Caligos Isle Loresongs

As your song touches upon the trident, your vision clouds and the bright blue of the sky at sea spreads before you. Dozens of families stand clustered in small groups upon the deck of a ship, and beyond them in the open sea are two similar vessels. Their voices are muted as they speak in quiet tones of mingled excitement and trepidation.

“Jorgethin is right,” you hear a man say, echoes of agreement rising around him. “The politics are too much. It is time we make our own way.”
Slowly, the vision fades.

Tenebrous and ethereal, the lore of the trident unfolds before you. Night has fallen upon the ship, and slumber touches upon the elven souls that ride at sea. Lanterns illuminate the faces of those that stand at watch, concern etched in their countenances.

“We need to find land soon,” a whispered voice says.

“We are trying,” counters another with resignation.

“If only this blasted mist would let us see land,” says the first.

Slowly, an indigo light obscures your vision.

Skeins of indigo and silver mist trickle across your vision as your voice reaches out towards the trident in song. Wane and sickly, the families lie in weary clusters of exhaustion and concern. Small ones rest in the laps of their elders, their faces sallow and their stomachs distended. Whispers rise amid them, curses to Charl and Niima for abandoning those that have been faithful. As the curses and denouncements take root, the mist eases and a cry from above heralds, “Land ho!” Slowly, the vision fades.

As your querying song touches upon the trident, your vision is filled with the sight of dozens of elven families carrying all that they possess upon a black sand beach and away from three vessels. Indigo and silver mist follows them, the ethereal element touching each and every person in turn. As the last crate is pulled from the vessel, and the last elven foot touches the island’s sandy shore, a wave swathed in shadows crashes into the ships and scatters their timbers upon the shores. The vision slips away…

As you sing to the trident, your vision is filled with dozens of faces as they turn towards the shoreline, debris littering its dark sands. Indigo eels with silver eyes swim at the water’s edges, collecting and pushing the broken bits of wood towards the shore, and as they do, a voice fills your ears.

“My children,” it says. “Come to me. I am your Salvation and will save you from the Curse of Charl, the Lies of Niima. Lay aside your weapons and know peace on Caligos.”

The vision slips away…

Actions on the trident.

gaze tri
You gaze at the blade of your vaalorn trident, your mind wandering as you contemplate the battles that lie ahead of you. Slowly, the image of a small island enshrouded in mist appears within the vaalorn, and you hear a faint calling.

“Lay aside your weapons, and know peace on Caligos Isle.”

Blinking, you pull your gaze away.

rub tri
Your eyes slip closed as you rub your thumb across the haft of your trident. Faintly, as if coming to you on a distant wind, you hear a cajoling voice promise peace and salvation. “On Caligos Isle,” it says to you, and you briefly feel weary of battle.

tilt tri
You tilt your vaalorn trident in and out of the ambient light, causing silver and indigo mist to trail through the air.

wave tri
You slice your vaalorn trident through the air, the sound of crashing waves following in the wake of its whistle.

Ebon Gate 5117 in GemStoneIV
Caligos Island
Discovery: The Lintel’s Song (above the Pawnshop’s Exterior Door)

look lint
Scrubbed clean of oceanic debris, the lintel is darkened on the edges and displays multiple waterlines. Sea salt encrusts the edges despite the thick scours of brush marks upon the stone facing. Freshly carved words stand out upon the lintel.

There appears to be something written on it.

read lint
In the Common language, it reads:
Pawnshop

sense
You sense the threads of history resonating within a warped alder lintel.

As you sing to a warped alder lintel, your vision begins to shift and swirl until it resolves into a vibrant green forest. The sound of crashing comes from somewhere far off, and you watch as brush all around you shakes and quivers. A pair of figures plunge through the foliage and stand over a fallen alder tree, its trunk easily three men around in girth. One of them points, a look of pride stretched across his features, and says something to the other. You try to make out the words, but the vision fades away.

The harsh sound of sawing fills your ears as you sing to a warped alder lintel, and slowly, your vision dissolves into a workroom where the large alder tree is being stripped of its bark. Time seems to move rapidly through the area as figures shift in and out of the scene, all the while, the alder trunk is being reshaped and changed by elven hands until it finally forms a smooth keel. Ribs are attached to it, planks and iron, too. As your vision fades, you see a fully formed caravel sitting in the workspace.

Your tune of inquiry triggers a response in a warped alder lintel causing rain to slant across your vision. Dozens of elves lay upon the deck of a caravel, their bodies withered and their children’s stomachs distended with hunger. They cry out for salvation and as they do, an indigo and silver mist guides them to a small island. As they clamor over the sides of the vessel into the spongy soft sands, a wave smashes mercilessly into the vessel causing it to shatter upon the beach. The vision fades away.

