A patrol of human and slith guards approaches you. Before they leave, one of them says "Watch yourself out here. There are some packs of Nephilim bandits roaming about."
At first glance, is looks like all this small cavern contains is huge mounds of jumbled rubble. A closer look reveals that some of the "rubble heaps" to the northeast are actually poorly disguised stone huts. Lithe, feline shapes walk among them.
You back away from the settlement. Fortunately, the guards didn't spot you.
You charge. You don't get far before the guards raise an alarm. This isn't a very large camp, but there are enough Nephilim here to give you a good fight...
You walk along a narrow land bridge between two bodies of water, fresh to the south and stagnant to the north. At one point you stumble upon a large pack of rats drinking from the north pool. Normally, rats would flee you. These don't ...
You clean your blades, relieved to have ridded Upper Exile of another pack of huge, ravenous rodents. Unfortunately, you find no reward. Just the satisfaction of a good deed well done.
As you admire the view, your knowledge of cave lore enables you to spot a rough trail leading through the mushrooms to the north. It hasn't been traveled for some time.
The remaining Nephilim scatter. The bandits' crude village is yours to explore.
The ever present green, glowing fungus on the cave ceiling above is unusually bright here, making the nearby terrain quite visible. The view of the mushrooms to the north and the clear blue lake beyond it is very pretty.
You rapidly loot the cache, and find a small pouch of gold in addition to the arrows. As you leave, however, you see a band of humans approaching. They don't look pleased that someone has found their old supply cache.
This narrow, twisting, winding corridor is lined with the discarded skins of large insects, and filled with the sound of alien chittering. You constantly feel your are under the gaze of multitudes of insectoid eyes.
In the small cavern to the north, you see hordes of chitrachs, the hostile alien carnivorous insects that have been migrating from the lower caves. A band of the hungry vermin runs up to devour you.
It looks like you've finally cleared out the chitrach infestation. This area shouldn't have any more troubles with them. Their lair is open for you to explore.
As you turn back from the dead end, you hear a bizarre, resonant keening from far to the east. As the sound echoes across the swamp, you look to see what's causing it ...
You find the water incredibly refreshing. You all drink some, and walk away feeling highly energized.
A lot of water from the river to the east has been trapped here for some time, growing increasingly stagnant and foul. Normally, you would expect to hear lizard or bat noises in a cave like this. However, the tunnel is completely, eerily silent.
An Exile patrol approaches to warn you: "We'd watch out if we were you. There's been a lot of chitrachs wandering around these parts." They tell you to keep an eye open for bugs, and leave.
You have slipped through a well concealed path among a forest of stalagmites, and found yourself on a beach dotted with small pink mushrooms. There is no sign of humanoids having been here before.
You boldly loot the temple, knowing as you do that such places often have powerful magical defenses. Your expectations are fully met ... the bodies of the monsters you slew rise up again to boldly fight you.
The patch of wormgrass has not yet recovered from your prior depredations. Perhaps if you returned tomorrow ...
You reach the final cave in this chain, and find that the remaining ogres and Slithzerikai have banded here as a last ditch defense against your invasion. There's a considerable force ahead, and they look like they mean business.
This cave contains several crude slith nests, not occupied by friendly sliths like you've met before, but by the savage, hostile kind. It looks like only a small portion of the village's population is here, but they are fully prepared to attack anyway.
You don't get far into the cavern before you encounter a tight group of large, crude ogre huts. The ogres charge you as soon as they see you, bearing stone clubs and fierce, stupid expressions.
You are at the southern end of a long tunnel, which is clearly occupied. Totems with skulls of all sorts (including human) mark the path, and garbage and rotten meat is strewn liberally about. You don't expect a friendly reception.
As you cross the bridge, you hear a female voice: "Erika has decided you are not welcome. Please turn back now." You notice that no matter how long you walk, you don't seem to be getting any closer to the other end of the bridge. You turn back.
As you cross the bridge, you hear a female voice: "Erika has decided you may see her. Proceed straight ahead, and enter her tower from the south. Make any diversions from the path, and no guarantees are made regarding your safety.
The guards slain, you search the hovels along the path. Strangely, there is no treasure of any sort. The huts have been cleaned of anything of value, even metal. You wonder where they took it.
The holly hasn't quite grown back yet. When you shred through a patch like you did, you have to be patient. Try coming back tomorrow.
You emerge from Fort Emergence into the outdoors. A harsh yellow light from above blinds you, and the air smells strange. For a while, the wide-openness of the space above you is terrifying. Still, there's nothing to do but press on...
You reach the shore of what can only be a river. You see a fish in it. It's shiny and silvery, not the comforting and normal pale gray of cave fish. As you admire the view, several large, brightly colored slimes ooze out of the trees and approach you...
