Date TBD, 122
The jungles of Ecith are not one single thing.
It seems obvious, read like that. Right? Of course any sufficiently large region is going to have significant differences- in biosphere, in terrain, in basic structure. But it’s easy to fall prey to stereotypes, just as it’s easy to picture any “forest” as one thing, or imagine a mountain range as some sort of platonic ideal of a group of mountains.
So, in fact, taking the word “jungle” and outputting it as “rainforest” is easy. Natural, even! To use language efficiently, it is vital that some shortcuts be taken. But “jungle” itself is a word which began as a misconception. Explorers, following the riverbanks, observed that the vast swaths of forest around them were so overgrown as to be impenetrable, and so determined that there was some fundamental difference between that environment and the dry northern forests, not considering that the land they trod was exclusively forest within a mile or so of enormous wetland and river deltas.
When you’re reading stories about tropical forests, it’s easy to picture absurdly dense, wet climates- but the forests are not just one environment, and that’s important. The wild divergence and extreme physical differences between the various species of fauna are hyper-adapted to their terrestrial environs; and so, it follows logically, the dangers present in a cloud forest or a monsoon forest are also entirely distinct. A traveler who has come prepared for the dangers of one environment might as well be totally unguarded in another. For this reason, only a very great fool or an invincible hero would enter an unknown region without guidance.
Anyway, Imogen Ward entered the jungle without a guide.
Dear Carina,
Today I entered the fabled jungles of Ecith. I am on foot, though only temporarily, and alone due to the high fees charged by the jungle guides. However, I have purchased a compass, a map, and notes on the region, so I should be fine.
So far, the trip has been uneventful… mostly. I’ll get to that. I expected a lot in the way of jaguars from my reading, but I haven’t seen any cats- the guidebook says that the animals in this part of the forest mostly avoid the forest floor, and travel across the plants above.
I can understand why. It’s surprisingly dark down here- not cave-dark, like the warrens, but shadowy enough that it’s hard to see colors at a distance. Apparently there are multiple layers of canopies above me? I suppose I had assumed that trees would bunch together to grow at similar heights, but that’s not how these trees see things.
The darkness isn’t too much of a problem, because I was able to purchase a little lantern built for the forest. Although the brush isn’t too dense down here, I’ve been keeping to the path, which should take me all the way to one of the big rivers. I’ve been lugging a foldable canoe along, and with any luck, the river will take me quickly to Gihah K'uvfoi'uv Fi'uv.
I’m well-stocked for food, too. The people at the trading post said that Gihah is maybe nine days away, so I brought rations to last fifteen. I figure that I might travel a little more slowly than they do, so carrying a few extra days makes sense.
More concerning than the rations is the water supply. Once I hit the river, I can boil it if I need to, but the traders tell me I shouldn’t trust even boiled groundwater in the jungle. I’ve brought what should be enough to last me to the river, but you’ll never believe what happened today-
Imogen had been in the tropical forest for only about four hours when she first heard the chattering nearby.
There were sounds all around, of course, but they were relatively distant. The trader's path which cut through the jungle was broad, and few of the small mammals and lizards at the forest floor were very vocal. Birdsong, and cries from the vegitative levels above, yes, but little nearby except for the buzzing of insect wings.
So when the chattering came from directly behind her, Imogen was quick to turn. The noisemaker was easy to spot- a small, gold-colored lemur with fur so lustrous that it practically shone against the dark jungle. It sat atop a small, mossy bump on the tree, its huge golden eyes staring curiously at the Ork below it.
”Why, hello, there!”
Imogen grinned at the little monkey, giving it a gregarious, enthusiastic wave. She’d read about these in the guidebook- sifakas, they were called. The curious little creature mimicked her gesture, waving with both of its hands, wobbling precariously on its perch.
The Sunsinger chuckled at the adorable creature and blew it a kiss, then turned- only to stop in her tracks. Directly ahead of her, not ten feet away, at eye level, another golden lemur was hanging by its tail from a low bough, swinging gently from side to side. It made a cute “*Whaak whaak whaak*” cry, and Imogen giggled. She’d read about this too!
