It was late in the summer of 467 when Vixen, wilderness guide and house
tutor of the Sentinels of Nature, finally spoke of her dreams.
Ashavarti, Mysterion, Tohran and several other Sentinels tried to speak
to Vixen, who was far grumpier and more belligerent than her usual self.
She spoke of terrible dreams, of a raven, a jaguar, and a goat, of an
island of death. She said to go south and west, to follow the lodestar.
Ashavarti Wildfang, a Sentinel of the Order of Dreams, thought that the
dreams of Vixen may be reality, and so a great expedition was planned.

So it was that the Sentinels of Nature scattered to the four winds,
attempting to procure a ship to take them on their voyage. The Sentinel
known as Krypton found allies in the Divine Order of Neraeos, but
carelessly neglected Vixen's warning that only a large group of
Sentinels was needed to survive in the terrible island of death. Krypton
was thus able to convince them to launch the Iocolas into the Sefyric
Ocean. Genwin, Gnaash, Moragaine and Asara comprised the crew of the
Iocolas.

Eventually, Krypton told the Nerai of the wilderness guide's warning. A
superstitious people, the Nerai turned about and returned to the
mainland, where a mighty group of Sentinels was granted passage upon the
Iocolas. A long journey commenced, and the voyagers encountered little
but crashing waves and rough winds, finally reaching the western island
of Tuar.

A terrible land of deadly insects and mysterious peoples, the Sentinels
and Nerai explored the island of Vixen's nightmares, uncovering secrets
that hinted at a terrifying past. So it was that the raven, the jaguar,
and the goat were found, the beings from Vixen's dream: Onakk the Raven,
Mehrien of Jaguar Black, and Antion the Basilisk. At first the three
thought the expedition of Sentinels were hostile natives bent on
cannibalism, but eventually they were convinced of the truth of their
relation. Logistics and Ravien of the Sentinels of Nature, as well as
many young and valiant members of the House, were all present to greet
their long-lost and veritably unknown comrades. The Sentinels were
welcomed back to the fold and taken from Tuar to Eleusis, to rest in the
home that they never knew, and to heal. The story told by the three was
terrible to hear.

Onakk and Antion were part of a larger Sentinel expeditionary force led
by Mehrien of Jaguar Black, shortly after the discovery of Ulangi by the
explorer Oswald. Resting for an evening in the newly-discovered grook
village, their party was beset by a raid of triton warriors. Many in the
party were killed, but Onakk, Antion and Mehrien survived, and were
dragged into the sea. They were put to work in mines beneath the sea,
and were interrogated relentlessly by triton military officers, nobles,
and torturemasters, more than a hundred years before anyone else escaped
to tell of the reclusive race. The mines began to fill as more
landwalkers were captured from outlying islands, but all was a blur to
the three, as the drudgery of life and constant wish for death consumed
them.

Then, one day, the mines were emptied, and many of the prisoners were
taken for a journey of many weeks to the island, Tuar. The tritons said
nothing as the landwalkers were finally permitted to once again walk
upon the land. So it was that each prisoner was summarily executed on
the beach, and their bodies were thickly piled and nailed onto a piece
of driftwood. The triton warriors did not harm the three sentinels, but
allowed the three to live, standing in shock amidst the whispering surf.
The tritons then turned and left, disappearing into the sea.

The three sentinels quickly fled to the jungle, where they evaded
insects and natives for three long days, somehow filling Vixen's dreams
with nightmares and returning to the beginning of this story. But as it
ends, more questions arise: What is the mystery that is Tuar? What did
the tritons learn from the three lost sentinels, and why were only they
set free?

Penned by My hand on the 4th of Scarlatan, in the year 468 AF.