Post by admlproudwalker on Dec 29, 2007 11:57:08 GMT -5
Lupe flipped through the pages of last years travels in her ships Log and stopped on one chapter to reread the entry with a smile on her face remembering the time she first discovered Mora.
"When the gale finally ended we found ourselves blown east and countless days off course, floating adrift in the warm equartorial waters of the sea without hpe of speedy return to Pelegosto or Fort Hope. Our destination remains Valeska, but I knew the darkstar woudl never survive the crossign now, not without re-provisioning and modest repairs to her sails and lines. in this condition, she might never make it home at all. I ordered Mr Green into the crow's nest with my best spyglass and made west by northwest, hoping that dry land woudl not be far.
"On the third day - by Calypso - our prayers were answered. A chian of islands unmarked on any chart began to apear on the horizon to the east. Prehaps hese were the pirate isles of which I had been told about. We made sail for the closest and within a small bay we encounted amodest village of thatched huts. The natives were freindly, if a bit wary. Their dark-hued skin and exotic features relared them to the Olman of the jungles to the far east. After some persuasion, they were willing to trade food and supplies for weapons and tools of steel. I inquired about the surrounding islands, but the village chieftess seemed deteremined to warn me off their exploration. She attempted to frighten my men wth tales of unholy enemies and curses. Indeed, she made me swear to avoid sailing due east into the arcchipelago before her men would even let me set foot in the last launch back to the ship!
I bade my host farewell, knowing in my heart that an oath to her coudl not bind my feline heartand order my men to weigh anchor and set sail for the larger islands to the west. We encountered numerous villages populated by the same Olmanish folk. but many of these tribes were hostile and warlike. Some attacked my men on sight, and I dare say we uncovered plentiful evidence of cannibalism. The crew is primarily sailors not marines, and i lost many of them to the rapacioius savages without profiting our situaltion any. I began to lose heart as we progessed through the isles, for my calculations increasingly suggested taht were were farther east then any chart had ever recorded, perhaps as far as the legendary Pearl Sea.
Finally, two weeks after entering the archipelago, we spied a vast isle that spanned the horizon, crowned by a central plateau shrouded in fog and surrounded by a lush jungle that ran to steep clifs in almost every direction. Our approach was from the southeast, as i later discovered, where a lowland peninsula reached out to divide the nearby waters. We eschewed the smaller islands nearby adn made straight for it. The peninsula was cut off from the main land by a neck of of land and as we sailed nearer, I was shocked to discover the latter was warded off from the former by a massive well built wall of stone!
I personally led the shore party, so exictied was I by this hint of civilization. We went well armed and perpared for anything. after we hiked the distance to the edifice, to my chagrin we discovered that the near side of that great wall sheltered yet another village of primative Olman natives. I studied the wall, which was indeed man made and quite impressive, undoubtedly the work of hundreds, if not thousands of men. these natives were friendly and, like their Olman counterparts, a woman lead them. They told us their settlement was called 'Tanarosa.' (I would find out later that it ment freeport in the more commom of tongues). However, the name they ave to the vast island that was their hoem intrigued me more - Mora.
As we spent time with the Tanaroans that day, we learned that the massive wall that seperated thier peninsula from the rest of the island was built by ancients whom they called 'the gods.' According to the villagers, these 'gods' supposedly built a city atop the isalnds central plateau. The pervasive fogs surrounding those highlands prevented my spyglass from confirming this claim, only a direct inspection woudl suffice. But as I learned more about their culture and traditions, I began to increasinly suspect tat these 'gods' of which they spoke were their ancestors, a people who possessed a more advanced culture than anything in evidence now. Could this once have been an oupost if the vast Olman empire of legend? I was, to say the least, tantalized.
My excitement grew as I listened to the Tanaroans regale us with tales of treasure beyond imagining, including a great black 'pearl' of the gods' that was the symbol of dominion of this city. Clearly, these people were quite proud of their heritage. The waters surrounding the archipedlago aboundwith prodigious oyster beds, so these folktales are not without foundation. I inquired about hte rest of the inhabitants of hte isle and at this the chieftess grew silent. A roar that I confess made even my hairs curls on end soon perced the silence. I had never heard anything like it.
