4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

Shaking off the cold of her last endeavor, Athryiena skips like rays of the sun across the water to a chain of small Islands in the west. She decides to make these her summer home, and starts building.

She takes a handful of seas shells out of her hair and throws them at the first, larger island. Rocks spring up from the ground, creating small hills and dips in the island. In the center, she builds one larger hill, which lords over the rest. On the coast, she creates small cliffs interspersed with pebbled stretches of beach. She walks to and fro, and where she steps flowers and plants spring up. Orchids, Cliff Roses, Eucalyptus Trees and Juniper emerge. On the second island, a cedar forest springs up, spreading the luscious smell of wood and life out across the sea.

The air around the islands becomes warm, and arid. The wind sweeps across the ocean and caresses the rocks. Athryiena laughs, and attracted by her infectious happiness, animals appear everywhere. Rabbits, weasels, birds and snakes; wolves and huge bears come to inhabit this new and happy place. All manner of beast came, tame and wild. In the caves of the rocky forest island, underground panthers made their home. Nothing evil lived here.

Athryiena now turned her attentions to the sea. Diving under the water, she placed her shells in the sand and coral sprang up. In the sea surrounding the islands many colorful, bright and intricate coral reefs emerged. Teeming with life, these reefs are home to many animals and serve as ocean nurseries. Jellyfish, sharks and sting rays prowl around the edges, for all life is necessary in a balanced world—prey and predator alike. In the distance, whales can be heard singing.

Looking around Athryiena decides to stay awhile.

[Shape Land M6/M7; two rocky islands close together with pebble beaches and coral reefs; 6 points]

[Shape Climate M6/M7; an arid, sunny environ; 4 points]

The masked figure appears briefly, hopping from place to place around the world, giving impressed whistles at the works of the others, each time departing as quickly as the figure came with a few taps of the gnarled cane it carries.

It’s not long before the figure returns to the cliffs, admiring the new landscape from the top even as clouds gather overhead. After a moment’s consideration, the figure twirls its cane and strolls casually down the sheer vertical face of the cliff, keeping its spectacles from sliding off of its’ mask’s nose with a single, gloved finger as it walks. It stops a few times to give the birds nesting on the cliffs a curious examination before continuing down to the barren land at the base of the cliffs.

The figure cranes its neck to stare up into the clouds, then starts tapping its cane against the ground again. This time, however, the figure does not vanish when the cane touches the ground for the third time. Instead, it strikes the ground with a sound like thunder that echoes up and down the cliffs, then rebounds up towards the clouds, where thunder cracks again with a terrible flash of thunder. The cane comes back down amid the first, fat raindrops. The masked figure holds its hand up casually to snatch its cane out of the sky, vanishing without a trace just as the first raindrops hit the ground, the start of a long, torrential downpour all up and down the coast between the sea and the great cliff-face.

[Shape Climate for Seasonal Rains on R8 and S9. 9 - 4 = 5 points remaining.]

Map notes:
C9 - cold tundra
C10 - cold tundra
G12 - cold, foggy, and windy
G15 - barrier reef; sea monster
G16 - arid and hot; glowthorn plant
G17 - arid and hot; glowthorn plant
H4 - swaying plants and trees
H5 - swaying plants and trees; 400’ tall tree
H15 - barrier reef; sea monster
H16 - barrier reef; sea monster
K7 - warm and humid
M6 - arid and sunny; pebble beaches and coral reefs
M7 - arid and sunny; pebble beaches and coral reefs
P13 - single huge, bare rock mountain
R8 - seasonal rains
S9 - seasonal rains

Named things:
G12 - Cloudsong Cliffs
H17 - Mount Gebble
H18 - Waobnoen Peak
I5 - Neledi River
J6 - Neledi River
K7 - Neledi River

Current points: (bonus points for low totals are factored in already)
lightsreveal: 9 (+3 for ending last round with 5 or fewer)
sirtayls: 13 (+3 for ending last round with 5 or fewer)
No Int: 11 (+3 for ending last round with 5 or fewer)
Aranan: 17 (+3 for ending last round with 5 or fewer)
Jackelope King: 14 (+3 for ending last round with 5 or fewer)

Kailio rips a final expanse of mountain out of the coastline and then slows, pausing in his outburst to watch Torin wander about his island. Satisfied that one of the others took some interest, his fury cools and he grins. He chooses a patch of untouched earth between his vast mountains and the new dry hills, and topples a smaller mountain over into many mountains, smaller still. He then kicks a dry hill apart and watches the dirt, steam, and sand spray across the stunted mountains.

He forms a large gear from nothing and attaches a large crank to it. Fitting the gear onto the jumble of landforms, he twists it once, twice, three times, and wrenches the mess into shape. The dry, hot lands mix with his cooler mountains and form a staggered terrain, beautiful to look upon. The hot lands slowly give way to badlands, where rocky spires jut toward the sky and arrange themselves in long corridors where only the shortest of grass and the sparsest of shrubs grow. These stack and cluster until they form the mountains themselves and reconnect with the massive range.

Wild cats creep out of the crevasses to leap upon any of myriad strange creatures that now wander throughout the badlands. The feral nasties of the mountains slowly begin to filter downhill and intermingle with the ecology, creating a long food chain.

