FTO Lore

Fantasy Tales Online
Lore and Myth of The Isle of Curass



The Prologue

This is the story of the Island of Curass. Once a peaceful place the Isle of Curass had been a prosperous land. Filled with many a nicety, fine people and great adventure, but in life all things have to come to an end. People tend to close their eyes and gaze into the darkness rather then see what will come to be. To the people who lived on the Island it seemed to have happened all of a sudden, but in truth it had been brewing for years. The cork on the bottle had to erupt and it did. For with light comes shadows not always close by but somewhere there will be shadows


The once peaceful and happy land changed. The dead had risen again to claim the life of the living, Ghouls, Trolls and other such unsavoury beings had climbed out from the depths and begun to take over the corners of the Island. People fought back, but their numbers too few and they were not battle hardened because of their peaceful existence. Only a few in number had a real knack for battle, something ingrained within them, a blood lust un-quenchable, but their numbers and their love for battle and adventure could not see them prevail over this evil.

The people of the Island of Curass could do little more then defend their town of Crestside. ( Originally a fishing and market town where passers by would stop in to purchase wares, but those days had passed on by and now passers by are merely passers by) There was to be no help for the Island. Far to few knew of the troubles that plagued the Island of Curass and the few that did could do nothing to help. The town was now within a fortified shell it bared no resemblance to the place where some called home there were only a few people left and those that did not fight worked towards ending the fighting toiling within the walls day through night.

The trouble didn’t start with the dead returning or the other fowl smelling beings coming into play. The first sign of trouble started with the local Animal and Insect populous changing.Their once docile nature changed into something of hate for the local humans. The Bearded Dragons, Spiders, Beetles and other such creatures grew in size. Much mutation happened to many creatures even to the point that it was hard to distinguish whether it was man or beast their intelligence grew in size also, even to the point where the people of the town feared that just as much as the creatures power and size. The people speculated that it was the hate that made them grow, but no one really knew the reason.

Shortly after the Insects and Animals had changed their nature the fowl beasts from the dark begun to show. They were spotted first in the Everdark Caves (A cave of darkness so thick you can feel it course over your body as if it were a fine mist) they had been attacking Miners in the Caves for months, but the folk of Curass just passed it off as rabid animals or Dark Elves. It wasn’t until the fowl smelling beings showed up in the Dead Oak Forest not wholly in the world but there enough to ravage the land and it’s people. This is when the people realised that they were in a great deal of trouble, in many ways they were already too late.

They rallied at the Mayors Mansion (an older building that had been standing for years. Underneath ran supply routes that spanned the lands and often connected to hidden caves) You could say It was their pseudo town hall. They begun to speak of ways to counter the threat to the land. Most wanted to leave and some wanted to stay and fight, but they really did not have a choice. The fight was brought to them that very night. Many innocent died some survived. The Mansion was lost, but the town was saved and was used to fall back to by the survivors. The town walls and the few fighters there were had been the only thing to stop the complete slaughter.

For months constant attacks on the town were made and constantly they were thwarted. Things eventually settled down. The attacks got less frequent on the town. The few remaining survivors had to be careful of their supplies. Had to be vigilant as to their consumption. The only way for people to get food was to venture out and it was a very dangerous affair. They lived liked this for many months. No sign of help. No hope.



Enter Protagonist

The Juggernaut was a merchant slash pirating ship. It traveled lands buying and selling stolen swag to people. It had a small crew of experienced, but arrogant sailors that knew how to handle such a big ship. The experience and arrogance  of the sailors was their downfall. A new sailor had come aboard and was wanting to learn from the sailors on the ship, but the new sailor soon came to realise that was not going to happen.

The new sailor looked upon Howard with admiration with a hint of fear. He was a brutish man. Skin like a dried animal hide (from all the salt in the air) teeth as black as a night that was missing the moon.

Howard “You sailor. Get down stairs and speak with Gabe. He has some work for you to do. I’m sure as hell not going to do it. Hurry up or there will be no rotting apple core for you tonight.”

Unknown “Yes, sir! Right away.”

Howard “I don’t want your life story. Get on with it.”

The young sailor headed below the decks in search of Gabe. The sailor had  hoped that Gabe’s attitude was not as ill natured as Howard’s was. Unfortunately that was just wishful thinking. The sailor arrived at Gabe’s feet. A great scowl and an un-welcoming look was upon Gabe’s face. Right then the sailor had realised his wishful thinking was foolish. He knew all sailors were hard folk and they had to be.

Gabe started to shout... well it wasn’t really a shout. It was more like a drunkards ramblings. The sailor thought to himself “Will he be asking me for change next?” the fowl stench of old cured ham and rum poured out of Gabe’s mouth like a dust cloud from the back of a horse and carriage on a dusty road. The stench of his breath made the new sailors face turn.

Gabe “You, Sailor! Hrmm... we have a urmm... sligh *hickup* Beezle problem.”

Unknown “Right, Sir, but what is a Beezle?”

Gabe “*huckup” (The man was so drunk his body had forgotten how to hickup properly) Clean the wax out of your Beers sailor... I said Beetle”

Unknown “Oh, sorry Sir. I miss heard you...”

Gabe “Enough talk, swine! Get ye self down thurrs-shhhh and kill them Beegles.”

