[The following was found in a strange metal cylinder,
washed up just off the coast outside Stavros, these writings/drawings
are of an unknown age, although their relative robustness indicates a
fairly recent origin]
Find herein a small account of the travels and travails
of the Most Venerable Sage Ibn Tal Ibn-Salgrem of the House of the
Most-Accumulated, as well as some scratchings that purport to be
cartography by the same hand.
My abbreviated tale shall begin as our ship, the
war-galley Three-Eyed Slattern of the City Infinite, turned east toward
the ancient Western city of Larm. Our guide, onboarded at Crowkeep, was
upset at the distance our ship kept from the shore, as he would prefer
us to practically scrape our hull on any offshore rocks might exist than
to be too far from the coast. The captain, although sympathetic to the
fellow's nervous condition, opted to remain at a standard distance from
the shore and it was because of this that the lookout was able to spot
quite a sight, that of two ships bound together to our north, one a dark
and suspicious ship that could only be pirates, the other being a tall
merchant caravel of the Western Isles.
Upon sighting the ship being towed away, the captain gave
the order to give chase, which alarmed our guide greatly, to the point
where he had to be restrained and taken below decks, such was the
intensity of his disapproval. His force of feeling was illuminated when a
great lance of red light, traveling at a speed faster than any arrow,
came from the northern horizon and with one blow split our craft from
stem to stern. As though waiting for this very thing to occur, launches
full of of pirates appeared on top of the wreckage and those of us who
believed ourselves to be fortunate to have survived (oh how wrong we
were) were scooped aboard. It was here that I began to realize the
horrors that were to come, for these pirates were not men. Or at least
they were no longer men, for each of them was horribly distended, each a
flesh-made sin against the gods. Some had holes where flesh should be,
some had too much of one thing, others, not enough. They gibbered and
leered at us, such as they could, as they secured us with manacles and
ropes and took us aboard their ship.
We sailed north, the disabled merchant ship still in tow,
until we came to the northern sweep of the great bay. Once we were an
hour out from the shore, a great tower dominated the skyline, skinny and
dark and somehow ominous, it stood solitary and with a malicious air.
It was with a growing sense of depression that I realized that this was
our destination. As we drew closer, the style of the architecture, even
from a great distance, indicated that this was a relic of times past, of
the people of whom we know very little aside from their strange magics,
those who we sages call Hyperboreans, amongst other names. Also, my
initial assessment was incorrect, for there were a significant amount of
other structures coming out of the sea around the tower, most of them
being wrecked walls and spires, although there was a smaller, squatter
tower that was still usable, for a launch set off from it and skillfully
boarded the towed merchant-ship and began maneuvering it through the
submerged ruins. We were taken from the main ship, which was anchored
not far off from the smaller tower, and loaded aboard smaller ships,
which carried us toward the main edifice...
Here I will cut short my tale, as my paper and ink is limited and I
would write for eons on the first horrible hours in that tower. Instead I
will endeavor to detail the overall situation in which I now find
myself and hope to be extricated from, as well as such particulars of my
daily existence that I find relevant.
The pre-eminent aspect of these ruins is the tower and the
pre-eminent aspect of the tower is the "firelance" that sits at the top
of it, for this is the device that destroyed our ship and allows these
pirates to avoid the steel hand of justice and maintain their hideous
hold on the surrounding environs. I have only seen it from a distance,
its bulk however is great and I have seen various depictions of it in my
time in the tower. These depictions indicate a device not unlike a
spyglass, allowing the operator of the firelance to target any ship so
long as it appears on this side of the horizon and given the height of
the tower, that horizon is a great distance away. A single shot of this
great ballista-like device is enough to shatter the largest ship
completely.
However, the great power of the firelance comes with a secret
-- it requires ammunition, and that ammunition is limited. The main
driving force of the pirates, far moreso than their disrupting of
shipping, is finding the "fire-tubes" that are used to power the
firelance. The total number of remaining fire-tubes is a closely guarded
secret; it must be small indeed for the nervousness and fear of the
pirate leadership is palpable and is additionally easily inferred from
the weight that they place on activities that center around gathering
more of these tubes, the main number of which have been found in
exploratory missions in the warren that lies beneath the tower.
