Tantalow didn’t like sharing the island. He wanted it to be all under his control.
One day he developed a method for opening a magic Gate.
He should have worked on learning more about it and the possible worlds and planes he could contact.
He wanted to fool the newcomers, so he disguised himself as a 6’ tall bunny rabbit. To help them be unafraid.
Bad Idea.
The beings who came through loved to hunt.
Their strange weapons made loud noises, and fired high speed pellets.
Some of Tantalow’s subjects who were watching from a distance, slowly backed into the nearby forest. Others sounded the danger horns. Those horns were one of the few things common to all 3 groups. And used during major emergencies affecting all of them.
Didn’t do them much good.
The attackers went after anyone armed. Spell casters took out many of them. Then the Gate was closed. But not before a metal object came out, it had a moving turning gun. Larger than the ones carried by the invaders. It blasted a few places, then broke down. It was set afire with oil lamps thrown at it.
One group of the invaders threw round metal objects into the water near Tash Bay, to go fishing with. Minor earthquakes resulted.
Something, or several somethings, deep in the water cast mucus nets up onto shore and dragged some of the invaders into the sea. Larger explosives were tossed into the sea.
Archers of The Confederation took this opportunity to fire arrows into the invaders. Some died, but so did many of the archers.
Some Islanders fled by boat, some were spotted by the invaders. Some got out of range of the weapons, some didn’t.
The ones who fled to the Shaking Islands drowned when the islands sank into the depths.
Earthquakes rocked the island, knocking some mountains down. Another island rose to the surface over many months.
Suddenly bolts of lightning rained down from a clear blue sky. What was left of the stones making up the Gate vaporized. The nearby monolith ring was untouched.
The mountains on Splanto Island vanished. Some say they rose into the sky.
Over many years the original inhabitants once again rose from the ashes. Some went out to the new island and settled there. Some of the original evil inhabitants survived. Most of the good survived. None of the invaders.
Many a brave islander died setting traps or attacking the invaders with makeshift weapons. Some used their bare hands. Evil and Good cooperated against the common enemy. They were no longer so quick to attack one another, even after the common goal of taking out the other planet invaders was complete. Stories were told of their sacrifice for many long years.
As a reminder to not meddle in magic that can create Gates, they called the islands Tantalow’s Island Group.
Tantalow would be remembered, but not exactly like he wanted.
Notes on Shaking Islands:
Foundations out of sandstone and limestone. Ocean currents and wave action over the centuries had weakened their underpinnings.
The earthquakes shattered the sandstone, leading to the islands’ collapse into the sea.
Tantalow Island is a sea mount. The Shaking Islands were leftovers from the sea mount forming and were poised on one side of the sea mount. Not substantially connected to Tantalow, they barely hung there… just waiting for a strong earthquake or explosion to cause them to fall apart and sink into the sea. The invaders caused earthquakes that lost them forever. Down in the depths are bones, the goods, coins, armor, and weapons that haven’t rotted or rusted, of those islanders who fled the invaders.
The other islands are sea mounts not connected to Tantalow.
