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: Malek has a rough day travelling with Pod, Akemi and Rikona.
Malek’s Journal Entry #15:
Dear journal,
Rikona is a treasure hunter and she’s finally gone. And the place she took us to was weird.
Rewind to this morning. After another disappointing breakfast we packed up our camp and continued the trudge along the mountain path. Soon there were signs of the Imperial Fortress Forrex and Tertius warned us about. Block must be inside! Pod and I decided we had to try and free our Order member and agreed that Akemi and Rikona would wait for us out of sight. We’re terrible at sneaking past things (I mean, just look at us!), so as soon as we appeared on the road towards the Fortress (because I’m not trying to climb down a sheer cliff face to avoid being spotted by these guys. They knew what they were doing when they built this place) we were inevertibly mobbed by a band of soldiers. But we’ve fought these guys before and they’ve not faced a duo like me and Pod. I wish I could say we fought like demons, but we did enough with Pod’s halberd and my sword at close range to fight our way into the Fort. Now, because we’d cause a huge ruckus at the gate we were able to sneak our way deeper into the belly of the place and found ourselves in a control room with troop patterns detailed on a map. Note to the record keepers – stop leaving maps of troop movements where people can find them! People like us will read them and sneak past your patrols. Learn from us!
We couldn’t find Block, and Pod reasoned that none of the cells in that place would be big enough to stable a Mount, so we were able to make our way out of the Fortress with no further bother (it must have been a small outpost if the bulk of the garrison could be drawn away in the first wave) and scrambled our way back to Akemi and Rikona who had slipped past as we caused chaos. So much chaos.
There was another Fortress on our route through the mountains, so I was able to sneak my way in through a surprising amount of luck (which will no doubt bite me in the ass in future when I need to be lucky) and tried to find Block again. No luck, but this time I was able to liberate some of the treasure in their strong room (lock your doors people!) and made my get away. As we reached the middle of the day we came to the next settlement on the road and were welcomed with surprising warmth. Akemi managed to barter for us a meal, and it turned out that the loot I had liberated had been taken as excessive taxes from these people. I was torn between keeping something back, but Pod reminded me that it wasn’t mine, so I returned it all. Imagine my surprise when a couple of the villages came and gave me some of it back in payment for my help. It pays to be honest (for once).
It was at this point that Rikona started getting twitchy having had some conversations with the villagersand apparently the thing she had been looking for was nearby. Thank goodness. So we detoured that way and came to a rock face with Rook faces carved into the stone. This was called the Shrines of Memory, and it is rumoured to have once been the heads of Rooks that have become one with the mountain. This is entirely true and that truth is horrifying. Rooks are living creatures, not just creations of stone. I have seen into the past and seen inside them! All through looking through Akemi’s wretched gateways that can show glimpses of the past or future. There was flesh and it was wet and sticky and alive, pumping with blood and life. I might be sick recalling it. I can’t tell Pod this.
Akemi thinks I was struck by something in my vision and that I did it wrong, but I haven’t the heart to tell her that truth. How do you tell someone that we’re walking around the corpse of something that once lived, that Pod is a person like her and I but clad in stone? I feel like I need a bath and a long scrub to feel clean again. So unclean.
There is clearly a whole network of pathways, traps, puzzles and stuff down there. I don’t know what Rikona is looking for but it can’t be good, because she ditched us there to go and look for some marvellous treasure. There’s definitely a shrine to something in there, for we found a trio of statues with things missing from them with altars at their feet. Who desecrated them? What happens when those things are brought back? Do I want to know?
What are the Rookstones then if Rooks are living bodies? What is the sight that I now have?
Goodnight journal. Goodnight Pod. What will tomorrow bring?
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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