This is very odd. The Empire worked for years to slay all monsters on the surface, but here is a strange beast before you, a slime unlike any you've ever seen, bubbling and magical. It leaves a trail of dead plants behind it as it oozes.
This vale is filled with shedded, rapidly crumbling unicorn horns. The rocks have bits of dark fur on them where the beasts rubbed against them. In the distance, you think you can see protruding horns, and many eyes watching you carefully.
Suddenly, a herd of unicorns runs down into the pass and charges you. The vicious, unpleasant creatures have obviously pegged you as an easy meal.
You are at the south end of a narrow pass, winding its way through the mountains. This would be a very useful shortcut, but find no tracks or other signs of humans coming along here.
A group of brightly colored, bubbling slimes oozes along the ground towards you, leaving wide trails of dead ground as they go. They move unerringly (and quickly) toward you.
Something bizarre happens. A band of Empire soldiers approach you. The paleness of your skin immediately marks you as odd. Yet, when they get close to you, they look you over and then walk away without a word. They looked rather relieved.
You begin the sweat-inducing hike up into a narrow canyon. These mountains are far from civilization, but not unoccupied. Large, toothy lizards bask themselves in the sun on the slopes above you. Some of them look like they would find you a tasty snack.
Sure enough, a small band of lizards is hungry (and stupid) enough to risk your blades for a taste of your legs. Odd. Some of the lizards approaching you have a peculiar reddish hue...
This old stone bridge looks like it was hurriedly built, and then left behind when it outlived its usefulness. It's still safe to cross. Barely.
As you move farther up into the valley, you see less of the lizards, but the ones you do see are much larger. You also often see large scorch marks on the ground.
The dryad looks at you intently. She stares at your packs with such intensity you suspect she may be able to see through them. Then she looks at you angrily and stamps her foot. "You don't have anything pretty at all!" She turns her nose up in the air.
"I have half a mind to take you and make you my slaves forever! But I'm a nice dryad! Just go away, and don't come back without something pretty!" She waves her hand, and you fall asleep. When you wave up again, you're outside the grove. You feel funny.
You walk to the end of the cave, and find a storehouse of gold! There's a pot of coins, the newest minted a century ago, sitting in the middle of an empty lair. You debate whether to take the coins or not.
As you ponder the issue, however, you hear a throaty laugh. A small dragon, flanked by fire lizards, walks in to greet you! It laughs, and says "At long last, I can add to my horde!" Then it attacks. At least the gold will be yours.
You examine the body of the drake, and find a delicate gold necklace stretched tight around its neck. Strange it didn't break. You remove it and take it with.
You present the dryad with the perfect flower. She smells it, twirls on one foot, and laughs. "Thank you! It's wonderful!" Then she runs up and gives each of you a kiss on the cheek. Your skin tingles where her lips were.
"Now, as I reward, I'll tell you a secret. Far to the north, near Calloc, is a place where trees grow in a square. Stand in the middle, and walk straight south, and you'll find a reward! Now go away." She sits down to admire her flower. You slip away.
You try to enter the dryad's grove, but can't find a way in. Probably much safer for you, in the long run. Faerie creatures have been known to spirit people away...
She thinks. "Well, at least you're honest. I'll let you leave. This time. But it you come back, you better have something I'll find beautiful. Or else." You quickly walk out, before you end up with a serious curse.
An Empire patrol catches up with you and looks you over. They look very suspicious of you, but back off and let you pass.
The trees in this forest are withered, burned, and missing large chunks. The trails of gray, dead ground tell the cause: the slimes have been moving through here, destroying foliage as they go. Unhindered, they would kill this entire forest.
It takes some effort, but you clear your head and walk away. Eventually, you look back, and see the stone circle is still there, mysterious and welcoming.
With a concerted effort, each step an intense effort, you haul yourself away from the altar and out of the circle. As you do, you'd swear you hear a whisper: "Please. We can help you."
You walk forward and kneel. Without thinking, you put your hand on the cool stone. For the briefest of moments, it throbs with power, and you feel weak and light-headed. Then the feeling passes, and ...
Suddenly, there is new knowledge in your mind. It's as if it was there all along, and you only just remembered it. You now know the spell Restore Mind.
Again, you learn a spell from one of these mysterious stone circles. The spell Magic Map appears in your mind. You also feel more energetic than you've felt in a long time.
No strange new knowledge appears in your mind this time. Disappointed, you stand, only to find you're lighter on your feet. You move around a little, and find that your Dexterity has increased!
You start to move away, but remember how wonderful you felt the last time you kneeled at one of the stone circle altars. It's a struggle, but in the end you realize that it would be for the best to enter the circle ...
