Cordulia's Bayou

Private area for GM Cordulia that is periodically available to players at the GM's discretion.

Low Hummock

Daytime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Low Hummock]
Here the land manages to gain a foothold, although its highest point is only a foot or two above the water. A boardwalk surrounds a whimsical wooden shanty of dubious stability. It has a decidedly unplanned look, as if extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high. Its eastern side features a waterwheel that serves no obvious purpose in such stagnant water. A muddy bank leads into the cypress swamp, while a dubious-looking raft moored to a floating dock allows egress.

Nighttime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Low Hummock]
A low mist snakes its way around the pilings supporting a whimsical shanty. The torches at its entrance provide an oasis of light amidst the suffocating darkness of the swamp. Occasionally, this light is reflected by the eyes of an alligator lurking in the water nearby. A muddy bank leads into the cypress swamp, while a dubious-looking raft moored to a floating dock allows egress.
Obvious paths: none.

Atmospherics

• A gentle breeze causes the waterwheel to creek slightly.

Active Items

• use the dock to leave the area
• A floating dock:

Sturdy cypress pilings secure the wooden structure, which is designed to rise or fall with water levels. A dubious looking raft is moored to the dock, provides an egress.

• A whimsical wooden shanty of dubious stability:

The towering structure looks so crooked that only magic can explain why it has not toppled.

Shanty

Daytime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Shanty]
The interior looks about as well planned as the exterior, with a hodgepodge of mismatched furniture. A desk in one corner houses A desk in one corner houses a bogbirch calendar and a collection of pinned dragonflies arranged by color. Above the desk is an enchanted orlog with reminders instead of numbers. Round windows provide additional light and views of the swamp. Leading to the front porch is a sturdy cypress door, while a whimsically carved door in the back opens onto the boardwalk.
You also see a scaly adderwood sideboard with a couple of things on it and a faded green patchwork sleeping bag.
Obvious paths: none.

Nighttime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Shanty]
The interior looks about as well planned as the exterior, with a hodgepodge of mismatched furniture. A desk in one corner houses a bogbirch calendar and a collection of pinned dragonflies arranged by color. Above the desk is an enchanted orlog with reminders instead of numbers. A clever spider has built its web outside of the nearest window in order to capture flying insects drawn to the light within. Leading to the front porch is a sturdy cypress door, while a whimsically carved door in the back opens onto the boardwalk.
You also see a scaly adderwood sideboard with a couple of things on it and a faded green patchwork sleeping bag.
Obvious paths: none.

Active Items

• The window looks out to the Swamp Garden.
• a bogbirch calendar with dials of blackwater jet:

It is a large box with several dials on it, which can be turned as needed to keep it up to date.

• A one-handed orlog with reminders instead of numbers:

The timepiece has only one hand and no numbers at all. Written around its edge are reminders like "time to feed the alligators" and "time to do paperwork."

• A sturdy cypress door:

It appears to have been salvaged from another structure. It is open.

• A whimsically carved door:

A stylized border of dragonflies darting among carnivorous plants frames the sturdy door. It is open.

• A scaly adderwood sideboard:

A serpentine grain complements the asymmetrical piece, creating the illusion that its flat surface is canted at an unstable angle.

On the adderwood sideboard
Item	Price	Done
honey-drizzled pokeke'pahamin	0
chilled tel'athi pitcher of fresh vela'tohr nectar	0

• A faded green patchwork sleeping bag - missing in 2021:

Numerous patches cover small tears, and the faded green bag appears to have lost much of its insulation. There appears to be something written on it. A patchwork sleeping bag reads: "Property of Koror"

Swamp Garden

Daytime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Swamp Garden]
The boardwalk that surrounds the shanty loops out into the swamp, enclosing a small area within a dry viewing platform. At its center is an ancient cypress tree whose buttressed base is ringed by knobby knees protruding from the water. Duckweed blankets the water, breached only by the occasional turtle surfacing for air. Nearby, two iridescent blue dragonflies flit among some nearby water lilies, seemingly oblivious to the fishing spider waiting below. A whimsically carved door leads back into the shanty.
Obvious paths: none.

Nighttime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Swamp Garden]
Here, the boardwalk that surrounds the shanty loops into the swamp. In the darkness, there is more to hear than see. The songs of frogs and crickets provide a constant backdrop of sound, punctuated by occasional hoots or splashes. A whimsically carved door leads back into the shanty.
Obvious paths: none.

• Chris' Mass Festival 447 (2023) gift: box of festive gifts decorated with multifaceted eye carvings

Atmospherics

• A barred owl hoots from its perch in the garden's cypress tree, a sentinel in the night.
• Something splashes in the water nearby.
• The fishing spider suddenly darts off of its lily pad. A moment later, it returns with a tadpole in its jaws.

Active Items

• Can pick the following here:

• water lily

Cypress Swamp

Daytime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Cypress Swamp]
Festooned with silver moss, majestic cypress trees rise from indolent waters. What little sunlight that manages to penetrate the canopy is too feeble to penetrate the murky water. In the distance, a low hummock is the only promise of dry land in sight.
Obvious paths: none.

Nighttime

[Cordulia's Bayou, Cypress Swamp]
A heavy darkness hangs over the swamp, intensifying the songs of the countless insects and frogs that dwell within. Lurid green will-o'-wisps flicker in the distance, perhaps suggesting the presence of a hummock of dry land.
Obvious paths: none.