Welcome to Gaia! ::

Beneath the island is a series of caves that contain rune stone. Hunters who wish to try their hand at crafting runes the old fashioned way can swim down to them and collect stones to work with. Those who can't hold their breath underwater for a half hour may borrow an air tank from the Sun divisions swim team, but only once per week, as they have extreme swim practice the rest of the time.

In the water surrounding the island there's numerous edlritch horrors of the deep waiting to attack your hunter.

Roll 1d6
1: a massive sea creature attacks you. Roll 1d20 to escape its gaping maw. If you roll 10+ you escape it, if you roll below you receive 10 damage and need to try again.
2: a bus-sized sea creature attack you. It has 30 HP and 5 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 13+, failure results in auto damage.
3: a small-sized sea creature attack you. It has 15 HP and 3 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 15+, failure results in auto damage.
4: you are safe.
5: you are safe.
6: you are safe.

Some of the caves house many useful stones, other house things waiting to kill you. You can keep on collecting for as long as your willing to risk it (or until you die.)

Roll 1d8
1: A few stones! Roll 1d4 to see how many you find in this cave!
2: Sentient sea weed aggressively gropes you! Roll 1d4 to see how much damage it does!
3: A nice amount of stones! Roll 1d8 to see how many you find in this cave!
4: Tentacles! Roll 1d8 to see how much damage they do!
5: A bunch of stones! Roll 1d10 to see how many you find in this cave!
6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave!
7: The mermaids guarded several large, dark caves that are now open to explore. Hundreds to thin, snake-like tendrils shoot out from the darkness. Roll 1d12 to see how much damage they do!
8: The mermaids guarded several large, dark caves that are now open to explore. What appears to be a cave full of inviting stones is actually a huge toothy maw, patiently waiting to devour you. Roll 1d20 to see how much damage it does!

Roll 1d6
1: you are safe.
2: you are safe.
3: you are safe.
4: a massive sea creature attacks you. Roll 1d20 to escape its gaping maw. If you roll 10+ you escape it, if you roll below you receive 10 damage and need to try again.
5: a bus-sized sea creature attack you. It has 30 HP and 5 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 13+, failure results in auto damage.
6: a small-sized sea creature attack you. It has 15 HP and 3 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 15+, failure results in auto damage.

If your HP drops below 0, you lose half your stones as your body floats back to the surface.

Find a place where you can reach the most perfect calm and focus possible, and then begin carving Uruz into each of your stones. Think on the purpose of the stone, and meaning of Uruz as you do so. Focus as much of yourself and your actions on the rune and the act of carving. Some people choose to chant out loud or do visual exercises to more perfectly focus on the task, but different methods work best for different people. Once the rune begins to glow, you'll know it's finished. Because this process depends more on people than lab computers and code, it's less consistent and predictable in its results.

Roll 1d10 for each rune stone
1-4: failure! The runestone never glows and eventually breaks.
5-8: Regular Rune! The runestone can power small, battery-operated runic devices for up to a week.
9-10: Superior Rune! The runestone can charge your runic weapons. (In and out of battle. If in battle, it will take 5 turns for the weapon to properly charge.)

After 5 runs down to the caves and carving out runes, your hunter has enough experience to be considered a Runic Journeyman. They may adjust their rolls during rune gathering and carving by 1 point (up or down.)

After 10 runs down to the caves and carving out runes, your hunter has enough experience to be considered a Runic Adept. They may adjust their rolls during rune gathering and carving by 2 points (up or down.)

After 15 runs down to the caves and carving out runes, your hunter has enough experience to be considered a Rune Master. They may adjust their rolls during rune gathering and carving by 3 points (up or down.)