Return to Kavelland - 19/09/2023 - A Kavel Perspective

Going Back to Kavelland

Praxima Island, as it was once known, is my island, Kavelland. It had been a year since I found the island, and just a little bit longer since I found the deeds to the island, in a pile of trinkets.

Kavelland is located between Faerun and Kantas, a small island in the middle of the ocean. But, thanks to a hidden map on the deeds, and after an extremely quick journey in a magical ship, we found Kavelland.

Soon after we found the island though, we, my comrades and I, had to flee a hostile ship’s deceptive crew; they turned out to be cutthroat pirates! They gave chase, and we managed to escape them during a cave-in, where they all died.

Well… the crew must be dead. But, Captain Jimmy Midnight, was a very powerful water-genasi. Derthaad cast several Wall of Force spells to slow the captain down, and causing the cave-in seemed to be the only way we could defeat Jimmy. Jimmy has been trapped in the cave for a year now. Jimmy had to have died, surely?

Not many things in life though are certain. The good things are - if you lift heavy; you get stronger. But, death where magical beings are involved, who knows? Also, a word like ‘treasure’, it seems, is very subjective. ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,’ is a phrase I’ve heard said to explain the once very deceptive and deadly pirate captain’s interpretation of the word treasure. Captain Jimmy Midnight’s treasure was a mountainous hoard of trinkets! Jimmy’s real treasure, if he believed it or not, was clearly The Legacy, the fastest ship in the world, which like Praxima Island, is also mine.

I was trained to be a captain by the pirate crew pretending to be our friends, and all the former crew members and captain are dead. So, I claimed The Legacy. On returning to Port Ffirst though, I had to negotiate a fee to berth The Legacy. Mace, who runs Port Ffirst took a hefty share of ownership in The Legacy. It was the only way to avoid paying the very expensive berthing rate. The ship is also on permanent loan to the Grey Zephr Armada. Mayor Mace gave me a ‘Hero of Port Ffirst’ pin though… I actually have two of them.

Comrade Kelne used a stone carving spell to etch ‘Kavelland’ into the island’s cliff face, nice and large, so you can see it when you arrive by sea. It will be nice to see if the name is still perfectly carved into the cliff face. But also, it will be nice to confirm that Jimmy’s dead, and that I can safely move out his mountain of useless trinkets and burn them all on a bonfire. I don’t know what I’m going to do with Kavelland, but Kavelland does not need to host 90% of the world’s entire supply of trinkets.

I suppose, to be fair, not every trinket is useless. After all, I did happen to acquire the deeds to Kavelland from an individual rewarding us adventurers with a random assortment of trinkets. Also, the centuries old rations that taste like chicken, I got them from Jimmy’s hoard, and they are pretty good.


Kavel Understands Magic?

It was a good thing I had some of the centuries old rations left. As I’ve come to learn, teleporting to a location can be hit or miss in terms of accurately arriving where you intended, if the portal operator casting the spell has never been to the destination before - and not many people had ever been to Kavelland. If you have an associated object from the location though, then it’s guaranteed the portal attendant can get you where you want to go.


Party For Kavelland

Comrade Oziah, my human, wealthy, but very deadly paladin friend said that she and Delilah had settled on cherrywood for the furnishings in their new castle. It was a good choice. I was welcomed to come round and inspect, and offer my carpentry expertise. I looked forward to it.
I had told Oziah about Kavelland when we were hunting the Wild Hunt, and Messikammen gave us directions on where we could find the Hunt. My chat with the Bear King, and knowing I own an island, made Oziah compare me to an onion. This is to say, she felt surprised at how many layers I had. She was especially surprised to know, I, a goliath, have a sprite fiancee. To be fair to her, everyone has obvious questions about that. If Oziah met Nathalie in the Damphenite Tangle, all confusion would disappear. But, I could not take comrade Oziah to the Damphenite Tangle to meet Nathalie - which is a big, on-going challenge for me. However, I could take Oziah to Kavelland, I offered and she agreed to come!

Beets and Lolli were invited to come see Kavelland too. Beets, my fairy thicc-boi friend, and Lolli my harengon conjurer friend, had brought half the goods of Paradise Frost with them - they have the sweetest teeth among all adventurers I know.
When we got to Kavelland, I needed some thicc crew members to help shovel all the trinkets into a pile on the beach for a bonfire, and Archie said Beets did a great job shovelling sand in the desert last week. Lolli can conjure up solutions at the drop of a hat, and I thought she might find inspiration for fashion design on my tropical paradise island, for the fashion shop she works at, Fitzgrove Fashion.

