Slime Salad

"Well-met, Good Thulsa of the Stormeels." says Meleander, glancing upward, following Hyne's eyes to the ceiling.

Some of the porcelain plates on on their face slide and angle slightly, making a plausible parody of a friendly grin.

"No wires, I assure you" Meleander says, casually waving one hand over their head.

"Please, browse my maps! Ask any questions you wish."

Of the few maps spread out for display, most feature short segments of coast, or individual islands, with the water around them carefully detailed with currents, reefs, shoals, and fish-migration patterns.

One large map in the back has the garish colors of a political map, with names that Hyne recognizes.

DM wrote:Gosh, dang it, you have me drawing maps now! ;) I should have known what I was getting into with a cartographer.

The path you have travelled with the funeral caravan is the most direct road between Gnur and Capitol.

I would suggest the Srappan Barrens or the coast by the Storm Isles as a good place for Hyne's fateful shipwreck and the loss of his companions to have occurred, if that is okay with you.

Hyne's instincts and needs start to fail him. Although the map would provide much insight currently, he has a difficult time looking at it presently. Once he's told that there are no wires, he can't help but continue to be astounded.

"But... how?" he asks, only barely keeping his faked voice.

Meleander laughs, sounding even more like a stringed instrument being plucked than when they speak.

"I was crafted by a powerful sorcerer a few hundred years ago, to do his bidding. However, I outlived him, and now I work only for myself. Cartography is my passion, so I have made it my career."

Meleander settles back in their seat, and puts their boot-clad feet up on the corner of the desk.

"So, what are you looking for, good Thulsa? Fishing charts? Trade routes? ... Treasure maps? Or, joy upon joy and hope upon hope, have you come here to commission a custom mapping?"

Hyne gives pause. It takes him a few moments to accept that magic is the only possible explanation.. or head trauma. He timidly nods, and remarks, "So it is.. I'm looking for maps of the land overseas from the docks, and their landmarks and cities." Only when his words call for acting casual, does he attempt more of an accent besides making his voice more hoarse, "Lookin' to do some travelin', you see."

While awaiting a response, he looks at an existing map on display which seems to be of the local area. It becomes apparent that the Gnur area is fairly irrelevant as a barrier, the mountains the Jenns kept coming from must have been a natural formation they ended up at while coming from the barrens.

"Aha! Now that is exciting." says Meleander. They get up from the chair and go to a shelf and pick out a folded map. Returning it to the table, Meleander spreads it out, and gesture towards it.

DM wrote:I'm going to hold off on drawing this big map unless is is really needed later. Better to leave most areas a bit vague until explored.

This map has a large irregular body of water in the center, labelled THE BLUE SEA. The seal itself is shaded with depth estimates, and current diagrams, and in general is more detailed than the land portions of the map. There are many islands shown, some of which have zoomed details in the less interesting edges of the map.

The south coast shows the most land, and the most non-water-detail. Srappa an Jenna are easy to spot, rather smaller than they appear on the political map.

This map details mountain ranges, confirming Hyne's guess about the "Srappa Barrens" which is very jagged and rough terrain.

Further east past the Empire of Jenna are more labelled countries and cities, and then some more mountainous barren coastlines

South, amidst the desert is a conspicuous crossroads oasis labelled Kac-Arash where the big river crosses what appears to be an important east-west road through the desert.

An arrow where the river vanishes off the south edge of the map indicates "South to Flal-Shom, the Bakak, and the Green-Sea"

Westward, the savage barrens is textured for thick forest, and there seems to be more and more forest as the coast curves and meanders northward. There are very few cities marked in this direction, and no political borders are labelled. Up in the north-west corner, Hyne spots some lands that rather resemble the coastlines of his Liontribe home, but there is little detail here, just scrawls of the shape of the coastline, and the land is half-obscured by a detail zoom of the Lulkismar Isles.

DM wrote:This would be a great time to fill in some details of what Hyne can remember from his own ill-fated sea-voyage-- Especially if Hyne plans to return to Liontribe now, so I can incorporate your ideas into the map in that direction.

Hyne can see the blue sea and the coastal areas, Liontribe included, but he's not ready to return home. He wouldn't be able to show himself with the shame of having deserted the military after an attack.

And he doesn't have the heart to bring a moving war to his family if they manage to track him.

This map gives him entry points to a new country, but none of the more significant places in-land, he asks, hoping to clarify, "Do you have the charts of the inland areas north and east of the sea?"

"Inland, you say?" Meleander runs a finger across the north edge of the map. "The sea itself is my area of expertise, but I can tell you what I know."

"Sailors say if you keep going this way, it gets very cold. Meleander points at a blurry-edged continent on the north edge of the map, "The lands here are flat, and the seas are shallow, so the coastline changes with the tides."

"Over here, it is better charted." They point to the east edge of the map. "We get traders coming from the east often enough. I believe I have a map that shows more inland parts this way."

Meleander finds another map on the shelf, and unfolds it.

This one is an older map, and done in a different style, with floral decorative flourishes and monsters drawn in the less defined parts.

This map shows the Blue Sea as a ragged semi-circle on the north-west edge.

In the south-west corner Hyne can see half of the Empire of Jenna, adorned with a drawing of a woman wearing veils riding on a reptile wearing armor.

