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Story Information
SkyTowns is a custom concept for a map by Cirrus. It is a Skyblock-style map that incorporates factions for cooperative and competitive play, and follows a fantasy-style plot line. This blog showcases the map, as well as adds a narrative to our story. I will be uploading this blog in chapter format, and perhaps tying it in with story events on our server. I hope you enjoy following the mystery, and hopefully you'll check out our map as well! Which faction would YOU choose?
Chapter Two
*Gro oo
ooooooow
‘Till your leaves fill the sky*
The pitch-black guild dormitory lit up in a flash so sudden that Jaz nearly fell out of her bed. She bolted to the window to take a look, cursing under her breath. The middle of the night was not a good time for recruits to be arriving. ‘Why can’t they wait until morning to send them over?’ she wondered.
Jaz donned her leather breastplate. It definitely reeked of rotting flesh and bodily decay, but that was the price she paid from looting the undead. She grabbed a flint sword and a torch, and ran outside to greet the beacon of light.
In the middle of the clearing on the cloud rested a collapsed parachute, illuminated by the beacon above it. A younger woman pulled herself up off the ground, and limped towards the path. Jaz ran out to greet her. She knew she would have to move fast.
“Are you hurt?” she called out to the woman.
The woman grunted. “I don’t think my landing was the best,” she laughed, continuing to hobble down the path towards Jaz. Jaz went to take a step forward, when suddenly she felt sharp air stab across her nose. A loud knock hit the side of the guard tower wall behind her. She didn’t even have to look to recognize it as the near miss of an arrow.
She darted to the woman to help her detach her parachute. “There are archers,” Jaz said quietly. “We have to get inside.”
The archer loosed another arrow, which was deflected by the parachute. Using the night as their cover, Jaz and the woman lunged for the dormitory door. Jaz flung it open and helped the woman inside. As she went to pull the door shut, she felt a familiar sting and let out a yelp. An arrow had been lodged in her shoulder. Using the rest of her strength, Jaz pulled the door shut and locked the deadbolt. She was done trying to tangle with the creatures of the night. She sighed and rested her body against the door.
“That certainly could have gone better,” Jaz pouted. She clutched her arm with her hand, trying to control the pain. She walked down the hallway to the closet and began rooting through some of the shelves.
“I… I can’t believe you got hurt trying to get me inside,” the woman sighed, showing guilt as plain as the eyes on her face. “What’s going on outside?”
“Ever since we landed here, every night has been the same,” Jaz said, looking down to the ground. “Whenever there is darkness here on this island, hostile creatures emerge from the ground and attack everything in sight.”
“Can’t you do anything about them?” The woman asked, “Can’t you fight them?”
Jaz chuckled. “I’ve tried,” she said, “and there’s too many of them to fight back.”
Jaz pulled out some gauze and bandages. She yanked the arrow from her shoulder, screaming as it tore through flesh. She began to dress her wound. “We can make a splint for your leg tomorrow,” she said tiredly.
“What about the monsters?” The woman asked, a tinge of fear in her voice.
“Don’t worry,” Jaz smiled. “For some reason, they dislike the sun, so when morning comes, they always disappear. It’ll be fine.”
Jaz and the woman walked together down the dormitory hallway. The last door on the left was cracked open. Jaz grabbed a small lantern from the hallway floor and lit it. She quietly pushed the door open, careful to avoid squeaking the hinges. “Take this lantern,” she whispered. “You’ll sleep here tonight. I’ll check on your leg in the morning.”
“Thank you for everything,” the woman said. “I’ll be fine after getting a good night’s sleep.” She took the lantern from Jaz and proceeded into the dark room to find a bed.
“Goodnight… wait, I don’t think I got your name in all the commotion,” Jaz said.
“You can call me Celle,” the woman turned around to reply. “And you?”
“I’m Jaz.”
“Goodnight Jaz,” Celle said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Jaz pulled the door shut. The new recruits would need a good night’s rest before starting to work in the morning. Jaz turned to the stairs and slowly climbed her way to the top. She hoped the monsters would not bar her from falling asleep. After getting into her room, she laid down on her bed and winced as her shoulder hit the mattress. She knew she would be sore in the morning. Hoping for sleep, she closed her eyes and waited.