Or course, my human sister, and badass stealthy fighter, Sorrel, was coming back to Kavelland with me. She brought the weird diary she found in Jimmy’s trinket treasure. This diary reveals useless secrets about people nearby. Sorrel once read to me that the diary revealed that, “you, Kavel, can’t pick up a kettlebell unless the number side is facing away from you.” I confirmed this as true. Of course it was - numbers face forward for others to see, obviously. I know what the kettlebell weighs, why face the numbers towards yourself?

Anyway, the important thing was I had my trinket from Kavelland, and Sorrel had her trinket. Both items are associated with Kavelland, so the portal attendant at Portal Plaza would be able to use either of them to get the party safely to Kavelland without us having to go to Port Ffirst, get The Legacy, and then sail to Kavelland. The Legacy is super fast, but teleportation is faster.


Teleporting to Kavelland

Dave, the hobgoblin portal attendant, said that our Kavelland trinkets were too far past their sell-by dates, so to speak, to be used as ‘associated objects’ reliably. Apparently, there is a six month clause! I didn't know about this. Dave said even casters are shocked to learn this. It does make sense though. If our ‘associated objects’ have spent over a year in Daring Heights, away from Kavelland, they may have come from Kavelland, but they don’t really feel tied to Kavelland anymore.

Dave said it would be a risk getting us to Kavelland as he could accidentally teleport us a mile or more outside of Kavelland, which would mean the ocean. Then, if we did end up in the sea, it would be a pain to navigate to Kavelland, what with the surrounding mist around the island, designed to keep the place hidden. Also, Dave himself seemed like he had a history of dodgy teleports, and far too casual an attitude about it. Oziah took his name and attendant number.

The risk of teleporting was too much for my party. Crap! It appears I still do not understand much about magic. We had to reach Kavelland another way.


Teleporting to Kavelland - Teleporting to Port Ffirst to See a Man About a Ship

Comrade Oziah did not feel I got the better end of the deal when I negotiated berthing rates with Mayor Mace of Port Ffirst. So, when Dave teleported us to the Cavernous Sea Shank (Dave had been there before) we quickly made our way to the docks at Port Ffirst, and luckily found The Legacy was berthed, fully crewed, and Mr. Mace was there too, out observing the port.

I was worried that Mr. Mace might say that it was too short notice to take The Legacy, and that Oziah would have to challenge the mayor with legal knowledge, that I knew nothing about, in order for us to gain access to The Legacy.

Oziah did talk to Mr. Mace, and he seemed all too happy to allow us use of The Legacy, with a fully manned crew under Captain Donatress, a half-orc woman. Mr. Mace even saw us to the ship, and wished us a safe departure. I thought I would have to convince Mr. Mace to lend me the ship by mentioning that part of the reason for taking The Legacy to Kavelland was to see if there was anything that the Daring Council might find useful about having access to a small, tropical island, even if only as a holiday location for the wealthy occupants of the Dawnlands. I thought I would have to make an offer to Mr. Mace as well about Kavelland, but I didn’t have to in the end.


A Warm Greeting to The Legacy’s Crew

Upon climbing the ramp and setting foot on the ship, Beets started yelling and intimidating the crew. I think I was partially at fault here. It seems it was not made clear to my comrades that the crew that the Grey Zephr Armada manned on The Legacy, were not the same crew that manned The Legacy previously. The new crew were decent, hard-working, self-disciplined, and not deceitful cutthroat pirates who tried to kill us.

I think another factor for Beets’ decision to confront the crew was to do with comrade Lolli’s last experience on a ship where she almost died. I was not there to witness that, but Beets was. So, Beets, it seems, was acting out of concern for his comrades.

Sorrel attempted to deescalate Beets’ contentious ‘hello’. Oziah helped smooth things out with Captain Donatress, who, with her crew, was able to make the journey to Kavelland in rapid time. One and a half days - a half day quicker than the cutthroats achieved.

It was nice to see where I had carved my name into the main mast, nine feet up, was still there, even if it had been painted over. Also, Captain Donatress is good. I am glad to see my ship is manned by a solid captain and crew.


Arriving at Kavelland

Sailing with The Legacy and its new crew was good, it made us appreciate our choice to not risk teleporting to Kavelland. We had a good meal with the Captain in her quarters, too.

The next morning, we reached the vast mist surrounding Kavelland. The mist can be scary, not being able to see clearly, but it was also a good sign we had reached our destination.

“Land ho!” We heard, as the mist cleared and the crewman in the crow’s nest saw the island before anyone else. Before us was the beautiful paradise island, with its tropical sandy beach, its tropical trees and perfectly sized mountain. On said mountain, still perfectly carved into the stone via magic, the word, “Kavelland”. Thank you comrade Kelne!


Operation Trinket Removal

We disembarked, and agreed with Captain Donatress that the adventurers would first go explore the mountain’s caves, and that the crew should investigate the shore; see where the best spot for a future dock would be. I agreed to name the future port of Kavelland after the Captain, for her efforts getting us here. She was okay with this.