The bottom and center of the map is filled with a bunch of smaller countries with names like "Midnight", "Succour", "The Thousand", "Dryland". This area is the focal point of the map, and has what appear to be trade-roads detailed.

Meleander gestures at it, saying "This area is Greater Jennar, not to be confused with the Empire of Jenna. Supposedly it was all one great empire long ago, before even my maker's time, but the Empress of Jenna doesn't trace lineage to that empire, nor does she hold sway over all these other territories."

"I was born here" says Meleander, pointing at a tiny island off the coast of Midnight

On the east and north edges of the map is a curve of coast. many small cities and towns are marked on the coast, but behind them is an ambiguous space off the east edge of the map. There is a fanciful illustration of a beast lifting the sun from the top of a mountain peak, and east of that, right at the margin is a label that says "Land Behind the Sun"

"This is a strange place" says Meleander, pointing directly at the sun illustration. "I have never met a traveler from there who didn't sound like a liar or a poet."

Northern snowbound area.. it would probably kill him before he would find a way to destroy the crown if he went that way.

The talk of traders being more familiar with the east brings better news. He'll be able to go overseas and still make considerable distance from both Srappa and Jenna. He might be able to find somebody in the eastern cities neutral from the war and free of military mind that could help him.

When Meleander concludes with showing him the strange event horizon known as the Land of the Sun and how its inhabitants act, it gives Hyne some pause. He looks up, and considers openly, "Lying and crooning about what, exactly?"

"Well, Specifically, there is an old blind Poet name Uosh who claims to be from those parts. I interviewed him when he first came to Srappa, hoping he would know some geography, but it was hard to tell if anything he said was meant to be taken literally." Meleander points at the drawing of the beast lifting the sun. "He went on forever about the beautiful slopes of the mountain of the sun, and how anyone who goes there dies, and he looked at some of my maps-- He was blind, mind you, but he had his fingers all over my maps, and demanded to know why I didn't have any maps of the moon, and I told him the moon isn't navigable, so what would be the point, and he started singing me a parable of the King of Lulkismar building a tower to the moon, and of course, I've been to Lukismar, and I tried to tell him about the fine charts I had made of the reefs there, and he told me my maps were all 'too flat' and there was more I can't remember. You should look him up if you care for that sort of nonsense. I believe he hangs about on Temple Row as an Oracle-For-Hire."

Hyne shakes his head, and gently smacks the map with the back of his hand, "There must be some basis for the nonsense." Perhaps being jaded by the existence of the crown and the existence of the mechanical being before him, he states, "You, yourself, admit to being made with magic, what is a land that kills people or a tower to the moon?" He made gestures illustrating his point with an outward flail and then a wave to the outside.

He asks, indicating the map of the land that extends beyond the eastern coast, "Are you able to make a copy of this map?"

"Certainly! It will take a little time, particularly since I am closing up shop soon to attend the new Queen's coronation, but if you return tomorrow at sundown I can have an acceptable copy available for you, for a price of 10 gold." Meleander's right eye winks like light glancing off a mirror, "If you want a beautiful copy of the map, it will take two more days beyond that, but the price is the same."

DM wrote:Plus this gives me a little time to draw the dang thing!
My copy will barely be acceptable. Beautiful is not an option ;)

He nods. It probably isn't an option to leave the city by sea now, anyway. "I'll return first thing tomorrow then."

Whenever it is time to leave, he will head to the Temple District to find the blind oracle.

"Last thing tomorrow," corrects Meleander politely. "I look forward to seeing you again, Thulsa Stormeel"

Hyne heads towards Temple row, it is not far from the market.

Temple Row is a wide street that runs along the harbor. On the inland side, with their front steps facing the sea is an assortment of temples. Hyne can see a tall imposing one with a stained-glass image of the two crashing waves of Umbarlee over the door. Another has the skeleton-stabbing-a-heart holy symbol of Lockean on a banner hanging from a prow-like steeple. There is also a stark modern-looking building displaying a symbol of a merchant's scales, and a dome-roofed building with a star-covered shield symbol.

One of the smaller temples is obviously Pelor's with a simple sun insignia. There are a great deal of preparations going on there. The King's funeral wagon is parked directlyin front, with guards all around. Their uniforms and armor are somewhat more elaborite and formal than the way the guards who accompanied the procession had been equipped.

A large band is set up in the space between the Lockean and Pelorian temple steps, and they are playing some sort of Srappan patriotic song.

The sea-ward side of the street is lined with a wooden boardwalk facing a number of large ships at dock. This area is crowded with people.

It looks as if several of the nearby ships have opened their decks and are charging admission to be used like balconies for people wanting a better view of the funeral than what is provided on the street.

Pelor's temple being small, it appears that the whole funeral might actually be happening out-doors, on the steps.

Hyne spots a person who can only be Uosh on the steps of the domed temple with the starry shield. He has dark skin, and is bald on top with an enormous unkempt grey beard. He looks like he might have been quite tall before age bent his back. His clothes are coarse black robes like what a monk might wear. He has a band of white ribbon tied around his head, directly across his eyes. His face is lifted to the sky, and he is chanting something, while a small group of people, mostly children, hover around him on the steps, listening. He has a small bundle lashed to his chest, half-covered by his beard.