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Imposing cliffs rise above the frothy sea, collapsing at a rocky beach of dark sand. Graceful spires and golden domes pierce the island’s thick foliage high above, and the remains of a ruined road of white slate crumble down the cliffs onto the beach. Overhead, a half dozen broken towers float in slow elliptical orbits around the island. A large rock covered in graffiti juts from the sand in the middle of the beach.
This is the mysterious island of Nal-Kashel, home to ancient Azlanti ruins and the ancestors of the people of Blackcove. Here, at the large rock known as the Wedding Rock, newly married couples from Blackcove come to spend their wedding night. The lucky ones soon give birth to children blessed by the sea -- children capable of breathing water or air who, in time, return to the sea and live underwater off the coast.
For reasons unknown to the people of Blackcove, the Ocean and it's mysterious gods have turned their back on the village! The seas have raged, storms have wracked the village for weeks, and not a single person has caught a fish or clam. People are going hungry, the tides have risen to flood the village, and -- worst of all -- the relatives and ancestors who are blessed by the sea have begun abducting people right from town and dragging them off into the ocean!
After saving the people of Blackcove from a monstrous, mind-controlled octopus, our heroes decided to figure out what's happening off the coast, and put a stop to it. Daisy convinced the massive octopus to give the group and their pets a ride, and now, after only an hour of travel through the rough, dangerous, ocean, you've arrived on the rocky, black sand beaches of Nal-Kashel. Before you lies the Wedding Rock. On the edge of the beach are tall cliffs, and floating in the sky above are the ruins of ancient buildings!
And beyond?
Mystery!
Rhesa leaps off the back of the octopus, cartwheeling across the black, wet, sand, and coming up in a dramatic pose, upside down on one hand, legs spread, with her rapier pointed to the sky.
"Rhesa the great, reporting for adventure! Come out, villains! Show yourselves!"
She waits like that for a moment, only to see no enemies appear...
Then she flips back onto her feet and sheathes her sword. "Nothing! Well, come on slowpokes! Let's get cracking! We've got stuff to do!"
Daisy ushers her animals off the octopus and onto the beach. Then she waves goodbye to it. Bye bye, Mister Octopus! Don't get mind controlled again! And don't attack that city again! Bye!"
Then Daisy hops up onto Dora the purple riding rabbit and gives her a pat. She tells all of her pets to follow me and then looks around the beach for tracks and other clues.
Gilderoy jumps off of the octopus and prances up onto the beach. He starts helping look for tracks and clues.
Larkspur leaps off the octopus, brandishes his horn and growls.
...But he sees no enemies.
He sniffs around for signs of something he can fight!
"Okay, Rhesa, calm down," Rocky replies in a calm, slow, deep voice. "Just because you're first off the boat doesn't mean you're faster. I would beat you in a race any day."
Rocky climbs off the octopus and makes sure his pets come too. Then he looks around the beach. He decides to check out the Wedding Rock first.
"Faster?!? FASTER?!? You're not faster! I'm faster! First I'll trip you, then I'll win the race! HA!"
Rocky shakes his head. "Hey. That sounds like cheating," Rocky points out. "Of course, you are the Captain. I suppose I would not race you in the first place."
Rhesa laughs! "Cheating?! That's not cheating! That's... thinking outside the box! Being creative! Yeah, that's it. Creative racing!"
Rhesa tumbles after Rocky and helps him inspect the Wedding Rock. "Wow, look at all that graffiti. Wonder what it says." She pokes the rock. "You'd figure if they liked this rock so much they would keep it clean." She scratches her head. "Of course, their village was really messy. I guess they're all slobs, huh?"
Capa pats Tot on the head. He looks around the beach. After a moment he draws a strange sigil in the air in front of him -- it's a constellation -- and as his finger traces it outline little stars shimmer in the air before him. Spell completed, he looks around for magical auras.
---
Tot sits happily in Capa's nest-hat and watches Capa cast the spell.
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Capa reels back in surprise, overwhelmed by the magical auras around him! He manages to discern that the entire island -- from the sand beneath his feet to the floating towers above him in the sky -- radiates an overwhelming aura of enchantment and transmutation magic which stuns him with its power! After half a minute Capa shakes off the lingering magical effects and regains his senses, good as new.