Us adventurers had three objectives on Kavelland:

• Find out if Jimmy’s dead (he should be).
• Decide what to do with the mountain of useless trinkets (bonfire was top of my shortlist).
• Sightseeing.

As we walked to the exit point of the cavern that me and Sorrel made (and blocked) last time we were here, there was chat about the Wild Hunt. Beets updated us on recent events. We heard that now Queen Titania has been speared by the Lord of the Hunt. Queen Titania is fine though. Jasper, who also got speared I still don’t know if he’s okay. Likely dead though - like Jimmy should be.

I was surprised that me, Oziah and especially Zola hadn’t been speared by the Lord of the Hunt. I think the Lord of the Hunt had respect for the party of us who hunted his Wild Hunt and ended up maiming his great steed, Orianix. The Hunt Lord was furious of course, but I think he respected us as hunters, and maybe that is why he merely banished us.


Entering the Cave

With some good lifting and my expertise with stone, it didn’t take long re-opening the blocked route into the cavern. Sorrel swore she could hear movement from inside - bullshit Jimmy is still alive, I thought to myself, it’s been a whole year!

When we entered the cave, to mine and Sorrel’s surprise, most of the trinkets were gone! There were still small heaps of trinkets around, but over ninety percent of the towering mountains of junk had vanished. Hooray! It may have been a mystery how the trinkets had disappeared, but it was marvellous that they had gone.

But, I could now hear what Sorrel mentioned before we entered the cave. Something was moving. So, we walked deeper into the cave, light provided by Oziah. Sorrel heard breathing behind a large pile of collapsed rocks. Beets threw a stone in the direction. We heard the stone hit something before hitting the ground. We went to have a look.

Disappointingly… I saw the missing other ninety percent of trinkets, and from within the large mound of trinkets, there was the sound of breathing.

I shouted at the gigantic mound of trinkets, “is that you Midnight?! Jimmy, are you still alive?!”

“Kavel!” We heard from a booming voice, as several trinkets tumbled away from the humongous mound.

While some trinkets fell away, a mountain of trinkets seemed to cling together, as wings emerged from the pile, followed by gigantic claws, and then the neck and head of an enormous dragon-like creature. Every aspect of this beast was made up of trinkets. The ridge of one of the dragon’s eyelids, I could see, was made from a small clock and a music box. A collection of small, metal tools made up its teeth.

Jimmy had really changed.


Rumble Under the Mountain!

Jimmy wouldn’t answer any of my questions, like, “who are you?” Or, “where’s Jimmy?” Or even, “are you Jimmy? You are right?” Instead, the all-trinket dragon kept furiously yelling, “Kavel!”

I jumped up on top of New-Jimmy, who stood some forty feet above us. Luckily there was room still above me in the cavern, so I straddled New-Jimmy’s neck and delivered punches and elbows to the back of his head, while Oziah, mounted on Deimos darted around New-Jimmy slashing radiant, smiting wounds all over his body. Sorrel kicked things off - which is not unusual for her and her archery talents - and loosed four arrows in rapid succession into a spot that you would think would be a dragon’s heart.

New-Jimmy fought back, biting and clawing at Oziah and me. Oziah took some damage, but her armour did well for her, and she protected Deimos. I took a few scratches from the scythe-like claws - they were scythes in fact! It seemed that Jimmy hoarded anything and called it treasure!

The trinket dragon also had its own breath weapon. New-Jimmy opened its enormous mouth and breathed a hurtling wave of trinkets in Sorrel’s direction. Sorrel was battered by what looked like a blacksmith’s entire tool set. Sorrel wisely put some distance between her and New-Jimmy, before loosing more arrows with sharpshooter marksmanship.

For all the ingenuity of New-Jimmy’s body, New-Jimmy didn’t have any hind legs. His lower body was just a mound of trinkets that scraped across the ground, and formed a tail of sorts. The wings didn’t look like they could create lift. Lolli was under little threat of being reached by claws when she stepped out from cover to cast the Enlarge spell on me. Lolli’s fast harengon bounce saw her safely back to cover before New-Jimmy blasted her with trinket breath. Beets, provoking New-Jimmy with the intention of shifting his attention from Lolli to her instead, succeeded. New-Jimmy trinket-breathed a wave of junk right into my flying fairy comrade, which knocked her down onto the ground, prone.


People Change on a Tropical Island

New-Jimmy liked his trinket breath weapon too much. After doing his breath attack, he was exposed to Sorrel’s arrows, and Sorrel kept landing arrows into spots that would otherwise be vital and fatal to any other beast. All the while, I kept raining down punches and elbows.

