Hyborean Age - a Conan Exiles story

If all goes according to plan this story will span not just one map but at least two, maybe three. And it will involve several player characters, but we start with Ylva, the Cimmerian.
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Ylva had survived the shipwreck. She was being transported on a slave ship to the Exiled Lands. Now she had no idea where she was, but she was alive. It seemed the others were not so lucky.
Ylva touched her neck. The salt from the seawater burned in the scar left by the choker she had been wearing on board. She looked around, perhaps one of these corpses had something useful?


None of the dead had any clothing or armour suitable for her. And she found no weapons or tools. The bushes provided her with some plant fiber she could use to make twine. And with a good branch and a rock, Ylva fashioned a crude stone club.


Her first victim was a feral dog that attacked Ylva on sight. The Cimmerian woman continued to explore the beach, climbing up to the lighthouse, finding a chest with some silver coins and gold bars - not that these had any value to her now. The crocodiles were quite easy to kill out of the water. Ylva continued inland...


Ylva made camp for the night at the other end of Bone Pass. The feral meat she had gotten earlier sated her and the fire kept her warm in the cold night and kept predators away.

This seemed like a good place to settle...


... were it not for all these pesky spiders. Ylva's search went on.


The Cimmerian woman found potential in the obvious iron deposits, but without the means to mine and exploit these resources the discovery had little value. It was time to return to the beach and comb it for lost resources once more...


This time she was lucky and found two waterskins. There was also the entrance to a cave, but it quickly ended in water - or did it. Only way to find out was to dive in and take a closer look.


She found the dead man's journal.

I may be a complete failure as a navigator but I make an exellent thief! Valeria won't find me here.
Unfortunately, nor will anyone else. I tore down the entrance while drunk on Valeria's personal stash. I have no idea if I can make it back out or not. At least I have these lovely drinks to comfort me as the air runs out. I'm so lucky.

"If only theseboxes had some useful salvage in them," Ylva thought.


Seeing the turtle on the beach, Ylva felt it was time for her next meal. And it's true what they say, the cooked turtle meat does taste like chicken.


She continued her exploration of the estern beach. This bonfire was proof that there were other survivors on the island. Maybe these crates held something useful?


A cutlass. This precious item was just the thing Ylva was hoping for.


There was some sinister sorcery going on inland, some kind of giant maelstrom of some kind. Ylva could feel the wind picking up even this far away.


A belly-dancing ghost. Ylva thought she had seen everything.

Ylva continued to hunt for good salvage...


The Cimmerian woman spotted a settlement on top of the cliff on the island to the east. She decided to take a closer look. On the beach she encountered a beast she had prevously not seen, a crested lacerta.


Ylva had to abandon her curiosity as a pack of three lynxes forced her to jump into the water to avoid them. The beasts still gave her several sratches. Ylva had to fashion some basic bandages and wrap her wounds before she continued on her way.

Darkness fell...


The ancient harbout was infested with undead...


Ylva legged it when faced with a powerful undead lord...


Having put the undead behind her, Ylva continued west along the shoreline...


Finding aloe wa a great boon, Ylva could make a healing draught from the extract.

Ylva continued along the beach...


The Cimmerian woman was covered in blood splatter after her next fight, but the water was just nearby to wash it off...


Ylva neared what seemed to be another congreation of people...


Ylva hesitated at first, but when the guy patrolling didn't make note of her she dared to walk closer.


Urik, the Master Tamer offered to sell Ylva a camel calf for the price of 10 gold coins. The Cimmerian woman didn't have the means nor did she have the need. There seemed to be more to discover here.

As Ylva continued to explore the camp, the Cimmerian woman met Valeria, the captain of the Outcasts...


"Well, well... look what the tide washed up. Oh, that gods cursed bastard! That goat-raping son of a whore! I'll cut off his balls and crush them in front of him! What do you want? I'm busy figuring out how to get my revenge on that pig. The ship was almost finished... and then those black-hearte bastards swept in and set it all aflame," Valeria said. "Who...?" Ylva said. "It was the Black Corsairs who burned our ship - and they didn't even seem to have a reason for it. Could just as easy been the Stygians. Gods I hate this island. The Stygians and the Black Corsairs - take your pick, they're both bilge-swilling scum. The Stygian leader is one of those royal by-blows with something to prove. Kraxus the Bastard they call him - and a bastard he is. He's here to claim the isle for Stygia and tax the trade routes to the Black Kingdoms. That means he has a fleet patrolling the straits, stirring up troubles with the local lads. And so - Nkosi the Ashen, leader of the Black Corsairs. They say his father is a devil from the outer dark. How else does one explain an ivory.skinned, red-eyed babe born to a woman of a dark-skinned tribe? I've seen him myself, feasting on the dead after a skirmish, blood running down his face. Just my luck to be stuck on an island between the two of them." "I found your navigator in a cave on the southern shore. Seems he drank himself to death on your booze." "You've been exploring the isle so you've probably seen those... others as well? My men have taken to calling them 'The Accursed.' They are... wrong. Their shadows don't step where they step. Their eyes... I've seen them out there in the storm, walking like the wind doesn't touch them. Where do they come from, these men and women? Do they come from the storm? Are they part of it? I don't really want to think about it. Sorcery makes my skin crawl," Valeria said.
Ylva offered her the gold bars she had found at the lighthouse in exchange for some equipment.


