Categories
In-Game Rumors

Rumors for the Love Moon, 1117

Rumors

    • Still much contention between the Church of Leondarr and Church of Jeredith after attempted overthrow led by the now condemned Jeredithian Inquisition.
    • Twin Kingdoms predicts new era of economic growth as King Leopold passes new laws to make it easier to establish guilds.
    • With the thawing moon approaching, there has been a noticeable increase in the presence of Fae Skirmishes as their conflict continues to take place within the Twin Kingdoms.
    • Mary Beth Charity slipped on a patch of ice and fell down a flight of stairs in front of the local marketplace.  During her fall, she managed to knock into a scholar transporting a beautiful ceramic figurine said to be crafted from before the unification.  The scholar dropped the satchel carrying the figurine and it was destroyed beyond all repair.  Mary Beth was unharmed.
    • Local guard still searching for the person who committed those horrible murders at a local homestead.  Did you hear they found those bodies headless?
    • There have been sightings of men and women preaching the faith of Erathal to all those who will listen within the city walls of Vondara and nearby towns.  Despite some opposition from the nearby populace, they don’t seem to carry weapons.
    • The King hasn’t been seen in public since he was attacked.  I know someone who’s a cousin to one of his attendants.  They said he’s completely crippled.  He can’t even walk!  Not even the best of the Attalians can do anything.
    • Lonnie Lester returns to New Calendale a hero after being presumed dead.  After his commanding officer was killed and his fellow soldiers routed, Lonnie stumbled across a group of green militamen  (some barely 15 years old).  He quickly took charge of them and lead them to defend a hideout housing 50 women and children from an attack by the Jeredithian Inquisition. Lonnie’s quick thinking and bravery saved all of their lives.  Lonnie is to receive a Shield of the Twin Kingdoms in recognition for his heroism.
    • Prized trading vessel of the Twin Kingdoms, The Avalon, has completed a record setting journey to the Island of Ippon, completing the journey in only seven weeks time.
    • Incidents of odd vandalism have been occurring lately.  Chair legs are being rigged to fall apart with any weight upon them, oil is being left upon floors for people to slip upon.  There have even been incidents where annoying, but ultimately non-fatal, traps have been set in individuals’ houses.
    • Former Archduke found dead after the palace was retaken from the forces of the Inquisition.  New Archduke rumored to be named soon.
    • Duncaster’s reconstruction begins after being cleared of goblinoid infestation.  After a small amount of conflict over area rights, Twin Kingdoms soldiers have begun assisting in the reconstruction.
    • The Church of Viralee has closed its doors on scholars constantly asking for any inquiry on this new god, Erathal.  The High Librarian, Denel Alora, has issued a formal statement declaring that the church’s stance on this being shall be made as soon as the situation comes further into focus.
    • Oddly enough, similar to the situation with Sigmund nearly a decade ago, there have been no orders from the nobility to attack or harm these scattered individuals who claim to worship Erathal.
    • Several Agorian shopkeepers and other business owners have had their homes broken into several times over the past few moons.  In nearly all cases, they were robbed and vandalized, but nobody was injured.
    • The Lawbound, from The Krev Collective, apprehended a fugitive from their country who had escaped to the New Calendale area.  They have also been instrumental in assisting the local nobility in apprehending other fugitives from the law.  It is believed they will soon be in talks with the king himself about expanding operations in the country.

 

Categories
RoA Fiction

The Hungering Coast

The following piece takes place within the setting of RoA.  None of what follows should be considered what your character knows.  If your character has heard of any of the events listed in it, it was likely in passing or as a rumor.  I just thought it’d be good fun to write some fiction taking place within the setting.  I hope you enjoy. I’d like to make a series of these eventually.

 


The Hungering Coast

 

My name is Martin Addington.  I fear these may be the final words I write to parchment before something terrible befalls me.  I feel my story must be known.  I am a water mage of great talent.  I made the mistake of seeking out Yazdil the Mad himself.  So many over the years have been curious about Yazdil, as the legends and rumors about him grow by the year.  But I alone have come the closest to seeing him with my own eyes.  I have seen what he can do.

 

All who have done the most cursory amount of research know that Yazdil’s tower exists at the top of some very large hills.  Most accounts are the same by those seeking the tower as well: there are strange creatures that stalk the woods near the tower, and the tower always seems terribly far away.  As I researched the legendary wizard further, I found a few small accounts of small fishing vessels navigating near the coast north of the tower’s location on the map.  I took great note that these boats never attempted to sail closer to the tower.  I knew that if I found Yazdil himself, I could take his power for my own, and make a name for myself in history.