Your song of inquiry touches upon a warped alder lintel, and the sound of the ocean lapping at a shore comes to your ears. Slowly, the image of a beach appears before you, and you see scattered timber rocking back and forth in the waves. A young elf runs up to a large piece that looks to be an alder keel, and yells over his shoulder to an elven man. You recognize this man from your previous visions, though he is older now. Grinning, he calls others to help him move the keel. Slowly, the image fades.

Time slips across your vision as a warped alder lintel shares its final tale with you. You see a keel lifted from a beach, carried to a building carved of stone, and fitted as a lintel. It sits there through a season, maybe two, and you watch the passage of time in wonder. Something disrupts its tranquility, and it is dislodged from its resting place only to be plunged into the ocean. Ages pass as it begins to rot, becoming a home to barnacles, until the lintel rises to the surface once more.

Ebon Gate 5117 in GemStoneIV
Caligos Island
Discovery: The Ancient Oak’s Song, near the bank

sense
You sense the threads of history resonating within an ancient leafless oak.

Your vision fills with stratus clouds as they swirl past you, the wisps thinning, and you wake from a deep slumber. You feel the comfort of your skin, your true real home, around you and, just as you decide to return to slumber, you feel a sickening coldness lance into you. The sense of falling overtakes you, and you hear the cry of a bird somewhere above you. That must be how you ended up in the sky, some avian adventure, but it is short lived and your vision abruptly returns to normal.

You sing to an ancient leafless oak and you are filled with the strangest sensations. The sun above is warm, the land damp, and rich with minerals from nearby volcanic flows. Wind sends you tumbling helplessly across the land and you slip into a crack, but you decide that it is time to wake from your slumber and shed your skin. Stretching your fingers into the deep, dark ground, you seek out nutrients, and then you begin to grow. Slowly, your vision unfurls to reveal an island wreathed in mist, but then it fades away.

Indigo and silver mist trickle across your vision, and from somewhere far off you hear children playing. It seems to have been years since you landed upon this island and you have watched it change from volcanic rock and debris, to a landscape filled with homes and families. The mists no longer bother you, your leaves reflect their color, and you are at peace here. Thunder and the sound of rising waves suddenly blot out the sun, and as your vision fades, the laughter of children turns to cries of fear.

Coldness greets you, and your vision is filled with a murky darkness that seems to be your new norm. Hints of sunlight play through the water, but they are far from you, and you feel yourself slowly starving. You miss the laughter of the children as they played around you, dancing in your leaves as they fell, and still mourn at the memory of their strangled, gurgling deaths. Kelp is your friend now, but it does not frolic so much as strangle and choke. Slowly, your vision fades away.

Plunging in and out of darkness, you feel the world around you transform and water begins to sluff off of you in torrents. The air feels different, colder than you remembered, and your trunk feels strangled by the kelp that has come to the surface with you. Fish riddle the ground, their gills flaring as they struggle to breathe and their bodies twisting in odd arcs as they gasp out their last. Your return to the land and sky seems ill fated, but at least the sun is here, and it warms your fading vision.

Ebon Gate 5117 in GemStoneIV
Caligos Isle
Discovery: The story of the half-desiccated carcass in the Walrus and The Carpenter Shop

sense
You sense the threads of history resonating within a half-desiccated carcass.

Silver light floods your vision as the querying notes of your song touch upon the carcass, and all around you the world transforms to an aquatic scene of the ocean floor. You find yourself swimming through the cool waters, sunlight falling in long lines through the gently rollicking waters above, and you are filled with a deep joy to be in your home. Schools of fish dart past, and you pursue them with abandon. Slowly, your vision returns to normal.

Your vision swims with azure and silver light, and ribbons of glistening water pass you at high speeds. A large presence at your side, a pack mate or perhaps your mother, nudges you away from a darkness near the bottom of the sea and you push yourself to the surface. Blessed, clean air filters through the blow hole in your head, your lungs flooding with the great breath you’ve inhaled. Around you, others break the surface, too, and you revel in the presence of your pack. Slowly, the vision fades.

Darkness descends upon your vision as you sing to the carcass, the world around you fading. You begin to investigate a sparkling light and, feeling suddenly alone, glance about with worry for your pack mates. A pair of eels swims to your side, and whispers to you that there is nothing to fear. They speak to you of salvation, of promise, and of becoming more. Comforted by their words, you drift deeper into the shadows, and a darker presence looms over you. Your vision darkens as you begin to suffocate.

