OOC Note: This post is now “common knowledge”. Each section is aimed at a particular storyweb group(s), and those groups' leaders will send in orders to the Storyweb Admins (A forum/discord PM to LumosJared#9185) if they wish to respond and how. Often times these groups will require the assistance of skilled outsiders in order to most effectively complete their missions. The sign up for a Storyweb group can be found here. This post concerns The Digmaan's Yaotl (Run by @Carlit0o), The League of Explorers (Run by @Film_Noir), The Seraph Expedition (Run by@Empaul), the Dread Kathar (Run by @Havsbris_), the Faraddi Explorers (Run by @WaterDruppel), and the Regalian Mercenaries (run by @fuithlug). League of Explorers With their adventures on the mysterious Island in Ellador at an end, the League of Explorers quickly heard tale of another Island suddenly appearing only a few miles North along the coast. Curiously, this one had already been searched; word spread of a small dwarven caravan making fortifications and a small bridge, connecting this island to the mainland. Rumors spread south like wildfire that when this Island had begun to appear out of the sea, a fisherman had seen bright lights had been seen flashing from its surface. What this meant was a mystery, but it wouldn’t be long before this new Island was filled with potentially hostile dwarves. Rumors of unrest among the treasure hunters of Aloria have flowed into the streets of Regalia regarding the tales of the freebooter captain Isaac Cooke’s pirate cove and the plunders within. Recently found by a Regalian clearing out their attic on Queen Wall street and brought before the League, the journal of one of Cooke’s crewmembers holds logs speaking the existence of Cooke’s pirate cove ‘Krayr’. Although attempts were made to keep the details confidential, it’s believed information has been leaked to Regalias people, and the League’s competitors. Seraph League Recent discoveries from the League had unearthed a strange metal dagger, made of a material that was not immediately apparent or obvious to any smith who would recognize it. Discovering exactly what sort of item they had stumbled upon seemed a high priority for the group in question. This, along with a book of strange texts, would occupy much of the League’s time. Kathar Cistern After retrieving the odd machine of glass and metal, and safely storing it within the heart of the Kathar Cistern, it was quite apparent that the machine required a power source and understanding above the skills of the kathar test groups and mages to activate. To the groups benefit however, further inspection provided notes scribed in encrypted lettering under the glass lid to the devices occupant chamber door. Some of these encrypted notes were signed, oddly enough, by the Assembly organization, the Kathar had previously ransacked. Although encrypted, the group was able to recognize that the notes included not only the Assemblies findings but also the findings of another third party with encryptions of their own. Likely whoever the Assembly had stolen the device from. Before the scheduled testing experiments were conducted by the various Kathar groups under the Sovereigns eyes, it was agreed upon that the Dread Loyalists could potentially derive what the encrypted notes of the Assembly and this mysterious third party entailed, however the process would be extremely time consuming and require a lot of resources. Luckily for the group, members of the Assembly had escaped during their last attempt to reattain the machine nearly a month ago. Since that time, whispered rumors from the occasional customer at the Wailing Wraith had been eavesdropped and relayed to the Sovereign and her group, inclining that the Assembly was continuing some operation unbeknownst to them deep in the bowels of the city's sewers. Witness accounts also claim that members of the Assembly have been more actively scouting and watching the tunnels, to prepare for a preemptive attack from the Kathar, if another were to transpire. Whatever the Assembly was up to, it was undoubtedly related to the machine the kathar now possessed within their Cistern. Digmaan Yaotl With the recent discovery of the Black Elixir and its safe voyage back to the heart of Regalia, rumors began circulating around in the black markets of the sewers about other alchemical concoctions supposedly lost to the ravages of the Chrysant Wars that may still be in existence today, circulating around on the market from collector to collector. One such collector was rumored to live in the city of Regalia itself, a man who simply goes by the name ‘Jack the Serpent” and is said to be a collector of various poisons. Some even say that he may possess some of the lost pages from the old alchemical archives themselves. In the more public circles, word is that an old ruin lost from a time before the Chrysant wars were recently discovered in Hadar and rumored to possess some rare reagents, historical relics or tablets of the Allar people shortly after their flight from Sendrass. The relics were supposedly spared from the ravages of the war and Ailor looting-- but only because the ruins themselves were said to be ‘haunted’ but some also say that a great beast guards the hidden treasures and historical relics that lie within. The Faraddi Explorers For the Faraddi Explorers came rumors from the far east. On the coasts of Farah'deen, a group of fisherman reported sightings of at least a dozen rotting shipwrecks dotting the coastline. They had supposedly never seen the wreckages before, claiming they had cropped up overnight after a particularly rough storm. The skeletal remains of the ships sit untouched, ripe for exploration, their stories waiting to be told. In the quieter circles of adventurers, word slips of a mysterious temple buried in the roving sands deep in the desert. Word would have them believe that it is only accessible during the Spring, the winds of the desert creating just the right environment to uncover the entrance. An entrance cracked, but still sealed. The last adventurer to have drawn near reported the all too familiar sounds of whirring and clicking. The Frisque Pact Thanks to the power and prestige of House Frisque as a major Varran Noble House dealing with the Regalian Empire, whispers prick their ears and word reaches them of two rumors. One is a claim of Varran ruins, but not in the desert of Ithania, but on an island of the Solacian Island Chain. This ruin is supposedly very old and very Varran in its design, with a large amount of feline iconography. Unfortunately, the Varran corsair ship that discovered it has gone to ground, pursued by mercenaries hired by Ithanian merchants seeking to carry out the anti-Varran policies of their homeland despite its problems. The Corsairs, led by Captain Rzzrem, were last sighted in the port of El Puerto Azul The other rumor is of Varran artifacts appearing in an unlikely place: Nordskag. The rumors claim a clan of Yarran Varran recently died off and it’s elderly final member gave a cloth bundle of mechanical bits to his longtime Ailor friend named Trenne. The Yarran claimed they were from “the very old times” before he passed. Unfortunately, the man didn’t understand how they worked so he was last seen traveling up the western coastline of Nordskag to reach a commune of Aldor Dwarves halfway up Mount Håstdal. Regalian Mercenaries Rumours from Ellador begin filtering in, painting a tantalizing picture of two very different ruins in the far reaches of the land. Kendohr, an ancestral home tucked away in the direwolf-infested lands of the appropriately named Wolfswind Bay, supposedly lie untouched by the hands of Ailor, Isldar, or otherwise - but has been sat at the whims of mother nature’s cruel frozen breath. Rumour has it the ancestral hold is chock full of riches and spoils, its halls guarded by something sinister. Rumours of Vernulur speak of a different adventure, tucked in the frozen mountains only navigable by a treacherous path supposedly guarded by the angry spirits. While the rumours of Kendohr and Vernulur are not but hearsay, there is one recurring warning: the ancestral holds play host to vicious packs of direwolves that guard the surrounding lands. Those who have managed to make it passed the wolves and into the frozen halls never quite make it back out. Are they falling victim to the bitter chill of Wolfswind Bay? Slipping and falling to their demise within the mysterious hold? Or do the mysterious markings on the wall tell a different story?
