Ma'likka's Adventures in Talara

The Adventure Begins

It had been three years since Ma'likka had left her tribe in pursuit of the great destiny foretold to her by the village Wise Man. In that time, she had busied herself preparing for and seeking out this great task ahead of her, and occupied her time mostly by observing the border villages on the outskirts of the Jungle. It was during this time that she taught herself the Common tongue, and picked up bits and pieces of the strange culture of those who would live on the ground out of the safety of the trees.

One day blended much the same into the other as she learned and watched, until with great surprise and odd feeling came over her, the world distorted, and suddenly she found herself on a beach. It was then she learned that she was among those chosen by the Weave of Magic itself, and had been summoned by the Archmage Shessa and others to carry out the task of investigating the newly discovered continent.

It had been learned that this great continent had been shifting back and forth and between the planes for thousands of years, and finally it seemed to remain on the Material Plane long enough for a party to be sent to investigate and attempt to anchor it back for good.

Overcoming her fear of being thrust so suddenly outside of the Jungle and out of the trees, when it came time to board the ship that was to take them to the continent of Talara, Ma'likka and Bah'tu squirreled themselves away in the crow's nest high above the main deck and secluded themselves there for the duration of the journey. The wide open skies and vast vistas of water surrounding her terrified her, and so it was with great relief that when the ship finally made land, it was to the thickly grown land of jungle on Talara known as Luminara.

Luminara

Though still within the outskirts of the jungle there, Ma'likka was astounded and overwhelmed by the amount of people she saw, people who seemed to be animals on two legs such as she had never before seen, for this land was heavily populated by not only elves and the secluded dwarves, but catfolk, ratfolk, kitsune, tengu, and more. Strangely enough however, the people of this land had never before seen humans, and found the mostly human party fascinating. Ma'likka made it perfectly clear to them however, that she was not, in fact, human, but U'tu.

While discussing things with the council of Luminara, it was learned that the continent of Talara was in great imbalance, and Luminara in particular was plagued by constant attacks by the shadowy creatures known as Wayang; creatures they themselves could not even fight. Ma'likka refused to take shelter in the smothering, horrible huts the others found such refuge in, and insisted that she would simply set up her hammock high in the trees bordering the settlement. These people seemed so ignorant of the dangers of the ground, and she simply could not understand how they could stand being in such noise as to prevent hearing any danger approach until it was upon you.

Thus it was that she was the first to be alerted to the attack in the night by the creatures known as Wayang, and rousing the rest of her party and the settlement, they were able to fight back against these creatures, and much to the amazement of the people of Luminara were even able to kill them; something they themselves had never been able to do.

It became known to the party that they must find a way to right the imbalance to the continent, and with the help of their guide Aiolli, and later her friend Renè, they navigated the depths of the jungle, while Ma'likka tried to teach De Lucibar and Elsdibat the benefits of taking to the trees. For some reason she couldn't fathom, they just did not understand how dangerous the ground was.

Among different things in the jungle, they encountered a lost temple of Danae, saved a leopard cub from the clutches of a poacher (much to her dismay the party would not allow her to gut him), convinced a tribe of jungle elves to follow The Lady and save their people, ran from the pursuit of the Wayang and various demons sent after them, and Ma'likka learned and grew to love a game called The Marbles that was taught to her by other members of the party.

Significantly in Luminara, they encountered the only Dragon left living in Luminara who told them that the continent had been thrown into constant shift by a spell the dragons had cast that had gone awry. Dragons fleeing the conflict at the end of the Dragon War sought refuge on this continent and thought to place a spell of protection around it. Just before the spell was completed however, they found that the Wayang had tampered with it, and so instead the continent was thrown into constant shift and was severed from being able to leave by the maelstrom of storms caused by the ever shifting between planes. The only way to fix things was to bring back balance to each of the nexus points and activate them with the Dragon Statuette, the focus of the spell, and set things right.

Shortly after this encounter, Ma'likka and the others found themselves looking to travel through some tunnels known to be populated by a warren of ratfolk, and while negotiating safe passage through their tunnels it was found that they were starving and badly off. The area on the other side of the tunnels were they used to forage for the food had become infested by deadly, aggressive snakes and after too many deaths they could not risk sending others.