Indigo mist and darkness trickles across your vision, their presence unwelcoming and unkind. Though you know that long ago your body died, you feel connected to the rough ground that your body is bound to. Seaweed has begun to grow through your lifeless body, barnacles begin to use you as dinner, and the eels have returned. They dance around you, taunting and unkind. You feel the dark presence, and it offers you a promise of the sun, but only if you submit. Your vision returns to normal.

Water slips across your vision, the darkness slowly lightening and the sun returning it. You feel as if you have lifted, somehow, from your water grave, and yet, still seem to be deeply imbedded upon the sea floor. The water flows away, and the warm sun bakes your desiccated body. You are his now, on his island, used for his design. One day you will find salvation, but trapped in your body, you do not feel that it will be today. Slowly, with much effort, you pull your vision back to the natural world.

huh. I have “a vaalorn broadsword dangling blue-corded tassels” that has the exact same loresong as the trident. It also has special information in the Analyze, which may shed some light on who the elves are in the loresong:

You analyze your vaalorn broadsword and sense that the creator has provided the following information:

This is an Ashrim vaalorn broadsword, and it has a loresong with some history of Caligos Isle attached to it. You may alter this weapon freely, but please keep in mind that it should remain elven in nature.

You accept Warclaidh’s offer and are now holding an oiled aquamarine case.
Note: Inside the case was a master-quality instrument, “a silver-inlaid bowlback mandolin,” with +3 ML:Manipulation Ranks, +3 Mental Mana Control Ranks, and +3 Harness Power Ranks

Verse One:
Joining the threads of your song, the case yields to your song of inquiry and shares its song. Swirling grey mistsslip across your vision, and you find yourself sitting upon a deck that is wrapped in a miasma of fog and soaking rains. You hug the case to your chest with one hand, while the other brushes damp tresses from your brow, and you feel a frown tug at the corners of your lip. A woman comes into your view.

“You’ll need to put her up, minstrel,” she says, a tinge of regret in her voice. “We’ll need even the soft hands if we are to come out of this.”

As she moves away, your vision begins to return to normal.

Verse Two:
As your song touches upon the case, you immediately feel it being changed from one of inquiry into the rhythmic drone of a working song.

 "The mist is rising, and the tides be low,
  Heave away, Sally, heave her just so.
  They be waiting so patient on the Captain's behalf,
  Heave away, Sally, heave off ye gaff."

The song continues on, but a familiar voice at your ear says, “That a boy, I’ll make a sailor of you yet.”

Slowly, the rhythm of the song fades around you.

Verse Three:
Moonlight slants across your vision as you gaze at the case, and momentarily blinds you. When your vision clears you find yourself on the familiar deck of a ship that is gently gliding through the waves. The bright silver of a full moon is reflected on the water, and the soft glow of lanterns strung across the deck gives the vessel an almost ethereal cast. Moving towards you is the female sailor from previous visions, and her lips are quirked in a half grin as she watches you stifle a yawn.

“Don’t worry,” she says in a teasing voice. “You’ll get to sleep in on the morn, but first you must survive the night shift.”

Laughing, she dances away from you, and the moonlight reflects in a dazzling array off her silver-blonde hair and briefly blinds you once more.Naamit’s eyes sparkle with silver light as she sings to the case.

Verse Four:
As your song touches upon the case, you hear the soft laughter of a familiar voice at your ear. Her words are difficult to understand, but their meaning is clear in the teasing tone of her voice. You find yourself replying, your laughter falling from your lips in a rich tenor. Slowly, the sound recedes, but not before you hear yourself saying, “I think I love you.”

Verse Five:
Your voice touches an oiled aquamarine case, and almost instantly, your tongue dries up in your mouth, and sweat moistens your brow. Your vision blurs and then settles upon the now familiar deck, but this time it is incredibly crowded as if every sailor is present. Faces are drawn and tight as you move through the crowd, and you quickly find your way to the side of the conversant female sailor. She turns to you, her features slack and tears standing out in her eyes.

“What is it?” you find yourself asking.

“Our home,” she says to you as she throws her arms around your neck. Continuing into your shoulder, you can hear her say through her sobs, “The House of Faendryl has destroyed our home. We are lost.”

Your heart clenches in your chest, but you whisper reassuringly to her, “As long as you are with me, you are home.”

Slowly, the vision fades away.

