[Island Quest] The Fractured Isle

[yuezun]

Who: The Raiders of the Lost Arts Crew
Status: Semi-Closed; If you have CR with anyone in the crew and want to participate, poke them OOC to confirm that they'd be up for inviting you IC; as long as that's true: come join in!
Where: The Fractured Isle
What: The Raiders of the Lost Arts are claiming an island
Warnings: none atm, but players should put warnings in subject lines if something does come up
Notes: per the island quest rules, this quest is worth 12pts for members of the Raiders of the Lost Arts and 4pts for non-members

THE FRACTURED ISLE

Deep in the Fevered Sea - an expanse of the flooded world where the water is always warm and often boils due to the underwater volcanoes that line the ocean floor - lays an island shrouded in smoke and fog and the details of what lay beyond have been lost to time and now exist only in rumor. Called the Fractured Isle, this island's location is documented well-enough in the Archives of Antam to be located with minor effort. However, it is because of it's location that it has been unable to be explored at any length in the many long years since it was first noted in ship logs.

With all the volcanoes creating the oft-boiling sea around it and occasionally erupting - creating geysers that could tear apart most ships, no matter how well armored - landing safely on the small patch of shoreline that can be seen past the obscuring fog is a daunting and near-impossible task. The Archives of Antam contain only two entries from ships that successfully landed, but only one of those ships was also successful in escaping. The other log was brought back with the second ship and noted as being found in the rotting husk of what was once a fine schooner. The log from the first ship described how they were hit by a geyser as they attempted to navigate away from the island and only barely managed to return to shore, condemned to live the rest of their lives on what they described as 'the fractured isle'. Their legacy a few crumbling logbooks and a name to call it.

What exists beyond the smoke and fog is still unknown, but an eerie light shines day and night from somewhere within the smothering haze. Somewhere within... and somewhere above.

Having found just enough information on the Fractured Isle during his investigation into the Archives of Antam while researching leviathans and the pearls left in Antam's care by Norhpip, Dongfang Qingcang has decided that it's worth the risk to sail the Fevered Sea. After all, what does he - and by extension, his crew - have to fear from volcanoes?

Navigating the Fevered Sea

While the captain is very assured of himself in being able to protect the ship from super-heated geysers, that doesn't mean the ship is well-protected from boiling seawater. Getting too close to active underwater volcanoes too often will eventually begin super-heating the metal of Phantom Moon and the heat from that will interfere with the sailing crew's ability to actually sail the ship.

Finding a safe way through the waters may require a bit of creativity...

...and maybe some help from the strangely small green whales that sometimes breach the surface along side the ship and express their curiosity at their new visitors in whale song?

...like getting up into the crows nest and trying to track the changes in the water's color as it darkens and lightens around the volcanoes?

The Bay
While they could weigh anchor on the strip of shoreline that existed outside the fog and smoke which shrouded the isle, Dongfang Qingcang directs the crew to sail carefully into the fog, hugging the shoreline, to see if there was a place they could land closer in. It takes time, almost two hours of careful skirting of the sheer cliffs that were hiding in the fog, but they reach an opening that was more than wide enough for four or five ships of their size. Water deep enough to pass without too much risk of hidden crags just below the surface.

Not long after clearing what quickly becomes obvious is the single entrance to the bay, the smoke and fog lift and the full expanse of the Fractured Isle is revealed:

A near continuous, circular mountain range that remains the only evidence of what was once a massive volcano that now lays dormant below the water. One side is much, much higher than the other. The lower side, easily identified as the side where a great eruption once took place, ripping the hole in side of the ancient, sunken volcano and - if it occurred after the Great Flood - may have been what created the bay in the first place. The higher side rose in a grand mountain with two peaks: split by a great waterfall from what must be a massive lake far above. It's fall thundered into the waters of the bay and the spray mixed with the steam from the lava which flowed down from the higher of the peaks. The remnant of the once great volcano. On the mountain faces of both sides are the clear ruins of a former civilization.

And above even this floated pieces of land in a slow orbit of a strange black void that sheds light like a miniature sun.

There are no sandy shores to dock at, but multiple large openings where the cliffs meet the water are all around the bay. One of these caverns may provide a way to safely weigh anchor. Send out the longboats and explore them!

Much of the cliffs are choked with vines and other greenery. There may be a way to climb them to reach the ruins. Or perhaps stairs leading up to the ruins are hidden beneath them somewhere. Anyone on a longboat (or who can fly) should be able investigate while the boats navigate to one of those large caverns.

