Chapter 8-228: The Traveler Cannot Go Exploring

While this place was flat, and so the sky just went on and on into the distance, it didn’t mean we had unlimited vision, as atmospheres tended to break that stuff up. Master Fred could ignore some of it, but we certainly didn’t have unlimited range to see things coming, although we certainly did have plenty of warning.

There were ships sailing these oceans, but they were all sailing vessels, and not even of late Renaissance designs. Galleys of various sizes seemed popular, moving back and forth from the direction of the island. Prevailing winds here were driving away from the island, partially counter-clockwise, so they wouldn’t have any problem reaching or departing from it without risking going over the edge. There had been a small harbor of sorts on the inner side of it, easy to aim for and dock vessels inside, and it seemed a regular supply run was headed there.

There were pure sailing vessels, some with raised decks, some with open ones, daring dangerous seas in search of wealth. Wooden vessels, man and rope and sail against nature in a world of magic... okay, that did make me smile, even as I was blowing over the waves twoscore times faster on a unicorn-Possessed Motorcycle.

In addition to the vessels, there were island chains scattered about in this vicinity, and it was these that seemed to be the destination of much of the shipping traffic. Whether it was for raiding, exploration, or commerce was hard to tell without investigating closer... and that wasn’t our job here.

The air actually got much warmer as we headed towards the mainland; the islands seemed of the subtropical type, although they never advanced to what I’d call palms and coconuts. We basically used them as navigational waypoints, working them into The Map as fixed points for Teleport-hopping later, if anything, and continued on our route towards the middle of the world.

‘South’ was very obvious on the compass, pointing directly to our now-distant peak, so we had some traveling to do.

More exploring and circumnavigating what was basically a mystery continent was something a lot of people were dying for me to do... but we had more important things to make happen, and this place was basically just going to be a big mystery that the whole world could solve in the future. After all, getting to it was going to be quite the accomplishment, especially if it vanished between the ice if the Shroud was let go.

But The Map would still be there to explore it, giving my people a huge edge when it was time.

--------

-Are we going to interact with the locals at all, find out what we should be expecting?- Master Fred /asked calmly, having no opinion on the matter.

-No,- I /replied decisively, fighting down all my explorer instincts, wanting to map and place and ferret out all the stuff and dig out the cultures and histories and stories and-and-and...

All the academics sighed. I had shit to do, so I couldn’t assuage them. That was their job.

Of course, therein arguments started about interfering in other cultures, and a certain someone said we should come up with some Prime Directives on how to interact with cultures that obviously came from magical worlds, and how to interact with them.

Everyone agreed that guidelines were a good idea, but also cautioned that if they were anything like our own world back in that age, they had very different moral guidelines and cultural mores related to their survival, and showing strength was going to be mandatory.

Rendering us invisible was easy enough to do, allowing us to do cursory drive-bys of inhabited islands without being seen. Pre-scouting was easy, and the first thing we noticed was that we hadn’t seen any non-human civilized species yet. I didn’t know how relevant that was overall, but this had to be an innately magical place even before the Haze came, so likely the Haze had changed nothing except contact with the gods.

We did pass by a fairly active port on the coast, with lots of smaller fishing vessels around it, probably the size of a small city at home, and stone buildings of unknown age and probably not human make... or maybe humans with weird aesthetics. Given the echoes of the spirits and powers around here, that wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

-This place has almost no Warlocks, if any at all,- Master Fred /informed me, as Sleipner Ward-Rode up to the top of a cliff, the trail of the very early dawn leading inland through hill country. We’d have to be riding in the sky to make good time, as given the tech levels we’d seen, there’d be no roads, and the traffic was not something to go racing along with.

Sleipner’s Veilwalking ability wouldn’t work on roads that were little more than cart trails, either.

So, it was further up into the sky we went, staying invisible, little more than a golden flash passing overhead at 300 mph as we headed for the center of the place.

------

I kept a strict eye out and down and around. Since we were up in the sky, I wasn’t leaving a Lived-Line, but I had put a Seal down on a boulder near the shore, which should be enough for us to reach all the way back here without a problem with a Teleport.

We painted the landscape into our Visual File as we went along, even if it was only along the fairly narrow area we could see. The weather was on the gloomy side and cool, and mountains in the distance were common and promised a lot of snow by how white they were.

The landscape rose continually and naturally, rolling hills and valleys gradually ascending towards the interior, doubtless much more picturesque with better lighting. I didn’t see the black spots of any other Shroudzones, which I’m not sure was good or bad.

------

The sudden rise of the plateau ahead of us was something of a non-surprise, rising abruptly up out of the woods and slopes with unnatural purpose, a clear and true division between the central highlands of this place and the lower slopes beyond where people dwelled.

Just standing there in mid-air on Sleipner, looking over the gloomy, fog-wrapped place and the Shroud that was reaching out to cover a good chunk of it, was pretty depressing. Threads of darker necroic energy were pulsing in the Haze, indicating a lot of undead ahead... and the sheer size of the place was not inviting.

Just to be on the thorough side, we located a pass, and were unsurprised when we saw the base undead shambling up it, with no signs of anything intelligent around to stop them.

