We saw a fairly low flying timestone today. Low enough that we think Lani should be able to fly there and get a good look.

Lani has been gone for all of today now. Hopefully she'll be back tomorrow. Either she found it very interesting, or she's gotten herself very dead. Hmm.

Ahh, Lani came back safe and sound today. The timestone she saw was extremely interesting. It was not just some lifeless lump of rock, back a floating island, fairly large, with plants, trees, and wildlife. Not just ordinary trees either. There is fruit that grows on these trees that have similar properties to potions. Lani brought some back. We ate some of a fruit that lets the eater fly, as per a potion of flying. She also brought back several other varieties of fruit, each magical! An island where potions grow on trees!

Lani found breathing on the island easy, and thought it was warmer than it should be. Clearly not natural. Then again, the idea of timestones isn't natural either.

This island is far more interesting than Alphatia! With a few fly spells, we should be able to get there, though we'll have to wait until it returns in, according to the locals, two months.

It's also a great way to see, and map, this world. We simply hang out on the island as it moves along, and map the great view we get. We'd also see where there is civilisation.

We just have to sit back and wait for the island to return now. Finally! Something interesting in this dull place.

I also shapechanged into a gander (a high-flying bird) to see how high I could get. The answer is quite high indeed. In fact, I went so high that I could just make out a faint shimmering in the air high above me. Unfortunately, I was unable to approach it, since the air had become so thin.

Today Zim had Leo find out just what the big island the Alphatians are flying to is. The answer is that it is Alphatia. Well, this just confirms our suspicions.

Regardless, I still think this island is more interesting. We'll worry about the Alphatians some other day.

There is definitely something strange going on with the locals in this world. As a test, I spoke to a child interested in magic, to see which spells he found interesting, and which he did not. He was too young to know which spells his culture would normally have access to. So I spoke of spells to him, and he only found the ones I know his mages have to be interesting. He found absolutely no interest in spells that his culture do not have, no matter how fabulous they are.

Something is deliberately keeping this culture stagnant, unchanging. Why? What could possibly be the point?

I doubt it is just the Neathar as well. We've already seen how other cultures here aren't interested in change, or things that are different.

I suppose the gods just want it this way.

Sigh. Zim was very derisive of what I have found, and of the little experiment I did. He may laugh and belittle what I do, but I at least find it interesting, and I don't see why he should be able to criticise that.

Yay! We're here. It was a little longer than two months, but that's all right. We're here, and that is all that counts.

There are so many fruits. It's great. We'll experiment with them, to try and determine what they are. Those that we cannot determine, we will save for an identify spell.

It is a very large island. Perhaps 16 miles by 200 miles.

Well, now we spend the next two months mapping, and determining what the fruit does. Excellent for spell components. This the rarest of rare finds!

Who cares about Alphatia?

It has been an interesting couple of months. We are now back where we started, somewhere over Neathar territory. In these two months we flew over a huge ocean, and also passed over bits of land, and saw one place with a number of structures (probably a city).

The island moved too fast for us to hop off and investigate further.

I have collected samples of each of the fruits in this time. In particular, I have taken (dried) seeds from each of them, and separated them using folded up parchment. I've also collected samples of the wood of the trees they grow on.

In all, there are thirty different kinds of magical fruit, which I've briefly listed below.

  1. Fruit of flying.
  2. Ingested, quick acting poison.
  3. Fruit of speed.
  4. Fruit of healing.
  5. Fruit (when dried) of uncontrollable flammability.
  6. Fruit of enlargement (or something similar).
  7. Fruit of levitation.
  8. Fruit of heroism.
  9. Fruit of delusion??
  10. Fruit of poison (not sure what kind).
  11. Fruit of plant control.
  12. Fruit of polymorph self.
  13. Fruit of invisibility.
  14. Fruit of climbing.
  15. Fruit of healing. (more powerful form perhaps?)
  16. Fruit of giant control (via identify).
  17. Fruit of persuation.
  18. Fruit of super heroism.
  19. Fruit of protection from fire.
  20. Fruit of water breathing.
  21. Fruit of human control.
  22. Fruit of disease (fungal, wasting disease, necro, healing, via identify)
  23. Fruit of purify water.
  24. Fruit of insect repelling.
  25. Fruit of keeping dry.
  26. Fruit of clumsiness.
  27. Fruit of love (Zim had this and fell for Safranna, but he got better).
  28. Fruit of immunity to normal weapons.
  29. Fruit of attraction (look handsome, smell good, etc)
  30. Fruit of slipperiness.

The fruit loses its magical properties several days after being picked. Unfortunately, I suspect these trees won't grow anywhere else. A shame, but still great for spell components!

Some of the fruits one didn't eat, but applied as one would apply an oil. Most fruits are meant for consumption.

We've decided that we'll stay on this island until we see another large flying island we can hop to, or until we reach the settlement we saw earlier. Whichever comes first.

We island hopped today. As we were flying in to this island, we were intercepted by a group of humans flying giant eagles. The humans resemble, and speak, Neathar.

Gurzurk, who had eaten one of the fruits of persuation, spoke to their leader and, sounding extremely reasonable, got us escorted down.

The leader of the group who met us is known as Jardinor. They seem reasonable enough, and are another one of the Neathar tribes, just very different by all appearances.

After speaking with their elders, and agreeing to fit in, and learn of their culture, we have been granted permission to stay a while.

Speaking with Jardinor, the last visitors they've had on this island were a pair of gnomes who arrived in a strange flying contraption. This sounds remarkably like the gnomes of Serraine. Anyway, apparently the gnomes had some trouble with Heldannic knights. Heldannic knights (which we didn't even know were here) had conquered their homeland, and enslaved the gnomes. They were later freed when Alphatians came and fought off the Heldans.

I guess this place has become a battleground for Alphatians and Heldannic knights. I haven't seen any sign of Thyatians yet.

The Neathar here have commented that the only other inhabited island they pass by is inhabited by flying snakes, and rather unfriendly ones at that.

Melanie has wandered off again. She doesn't seem to be very talkative these days, and seems to have taken a liking to black clothing. I wonder if the is missing night time?

Excellent news. We have acquired from these Neathar a new spell, known as create air. With it, we should be able to fly very high indeed, especially since it has a duration in hours!

Oh, we're presently flying over an ocean. Earlier today we saw a number of ships on the ocean, and Lani and I went down to investigate. As it turns out, it is a whole fleet of pirates. We know since the captain of the vessel we landed on decided to try and take us prisoner. If he had of been more civil to us, he would still have a vessel to captain. As it is, I'm sure it's better of being at the bottom of the ocean.

We took some maps, and a few chests from the vessel, but there was nothing of interest. The maps were only of different sea depths. Perhaps we can sell them to another captain.

Hmm. Lani can be really vicious when she wants to be.