Something seemed off about this to Ma'likka, familiar as she was with the habits of jungle snakes, and so the rest of the party decided to investigate the issue. This is when Ma'likka discovered that the snakes were being charmed to stay in this area by a nasty group of Yuan Ti looking to expand their territories. Her deep loathing and hatred of the Yuan Ti filled Ma'likka to bursting, and it was with a great fury that she tracked them down. The party fought the Yuan Ti, and triumphantly Ma'likka killed their priestess thus ended the charming upon the snakes who left the area shortly afterwards.

During their adventures in the Jungle, they also happened upon Master Zien, who decided to accompany the heroes in their endeavors, and was able to point them in the direction of some old ruins to give them their next clue. Thus it was they encountered the Lizardfolk tribe holed up in the ruins, hedged in by a nasty pack of velociraptors and canopy tree spiders later found to be put there to protect the secrets of the ruins. After solving the conflict, and Ma'likka learned to speak to and call to the raptors, the party found the next clue and a map to find the next areas they needed to visit to set things aright, and balance was restored to Luminara.

In recognition of her efforts thus far, The Lady herself came to Ma'likka and praised her efforts, leaving a blessing upon the bag of marbles Ma'likka had acquired, giving her a magical book that would populate with information on the land and animals of each and every terrain it entered, and gifting her with golden hoop earrings to mark her status of Jungle Warden upon return home. In deep respect Ma'likka went to her knees before her, for rarely had any U'tu known such favor from The Lady.

For Ma'likka though, the worst was yet to come as they found the border of the jungle, and the wide, open grasslands of the savannah stretched out before them.

Leonara

Terror.

The land before her was nothing but a huge emptiness of field and sky. No trees to take to safety, no cover to hide from prying eyes; it was a land of death. There was nothing that could make her leave the safety of the trees. Except ...

It was harsh, but The Lady had sent one of her spirits.

"It is death out there!" She cried, eyes wide in horror.

But the spirit would have none of that. Upon consequence of The Lady's displeasure, she had to go. Every fiber screamed at her to stay within the confines of the jungle, but she feared The Lady's displeasure even more. Forceful, but not unkind, and knowing the distress this would cause, The Lady left this spirit with gifts. Among them was a kind of bag of holding, a satchel really, and it's purpose was to contain and preserve a large supply of food. There was also a book that was intended only for her eyes; one which upon entering a terrain filled with the knowledge of surviving in that area. This book contained information on the animal life, plants, weather patterns, and survival techniques. The Lady felt it was only right that her U'tu be equipped with the necessary tools to survive in these terrains strange and alien to Ma'likka.

Finally she took her first steps into this strange and fearsome land. They were some of the hardest steps of her life.

Some of the first people they encountered were a few dwarves tunneling below the ground and having gotten turned around. They party offered assistance in redirecting them, and offered to hunt and bring them back food as the dwarves did not want to venture from their tunnel. In return, they offered to do some work on their weapons and gear.

This was a far better meeting of the people of Leonara than what happened later however.

As the party continued to travel, they encountered some very unfriendly catfolk, warriors of some kind it seemed to Ma'likka, who took unkindly to them hunting in the area. Then they ran into the gnolls. It was a very small hunting party, and game was scarce so they were having little luck. After deciding to help them, the party went back to where their tribe was and found most of the tribe malnourished. There were no children either. Forced to make the decision of letting them starve or killing them swiftly, the gnolls had been forced to kill their own children.

The kingdom of Leonara had pushed them far to the edges of the territory they once held, and had driven all of the game from the area. They were even restricted to only one small watering hole.

Ma'likka felt nothing but anger and contempt for these horrible, greedy people of the kingdom, not helped by the U'tu's dislike and distrust of kings in general after their treatment by King Lucien. Wearing a token of the tribe in the form of a wrapped piece of cloth around her arm, Ma'likka was determined to aid the gnolls in getting back the territory they had lost.

But then word came of something dreadful. The watering hole had been fouled.

The party followed some of the gnoll hunters and there they found that a corpse had been thrown in the water to poison it, and just as they found the tracks, a party of catfolk warriors, mercenaries or soldiers, De Lucibar called them, stepped out from hiding in the rock outcropping. The confrontation ended in violence. Most of the catfolk were slain, and Ma'likka dearly wanted to gut their leader as poisoning the water is one of the worst most horrible of crimes. The others did not want him slain, so instead she forced him and his surviving men to face the judgement of the land.