The traders offered various goods but nothing Ylva was interested in at the time. After some time, she was equipped with some new armour. Now it was time to rest for the night.

"Seems his advances were rejected," Ylva thought.

Björn, the Nordheimer, had survived on the isle for a little while now...


... building a little cottage from the flotsam and salvage he could find on the shore.


Finding bodies washed up on the shore was common, but finding one that was still alive... Björn had come across Akiko, the Khitan woman who had survived the wreck of the slaveship she was being transported on. Her feet had been badly burned. Björn brought the unconscious woman back to his hut. He would need to find some aloe to treat her burns...


Akiko was still out cold when Björn returned from his foraging trip. He fashioned some bandages and drenched them in an aloe extract. This would greatly help the healing process.
Akiko moaned and was startled when she came to her senses and Björn was there. She quickly calmed down as she saw he had been treating her injuries. And he offered her some food. This was the beginning of a relationship.

On the western side of the isle, Yashita the Kushite woman was making a survival. On the back she bore the scars in shape of a spider, dedicated to the deity Zath, carved into her flesh at a young age.


Yashita had discovered the Exiles' camp at the Grave of the Leviathan. Crouching she staked it out. There were a handful of survivors but if she could face them one or may two at a time without being overwhelmed, Yashita believed she could handle them.


She looted the place of the valuables, a few orbs and resources. On the dead sorcerer Yashita found a map. It pointed to a cave along some river, but the Kushite woman had not seen any place looking like that on the west side of the isle - it had to be somewhere on the east side she had not yet explored. Yashita pocketed the map, who knew what secrets may lay hidden at the marked location. It could be valuable.

Ylva built her base of operations at the mouth of a drieed up river. There were more than enough wildlife around to sustain her. Now she needed to find resources such as ironstone and brimstone to upgrade her weapons and tools from crude stone...


The riverbed provided Ylva with the brimstone she needed in the form of large spiky pillars. She still needed a source of ironstone and the search was on.
While searching Ylva came across a structure guarded by some strange winged creatures. It looked like they had breasts - harpies? The Cimmerian woman avoided these beasts for now, even though she spotted some ironstone nodes near the strange structure. This would have to be explored later, when she had greared up with better weapons and armour.


At last she found the ironstone she needed. There were also some type of furry rhinos around, a good source of thick hide for armour. But for now she avoided the creatures, they'd just trample her if she tried to tangle with them with her stone club. No, Ylva would need a bow or at least a good spear to tackle them. Ylva also spotted a king scorpion in the middle of the dried riverbed. This was bad as it denied her acess to more brimstone until she had defeated it. But it would be very foolhardy to go up against that huge creature with only the equipment she had available right now.

On the west coast of the isle, Hotep the Stygian sorcerer lived with two women he had rescued.


Before the rise of Thoth-Amon, Hotep was a powertful sorcerer and archpriest of Set. Now he was a survivor on the Isle of Siptah, stripped of most of his sorcery. He had retained or somehow managed to regain some basic sorcery though. And now he had sworn revenge on those who had sent him here...


While exploring, Hotep and the women discovered the Vault of the Twice Drowned, but it was swarming with too many of Dagon's spawn so they could not approach. Across the water they could see a large encampment, probably Black Corsairs.


Back at the popular camp at the Grave of the Leviathan, Hotep freed another captured woman - a red-haired Nordheimer.


These women were no warriors, but they provided company during the nights.

Ylva explored the beach westward and stumbled upon a small Black Corsairs encampment. After a shorh skirmish where Ylva initially killed two pirates, she was forced to retreat. Soon Ylva discovered another camp a short distance west.


At Sweetwater Lake, Ylva found more pirates. She killed the jailor and took his key but was soon forced to retreat by the archers. Under cover of darkness, Ylva returned and with the steel spear she had captured she dealt with the Black Corsair archers.


