was found, or more accurately he found us, he has returned to Auwana in need of guidance to find his way back. Apparently he flew off after being captured but got lost among the thick jungle and decided to just come back here to the island since that was an easy landmark to see. The bone collector sent with them has been found torn apart by the local wild life. Tupai lost a thrall, and Necatztlai is suffering the effects of either poison or venom. Whether this is the work of the spider or just the jungle is unknown. The missing drider of Huanacan was found during the vanguard’s expedition. She has been sent back to Auwana for the monsters to deal with.

Master Rohaka has been managing the apprentices. Two more of which have fallen. The meat and bones collected have been valuable though. Even if some if it were once theirs.

Coszacatl and her daughters have gone southward to begin establishing a landing area for the gryphons. Though given their makeup, they had the gryphons just drop them off onto the canopy from the air. So at least they didn’t take too long to get there. The natural repulsion the oozes create for the native monsters has left them with little issue while they work on clearing away a space. We have indeed confirmed that nothing hunts the oozes for food. While there were two attacks from creatures that might be able to eat oozes, or perhaps just territorial beasts, Coszacatl is still one of the greater monsters we’ve encountered. So she won those exchanges.

Uyitzan made it northward and found a river. Also a lot more trees, similar to our home woods instead of this absurd jungle. Also the trees get a bit pointier, like the one forming a ring around the island. Also a lot of snow.

Mairana has made it back thanks to the help of the vanguard. She is…reasonably traumatized I would say. Apparently she spent her time away from us crawling around the canopy hiding from everything and one of her legs was bitten off while another snapped off from a different attack. She’s currently curled up in her hut sulking.

Kennae managed to find the Great Stalker finally, and it was surprisingly talkative…and unsurprisingly obnoxiously stealthy. It learned of our clan from Kennae but would then disappear mid-conversation to who-knows-where. It appears to be fairly intelligent and old. Despite its known territory, apparently it knows the entire jungle and has traveled across the entire place. Which might make it hard to track down again. Though it was considered a diplomatic success since no fighting took place if you don’t count Kennae jumping onto its back after luring it out with bait. It was the size of Uyitzan if he didn’t have that humanoid torso. So…sufficiently large for an ambush predator.

As for myself, I am not doing anything. I just help the vanguard or other warriors train here around the village until told otherwise.

Not sure about that one, that is more the line of thinking I would expect of Alihana. For the shamans, its best to work with the way things work rather than try to manipulate them too much.

I’m not sure what makes people think I’m so old. Though I suppose I have been around longer than most. As for this Oldest Man story, I still don’t know what to make of that. It seems obvious that they are in some way related to the King of Crows, though the only source of information about their existence comes from Kaya. Who may not be the most reliable source of information.

I ceased to be a warrior when my father passed and the role of Chieftain fell to me. To be fair I never really was a warrior, not like Ka’oana or Wehilani who constantly focus on it. I just happened to be very large, and in most fights that is enough to make the difference. I’ve always been more focused on my role as a shaman. Though that has had its advantages too. Though I have never trained beyond the basics of the spear.

As for the lightning, a learned trick. Koamalu can also do it, though no one else in the clan has learned such ways. It stems from a deeper level of understanding of shamanism.

Mediums are those who allow themselves to become possessed by spirits. It is a dangerous territory, as it cannot always be undone by the medium if the spirit decides to stay. Alauna’i is a prime example of what can go wrong if the path is pursued. Though she is lucky enough to retain any semblance of who she is.

As for the tribe, I consider it to be going fairly well. At least for our foundation, we have six clans and the tribe as a whole can contend with any single clan we have encountered thus far for it. Only the Akoa and Xiomac could pose much threat to us here in the jungle. The Akoa only by nature of their control over the jungle, and Xiomac is another kind of threat. We do not know the full extent of his influence or capabilities. Though I wonder how the Travelers are doing with the elves they took with them to the north, as Auwana still has much room to host more if we find any willing and interested in following with us. The queen of the Chanai is still loose, and the northern tribe awaits us as well. Not to mention we have learned the extent a creature like Xiomac or the King of Crows can spread their work. While my goal isn’t necessarily to create the biggest tribe, the benefits of being larger are still clear. Mostly in the acquisition of new and unique skills each clan can bring.

Also it appears we are here.

