Stories of Lore 5

Behold for it is I, the cosmic force of all things. Its a week heavy with roster updates and we find ourselves in an odd position I didn’t quite think through. Namely in that the clans are so small it makes no sense to have your advisor actually introduce these people. So instead you get me introducing them instead. This also comes not only with the battle causing some turnover of heroes, but also because I have now used certain characters enough times in stories that fuck it they’re a character now, just gonna do one big batch.

Koamalu is known for being the quiet shaman of the beastkin. He is often found lurking around and maintains a rather dignified and serious atmosphere about himself. He is one of the most powerful shamans in the clan though does not reveal such too easily. Generally only the chiefs would know just how capable he really is.

With Hakenu’e away for a little while to bury Kinich, he has appointed Koamalu to take over for him while he is away. Indicating that quite likely, Koamalu is considered second in command over the beastkin clan. Though some members of the Nezatl are particularly suspicious of him, so little is really known about him that it makes them uncomfortable that he’s the second in command. They feel it is a bad omen for a dark shadowy figure with a sparsely known life story to be in such a position.

One of the Huanacan’s original five guardians. Uyitzan towers over others at roughly nine feet tall, one of the monsters that might have a party of adventurers sent to take him down. His anatomy makes him a powerful substitute for cavalry, though he does have some stamina issues. His weapons have to be specially made by Sawiri to match his size. He is generally a rather noble creature for what many call a monster. If left to his own devices he can be found roaming around the village occupying himself with heavy lifting as needed or sparring with Iiniwa.

A former Chanai, before all this fire business, who was ‘exiled’ for being ‘too aggressive’ for Chanai diplomatic policy. She murdered a lot of people and they completely failed to catch her after pronouncing her punishment basically. Eventually becoming recruited by The Dozen.

While she appears to be the only member to operate by herself, she is in fact two people. They are twins who pose as a single person, one always remaining out of sight, to give themselves a constant advantage over others. She can do seemingly impossible things or can be spectacularly lucky at odd times purely because no one knows the other sister is nearby. She is The Dozen’s “stealthy” choice. Both sisters can disappear if needed, and find their way into places they should not be. She primarily functions as a hunter when nothing is going on, her companion hawk helping her quite a bit in that regard. When needed, she is The Dozen’s chosen assassin. Though problematically, she lacks a certain amount of punch. So some targets can simply overpower her even if she sneaks up on them.

After fighting alongside the coalition, Silas wound up taking on the invitation from The Dozen to come hang out with them upon distinguishing himself as the greatest of the demon warriors. While he still needs more training, his demonic strengths speak to great potential. The isolated demons had little combat experience, so their ‘greatest warrior’ is just a well of untapped potential. At least he has a natural instinct for battle. After carrying out the final mission of Avonaco and Ragash, he came to Auwana to join formerly. He still doesn’t have a partner, but recruitment is rough these days.

Despite his horrific visage, he is surprisingly upbeat and easy to talk to. Lately his efforts are focused on training to get him up to par with the rest of The Dozen.

A veteran of The Dozen and one of its founding few members, back before they had enough people to even settle on that name. He is a former member of the Witch Doctors, after being sent as a sacrificial healer to try and tend to his clan mates during a plague he opted for other ideas and fucked off. He learned magic that allows him to keep his condition under control and has blessed him with incredible stamina and tools to help him on long travels.

He is one of the two members known as “The Travelers” and is regarded as one of the most revered members for his veterancy and effectiveness. Though he and his partner are both terribly boring in conversation. The pair are fully capable of dismantling entire villages that are not properly prepared to come under their attention. Though his greatest talent is, as his team’s name implies, traveling. He can cross long distances in a fraction of the time of any other, find his way into hard to reach places that might take an adventurer with more tools to access, and is always wandering about somewhere in search of nothing in particular. He just walks a lot.

Partner of The Leper is The Other, who is similarly very quiet and not fun to talk to. It is suspected they got their name when they proved too difficult to get much conversation out of and were partnered with The Leper purely for their mutual love of not talking. The Other is a former Chanai who travels with a wolf companion. Having come into Exile from the Chanai by way of walking off and never being heard from again for no discernible reason. They bear similar strange abilities to The Leper to walk very long distances surprisingly quickly. It isn’t entirely known if The Other can do this on their own or if The Leper is helping them accomplish this. Either way, The Other is always found wandering with The Leper. Despite how little the two talk to anyone else, even each other, they do seem to appreciate each other’s partnership and are very difficult to find separated from one another.

The other helps their travels with their handy wolf companion to track whatever they need with its keen nose. Since the wolf is dominated it acts with the intelligence of its master rather than that of a beast. Allowing The other to make full use of it’s keen senses. While both members of The Travelers are proficient warriors as all members must be, it is not their strong suit. They are more methodical and strategic, only fighting when necessary if they can help it. The Dozen turns to them to act as scouts or siege other villages. The warriors like Avonaco tend to be left to the grunt work of fighting.

One of Alihana’s apprentices and the most distinguished of the Hariwana at the battle (except the two pre-existing heroes who revealed they were masterminds preparing for a day such as this for the last several years). Rohaka is an umbramancy specialist and is known for being the reason the magic census said ‘turn shadows into eldritch horrors’. While she has definite limitations on how much she can do this and for how long, a limit that she pushed herself to the edge of in mere seconds at the battle, it is still an impressive ability with a lot of impact. She is nearly impossible to beat in one on up to six combat without serious knowledge of what she can do or a similarly impressive level of power. She also has the ability to disappear into shadows and has been able to get up and down Auwana by hopping out of the island’s shadow across the ground. Unfortunately, she can only take herself. Also unfortunately, I didn’t write this character fully until just now so that never came up before. So Shaddup mezzy and take the shadow mage while you got it.

