A Song of Ember and Stone | Sleeper Island EU

DM: Geokhan

Players
Twee – RCB
Gau – Konopa
Bardy – Tootired78
Valorean – Mal
Katla – Arden
Nog – Trulhammeren

“Following Damian finding Garden of Stone from a knowledgeable mage, I immediately moved to find her. I gathered my crew and set out from White Moon Cove, just recently liberated. We traveled south along the road, then Gau allowed us travel through the swamp with his druidic sorcerery, and we approached the Great Wyrm mountains. As we got to the foot of the mountains, we found a Mausoleum with statues. There was some sort of symbol at the base, marked with W shape in a circle. We continued into the stone structure, but as we descended the stairs, a large almost bug like creature attacked Nog. We made short work of it, but it had apparently been sleeping beneath the tomb for a while, gathering strength and growing like a cicada before bursting in and damaging us.”

“After things settled once more, we continued inward and found a grave marked “Sir Sehm’la’doirw,” along with imagery of the Red Elk. A few of us put our heads together and we determined that this was a Mausoleum of knights, from a civilization long since past. The Red Elk is familiar, having been mentioned in ancient structures and ruins across the East end of the island.”

“Before long, we moved further into the mountains and made camp, and at our campsite, we found copper veins and an ancient dwarven note marking ‘Sutter’s Mine.’ In the morning, we also noticed a structure, long since abandoned with equipment and rotted hay with a worth note in the wall reading “by order of the high ironstriker est XCV.” There was some mention of the former mines of the Ironstrikers by Virogon in the mountains in this area, and the Ironstriker name seems to further confirm his as their location.”

“From there, we used Gau’s connection to nature to commune with the land itself, and determined a notable individual was just south of our location, within around 2-3 miles, and a structure further northwest. Given that we knew that Garden of Stone was indeed a *Tabaxi* we decided to move towards the notable humanoid.

“Before we got to Garden of Stone, we did find flowers growing out of the mountainside, but they were most peculiar, change the texture of the air nearby and seemed to be exceptionally fragile. I remembered from a recent log that there was a mention of a such a flower by a newcomer by the name of Shep, apparently consorting with a hag and her brew or something of the like. We had Gau harvest the flower for use by those adventurers, managing to gather three stalks.”

“As we continued to the site that Gau sensed the Garden of Stone, we came upon a statue once more, only one that moved and spoke, apparently a stoneskinned ascetic of great experience. We then went about asking the individual information, noting down all we could, and Garden of Stone was indeed forthcoming and friendly with what she told us.”

“We first asked of the fate of Hornimus, the Stone Singer, and she recounted his tale as best she could remember, having been a companion of some sort long ago, but she did presume him to have passed long ago. We asked of the Burning Elders, apparently a group of trusted officials, nobles, and other supporters of the Crown that, as time passed, slowly turned in on the very kingdom they swore to protect in search of personal power and wealth. Deals with the protectors of the island, and even those more maligned influences, allowed them to slowly spread propaganda through the alleys of the City of Grackisturh, labeling the Stone Singers, the last protectors of the Crown, as traitors and arranging most of their deaths. Hornimus was the last to be able to escape their reach before losing his family to the conflict. She also confirmed that if any group within the JubJub Peaks were to slay the late king those years ago, it would have been with their go ahead and say so.”

“Garden of Stone then mentioned that she smelled the presence of her siblings, Garden of Flowers and Garden of Thorns, on our persons. We asked, given her age and wisdom, if she was familiar with those that fled the moving terror, and she insisted that while she was able to trace her lineage, as all tabaxi can, to the tribes of that time, that she was not present for the wars of old. This comes into question later.”

“She recounted that among the tabaxi tribes, the snakes came and sought power, control over the tabaxi for their strength. It was the young ones at the time that lent ear to the hissed promises of what would become the Mhairshaulk, and those pups that were so enticed were the ones to commit the Tabaxi Massacre on the Lapongo.”

