Day 1- Home Base established on Herringbone Atoll; it's bare-bones and lacks creature comforts, but it's serviceable. The few survivors of the storm—
myself,
Heracles, and
Haupuku—were the only inhabitants at first. Soon after we'd lit a fire and settled ourselves, a stranger calling himself
Zero turned up on a pitifully small little craft, offering skills and knowledge in exchange for a place to stay. He's frankly a bit annoying with his prattling on and obsession with those books, but he's made himself quite useful with his knowledge. He's even helped Heracles fine-tune his medical skills, which is certainly going to be invaluable. These seas are not kind.
Day 2- Fortification of Home Base is going well. Everyone's a fair bit rattled from our ordeal, understandably—except Zero, who keeps rambling about mushrooms, of all things. He keeps begging me to enchant his ridiculous book collection so it can't get soaked. Why he took a library in his pack on a
sea voyage, I'll never know. Perhaps I'll humor him.
I announced to the group that we needed to make a trip back to the Old Kingdom today. Haupuku damn near bit me at the suggestion, snapping some superstitious nonsense before scuttling off back into whatever reef cave they've been skulking in. Strange dragon, they are. Heracles was hesitant at first, but when I laid out my reasoning—both collecting resources and taking care of the dead, particularly our fallen Imperial kin—he quickly agreed. Zero invited himself along for whatever reason, of course. At least he's decent on the battlefield.
The trip was, thankfully, uneventful. The most exciting part was scaring off a pack of looters going through the old treasury; they were small enough that Heracles simply hissed at them and they scattered. Idiots.
We've collected most of the valuables and useful resources we had to leave behind in the storm. Much of it is soaked or torn, but the salvage will still be invaluable for our new kingdom. Most importantly, I saved our banner. It'll soon be flying proudly above Herringbone Atoll; while we'll never be the Old Kingdom, we're most certainly its successors.
Day 3- Celebration! Today's fishing trip turned up an unusually massive haul. It should feed us for weeks, even with the impromptu feast we've held. It's certainly been hard building a clan from the ground up, but this gathering fills me with hope for the future. We've certainly had some rough spots when coming together, but we're all united under one banner now.
The clan has grown further! Apparently, word of our camp has spread; a trader from Fire stopped by, looking to sell her metalworkings. She introduced herself as
Dublin, and after hearing a brief version of our tale, explained that she's in a similar situation. Her own coastal lair was destroyed by the same storm, and she's been trying to trade her unneeded possessions off to lighten her burden and fund a new lair. I offered her—and her Serthis friend—a place to stay; they both readily agreed, and our clan has grown by two. Her metalworking skills will certainly be invaluable if we can get a smithy arranged; for now, her Fire magic has made it much easier to keep the hearth going. Her friend, Runar, had a rough start adjusting to aquatic life, but he's begun exploring the reefs and practicing spear-fishing. I'm surprised at how well Serthis can swim.
Dublin and Haupuku are getting along like a house on fire. While Haupuku has largely dropped their strange habit of playing with venomous animals, after an animated discussion they've passed on this torch of madness to Dublin. We did manage to retrieve some of Haupuku's old beakers and jars of whatsits when we salvaged things from the Old Kingdom, and they've started sharing these science trinkets with Dublin. I can only hope that she doesn't blow up the atoll or poison herself with her concoctions.
Day 4- Horrible day. Horrible. Nearly went far worse.
Heracles and I set about charting some of the local waters, taking note of landmarks and potential resources. We happened upon a massive shipwreck nearby; even we could fit completely inside. Heracles warned against exploring it without backup, but I wanted to take a look anyway—foolish, foolish,
foolish. I didn't even bother Seeing ahead if this would end badly, I just stuck my
dumb snout in there—directly into a nest of hungry Abyss Strikers. I should have died; Heracles nearly did pulling my sorry self out of there. Thankfully, his first aid skills helped us keep it together until we made it back to the atoll.
No more adventures for a little while, I think.
Day 5- Construction of the lair is going well. With everyone not born of the sea granted a Water charm, we've begun excavating and cleaning up some of the larger sea caves within the atoll to set up shop in more permanently, reserving the small above-ground space for the few activities that can't be done underwater. Finally having a solid home has settled some of the tension in the group, but there's still the occasional argument and snapped word. Haupuku, at least, has somewhat calmed down; they've become very close indeed with Dublin. I think they'll be good for each other.
A young Mirror calling himself
Deri turned up on the atoll today. He seemed surprised to find anyone here, and explained his situation; he's gotten separated from his pod, and sustained a worrying number of injuries while on his own. He'd simply intended to rest and recollect himself on the atoll, but since he's stumbled into our clan, we've invited him to stay and make use of our medical supplies as long as he needs. While chances are he'll do as Mirrors do and leave once his injuries are healed, I don't think I'd mind him sticking around.
Day 6- Rejoice! Heracles and I's first nest of younglings has hatched. All are healthy and lively, thank the Tidelord. We've named them
August,
Bay, and
Trace. I hope to see them grow strong, and perhaps one day take my place as ruler here. I do my best, but I fear that even with my powers I'm unfit to lead.
Deri's condition has degraded, unfortunately. He's spent most of today sleeping off a painkilling draught, courtesy of Heracles. We haven't known him long, but I think he's really grown on all of us.
Zero and Dublin made a trip out to a nearby coastal town to purchase supplies, and returned with two curious travellers from Lightning. They've been roaming the continent together in search of a suitable clan to call home, and after a conversation with our two they followed along. I've welcomed them with open arms; while eventually we should probably start being more picky about who we allow in, for now we're just trying to get a solid clan going.
Lazzaro and
Rubato will make fine clanmates, even if Lazzaro keeps zapping everything whenever their electronics are on. I've suggested they turn them off when undersea; while they looked deeply affronted, they agreed it would be best
not to fry the reef.