Jimmy still wouldn’t talk to me, but it didn’t stop me from speaking what I saw as truth, “I didn’t care much at all for the collection of useless trinkets in here. But, to be honest, an enormous dragon made of trinkets is a good art piece.” I think it was nice of me to say this. New-Jimmy didn’t answer. He just hit me over the head with his trinket-tail in response. Lolli poked her head out round the corner of her pillar, and launched a magical chromatic blast of thunder into New-Jimmy’s eye. As the magical orb hit, the parts of the music box and clock broke off of New-Jimmy’s eye ridge.

Pissed off at Lolli, New-Jimmy tried vomiting trinkets at her, while she had stepped out from cover. Had it hit, I’m not sure Lolli would still be breathing. But she had a magic cape that saved her life.

Beets reacted before we knew Lolli was safe - and Beets went ape-shit. I thought she lost control when she threatened Captain Donatress’s crew. But this was a whole new level. Beets underwent a physical transformation. She developed these large, black mandibles and her arms and claws took on a thick, black carapace-like form. Her eyes changed too. These had become black as well, and she made a terrifying sound as she got off the floor, and flew straight at New-Jimmy, a soulless bloodlust in her eyes.


There He Is!

As Beets - or New-Beets - charged, I elbowed furiously at the back of New-Jimmy’s head causing trinkets to fall off his face like rocks breaking off from a cliff. I exposed a cavity on the front of his head.

With her raven-like wings, Oziah flew herself up to the exposed side of New-Jimmy’s face and thrust her sword deep into the vulnerable cavity, plunging radiant fury into the wound.

The trinket dragon’s eyes flared for a moment, and then the lights went out, and bit by bit chunks of trinkets fell off of New-Jimmy’s body, until it all collapsed and there was no more humongous dragon tribute of trinkets, just the same scattered heap of trinkets we were expecting to find when we entered the cavern.

I saw something. There was a decayed hand in the pile of trinkets. The skin tone used to be blue - it was Jimmy, Jimmy Midnight. Former captain of The Legacy. I kicked and dug away the surrounding trinkets and pulled up the rest of Captain Jimmy’s decayed corpse. His clothes had mostly rotted off. However, fused to the skin of one of his hands, was a round golden disc with nine different gemstones in a circle and piece of metal. The disc looked like it belonged in a dragon’s hoard, not in Jimmy’s hoard of trash.

As I exposed Jimmy’s body for my comrades to see, New-Beets leapt in and chomped Jimmy’s head clean off. “The very definition of overkill!” Comrade Oziah said. She was right. Fortunately New-Beets got a hold of herself, and her body transformed back to normal Beets, and she then regretted the taste in her mouth. I offered her some of my well-preserved, centuries old chicken to replace the taste.

Lolli did a Detect Magic spell. The infused item on dead Jimmy’s hand, she said, glowed with transmutation, necrotic and conjuration magic. We were all worried about touching the item directly. Beets wasn’t though, and this was when it was confirmed that Beets was back to normal. She at least wrapped the item up in her sash though, without directly touching it with her skin.

Since we had finally confirmed Jimmy’s death, and there was no treasure of value to take, we all took a couple of souvenirs from the pile of trinkets. Everyone found something useless. For example, Sorrel took a single scissor blade, the other half not worth looking for - it might not even be in the cavern. Beets found a wooden device that seemed to serve only the purpose of fidgeting with it. Lolli found an ornamental index finger. Oziah, found a mirror that only showed the back of your head - to be fair that is actually useful. Oziah was pleased with it. I, among the many different and unique trinkets, somehow managed to find more of the centuries old rations - also still well preserved, and also still tasting like chicken. Do I just have a nose for protein, I wondered? I did also find a palm-sized greenish stone with the carved image of a dragon on one side, and a humanoid on the other.


Bonfire?

It’s a shame the trinkets were no longer formed together as an enormous trinket dragon. I thought it would make a nice attraction piece for Kavelland. I changed my mind though on what to do with the mountain of trinkets. I would no longer burn them all. If Daring Council would like to explore Kavelland some more, maybe develop some luxury holiday homes on the island, then visitors could come and take a random trinket as a souvenir of their time on the island, like us adventurers did, but minus being chased by pirates, or fighting the trinkets.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Kavelland. It’s a tropical paradise, it’s wonderful. There are some very tasty, large crabs too.

It was a pleasant day in Kavelland overall. It would be nice to build a dock, if not a port, as well as some nice houses, and a resort here. A nice home away from home, perhaps? But, these are tasks for another time. More pressing for me is hearing from Nathalie and Sterel about whether there’s been any success in improving how me and Nathalie can see each other more easily across the planes.

Also, I hope Beets gets that gem covered, golden disc looked at. Beets showed little restraint in grabbing the item. I’m glad though that she showed restraint in unwrapping the disc while we were on The Legacy, returning to the Dawnlands. I was worried her and The Legacy would combine into an enormous ship dragon!