Typically she is around Alihana’s workshop and lives right next door to her teacher, she is considered rather anti social since everyone thinks she is a legitimate ghost haunting the earth due to her pale skin that came about from spending too long in the shade and bleeding shadows when she over exerts herself. Other Hariwana aren’t so off-put by her appearance so she just stays in her comfort zone around her family. The exception to this being Kaya. She also likes to skip rocks on the lake. Once when Ka’oana jumped out of the lake to try and scare people, she managed to scare him when he thought he found some spirit of the river come to haunt him. They mutually screamed. Kaya could not stop laughing that day.

Alright that’s it, cosmic force out.

___________________________________________________________

The chief has undertaken a journey to give Kinich a proper burial in his homeland. Until he returns, I have been appointed to take his place.

Our people are still working their way up, unfortunately with Sawiri occupied at the battle he has been unable to work with the bones from storm collecting to create any other manner of travel. Though those necessary for day to day activities have been sent up first along with the wounded.

The losses while significant should not affect us too adversely. If anything, we now have a reliable surplus of food and can work towards stockpiling for winter. Mor informs me the jungles will likely also have more food we can scavenge easily, so that concern is considered addressed. I have arranged a mourning service for those lost in the battle to take place once we manage to bring everyone back up onto the island.

More of the orcs have come to join us, while their numbers are still small we now have all of the orcs that remain from the original clan with us. I have postponed organizing their position with our tribe until Hakenu’e returns to decide what to do with them in regards to their status among the council of chiefs. You may wish to bring up your thoughts on the matter before he makes a decision.

We will need to decide what to take from this battle as our prize from the coalition. I will leave what to do with any that remain with the demon clan to decide, since it is they who will still be living on the plains after we have left.

I have discerned that the elf Tehanau is an “Akoa” elf from the western jungles. Her interest in our war was mostly self serving out of caution. She had learned from the ashen elves that the Chanai were a growing threat, and that soon we would be arriving in their jungle. She took action from there to protect herself and her clan. Their interest in their own cousins seems to be one of mild distaste even if they accepted them as refugees.

That is all for now, you may return to your individual affairs. If necessary, I am available to answer any questions though do keep in mind Hakenu’e will return soon. The Nezatl were unaffected by the battle and are still available to act as judgement presiding over the various matters at hand as well.

We still don’t have honey Xoco, if you ask every day it won’t make our efforts come about even a day sooner. You know this…why do I even bother.

Anyways… we’re working on some of the ceremonial crafts for the whole mourning thing they have planned for everyone that died.

Legally speaking the tribe as a whole hasn’t really taken an official stance on slavery, and Mor’s telling us to go take slaves. I think Chants is also interested in such things, So…we may want to get an official overall ruling on this. I know we discussed it before, but no one really laid down a vote or decreed a law. Obviously the clan is against it given half of them are rescued slaves. I don’t really know how the Huanacan feel about it, they’re off in the woods and their chief was away at the war. We have discussed the pros and cons of this before with Hakenu’e but again no official vote or declaration really got made. We…seem to do that a lot.

Also! Treatment of prisoners was on the table as well alongside this debate, given Mor is just throwing people off the edge to test stuff on them. That line might already be a little bit crossed though. However, you never know what they and Alihana might come up with to do to people.

While the final decision rests with Hakenu’e, you’re in a unique position as leader of the ‘judgement’ clan to make some sort of point about the orc clan and their position with our tribe as a whole. Some would argue their numbers, and the fact that they were kind of kidnapped but not really, don’t really make a strong case for them joining the council of chiefs with the founders but on the other hand they could also just make more orcs at this point and save us some transition in the future. Oh crap you’re in a unique position to do anything, I better go find Nenetl.

We’re back, miss us? While the jig is up with the ‘catch’ on the bone weapons, we’re heading out of here anyways. At least it got some use before we left. Though I must say, I will miss the plains. We spent generations here…also I’m only well known here. I am going to have to hex so many people to get the point across from here on out I suspect. Oh well.

Anyways, Sawiri is back at home in a giant pit of bones we harvested and is swimming around in them like some sort of very greedy duck. Though it is a lot of bones and the orcs are perhaps a bit nervous regarding us upon realizing just what we’re up to. Also, we don’t even have them all up here. Each person we bring back up onto the island carries a few up here. We have those both from the battlefield and the storm hunt. So…we’re still sorting through those. Fortunately, many of them are very conveniently sized for us to work on that bone armor project you wanted. Once we make sure they’re not the important ones for other projects at least. I have our apprentices helping sort them out, at least once Sawiri is done swimming around in them.

As for normalizing tribal mobility, I’m not entirely sure how to just…do that. That might be more of a Nezatl job. I have an ongoing project with Koamalu though if that counts? We’re experimenting with a perhaps less messed up version of the ritual that caused me to curse myself.

In regards to the orcs, I’ve come to notice that we and the dozen are the main clans that make them nervous despite the fact that all the real efforts to bring them here have been our two clans. I feel like they might be prone to particular judgements, it’s not like we have a giant pile of corpses laying around and threatened to kill them if they didn’t comply….okay maybe first impressions aren’t our strong suit. We’ll keep working on that. At least the shaman seems to be mildly okay with you by comparison.