As Imogen marveled, an even smaller creature- a baby lemur! -peeked over its parent’s back and peered down at her, blinking slowly. After a moment’s hesitation, the lemur child clambered up onto the larger lemur’s belly, grasping its tail with one little black-colored hand. It leaned towards Imogen and, tentatively, raised the other hand to waggle in the air, in imitation of her earlier greeting.
Gods, she wanted to just die right there on the spot. It was absolutely the cutest thing she’d ever seen happen. It seemed unlikely to her, in fact, that she’d ever again see something so adorable before death came to claim her. She wanted to reach out and pet the little lemurs so badly- but she’d read about this.
Above her, all across the tree Imogen was facing, more of the golden lemurs revealed themselves, blossoming from their positions in the foliage like dolphins cresting from the sea. They made a grand show of chasing each other across the trunk, chattering brightly, as more and more waved to get her attention.
With Imogen distracted, a team of lemurs began to descend from the foliage a few feet overhead. First one lemur hung off a branch by its tail, then another would clamber down, the first holding the tail of the second, and a third, and a fourth. When, at last, they neared the level of Imogen’s back, they began to gently swing, the lowest lemur surveying her for interesting things to steal. It swung closer, slowly reaching for-
”Yeah, I read all about you guys.”
A hard wooden butte, wrapped in shimmering steel, slammed into the lowest lemur’s chest, sending the entire living ladder flying wildly into the foliage all around, lemurs screaming as they flew. The path and the small grove around it filled with argent light as nova-fire blossomed from the tip of Imogen’s partisan spear. She swung it around, to keep the butt of the spear facing the other monkeys, which had begun screaming bloody murder at her.
The gold-crowned sifakas of Ecith were a fairly mysterious set of creatures, or so the guidebook had said. They fed on fruits and insects and small animals, but their primary interactions with Orkhan travelers were deceptive in nature. The little creatures had a strange love for valuables- shiny objects, glowing things, little magics, books, and all manner of such things- and they employed an unusual tactic of trying to keep their target off-guard while they pillaged at will. But although she had caught them in the act, they weren’t ready to give up without a fight.
As the lemurs began to swarm, Imogen kept her spear pointed, backwards, at the sifakas closest to her. She had no particular desire to kill the larcenous little monkeys, only to let them know that they had chosen the wrong prey. She batted another few away, backing down the path to try to get out from the middle of them, so that she could keep track of them all at once.
Whaak-whaak!
Imogen turned just in time to bat a lemur out of the air, then pivoted on her heel to hit another. As she turned back, a small, angry ball of fur slammed directly into her face- one of the lemurs had hurled its baby at her. She sputtered as the little creature dug ineffectually at her face, and reached up with one hand to tear the little sifaka off, tossing it aside before she could even consider the optics of hurling a tiny baby monkey into the jungle. Whatever, it’s not as though Franky and his newspaper were ever going to hear about this shit.
The tide of lemurs saw an opportunity, and half a dozen of the little creatures dashed down the trees to her side, running for her legs. Imogen grasped the spear firmly with two hands and reversed it, allowing the silver fire blossoming from the spearhead to sear the path as she moved it in a circular motion around her own legs, warding the sifakas back.
For a moment, it seemed to work. The monkeys drew back from the fire, staring at it intently, plainly fighting an instinct to run. As Imogen went through the exercise, spinning the spear about, she began to back down the path again. All of the lemurs had frozen, staring at the fire, and she allowed herself to hope that perhaps she had finally scared them off.
Then she felt a sudden tug at her side, and she knew she’d been had.
Imogen’s head turned just in time to see that the lemurs had re-created their living lemur ladder and surreptitiously unhooked the little hide bag which contained her guidebook and compass. The entire lemur contraption was in the process of rising back up to the trees above, where Imogen would have no hope of getting them back.
Arms still busy warding the other lemurs off, Imogen attempted a last-ditch attack by will alone. Her vision filled suddenly with light as silver flames blossomed in the air over her head, aether condensing into light, then resolving into an enormous greatsword. Imogen’s sword hung over her head, shining with a halo of nova flame, then tore upward towards the sifaka holding her looted bag.
The little lemur, having just made it to a branch with his oversized bag, looked downward to see a hunk of flaming, sharpened metal with a dozen times his own mass sailing majestically at him. The lemur’s little eyes grew wide, irises the size of saucers, and it flung itself wildly towards the tree trunk as the sword soared past.