 So it really is you, I am mildly surprised to see you leave the plains. You never seemed one for traveling.

When the ground moves beneath your feet, you tend to follow. You seem familiar…

When I was young, my teacher and I came to a battlefield where you had fought the orc clan. I am a healer.

That does sound familiar. Though it is still a fuzzy memory for me. I heard you requested my presence.

A mixture of curiosity and a fact that you’re the least likely to try to kill me upon meeting me.

Anyways…Mor…as for your questions. The demon druids are a creation of Xiomac’s for the purpose of getting to the Archdruid. Who we don’t know if they even exist. The first one was to create a kindred spirit, another demon druid who the Lifeweaver might take an interest in meeting and revealing herself to. After that failed, it then became a matter of force. You will notice they are generally left to dwell in different corners of the jungle, expanding their range of perception to see if they can find the arch-druid while also trying to bait her out. I have no idea where Xiomac keeps getting demons from though. So the demon druids work for Xiomac, the biggest demon druid does not.

As for myself, I am merely on a quest for revenge that happens to line up with a mission for the King.

Whether or not your magic is like mine, I have no idea. I have never met anyone else with anything close to my own abilities, so I don’t have much to compare against. Though our abilities seem quite different to me. You interact with something more ethereal, an essence of magic and life. I interact with something you can touch and taste.

As for Xiomac’s abilities, if he sees magic in use enough times then he can replicate it. It is more accurate to say he has a deep understanding of magic itself and knows what to look for when studying someone else’s. Simply by learning what is possible, he finds ways to make it happen again. I have no idea how he can learn magic that is often hereditary though.

I am about ninety seasons since my birth.

As for the other crows, there are nine in the jungle including myself. Ten if you count the King, though he comes and goes. He’s here now though but is likely just visiting one of the others or perhaps finding a new initiate. I’m not entirely sure what he’s doing.

I have a feeling had we decided to attack you, “here” would be a lot less broad.

He doesn’t like to interfere, or more so its not worth his time. If I complete my mission, then maybe I’ll move up the totem pole. Though there are only three individuals he would actively aid.

You seem to know more about the crow folk than even other crow folk.

I negotiated my terms for the ritual very carefully, unlike the rest who grab madly for power. After Xiomac is dead, I am released from all but the final oath.

Which is?

Not for an outsider to know.

It wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the empire to the east and a massive army of crow-folk would it?

I have no idea whats to the east beyond the plains. As for people I want killed, no. With the exception of Xiomac all my enemies lay dead. His followers are someone else’s problem. As for killing Mikaere, good luck with that.

As for my contract with the king, I am like you I supposed. Bound to a single objective. No he does not control us directly, though if he orders we are inclined to obey. The power he grants can be taken back. Though it usually requires the death of whoever holds it. I’ll let you figure that one out. This is also why different factions of crow folk hunt each other in some parts of the world, more valuable fodder for the rituals.

As for the cannibals, the ritual they perform is obviously a crow thing if slightly augmented. The cannibalism is not. The real ritual is only known to a few, others are just making wild guesses at what its about and the King does nothing to correct them as long as the ritual’s overall needs are met. The cannibals just tended to kill a lot in the process of beating people down for the ritual to be conducted. Can’t have your sacrifice running away. Also they are just weird. Though in general, the ritual is very simple, people just keep adding flavor to it. There is a reason people keep figuring out how to do it on accident.

I am still curious about the Archdruid, or the so called Lifeweaver.  Do you know if they are actually crow-folk like yourself? Or if they made the jungle into a massive ritual circle?

That right there is the only evidence they even exist. The jungle is definitely a colossal ritual circle but no one knows who made it or what its supposed to do. Everyone who tries to study it by finding all of its key edges to discern the spell goes mysteriously missing. Perhaps not so mysteriously given how hostile this jungle is, but there is still a pattern that no one ever finishes figuring it out. I have found two of the key edges, and made a point of not looking at them too closely. Xiomac is the only one who knows where all of the key points are and what it does. Each of Xiomac’s demon druids are living near the key edges, I think the only reason he gets to live to tell the tale is he’s hunting the hunter. Which tells me the archdruid might be just a tale growing in the telling if they can’t deal with the floating eyeball. Still not my business to mess with though. I’m killing Xiomac and getting the fuck out of this green hell. Don’t need to get wrapped up in this whole other mystery.