You pluck the skeleton's rubies from their skulls. You now have a lot more money.
You descend into the pit. The bottom is a jumble of human skeletons. They were blasted with fire - you can't tell how long they've been here. As you start poking around for treasure, unfortunately, you find that some of the skeletons are hostile.
You stumble into an Empire patrol.
You see a major Empire checkpoint ahead. Even adventurers with your skills and powers have to think twice before taking on a thousand of the Empire's shock troops. You back carefully away.
The vampire crypt is abandoned and thoroughly looted. You leave.
The drake patiently instructs you in obscure magical arcana. It is fascinating, and instructive. Your Mage Lore skill increases.
You finish off the creature easily and search its lair. However, other creatures have already taken advantage of the beast's helplessness. Its treasure has all been stolen out from under it.
You step into the cave, and immediately see movement. You back away, but are pursued by several pale, fanged creatures. As you leave their lair, one of them chants something, and beasts appear to aid them. Oh dear.
A band of Empire soldiers ambushes you!
A band of Empire archers ambushes you! Worse, they are backed up by several mages.
You try, with magic and herbs, to heal the drake. However, you know precious little about drake biology, and you're starting to get frostbit just by being near it. You leave.
You see a huge Empire guardpost to the west. Concealed by the rocks, you watch it for a while. There are several dozen soldiers in plain sight; no doubt there are many more in the buildings. Very disconcerting.
You move gingerly among the mounds of jagged rocks that fill this cave. Suddenly, several undead creatures start rising from crevices in the rocks around you, and move to attack.
You approach the gate, preparing to talk you way through. However, as soon as they get a good look at you, they sound the alarm and soon several dozen soldiers are moving to attack you. It takes a lot of running, but you manage to get away.
You find the ruins of a slith village. The stone huts were torn to the ground, the totems were smashed, the breeding pools were shattered, and everyone was taken away. You wonder where.
The pits contain dead sliths, hundreds of them, covered in a thin dusting of lime. They've all been killed, and brutally, and there can be little doubt of who is responsible for this massacre. You turn away, sickened.
At the end of this passage are several long, narrow fissures, natural holes in the cave floor. An unpleasant smell comes from them, so you move cautiously forward to take a look.
You return to the amphitheater. All the Empire's pets are dead, and there is little reason to remain.
You stare out over this enormous cavern sea, dimly illuminated by the glowing fungus above. Far to the east, you can barely make out a huge island. On it is a large fort, lights glowing from its walls. You wonder who lives out there.
You reach the end of this narrow passage and turn back, only to find that you've been trapped. Several huge plant creatures, five feet wide and taller than you, lurch hungrily towards you.
You charge. Seasoned warriors as you are, they don't have a chance. You even find gold on their bodies!
You move away cautiously. Distance and your helms fail to prevent you from hearing the screams.
Seeing you out in the open, a band of Empire soldiers deem you an easy target.
You greet Caitlin's band and trade news and food with them. None of you have had any luck finding more supply caches. After a talk and a rest, you depart.
Caitlin greets you and listens to your account. "Well done!" she says. She gets a pouch for you. It contains several small jewels. "We haven't been having much finding other caches - any more aid you can give will be a great help!"
The Empire flees, routed, and the sliths begin packing up to leave for safer caves. They promise to spread the word of your kindness and courage to other slith villages - saying maybe they could assist Exile and you have aided them.
Everyone is cheered by your charge, the sliths, because they have aid, and the Empire, because they get to try to kill more Exiles. The young and infirm sliths flee to safety, and the battle is joined...
You reach for a sword, and notice, too late, a thin layer of brown dust on it. At a touch, it billows into the air, causing you to choke and gag. Eyes streaming, you flee from the cave.
You grab a large bag of rations and several quivers of arrows, only to find them crumbling in your hands. Soon, they're nothing but powder. You try again, with a shield. It rusts into dust. The Empire traps its supplies cleverly. You leave.
The flaming letters disappear, but the door doesn't open.
You find a small tribe of sliths. This band seems to have reverted to barbarism. They speak in grunts and hisses, rather than actual words. They also are inclined to attack humans on sight...