Everything…and I mean everything…is sore. I think Coszacatl is a puddle right now too. I hope the humans appreciate our efforts. Uyitzan is injured but he should bounce back soon enough, it takes a lot to bring him down for good.

We haven’t really been able to lay out much plan regarding the basilisk in all this commotion, I mean…you were with us and all. If we want to introduce scarcity to his territory, I suppose we could start a fire on his side of the mountain too and hope he doesn’t realize it was us?

Zeltzin is back with us, at least Silas came to keep her company and maybe teach her a thing or two about demons. She actually got back before the battle even started, war is no place for her.

In the meantime, Kennae is still off somewhere gathering whatever he can while hanging around the western outpost which we’ll be passing over soon. The lift will be busy for the forseaable future as we try to bring everything up in terms of both supplies and people. It looks like its becoming time to prepare for our next adventure, as we can’t launch much else while trying to get everyone back up while Sawiri is busy doing his research still.

We’ve picked up some recruits from what remained of Kinich’s forces now that the war is over and they don’t have anywhere else to really go. The plains are still starving after all, though hopefully the fall of the Chanai will alleviate that for some. So at least we can replace some of our members.

I’m not sure if we should just have them move into the homes of the gone to save time or build them new places so they don’t wind up living in a dead person’s house…what would we even do with the old huts at that point?

Alright I’m back from operating in your stead mister broken legs. We lost two groups overall, including Ragash. Avonaco might be alive but we have reason to believe he was taken by the crows.

As for your comment about Alihana’s state of dress…well as we have learned there was a specific advantage to that. Since anyone who stabbed her would apparently just kill themselves. We may want to double check how many of our own weapons were made by Sawiri though.

At least the home front never came under attack. The storm kept the Chanai grounded and their flying beasts were just locked away in their pens by the time we invaded their main village.

We brought back a great deal of trophies, though Sawiri is currently looking through them to see what might be of use to him. Those present decided to recruit Silas the demon to come back with us, if you wanted to do anything with him while he’s settling in. While Sawiri was mostly interested in bones, we brought back the hides and some meat as well. Though a lot of it still has to make its way up with the basket, that is going to be quite an affair to bring everything up here until Sawiri finds any more convenient ideas.

Meanwhile, I’ve received report from The Travelers and Sakazai about their journey into the jungle. The Travelers were rather to the point, though Sakazai’s report definitely has more complaints about itchy plants, giant bugs, and nearly being eaten on several occasions.

In regards to the orc shaman, I have made your stance on the matter clear. Perhaps with some level of persuasion. He has agreed to at least teach it to Hakenu’e. Though I’m not sure how much of an improvement that is, Hakenu’e is also quite old after all. Though the orc is wary of Koamalu so he isn’t so keen to teach it to just any of the beastkin. He is also extremely wary of Alihana, and makes deliberate effort to avoid her.

Maybe we could convince some of the Nezatl to try and learn from him, most of them aren’t doing anything important anyways.

Stories of Lore 4

The mobilization is almost complete, the alliance is mobilizing across the plains and soon we’ll be entering battle with the Chanai in their home territory. Make any final preparations you need to, and choose who you wish to send.

To be fair not much exciting went on last week…and yes Kaya wasn’t here. As for training, I suppose we could train with the dozen though they’re a little…crazy. Iiniwa is already training some of us, myself included. Well for me its more of sparring practice.

As for food production, we’re still working on the honey thing. Though so far growing anything up here is…tricky. Mostly because its so cold, air is kind of thin too. We live in a completely different environment now than just below us. We still haven’t managed to get any meaningful contact with the Halik who, if anyone, would be able to do so. Them or the elves, though they’re a little shady these days.

As for the lake, don’t think growing anything would really affect it. The island doesn’t have much trouble getting water.

So far no one’s really caused much ruckus that needs serious arbitration so we’ve mostly been keeping to working on regular tasks around the village.

Kaya is still roaming around down below, likely pestering the people mobilizing for a march on the Chanai. I assume you want me to go, not sure if you want her to though.

Provided we can collect enough bones of fitting sizes we could do a lot with them for armor. Obviously the best would be human bones, just slightly larger than whoever is intended to wear the armor. Orcs might do well for that given their natural size. In absence of those we can just strap whatever we can onto people.

The siblings have remained below to travel to Kinich’s camp. As it is probably important for them to know Alihana will be there. I will relay that Sawiri is to be kept safe, provided he doesn’t do anything…that Sawiri would do. If the war goes well we will likely have enough bones to make armor out of for many warriors. At least those remaining.

The rest of ours who can fight have been sent below to mobilize with our own forces. I drew the long stick, so I’ll be guarding you in the meantime. The foraging will have to wait a little as we’re trying to move a lot of people down to the ground with the basket so the scouts will need to wait their turn. It shouldn’t be too long though. Also we could always direct Kennae to keep an eye out too, as he’s still out there foraging every day.

As for transporting fish, the trip has proven too long to move them. It has been one of the larger problems Kennae complained about when he first started making his trips down to the plains.

The orcs are adapting…well enough. I suppose it is a shock to them to suddenly be on a village in the sky. In hindsight sometimes I think we forget how bizarre this is simply because we had to go through such effort to claim it and build it up ourselves.