The dead weren’t all humans. There were some kinds of devolved folk, as well as Jotuns of various sizes, and beasts that had intelligence. Their corpses were mostly intact, their eyes dull and devoid of intelligence, animated by the Haze at midnight and sent to join the Shroudlord... of which there seemed to be only one, and all the undead and abandoned corpses were coming here.

That meant this place was growing. That was hardly a good sign...

I cut them all down and left them burning en vivus, following the well-worn trail decades of them had left behind as they answered the Call of whoever and whatever was atop this plateau.

Still, it wasn’t until Sleipner set down on the grey, windswept stone and I carved up a Seal that I felt the interference and connections in the local space.

-This place has connections to Leng,- I /murmured for those interested. The grim dreamscape of that alien realm had a LOT of nasty stuff in it, the Ghoul Sages who were on the Shrouded Earth were basically empowered by it, and were among the nicest things you could run into there.

It wasn’t a surprise, merely an unwelcome confirmation. The moonbeasts were involved with this place in some way, and they and their subservient Merchants were never involved in upright dealings. They didn’t get along well with the ghouls at all, who seemed to be rivals... but Leng was all about horrid conflicts between ancient and unspeakable powers doing foul shit as they deemed fit, so, surprise, surprise.

The Shroudzones had caught some Leng ghouls and their ghast rivals back home, the former complaining horribly about it, as they were doomed and had to be killed to bring the Shroud down. They could only be slaves to the Shroudlord, their knowledge at its disposal, and so areas with them definitely had corpsecrafted and improved undead, if for no other reason than that a Ghoul Sage needed to work on something to occupy his time. The limitless power of the Shroud and basically unkillable undead made for a great place to experiment, if you were of the necromantic mindset.

I could catch a hint of the mad flutes and wails that indicated a Leng linkage, as even the Shroud couldn’t totally keep out an aspect of Dream... and given Leng’s nature, it probably didn’t want to. Plenty of negative energy, dark thoughts, and undead in Leng, and as long as they could keep out the greater entities, what did they care?

Ahead of us was a very clear path, chewed up by all kinds of lumbering undead, heading, er, south, to the middle of this land.

-Overland or up high?- Master Fred /asked with his normal calm.

-I don’t trust the magic or the skies here. The scenic route to this point is fine, but there’s Leng shit everywhere here. Let’s keep it low, establish a Lived-Line through the unstable dimensions here, and see what entertainment this place is going to throw against us.-

He just nodded, tapped Sleipner, and the unicorn trundled into motion, not in a hurry.

It was unfortunate Sleipner didn’t have his wilderness senses anymore, or nothing sinister could have gotten within a thousand feet of him without him knowing. Pity, but shit happens when you get reduced to a spirit hanging onto your alicorn.

---------

Sleipner coasted to a halt. Master Fred looked at the narrow draw ahead of us, then the tops of the hills to the right and the left.

-Flute music is a little loud, you think?- I /asked lightly.

The route we’d been on had been remarkably clear of much beyond the occasional slow-moving corpse that I’d burned down to vivus with a snapshot of Shards in passing.

That didn’t mean we hadn’t been seen, only that the things that were watching us had chosen not to act against us. We weren’t invisible, so they could definitely see us, knew we were just as alien to this place as they were, and smartly enough were regarding us cautiously.

-Large numbers behind the stone. Look at the ground there; it’s covered in bloody scraps. I think this is a choke point they use to tear apart undead heading for the Shroud.-

I considered that thoughtfully, going through various scenarios, and finally said aloud, “”, asking in thoughtful Aklo.

My voice rang in the air in the warped syllables of that demented language, possessing the accent that comes from having a connection to the energies of Death, and intimate knowledge of Necrus... and the rather painful inflections of Celestial abusing the poor syllables.

The mad piping in the air trailed off rather abruptly.

“<Send a spellcaster down here, or I may decide to keep going... before you have the chance to run away from me.>”

The conjoining of the languages hung in the air, and atop the rock to the right ahead of us, a skull-like head with purpled skin popped up to regard us warily.

A ghoul...

“<Parley?>” it called down in a sibilant voice, wheedling and urbane somehow, all at once, using the harmonics of the area to be heard.

“<Granted>,” I replied magnanimously, establishing the power in our relationship, as if talking normally and being heard wasn’t telling it some very dangerous things.

It vanished from view, and popped into view from a crevice in the ravine ahead a moment later. It was dressed in nothing more than scraps of fur, undead not having much sensitivity to ambient temperatures, and half-loped on all fours, half-strode towards us with gangly limbs, all gaunt and bone-lean, as if it would never get enough to eat.

Still, there was light and cunning in its eyes that didn’t belong in the eyes of a normal ghoul. This was a Leng ghoul, a Ghoul Sage, and I could see the play of necromancy and other energies about it. Magical Tattoos inked into its dark skin glimmered and flowed away under the eye, thick with shadow and power, and it was wearing several rings on its overlong fingers, multiple earrings on each pointed ear, and silvered Bracers around its tendoned wrists.

I waited patiently as it came up, matching its assessing gaze with a complete lack of fear.

=========================

Author’s Note: As I was writing this, I was picturing the Hyperborea setting of Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, by Author Jeff Talanian, albeit with a significant change with the Shroud and Haze being there... and an open path existing to Earth because of it.