Elsewhere Daisy meets with more luck. She scours the black sands for footprints and clues only to discover that a LOT of creatures have been through here lately. Some have flippers, some have feet, but most have bare, webbed feet which, judging by weight distribution, likely were made by medium bipedal humanoids. She can tell that a lot have come and gone from this beach recently, and all of them seemed to be coming from or going to the cliffs at the base of the broken white shale road. The cliffs there look about forty feet high. The most recent trail shows a pair of flippered humanoids escorting four struggling humanoids wearing shoes from the water to the Wedding Rock. The prints show that the struggling humanoids in the shoes then fell over and were dragged the rest of the way from the Wedding Rock to the broken road by the cliff. At the rocks you lose the trail, but it's clear that the flippered humanoids carried or otherwise transported the shod humanoids up the cliff and onto the while shale road.
Meanwhile, Rhesa and Rocky examine the Wedding Rock. It's sort of plain and dirty. Ugly and weather worn. There's a weird vibration running through it, and a strange hum in the air that sets your teeth on edge. The graffiti is... nice... It's a nice rock. Gorgeous actually. How come they couldn't see it before? So tall and brilliantly... beautiful. Yes... Beautiful... Never want to leave...
"AAAAAAAAH!" Capa suddenly yells. He stands stunned for half a minute, then slumps over. "Whoah! This is no ordinary island! It's filled with overwhelming magic!"
Rocky shakes his head, grabs Rhesa by the tail, and drags her away from the Wedding Rock. "No one go near that rock! It's magic. I don't know what's going on, but it's evil and I don't like it. How do villagers stay here at all?"
Rhesa sticks out her long tongue at the rock. "Bleh! Can't have us, ya' stupid rock!" Then she waggles her butt at the rock and slaps it, taunting the Wedding Rock some more!
She grins up at Rocky. "Go on! Tell that rock what for! Stick out your tongue! Make faces! Pick your nose and flick it at it! Yeah! That'll be good. If that rock's got feelings, it's furious now!"
She bursts out laughing.
Then she cartwheels over to Daisy. " 'Sup?"
"I was following the trail," Daisy says. "And it stops right here." Daisy points at the cliffs where it meets the broken white road. The cliffs there are 40 ft. tall.
"Come on, everyone! Let's march up that cliff!" she says.
"Cliff? Pfft! That's practically a ladder for me! That'll be easy as pie to climb!"
She swings and laughs her way up the cliff, then grins down at the others. "So, how are your pets gonna get up here?" She waggles her furry brow, then whistles. Her archaeopteryx swoops through the air and lands up beside her on the cliff. Rhesa looks very proud.
"Hey Rocky! Toss me my horse!"
Rhesa's horse, Dasher, shakes its head and stamps its feet. You don't think it wants to get thrown up the cliff... Instead it tries to climb up!
But it doesn't even get off the ground.
Capa draws a strange sigil in the air in front of him -- it's a constellation -- and as his finger traces it outline little stars shimmer in the air before him. Suddenly a ramp made out of ice forms from the ground, up to the top of the cliff.
Capa leads the way up it with his stegosaurus and horse, floating above the ramp as his pets walk.
"Auw, you've no fun! I wanted to see a triceratops climb a cliff!" Rhesa complains. "Oh, well! Come on Dasher!"
After her whistle, Dasher follows Capa and the others up the ramp.
Daisy points her hand to the ramp. "Come on, guys! Let's march on up that ramp!"
She leads her many pets up the ramp. Once she's up there she hops on top of Dora, her purple riding rabbit. She pats Bigfoot the bear, Happy the wolf, Peanut Butter the horse, and Donny the deinonychus.
Gilderoy prances proudly up the ice ramp, and gives a neigh. He poses dramatically, wind in his mane and tail. "Come, Daisy, my dear! I would follow you anywhere! Even to this foul island!"
Larkspur hisses and hops to the front of the group. He waves his horn around menacingly!
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As you top the ramp you find yourself in the remains of an ancient, ruined city. The streets of the city wrap around the ruined structures of the island in sweeping curves like the shell of some enormous mollusk. Massive slabs of a white, shell-like material grow layer upon layer in a once-contiguous piece, an old road long ago broken into jagged formations. Along the streets, urchin-like spines stab ten feet upward, some with illuminated, glass globes drifting slowly in silent orbit around their points. Densely overgrown, vine-choked buildings alternate between fantastic domed structures and symmetrical, orderly city blocks, following the arcs of the queerly curving streets. Above float chunks of parts of the buildings, orbiting the skies in a strange, complex pattern.