The orc shaman is still wary of passing on his knowledge. I suppose the fact that Avonaco made it clear that he was coming here one way or another has left him distrustful of us. At least distrustful enough when it comes to sharing his people’s secrets like that. Perhaps in time he will open up.

Speaking of shamanism teamwork. There is a rumor I have heard that may be of interest to you, and specifically of interest to make sure Hakenu’e isn’t the one who finds out too easily. One of the beastkin may be working with Alihana and displaying an interest in understanding our magic. Perhaps just at arms length for now. Though the fact that it is a rumor implies it isn’t just a known matter, which illicits…interesting theories to come to mind.

As you order, Iiniwa has gone to the plains to assist in the war effort. So has the mother. Kennae is…”foraging” as they call it. If you want him to go…

Basilisk see no reason to go to war, too dangerous for it to leave cave. It is solitary apex predator, has little need to take risk or join tribe. Slithering lady says big snake like its cave. Since cave on other side of mountain, big snake not suffer as rest of the plains do. She advise introducing scarcity to other side to be more…persuasive.

Have built cages in case of flying pets as asked.

Village quiet, many of ours good at fighting so many go to war.

We have no magically inclined members. Alihana still won’t join either.

Speaking of magic, the shaman says the storm ritual is possible with help from the beastkin who are also spiritually attuned. However, he needs an artifact from the place it is to occur with any particular potency. Said artifact being a bunch of dirt, the closer to the desired location the better.

It should be noted the best for killing flyers would be anyone who can shoot a bow. Though if we intend to utilize a storm that will not be an effective method. On the upside, hopefully they won’t have much flying either.

As for the food shortages, they might not actually be as dire as we assume. Though perhaps we should assume that they will be dire just in case. But the ashen plains are still the primary cause for such food issues, once the island sails further west we could find some relief. We will await a report from the Travelers about what we might be able to expect.

As for your plan to head groundside to join the fighting, I would remind you that your bones are still healing from that fall off the island you recently took. Though if you still insist be sure to stay near Alihana and Sawiri as the war effort will likely make sure they are well protected.

The snails are still doing fine, at least the hardy ones. We may consider moving them to the lake eventually to see if it works.

With Sawiri and Alihana hunting in the storm, we had one of Sawiri’s apprentices enchant Coszacatl’s skeleton. It’s not like its a one time shot anyways, she can always get more.

As for using magic to control Auwana. We may be able to move it faster or slower with regards to the direction it is going, though we’ll need more people for that. Given that the island seems to be affected by the wind, it might work to use those shaman’s ritual to create a storm though that might be a bit erratic when it comes to moving in any specific direction.

As for the druids and the lake, they already left after delivering the message. I’ll put it on the list of things to ask one if we come across them again.

Curiously, those we left patrolling the perimeter did actually notice a couple of crows flying onto the island and into the woods. Though they were lost once inside the woods, eventually seen to be leaving later in the day. Hakenu’e doesn’t mention getting any peculiar visits nor does anyone else seem to know anything. They could just be birds though.

As for the elves and their offer, sort of hard to tell if they intend to make good on such a promise. You do raise a valid point though, if they were to go back on such a thing there is little we could do to retaliate since no one can find them. Though we can check such arrangements with Kinich I imagine.

You’ve already talked to the basilisk, and while it was at least humoring your presence without eating you its definitely a little bit wild. I actually have an idea on this. While you represent the clan and are the least likely to die dealing with a basilisk, you are not its closest relative. We have snake people that might do well with representing the clan to it. Still don’t know how to get it up here though.

The journey into the storm proved to be slightly anticlimatic. There was no giant monster or swarms to face. The party we sent spent most of their time running around in the rain killing anything that they could find. Generally we can assume if any creature is willing to brave the storms than they might have some affinity with it. If nothing else it is a good haul of food. That being said there are several catches that Sawiri managed to preserve but we’re unsure of which ones might be useful. They’ve brought the haul back to be sorted, well most of them. Some are still on the ground right now, basket and all.

We sent some sneaky folk into the Chanai territories. They managed to avoid any conflict for the time being but were unable to approach the witch doctors. It seems they, and the Halik, have been moved into the central village. It definitely appears the Chanai are trying to form a larger civilization just as we did with the Launi’Kauhale. This makes it hard to sneak into though as the Chanai are on high alert given the ongoing skirmishes with the crow folk. Unfortunately no one in the Dozen are quite adept at sneaking straight into an enemy village like that, questioning who knows how many people, and sneaking back out.

The demons, and Kinich, seem quite accepting of as many members as we can lend them for the coming conflict. They’ve also started to mobilize across the plains along the eastern side near the mountains. Apparently to keep a healthy distance from the crow folk’s main area of activity.

The orcs have been brought aboard as demanded to get them moving quicker.

Also yes, we know for sure the crows and Chanai are at war with each other. Kinich intends to strike in the midst of these conflicts. Apparently because he feels the Chanai might grow in strength as they acquire more clans, and the crow folk are not a singular clan. More of them could come from anywhere at any time. As for trying to turn them against each other just before the attack, it would be difficult purely to keep the Chanai from knowing we were coming. They patrol the skies with flying beasts, and are well aware of any large movements through the plains. There is a high likelihood they would be able to tell we are on approach. Not to mention their beasts are great at tracking too, and are always on the look out for sneaky crows. This is part of the difficulty our scouts are having getting to the witch doctors as well. So even a dispersed movement would be difficult to hide. If we can overcome that problem though, the other part likely wouldn’t be too hard.

