1689
The Tale of Crag Island
Ohaythar121
Welcome friend, I am Sillion Luthais. I am a writer, avid brewer, and proud Halfling. When I was a boy, I was raised amongst a group of dwarves, elves, humans, and halflings. So, there was no shortage of tales swirling about our cozy forest-ridden camp. A favorite of mine, is the one before you, the tale of Crag Island. As a adolescent, it entertained me to no end to scare up the younger members of our clan with this tale of treasure, adventure, and a monster beyond our wildest imaginations. So, sit near a warm fire, and snuggle up to your favorite chair, this is a wild one. Be safe in your travels -S :: Years ago, long before the rule of High Prince Native in the lands of Laurelin there was a small company of sailors, just four men to be exact. Now, these were the days of pure adventure, when the lands went unclaimed, and the wilds were filled to the brim with treasure of towns lost to nature, or the hoards of monarchs long forgotten. So, this caused the treasure hunter boom to take place, a group of men and women, dedicated to uncovering the secrets of the old world, and perhaps even set up the tales of the future. But, our story begins near the docks of Laurelin. In the ocean, a group of treasure hunter professionals, known only as the Sting. Despite the mysterious name, it was simply a group of four old companions, whom have the luck of Iblees, and made their fortunes via the wooden chests, and treasure piles scatered across the lush landscape of the beautiful lands of Aegis. Their galleon, a beuty of a vessel purchased with a solid gold, hand-made, ancienct rapier, was sailing keenly through the water, parting the water with little more than a ripple. The captian stood atop the back, one hand clasped to a bottle of ale, and the other on the wheel. He took a long slurp of the rich golden-brown liquid, and called merrily to the rest of the crew, "The weathers bee-uuatiful for sailing." He was working light buzz, a regularity for Captain Cahal, known amongst the treasure hunter circle for his long beard, companion bottle of ale, and his very sweet demeanor. Below, on the main deck, Arturo was sharping a sword, his own falchion. His regular duties (helping with the sails) was pointless in such nice weather. Arturo was a prime example of a Elf, tall, elegant, and wise seeming. In reality Arturo considered himself very naive, but his sword skills were amazing for a High Elf, and he was quick to spot a imperfection in the sail, or equipment. The other two gentlemen, Ceallach and Leith, were half-ling twins, both were quite tech-savy and kept the crew, and ship, up to date with redstone equipment. They also helped with sails in case of a emergency. Noramlly the general runs were boat rides, accompanied with ale drinking, and feasting on the different regional fish. They then search for treasure with maps they find scattered about, or from the occasional noble in need of a family heir-loom that was long lost. This was no different, except for the story behind it. During the last run, they had found a map, printed on an unearthly substance. It lead far north into the sea, to a place they only knew as Crag Island. The name was vaguely ominous, but the reason they started towards it, was because written on the back on a un-identifiable  substance, was, "Treasure, treasure, treasure, treasure," over and over. Being who they are, they couldn't resist the offer of treasure (and hopefuly a lot of it) written on a mysterious map. The sailing continued for 6 days, after the first 4 days, land all but dissapeared. But, on the 6th day, it appeared. It was a simply the most massive mountain imaginable, this was no crag, this was a nation. It started as a gargantuan oval-like base, covered in oddly yellow grass, miles wide. From there it simply got sharper, rockier, and much more daunting. the top was not visible at all. But that was not the most noticable part, but, in the side was the most massive cavern anyone could fathom, the entirety of Al'Khazar could fit in the small base. It was like God himself raked a massive finger along it, as if to taste the oddly burnt smelling landmass. None of the crew could see inot the cavern, for a massive shadow was cast by the top of the cavern. Arturo climbed up the bow, and looked out upon the island, "By God, how are we to find anything in this monstrosity?!?!" Captain Caahal jsut sat uptop, motuh upon, staring into the gaping maw of this monstrosity. It took a few more hours to get unto the actually island, then the smell hit. It was the most horrible, burnt, egg like smell any of them had ever dared to imagine. It was vague from awhile back, but it was diluted by the ocean. Leith began vomiting almost immediatley, expelling the cooked pork they had shared as a victory feast. Ceallach grabbed him by the waist and began to help him but his shirt over his mouth and nose. "C'mon, onwards, if there is anything, we should head up to the cavern." Cahal wheezed through breaths of disgusting air. Our heroes trudged onwards, valiantly pushing towards the perhaps non-existant treasure. After 2 days of hiking, the mouth of the cavern came into view. There was a small glint from far away into the darkness, and Arturo started to yell for the others, when finally, they saw it. They only heard crackling, and and smashing, almost like a earthquake. Then, one gargantuan foot came into view. It was the size of a house found in Al'Khazar, teeming with smaller life, and vines, and even trees sprouting from the sides of it's tentacle like girth. Then the smell almost tripled in in strength. From above the massive foot, the rest of it came into view. It wa a crepper, oh yes, the queen of all monsters, the single most disgusting monstrosity ever to have eyes laid upon it's collosal girth. I was a monolith of green, teeming, saggy skin. Plant life and even small animals and insects ran along the surface of it. The legs left indentations the size of the groups boat, and it's head would kill weaker men with a single glance. Its eyes were massive gelatinous blobs, obviously untouched by the sun for hundreds of years. The mouth was simply a gaping hole, filled with darkness, and dripping a horrendous bile, the color of obsidian. All four of the men began to run backwards, hopefully to escape a horrible fate when they saw the pile. It was atleast mountain sized, the hoards of thousands of dead trade boats, and civilizations of old. Among the Creepers legs were zombie shuffling back and forth betweeen a wreck nearby, dragging chests and goblets to the pile. Captian Cahal looked upwards, and saw the storm brewing. It was a biter, lightning spewing from every cloud. The Creeper waddled from the cavern, and it's head almost touched the clouds, and then it began to get hit. The lightning started to hit the head of the monster and its screams emenated across the entire island. Then it began to glow. It's skin emanating a light blue flame-esque light. It caugt at first to his head, and it spread with a rapid rate. The group began to run, but the Creeper was running too. But, instead, it was running towards the mountain. It started to crash into the lip of the cavern, and rocks and chunks of sediment fell from the whole of the mountain. "GENTLEMEENN!!! IT'S GONNA BLOOWW!!" Arturo began screaming just bloody rage, until he saw their salvation. Lava spewed from where the beast had removed itself, and whilst they were paralyzed by the sight of it, it had ran into the water, and had a smallcavern like thing forming by the shape of the beach. The entirety of the group sprinted towards the small creation, and huddled under it. Then, boom. The Creeper exploded, and the shockwave deafned all but one of the adventurers right away and it tossed their little shelter into the air. Leith neck snapped on blast, and he was flung from it mid-air. Cahal was brained by the wall, and died mid-air as well. Ceallach and Arturo were saved by the cushion of his girth. Even in death, his kindness saved part of his crew. Then the obsidian hit the ocean, bounced from the pure speed, and sunk. Both of the survivors floated to the top. Then island was completely gone. There was nothing left by the two had floated up, only the lava was left, creating obisidan and cobble on the ocean floor. The two watched as the remainder of the greatest treasure of all time sunk to the depths. :: Thank you for reading friends, I hope you enjoyed the ancient folklore of my family. This story has a special place in my heart, and thank you for sticking through it. I hope you at least had your curiosity peaked, because who knows, perhaps the treasure of Crag Island remains underneath the pile of rubble, waiting for the next great adventurer ......... -S