Filtered light drifted in from behind the curtains and fell across Jaz’s face. Morning had come way too fast, but she knew she would have to wake up to prepare for the day and welcome the new recruits. She pulled back her covers and winced. She forgot how much her arm would hurt after the injury from the arrow the previous night. Working through the pain, she changed into new clothes for the day and made her way downstairs.
‘What am I going to say to these new recruits?’ she wondered to herself as she began her morning routine. Breakfast wasn’t going to cook itself. Eggs and hash wasn’t much, but it was the only food supply they had for now. How fortunate she was that she found an egg from one of the undead during a night raid. The chicken that hatched from it was healthy, and that was all that mattered. They were even incubating more eggs, and would hopefully have a good source of fresh meat soon.
Two new recruits came into the dining room, rubbing the tiredness from out of their eyes. Celle came limping into the room after them, trying to avoid putting pressure on her injured leg.
“Good morning, recruits,” Jaz announced as she began plating their rations and putting them at the table. “I hope you like potatoes and eggs, because that’s all we have to eat.”
The new recruits began eating hurriedly, as if they had been hungry since their arrival. Jaz sighed, relieved that they didn’t seem like the type to complain.
“I really appreciate you all for coming to the Dark Oak guild. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and I’m glad to have you here to help.” She sighed, taking a break to think her next few words carefully.
“Things are not as good as they used to be.” She turned to face them, and they all looked up from eating. “In fact, if I am honest with you, they are a lot worse. Something… bad… happened recently.” She took a pause to contemplate once more. “Unfortunately, when our airship crash-landed here on this cloud, I lost my memory. I was the only native survivor from the crash. Merk and Berk also survived. They are from another country, and we trade in lumber to them for currency called Timber. They are able to take Timber and transform it into useful goods for the guild, such as tools, extra beds and blankets, and even some extra rations. The three of us have been trying to set up a functioning base and rebuild.”
Jaz began to pace in front of the dining table. “We have a steady supply of food for now. We currently have no means of collecting minerals. Our focus for the time being should be survival, and trying to reconnect with the main Cirrus hub.”
“What’s the Cirrus hub?” One of the new recruits asked with a mouth full of food.
“The Cirrus hub is the capitol of this great land,” Jaz replied. “It used to be a bustling center of commerce where all of the factions could trade goods and purchase materials. It was damaged severely during the war, and we want to get in contact to help rebuild and make sure... well... that the others are okay.”
“Who was at war?” Celle asked.
Jaz frowned. “There are five factions,” she said. “Oak, Dark Oak, Birch, Spruce, and Acacia. We were all at war against… something else. I wish I could remember more. I just remember that they were doing unspeakable things.”
“What should we do today?” The other recruit asked, putting down his fork.
“I’m glad you asked,” Jaz said. “Follow me, and I’ll get you fitted with your own equipment.”
Jaz led the new recruits into a large common room in the dormitory. Along the wall were multiple chests with materials. She grabbed some tools and some rations and handed them to the three recruits. “I need you all to work on collecting lumber today. We are getting close to completing a makeshift bridge to the Cirrus hub, and if I have to walk to the end of it again, I’d like to have enough lumber to complete it. The walk is incredibly long at this point. I think it takes almost a day and a half, and I will need plenty of lumber and help in finishing it.”
“I’ve never chopped down a tree before…” one of the recruits mentioned quietly.
“Don’t worry,” Jaz replied, “you’ll be a great lumberjack in no time. I will give a brief demonstration.”
Even with her injured shoulder, Jaz gave a thorough demonstration on the proper techniques of woodcutting. The recruits spent the rest of the day toppling the mighty dark oak trees to the ground and stockpiling the lumber. With Celle in a splint, she was in charge of shaping the lumber into manageable pieces for building. ‘A sawmill would definitely improve efficiency,’ Jaz thought to herself. She would have to see whether they had enough materials to craft a blade.
Jaz took some lumber over to Berk, who was peacefully sleeping at their stall. “Hey, Berk,” she called. They jumped up, startled at the abrupt end of their nap. “Oh, sorry Berk. Have you not been able to sleep well?”