The lemur might, perhaps, have breathed a sigh of relief as the sword sailed away- but that relief would have been short-lived indeed. The sword spun in the air, twisting from side to side before it spotted the sifaka again, and resumed its pursuit. The monkey scampered along the bough, burdened by its stolen load, running from side to side as the enormous blade took wide swipes.
The larcenous lemur continued along the tree, trying to put distance between himself and the possessed weapon giving chase. Desperation to escape raced desperation to retrieve the all-important guidebook, and…
Imogen felt sweat pour down her face as the monkey fled. The strain of dancing with a weapon increased exponentially as the aetheric tether between the pact weapon and mage grew, and she wasn’t yet all that experienced with the technique. Worse yet, she had to keep her eyes on the other lemurs, who seemed like they might be backing off, but were still watching her closely. She just needed…
The lemur thief jumped, aiming for a branch which would be well out of Imogen’s range. The sword lunged forward and…
THUNK
The lemurs finally broke, fleeing in every direction as Imogen panted. She surveyed the forest, warily, keeping her defensive stance for a few more seconds until she was sure that the sifakas weren’t engaging in another feint. Weary, she trudged over to the ground where her sword had fallen, the nova-flame burning a black outline into the brush.
All that was lying there was… a severed lemur tail. She had cleaved through the middle of the lemur’s tail, but he had only run faster. And he had taken her guidebook with him.
Imogen bent down and collected the sword and, after a moment’s hesitation, the severed tail, too.
What should she do now? Turn around? Already? No, the way ahead was simple- she just needed to follow the path and reach the river. She’d read part of the book already, maybe that would be enough to get her there? Yeah. Yeah, she was smart, she was good at defending herself.
…mostly.
No, the most pressing question- what would she tell Carina?
…managed to knock that lemur right out with my sword, and got my guidebook and compass back. Good thing, too- if he’d managed to steal those, obviously I would have had to turn back.
Still, having handled that monkey business no worse for wear, I’m confident in my chances of getting to the village in one piece.
Well, that’s all for today. I hope you’ve been having a great season!
With love,
Imogen.
The jungles of Ecith are not one single thing.
It seems obvious, read like that. Right? Of course any sufficiently large region is going to have significant differences- in biosphere, in terrain, in basic structure. But it’s easy to fall prey to stereotypes, just as it’s easy to picture any “forest” as one thing, or imagine a mountain range as some sort of platonic ideal of a group of mountains.
So, in fact, taking the word “jungle” and outputting it as “rainforest” is easy. Natural, even! To use language efficiently, it is vital that some shortcuts be taken. But “jungle” itself is a word which began as a misconception. Explorers, following the riverbanks, observed that the vast swaths of forest around them were so overgrown as to be impenetrable, and so determined that there was some fundamental difference between that environment and the dry northern forests, not considering that the land they trod was exclusively forest within a mile or so of enormous wetland and river deltas.
When you’re reading stories about tropical forests, it’s easy to picture absurdly dense, wet climates- but the forests are not just one environment, and that’s important. The wild divergence and extreme physical differences between the various species of fauna are hyper-adapted to their terrestrial environs; and so, it follows logically, the dangers present in a cloud forest or a monsoon forest are also entirely distinct. A traveler who has come prepared for the dangers of one environment might as well be totally unguarded in another. For this reason, only a very great fool or an invincible hero would enter an unknown region without guidance.
Anyway, Imogen Ward entered the jungle without a guide.
Date TBD, 122
Dear Carina,
Today I entered the fabled jungles of Ecith. I am on foot, though only temporarily, and alone due to the high fees charged by the jungle guides. However, I have purchased a compass, a map, and notes on the region, so I should be fine.
So far, the trip has been uneventful… mostly. I’ll get to that. I expected a lot in the way of jaguars from my reading, but I haven’t seen any cats- the guidebook says that the animals in this part of the forest mostly avoid the forest floor, and travel across the plants above.
I can understand why. It’s surprisingly dark down here- not cave-dark, like the warrens, but shadowy enough that it’s hard to see colors at a distance. Apparently there are multiple layers of canopies above me? I suppose I had assumed that trees would bunch together to grow at similar heights, but that’s not how these trees see things.