Disastrous. Heracles took the newcomers out for a bit of combat training in the reef, and, well. Rubato got separated, and by the time the group got back to her, she'd been ambushed by an Igueel. Heracles tried his best, but she'd been stung multiple times, and the venom acted too quickly...
Lazzaro is, understandably, deeply shaken.
Since the loss of Rubato, Lazzaro has thrown themselves into combat training, sparring with Heracles for hours on end. Now, they can consistently defeat him. They've largely shed their electronic gadgets and donned armor, for their new role as a defender of the kingdom.
Day 7- A worrisome start to the day. The hatchlings snuck off to play near the drop-off—where they
aren't supposed to be—and Bay somehow got separated. Searching the area her siblings saw her go has been fruitless; while I hope she'll turn up, I know the odds are grim. Keeping August and Trace close.
Somehow, the day has gone
worse. The largest Deeprealm Hunter I've ever seen in my life did its damndest to get into the atoll; it couldn't fit, but Zero was close enough to it that he managed to get attacked by it. We all thought he was done for, but Haupuku did...
something, and Zero popped back up, right as rain.
I still don't know what they did to save him; Zero seems both deeply shaken and... weaker, somehow.
I think it'd be wise to shore up our defenses.
To take my mind off things, I went on a hunting trip with Heracles. Zero, of course, once again invited himself along. It went smoothly; other than a school of Maren lurking off to the side watching us, nothing exciting happened for once. We've brought back a healthy supply of fish, and I grabbed a couple of trinkets from the sea-floor. A dragon must maintain her hoard, after all.
A group of our dragons went on a routine trading trip today, and came back with a surprise; a stowaway! After Lazzaro cracked open one of the supply crates we recieved, a Fae dragon popped out, of all things. She announced her presence and introduced herself as
Taina, ignoring all questions as to how and why she was in a
crate and instead declaring herself as a master fortune-teller. I, for one, am
extremely skeptical of any prophetic powers a
Plague dragon might have, but she's won over the others. I don't have the heart to kick her out now.
Day 8- Lazzaro and Heracles took the new girl out for some training. She's still a bit unsteady, but she's become far more skilled at using her Plague magic. I was a bit concerned she would give us some sort of disease, but she's assured us all that she has enough control over it. I've personally never seen a Plague mage in action before now; it's a bit unsettling, honestly.
Lazzaro and Heracles ran into a hostile school of Maren while on a routine patrol of our waters today. Heracles had only some scratches, but Lazzaro was considerably wounded. They'll need to spend a bit of time at home base to rest and recover.
A visitor arrived at the atoll today; a Gaoler showed up, asking about any unusual activity from local wildlife or Beastclan. She says her name is
Avaritia, and she's hunting Shade-touched beasts in the area. She'd heard of our clan—it's lovely to hear that word of us has spread—and wanted to scope out our territory. She seems like the helpful sort, and I've invited her and her strange little Kitsune friend to stay here as long as they need. The local animals and Beastclan do seem unusually hostile; perhaps they've got that Shade whatsit in them, and she'll make all our lives easier stamping that out. Haupuku is deeply suspicious of her, but then again they're deeply suspicious of everyone who's ever lived. I've told them they should relax a bit, but whenever I do that they look like they're debating whether they should bite my ankles or pack up their possessions and flee into the ocean.
Dublin miscalculated some potion whatsit and scorched off a good amount of her fur. She's declared that, she is, to quote, "done burning all my hair off and nearly poisoning myself on a daily basis," and has retired from alchemy. A relief; I genuinely feared she was going to kill someone by accident doing that chemistry nonsense. She's decided to take up work as an ambassador, seeking new members for our clan. I think that's a grand idea, personally; we can always use an extra set of paws around here.
Chaos! Chaos, I say! Lazzaro and Dublin, for some unfathomable reason, tried to
kill each other. I wasn't there for most of it, but the others say it began when Dublin was pestering Lazzaro while they were napping; regardless of the reasoning, the outcome was this: Lazzaro swung first, Dublin significantly burned them with fire-breath in retaliation, and Lazzaro, well. They're a trained knight, and far bigger; they caught Dublin with a swing, and she went
down.
After the fight stopped and we were all trying to process what had just happened, Haupuku, of all dragons, swooped in to pull Dublin's body off to the side. While everyone was distracted, they did
something and Dublin just... got back up. Just stood up, as if her neck wasn't just
broken not five minutes before.
Apparently
this is what Haupuku has been doing since they dropped alchemy; gods-damned
necromancy. I suppose this is how they saved Zero, too...
Haupuku has gone off to hide somewhere in the lair with Dublin. I think the both of them had better lie low; Lazzaro still looks to be positively fuming. I'm certainly going to stay out of their way.
Day 9- Today has not been a good day. I came down with a horrible sickness soon after eating the day's first meal; Heracles says it was probably due to spoilt food, but I feel I have to suspect foul play. I've spent the day resting and mulling over my circumstances.
I
never should have taken this position. I was a
librarian, for Tidelord's sake; just because I've got decent magic doesn't mean I can rule a damn clan! It's a miracle we haven't lost more dragons than we already have. I'm not fit to rule; hell, someone certainly thinks so if I've been
poisoned. Glancing into the future chills me to the bone; if I carry on trying to play ruler, I won't survive the year.
I'm stepping down. I can't do this. I tried, but I'm just not fit for politics. Heracles has been an invaluable advisor to me; he always says he'd be a great leader, and I have to agree. I've passed the Crown to him. It's best I fade into the background for a while.
Maybe I'll spend some time socializing with my clanmates; now that I'm their equal, perhaps it'll be less awkward. I have been very curious about how exactly Haupuku's necromancy business works.
