Chapter 2 - The Second Day of Pelor's Rest

[matt_s]

Softly Celeg uttered a prayer to Pelor as the second board clattered to the floor, his mailed fingers silently drumming against the amulet he wore at his breast in a languid tattoo. The condensed fog of his breathing clouded his eyes for a moment as it wafted about his cheeks. The warmth seemed strange for although warmth in the bowels of the earth was no strange thing to have it arise all of a sudden perhaps was strange. His prayer finished and courage steeled as much as it could be steeled in this place abandoned even by those who made their dwellings in the deep places of the Gods' creation Celeg held the torch in one hand and his sword in the other. He stepped through the boards.

[Caystodd]

Gert squeezed though the boards and stepped into the tunnel behind Celeg. She marked the wall with the white dye (just in case) and then moved out of the way to make room for Seresse to squeeze through.

She adjusted the glowing light on her chest so that it pointed more downward, toward their feet.

"I'll bring up the rear," she said as she fell in behind the others.

[Butchern]

The tunnel was wide enough for Celeg and Seresse to walk side-by-side, but the elf kept a few paces ahead, using her elf eyes to see in the dark. The rough-cut rock walls remained relatively uniform as the tunnel stretched straight back into the earth.

The caravaners reached the turn in the tunnel and peered around. The passage ended about twenty paces after the turn in a pile of rocks that blocked the tunnel entirely. It looked as though the tunnel had collapsed—or had been collapsed.

Sticking up out of the debris and occasionally embedded in the walls at the back of the tunnel were red crystalline structures, each about the size of a man's fist. They looked more like natural crystals or crystalline rocks than they did like precious stones, but they were the source of the soft glow. The crystals did not glow red; they gave off a pale white light. The regular rocks of the tunnel that were touching the crystals, in the debris of the tunnel collapse or in the walls of the tunnel, looked like they had been melted around the crystals at the point of contact and then allowed to cool. The air in the tunnel was warmer than it was outside in the cavern, but it wasn't hot—certainly not hot enough to melt stone.

 

[Caystodd]

"Look at that."

Gert used her hand to direct the light amulet directly at the nearest crystal. She walked over to it to get a closer look, but not too close.

"The stone is melted....or warped. Has to be magic."

[matt_s]

Celeg stood back with the simple reverence of a man who did not understand what his gaze fell upon and was in perfect awareness of his ignorance. Some animal prudence held sway and back the knight stood at a distance examining with uneducated eyes.

I don't know what we'll find but this strange warmth and those glowing crystals, we're sure to find something if we haven't already. Got any ideas? I've ridden my horse Greenleaves across the open plains swept and scoured by winds from another continent, camped beneath the verdant canopy of the great forest, and seen drifts of snow that rear like mountains above the Earth, but with this I am completely at a loss.

 

[Caystodd]

Gert took another few steps closer. "I wonder....you know, it might be what the dwarves call 'purar karn.' Warp stone. That would be amazing. It hasn't been seen in centuries. The Imperial Library only contains second-hand accounts. It's not magic. The crystals are from beyond the mortal world, though there is great debate as to where. The dwarven clerics of Pelor wrote that warp stone is from the lands of shade, the realms between this ream and the heavenly realms. But the dwarven scholars who worship the new gods wrote that warp stone is from the infernal realms. It is not known how or when these crystals have pushed themselves into our realm, but most accounts say they are very old, as old as the mountains. Based on the extant written records, and they are spotty at best, the crystals you see here are not dense enough or large enough to be of any real danger to us or to be detectable by magic. I wonder if there are more. There are probably more. All accounts say to find more we must go deeper."

Gert reached out and touched the closest crystal. "Amazing." Then she added, "If they are from the lands of Shade, then we should be on the lookout for undead. Warp stones were the most sacred objects among the necromancers of the old world. It's why they allied themselves with the dwarves in the second great war."