It's a dispatch from some garrison somewhere to some other garrison. It says that the new access word for the "Auxiliary Caches" is "Skulls." When you finish reading it, you suddenly feel strangely compelled to replace the scroll in the bag.
You look at the paper, but its writing shimmers and blurs faster than the scrolls in the bag did. It's very disoriented. Lightheaded, you let go of the scroll, which falls back into the bag.
You stumble across an Empire watchpost, positioned with an excellent view of the mainland to the east. The guards decide to fight to maintain their secrecy...
Your movement is becoming increasingly hindered by broad, shallow pools of filthy, slime-filled water. This cave smells as rank as any you've smelled in Exile.
The cave to the north is even fouler and smellier than the cave to the south. There's little alive besides thick clots of mold and algae.
You find very clear signs of a lot of people camping along this passage. They weren't here recently, definitely not within the last month. However, when they were here, there were quite a few of them.
Bones and broken weapons are scattered all over the cave floor, for hundreds of feet in any direction. This area has seen at least one major skirmish, probably more.
You find a several weapons and suits of armor, all pitted and rendered worthless by the acid in the slime that covers everything. You also find several large, slithering creatures...
The malnourished and depleted clan musters to make its last defense.
They talk with you a little, but not much. They make it clear they're a poor band, trying to only keep keep as uninvolved in the battles of outsiders as possible. You leave, knowing a waste of time when you see it.
While you help yourself to their equipment, its owners slip out of hiding and rapidly approach. They're humans, but not wearing armor of either army. They move with surprising stealth and speed.
You pass through the ruined gate of what was once a fairly impressive fort. On some of the cracked wall, you see slowly crumbling frescoes of Nephilim warriors (or Nepharim, you can't tell).
Interesting. There are a bunch of carved poles here, out in the middle of nowhere. They depict lizards, dragons, and other reptilian creatures.
Joyously, you succumb to evil. Soon, all of Exile will knuckle under to your vicious rule. None of that wussy Ultima moral stuff here. Well done!
You approach a pile of possessions abandoned by refugees from Cotra during their flight. In doing so, you interrupt a motley group of brigands and looters. Unfortunately, they're prepared to defend the loot...
The debris of the flight from Cotra has been heavily picked over. You find nothing of value.
The crystals hum and vibrate when you enter, filling you with waves of exhilarating energy. You leave healed and refreshed.
The farther you go, the more crystals there are and the more beautiful they become. Before long, however, the beauty is marred by the appearance of more enemy troops.
You walk down this hidden passage. The walls are covered with glittering crystals - it's a beautiful sight. Then, you round the corner and walk right into a band of Empire soldiers.
You run away. The soldiers won't last long. Oh well.
You find the recent remains of a particularly messy fight.
You help bandage the wounded survivors. They thank you for your help, then start double-timing it back to Fort Duvno.
Search in the back of the cavern, you find a variety of statues, surrounded by a variety of goods. What you salvage will be valuable for barter, probably worth a few hundred gold even!
This cavern is the home of a small, irritable lizard.
To the north, you see that a band of Nephilim or Nepharim (or both) have burrowed a fort out of the living rock of the cave wall. Even from here, you can see guards patrolling in front of it.
You turn away, shuddering anew at what the Empire is doing to your homeland, city by city and hut by hut.
This area was home to a large farming settlement of Exiles, and was so up 'til recently. Scorch marks running along the shattered walls give quiet but clear testimony to what happened. There's nothing here now but rubble and graves.
You are at the base of a high mound of rock overlooking this huge cavern. From the top, you would have a view of all of it. If that interests you, a narrow path leads up the hillside.
There were farms here once, several of them. However, they were torn down and left to be overgrown with lichen years ago. You don't even bother to search - looters have probably been through here dozens of times.
You emerge from the rapids into a huge, placid lake. The ubiquitous glowing fungus on the ceiling is sparser here. Most notable are the huge clots of pale algae floating everywhere. You can't always see them, but you can always smell them.
Here two tunnels stretch off into the distance. There was once a road running along the tunnel floor, but little of it remains now.
You find a few ancient foundations, some scattered stones, and a smattering of broken green tile. This is a thoroughly ruined ruin.
