Sunset: 1830
- 1180 Prelate (Countess) Ferris V coronated in Prelacy of Almor
The Crystal Cathedral
The 6th of Ernalder opens with a bright red sun promising a great new day. As they start to get closer to the hills, they notice that the Franz River, rather than being the typical clear that they would expect of a stream seems to be tinged blue. As they follow the river into the hills, following the river becomes more difficult. They are forced over rough spots and deep depressions. Rather than larges domes of grass, the Hills are more like the broken ground of a mesa. As they stop for lunch, the entire Company agrees that the water is definitely blue…not clear.
As the follow the stream further, they climb a new hill and stop in silence. Over the next hill, there appears to me something shining brght blue. They can’t see the source of the glow, it’s sort of like a sunrise before you see the sun. They ask they’re guide about it and he tells them that this is the corruption of the Demons of the hills. None pay much attention to his warning, however, as they head down the hill and up the next they have an odd, apprehensive feeling. They reach the bottom and pause before heading up. Firena tells everyone to be extra careful – and asks Nyra to ask Prespiteriach to check for enemies.
The Company is alert and Nyra pulls out an arrow and whispers something. She points the arrow at one side of the hill and sweeps it around. When she’s done, she shakers her head. Firena chides herself for being superstitious again, but as the Company heads up the hill. the feeling seems to intensify. Finally, they crest the hill and raise hands to cover eyes. The valley before them is covered with crystals, some seemingly as high as 10 feet tall, each one a brilliant blue. Sunlight bounces around from crystal to crystal causing the blue glow. The stream cuts through the crystals and disappears underneath one. Apparently it goes underground.
Firena asks the guide about the caves and where the cave entrance might be. He tells them that he doesn’t know. This is as far as he’s gone. He won’t enter the valley. It’s where the demons live…
The Company heads down into the Crystalline valley. Walking carefully so as not to injure anyone, they something crawl over crystals to get another good foothold. As they get closer to where the stream disappears, Firena realizes that she is sweating more than she whould be.
Firena asks everyone how they are feeling. Anyone feel sick? Light-headed? Anything out of the ordinary? She also looks around to see if the others are sweating as much as she is. She notices that all are sweating. Sulius complains about being very, very tired. It’s been a long day. Nyra mentions that she has been getting warmer. Vanith wonders if there is volcanic activity nearby.
Firena:
I feel it, too. Tired. Sweaty. There is something about this area that is making us feel that way. Something wrong. I can’t put my finger on it. ... If anyone has any feelings that they are having difficulty going on, I want to know about it immediately. I don’t yet understand what is causing these feelings, and I don’t want to underestimate their possible effects.
All agree to tell her and the Company moves on. Finally they get to where the spring ends..or at least goes underground. It seems to spring up at the base of a particularly large crystal, about 4 feet in diamater and at least twelve feet tall. All can see the faint steam coming from the water. That water is hot!
Firena: Apparently, Doselford’s mayor used to come up here to visit a cave or something. It must be around here somewhere. We should have a look for it. ... I can see two other problems – first, the stream is way too small to allow you [she looks at Sulius] to fill a barrel. We’d have to construct some sort of pool or filling mechanism. The other is that I can’t bathe in that water. It’s not only not deep enough, but it’s also far too hot.
Sulius looks concerned and nods his head in agreement. Drathon order the group to fan out looking for cave entrances. After about five minutes Plynsen calls out, I think I’ve found one! The Company heads over the Plynsen who has found a recess under a fallen over crystal. The Company will have to crawl under it, but it definitely looks like there is an opening behind it. On her way over, Firena decides to test the water. Firena puts her hand close to it, without touching it, to see if she can feel how hot it is. It doesn’t seem like she will lose flesh putting her hand into it, so she inserts a finger of her left hand to test the temperature. She finds that the water is hot! However, it is not scalding. Firena tells Sulius, who appears much happier.
Firena lights a torch and holds it to the hole. Two things she’s looking for – 1) anything that looks like it might want to eat us, and 2) the flame being pulled into the hole. If so, there’s an air flow. She is happy to find that there is nothing just waiting to eat them and that there is a draft going into the cave. There is air flow.
The flame does bend toward the opening, she also can see that the opening is not all that big, they’ll each have to crawl in. she cannot see how far it goes. Since Morven is the smallest, she goes into the hole. The rest of the Company crawls behind her through the pipeline and enters into a larger cave. They can stand up in this one. Looking around they find another exit. They need to crawl through that one as well. They are all slicked with sweat as they get through the small opening. Fortunantly, they will not need the torch for much longer. This cave is a lozenge shaped one, only about 5 feet in hieght (Firena thinks it lucky that Tar is not here. However, near the middle of the cave is an opening, through which can bee seen a faint blue glow. As the Company heads over to the hole, they can see it is about four feet in diameter and opens in the ceiling of another larger cavern. It looks to be a “chimney” as there seems to be about twenty feet of rock between the two caverns.