This is the second major aspect of the tower, the
constructions that lie beneath the water and indeed, I believe beneath
the earth itself, the Hyperborean warrens of chambers and corridors, a
small section of which have been mapped and made relatively safe by the
pirates who mainly remain in the body of the tower itself, the rest a
labyrinth of ooze, creatures that have grown from the ooze and assorted
horrors...and treasures left behind by the Hyperboreans. For the
pirates, the greatest of these treasures are the fire-tubes and parties
of the brigands, who risk great harm and do not return more often than
not, are sent into the dank tunnels to search out further stores of the
things. I have only been there once myself and ventured a few rooms from
the great stair that descends from the tower before thankfully
returning.
As for the main body of the tower, it is full of chambers
that have been converted into squalid living quarters for the debauched
crimes against the gods that are the pirate band. The largest chamber
contains a great tub of the ooze that is found in the rooms below. This
ooze is used to "convert" prisoners who are found suitable for induction
into the ranks of the pirates. Those that survive...change in both form
and personality. The rest of us are kept according to our purposes,
some of which are too horrible to speak. Luckily, the most erudite of
the pirates recognized some of my tattoos and quickly surmised that I
was not lacking in knowledge of the occult and as such, I have been
pressed into service in trying to decipher various documents that have
been found deep inside the roots of the tower. I do my best to subvert
this activity; I confess that my squeamishness in terms of pain and
desire for something other than fish entrails for food means that they
do get some good work from me.
Aside from the main tower, there is the smaller tower
that I mention during my initial tale and a similar squat structure that
sits just ashore from the main ruins. These are the only other intact
structures in these ruins and have a small number of pirates in each at
any time. The structure on the shore is manned by the most junior
pirates and is regarded as an undesirable assignment as its landlocked
nature affords no protection from the monsters and savages that live in
the coastal areas. However, the structure is valuable to the pirates as
there is a door just beneath it, one that they have been unable to open
thus far and does not appear to connect to any of the known complexes. I
have been most intrigued about the stories regarding this door as it
apparently asks riddles and evades common lines of questioning that have
been used to open other portals. I recognize that I would represent too
much of a threat at this point to work with it directly as the chance
of escape would be too high were I to unlock its secrets (and thus the
door itself); however, should their desperation for fire-tubes grow
greater, it is quite possible that I will join those on the shore.
The smaller tower, further out to sea, is constantly
surrounded by water, even at the lowest of tides. There is a single
entrance door, inches above the high-tide mark (the door must be closed
during certain synchronicities of the heavens) and the pirates keep a
small group of launches tied to the tower at all times and a rope ladder
to allow access to the door during low-tide. Nobody lives in the tower
full-time, instead, groups of pirates are rotated over time, their
duties in the small tower being ready to run out launches when the main
ship returns and more prosaically, fishing, as this is still the staple
food of most of who live in the tower. The tower does connect to the
complexes below, with a single and circuitous route connecting it to the
main tower, although this is rarely used for reasons of personal peril
in doing so as well as the length of time involved in comparison to
simply rowing a launch to the main tower's dry dock.
The tidal range in the ruins is great, exceeding slightly
a 30' difference between high and low tides, such that at high tide the
waters lap nearly to the edge of the shore building and at low tide
expose all except the low side of the main tower. Exceptionally low
tides reveal new sections of mud and ruins and the pirates have become
more adventurous in terms of sending out prospecting teams to try and
find new doors or access to the lower tunnels, with poor results thus
far.
My resources are now starting to reach their limits -- I
shall be brief, as much as I can! Because of the lance, any major water
assault on the ruins would be madness. The lands on the shore are wild
and rough enough that any large force would have a very hard time of it
making it to the tower and then would have a hard time taking itself. I
feel the best course of action, should whoever finds this feel inclined
to rescue the prisoners of the tower or to try and claim it for
themselves, would be to have a small group carried along the safety of
the coast in a small boat and then attempt to infiltrate the tower,
either through the smaller tower or if particularly brave and foolhardy,
through the main tower itself.
May Abtu smile upon you if you do.
[Ed note: (cruddy) map to follow shortly,
another post relating to these pirates]
