[PurpleXVI]

Bas, Tamora

While the others communed with the brain, Tamora succesfully got the bird peaceful enough for Bas to speak to it. The tameness of the creature and the fact that nature had meant for it to be a herd animal made things easier, but at the same time it was still a bird, and it's limited intellect made it hard for the druid to learn the things he wanted to know. Occasionally he had to settle for half-answers or find unusual way of phrasing his questions so it would understand what he said.

It didn't seem to comprehend his questions about treants or dryads, which either meant that there were none, or that it was just impossible to weasel out of it. He did, however, learn that his assumptions about the tree-dwelling serpents were correct, they attacked their prey either by falling on it from above and dragging it to the ground, or lurking underground in the mud after a rain, then pulling their prey under as they leapt from their burrows.

They, and some sort of tree-climbing humanoid thing(What it sounded like based on the bird's stories, anyway.), appeared to be the most dangerous predators in the immediate area. There were others, of course, like giant insects and a few mammals that Bas recognized from home(Big cats, bears and giant spiders), but those two seemed to be the ones that had harassed the bird the most.

The bird had come from the northwest, somewhere beyond the jungle, and didn't seem to know the forest very well. The story was a bit confused, but apparently it had been sent into the forest to deliver something, forgotten where it was headed and reached the lake after fleeing blindly from some unpleasant predator or another. The story was a bit confused, but as far as Bas could piece it together, some sort of short demi-humans were what had pursued the bird. Either it had been the same, very persistent, band it had met several times, or there were a lot of them in the area.


Everyone Else

"Wise questions," the brain replied to Evon, who was the first to ask of it, "You stand at the center of many paths, with many obstacles surrounding you. To the southeast, towards the mountains, past the Chasm of Choking Ash, lie the cliffs of Drriam which could teach you much of this world. Southwest, into the swamps, there are many half-sunken ruins of the Rhulisti, no doubt they contain horrors, but for a share of the knowledge of the Rhulisti, it might not be a foolish gamble to go searching through them. There are many other wonders to be sought, but I have not left this village in decades, what I used to know of may be destroyed and new things may have arisen."

"As for who, creatures are plentiful, even in this jungle of horrors. Giant sloths roam the crowns of the trees, Kluzd lurk above and below, herds of Kank trample through the clearings, Rhul-Thaun practice their ancient arts atop the Jagged Cliffs, the occasional enterprising band of bandits sweep down from the Ringing Mountains and ever do the City People seek a safe way through the jungle on their way to the mountains. Others, some better, some worse, are on their way as well, some are already here and their schemes are starting to take root, but I cannot reveal too much, some things you must learn for yourselves."

Lorath's reply was next, "All things are possible if a man truly puts his will and heart into it, if he has the right tools and the correct plan, but in the same way, all things have consequences. It is possible to defeat the beast within the lake, it is not immortal. And of the portal not even I know the truth, I have my theories, but I would not like to mislead you."

"I have no one name," the thing told Gan, "But these lizardmen refer to me as the Sage, or the Great Sage, it is not an unfitting label, so you may use it as well. Like I, this world has been called many things over the ages. My original creator knew it as the Blue World, after that it became the Green World and in this present age, everyone is too busy staying alive to name it. If you must speak of it, however, you can call it the Dead World. What would you wish to know of yourself? I will not reveal the secrets of your companions except to them. Such petty behavior would be beneath me."

The Sage managed a chuckle as Ulik questioned it, "I had many bodies, many minds. My creation is a tale of suffering and loss, an atrocity that forever left a scar on the history of the Rhulisti. It is a story I would share, except it was struck even from my memory, it was believed by the others of my people that it would leave me bitter and twisted, with a desire for revenge against the world. Perhaps they were right in what they did, perhaps not, but if you could find the truth of my creation, then I would definitely share some of my deeper secrets with you. Perhaps some you could find a lucrative use for. As for that Erdlu, I am not and never were a cook, I suggest you experiment once you manage to wrench it away from your friends who seem to have taken a liking to it."

[ 01-29-2007, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]