May, 1100 AD\n\nI’m beginning to thing this map is fake.\n\nMy search of Henkhisesui has again hit a stop. No matter which way I turn this blasted piece of paper, it isn’t lining up with the ruins properly. I am going to try to dig up some of this sand and see if the desert have claimed some of the structures that I’m searching for.\n\nAs a side note, something strange happened today that I must make mention of. As Jorich and I had our last meal of the night, we tried to lighten the mood with a few jokes. One of his jokes was so bad it didn’t even elicit as much as a snort from me, but we definitely heard a chuckle coming from the brush behind us. We called out but found no one, and nothing but the footprints of the local jackals around us.\n\nThe next morning, I saw a strange jackal sitting on the rocks looking down at us… just staring. It chittered at me, and I swear the sound of the laugh from the night before and the short bark were similar enough that they might have been the same.\n\nA coincidence to be sure, but a story to note how many odd things we might find out here in the sands.\n\n- Q. Almabi

Almabi's Journal

A dog-eared book with gravy stains

Almabi’s Journal, page 23

I don’t know how long I’ve been out in the desert, but I’ve seen some strange interactions between the creatures that call Brimstone home in my time here.\n\nI believe the strangest one must be the relationship between the lions and peacocks out in Ruined Seret. On the surface, it looks like a pride of lions have herded a flock of peacocks for an easy dinner. In fact, passers by have given the lions the names “birdherders” or somesuch moniker.\n\nBut I think the roles are reversed – my observations of Seret lead me to believe the peacocks are actually the ones in charge there, and the lions are subservient. When I collected a set of the long feathers and placed them within view, the peacocks seemed to react to them. I’m not sure if their calls were protection or an invitation, but the lions moved to the outside of the group while the birds called out.\n\nVery interesting, and definitely worth further study.\n\n- Maharaj Sahjit

Kings of the Desert

A book filled with grand embellishments and grander names

Maharaj Sahjit's Observation on Peacocks

I've found it! Blood is the key! \n\nI've found the means to unlocking our liberation - our tool to overcoming this accursed island and the puppeteers that trapped us here! The Blood of the Sands had this power and they squandered it. \n\nBut I will not! Now that I can hatch the eggs of Shah Neshen, they will be at my beck and call. I will control our fate and see these so-called Ancients bow to my will!\n\n-M

Malek's Mischief

An incriminating note, if ever there was one

The Key In The Egg

The Magic Flute\nBy Marsses Ulivander\nPg. 31\n\n… to prove the existence of such a creature. I’m just not seeing any evidence, and thus I believe this poem to be pure fancy with no factual basis.\n\nOn the other hand, strangely enough, I think I do have evidence regarding another mythical creature. Although I initially hesitated to put it on this list since the area I searched is on the far edge of Brimstone proper. There is a children’s song that talks about a man with the feet of a goat that once used to haunt the eastern cliffs of the desert. Apparently he used his magic flute to lure young people from their beds and into the hills where they would disappear for one year. “From the tip of the sun to the tip of the sun,” is what the lyric reads, which I suspect is referencing one summer solstice to the next.\n\nI knew about the song, but I wasn’t looking for the beast itself, since it seemed to be more or less a rhythm to dance to and little more. However, when I made camp near the Bubasteum, I did hear some distant flute playing, and heard some strange voices not too far away. They fled when I got near, and I found a strange wooden flute among the brush there. I was never able to retrieve the object because of the lions, but I am planning to go back with a hired hand to see if I can’t pick it back up before they return.\n\nI realize this is not hard evidence, but it is a very strange set of coincidences to be sure.