The Longstrider Reports

The Expedition is making good time. I believe that we will definitely meet our expectation of making landfall some time tomorrow. The forest is beautiful and stretches endlessly for miles. I can hear the birds singing in the trees. The peace and tranquility that surrounds the city is such a stark contrast the savage and unruly world that begins to assert itself the further you travel away from the glistening towers. 

Longstrider Laga seems to be taking all of this in quite well. This is her first expedition. Such an important task granted to new applicant...but I trust in her skills. These people are the best Longstriders in The City, and we’re going to prove it. Longstrider Darkrose seemed unfamiliar with Ruggats, a blessing for anyone that has even one expedition under their belt. They roam The City occasionally, but generally they stick to the wilds. I don’t know quite how she felt about the precautions we had to take, nor do I know about the feelings of any of the others. If there were any other way...but where two gather, more grow overnight. 

Speaking of, Midnight has settled in quite well. So long as I keep him separated from other Ruggats, he should be fine. He’s inquisitive and smart, already responding to his name. He seems to have taken to me, as he is never far from me. I have to admit the feeling is mutual. He’s a quick little scamp and sometimes I swear he understands human speech. 

We’re well past the half way point now, meaning we’re officially out of The City’s bounds. Things are going to become hairy soon, I know. These peaceful times won’t last, but it’s nice for the moment. I’m excited to see what we find, and to be the first Longstriders to reach Black Mountain since the previous Expedition didn’t even make it to the foot of the mountain. 

I woke up this morning feeling a little eerie. As I heard the deckhands mumbling someone discovering something burrowed deep in a sack of rice I crawled out of my bunk and planted my feet in my shoes, lacing them up, I had slept fully dressed from the day before, due to extreme fatigue I had passed out before I could change. I groaned and brushed my fringe from my eyes. I made my way to the kitchen and looked around for someone. I found Longstrider Voidrat and asked him what was going on and he explained that if I saw it, to shoot.

I roamed the barge with my palm rested on the gun attatched to my belt. As I entered a walkway, something small flew at me, then swooped up just in time to avoid my head. I turned around and aimed my gun, this must have been what Voidrat meant. These things were furry, with wings… Like a winged rat maybe? No, more like a bat.

I clicked a bullet in place and fired, bringing the thing down in one shot. I swept it up in my hands, felling quite guilty for killing the little guy, he was actually quite cute.

I asked a deckhand if he knew what it was and she called it a Ruggat, and grabbed it from my hands, throwing it overboard in one swift motion. I watched the creature fall and jerked back as I heard the splash once he fell into the Silverstream River.

Our second day on the water has proven a little more difficult than we originally anticipated. For starters our barges encountered some unexpected turbulence in the Silverstream River around nine at night. We were all bedding down in the hold of the first barge when suddenly we all fell sideways, along with much of unsecured equipment.   It took the entirety of our expedition to navigate the waters well enough to avoid running around. The Silverstream can be quite rough when she wants to be, and with such an enormous river flowing you never know just what you’ll end up with. We finally hit calmer waters after about two hours and we all went to bed exhausted. 

Our morning fared slightly better, only some Ruggats found their way into our food supplies in the second barge. They only found their way into one of the bags of rice, and we have plenty, so we’re not too concerned. They made for fun shooting practice though. 

Ruggats are small rodent like creatures with feathery wings. They’re what bats would be like if bats were pretty. Their wings are quite impressive on such small animals and they soar more majestically than some birds. They’re as quick on land as they are in the air, and they’re known as a pest more than anything else. Most are brown or grey, but there are some different colored ones. Out of the ones we fired upon, I found a baby that was black, and I’ve chosen to keep it with  me as it is quite rare. I’ve named him Midnight. 

We don’t actually mean to set out to harm the creatures that we’re searching for, of course. We have the means to defend ourselves if necessary, and sadly Ruggats are quite a common site, even in the City. They burrow into food stores and multiply inside, although no one’s ever been able to figure out how. They just burrow down inside and if you leave them  you’ll find a couple of fuzzball newborns nestled up against the mother. Midnight’s slightly older than that, so he wasn’t born on the barge. 

Our provisions and equipment have been loaded onto the barges and we have set off. We are attempting to avoid using much fuel and are therefor letting the natural flow of the river carry us to our destination. The fuel will be saved for our return journey or for other reasons they might be needed. 

We have brought along six Girders to act as pack animals given that their ability to locate people far outweigh the use of regular horses or mules. We will use these to transport our equipment and messages to and from base camp after we have landed. 

Although Girders are well known to the citizens of The City, as this is a scientific expedition I will detail them here:

They are large, horse like animals with four legs. They are extremely muscular, with reverse jointed legs. They have a fine coating of fur that covers their entire bodies, and underneath their skin is a dark coal like color. Their heads do not stand far above the rest of their bodies, and they have no tails to speak of. They only possess one large eye on the front of their body, and they have beaks in place of mouths. They are extremely docile and affectionate animals, and they have the incredible ability to locate people over extremely long distances. 

The expedition will carry them on the third and final barge carrying our supplies. They will be unloaded last, and must be contained as they are not fond of being on the water. This leg of our journey will take us around three days to complete, maybe more depending on the flow of the river and if anything impedes our journey. 

I will of course include in these documents the journal writings and thoughts of my fellow Longstriders. I have been on several expeditions into The Deep Brush, but none this far. I look forward to new discoveries and a new adventure. I have high hopes for this mission. 

This is the start of the Black  Mountain Expedition. We have been tasked by The City to travel to Black Mountain and investigate the local wildlife indigenous to that region. We are traveling further than any other expedition towards Black Mountain so far. This Report will serve as the official testament to our journey. 

It will be both scientific and personal in an attempt completely convey our expedition to those interested, both professionally and scholarly. We have all taken code names to protect our identities should this report or our party fall into the wrong hands before it can be returned to The City. 

Our journey should be a fairly simple route. We will follow the Silverstream River out of The City and into “The Deep Brush,” as the wilds outside The City have been designated. We will be using several large barges to travel until the river makes a large right hand turn. From there, we will Disembark and set up our base camp with our transmission equipment and main supplies, with the barges used to procure further supplies if needed. 

From our base camp we will proceed eastward through the more dense forest until we arrive at the location of our Longstrider predecessors. The previous expedition should have left enough equipment that we can set up our second camp there, and from that point onward we will chart new paths that will lead us to Black mountain. 

It will not be an easy journey, but the group that I have assembled are the best of the best, and we will not fail in our duties. We are well equipped with the latest technological advances and weaponry. I myself have brought pair of revolvers and a large machete that I carry with me on each expedition, with a few other secondary weapons should the need arise. Our party is quite diverse, with many having signed up for the expedition. We will not fail The City, and we look forward to providing the information that is our lifeblood.