Berk rubbed their temples. “I have barely been able to sleep a wink with these monsters roaming about,” they whined. “Isn’t there something we can do about that?”
“I wish I knew,” Jaz replied honestly. “At least they only come out in the… dark…” Jaz trailed off, contemplating the words she just had. Her eyes widened.
“Actually, Berk, I have an idea. I will need this wood.” Jaz hauled the lumber over to the workbench in the middle of the cloud.
“I hope this means you have an idea on how to keep the rabble out!” Berk called after her.
She had had an epiphany. If the monsters disappeared when it was light out, maybe they couldn’t emerge if it was light enough. Jaz could easily set up some torches around the island to provide light at night once the sun went down. She was thrilled at the idea of not having to fight off the undead every evening. Using one of the torches from her satchel, she began to burn the bark off the lumber. After a few minutes, she had produced some nice chunks of charcoal.
“Why are you burning our lumber!” One of the recruits yelled at her.
“If you don’t want the undead keeping you up tonight, let me keep working!” She called back. With the charcoal she had made, she started dressing a stick with kindling and the charcoal in the middle. With the flame from her first torch, she had lit a second, hand-crafted torch. She set up a makeshift torch along the path leading out from the dormitory, using a shoddy wooden fence post to hold up the light. Jaz continued to create more fence posts and torches all around the path.
The work took up most of the day, but with the help of the new recruits, lumber was not in short supply for once. The sky above had begun to change colors, moving from a soft pink to a sadder, deeper violet. The darkness started to loom over the cloud island, as if a black sheet had been pulled across the sky to tuck them in for the night.
“Is this going to work?” Merk asked. “I’d really like to get a decent night’s sleep.”
“You’re not the only one who hasn’t been sleeping well, Merk,” Berk snapped, irritable from the lack of sleep.
Everyone looked out the dormitory window. The torches outside provided a soft glow along the path and around the building. No creatures seemed to be spawning within the illuminated areas.
Jaz looked out on the horizon. The corners of the island were still dark, and she could see the hostile mob meandering around in the shadows. They did not seem very interested in coming near the building with the light surrounding it. She heaved a sigh of relief. “I think the light from the torches are keeping them away.” The guildmates cheered excitedly.
“It’s about time…” Berk replied, also relieved at the thought of sleeping soundly through the night without hearing the undead clamoring outside the dorms.
Everyone came into the dining area to enjoy dinner together. Bittersweet as it was that one of their chickens had fallen ill, they were incubating more eggs, and that meant that they could have meat with their dinner for once. Berk and Jaz worked together in the kitchen preparing a wonderful chicken stew, with chopped potatoes and apples for flavor. They did not have many options on their menu, but they learned to enjoy whatever food was available. The other guildmates enjoyed casual conversation about their history, and a great sense of fellowship washed over the hall. Merk helped to portion out the meal, and Jaz began to pass around wooden bowls filled with warm, creamy stew. It was a special treat, indeed, for a celebration was in order.
Dark Oak would experience a restful night’s sleep for the first time since their arrival on the cloud.
After enjoying a nice, filling meal following a long day of hard labor, everyone slowly made their way to their beds. “Goodnight, everyone,” Jaz called out as she started climbing the stairs. “I will see you in the morning for breakfast.”
Jaz pushed open the door to her room, grunting from the pain radiating from her shoulder. She decided to undress to check on the status on her wound. She peeled her shirt off and felt it sticking to the back of her shoulder. A small amount of blood had soaked through the bandages and onto her shirt, but it wasn’t something she wasn’t used to. She grabbed a cloth and lightly wet it at the sink. Jaz turned around to view her wound in the mirror and gently pressed the cloth against it to clean it out. It stung, but was starting to close up on its own. Grabbing fresh bandages, she re-dressed her wound and walked over to her bed.
The moon outside was intense, illuminating most of Jaz’s room. She didn’t fully know how to process the concept of getting a full night’s sleep for once. She laid down on the mattress, nearly collapsing from exhaustion. Her lids were heavy, bogged down by the continuous lack of sleep. Hoping that the torches outside would keep the monsters at bay for the night, she closed her eyes and waited for sleep.
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