So far I see your attempts to teach others your magic is…not going so well.

Wehilani managed to observe what we might call a great mobilization. Several war parties all gathered at the demon clan’s village, including Kinich and his band of gnolls. More than we had realized to be roped into his efforts. It seems he was not the only recruiter they had. They have the remains of the orcs, some clan of gnolls, the demon clan, and some figures I don’t even recognize. Thankfully, Coszacatl and Zeltzin were sent to their camp at quite a convenient time in order for us to gather more information. Apparently the demon clan joining in with Kinich would be Coszacatl’s doing, through her they seemed to find some inspiration to help Kinich with his plan. The confirmed that they are intending to attack the Chanai. While they did not divulge all of their strategies to Zeltzin, they told her that much at least. Though we have found more forces at work here than we initially thought, more on that in a moment.

A scout party of Chanai flyers arrived here on Auwana, only to discover where the missing clans went. It is…extremely convenient that the Huanacan built in the woods far off from the main village. Also that Kennae is away on mission and Iiniwa is level headed enough to stay out of sight during their visit.

They had a proposal. In exchange for some bushes from our forest, a hundred measures of food, and a non aggression pact they will agree to leave us alone on our island since it will soon be sailing west anyways and no longer be their problem.

However, not too long afterwards we had a rare visitor. An elf. Conveniently Avonaco is in the field. This is clearly no average elf, they are the one behind the mobilization of Kinich and the demons. I suppose the elves have always had a talent for charisma. They want us to join the attack on the Chanai to help bolster Kinich and his forces. Actually while they want troops and supplies overall, they very specifically wanted Alihana.

We are promised favorable relations with the elves in the western jungles that our island will soon be passing over for helping in this regard. Which could be useful in the future once we find ourselves in a strange and dangerous new land. Also that they will give us one of three things. We can take the Halik or the Witch Doctor clan with us. Their alliance and relocation to Chanai territory means they will have to be dismantled in the war effort. However, the alliance will let us take one of them to our island. Whether as captives or as allies is probably dependent on them as much as us. The third offer is all of Chanai’s flying mounts that can be recovered. Most notably, a druid is the one offering this so it is likely that once the Chanai domination is broken that such creatures will actually be rendered cooperative.

As a final element, I took a moment to take advantage of the druid and ask whats the deal with the spikier trees that ring the entire island that we were all trying to figure out awhile back. It was explained that trees with those needle leaves are particularly good at handling strong winds. They are absorbing a lot of the wind we receive up here in the sky and protecting the rest of the forest that relies on broader leaves by lessening the strength of the wind that might otherwise knock them over. So don’t cut them down.

I thought I should consult the rest of the chiefs before taking on either offer regarding this war down in the ashen plains. Though we are somewhat in the dark about both forces actual capability. As revealed, Kinich has more forces than we initially thought. Also no one has any real idea just how strong the Chanai actually are especially in their home territory.

Here I got you some honey now sit still already.

We set up some houses for the sake of the orcs once they arrive here on Auwana. We’ll see if they intend to remain their own clan or not once we can. I foresee they will want to for the sake of their own somewhat stubborn pride but it might incite some of the people if their chief held equal position to the current chiefs with how small their numbers are. So may want to prepare to deal with that argument.

So far building birdcages is easy, catching birds is a pain. We have a few though, they just squawk a lot so far.

As for Cosz, I suppose she can use any skeleton that walks on the ground. Due to her ooze she will be too heavy to be a bird or anything that flies. While she is in possession of a human skeleton right now, beyond hardening we’ve never actually done much with human bones before. To the surprise of many, we are not the cannibal tribe. Seriously people assume we are a lot.

Your face is painted with skeletal markings and I am wearing a skull for a helmet.

As for Coszacatl’s available bone options, it seems that it has to be a complete skeleton and somewhat fresh so that it still has the squishy bitz that holds the skeleton together. Since she is using it for structural support rather than just…to have bones. So WE CAN’T MIX AND MATCH.

I can always harden bone, so she doesn’t get slapped around by a crow so easily again. It seems that a wolf or any other four legged creature could make her faster but in shorter bursts. With such simple creatures I could try to find some way to let her SPRINT TO THE HORIZON!! She could deliver messages that way.

Though ACTUALLY ALIHANA, if I enchanted more birdy bones the way we made the basket maybe she could fly.

One simple idea is to maybe make something that keeps her warm and toasty. The forever fire faggots used the wyvern bones to produce a long lasting camp fire but I should be able to put a weaker version on her skeleton. This would help her stay active through the winter, as oozes freeze otherwise. So we won’t be seeing much of her during the cold times otherwise.

Monster bones would have the most extreme and varied effects though I’m not even sure what those will make given how rarely I get to work with such things. I do think that it is possible to give her something similar to what I’m wearing. I’m not sure how well shadow magic works for an ooze that light can shine through though, on the other hand it might be AWESOME.

To an extent we both know trying to catalog Sawiri is an exercise in madness. He rarely makes the exact same thing twice.  As for notable umbramancers…I mean you’re counting me right?

No you make fire, as I said before. Redundant.

This is why mom loved me more than you.

Dad didn’t even want a daughter though, much less you.

Shame he got sick and died though.

Yea…wait a minute…

Back to umbramancers. It is true that we can probably use Auwana’s shadow for something interesting. Using it for something like perception though has never really been before though I suppose I could take a look into the concept. We could make shadow puppets keep an eye out there but not sure how much that would help. Also moving between shadows is a concept that still eludes us.