[matt_s]

Celeg tried to give the impression he was following this as Gert recounted her recollections. He didn't think it was a good one.

Necromancy seems to match the bizarre rabbit-esque head we saw in the Inn. And certainly it means something strange has happened here and perhaps will continue to happen. Well, the passage is blocked, but we're in a mine. If we have to backtrack we have to backtrack but given enough time I reckon we can work a way to clear this and keep moving. Unless we wish to see another way down?

[Blue Firebird]

The stoic Elf stirs at the mention of necromancy. Infernal or shadowed powers...if the stories were true, what a lovely choice offered them. "Do you think that is what happened here? Dwarves and...necromancers?" Seresse shivers. She knows full well the consequences of delving too greedily and too deep into the realms of the shades and undying. Hefting her sword, Seresse whispers an elven prayer—not that any of those gods were listening, surely.

"These are not magic, but it sounds as if they interact with it?"

 

[Butchern]

On 2/24/2024 at 10:55 PM, matt_s said:

If we have to backtrack we have to backtrack but given enough time I reckon we can work a way to clear this and keep moving. Unless we wish to see another way down?

The strip of mine they had diverted down to find these crystals was off the main, spiraling trail that led deeper into the mine. There wouldn't need to be much backtracking to get back out to the main shaft and continue their descent. Without a faster way down, however, it could take hours to reach the bottom.

It was impossible to know how much debris there was blocking the tunnel, but it looked like it would be faster to walk to the bottom of the mine than it would be to clear that tunnel with only four sets of hands.

Edited February 27 by Butchern (see edit history)

[matt_s]

Celeg studied the debris like a farmer staring at river that ought to be spanned by a bridge that was now washed away. Huh. No going this way.

 

Do you know if it will be safe to remove one of those crystals from where they are now for later examination? I will trust your judgment on this Gert.

Unless someone has a crazy way of removing this, it is returning to the main shaft and continuing downward. There has to be a mine elevator somewhere or the like even if in disrepair similar to the one we took down in the first place. Unless they lived down here and being dwarves they very well might have it would make no sense for it to take half your shift to get to and from the bottom.

[Blue Firebird]

"A feather fall spell, maybe, but that wouldn't help us get back up."

Seresse's attention remains on the glowing rocks. She shares Celeg's curiosity. Though she also trusts Gert's judgment, perhaps compelled by something more than just curiosity, the Elf walks to the wall and puts her hand on one of the rocks, as if to tear it free.

[Butchern]

As soon as Seresse's undead flesh touched one of the warp stones, all the stones lit up red and the light the crystals emitted shone red in the tunnel. The air began to grow steadily hotter while she touched the crystals. The brighter the crystals shone, the hotter it became in the tunnel.

[matt_s]

Celeg tensed as he felt the rising heat through his furs and mail armor. If the stone had been melted then this very well could have done it and that connection with the undead Gert mentioned and suggested by that trophy mounted on the wall of the Inn so many cold miles away painted a terrifying suggestion of calamity imminent. Maybe a bit longer they could wait but if it got much worse he might have to wrench her hand free...

[Blue Firebird]

Seresse winces as the lights filled her eyes with red haze. Pull back! She should pull back. So why does she not let go? Instinct. Compulsion. Something about her broken nature. As her cloak billows in the hot air currents, Seresse presses her hand into the stone. I will not let go. I will not! The Elf hisses through her teeth as she calls up magic, letting it wend its way from her feet up through her arm, pouring it into the stone.

[SirLoganofGilead]

Aron sees the stone's light, feels the heat, and comes out of his stupor. The amazement at what they had discovered so far, had driven him silent, but the realization that danger was suddenly very close and real. He looks at Seresse and doubts he can do much the other two can't do to get her off the rocks, instead he wonders if the rocks tell some sort of story to figure out what they do and what is going on. Without touching anything further, Aron begins to search for clues as to what these rocks could have been used for, and how they could have been controlled.