The Sailor headed down further into the belly of the Juggernaut to do battle with some over sized Beetles. The Sailor quickly separated legs from body on the Beetle and made a Hasty retreat upstairs to hopefully impress Gabe with the time it took took to dispatch the Beetles.

Oddly enough it seemed Gabe had sobered up some and was a bit less of an donkeys rear end then before.

Gabe “Good work. Now off with ye. Speak to Howard again.”

Unknown “Right, Sir!”

The Sailor headed over to the back of the ship where Howard stood, the back of this man looked like a wall to the young sailor, the smoke that poured from his mouth billowed into the air and almost looked like a thick fog around Howard for a second before the cool sea air whisked it away. He then proceeded to ask Howard what was needed of him next, Howard responded.

Howard “You have been working far to little for far to long. (Which was the complete opposite of what was actually happening. The Sailor had been doing all the work) Fetch the Moonshine from below. Myself and Gabe need something to soothe our hard work.“

Unknown “Right away, Sir.”

The Sailor started to walk off, but then turned back and asked.

Unknown “Will you require cups?”

and Howard responded with a great roar of anger.

Howard “Get back you Demon!”

The sailor paused and was thrown a step back from the share force of his breath. Then turned and walked away. A minute or three later the Sailor was in the belly of this wooden beast again. Searching and searching for the Moonshine. The Sailor checked every barrel, every crate until finally a few bottles of moonshine was found. The sailor realised then that the food that was rationed was not all that bad (rotten apples) after seeing the state of the breads, hams and other miscellaneous produce. There was naught but Rat droppings in the barrels.

Someone had made a grievous mistake and the whole crew will have to pay for it. By eating molded food or rat droppings.

The Sailor returned to Howard with the Moonshine and proceeded to hand it to him. Howard snatched it from the Sailors grasp, popped the cork, spilt a good portion of it and then started to skull it back. A few moments later the bottle was emptied. Not a drop left to be dropped. Howard’s eyes begun to glow like the fires of hell, veins begun to pop. Inhaling half of the tobacco in his pipe, looking straight towards the sailor and bellowed.

Howard “This is not a full bottle! You have been trying to swindle me you swine. I should slay you as you stand!”

Unknown “Sir, I didn’t touch a...”

The last thing the sailor remembered was the noise of a thud and then a smash. The sailor looked around and realised that he had been locked in the old weapon stores. It past the sailors mind that it’s probably best to cut the losses and try leave this place and that the Sea was far more inviting then these terrible beings. The Sailor looked around, accessed the situation and devised a cunning plan.

The foolish sailors were probably to drunk to clear out the hold properly and left Gunpowder, a cannonball and cannon. The sailor collected these items and fired the cannon(may need a light). Blowing a great hole in the side of the ship. The sea begun to fill the ship, but this was an escape for the sailor. The ship was going down, but it was a better fate then starving to death. The sailor swam for the hole and started to clamber out, water rushing past, pulling... pulling. The sailor finally got out of the damned boat.

Clinging to some wood loosed on the ship the sailor drifted for hours. The water begun to rise, higher, higher and higher. The waved started to crash around the Sailor. Smashing the drifting sailor around like a rag doll. In the end the Sea had won. No one can best the Sea. It’s to strong of a foe and everyone is a slave to it’s power.




The Beach.  The Town. The Drunkard.

Many an hour had passed on since the cannon had fired a hole through the ships sidings. Many an hour had passed.

The sound of water cascading off of the Sailors body made him awake. The sailor had drifted, been smashed and drifted again onto a beautiful beach. Groggy and only semi conscious the sailor looked about and spotted a man walking towards him. Not a sailor and that was for sure. The person had a healthy looking complexion, nice clothes. Finally the man arrived at the Sailor reached down to give the Sailor a hand up. Out reached the Sailors hand. The man hoisted the sailor up with a firm grip. He held the Sailor steady.

Once the man was certain that the Sailor had his footing and was able to stand upright on his own free will he decided to introduce himself.

The Man “Hello, My name is Wilson. You must be friends with the Drunk... The Guard Captain.”

Unknown “Argh... *cough cough* Ar... *splutter*”

The Sailor had muttered. Sand breath. Particles of sand spitting about everywhere. After a few seconds of spitting the sand was finally cleared.

Unknown “Pardon? No, Sir. I’m shipwrecked. I think I must have drifted to this place... What is this place? Where am I?”

Wilson “Welcome to the Island of Curass. Not a very pleasant Isle... I mean welcome. You look like a ship wreck yourself. Your clothes are all torn up and you smell like a 3 month old sheeps carcass. Come on let’s get you to the Inn”

Unknown “Thanks.”

Wilson turned and started to walk as did the Sailor, but the Sailor did not have the strength to carry himself. A thud was heard behind Wilson he quickly turned about to find that the Sailor had fallen to the ground. Wilson helped the sailor up to his feet and carried him to the in.

The two had arrived at the town of Crestside. A small town with big walls. Wilson practically dragged the sailor into the Inn and then plopped him straight down into a very comfortable looking bed. As soon as the sailor made contact with the blood red sheets of the feather bed he had fallen into a dream land.

Drinking now. I shall shut the hell up.