My men and I ran to the wall, attempting to see what made the cry. At this, the Tanaroans attempted to stop us, their husterical jabberign included talk of demons adn great beast that could devour a man whole. They spoke of a curse upon the anicent ruins and and the jungle, placed by the 'gods' before they departed. Only a large adn well armed party coudl be allowed beyond the Great Wall. While dubious, I could not doubt the ferocity of hte creature that made that cry, and given the poor state of my crew coudl not in good conscience risk their lives to it.
I ordered them back to the ship and bade farewall to the Tanaroans, granting their matriarch such gifts as I coudl spare to win her future good will. teh next time I shall return from Horn with an expedition worthy of the endeavor of exploring this land. Before departing, however I was determined to sail around the isle and its rocky coastline, making as detialed markings of its features as i could. the work was painstaking, made more difficult by a suddenly rising fog that seemed to pour from the plateau inot hte surrounding jungle at dusk. Our task nearly complete, we asiled past a cove onteh northern side of the island, were i will confess I was shocked to spy the wreckage of a sailign ship of northern design in the shoals. This was no Olman outrigger! From its broken hull emerged a prow carved inthe likeness of a rampant lion and I noted that the dilapidated rigging was decades, prehaps centuries out of date. My curiosity got the best of me and I ordered the men to lower anchor and, despire their misgivings, I told hte crew we were staying the night. In the morning we would attempt to salvae the wreck.
I wished I had never ordered the stay, as events of those next few hours haunt me still. I recall it was the piercing cry of young Atirr, a new seaman that was on his maiden voyage, that awoke me that night. Creatures...I scarely know what to call tehm, had attacked the ship. Before I coudl reach the deck, they had made away with the entire watch of eight men, more then a third of the remaining crew without nary a fight! As for the accoutn of events, I could only rely on the shaken boy who witnessed it best from the crow's nest: fiendish man-like beast rose from the waters surroundign the Darkstar. They had smooth heads, large eyes, and tentacled, sphinctered mouths. teh men of hte watch appeared entranced by the creautres and leapt into the sea to their deaths untouched. I was horrified. we, the survivors, sailed away immediately as if our lives depended on it.
"When the gale finally ended we found ourselves blown east and countless days off course, floating adrift in the warm equartorial waters of the sea without hpe of speedy return to Pelegosto or Fort Hope. Our destination remains Valeska, but I knew the darkstar woudl never survive the crossign now, not without re-provisioning and modest repairs to her sails and lines. in this condition, she might never make it home at all. I ordered Mr Green into the crow's nest with my best spyglass and made west by northwest, hoping that dry land woudl not be far.
"On the third day - by Calypso - our prayers were answered. A chian of islands unmarked on any chart began to apear on the horizon to the east. Prehaps hese were the pirate isles of which I had been told about. We made sail for the closest and within a small bay we encounted amodest village of thatched huts. The natives were freindly, if a bit wary. Their dark-hued skin and exotic features relared them to the Olman of the jungles to the far east. After some persuasion, they were willing to trade food and supplies for weapons and tools of steel. I inquired about the surrounding islands, but the village chieftess seemed deteremined to warn me off their exploration. She attempted to frighten my men wth tales of unholy enemies and curses. Indeed, she made me swear to avoid sailing due east into the arcchipelago before her men would even let me set foot in the last launch back to the ship!
I bade my host farewell, knowing in my heart that an oath to her coudl not bind my feline heartand order my men to weigh anchor and set sail for the larger islands to the west. We encountered numerous villages populated by the same Olmanish folk. but many of these tribes were hostile and warlike. Some attacked my men on sight, and I dare say we uncovered plentiful evidence of cannibalism. The crew is primarily sailors not marines, and i lost many of them to the rapacioius savages without profiting our situaltion any. I began to lose heart as we progessed through the isles, for my calculations increasingly suggested taht were were farther east then any chart had ever recorded, perhaps as far as the legendary Pearl Sea.