 

Armed with what I felt was an edge, I chartered a small ship (The Golden Rose) to take me to the coast north of the tower.  It was strangely difficult to find them.  Most of the ships I could find were unwilling to sail close to the shoreline.  We left from a small port west of Dunkalter, and planned on sailing around the Northwestern tip of The Twin Kingdoms.  The weather was unlike anything I’d ever experienced in Vondara.  The cold felt as though it had a life of its own.  How do the tribesmen live up there?

 

After about a week of sailing within sight of the shoreline, our lookout spied a tower.  We could only see it from far off, but it looked unbelievably ornate.  To be visible from this distance, it must truly be gigantic.  Our captain ordered the ship turned toward shore.

 

After the next hour, we noticed something strange: we didn’t seem to be getting any closer to shore.  When the captain ordered the helmsman to change course, we’d still find as though we’d not moved from the same spot, even hours later. Even the small landing craft we used seemed to get nowhere outside the immediate vicinity of the ship. The sun sank below the horizon, and we were left in the dark.  A pale blue light could be spotted at the top of the pitch-black tower.

 

Fortunately, the captain was a smart man.  After a few days of this, he ordered that all food and water be tightly rationed.  The trip was never intended to take as long as it had, so there was very little to ration to begin with.  For some reason, no fish could be found in the water, and no sea birds could be seen.

 

A month passed.  The shore was no closer. We could not sail away from where we were.  The captain kept largely to himself in his cabin.  Some crew members were thrown overboard for attempting to steal what little food was left for themselves.  Every night, the pale blue light glowed in the distance.

 

I’ll never regret doing what I had to for survival.  And I know the families of those men would understand.  Two months had passed.  We had no choice.

 

One night, I awoke.  I was a skeleton of a man. I stopped wearing clothes a month ago.  Something was amiss: there was no sound of life around me.  Not even the terrible noises men starving to death make.  I stumbled about the boat on my weak legs.  The rowboat was still there.  I could not find a soul.  I didn’t even find bodies.  I looked towards the tower.  The pale blue light stared back. I knew what I had to do.

 

With aching arms, I loosened the ropes that held the rowboat in place.  I didn’t have the strength to lower myself slowly, so the boat slammed quickly and painfully to the water.  I put my back to the light, and began to row.  I swear I could feel the light burning into my bare back as I moved over the waves.  With mad glee, I noticed The Golden Rose growing smaller before my eyes.  I vowed not to look back towards the tower until I hit land.  Despite my exhaustion and weakness, I rowed on for what seemed like hours.

 

Something large grazed the bottom of the boat.  At first, I assumed it to be some sort of outcropping near the shore.  But I did not hear the crashing of waves on a beach.  Moments later, it happened again, much harder.  Something was beneath my boat.  Without further warning, I felt myself thrown from the boat as it flipped over.  I began swimming as hard as I could.  As I went, I felt something grasping at my legs.  

 

The next I knew, I was tumbling end over end.  I sat up to find myself on a beach.  I began to cry.  After I composed myself, I took in my surroundings:  I discovered dozens of skeletal remains in my immediate surroundings.  I began to hear a whispering on the wind.  It spoke of many things, but foremost: Hunger.  

 

To my horror, the skeletal remains began to stand one by one.  Each one of them stared at me with gaping skulls, and began to approach.  Dumbstruck, I could only look on in awe as the first of them tore into the flesh of my bare arm with its sharpened teeth.

 

I found myself standing on the deck of The Golden Rose.  The lookout shouted loudly that he’d sighted a tower.  I turned towards the tower, and could see the pale blue light even in the daytime.  Quickly, I ran to the captain and all but begged for him to turn us around and take us back home.  It wasn’t difficult to persuade him, since he was going to collect his money with either outcome.  The captain ordered the helmsman to turn us around.

 

The trip back to port was swift and uneventful.  But my time at home has not been.  It was only shortly after returning that I discovered why most won’t go near the area I’ve described.  Those ships that stray too close do not return.  Some, such as the captain of The Golden Rose attribute it to sandbars or hidden underwater rocks.  But others claim terrible fates befalling those who wander too close.

 

I know the truth.  Since we left that place I have begun to hear whispers upon the wind, speaking of hunger.  I have seen shadows out of the corners of my eyes.  They seem formless, terrible creatures that watch my every move.  He must be watching me.  If only he could know I’ve learned my lesson.  I don’t want his power.  Not anymore.  

 

Every day I feel as though the whispers get louder and the shadows get closer.

 

I know the way out.