The road curves off into the city, heading forward and left. Most of the ruined buildings around are short and orderly city blocks, but you do see a few tall, important looking buildings. One is to the left and looks like it lays alongside the road. The other is far ahead, but if there was a road leading that direction it has long since been destroyed or covered up. The final building is on the other side of the cliffs. You could get there by going right and around the cliffs.
"I dont' like those spines with the glowing lights," Daisy says. "Let's stay off the road.". She thinks for a moment. "Let's walk around the cliff and check out the building over there first."
"Yes!" GIlderoy exclaims. "Lead the way, Daisy, my dear!"
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The way ahead is difficult, with dense plant-life growing over, through, and around the remains of crumbled buildings and statuary. Thick bushes cling and grasp at your clothes and hair as you pass by, with vines tangling onto your legs and feet, almost as if they had a mind of their own. Gnarled trees grow here and there, casting ominous shadows across the ruins and periodically blocking out the sky with their sickly green leaves so dark in hue they appear almost black.
Daisy, mounted atop Dora the riding rabbit, leads the way -- for a moment. Larkspur the almiraj soon bounces to the front of the party, brandishing his sharp horn at anything nearby. Gilderoy follows right behind Daisy, with her various other pets -- Bigfoot the brown bear, Happy the wolf, and Donny the deinonychus trailing behind.
As the other fall into line it becomes obvious the something is wrong. Peanut Butter the horse stands stubbornly on the ice ramp, stomping his hooves nervously. He does not follow Daisy -- an unheard of event! Beside him stand the other horses, Dasher (Rhesa's brown horse), and Capa's (UNNAMED) black horse. The horses all shiver, tossing their heads and whinnying in fear.
Rhesa and her archaeopteryx clamber up into the gnarled ugly trees without fear. "Come on, guys! Let's get swinging!" She leaps from the tree, grabs the branches of another tree further along, and swings through the air. After a few swings she's a bit ahead of the group.
"Come on, slowpokes! Hey! What's wrong with the horses. Come on, Dasher! Follow me!"
Dasher doesn't move from her spot on the ramp.
"Weird!" Rhesa exclaims.
Capa inspects his surroundings.
"Huh! Weird."
"What do you think, Tot?"
Tot takes a nibble of a leaf from is nest hat, and chews slowly as he looks around.
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Capa carefully examines his surroundings and discovers a few things of interest.
- Powerful magic is at work on this island. Some of it is clearly intentional, like the urchin-like lamppost's that have orbs of glowing glass floating around their tops. Other magical effects you believe are unintentional (or perhaps once had a different purpose), such as the chunks of broken buildings and masonry that float and drift through the sky above the island. You're unable to discern the specifics of the various magical affects due to your inability to use detect magic at the moment.
- The plant-life has been twisted and transformed by the island's magic. It's likely that any animals and humanoids who live here will likewise be transformed in some way. You are unsure how quickly such a transformation could occur, but it will likely be more rapid near particularly powerful magical location.
- You can't pinpoint why the horses are spooked, but you do recall that horses (as well as many other animals) can sense the unnatural and avoid it if possible. Animals do not willingly go near undead, extraplanar outsiders, constructs, powerful magical effects, and aberrations if they are aware of their presence. It's possible the horses are unnerved by the magic suffusing the island.
- The magical glowing orbs orbiting the lampposts are actually glass orbs that have will'o'wisps trapped inside them. Judging by the number of missing and broken orbs it is probable that this island has a large population of free-roaming will'o'wisps.
- Finally, Capa can discovers the trail of the captives! He can tell that some groups of bipedal, slippered humanoids dragged some shoe-wearing captives off the road and through the overgrowth. Many of the tracks lead north, and others lead north-east (around the cliff). After a few steps into the undergrowth he loses the trail.
"Be on guard, everyone. The horses might be spooked by something dangerous. And... uh... be on guard for will'o'wisps. Don't touch any glowing orbs you might see around. OH! And we probably shouldn't be on this island very long, as the islands magic is transforming creatures. And most likely people as well."
Capa points to the trail he found. "Well, let's see if we can follow this. Daisy? Want to take a peek? After you calm of animals, of course."
Daisy frowns. "That sounds spooky, Capa! I don't like it!"
