"The Pirate Queen and the Temple" (House Item)

Book Text
This book is titled "The Pirate Queen and the Temple". It is the third book in the five part series starring the Pirate Queen as the hero.

Having spent many years plying the sea trade lanes, the name of the Pirate Queen Alta was spoken with dread amongst the pirates of Norrath. Scourging the five seas in search of a long lost jungle, Alta would terrorize the ocean to fund her quest. Her search, however, would eventually come to an end.

After surviving an intense battle between her crew and a band of buccaneers, Alta found herself adrift off the shore of the island she so desperately sought. Racing to her cabin, she grabbed the journal that detailed how to find the treasure that was hidden in this forlorn land - the Rubicite Heart.

Dropping anchor as close to shore as she would safely allow, she gathered some supplies together and lowered a rowboat. Getting inside, she patted her ship, the Painted Harpy, and began rowing to shore. When she reached the sand, she began to look for a passage into the jungle. Finding only a cave entrance leading in the direction of the trees, she began traveling.

The cave turned out to be a tunnel leading straight into the jungle. Having memorized the journal from all the many times she had read it over the years, she knew she was in the right place. Seeing the ruined outposts, she began looking for a path leading through the jungle, hoping it was still there after all these years.

It didn't take long before she found the path. Keeping an eye out for any unfriendly natives, she carefully followed the trail through the jungle. Spotting some walking lizards off in the distance, she climbed one of the tallest palm trees to get a better look at her surrounding environs.

From her vantage point, she could see that the jungle was teeming with life. Knowing all about the various beasties she could find among the fronds, she had an advantage they did not. Waiting for the patrol of the lizardmen to pass her, she climbed down and began walking to the north, for she knew that was where her true destination lay.

Traveling through the jungle for the next several hours, the Pirate Queen would avoid all manner of threatening creatures. Ranging from undead haunts that refused to die to man-headed lions with scorpion tails, Alta relied on her wits to see her safely to her target. She knew she was not too far away from the Rubicite Heart.

Finally, after what seemed like days trekking through the jungle, she saw something rise from the treetops. At first she thought is was another tree until she looked closer. As she approached, she realized she was looking at a lizardman that towered high into the sky. Higher than any of the treetops, it turned its head and gazed right at her.

Never having seen anything like this before, she was shaking in her boots. The gargantuan lizardman regarded her for another moment, the turned it's head back in the direction it was originally looking and lumbered though the trees. Barely escaping death, Alta didn't think there was anything that was more frightening than what she had just experienced. That was until she found the temple.

Continuing on her way, the Pirate Queen eventually arrived at her destination. Standing higher than the surrounding cliff sides, she gazed upon the home of her quest, the Rubicite Heart. Before her was a grand temple carved from many hundreds of huge stone blocks. According to the journal, the Rubicite Heart would be found at the center of this, the Temple of Cazic-Thule.