Verse Six:
Your song reaches out to the case, and a sense of deep weariness fills you. Once again, you find yourself upon the decks of a vessel that is heavily obscured by waves of fog and mist. You cradle the case close to your body as a voice above cries out, “Brace for land!” Silver mist falls upon you like a wet, heavy blanket, and you lurch as the sound wood being split asunder fills the air. The woman from before comes running towards you and pulls you to your feet, practically draggin you from the deck of the boat. You hurtle over the rails behind her and plunge into the cold sea. Darkness briefly eclipses your vision.

Verse Seven:
You reach out with an inquiring tune to the case, it latches onto you like a drowning man. The song of the case pulls you down until your vision grows dark, and you feel like your lungs might explode from lack of air. Just as sunspots begin to fill your vision, the air rushes back in, and you find yourself crawling across the jagged stones of a desolate beach. Debris litters the ground around you, and you feel a brief return of the panic as you look at the woman you love, who is curled upon her side further up the beach. Struggling for breath, you somehow manage to make your way to her side and gently brush the hair from her face.

Her breath spills from her lips, and you find yourself humbled by the flood of emotions that pour through you. Lowering your head, you offer a silent prayer of thanks to Niima. The woman rolls over, and cradled to her chest is an oiled aquamarine case.

Your vision slowly fades.

Verse Eight:
Soft is the song that rises to you from the case as you sing your tune of inquiry to it. Gone is the beach, the sea, and the ship. Each is replaced with forests, silvery mists, and the shape of a house made of teak. A railing that looks suspiciously familiar encircles a Widow’s Walk upon the top of the abode, and an anchor occupies a spot near an herb garden at the front. Your gaze traces the lines of what you’ve created, and you hear yourself saying, “He has saved us.”

Turning, you look to the woman from earlier visions, and she is gazing at you uneasily, her eyes drifting past you to the seas.

Laying your hand upon her shoulder, you say with sincerity, “I’m so sorry, but the seas are lost to us, now. Charl has turned his eye from us and we must now turn our eyes to Him. He is our salvation.” Slowly, the vision fades.

Verse Nine:
As you sing to an oiled aquamarine case, the scent of the ocean rises to reach you, and you hear the light sound of a tenor singing rise to your ears.

• Note: What’s interesting about the case is that it pegs the Ashrim’s arrival to the island after the Faendryl War, meaning the inhabitants of Caligos Island were survivors of the war. I don’t believe any of the other items definitively pinpointed the inhabitants as survivors, versus say… lost vacationers, or Ashrim defectors from some earlier political schism.

Also, on those weapons – Here is the third-person messaging in case anyone’s interested:

Naamit sings something discordantly in Guildspeak that you don’t understand.
The vaalorn falchion seems to respond to the magic of Naamit’s song.
As Naamit sings to the falchion, you hear her suddenly say, “Jorgethin is right. The politics are too much. It is time we make our own way.”

Naamit sings something discordantly in Guildspeak that you don’t understand.
The vaalorn falchion seems to respond to the magic of Naamit’s song.
Naamit’s song of inquiry touches upon the falchion and as it comes to an end, you hear her whisper, “If only this blasted mist would let us see land.”

Naamit sings something discordantly in Guildspeak that you don’t understand.
The vaalorn falchion seems to respond to the magic of Naamit’s song.
As Naamit sings to the falchion, the sound of curses can be heard, though their source seems to be the subject of the inquiring song.

Naamit sings something discordantly in Guildspeak that you don’t understand.
The vaalorn falchion seems to respond to the magic of Naamit’s song.
Shadows ripple across the falchion as Naamit sings to it.

Naamit sings something discordantly in Guildspeak that you don’t understand.
The vaalorn falchion seems to respond to the magic of Naamit’s song.
Naamit begins to sing to the falchion but slowly stops.

Naamit sings something discordantly in Guildspeak that you don’t understand.
The vaalorn falchion seems to respond to the magic of Naamit’s song.
Naamit begins to sing to the falchion but slowly stops.

the loresong on the weapons comes off to me that they are refugees. They left during the war, or immediately before.

Refugee may be a better term for it than survivor. In any event, the loresong on the case indicates they learned of Ta’Ashrim’s falling while still on the boat, which puts their arrival on Caligos Isle in the first century of the modern era (5000 years ago).

A few asides:
1) How long they were on the boats remains to be seen, but the weapon loresongs don’t specifically mention mass casualty from famine, new babes born, generations, dwindling numbers, nor eons, so they may have been at sea just a few short months.
2) I’m curious to find out whether our new friend Ghezresh is actually lurking demon landmine left by some crafty Faendryl. Wouldn’t that be fun?

That ancient oak song is freaky and awesome. Something about a tidal wave submerging the island maybe?