Finally, two weeks after entering the archipelago, we spied a vast isle that spanned the horizon, crowned by a central plateau shrouded in fog and surrounded by a lush jungle that ran to steep clifs in almost every direction. Our approach was from the southeast, as i later discovered, where a lowland peninsula reached out to divide the nearby waters. We eschewed the smaller islands nearby adn made straight for it. The peninsula was cut off from the main land by a neck of of land and as we sailed nearer, I was shocked to discover the latter was warded off from the former by a massive well built wall of stone!
I personally led the shore party, so exictied was I by this hint of civilization. We went well armed and perpared for anything. after we hiked the distance to the edifice, to my chagrin we discovered that the near side of that great wall sheltered yet another village of primative Olman natives. I studied the wall, which was indeed man made and quite impressive, undoubtedly the work of hundreds, if not thousands of men. these natives were friendly and, like their Olman counterparts, a woman lead them. They told us their settlement was called 'Tanarosa.' (I would find out later that it ment freeport in the more commom of tongues). However, the name they ave to the vast island that was their hoem intrigued me more - Mora.
As we spent time with the Tanaroans that day, we learned that the massive wall that seperated thier peninsula from the rest of the island was built by ancients whom they called 'the gods.' According to the villagers, these 'gods' supposedly built a city atop the isalnds central plateau. The pervasive fogs surrounding those highlands prevented my spyglass from confirming this claim, only a direct inspection woudl suffice. But as I learned more about their culture and traditions, I began to increasinly suspect tat these 'gods' of which they spoke were their ancestors, a people who possessed a more advanced culture than anything in evidence now. Could this once have been an oupost if the vast Olman empire of legend? I was, to say the least, tantalized.
My excitement grew as I listened to the Tanaroans regale us with tales of treasure beyond imagining, including a great black 'pearl' of the gods' that was the symbol of dominion of this city. Clearly, these people were quite proud of their heritage. The waters surrounding the archipedlago aboundwith prodigious oyster beds, so these folktales are not without foundation. I inquired about hte rest of the inhabitants of hte isle and at this the chieftess grew silent. A roar that I confess made even my hairs curls on end soon perced the silence. I had never heard anything like it.
My men and I ran to the wall, attempting to see what made the cry. At this, the Tanaroans attempted to stop us, their husterical jabberign included talk of demons adn great beast that could devour a man whole. They spoke of a curse upon the anicent ruins and and the jungle, placed by the 'gods' before they departed. Only a large adn well armed party coudl be allowed beyond the Great Wall. While dubious, I could not doubt the ferocity of hte creature that made that cry, and given the poor state of my crew coudl not in good conscience risk their lives to it.
I ordered them back to the ship and bade farewall to the Tanaroans, granting their matriarch such gifts as I coudl spare to win her future good will. teh next time I shall return from Horn with an expedition worthy of the endeavor of exploring this land. Before departing, however I was determined to sail around the isle and its rocky coastline, making as detialed markings of its features as i could. the work was painstaking, made more difficult by a suddenly rising fog that seemed to pour from the plateau inot hte surrounding jungle at dusk. Our task nearly complete, we asiled past a cove onteh northern side of the island, were i will confess I was shocked to spy the wreckage of a sailign ship of northern design in the shoals. This was no Olman outrigger! From its broken hull emerged a prow carved inthe likeness of a rampant lion and I noted that the dilapidated rigging was decades, prehaps centuries out of date. My curiosity got the best of me and I ordered the men to lower anchor and, despire their misgivings, I told hte crew we were staying the night. In the morning we would attempt to salvae the wreck.
I wished I had never ordered the stay, as events of those next few hours haunt me still. I recall it was the piercing cry of young Atirr, a new seaman that was on his maiden voyage, that awoke me that night. Creatures...I scarely know what to call tehm, had attacked the ship. Before I coudl reach the deck, they had made away with the entire watch of eight men, more then a third of the remaining crew without nary a fight! As for the accoutn of events, I could only rely on the shaken boy who witnessed it best from the crow's nest: fiendish man-like beast rose from the waters surroundign the Darkstar. They had smooth heads, large eyes, and tentacled, sphinctered mouths. teh men of hte watch appeared entranced by the creautres and leapt into the sea to their deaths untouched. I was horrified. we, the survivors, sailed away immediately as if our lives depended on it.