Storms, Star Thrones, and a Stone-Throwing Queen
PB
With Squirt guiding the way and Sir Mugwort piloting our balloon, we left Hither behind. It took a day of travel through a thick wall of mist before it finally began to dissipate, revealing a brutal sight: our balloon pushed right up against a dark, storming mountainside. Squirt told us the weather here never stops storming since Endelynn Moongrave took over. We brought the balloon down near some old ruins, leaving Mugwort and Gary behind to watch the basket.
We set off to investigate the wreckage. Among the crumbled walls, we found a dandelion standing under some rocks, holding a tiny sword. A called out to him—it was Amador, accompanied by his bee, Polleenella. Amador muttered about a terrible beast trapped in armor too thick for his sword or his bee’s stingers to pierce. He also spoke of how this land used to be a place of arts and whimsy before the “creeping limb” ruined it. The ruins around us used to be the Astronomer’s Throne , where someone named Mazikoth once watched the stars.
I used my Magic Awareness and felt heavy divination magic rolling off the stone. Carved right into it was an inscription:
“I am a traveler from a distant land. My name is Mazikoth, Keeper of Stars. Sit on my throne, disciple, and unravel.”
Naturally, A sat right on it. He looked fine at first, staring up toward the sky, but his eyes glazed over, turning dark and unfocused. While he was busy getting his brain scrambled, B took to the air for a bird’s-eye view (every chance he gets now…don’t blame him) and scoped out three distinct paths from our position:
West: The Fey Beacons and an elf prince named Alagarthus, offering a potential way out of this realm.
East: Lockbury Henge, home of the Corrids.
North: Deeper into the mountains toward Motherhorn.
We decided to head east. A few hours down the path through the relentless thunder and lightning, we rounded a bend and came across three giant mountain goats just sitting there, watching us. I walked up and hailed them (no sense in being impolite).
Within fifteen feet, the first goat opened its mouth and dropped a prophecy right on us:
“When the moon obstructs the sun, Creeping Lynn will come undone” “Play to her passions, stay on script, cap the horn and stay unripped” “The fool’s scepter is the key”
Figuring it’s best not to anger prophetic livestock, we traded them some news of our exploits in the other realms to satisfy the old rules of reciprocity, and they trotted off.
Shortly after, we arrived at Lockbury Henge. Eight megaliths made of different stones—marble, slate, shale, chalk, flint, granite, basalt, and obsidian—stood in a circle around the remnants of an old campfire. M went in for a closer look at a gameboard on the ground, featuring pieces made of shale and chalk, with little hoofprints leading to the pillars.
I took a look at the board and realized it played a lot like lilypadding, a game from my younger days. I reached down and moved a piece to finish the game.
Instantly, whoops and hollers erupted from the shale pillar! “Haha, I knew I’d win!”
Out popped Queen Argantyle. To thank me for helping her win the game, she squeezed a lump of raw rock right in her fist, turning it into a star sapphire worth 1,000 gold pieces (what a talent that is…), and handed it straight to me. I like her. She knows how to reward good strategy.
Suddenly, the faint sound of pickaxes drifted in on the wind. Queen Argantyle’s mood shifted instantly. She grabbed a boulder, hurled it into the distance, and roared (even more impressive), “Death to the Briganox!” Her Corrids joined in, raining massive rocks down until the noise stopped.
She explained that the Briganox are helping Endelynn build contraptions in their mines, while the Corrids build scary statues outside to try to scare them off. Even better? A stone elemental type called a galeb duhr managed to infiltrate the mine and found a secret tunnel connecting those very mines straight to the interior levels of Motherhorn.
Argantyle told us the henges correspond to the eight tribes of the Corrids, and she’ll gather them to prepare for a fight against the Briganox. We had a bit of a celebratory dance, and then we decided to head back west to map our next move. My shell is heavier with gems now, and my axe is ready for whatever stone-shattering brawl comes next.