Name: Aoi Sorasei
Age: 18
Title: Neophyte Naturalist
Favourite Animal: Birds.
Terrain Specialty: Mountain.
Butterfly Net
Five matches
Harm: 0.
Discoveries, Captures: 8, 3
10,11. Exploration.
You press on, into a broken land of deep ravines and sudden crevices. The rock is softer here, and breaks underfoot unexpectedly. The broken land continues along the coast to the North-east.
6+1: You find four new species:
Three kinds of small shore-bird:
-one has beautiful white plumage and could fit into your palm. It has three legs, and scuttles on them at great speed along the wet sand of the pebbly beach. It is very friendly, going so far as perching on your shoulder without invitation. CAPTURED
-The other is that same rusty orange colour as the Sunset Nova, but wondrously small, no larger than a hazelnut. It has a long neck that it uses to snap up sand-fleas, and ignores your presence completely. CAPTURED
-The last bird is equally small. You find an entire colony of them living in inter-connected tunnels in the cliff-faces. They have black feathers with blue markings on their throats, and swarm around your head when you approach their holes. They peck and scratch, leaving you with a fine network of little scratches over your exposed skin.
-a bristled green beast in the boar family, about the size of a dog. It is thin and appears to be ravenous, several of them follow you at a distance, diving onto any bits of food you throw their way with excited squeals. One daring individual bites into the handle of your specimen case when your back is turned and flees with it to some hidden den, scattering the little wooden dividers and lining in all directions.
Name: Thomas Valeriso
Age: 33
Title: Amateur Naturalist
Favourite Animal: Wolf
Terrain Specialty: Swamp
Gear: small specimen case, small dissection knife, and a butterfly net.
Harm: leg-bite
Discoveries/Captures: 6, 1
Go back to the ship with my new Crimson Clam
1+1: On your way back through 7.11, you trip and stumble into the water's edge. One of the aggressive purple-black fish is near and rushes toward your leg, biting deep enough to draw blood. Level 1 harm.
When you arrive back in camp, Sir Stillfrey's personal assistant rewards your efforts with...
Minor Reward, d20: 19, a small dissection knife!
You're also promoted to the position of
Amateur Naturalist in recognition of your discoveries.
Name: Nigel Fredrick
Age: 54
Title: Neophyte Naturalist
Favourite Animal: Zebra
Terrain Specialty: Jungle
Gear: small specimen case, small dissection knife
Harm: sprained ankle
Discoveries/Captures: 5, 1
Try and get a replacement for my butterfly net, then go explore 7,10.
2: Sir Stillfrey's assistant balks at your request for a replacement. "No, no, Sir Stillfrey has insisted that our supply of butterfly nets are to be carefully guarded. It is a secret desire of his to present Her Majesty with a beautiful specimen. No, you must be more careful with your equipment!"
Instead he hands you a...
19: small dissection knife.
You must travel through 8.10 to get to the jungle,
1+1: and you are chased by a Shai-hulud. You sprain your ankle fleeing from the giant worm.
7.10 is a glorious jungle, no hills to speak of, and very dense. High overhead you can see bright scarlet and pale flowers trailing down from the canopy. To the north-west, the jungle begins to thin again.
You find...
2+1:
Arboreal monkeys that live in small groups. They are difficult to spot as their fur is striped with shades of green and purple that blend into the foliage above. If they stood up straight, they would come up to your waist. They watch you curiously, but cautiously. With some surprise, you realize that many of them have a small pair of horns.
The Expedition Presses Forward!Sir Stillfrey sends another team of naturalists to the marshlands of 7.11. They discover two new species:
- a gigantic six-legged dark-skinned lizard that seems obsessed with smelling each of the adventurers, reptile-like, with its tongue.
-herds of tiny golden deer with large, sharp eyes that are very gentle and slow-moving.
Specimens are captured of the four different species and returned to the ships.
Red = Sorasei
Light blue = Fredrick
Gold = Valeriso
Each hex has four species in it. The most difficult to-capture creature in the hex or the most dangerous, is in
bold. Captured creatures are in
italics. Extinct creatures are
struck through.
6.11: swamp. Muggy and smelly.
-some kind of silver-coloured bear/pig hybrid, tiny
-
a spider with a metallic sheen the size of a dog. Aggressive, fishes for fish.
-a skittish, bright-orange woolly quadruped with a sheep-like head
-
Crimson Clam: a reddish clam the size of your hand. 7.10 jungle. Dense, high canopies full of scarlet and white flowers.
-curious, striped purple-black monkeys with little horns on their heads
7.11: swamp/jungle. A marsh with raised jungle copses here and there, cut through by flowing streams.
-: a shy, white-dotted fish, man-sized and powerful.
-bloodthirsty mottled purple-black fish, stout and the size of dogs with bulbous protruberances from their heads.
-a gigantic six-legged dark-skinned lizard that seems obsessed with smelling each of the adventurers, reptile-like, with its tongue.
-herds of tiny golden deer with large, sharp eyes that are very gentle and slow-moving. 8.10: hill. Steep hillsides shrouded in fog, occasional giant ferns.
-
Shai-Hulud: a house-sized metallic-coloured worm, extremely aggressive, many-toothed.
-
Depressagator: a passive, man-sized moss-green alligator, seemingly depressed-cat-sized striped green-black.. dinosaur? Perhaps a dinosaur!
-a herd-dwelling transparent-skinned, two-trunked elephant. Knee-high, aggressive.
9.11. Coastal/mountain. Treacherous, jagged spires, crevices.
-
V Beetle: A mottled grey and purple beetle as big as your hand. It skitters away from your touch with nervous energy. It seems unusually intelligent.
-
Rust Sponge: A tiny red sponge, floating in a small pool. It seems attracted to your instruments when you poke it with them. As far as you can tell, this is the only one of its kind. -
Sponge-Moss: A metallic-orange gelatinous thing the size of your palm. It seems oblivious to your presence, but is able to camouflage itself amongst the different-coloured lichens. Extinct.-
Sunset Nova: A rusty orange sea-bird about the size of a dog. It appears to be in the midst of mating season, and acts very shy, flying far out of reach as soon as you get close.
10.11. Coastal/Mountain. A broken land of treacherous ravines and, apparently, tiny birds.
-
three legged white shorebird, very friendly-
rusty-orange shore-bird the size of a hazelnut with a long (for its size) neck.-colony-dwelling, hole-digging tiny black and blue spotted bird, devilishly aggro
-bristly-green boar, smaller than normal. Thin, curious, and a bit of a hungry nuisance.
Author
Topic: Naturalist Expedition ends in abrupt disaster (sorry!) (Read 4837 times)