The darkness isn’t too much of a problem, because I was able to purchase a little lantern built for the forest. Although the brush isn’t too dense down here, I’ve been keeping to the path, which should take me all the way to one of the big rivers. I’ve been lugging a foldable canoe along, and with any luck, the river will take me quickly to Gihah K'uvfoi'uv Fi'uv.
I’m well-stocked for food, too. The people at the trading post said that Gihah is maybe nine days away, so I brought rations to last fifteen. I figure that I might travel a little more slowly than they do, so carrying a few extra days makes sense.
More concerning than the rations is the water supply. Once I hit the river, I can boil it if I need to, but the traders tell me I shouldn’t trust even boiled groundwater in the jungle. I’ve brought what should be enough to last me to the river, but you’ll never believe what happened today-
Imogen had been in the tropical forest for only about four hours when she first heard the chattering nearby.
There were sounds all around, of course, but they were relatively distant. The trader's path which cut through the jungle was broad, and few of the small mammals and lizards at the forest floor were very vocal. Birdsong, and cries from the vegitative levels above, yes, but little nearby except for the buzzing of insect wings.
So when the chattering came from directly behind her, Imogen was quick to turn. The noisemaker was easy to spot- a small, gold-colored lemur with fur so lustrous that it practically shone against the dark jungle. It sat atop a small, mossy bump on the tree, its huge golden eyes staring curiously at the Ork below it.
”Why, hello, there!”
Imogen grinned at the little monkey, giving it a gregarious, enthusiastic wave. She’d read about these in the guidebook- sifakas, they were called. The curious little creature mimicked her gesture, waving with both of its hands, wobbling precariously on its perch.
The Sunsinger chuckled at the adorable creature and blew it a kiss, then turned- only to stop in her tracks. Directly ahead of her, not ten feet away, at eye level, another golden lemur was hanging by its tail from a low bough, swinging gently from side to side. It made a cute “*Whaak whaak whaak*” cry, and Imogen giggled. She’d read about this too!
As Imogen marveled, an even smaller creature- a baby lemur! -peeked over its parent’s back and peered down at her, blinking slowly. After a moment’s hesitation, the lemur child clambered up onto the larger lemur’s belly, grasping its tail with one little black-colored hand. It leaned towards Imogen and, tentatively, raised the other hand to waggle in the air, in imitation of her earlier greeting.
Gods, she wanted to just die right there on the spot. It was absolutely the cutest thing she’d ever seen happen. It seemed unlikely to her, in fact, that she’d ever again see something so adorable before death came to claim her. She wanted to reach out and pet the little lemurs so badly- but she’d read about this.
Above her, all across the tree Imogen was facing, more of the golden lemurs revealed themselves, blossoming from their positions in the foliage like dolphins cresting from the sea. They made a grand show of chasing each other across the trunk, chattering brightly, as more and more waved to get her attention.
With Imogen distracted, a team of lemurs began to descend from the foliage a few feet overhead. First one lemur hung off a branch by its tail, then another would clamber down, the first holding the tail of the second, and a third, and a fourth. When, at last, they neared the level of Imogen’s back, they began to gently swing, the lowest lemur surveying her for interesting things to steal. It swung closer, slowly reaching for-
”Yeah, I read all about you guys.”
A hard wooden butte, wrapped in shimmering steel, slammed into the lowest lemur’s chest, sending the entire living ladder flying wildly into the foliage all around, lemurs screaming as they flew. The path and the small grove around it filled with argent light as nova-fire blossomed from the tip of Imogen’s partisan spear. She swung it around, to keep the butt of the spear facing the other monkeys, which had begun screaming bloody murder at her.
The gold-crowned sifakas of Ecith were a fairly mysterious set of creatures, or so the guidebook had said. They fed on fruits and insects and small animals, but their primary interactions with Orkhan travelers were deceptive in nature. The little creatures had a strange love for valuables- shiny objects, glowing things, little magics, books, and all manner of such things- and they employed an unusual tactic of trying to keep their target off-guard while they pillaged at will. But although she had caught them in the act, they weren’t ready to give up without a fight.
As the lemurs began to swarm, Imogen kept her spear pointed, backwards, at the sifakas closest to her. She had no particular desire to kill the larcenous little monkeys, only to let them know that they had chosen the wrong prey. She batted another few away, backing down the path to try to get out from the middle of them, so that she could keep track of them all at once.