If a path can't be found through the caverns or the cliffs, then making one should be discussed. There are people who can fly and teleport. If they (or someone they take with them) can secure ropes to some of the trees up there, a ladder can be strung between them and the anchored ship. Watch out that you don't pick the wrong trunk to wrap the rope around, though, it could actually be a sleeping bird's leg!

The Ruins

Clearly crumbling and dangerous, the ruins are scattered all along the cliffs, but are most prominent on the face of the split mountain. It's probably too dangerous for most of the crew to try and explore the ruins that have lava spilling across them (for now), but the other side of the waterfall should be safe enough to set up a base camp to begin exploring and investigating what secrets the island may hide.

The ruins on this side of the mountain are often choked with overgrown foliage, but all of them seem to be carved - partially, if not fully - from the mountain itself and most seem to go at least a few rooms deep. They're connected by crumbling stair cases both inside and out which makes navigating them upward both difficult at times and surprisingly easy at others. The lower ruins are more obviously set up as what were probably residences of fishers and hunters and possibly some sort of farmer or herder. There are a variety of animals that seem to be as much flora as they are fauna.

Higher up, the windows of the ruined buildings are more often than not covered over in vining plants but their depths are less congested as light and water ceased to be able to penetrate. There are strange creatures here as well, but they seem to be more on the insect variety than anything sizable.

Even further still is a great expanse of what was once clearly the main outdoor thoroughfare at the crest of mountain where it meets the waterfall. The building here are little more than broken walls and knee-high edges of what was once a bustling town. The bridge that connects the two peaks of the mountain and overlooks the lake, all the remains intact enough to be usable.

Explore them and pick a spot to make the base camp:

In and around the lower ruins, lots of strange flora-fauna can be found. There is a small herd of what appears to be a variety of sheep who are curious and unafraid - making it likely they have never encountered a human-like being in their lived lifetimes. Birds here are quite colorful and smaller creatures can be seen scurrying to hide from potential treat, disguised as the plants they share traits with.

In the middle ruins, there is more room, but less easily obtained food and water. However, the amount of dry and mostly stable remains of buildings offer the ability to spread out a bit more and make the camp comfortable - and even provide a bit of privacy here and there. These are the buildings that small discoveries of broken artifacts can be found. Things that an archeologist could spend a lifetime studying. Broken shards of pottery. Petrified wooden utensils and objects that could be some kind of carved jewelry or accessory. Stone tables formed out of the same rock as the rooms themselves. Tiny openings in the walls that, if cleared out, could be air holes for breathing and cooling - or could allow water to flow through to some of the depressions carved into certain rooms that are laid out much like a bath or privy might be.

The upper ruins offer little but the bridge and the expansive view of the lake. But what a view it is! And the crew has equipment for camping. Perhaps a few tents at what is not quite the top of the mountain might be the best location? With access to the lake, fishing was definitely a possibility. And from what can be seen from the bridge, there were certainly a variety of colorful, oversized, fish. Just one looked to be big enough to feed the whole crew for at least one, if not two meals!

The Library

Across the bridge, on the side of the mountain with the active volcano, lay the first truly significant find: the ruins of what was once a grand compound. It's broken walls were as equally choked with plants as the grand plaza that acted as entry to it. Many rooms still with etched decorations in the walls and shards of colored glass in their frames left the impression of what could have once been a palace... or an academy! Without knowledge of the society that once graced this island, all guesses had equal weight.

What was indisputable, though, was that whatever it was, it was once home to a grand and spacious library that could have even put the Archives of Antam and Elah to shame. The tomes on the shelves in the atrium were rotting and crumbling, becoming soil for the plants that now reigned. Deeper in, however, the tomes on the shelves seemed more intact. At least at first glance. Now little more than shells of what was once a massive store of knowledge, attempting to pick most up causes them to crack and crumble with age. If anything has survived to still be readable, it will have to be handled with enough care to keep it from becoming so much dust. The grand library could probably be said to be the pride and joy of whatever civilization once called this place home. It's a shame so much of it is no longer in any condition to be used.

Explore the library! Investigate the probably-decorative and possibly-magical carvings on the walls and what is left of the many-paneled stained glass windows. There might be a pattern in them that is significant in some way.

It's unlikely any of the books in the atrium are salvageable, but deeper in, in the less disturbed rooms (especially those with doors still closed), a few might be able to be saved. If they are handled with great, great, great care.

The library proves to be as much an archive of objects as it is the home of literary knowledge. In some of the closed rooms are still-intact displays with engraved stones that seem to be labels of some sort attached to them. The language is unintelligible and unfamiliar to even the sailing crew, who have seen a lot of things in this world that the riftfarers have not. Considering how old the island is and how little is known of it, the writing might even be from before the Great Flood. There's no way to know for sure, but with all the books that cannot be touched, these small plates offer a sample of the language that was used here. However, the displays themselves are... well... empty. It seems that either they were long-since stolen away, or whoever once lived here carried them off when they left the island to its fate.

