There is a castle so huge no one has walked from one side to the other and returned to tell the tale. It houses forests, mountains and seas, rooms within rooms, and cities and civilisation that has never gone beyond the four walls of their room. Beyond the villages, towns and cities there are the vast wildernesses of the Roomlands where dwell many dangers, including the walking towers known as the Rooks that are mysterious and strange. And beyond that the Empire of Kyodania with its own breed of Rooks and other monsters.
Welcome to the world of Colostle.
Previously: Our trio leave Eda with rumours of a Temple nearby that only reveals itself to those meant to find it.
Malek’s Journal Entry #13:
Dear journal, it is good to have you back again. So much has happened and I have joyful news!
Akemi removed my journal from my belongings again and refused to tell me where she had hidden it, which infuriated me such that I was tempted to leave the Temple and continue on our way without my record. How such a small old lady can be so cunning is beyond me and I must find a better hiding spot. Pod says I sulked, but I say I was righteously outraged and refused to speak with Akemi for a whole day and ignored all her attempts to get me to talk to the Monks around us.
These Monks were very different to their brethren at the Temple of the Stone Fist. Here they meditate amongst the trees and small stone markers, and they look so alike I can’t tell the difference. There must be something in the air or water here because I swear I saw one of them change from one moment to the next as I looked away. But, as always, Pod was right. We did learn something here. My eyes have been opened and I understand why Akemi is so insistent we don’t walk past a gate without greeting the spirits within. There are spirits in the world around us, and they remember. The Abbot told me that the gates can act as doorways to the spirit world and the memories of that place can speak to us if we can quiet ourselves enough to heed them. This takes meditation which I find exceedingly difficult, but if I catch my eyes just so and look beyond and into a gateway I catch a glimpse of that otherness. They are not like you or I, or even like the Rooks that roam this land. They are white light and many limbed and beautiful and terrible to behold, not entirely humanoid, not entirely anything natural. I have been warned to listen carefully and learn what I can, for even the Masters at the temple are novices to their wisdom. This I find hard to believe, but having caught a glimpse of these spirits, I am more willing to stop for Akemi’s religious observances. I would like to maintain some good luck on this journey.
Pod, of course, is exceedingly smug and seems to be enjoying the slower pace of life here.
When we eventually left, Akemi seemed torn. I half expected her to stay, but instead she continues with us still. I am in need of a guide yet, she says, and she likes me. I have maintained my addition of tiny grumpy old woman with a death wish and lust of adventure. Pod’s mirth continues. Given we are so close to a Roomwall I thought it wise to continue to trace along it, looking for a way through into the realm beyond. I had hoped for a door or something, but instead my instincts rewarded me with a giant crack in the stones and a dark space beyond. I hate Crackways. But Pod plodded on and we lit torches and may our way inside (though I am pleased to note that Akemi seems to loathe these more than I do and spent most of the time terrified and clinging to her perch behind the saddle. We have rigged her a comfortable spot on my bedroll and her own lashing arrangements incase we find ourselves in battle, and I am considering finding her a solid stick so she can whack someone if needed, however that someone might become me when she is irked and I am unsure if giving her the weapon of my undoing is wise. Pod remains silent on the matter. The crackway seems to be well maintained and relatively uneventful until we came upon a resting place midway along the route and found a pair of travellers and their mount. I did not recognise them at first until they greeted me in the Order Cant and lo and behold who did we find? None other than Forrex, Tertius and Forrex’s Mount Spider! Alas Tertius told us that Block, his mount, had been captured by the Imperials after an ambush and is presumed lost to us now. I am so glad to have found them, though they are only a few of the greater host that were sent ahead of us. They have no news of the others, but at least I can send them back home with word of our journey.
They don’t know anything about the nearby Temple as they have come from the other direction from the Fangs of Fire Mountain Range. As much as I would have loved to spend an evening meal together, I sent them on with directions to the village of Eda in the hope they may get some decent food and friendly faces before they return to the coast and hopefully a ship. We three carried on, knowing a destination lay close at hand and armed with Forrex’s map of the local area.
After exiting the crackway the view spread out before us and I saw range upon range of mountains, a dark sky full of ash and rivers of lava flowing in the black rock valleys. It made me immediately miss our green trees but Akemi informed me that the Fangs of Fire were full of mighty wonders and hidden places that the others of the Order could have come to. If Forrex and Tertius had made it this far, where had the others gotten to? As we picked our way along the rocky ridge we came upon a young woman named Rikona, who was lost and exhausted and ill-equipped to be travelling along in these harsh mountains. She told her she was looking for something but was reluctant to say, so yet again I found myself walking on foot whilst our travelling companions rode atop Pod.
We came upon a village – I should really learn and start to expect an ambush, for lo and behold we were ambushed. Luckily for us, I don’t think they expected a Knight and his Mount and two angry ladies chastising them from atop said Mount, for when we charged at them they broke in terror and fled. Akemi helped herself to some of their supplies before we left and I assume said some rude words when she caught one of them cowering behind a wall. Needless to say I’m sleeping with one eye open tonight. That eye being Pod. Who should pay better attention out here than in the woods where I was almost eaten for breakfast by a Kyodanian beast. Maybe I should actually sleep with an eye open?
Goodnight journal. Goodnight Pod. Bandits should learn not to attempt to ambush people with a Mount in tow. Or an Akemi.
This adventure was generated using the solo journalling game Colostle, created by Nich Angell. The game is played using a notebook, your imagination and playing cards to create prompts during your Exploration phase and to resolve Conflict should it arise. For more information or to purchase your own digital or hardcopy of the rules, visit Colostle.com. Further modules are available through the Colostle Patreon, and in the expansions “The Roomlands” or “Kyodaina“.
Wolfish Written 
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