Ylva freed the prates' prisoner, a short Kushite man by the name Uboo. Grateful to his rescuer, the Kushite followed Ylva back to her base. He was equipped with some new armour and a weapon but nothing lasts forever. Uboo fell in battle when he and Ylva attacked the Black Corsairs encampment.

Southwatch Keep was just on the doorstep of Björn's little hut. It was probably just a matter of time before the Exiles discovered them. He needed to act, to protect himself but foremost to protect her - Akiko, the Khitain woman he had found on the beach some time ago. Her burns were healing well but it would still be some time before she should be able to walk again normally.


His futher exploration took Björn along Imui's Pathway, until he found coal deposits along the mountain wall...


Björn delved a bit deeper into the forest and discovered the Den of the Wolf Brothers. He defeated one of the creatures but quickly came to his senses and turned his course back to the injured woman back at his hut. Akiko needed him and he would not abandon her to his own stupidity. No, exploring this place had to wait until she was strong enough to come along or at least fend for herself again.

Having abandoned the idea of exploring the south beach beyond the recently discovered vault, Hotep took the three women on an expedition along the western coast...


The Stygian's sorcerous ability to imbue his followers with power came in handy again and again. So far their exploration had not yielded much in means of salvageable equipment. The four made camp for the night at the Tears of Xanarus and continued north along the west coast the next morning...


Annihilating a small encampment of Exiles yielded Hotep a new cutlass, a fine piece of weaponry. The expedition continued north along the western shore of the Scavenger Coast. Crocodiles, wild dogs and feisty birds were the usual enemies. As the sun started setting, they made a new campfire...

Yashita, the Kushite woman had made it to the island on the south-western tip of the Isle, the Isle of Threa and was coming up on Witcheye Lake...


The mountain lions did not deter Yashita, but the felines quickly drove her into the deep part of the lake. Once they had lost interest in her and turned their attention to a bird, Yashita smam ashore, grabbed some aloe on the fly, and made a hasty retreat...


Yashita discovert Tillerman's Watch. Hidden in the bushes, she lured a Black Corsair woman closer before caving in the enemy's skull with her stone club. Yashita discarde the crude weapon and grabbed the pirate's cutlass. Then she crept into the ruins. Another unsuspecting pirate fell victim to Yashita but the sudden appearance of the Black Corsair leader, Ngora, forced the Kushite woman into another hasty retreat.

Thanks to Björn's caring Akiko had recovered more than enough to be out of bed and walk about. Her good benefactor was currently out when she stepped out of her long time in bed.


He had left some meat she cooked over the campfire...


After finishing her meal, Akiko went outside to familiarise herself with her surroundings. Seeing the shipwrecks on the beach brought back snippets of painful memories locked away deep in her mind.


There were hostile creatures about but Akiko had armed herself with a crude stone club. She also made some rudimentary stone tools, a pick, hatchet and skinning knife. These came in handy to make the best use of the animal hides and resources nature provided. Scavenging the beach Akiko found some cloth that she fashioned into a chest wrap to cover herself up - not that she was prude, she just wanted to protect her assets.


A bird's nest provided eggs Akiko used to quench her thirst and gain some sustenance before returning to Björn's cottage. Once back, she started setting up a tannery from the resources she had been gathering.

Hotep and the three women continued their exploration. The gorge was impossible to cross and they had to continue along on the side they were. In the past this obstacle would have been easily bridged - literally - but Hotep had been stripped of the knowledge and had no reagents to cast spells either.


After a short while the four of them reached Spinner's Ridge and from there it went on past Violet Isle. Spiders and crocodiles were a mere nuisance and a source of hide and chitin.


A Black Corsairs encampment became the next target Hotep and the women sacked. They looted some alcohol and other resources before continuing on their way.


A group of rocknoses were the last enemies they slaughtered before setting up camp for the night.

Inspired by the young Khitan woman, Björn made himself busy with expanding their crafting capabilities. A furnace, carpentry and a dryer were the first steps. Now, if only he knew where to get hold of ironstone to melt down into ingots...


Their hostile neighbours would be a godsend. During a nightly raid, Björn found enough ironstone and some steelfire in the enemy camp to start out. Next task would be to set up the blacksmithy, get iron tools and move on from there...


Of course, Akiko did not rest on her laurels, while Björn was busy, she set up a basic armourer's bench.


It did not take long for the young Khitan woman to produce two sets, minus the helmet, of medium armour of her culture. Björn might have preferred his own cultural armour but he would surely appreciate her effort to keep his body in one piece - especially since Akiko was gladly offering him her body during the nights. Both of them wanted to take their intimacy all the way and start a family, but the dangers were all to great. Akiko knew all she needed to about herbs and potions to prevent pregnancy, and for now the couple would use this precaution.

