[grushaj]: 303.magamin

Segment created 2/16/06 by Andrew J Grush

(as told to the children of the city of Torseal, year of the dragon 1263... by storyteller Aarim Mosasec...)

.... alas children, the Sea of Pifanae was no place for the faint hearted, for the weak quivering soul. A place of dangerous beasts and isles that can trap a man in riddled dangers and vicious tribals. Though when we first arrived most of the tales of horror from the sea had proven to be false, yet soon I learned nothing is ever as it seems, not in the slightest fraction.

After months of vigorous travel on the waves, my crew had grown tired, worn to the very thinnest reed. My second officer, Arringar Bruge, insisted that we stop at the first sign of land… after all we hadn’t made even the slightest stop in nearly seven days. After an hour came across we found ourselves nearing a very tiny patch of dry land against an endless stretch of water. It was then…

Oh? Really well, I’ll get to the good stuff, children. I know what you came to hear…

YOUNG CHILD: “Did you really see the magamin, mister? Was it like in the old stories, the legends? Was it, huh huh!?

Most men.. they dream of fame, dream of fortune. They wish for an opportunity to face the unknown and bring themselves stories of a power struggle and their defeat of the undefeatable. As for me, I’d love to tell you right now this was just a make-believe tale, one I did for the few coins your parents will throw into my cap this fine night. If this was only a made up story, I could finally get one night’s rest without the haunting image and alluringly dark beauty of the captivating creature that took my crew and made me a captain without any followers.

Legend says no man sees her and lives to tell the world, I truly was therefore a blessed man. I can’t tell you what became of the crew, for I wasn’t present to witness their ends, yet I can tell you without the slightest doubt that see was the one who sent them to meet the maker. With her their fates were sealed.

She was like nothing of this world, lined in plates of gold, shinning with an intensity and radiance that surely puts even our golden sun to shame. She had a length of over six cubits, standing about four cubits tall… her foreboding size just adding to the magnificence of the creature. It stood on two legs, a lesser shadow of the human race, yet at the same time somehow more powerful in her own mysterious way. Her legs were like two metallic rods lined with tiny thorns, like those on roses yet three times thick. Her hands, in contrast, were thin rails smaller than those of humans, adorned by three clawed fingers. To this day I understand not what she was, a bird without wings or feathers? Her blood red eyes and red and silver beak still haunt me, and probably always will.

She watched me closely, her piercing gaze grabbing into the recesses of my mind and connecting in a way I can’t begin to describe. Blood and bits of flesh hung from her fanged beak, the thin-razor teeth were like smaller then nails yet somehow with power to snap bones without a care. No doubt the remnants from hanging on her mouth were bits of my former crew. Her coo was eerie yet in the same sense truly hypnotic. I felt her caress, oddly enough, the warmth of her even though she was far distance from me. I felt I could trust her, as if she would never harm me, as if she were my closest friend and companion. She moved slowly in on me, taking her time as to keep her mental hold on me. I swear as she moved towards me she bore a cunning smile. She knew she had successfully lulled me into submission, I was her next victim and I couldn’t do a thing about it.

I wish I could finish this story with a grand account of a victorious battle where I confronted the creature and became king over her by my own right and great might. I remember only a sense of instant recognition that I was going to die, that she was going to take me. I broke free and ran that instant, falling against the ground hard, falling into a deep sleep…

I awoke and she was gone, and within minutes a group of kind and gentle tribals happened upon me. I was taken to the village to rest, spent many a week there until eventually whisked back to civilization.

Children, this account is very real, yet no one will ever believe me.. and yet I somehow feel she isn’t done with me. Nearly every person she has ever touched has died, why did I survive? Her purpose for me, I believe, has yet to be realized.