The water feels cool going down. The cool feeling spreads, slowly expanding until it touches every part of your body. Then it fails to go away.
You start finding trails, no doubt left by Empire soldiers. You find many more recently used campsites. Then, you are sighted by a large Empire patrol. The Empire must have a large force in this area.
You start seeing lots of recently used fire pits and refuse. A large number of people must camp in this area frequently. Then, rounding a corner, you meet some of them.
The water feels warm going down. The warm feeling spreads, until it feels like it's touching every part of your bodies. You feel energized!
The corpses evaporate, leaving greasy smears and a horrible smell. Their lair has yet to be explored.
There is a large stone fence here. You slip through the gate. To the north is the rest of Exile. To the south is a fenced in cavern, filled with mushrooms, overly fragrant lizard dung, and a large variety of reptiles. This must be one enormous stable.
A group of lizards have decided you were put here to feed them.
The roads ends here. It's still being built. There's no workers around, though.
You are at the southwest end of a large, barren area. The ground drops off into a huge chasm. On the other side, you think you can barely make out a ledge through the mist.
You find the ruins of a giant-sized fortress. Repeated blasts, magical and physical, have razed it to the ground, and hordes of looters have left nothing of value.
Giants are notoriously poor conversationalists. When you try to speak to them, they throw a few warning boulders your way. You back away.
The Empire patrol approaches and tells you that you need a red pass to be in the area. When they see you don't have a red pass, they try to arrest you. When you resist, they attack.
The Empire patrol approaches and tells you that you need a red pass to be in the area. You proffer your red pass, and they let you go.
This particular section of Exile is quite buggy.
An Empire patrol decides that something doesn't look quite right about you. Some Exiles are working for the Empire, but Empire troops are allowed to kill them if they want. That would explain why they don't question you before they attack.
You charge, running uphill into a withering hail of thrown boulders.
You back away - no need to start an unnecessary fight.
You peer into the huge huts and stone longhouses of the giant clan. You find nothing of value - this was a very poor band indeed.
You charge. The guards seem relieved to finally get some action.
A bored guard asks for your blue pass. Tense, you get it out and hand it to him. He looks at it, nods, and hands it back. As you pass, you here him chuckle and mutter something about "Damned traitors."
When you approach, a bored guard asks you for your blue pass. You, of course, have nothing to give him. He shouts out an alarm, and you run before they can attack you.
Then one of you awakens. You heard something. Something isn't right. You just manage to get everyone awake (but unarmored) before the attack comes...
You start ransacking the place, opening cupboards and looting dressers. As you touch more and more things, their appears changes - they waver and grow less distinct. Then the illusion fails entirely, and the creatures who created it attack...
You look around the hut. The illusions covering it have faded, revealing a broken-down hovel, ruined by years of neglect.Who built it out here is it unclear, but you know you don't want to linger to try and figure it out.
You lie down to sleep. The beds are comfortable and warm, and you lie down to a deep, deep sleep...
This is all just a little bit too weird for you. You take your leave of this enchanted hut.
With a supreme effort of will, you pull yourself away from the patch of magical mushrooms. The inner peace eating them gave you is highly seductive, but there is still much to do.
The mushrooms are so delicious, and you feel so relaxed, that you decide to sit down for a while and take a well-deserved rest. You eat more of the fungus, and grow happier and happier. And you never quite build up the energy to leave...
You pilot your boat through this stream, which flows quickly to the south. To the north is a rocky bay, fed by several natural springs.
This area has a variety of statues, some human, some slith, all moldy and starting to flake away. You move away quickly, trying to get away before any basilisks find you. You get away safely - if any of the beasts are still around, they're not here.
Beyond the barricade, you find all the soldier's stuff. You root through the armor, spare weapons, rations, and such, and take what you can carry.
When you move to approach, several arrows thunk in the ground around you. The soldiers don't seem in the mood to chat.
This small cavern has a natural spring in it, which has helped bring here a wide variety of life. There's tall mushrooms, fungus, bats, lizards, all the flora and fauna of Exile. To the south, you see a large valley.
You stand at the entrance to what was once a very large mine. You aren't sure whether there's just no more minerals, or the miners fled to safer lands. One thing is sure - there's nothing human left. No clothes, no tools, no graves, no bones, nothing.
The bits of slag and ore scattered everywhere would seem to indicate this isolated area was once home to several mines. It's abandoned now, and quiet. Eerily quiet.
With maddened howls, you charge the barricade. The invaders of your homeland pepper you with arrows, and then close for the attack...
You find a nest of small, delicious lizards. After a burst of frantic chasing and mild messiness, your rations increase somewhat.
From this vantage point, you have an excellent view of the awesome waterfall to the north. Glowing moss dimly illuminates the amazing cascade. The echoing roars of its waters are pleasantly disorienting.
The ceiling lowers rapidly to the northwest. You won't be able to progress too much farther.
The water in this cave is unusually shallow and punctuated by protruding, slime and goo covered rocks. Boating through this chamber will be a challenge. Far to the west, you see some sort of structure.
You suddenly feel quite ill.
You pass a guardpost. You see from here a huge cavern with a high, arching ceiling. The glowing fungus on the ceiling is brighter here than in most places, revealing many small farms with grazing lizards and neat rows of edible mushrooms.
A large group camped here recently. They left a bit of trash behind, but nothing valuable.
These tunnels are very windy and cramped, with a wildly uneven floor. Despite the abundance of mushrooms, humans don't seem to have settled here. A quick investigation reveals why: the mushrooms are a very tenacious and poisonous variety.
This cave is extremely hot, and filled with sulphurous fumes and stifling steam. Very homey.
You cannot help but notice that you have walked into a bandits ambush. Odds are, the bandits don't know what's about to hit them.
Most of the ogre's equipment is unusable. You do, however, find a few iron ingots in the back of the cave. They're worth some gold.
You search the area for the remains of victims of the puddings, but find only lizard skeletons and giant spider remains. No loot.
With but one pass of your weapon, the ghost disappears. It wasn't very solid to begin with.
At some point, a whole lot of Nephilim set up some sort of camp here. Garbage, torn skins, rough stone Nephilim weapons, and broken totems litter the floor of the cave. A few feral cats prowl the wreckage, hissing at you when you get close.
There was once a large, sturdily built fort to the north. However, some sort of extreme military disaster has been visited upon it. Only a few small parts of it are still standing. Rubble from its ruins is strewn all over the place.
You use your sharp deductive reasoning abilities to determine that this ledge is home to a large colony of giant lizards. It isn't too hard to figure out. A whole bunch of them are trying to eat you.
This part of the swamp is frozen over. A thin sheet of ice covers everything. It's very interesting and very unusual. Before long, however, you find out why everything is so chilly...