Firena asks who is the strongest climber and Nyra volunteers. At that point, Yalinari also speaks up:
Rrrremind mmmme… Whwhwhy are wwwwe ggggoing ddddown thththe sssspooky hhhhole again?
Firena:
Looking for a lost Mayor, remember?
Nyra:
More importantly, trying to save a Grove and her Spirit.
Yalinari:
Ah, yyyyes. A rrrrescue. It’s ccccomendable, it ttttruly is. ... Ccccan’t wwwwe jjjjust ttttry ccccalling ffffor hhhhim? If hhhhe’s nnnot ddddead or unconsssscious, hhhhe mmmmight answer.
Firena:
Great point, Nyra. But you do have a point. If he’s injured, he could answer. Of course, if he’s a prisoner, we’d alert his captors. I think I prefer the silent approach.
Nyra begins to look around for a good place to tie off a rope and exclaims, “Well, look at this!” The Company gather round and find a rather large iron ring bolted to the floor.
Yalinari:
I ssssuppose it’s ttttoo mmmmuch tttto ask ththththat it’s attached tttto a ttttrapddddoor?
Firena:
Give it a tug and see.
Nyra does so.
Solid. I suspect it’s for anchoring a rope to. If the Lord mayor came here a lot it makes sense.
Firena: I was thinking the same thing. Okay. I need a couple of good climbers to go first. Volunteers?
Nyra looks around and says,
“I’ll go.”
Yalinari, after another moment’s hesitation, throws in:
It wwwwould bbbbe mmmmy ppppleasure tttto accompany yyyou, mmmm’lady.
Nyra ties off the rope and makes a harness for herself out of another rope. She looks at him and thorws him the other end. “Lower me!” she growls and she heads backwards toward the hole. Yalinari grabs the rope, as do Drathon and Shasivin. Edmund sees which way the wind is blowing and lends a hand, too.
Jjjjust ssssay ththththe wwwword and wwwwe’ll hhhhave yyyyou bbbback up bbbbefore yyyyou ccccan ssssay Llllililira!
Nyra leans back into the hole as they lower her down. As she goes down, the Company can see her illuminated in blue. She is lowered to the bottom, where she removes her self from the harness and looks around a little stunned. “Wow! You have got to see this. Heaviest next. Drathon!”
Yalinari scurries down the rope, making his best speed, causing Drathon and Nyra to scowl at him. When Yalinari looks around he sees a huge cavern, several hundred feet in each direction. Crystals grow everywhere, each one radiating a deep blue light. Near the middle of the cavern is large pool of water with a geyser in the middle of it. The water flows across the cavern and through a wall. The roof of the chamber itself is a forest of multicolored stalactites of many shapes and sizes, from thin straws to huge fluted deposits that reach down to touch the corresponding stalagmites below, forming distorted pillars and columns. The walls of the cavern are lined with fantastic glistening translucent calcite deposits, shaped by nature into strange forms and grottoes. Water drips continuously from the roof and runs in small rivulets down the walls.
Yalinari returns Nyra’s frown with his winningest smile, then turns to gawk at the cavern.
Nyra:
Hold, the rope!
Yalinari bows:
I hhhhear and obey, mmmm’lady.[And he suits action to words.] Drathon goes down next, then Shasivin, Sulius, Hanar, Plynsen, Vanith, Clio, Morven, and finally Firena. After taking a quarter of an hour off to admire the grotto and give everyone who need it a chance to rest, Firena is ready to move on again and orders the Company to spread out – but stay in pairs. She’s looking for another way out of the cavern. The group searches for nearly 20 mintues and finds no other exits or entrances.
Firena deems that this is as close to the headwaters as they’ll get. She asks Sulius if this is a good place to perform the ritual. Sulius agrees and goes to get his backpack. Clio asks Firena to prepare and she starts to disrobe. Most turn away, Yalinari does not. Surprised he gawks and though Firena expected him turn away once he sees her scarring, he does not. Or more appropriately, he cannot. Yalinari continue to stare and becomes more inflamed for her than he ever expected. He can barely contain himself from making a move on her. Sulius turns around and asks Clio to like the torches. He then pushes Yalinari back from the water.
When he comes back he asks Firena to drink a potion and when finished to submerse herself in the water. Clio will go in with her. When Firena looks at her, she has also disrobing feeding Yalinari’s hunger. Firena wants to ask what is in the potion and then thinks better of it. She drinks the potion and hands back the glass. It faintly tases of beer, but is laced strongly with mint. Sulius leans back, arms outstreched and starts to pray in a foreign tongue. Clio walks Firena into the water. The heat is extreme and Firena finds that she can barely stand the pain. Realizing that the pain is simply a factor of her heat-sensitive skin, she follows Clio into the water. Both fully enter the water and submerge themselves. Shortly after submerging themselves, Firena hears a gong. Sulius walks into the water and reaches for Clio and Clio takes his hand. He leads her out of the water and then asks Firena to stand. Firena does and notices that Sulius is glowing a faint white. The white light coming from his body lights up the blue crystals around them, more than simply reflection. They seem to be reacting to the God’s presence. In any case, Sulius loks at Firena and says, “Firena, daughter of Demeter, leader of the quest to save the Grove, cleansed of iniquity, what have you to offer Demeter, Earth Mother?”