Might be doable if we had more bones. Mine enhance the things umbramancy can do, which is why I’m all floaty floaty. Not sure where to find a skeleton attuned to shadows though.

Maybe in a cave or something. As for the green stones, I feel like the charm would just be a really heavy bone. At which point just a heavy rock, same way we make the basket work basically. I suppose we could try to make a bigger one, though the issue will always be that you need a way to get the basket down and up. So it would take a lot of weight just to send a green rock down, and given how much power those things have it would be difficult to control with just a really long rope.

I got nothing for this, me do bones no do rocks. You have bone, so sneeze ring wearable. Rock monster just have to go without sneezing.

If we ever did see a monster made of rock, I think sneezing is not really a priority for it.

Also we still have a few weeks before the orcs are ready to be picked up. If you head to the ground camp for that time you’ll probably need to appoint someone to keep things in order up here in case something comes up that needs a more immediate response. Please do not pick Sawiri.

Pick Sawiri.

Actually the lake would fill up fairly quickly if a dam was put at the end of the river that runs off the island. This is the secret to Ragash’s ponds as well and the constant existence of the swamp nearby. It might not fill all the way overnight or anything but its unlikely we would have much trouble with it unless we were to fly over a particularly dry region since the island’s water is coming from flying through clouds. The issue of draining and eating the lake is that there is solid rock underneath it that keeps the island afloat so water doesn’t naturally seep through and the river does not reach as deep as the lake’s lower areas where all the mucky stuff is. We began construction of said dam until Ragash pointed out that smaller ponds formed in the river itself that was cleaner for our use. Its just the central lake that has been allowed to stagnate that the issue exists within. In short the problem isn’t getting more water, its getting rid of the current water.

Our ambassadors managed to visit the demon village to catch them up on whats going on and whatever happened to Cosz. Zeltzin was a bit surprised to see so many of her own kind, and also to learn how much of her own abilities she never really knew about. Though given she has always been one of the tribe’s gatherers it makes sense she doesn’t know the full extent of what her race is known for.

Though when it comes to recruiting them it is notable their greatest practical reason to consider doing so is to skip the wars going on down below. Their reclusive nature seems to suit them to avoiding such conflict, but the war on the plains has become necessary for them to act upon before they find themselves in a bad position. As the Elder Chief pointed out, the elf wants us to help Kinich in the assault. Not to mention it would probably be nice to get back at those guys. But getting involved in such a situation could lead to the demons seeing less reason to join us as they would still have to fight that war instead of hiding on the island to get out of it, and after the fighting is over with unless they lose there won’t be much motive to vacate their now rather expansive territory for an uncertain feature flying among the clouds.

As for the basilisk den, tunneling into the mountain and a bit of the ground seems the most reasonable. Though the next challenge is getting the basilisk up here, as the basket is not going to particularly fit it I foresee.

Ragash and Avonaco wound up going to the same place as Coszacatl and Zeltzin down at the demon clan camp where Kinich seems to be gathering forces. For the most part the pair are hanging around the camp making people nervous.

In the meantime the travelers are hanging around the far side of the mountain waiting for any interesting storms to come by. Though it should be noted Sawiri might need to go there with them given his general preference for fresher bones.

As for winter, good question. That’s one for the chiefs.

Apparently in the winter Oozes tend to hang around fires and inside of caves.

In attempting to teach spells to anyone else, it might be worth an experiment to see if it can be taught. While there are some volunteers who would be interested, we don’t know if they can learn it. So that one will keep you busy for awhile, and it might be best to start with Alihana. If anyone can learn it, she would be the one.

Technically Wehilani and Kennae are already scouting from the air for anything to hunt, which keeps the ground camp supplied.

So in regards to the blood mage, first off there was only one. Not a group of them. The second complication is the witch doctors were pressured into allying with the Chanai and were moved into their territory a little while ago. That being said we at least know where the witch doctors are. This complicates things though because the Chanai territory is the hardest to do anything in thanks to their riders extending their control over the area so effectively. Given the recent diplomatic matters the chiefs have received, our plan to do so might be decided by what our plan of action is. Until we can interro- interview the witch doctors we won’t really know which team would be the best to figure out what became of the exile. Though who would be best for talking to the witch doctors would depend on the plan for reaching and then interacting with them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stories of Lore 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whats a xylophone?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wait whats a lever?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So…who do you want to send to go see about the Halik?

Also in regards to next years celebration, our clan is particularly the more talented with crafts so maybe we should weave some over the top display, AND THEN SET IT ON FIRE! Or y’know, something more subtle. Though I think the gods would prefer sacrifices that are big and glowy rather than a small jar of something sweet…maybe a big thing filled with jars of sweet things at the same time.

As for the bees, so far they don’t seem to like the hollowed out log idea. We’ve been picking at their hives to try and see what they like. I think we need to shape the log a bit more carefully than just hollowing it out. Just hollowing out one end also hasn’t yielded much success. We’re still working on the idea basically.

I’ve had some of the younger members start looking on working just with bees to hopefully allow for this whole specialization idea you mention to take root overall.

It will still be a few weeks before we meet the orcs up here, as they are down at the outpost and more or less at the mercy of the dozen until we can pick them up. Hopefully that doesn’t scare them off as the smaller camp is filled with only our rougher sort for doing work down in the plains. Though we could be a bit sneaky and try to befriend them before the beastkin to get them to teach us some of that shaman stuff before they hear about some weird trend of keeping us out of it *cough*.

