ma - land
pi - of
noka - feet
telo - water

When you walk inland and follow telolinja, after many days you will come to nokatelo, the land where the ground grows wet and reeds sway. We come here when the sea freezes and we hunt deer instead of seals. Many spirits live here all the time. Let me tell you about this place.

First, though, there is a demon that floats over nokatelo. His name is pipisulinasa . He is a long worm that glides like a cloud and spits tusks at stupid people who fight over nothing. He has bags that he fills up with his anger. Run away if his bags grow. People walk the marsh and find his tusks, which make great spear-tips. (AC 4, HD 5, hp 18, #AT d4-1, D 1-6, ML 9)
This creature resembles the Hallucigenia Sparsa of the Burgess Shale. It floats 30’ high by taking helium from the air, with which it inflates two air sacs at either end of its 15’ long thin squishy body. It filter-feeds on pollen and flying marsh insects. When it spots larger creatures, it over-fills the sacs and shoots its spines with a ‘ph-too’ spitting noise. It has 14 spines (2 regrow each day). Retrieved spines can be manufactured into +1 piercing weapons and other tools. There are three in the marsh: a mating pair and child, though they drift separately (regrouping if under risk). 1-in-6 chance of encountering one when entering a hex.

139-342 nena lape pi jan

Walk along telolinja until you see the hill before the grasses. This is nelape, the place where we put up our tents. When the sun sets we use reeds from the river to make a smoky fire that can guide people home. See: here we are, here are our tents, and here is the fire.

141-343 ma utala pi kon

Walk along telolinja until it splits in two and your feet are muddy. This is utalakon, where the spirits make battle. Some fall, and the rest thrust their spears into the ground and make it wet with tears. See: the ground is muddy, and over there are the spears, thrust into the ground.
Small trees protrude from the marsh. They have straight thin trunks and very few branches or leaves.

141-345 ma pi supa li kiwen

Walk to kaliloje and cross the river and look for high ground. That place is sukiwen, where the ground is made from cold smooth stone. Many spirits come and go here, and some stupid people go to meet them. Do not do this. See: it is cold and open because there is no place to hide if you make a spirit angry.
A 500’ wide plaza of square stone slabs slowly sinking into the marsh. One who camps here while it is dark has a 3-in-6 chance of encountering a spirit of the marsh. They can grant powers of striding and concealment, but expect these to be used for entertaining uses. If one acts too mundanely, the spirit will engineer their own entertainment at the recipient’s expense.

141-346 ma pi kasi linja loje

Set out from nelape into nokatelo without crossing telolinja and you will come to a place where tall red grass grows here and there. This is kaliloje, where the spirits bring their dead. See: the grass is stained with blood, and grows tall and tough because it is fed well. A basket made with reeds from here can hold what needs two baskets elsewhere.
This and all adjacent hexes have tufts of 10’ tall rust red grass. It takes two hours to harvest a bundle. It can be woven into double-strength rope or other textiles.

143-342 ma moku pi soweli pi palisa lon lawa

Cross the river at nelape and walk along telolinja. On the hard ground before linjamonso is sopalilawa, where the deer live and eat. See: there are grasses and little trees here for the deer who eat them. When you hunt, kill only the men. The chief of the deer, who is called komunpa and looks like when you cut a hole in a sealskin and hold it to the night sky, becomes angry when you kill his wives, so do not do this.
1-in-3 chance of encountering 2d20 deer when entering this or an adjacent hex. komunpa is a spirit that looks like a 10’ tall stag-shaped absence of light (AC 6, HD 6, hp 21, #AT 2, D 1-6, ML 12). If slain, his legendary hide can be pulled off and used.

143-345 ma lape pi kon

When you walk through nokatelo, cross telolinja just before utalakon, where the spirits make battle, and follow the river into the marsh. This is kolape, where the spirits make rest. See: the ground is higher and dryer, because this is where the spirits make camp.

143-347 telo sike pi kon unpa ike li moli

Walk through nokatelo, past kolape, where the spirits rest, until you see a big round lake. This is tekonmoli. One spirit drowns his brother here after he made love to his sister. See: the lake is deep, and over there is the breath of the brother, which stirs the water from below.

144-348 telo suli pi tenpo

Beyond nokatelo, just past tekonmoli, is a place with a foul smell where mist covers the ground. This is tesutenpo, where now and then the spirits spit boiling water from the ground. See: there is the mist, and soon, when the spirits grumble, there will be the water all over us. Don’t stay here: the water burns.
A dozen geysers dot this area. Each hour they all spray boiling water 2d6 times 10’ high, signalled a minute before by minor tremors.

145-344 ma pi kasi pi kule mute

There is a strange part of nokatelo between kolape and linjamoso. We call this place kakulemu, because under the reeds are tiny and colourful herbs. The green and red ones keep well and are good for when you’ve eaten bad meat and feel ill. The green and white ones are numbing but wilt quickly, good for if you hurt yourself. Avoid the blue and white ones: they kill you. See: if you look closely, there is colour everywhere.
The herbs grow in this and the three adjacent marsh hexes. It takes two hours to collect a dose of herbs. Green-red herbs last indefinitely if prepared in a tea, are a laxative, and can neutralise poison. Green-white herbs last a week (month if prepared) and restore d6 hit points, to an upper limit of 6. Blue-white herbs wilt over a week into dry flakes and incur a Save vs Death when ingested.

145-346 ma pi kasi linja jaki

Somewhere in the middle of nokatelo there is a place with a strange smell where pipisulinasa often stays. This is kasijaki, where here and there the grass is covered in sticky white slime. See: the grass is here, there is the slime, and all around us is the smell. Do not touch it: you will not be able to get it off your hands, and it stinks.
This spittle is excreted when it’s dark by the creatures called pipisulinasa, and is made of indigestible inorganic particulates from the air. It takes an hour to harvest a fistful, and there are 5d4 fistfuls at any given time (each creature creates d4 fistfuls a week). It can be used as a strong but odorous glue. If boiled, it becomes cottony and can be spun into a super-strong textile that would serve as +1 armour (this takes 30 fistfuls).

148-346 nena pi kon li lukin

This is a long journey. Carry on from utalakon along the edge of the marsh (and cross the rivers) until you come to a hill. This is nekonukin, where the spirits sit and watch nokatelo. See: the hill is tall, and has a flat top because it is where the spirits sit, and below is the whole marsh.

148-341 ma lape pi jan ante li alasa kala (pop. 37)

When you climb nekonukin, look back at the rivers behind you. The people who live there call it ‘hare tail’, which means linjamonso. See: from the hill, the rivers all run away from each other, like the strands of a hare’s tail. The people there have long sealskin boots and slowly wade around and catch fish with their hands. They laugh at people who are wet from the river, and get angry at people who scare away the fish. They stay in the middle of linjamonso, where they smoke their fish and make great baskets from the reeds, and always trade for sealskin.
Linjamonso covers the spread of rivers (in columns) from 145 to 148.341, 146 to 149.342, 146 to 148.343, and 148 to 149.344. 1-in-6 chance of encountering d6 noodlers when entering a hex. They hunt for freshwater cod.