[Shape Land: Mountains and Reef in F15; Shape Land: slight extension of hot/arid lands and erect Badlands and Mountains in G18; 11 - 6 = 5]

Llewellyn looks at the world and loves his tree most of all still.  He is oblivious of any other beings and cares not of anything else it would seem.  He decides that it needs company and creates a very dense forest in the surrounding areas.

He takes a leaf from his tree and begins to rip it into pieces.  The shreds fall to the ground and become tress themselves, though none as great as the original.  He repeats the process one, twice, thrice more. 

Llewellyn looks up to find a vast forest surrounding his tree. 

[shape land: dense forest in G6, H6, I6, 9 points]

Torin walks and the world blurs beneath his feet. When he comes to a stop, he stands east of Llewellyn’s freshly created dense forest of the north-western continent. His cloak pools around him as he kneels down. With cupped hands, he scoops a handful of the lifeless soil and lets it cascade between his fingers back down. The soil changes as it falls, becoming damp and dark, full of nutrients.

The god pushes himself to his feet and brushes the soil from his hands as water bubbles up from the ground. A swampy marsh slowly begins to take shape. Trees with twisting roots sprout and push up through the water while algae turns the water’s surface a deep shade of green. Dark shapes swim through mazes of roots while other creatures glide branch-to-branch among the trees.

Torin’s next destination is the southern outcropping on the north-eastern continent--the one rapidly becoming encircled with rocky mountains. Once more he kneels down and runs the soil through his hands. Once more it takes on a rich, dark color. This time, however, Torin calls the water down from the sky. Torrential downpours soak the area. Before long, a lush rainforest takes hold of the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea.

[Shape Land on G7, G8; Swamp; 6 points]
[Shape Climate on G7, G8; humid subtropical; 4 points]
[Shape Land and Climate on I17; Tropical rainforest; 5 points]

It was time to create a place for mysterious things. Clandestine and unseen things. Athryiena threw a handful of coral at the unsculpted shore; everywhere a fragment hit earth was pushed back into the shore creating caves in imposing grey stone. The caves were deep and many. Some of the caves had small bays inside and passages connecting to a deeper, more intricate system. The shoreline itself was altered, dipping in to create secret coves. The cliffs above the caves jutted well out into the ocean, giving the appearance of a straight drop-off composed wholly of grey stone.
Backing the cliffs, a lush and deep forest grew. Little light filtered through this wild tangle. Birds and beasts lived here in abdundance. In the caves below the forest, giant grey lizards lived. With a keen sense of smell, vicious teeth and deadly eyes, these stone lizards were fierce predators who never left the trail of its prey.
Climbing up the cliff with delicate and quick movements, Athryiena quickly reached the top. Stepping into the forest, she contemplated her dress, and her shift turned from the silver-green of the ocean to a deep berry-red color. She pulled some branches from a nearby silos tree and neatly constructed a bow. She took wood from neighboring yew and cedar trees, combining the two to make arrows.
Collecting some owl feathers from her newly made forest, Athryiena braided her hair and tied the ends with some leather cord and the feathers.
As the sun set in the distance, Athryiena started running. It was time to leave the pebbled shores and explore the vast interior of the newly birthed world.

Shape land: K8,K9. Deep caves that open to the water, and hidden coves sculpted into the land. Sudding dropping cliffs on top of the caves, backed by lush, dense forests. Total points: 6)

As the rains die down for the first time in centuries, the masked figure appears once again, pressing an ear to the cliffs, still slick with rainwater as they are. The figure taps at the cliffs with the gnarled head of its cane, then takes a few steps and raps again, apparently searching for something.

At long last, the “tap tap” of the cane is replaced by a hollow “thunk” and the figure in the mask hops backwards, apparently delighted as it tucks its cane under its arm to adjust its gloves before it gets to work. The rocks of the cliff stumble apart as the the figure strains to reach for something. The earth wrinkles and great ridges form to either side of the cliffs until they reach the sea, and he cleft in the cliff grows wider and deeper until at last, the figure’s fingers chance upon their prize. The masked figure cups its treasure carefully in its hands, peeking between its fingers before doing a little dance of joy, then tossing its gaze from side to side, as if afraid that something might find the treasure it just worked so hard for.

Before anyone can make out the masked figure’s prize, it pulls the trinket close to its chest, then tucks it away beneath its cloak. It peers about again with the same jerky way a bird might, and once satisfied that it is alone, the figure does another happy little dance, clapping its hands and spinning in place rather excitedly.

And then there’s an ominous rumble from behind the masked figure, from the highest point of the cliffs. The figure cranes its head upwards and then arcs its back to watch as the cleft it made in the cliff suddenly splits open and the rocks come crashing down, forcing the figure to hop and dodge and run madly to avoid being crushed by the giant rocks that smash the rain-soaked land, and then go bouncing and rolling down towards (and in some cases into) the sea itself. The poor masked figure barely escapes numerous close calls before the avalanche subsides.

When it finally does, the masked figure stops cowering, and looks around nervously, peeking out from behind one of the giant boulders. It hurriedly taps its cane against the ground twice, disappearing before the cane touches the earth a third time.

[Shape Land: Grassland Cliffs @Q7 & S10, from the existing cliffs to the sea, with rocks littering the coastal side of the cliffs. Adding similarly huge boulders to S9. 14 points - 9 points = 5 points left.]