Yeah we’ve still got nothing on the rock, though the largest one we originally were intending to extract is being preserved at my place in case there is some value to it. We may need to find some sort of rock based expert.

Also I got banned form storytelling around the fire. Not sure why.

As for-

As for the bone concepts. I’m simply making them much harder and more durable, as long as you can be creative with the pre-existing shape of the bones they’re quite useful. I use them to hold up my shelves. Also by splitting them, the sharp point that remains can sometimes be used to scratch at wood.

We also use them to crack chunks of rock. Pickaxes and all.

Ragash and Avonaco have escorted the orcs to the camp and left them under the care of the others we have guarding the camp, they’ve now set off to find the other group. Updates on that as it progresses, they have a bit of a walk ahead of them.

Attempting to mess with the rocks has yielded similar results, they do always move upwards. Thankfully due to our experience with the Hariwana basket’s tendency to shoot off into the sky, we had taken some preparations for such a situation. Turns out our strongest guy doesn’t weigh enough to really wrestle down these rocks, it almost tore him in half when the rope caught him.

Tracking the “murderous monster” has proven a bit more difficult than expected, but some interesting details have been gleaned. It clearly isn’t alone, its tracks lead into campsites with groups of other varied tracks that most notably includes some monstrous creatures. This is part of what makes it a little difficult to track, it can disappear among these camp sites and be a little tricky to find which set that leaves the camp might belong to it. It also seems to disappear completely sometimes within these groups. Possibly even catching rides to new places. There have been several scenes of massacre discovered on this mission, though most recently the trackers found it eventually traveled to the demon clan’s village. What was most interesting is that the demon clan seems to be fine, as if they weren’t a target of any sort. The trail seems to get lost in there due to the active use of the camp removing a lot of the traces we could utilize. Also we aren’t entirely sure if this creature was there before or after some of the other marks of its passing we discovered. The demons might have more information, but its up to you if and who you might want to send to question about such a thing.

Further details reveal these other presences around it are also somewhat aloof, it shows signs of guerilla tactics. While the primary figure of interest seems to just walk into things to destroy them, the rest of its companions have shown more hit and run style attacks onto certain other camps.

We’ve bolstered the guard down at the camp as specified, and as it is we have three teams moving around the plains tracking down various things of interest.

As for our last tracking project, the search for Coszacatl might be an overlapping interest. At the old Huanacan camp there are tracks to indicate that an ooze has visited the area. Likely Coszacatl returning home. What looks like a large trail in the dirt, indicating a slime, reaches a specific spot and then starts walking on two feet. Feet missing an arch and with toes that seem almost fused together. We have reason to believe the wandering monster we’re looking for is in fact Coszacatl.

Iiniwa revealed to us she has the ability to take on humanoid shapes provided she has a humanoid’s skeleton to anchor herself to. There were a lot of those after the raid. He has also confirmed that she is physically capable of the kind of carnage we’ve been uncovering. Just that it is out of her personality to do so, though that being said I suspect coming home to find all of her clan missing and the camp burned down could have sent on her on a blood fueled quest for vengeance. Which would explain why all these bodies are uneaten, unpillaged, and left to rot.

On the one hand this is fortuitous for us, tactically at least albeit a tad less exciting. She is unlikely to cause much harm to us and it is simply a matter of finding her before she gets herself killed by pissing off everyone in the territory with indiscriminate murder. As long as whoever finds her can prove that they know where her people are. To benefit this, Jarth has sent some people down to help find her alongside our trackers so they can hopefully reason with her.

We could put some wood around the basket I suppose.

As for the flying invaders, they’re starting to clear out now. Mostly because we’ve murdered a good few of them. Our experiment in throwing one overboard with the bone charm has proven a resounding success. It actually survived the fall, albeit with some injury. It broke a few bones on impact with the ground but I had the idea of using two charms this time and threw another one off. That time there was no major injuries.

In regards to the black stone the Hariwana are investigating, it is similar to obsidian in appearance but only appearance. Attempts to chip it do not work to produce obsidian blades as it much more difficult to fracture and does not break in the same patterns as obsidian. Also we have obsidian weapons already so we had something to compare it to in order to verify that it is indeed a different kind of rock.

With the latest information from the Dozen’s trackers looking for Coszacatl, it seems indeed wise that we sent some of ours with them to help look for her. Though their suspicions of her actions do raise some concern. Coszacatl is a very lethargic creature, at least for most of the time we’ve known her. Seeing that she might be on some blood fueled rampage across the plains is worrisome though at least understandable. To her it might seem as if we were wiped out by the Chanai, along with her children. This could however affect the wars going on down below, with the crow folk and the Chanai in active war, a rising resistance group the orcs mentioned, and now Coszacatl running amuck the whole territory might end up in somehow even worse shape. I suppose its a good thing we came to this island after all.

I am concerned she might draw attention to herself before we can find her though. While she is the most dangerous member of our clan besides yourself, the Chanai’s new chief is not one to be trifled with, especially alone. Also the crow folk’s average warrior is a threat to any hero, their best are rivals to the dozen due to the strange powers the king of crows granted them. I mention this because left unchecked, Coszacatl is going to get the attention of other major warriors rather than the ones she is preying on.

As for aquatic creatures, we may have to venture a little further to find anything with bones of note. The plains lack for large aquatic life, or really anything more significant than some fish in the old ponds.

