Posted by Chartauk 1/03/2022 7:22 am | #1 |
Deep in the uncharted area north of the last bartering town in The Tekpi Jungles. Far to the northwest beyond the patrols of the feudal raptor samurai, there is something hidden. It lays deep in dinosaur haunted swamps and jungle so dense the canopy blocks much of the natural light of the sun,but only enough, as the buzz of millions of insects, and the roars of fierce predators mingles with the perpetual knee high cover of fog that hugs the jungle floor.Of this no mans land there are many tales. Most are little more then the fancy of smugglers, drunken yarns of pirates, and the sun baked illusions of half mad intrepid scouts and pathfinders. Tales of lost smugglers booty,cannibal tribes,forgotten gem mines,lost empires of primitive primates and quasi men abound. Most are scoffed at by scribes,frontiersmen,and most of the civilized locals. One tale however that has survived for generations speak of a series of ruins in one of the densest and less known areas of the Tekpi Jungles. Tales vary some say that an Arch Mage fleeing his own kind from a giant ringed planet teleported here aeons ago. Conquering the primitive tribes of the time and blasting the dangerous large predators in the area with his alien sorcery the otherworldly mage built a refuge. This refuge was said to after centuries have prospered into a triving metropolis until the multidimensional object know as The Green Death,descimated the once proud city. Another tale speaks of a coven of sorcerous succubi that built a haven far from the prying eyes of men. There they consort with demons and other fell things from the pit. Garnering power that once powerful enough, so that they may march with their hellish legions to snuff out all mortals from the region.Another tale told by self proclaimed dimensional travelers speak of the ruins as a kind of natural portal connected to another set of ruins on another plane.Sometime late last season a half dead and crazed human scout emerged from that area of the jungle and before succumbing to death, he in his last words spoke of ruins and sentient saurians wielding strange and alien magic from the Dreamlands.All these tales have floated around the civilized areas of the Tekpi region, and every few years brave and foolish expeditions set off into the wilds in search of the origin of these tales. None have ever returned. The most credible information thus far to make it was a map sixty years ago. It came into the hands of scholars and scribes. This map made of diplodocus hide and while some of the faded markings have been deciphered. All attempts to scry or the use of divination spells on the strange runes and scrawlings have met with powerful strikes of magical force, or worse phantom attacks;in the form of monstrous rending claws and snapping jaws. One such scholar who survived such an event said after he had laid his fallen comrades to rest that he had witnessed such phantoms when a dark Cabal in the far off city of Denesh tried to summon a certain aspect of Tsathoggua, and that of his cursed brood from a ringed planet in the system of myth shrouded Urth, known as Saturn.The scholar further claimed many months later to have taken a journey to this haunted area of jungle. Claiming having done so not by a direct route but using a magical gate in great haste on the Plateau of Leng,after running afoul with the Men_of_Leng. This scholar further spoke of the contents of the map and of it's destination. The Gren scholar speaking rapidly while wild eyed and shaking told of a clearing in the jungle were ruins lay scattered about. Of the many dangers he spoke of, he spoke most of three. One being a settlement of sentient degenerate manlike saurians who fiercely defend the area, with strange sorcery and alien tech. These beings grow a yet unknown species of lotus. The scholar claiming some variation hybrid of the lotus drug mixed with moonstone from the dreamlands. This is created by the saurians and carted off in trade by the men of Leng. The scholar spoke of an obelisk made of the clearest emerald, sitting by a cursed set of ruins. This he said should not be approached if any bear wounds on their bodies. For the flaw of blood triggers some sort of powerful magic. This magic mutates the wounded into new things,abominations,..not born of men or beasts. He then spoke of a central ruin. The very temple spoke of in so many tales. This he said was firmly tethered for the time being on this plane. However some form of sorcerous "leak" had occurred and the structure over the eons is being slowly pulled into the Plane of Water. He spoke of various hazards and beings from that plane that guard the temple, patrolling the waters around it. He spoke next of a graveyard of sorts along the watery pool's perimeter. Of the dead there he would not speak but mumbled about the abominations and men being both buried there seeking "unity". When pressed on this he would not say more.
https://flic.kr/p/2mV71Hd
Last edited by Chartauk (1/03/2022 12:04 pm)