Whaak-whaak!
Imogen turned just in time to bat a lemur out of the air, then pivoted on her heel to hit another. As she turned back, a small, angry ball of fur slammed directly into her face- one of the lemurs had hurled its baby at her. She sputtered as the little creature dug ineffectually at her face, and reached up with one hand to tear the little sifaka off, tossing it aside before she could even consider the optics of hurling a tiny baby monkey into the jungle. Whatever, it’s not as though Franky and his newspaper were ever going to hear about this shit.
The tide of lemurs saw an opportunity, and half a dozen of the little creatures dashed down the trees to her side, running for her legs. Imogen grasped the spear firmly with two hands and reversed it, allowing the silver fire blossoming from the spearhead to sear the path as she moved it in a circular motion around her own legs, warding the sifakas back.
For a moment, it seemed to work. The monkeys drew back from the fire, staring at it intently, plainly fighting an instinct to run. As Imogen went through the exercise, spinning the spear about, she began to back down the path again. All of the lemurs had frozen, staring at the fire, and she allowed herself to hope that perhaps she had finally scared them off.
Then she felt a sudden tug at her side, and she knew she’d been had.
Imogen’s head turned just in time to see that the lemurs had re-created their living lemur ladder and surreptitiously unhooked the little hide bag which contained her guidebook and compass. The entire lemur contraption was in the process of rising back up to the trees above, where Imogen would have no hope of getting them back.
Arms still busy warding the other lemurs off, Imogen attempted a last-ditch attack by will alone. Her vision filled suddenly with light as silver flames blossomed in the air over her head, aether condensing into light, then resolving into an enormous greatsword. Imogen’s sword hung over her head, shining with a halo of nova flame, then tore upward towards the sifaka holding her looted bag.
~~~
The little lemur, having just made it to a branch with his oversized bag, looked downward to see a hunk of flaming, sharpened metal with a dozen times his own mass sailing majestically at him. The lemur’s little eyes grew wide, irises the size of saucers, and it flung itself wildly towards the tree trunk as the sword soared past.
The lemur might, perhaps, have breathed a sigh of relief as the sword sailed away- but that relief would have been short-lived indeed. The sword spun in the air, twisting from side to side before it spotted the sifaka again, and resumed its pursuit. The monkey scampered along the bough, burdened by its stolen load, running from side to side as the enormous blade took wide swipes.
The larcenous lemur continued along the tree, trying to put distance between himself and the possessed weapon giving chase. Desperation to escape raced desperation to retrieve the all-important guidebook, and…
~~~
Imogen felt sweat pour down her face as the monkey fled. The strain of dancing with a weapon increased exponentially as the aetheric tether between the pact weapon and mage grew, and she wasn’t yet all that experienced with the technique. Worse yet, she had to keep her eyes on the other lemurs, who seemed like they might be backing off, but were still watching her closely. She just needed…
~~~
The lemur thief jumped, aiming for a branch which would be well out of Imogen’s range. The sword lunged forward and…
~~~
THUNK
The lemurs finally broke, fleeing in every direction as Imogen panted. She surveyed the forest, warily, keeping her defensive stance for a few more seconds until she was sure that the sifakas weren’t engaging in another feint. Weary, she trudged over to the ground where her sword had fallen, the nova-flame burning a black outline into the brush.
All that was lying there was… a severed lemur tail. She had cleaved through the middle of the lemur’s tail, but he had only run faster. And he had taken her guidebook with him.
Imogen bent down and collected the sword and, after a moment’s hesitation, the severed tail, too.
What should she do now? Turn around? Already? No, the way ahead was simple- she just needed to follow the path and reach the river. She’d read part of the book already, maybe that would be enough to get her there? Yeah. Yeah, she was smart, she was good at defending herself.
…mostly.
No, the most pressing question- what would she tell Carina?
…managed to knock that lemur right out with my sword, and got my guidebook and compass back. Good thing, too- if he’d managed to steal those, obviously I would have had to turn back.
Still, having handled that monkey business no worse for wear, I’m confident in my chances of getting to the village in one piece.
Well, that’s all for today. I hope you’ve been having a great season!
With love,
Imogen.