They were stripped bare of clothing and gear and forced to drink of the water they themselves had befouled. Then they were set loose to live or die as the land saw fit.

The party set out once more on their way to the capital, Ma'likka now more than ever incensed to confront this King on the behalf of the tribe of gnolls.

Shortly thereafter, however, was an encounter of a different sort. A kitsune approached, mounted on a large horse and gleaming in the same kind of shiny metal worn by De Lucibar that they called armor. He was a knight in service to the neighboring kingdom of Westlund, and was on a quest to prove his worth to his lady love Victoria. And so they met Galdathar.

And so they continued on their journey across the savannah, poor Ma'likka feeling so exposed and vulnerable in the open plains, until the party came across a herd of these tall, gray, leathery beasts she learned from her book to be called elephants. Galdathar warned getting near as they could be very protective, especially eyeing the large male as he locked into a contest against a smaller male, and eventually emerging victorious.

Ma'likka was fascinated by these creatures, most importantly of their size, and determined that she was going to try to make friends with one. Since most of the herd was gathered together under the watchful gaze of the huge male, she decided to approach the smaller defeated male standing aways from the herd. Galdathar cried out another warning, insisting it wasn't safe, but she confidently continued to approach.

Using her skill in handling animals by adopting her body posture and movements to set the creature at ease, Ma'likka was able to use a spell to communicate with the lonely male, and after a short conversation, she found that what this male wanted most were females and a herd of his own. Ma'likka made a promise to him, that if he were to come along with them, she would make sure to help him find the females he wanted. Having nothing else to do at the time, the male agreed, and Ma'likka clambered on to his back with his assistance, and finally, for the first time in the grasslands, she felt a bit more at ease on top of the great beast. Fondly, she named him Ti'kkum, and the two became the best of friends, with both Ma'likka and Bah'tu feeling much safer on top of their large guardian, and Ti'kkum becoming very protective of his new friends.

It was shortly after becoming friends with Ti'kkum, that they encountered the next member that would end up joining their party, and later on, change Ma'likka's life forever.

While traveling to Leonis, the party had their first encounter with one of the Talaran wonders known as an airship. It looked like many of the other sea vessels they had seen before, but rather than floating along on the water, it glided gently just above the ground. This wasn't to be a peaceful encounter however, as Galathar spotted the tell tale signs of pirates aboard a stolen vessel.

The pirates attacked, and the party responded, and as the others targeted the pirates, Ma'likka upon Ti'kkum targeted the ship itself. With a mighty below, Ti'kkum charged the ship, and with a tremendous crash he tore into the sides of the ship, stopping it dead in it's tracks. The fight was quickly concluded, and the pirates shortly dispatched, when a prisoner was discovered in the brig of the now broken ship. A ratfolk calling himself Caspian.

He told the rest of the party that he'd been working on the airship prior to it being taken over by pirates, and admitted it was some fast talking that had allowed himself to be taken prisoner rather than being slain like the rest. The rest of the party seemed distrustful, Galathar especially citing the untrustworthy nature of ratfolk, however Ma'likka decided to extend the offer for him to join the party.

"If you betray me, I will gut you." she told him.

Caspian nodded his understanding, though wary of the party, and continued to travel with them to Leonis. He even at times ride on the back of Ti'kkum with Ma'likka, whose odd appearance he found fascinating.

When finally they arrived at the capital city of Leonis, Ma'likka was faced with the prospect of what to do with Ti'kkum, however an opportunity to fulfill her promise to the elephant soon arose. On the outskirts of the city, an enclosure of mostly female elephants were kept. They were tame, and used for several different jobs throughout the kingdom. The elephant handler, excited by the appearance of the large virile young male elephant, offered to keep him with the others if he could have the opportunity to breed him to some of his females.

Ma'likka dissuaded him of the idea of actually keeping him in the enclosure, however she promised the made that she did not think he would be able to keep Ti'kkum away from the females if he tried. Ti'kkum, thrilled at having females all to himself, quickly established his presence among them and took them as his own.