The rock has been secured for now at least. Most of our visitors have either joined our cause, even if tentatively, or been abducted and experimented on between the Dozen and Sawiri from the Hariwana. We still see birds and maybe some stragglers, but with the one we have recruited a simple station of maybe an extra couple of people to watch over the rock should be enough to keep it under control. Though who knows however many might be instead lurking in the forests, at least those tend to be less dangerous.

Stories of Lore 2

No you can’t be arch chief, you are “Little Chief” for at least a few more years.

Also we carved out a log to see if the bees just…fly on into it I guess. We’ll have to see if that works at all.

In regards to the Halik, they’re moving into the Chanai territories so that’s a whole thing we have to get through. Who are we going to send to do that? Also is our game plan still to intimidate people? That might not be as effective when trying to trade for anything, or get them to migrate a second time from the Chanai unless we damage the Chanai enough to make our status as the superior tribe clear. Also we could just steal their stuff, that would fit well into the whole intimidation strat.

Also I have informed everyone to start using the sundial to arrange tribal councils instead of taking a guess when its close enough to noon. The Dozen are wary of our plans to make time a consistent thing just so that we may or may not make it inconsistent.

Well we spent the last three weeks working our way through the stone caverns very carefully to avoid the green rocks. We have discovered that it is quite tough, and completely black. No discoloration or specks of other things at all, it seems to be quite hard too. On the way to it, we found more of them hidden in the stone. Each time they seem surrounded by a thin layer from the stone of the island rather than embedded. We brought back some samples and the most we can make of it is that….they’re very smooth and shiny rocks. I was able to corrode one, and that went slower than usual but still as expected. I was also able to break one by hitting it with one of Sawiri’s bone clubs. Despite their shine, they don’t seem to bear any particularly extraordinary properties as far as we can tell. The blue and gold ones on the island, as well as the floaty green ones, are definitely of greater interest. None of us are exactly rock experts though.

I found an easy spot we managed to dig out into a holding area. The entrance is small though, to make sure we didn’t dislodge anything important. The theory was that if I just left enough ground to prevent any rocks from escaping while I excavated that they shouldn’t be able to fly off anywhere. Seems to have worked, there are a few stuck to the ceiling though. So basically the same scenario as our digging to the smooth black rock.

As for the bird bones, Sawiri claaaaims to have found a potential solution. Its a series of linked charms that in the end allows someone to, in his words, fall from a great height and not go splat. Though the quirk to it is that it doesn’t actually slow you down, just makes the sudden stop hurt less. So its impossible to test on any height that wouldn’t injure someone without risking the injury. He managed to convince someone to jump off of a fairly high rock and it worked as far as we can tell. However, no one is particularly volunteering to jump off the island with it and see how well it holds up with that kind of a drop.  Also doesn’t necessarily help them get back up.

So far the extendable bone idea was possible but Sawiri can only get it to triple its length, still a few thousand feet short of reaching the ground. Sawiri says he might have a more practical solution to the issue but he needs the bones of a peculiar type of cat that is only found in the western jungle and miiight be a pain in the ass to find as they’re known for having strange abilities to be in multiple places at once. The island won’t drift that far for a little while but we could just send some people to walk over there. The issue is that Sawiri himself would have to go in order to preserve the “freshness” as he says. Which would mean sending him far away and hoping nothing bad happens to him.

In regards to aquatic creatures, maybe save that for after we fix the lake. So far while a short term solution has been found with ooze filtering, waiting to cultivate a lot of snails will take awhile.

Kennae is with the team headed back down to the ground for a little while with the others. While he does travel up and down with Wehilani instead of by basket, she will be staying with the ground camp for a little while which means so will Kennae.

With Avonaco heading down as well we’ll have to pay closer attention to the events at the rock. So far the visitors seem to be rather mild and easy enough to handle, at least now that the rowdiest of the bunch have been dealt with already.

We’ve been enforcing our domain over the mountain a little more lately just to clear off some of the suspicious visitors. As we drift further from the mountain, and word gets around, it is likely their visits will become less frequent. We’ve also managed to recruit one of the harpy’s that were lurking around.

I’ve sent the four down, seems our clan were the only ones so quick to respond to the plan. Just as well, none are as suited. Except possibly the two who are already down there all the time.  We’ve sent them along with the new knives for a field test of the materials.

They’ve managed to at least collect a shaman and a woman as instructed, a few other tagalongs as well. Though the bulk of the orc group seems to be interested in getting involved with another growing alliance down on the plains that intend to go to war with the Chanai. We could go ask the other group of orcs that split off and see how they feel if you want to continue the orc collecting.

While no one is entirely sure what it is, Ragash and Avonaco found some evidence that there is something strange going on around the ground in the shape of some killer who has no interest in food or supply. I’ve had the camp ensure its defenses carefully in case they might run into whatever strange thing this might be.

Speaking of weapons materials, the best we’ve really come across is somewhat dependent on the situation. Against large beasts, you want a stone that can hit many times as it will take several good whacks to bring them down. Against regular men, fractured obsidian works well to demoralize and cripple them. Hardwoods can make for great clubs, sometimes better than rocks. They are also easier to sharpen, while they don’t cut as well as obsidian they do last a little longer and are easier to maintain. Though those kinds of trees are a bit rare around here, and appear more often to the west and in the far south.

Also we put the wooden stake in the ground to keep the basket a bit more tied down.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can you truly say that it is not?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coszacatl

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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