Ylva, too, was taking the step into iron tools. Next she upgraded her armour to medium and set out on another expedition to the Black Corsair camp by Sweetwater Lake, hoping to free another unfortunate thrall...


Ylva crouched as she was staking out the pirates. It was more than eay enough to lure the jailor into charging her. The spear was exxellent to keep him at a safe distance. Now that Ylva had the key she could free the caged prisoner...


A Cimmerian woman, just like Ylva herself. Ylva armed her new companion with a falcata and together they slaughtered the remaining corsairs. Then Ylva, with her new friend, returned home.
Back at the base Ylva equipped the Cimmerian woman with medium boots and a tasset. She was already wearing a vest that she had looted from the Black Corsairs.

Hotep took the opportunity to mine the iron nodes found and the slain rocknoses before the quartet continued their journey.


Hotep and the women soon reached the Old Smuggler' Route and passed by the Volary of Jhil.


A little further on Hotep and the women came across the base belonging to Ylva the Cimmerian. Ylva's Cimmerian companion drove Hotep off as he approached, in turn causing Hotep's three female companions to attack. Hotep quickly withdrew, shouting for the women to follow him. No one was seriously hurt in the skirmish.


Hotep and the women returned to their camp and started setting up their own crafting equipment.

Ylva and her Cimmerian companion raided the nearby Black Corsairs...


With the jailor's key the could free the prisoner, a dark skinned man. He would turn out to be a treasure seeker and adventurer, a good archer.


Of course the treasure seeker desired to stay with the women but there was only one small bed. It would take some effort and a little time, but soon a new building was standing next to Ylva's house...


The new house slept four people so there was now room to expand should they find more prisoners willing to join. A craftsman or two would be a wonderful addition to their growing population.

Björn appreciated the armour Akiko had made for him. He planned to go on a little exedition up-river and put it to the test, maybe...


Along the way to Riverwatch Keep, Björn harvested aloe. More weak aloe extract would come in handy if he gor hurt in a fight. And, of course, he would use aloe to continue to treat Akiko's leg burns. They had been healing very nicely.


After staking out the Black Corsairs, Björn figured he could easily take them one a few at a time. He was more than confident enough in his own fighting abilities, he would not have much trouble with these pirates. With the jailor's key, Björn unlocked one of the cages and freed a female prisoner. The woman, named Jenn, followed him back to his cottage...


It turned out Jenn used to ne a seamstress before she was captured and sent to the Exiled Lands. Just like Björn and Akiko and many others Jenn ended up here on the Isle of siptah. Now she would stay and help the couple as thanks for the rescue.

Yashita had departed from the isle of Threa and stumbled upon Hotep's camp. She spotted the three women with big packs on their back. Yashita thought it over and decided to approach them in a friendly manner - after all, she could make use of their forge to keep her cutlass in good condition.
But when Yashita made herself known to the women in the camp, they immediately drew their weapons and acted in a threatening manner. Yashita did what she could to act not like a threat, then she spotted Hotep. The sorceror was different. He was definitely a threat. It seemed he controlled the women. Yashita withdrew. She would have to attempt to approach the women when the sorceror wasn't present. Yashita made a mental note of the camp and continued on her way.


Yashita decided to make her way along the river. Crocodile nests provided her with fresh eggs to plunder when the mother crocodile was temporarily away. Yashita continued upstream in the dark. The distant lights were intriguilg but also somewhat intimidating. Yahita was not ready for any major adventures yet.
As the sun started to rise in the morning Yashita was nearing Violent Isle. There had been a lot of crocodiles along the river and here was no different. Once they had been taken care of, Yashita set up camp to get some rest.


It was midday when Yashita decided to dive into the river and investigate the wreck, hoping to find something valuable hidded in the water. Alas, she had no such luck. At least Yashita got a refreshing bath out of it before setting off again.

A magical storm was brewing at the center of the island. Yashita gathered her things and was on her way...


Yashita found the path to the Old Smuggler's Route...


The island storm was still blocking the sun...


It did not take long for the Kushite woman to find Ylva's settlement. No one was guarding the place so Yashita took the opportunity to repair her cutlass. It had beed badly damaged fighting rocknoses on the way here.


Yashita did not have to wait long before Ylva and her followers returned. They were surprised to find Yashita at their doorstep but did not act with hostility. The meeting ended with the Kushite woman being recruited into the clan.


It had been a productive day for all involved.