You start to move, but suddenly the circle undergoes a transformation! The sun shines brighter, the air is fresher, the birds chirp, and suddenly the altar seems infinitely appealing. You go to kneel without hesitation.
You leave the circle and hike off. After a bit, you look back, only to find the stone circle has disappeared! A patch of bare ground is left behind, with no sign that the ancient circle was there.
You pick up the odd looking rocks, and pocket them. As you turn, you see some people you were sure weren't there before. They immediately move to attack. These rocks must be more interesting than you thought.
You closely inspect the bodies of the mages who mugged you. You find something interesting ... all of them have small red eyes tattooed on the insides of their wrists.
You approach the strange stone, prepared for vandalism. Then you instantly find yourself outside the circle. Disappointing, but at least nothing worse happened.
As you climb up the valley, a shower of rocks hails down upon you from above! You look up, and see laughing goblins on the cliffs above preparing further volleys. There's little point in continuing. Bruised and bloodied, you retreat.
Your woodsman skills alert you that something is suspicious. Looking up, you see dozens of goblins on the cliffs above preparing to throw rocks down on you. You back away before your brains get knocked out.
This valley, formerly infested with goblins, is now eerily quiet.
You search the mine, and find that the goblin's digging techniques, while crude, were quite sufficient the tap the rich veins in these tunnels. You see both gold and silver ore, waiting for industrious souls to knock it out of the walls.
While you have neither the skill or the time to start a mining operation, you are more than happy to help yourself to the silver nuggets and gold dust you find in a side chamber. You are now quite a bit wealthier.
You see what looks like a mine entrance to the north. It is guarded by a band of goblins, ready to make their final stand. They charge ...
You decline to buy alchemy recipes, and bid farewell to Bulon. Before you go, he tells you to "Be sure to watch out for them goblins!"
This stagnant, unpleasant marsh is the watering hole for the nearby goblin tribe. Indeed, you've come across a band of them letting their wolves get a drink.
You encounter a Nephilim patrol. The Nephilim have been terribly harassed by the ogres, Empire, and humans in general, so it's perfectly understandable that they attack you.
You encounter a Nephilim patrol. The Nephilim have been terribly harassed by the ogres, Empire, and humans in general, so they're about to attack, but then see you have a Nephil with your group. They give you the benefit of a doubt and move off.
You encounter a Nephilim patrol. They are about to attack, but one of them recognizes you as the group that helped defend them from the ursagi. They wave and move on.
As you move along the beach, you hear a ghoulish, growling laugh behind you. A few ursagi and their goblin slaves have cut you off from escape. They move in for the kill ...
The Nephilim have several huts here. The poor, scrawny creatures, beleaguered and harassed by years of ursagi and Nephilim raids, are nervous when you approach. You move away - they have little to offer you.
It is possible to ford the river here.
You move up to help the Nephilim. They're fighting a very strong force. They're clearly very relieved to have the help.
Ursagi are far too dangerous foes to be trifled with lightly. You move away quickly, hearing behind you the din of battle and the screams of slain Nephilim.
These Nephilim have no trust left for anyone not of their own kind. They don't move to attack you, which is a relief, but they clearly have no intention of letting you in.
The Nephilim watch you nervously as you approach. They can never be sure whether a human will attack them or not. When they see you have a Nephilim with you, however, they let you come in.
The Nephilim watch you nervously as you approach - they can never be sure whether humans will attack them or not. When they recognize you as the group that helped them against the Ursagi, however, they gratefully invite you in.
The glowing nettle patch hasn't grown back yet. Maybe in a day or two.
The flowers growing here are even more beautiful that the ones to the southeast. However, none of them are quite perfect enough to take with.
There are beautiful, breathtaking flowers growing all along this valley, exploding in intricate rainbow patterns of colors. Their scent fills the air. After years in the dark dullness of Exile, the sights and smells almost overcome you with emotions.
You stand at the southeastern end of a long valley. Looking up it, you see, growing among the rocks, many varieties of beautiful flowers. Their pollen wafts down to you on the wind, enticing you to climb up and experience them.
This forest is exceptionally beautiful. The trees seem nicely tended, and there's a great profusion of forest creatures frolicking about.
You pick a single flower, taking a bit of dirt with it so it doesn't die. You pause to admire it - it's absolute perfection in plant form, the curve of its petals elegant and the smell seemingly endless. You carefully pack it away.
You reach the village of the gremlins, surrounded by neatly tended rows of every flower you've seen in the valley. Irrational, irritable creatures they are, they decide to water the flowers with your blood.
You encounter another bunch of green thumbed (figuratively and literally) gremlins.
You are not alone in admiring the flowers. A bunch of gremlins live in this valley, and they aren't at all inclined to share.