Daisy rides Dora over to the horses. "Come on! Follow me!"
Then Daisy goes back to the front to look for the tracks. And Happy tries to help!
Daisy moves without leaving a trail or any trouble at all!
Capa points out what he noticed about the tracks.
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The horses follow Daisy despite their misgivings.
Daisy manages to find a lot of different trails, but they seem to go in one of two directions. Some go strait towards the big central building and the rest go to the right, though its hard to tell if they go in a straight line or curve around the cliff from here.
Daisy leads the group along the straight path.
Rocky shakes his head at Rhesa when she tells him to tease the rock. "No thank you,"
Rocky shakes his head at Rhesa. "Throwing horses is dangerous." Then he walks up to the bottom of the cliff and runs up it. "I am a great climber too," he says slowly. "Before you even say you are the best, I disagree. We are even. Even stevens."
At the top he looks around.
When Capa makes the ramp he smiles. "Good job."
"I want to save that nice beachcomber," Rocky says with a sigh. "I hope he's alive."
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Daisy easy leads the group forward through the undergrowth. Although she has no trouble slipping through the vines, bushes, and branches, her companions have no such luck and are slowed considerably. The trail leads to a small overgrown clearing that obviously used to be a courtyard. Behind it, the crumbled remains of a massive, grand building rest at the base of a cliff. Atop the cliff, thirty feet in the air, is more of the building, as if an earthquake had thrust half of the building up into the sky along with the ground beneath it. The space in between the buildings two halves contains a crowd of floating rocks, walls, and masonry.
After a few moments of looking around, Daisy can tell that the flippered humanoid went into the remains of the building.
Daisy beckons her pets forward. "Come on, friends." She turns and marches up to the building. "We're marching, we're marching, up to the building! We're going to climb up that raaaaaaaaaaaamp made of flying rocks!"
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Following the trail, the group enters the run-down building. Although the walls and ceiling remain -- in places -- most of the building is destroyed. Any personal belongings have long since decayed over time, their presence lost to history. Whatever this building once was is a mystery. But, after a quick look around, Daisy can tell it's currently being used as a stairwell. The footprints disappear into mid-air, then reappear on a particularly large piece of rubble nearby. It looks like the flippered humanoids leap or climb from one hunk of floating debris to another, using the stones to surmount the cliff.
"Why isn't anyone following except the pets? Oh, well! Come on, pets! Up we go!"
Rocky steps forward. "Hey..." he says slowly. "I'm coming."
Rocky leaps like a gymnast from one rock to another, all the way up the cliff. His frog, follows but falls! Rocky catches the frog and gives him a ride instead. His triceratops tries to follow along, too. He's so big he easily steps from rock to rock. They go down as he steps on each one, then bounce back up once he's off!
"Good balance, Bighorn."
"Hey, Rhesa, why are you so slow? My triceratops can do it, so your horses should too. I am not throwing them up."
"Slow? Ha! Race you to the top!"
With a whinny of fear, Dasher, Rhesa's horse, attempts to follow its master.
Meanwhile, the archaeopteryx glides clumsily from rock to rock.
Daisy hops from rock to rock.
She guides up the animals too.
Gilderoy leaps gracefully from rock to rock.
"How very curious..." Capa remarks as he "I've never seen anything quite like this."
He easily jumps from stone to stone.
Capa urges his pets to cross very slowly.
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With the group easily traversing the floating stones they arrive at the top of the cliff, inside the half-broken building. Following the trail Daisy leads them outside. It looks like this section of the island is in far worse shape than that below. Around you the city ruins stretch as far as the eye can see, every single building reduced to rubble that covers the ground, making it difficult to walk. There's a few spines scattered amidst the rubble, toppled just like everything else with the glowing orbs long since shattered and broken. Unfortunately, this devastation causes you to lose sight of the trail.
Sticking out amidst the ruins is a single building that looks still whole -- sort of. It's walls are standing, at least. Large, circular, and with half of a dome ceiling, it was likely an important building. Its in the distance off to the northwest. Past it, stretching across the northern horizon is another cliff, at least as tall as the last one. To the far west is the edge of the island, then the ocean. To the far east is the remains of another curving white shale road which looks like it still has some lampposts on it. Behind it is another district of the city that looks relatively whole. You can see that many walls are still standing, but can make out no further details. It's quite far away.