“We then learned that while there were those Lapongo that stayed and became the Lapendi of today, surviving only by the dark deal with the Mhair, there were also those that fled the massacre, and eventually those became the Altist under their leader of the same name, among the time of revolt in the former Yuan-ti Empire that marked their decline.”

“Given her extensive knowledge during the time, we asked about Phimot, and she knew of him as Philmont the Wise, an altist mage that was split into two by the council, into the beings known as Darien and Nuegebauer, between his desire for peace, and his desire for destruction, it seemed the Obelisk split him. This reminds me of an encounter not long ago in the Moritum. I’ll attached it at the end of this log for your reference. ( https://sleeperisland.eu/notes-notes-and-more-notes/ )

“I asked then of the Blue Light, of the power that the Altist wielded, but it seemed that it was a metaphorical and cultural idea of the time, representing a torch or duty of the Altist, representing the ideals of leaving behind the shackles of slavery and prejudice, and also representing the Lineage of the throne of the Altist, of the line that continues to this day.”

“We asked then of the Veletie Stones, mentioned by Mage Virogon. They are fragments, pieces of an escapee that briefly terrorized the island in the East before the Council smote it, sending pieces of the creature across the island, and these stones have a binding quality to them, especially towards the planar variety.”

“Magelord Quaarus seemed to be a Mage undeserving of respect in the Stone’s eyes, apparently having an overinflated ego and citing some lineage to a kingdom of the East, though I wonder myself if he is a remnant of the Red Elk.”

“It seemed like the Monoliths, those with text written in Primordial, Celestial, and Infernal, were related to the Council but this was something that Garden of Stone was limited in speaking of council business, apparently having drawn their attention before. This too was what came of our inquiring of Larissa, whom again was connected to a monastery to the South but that there was little that could be communicated.”

“With our fill of questions for that evening, and sensing Garden of Stone was needing her rest, we decided to finish our adventure by doubling back to the building Gau found just north of our former campsite, Sutter’s Mine. On the way Bardy recounted a strange tale, one that sent chills down my spine.”

“Bardy has a spell, one that usually goes unnoticed, that allows him to find information on a creature. Apparently, despite the slight nature of the spell, one it was cast, time stopped for all but Bardy and Garden of Stone. She turned to him, immediately in front of him, and asked if there was something he needed to know. He explained he was of no ill intent, and she allowed him into her mind as he saw the history. The bloodshed. The slaughter. A blur of claws and teeth not only Lapongo, but also Yuan-ti and tabaxi were slain by Garden of Stone’s hand. Men, women, children. As a child, Garden of Stone was on the front line of the war with the Lapongo and is implicated in the massacre of potentially hundreds or thousands of souls. It makes me wonder what the other Garden Sages may have done, as fellow members of their order.”

“The building was of little noted, carved from the stone but long abandoned. There were charms on the walls of some of the rooms, as we recognized the rooms as classrooms and our further investigations found what was essentially the ruins of a school, finding a “Key to Education” that allow you to pass through the alarm spell on the office doors. We spent the night there and were approached by a spectre of a dwarf that led us to a cave nearby, behind a hole that the humie and other oafishly large among us couldn’t hope to fit through comfortably. We made our way inside, and soon we were attacked by creatures of the aberrant variety. It was all a blur of tentacles, flames, and infernal. Apparently, there was mention of the Burning Elders themselves having sent these creature after us, but to my lifeless form, much of the fight is gone.”

“After I picked myself back up, we were patching ourselves up, preparing to finish our rest, when a blue light of celestial origin led us to a strange gelatinous green goo with a decrepit dwarf preserved inside. He introduced himself as Hornimus, recounting the tale once more, and how there was a chance for a revival of the Stone Singers if we were to find the ‘others’. He asked that we seek out Rolanmitton in the Northwest, a contemporary and apparent Altist citizen, but still I wonder more about what can be done against such powers, and what may lie behind even the Elders.”

-The One Called Twee