[OL - Era II, Challenge II CatB] - Bay of Pearls reef

[blackdeathgr]

Before

And so it was that the expedition chose to land on the Bay of Pearls. It was not a small feat though as the sea there had tremendous currents and it was due to them that only the bravest of the Natives were diving for Pearls to sell or gift to the newcomers. For the Native divers they were just some beautiful curiosities of mother nature but for the mainlanders, as they called the Oleanders and the rest, those "stones" worth a small fortune.

However, things were not as they used to be back when Hugo had visited that location. Upon entering the Bay of Pearls, on a nearby rock protruding from the sea, there was now a tied body of one member of the initial expedition from Fatu Hiva. Strangely though, you could only see his bones. "This fact doesn't make sense", thought Hugo, "as the expedition went away not long ago, thus the body should be whole and not just bare bones...". Under that constant gruesome image,  our team struggled with their inner fears and the very real dangerous currents, to ferry all the necessary goods and provisions from our vessel to the beach, doing numerous, perilous runs. So frightened were our not-so-brave mariners, that some talked about sightings of a mermaid... Now THAT was a story fit for a newspaper.

 

 

All went well though and soon they were all safe and sound on the beach where they found out that a second surprise was waiting for them. On the verge of the jungle, just where the village area was ending, various artifacts of strange origins were found tied on poles as if guarding the jungle from the unwanted visitors. Some looked towards the jungle while the rest faced towards the sea. As those artifacts were apparently constructed by some heathen pagans, we promptly gathered them as we needed to deliver them to the Order. Some concerns were heard that we would better sell them to some shady collector to raise money for the expedition but the pious prevailed in the end and so we decided that we should hand them to the priests of the Order to be destroyed or studied. We needed to find out their purpose though and before giving them to the priests, our expedition's artist, anthropologist and philosopher, monsieur Dalantier, made some drawings of them.

We also decided to ask Kahlua No of their origin and purpose so we brought them to him.

Upon seeing those artifacts, our esteemed native's face was transformed. He now looked like a hundred years old and his voice turned hollow:

"You shouldn't have done that. These thing must remain where they are found. They are our protectors and jailers at the same time. They look to the jungle to protect us from the savage tribesmen that deserted us and followed Mamali, a priest that was possessed by a dark spirit. It is deep within the jungle that they reside doing some bloody and gruesome rituals and acting like oppressors to everybody that chooses to live in the jungle or just goes hunting on their territory. They oppress us but not kill us. They hate newcomers though and they want to free the island of your present. That's why Mamali declared a holy war against you. We were caught in the middle and fled our territories that were close to them but we couldn't openly speak against them as many of us have relatives and kinsmen among them. It is as if condemning our own people if we reveal the truth to you. On the other hand, a life is always a precious thing and it was a terrible thing they did, killing all those fellow countrymen of yours during the latest expedition. You must put an end to their tyrannical existence..."

"Gary, quickly fetch me pen and parer. I have to write to Breshaun for reinforcements!", shouted Hugo as he was leaving Kahlua No's shack...

 

I hope you enjoyed my little story and builds. C & C as always welcome and needed actually!

Edited July 4, 2018 by blackdeathgr

[Ross Fisher]

Love it. Suddenly realised that I'm going to need to do a lot more work to link my planned builds together!

[Bodi]

Nice builds BD, and very inspiring story. The protuding reef looks good and I like that mermaid!

[Spud The Viking]

Nice builds, I like the unfurled sail in the first one and the artist using his pencil the gauge the size of the idols (very inaccurate but to be expected from a man from Oleon). The story was also a great read, well done! 

[blackdeathgr]

On 7/1/2018 at 4:41 PM, Ross Fisher said:

Love it. Suddenly realised that I'm going to need to do a lot more work to link my planned builds together!

On 7/1/2018 at 6:13 PM, Bodi said:

Nice builds BD, and very inspiring story. The protuding reef looks good and I like that mermaid!

Thanks guys! Eagerly waiting for your ideas!

23 hours ago, Spud The Viking said:

Nice builds, I like the unfurled sail in the first one and the artist using his pencil the gauge the size of the idols (very inaccurate but to be expected from a man from Oleon). The story was also a great read, well done! 

Thanks Spud  ! And don't worry about the right measurements. This guy's monocle has superpowers and can measure anything he sees (an Oleander invention of course  )

[Fraunces]

Cool builds and a very clever and perfectly fitting story. I too, have to re-evaluate my entry now 

[blackdeathgr]

17 hours ago, Fraunces said:

Cool builds and a very clever and perfectly fitting story. I too, have to re-evaluate my entry now 

Thanks! I am glad that you liked both builds and the story! Well, no need to evaluate anything if you don't want, as each participant can tell a different story, no matter if they match or not. Tall tales were really common back then and especially mariners tended to exaggerate almost all the time!