The Magical Confluence
The strange black sun that hung in the sky over the mountain was definitely aligned to fire in some way. There was a connection between it and the volcano. Dongfang Qingcang could feel it. However, approaching it proved more difficult than he had originally thought. While he could certainly fly and teleport to the smaller islands that floated in the confluence's orbit, any attempt to approach the confluence itself caused him to immediately lose his ability to fly and teleport. The block was definitely magical in nature and subtle enough to be determined by the intention of the being being kept away. Birds flew between the islands, some even passed across the corona of the confluence, and none were turned away or fell from the sky. They were either too unintelligent to have an opinion on the black sun, or they had no intentions toward it in any way.

Another approach would have to be taken.

Dongfang Qingcang's goal is to get himself in physical touch with the confluence to see if he can manipulate it in any way or figure out what it's purpose was. It has some kind of connection to the volcano that he can sense because of his alignment to fire. Others with magical senses may be able to tell that it is also connected to the air, water, and earth of the island as well. It clearly influences the island in some manner and may even be able control the elements it's connected to in some way.

Anyone exploring the volcano will find that the ruins - the engraved walls - continue into the depths of the volcano. They'll lead to the heart of it, its own caldera where the lava boils and bubbles up before it falls off the side and traces it's burning tear-tracks down the mountain. Here there is what looks to be a shrine of some sort with a smaller 'black sun' the size of a fist floating over it. No magic can be detected from it despite being obviously magical. But that might be because once someone steps into the caldera, all magic that is not used to prevent death by fire is suppressed. This protection makes getting past the giant lava snakes that slither around the lava and nest along the walls much more of a challenge!

The connection to the other elements is only obvious when one gets physically close to the confluence, but can be traced back along a 'line' for those that can sense the element in question. For air, the path leads to the top of the lower peak, the one that isn't spewing fire. A partially overgrown shrine that is open to, and only accessible from, the air stands waiting to be explored. The carvings in the walls also suppress all magic that isn't related to keeping warm and breathing properly at such a height once within their influence. And just as with the lava snakes, this place is also protected by an animal-element hybrid. A flock of massive wind herons make their home there and are none-too-pleased at the visitors disturbing the many nests kept there.

Following the connection down to the water will take whoever it is to the bottom of the lake where a sunken temple lays fully intact. The only building on the island without damage - though covered in algae as it, and everything inside it, is makes that difficult to tell. The suppression of magic that isn't related to breathing underwater is difficult to notice at first, but happens just as one crosses through the main entrance of the temple. It's laid out in six-pointed star pattern, with all rooms connected to the shrine at the center. At the center of the shrine is the small alter where a miniature black sun floats, shedding just enough light to cause wave shadows on every wall. The light makes it difficult to tell that here, too, are guardians. As the fish creatures hide as soon as they sense intruders. Only their massive and plant-like tails are visible, waving lightly in the water like giant sea-flowers. If anyone approaches the black sun, they will rise up and interpose themselves. Their ancient task is clear: guard the life-giving sun or risk the world as they know it breaking again! Of all the creatures encountered on the island, they will have the greatest chance of being talked down. But they will also have little knowledge to share but the oral tradition of their purpose in guarding the black sun. None of them can survive outside the water.

After getting close enough to detect that the confluence seems to have some connection to the elements of the island, those with a connection to earth or plant magics, or have a general magic sense, will be able to trace the connection to a place on the mountain half that isn't volcanic, down near the lowest of the ruins. This place is also covered completely by overgrown plants and difficult to find without tracking it from the confluence. If the other locations have been found first, it's not hard to figure out why: the shrine that should have held a miniature black sun holds the floating fragments of a round stone that no longer glows. This would probably be why so much of the island - and the creatures that inhabit it - are, in some form or another, plants.

Taking Control of The Fractured Isle
After the shrines have been taken control of, the Crew will find that the confluence itself cannot be taken control of directly. Minor manipulation of one of the elements that remain intact can occur at the shrines, however. The volcano can be kept from erupting in the same manner it currently is - don't mess with it. The lake should not be messed with as it's balance is already delicate - don't mess with it. But the fog/smoke that surrounds the island can be lifted or brought back down at the air shrine without causing issue. The balance of air is less volatile than fire or water in this regard.

After taking control of the island, the crew decides to rename it: Luna Regia - 'Royal Moon' in Emet-Selch's ancient tongue.