Firena:
I, Firena of Greyhawk, a healer, offer Demeter, Earth Mother three things. Firstly, the healing of one of her children – the Grove Spirit Talvinorea, who is dying. Secondly, the continued participation in this sacred enterprise of two of her flock – the Exegetae Suluis and the Panageis Inoe. Thirdly, I offer a steady income to her Doselford Temple, which will last as long as the healing process. This I offer Demeter, Earth Mother.
Sulius nods and looks up toward the sky
Earth Mother, will you accept this gift freely given from one of your own?
With that the light surrounding Sulius draws toward Firena and bathes both of them in white light. The light bounces from them to the crystals causing them to glow brighter bathing everything in blue light. Yalinari watches fascinated, at once both repulsed and enraptured by every inch of Firena illuminated in bright light. Though he can see the scars he can also se her feminine flesh and it incites him. It is all he can do to hold himself back. He knows that she is not standing there naked bathed in light for him … or is she. Perhaps theirs more to her sharp toungue and critical words than he first realized. She’s tempting him.
For Firena’s part images flash through her mind of the Kemet, of the fear, and their faces burn into her mind forever. Then they’re gone. Just gone. In their place she can see Sulius reaching out to her and holding her hand.
The light has died down, Sulius has taken Firena’s hand and is now leading her from the water. Clio steps out of the water and puts a robe on Firena’s shoulders. She hugs the robe thankfully. Though the water was very hot, she has forgotten that caves are not. Even with a thermal stream in it, the air in the cave is much cooler than the water. She shivers in the blanket, looks for her clothes and re-dresses.
She’s standing in the cave and it seems that this part of the journey is over.
Firena [to Sulius]:
It seems to me that Demeter has accepted our bargain. Do you have any reason to doubt that this is so?
Sulius:
Nay, it would seem that the Goddess has accepted your offer.
Firena:
Excellent. We’ll need to discuss the specifics of the transfer, but that can wait until we have more time on our hands. For now, I’d like to have a look around. See if there’s anything to be found of your missing mayor. We won’t spend too long, though. We have other business to attend to as well. [To the crowd in general:] Everyone, move in pairs. Look around. I want to know if you find anything that may indicate the mayor has been here. [To Yalinari:] And you can wipe that ridiculous smile off your face. Don’t even think about it.
Yalinari:
Ttttooo llllate. I’m already ththththinking about it.
Firena:
Well, stop, or I’ll be forced to spike your evening beverage with something that will ensure you do.
Yalinari:
I always ttttold TTTTar yyyyou wwwwere pppprickly.
Firena is bothered a bit by Yalinari’s reference to Tar, but tries not to let it show. The Company searches for about 15 minutes, but finds nothing that is obviously a way out. It’s possible that there are some cracks which will widen up, but it would be a tight squeeze for someone to get through. Not wanting to spend a lot of time when she doesn’t know what she’s looking for, she calls it quits. There’s barely enough time to make it out of the hills before sundown, so Firena calls for the Company to head out and camp at the foot of the hills, away from the “odd” feelings.
On the way there, Drathon tells Firena that he hasn’t thought up any way to approach the Bakluni other than the obvious “make them an offer” approach. After Firena talks to Drathon about this, she mentions that she’d like him to stay back with Sulius. He can pick one other to stay with him. She’d like someone to watch over him, and there’s no one she trusts with that mission more than Drathon. Besides, the Bakluni are a gynocentric race, and they may make a better impression the more females that are with us. Drathon doesn’t much like babysitting the temple folks, but he consents. Firena agrees with Drathon: It will probably be dreadfully dull, but Sulius is our strongest asset in Doselford, and they can’t afford to let anything happen to him.
Drathon shrugs and suggests Plynsen stay with him … that’ll leave only Yalinari as the lone male. Firena likes the idea. If he has the opportunity, he can also chat with the ferryman about transporting the barrels each month. See how low he will go to transport them to Trigol. The Company will have to arrange an overland shipment from there to High Mardreth.
Morven suggests that it might be cheaper for the Temple to transport the goods … their “staff” is by and large free. Firena agrees; she hadn’t thought of that. She has always assumed that most Temple staff stayed in and around their Temple without going on long journeys. She thought Sulius’s journey to the Springs was a one-off, not likely to be repeated. If they are willing to transport it themsselves, that will save a lot of arranging and haggling. All they have to do is purchase passage to get where they are going. Excellent idea, Morven! Morven counters that it they offer the Temple a flat fee, it will be up the Temple to figure out how to do it cheapest. That’s what Firena was thinking. At this point it’s up to them.
After supper, but before bed, Firena talks with Sulius about shipping the barrels; the fact that they must be filled as close to the source as possible, the number, the reimbursement, the fact that he has to arrange for transport, etc.