Leo - Northern Island Washed Away

I knew something was wrong when we got near the island. There was no welcoming party. There was no sign of anybody on the shore at all. Surely somebody should have spotted our canoe by now. What sent a chill down my spine was nothing was moving nor was there any smoke rising from fire pits, blacksmiths, or ovens.

We landed on the beach and immediately felt a difference in the sand. It wasn't the usual powdery consistency but felt thicker and almost damp. Two of the crew stayed with the canoe while Kane and I led the rest inland toward the center of the island. We sloshed our way through the jungle. I noticed that all the plants and trees were leaning south and some of the smaller trees were uprooted.

Our group emerged from the jungle to find the village destroyed. Shacks and houses had been completely swept away. Other than spots of rubble that littered the ground there was no sign the village had ever existed. There were no signs of civilization and so signs of life. Any life. We explored the village and found nobody. Our group split up and searched the island and still nothing. No person, no birds, no animals.

The day was growing late when Arlen, one of the crewmen, came running up to me and Kane with news of a body on the west side. Kane and I made our way west to the rocky crags that contain the mineral we trade for to find them flooded. What was once a natural depression filled with columns of jagged rocks that stood taller than the high ground had become a basin. Only black rocky peaks stuck out of the water. It looked like a lake with spikes.

Stuck against one of the larger rocks was a body floating face-down motionless. The skin looked pale and bloated. This man had drowned here. He was a Northern local but where was everybody else? Something terrible had obviously happened here. It seemed like the entire island had been flooded and battered by some great force. We found no survivors and no other bodies. Everything was gone.

By the time Kane and I returned to our canoe the sun was setting and our companions were ready to leave. We set sail back through the shallows and left Northern Island behind us. I hear murmurs from the crew about an island tomb and curses. I have a feeling many superstitions and fantastic stories will rise from their accounts. All those people...gone. The entire Northern civilization wiped away. I must figure out what happened here. I must travel back to the continent and visit the archives at Thurn. I may find some answers there. How could this happen so suddenly?