The Father of Waters

Game Master Fighting Chicken

Nat is momentarily paralysed by memories as the wraith rises up out the ground: a croc where no croc should be, something that does not belong, biting, chewing, rending...

...but the similarity ends when Yd misses her, Ayida-Wedu's protection holding fast now as it did then.

Her eyes blaze with golden light as she stares the undead thing down. "You don't belong here. Toyme for you to return." Her hand reaches out, enveloping Yd in life-giving energy.

As the ogre falls, Drazan steps up the bent knee of the ogre as if he were tall step, and uses the momentum and leverage to leap over back over the crevasse, toppling into a fast moving run. He barely has time to regain his balance before narrowly colliding with Imix and get a swing in with Bane trailing wisps of flame at the elusive Yd.

Drazan curses as he sees his fumble and the value in balance. Otyugh manure.

The ogre is dead again in a matter of less than a second, it brain punched through the back of its skull, Istiel's fist slick with gore.

The wraith flinches from Nat's holy power, and shifts to the side, fluid, like water running between rocks. Reaching out, he grasps at Nat again, and yet again fails to pierce Ayida-Wedu's grace. A raspy howl of frustration escapes the dead Darohm's agape mouth, his hateful eyes burning into the priestess.

On the dias, darkness falls around Istiel, almost snuffing out her torch. The darkness is oppressive, sapping, as if pulls on the monk's very soul...

Laughter rings around the town square. "Come play, silent one!"

===============
Round 6/7
===============

COMBAT MAP

Istiel dismounts from the ogres as it begins to fall, its momentum pulling her arm from its head. She watches her kill fall to the stone, blinking once and then recoiling in shock- a giant Scree lies beneath her, the monk's entire head obliterated by her fist. Red blood and brain matter drips from Istiel's hand and arm, and Scree's mask is in splintered ruins on the floor.

Istiel blinks again, and the destroyed ogres lies beneath her once more, her arm covered in the same green goo as a moment prior. Distracted by the vision she notices Yd's spellcasting too late, and the supernatural darkness closes in around her.

Clenching her teeth she thinks a quick prayer to Ayida-Wedu, and attempts to flee the shadows.

Round 7

Istiel can feel her muscles tearing apart, organs pulling away from each other, and lungs leaking blood as the darkness infiltrates her being.

She coughs and sputters blood, covering the inside and mouth of her mask in the red liquid.

Willing herself far away from the consuming shadows, Istiel flies from the island to fulfill Yd's request. Within feet of the wraith she drops from the air, blood dripping from the lower portion of her mask.

The monk launches an assault on Yd that could fell another ogre, snap a tree in half, or fracture stone. Every strike is empowered with her ki, each touch concentrated with her life energy; imparting anathema into its ethereal form.

Drazan presses Nat's attacker harder as he growls, Fight me! I'm your enemy! My energy will not refuse you! I'm right here!

Nat is no frontline combatant; she steps away from the fight as soon as possible, once Yd has been distracted by the new arrivals.

From a safe distance, the holy symbol on her palm glows, life-giving energy flowing from it to envelop Yd's ghostly form.

With Bolt out of harm's way and feeling like he's no longer knocking on Legba's door thanks to Imix and Nat's healing energies Oios is going to head towards the mysterious dome from where spells are coming, but instead sees that Yd is vulnerable to the south. What he does next depends on if Yd is still alive. He pauses.

Drazan and Imix slam their weapons into the wraith, while Nat's life-giving power envelops it. The creature howls - frustration and anger echoing around the underground square - and turns to avoid the onslaught, wisps of smoke peeling from it as it thrashes.

As Istiel hurtles overhead, Oios runs to the east and tosses a flask at the rock dome. His attack is off target - the flask sails far and lands to the southeast. Fire erupts, lighting the area in a brief red glow as the flaming liquid falls onto - and then through - the rock dome.

And then the alchemist's fire, and the dias upon which it exploded, dim into darkness, as Istiel flies south.

The monk's flying kick is enough to end the wraith. It shifts and quivers, and then with the sound of ashes twisting on the wind, disappears.

An explosion of acid envelops you, and then, after a beat, the grinding of stone on stone...

Nat flinches, now badly burned by the acid; but her resolve is undiminished. She gestures, and her wounds begin to close, skin and sinew knitting together like new as the damage fades.

Oios uses his momentum to skid out of the way of the worst of the burn. He ignores the pain, it is a minor thing, as he shouts at the others. Light! Light! Where that dome was! The master of this unholy place stood in front of a throne of abomination!

Istiel does not have time to celebrate her triumph over Yd, instead immediately taking flight again towards the location of the "dome" and casting her torchlight over it.

The throne is a ghastly thing, but it is unmoving. She wants to know where the wand-wielding darohmn had gone.

The acid hisses as the sheer quantity overwhelms Drazan's magical form, drawing a sharp inhale through his teeth as the adrenaline begins to wane. Then Drazan stops and reaches for Nat, a wordless gesture to ensure she isn't harmed too badly before turning back toward the dome.

Imix approaches Oios, glowing shield held high and glowering expression on his misshapen face.

The "island" - as revealed by Istiel's torchlight - is made up of a lower area, with a raised dias, created from the rubble of a destroyed building. The craftsmanship is, in your estimations, average, compared with the finer stonework of the tower above, and the halls and steps of the underground city.

The body parts on the throne twitch and spasm, possessed with a flicker of unlife. The moat around the island teems with the walking dead, all of them with their jaws removed, including, upon further examination, the rest of Bolt's survey team. A hidden stairway leads from the west side of the town square into the moat, and then, on the east side of the moat, another cleverly disguised stairway leads up from the bottom of the moat to the "island."

Within a few minutes, the rock dome and wind illusions - and the bridge across the moat - vanish into unreality, leaving it clear that the only way to the dias holding the throne either being to jump or fly over the moat, or to use the stairways and pass through the unliving, easy enough a thing for the rest of Yd's "family."

The rest of the cavern lies silent, and unremarkable, the buildings flanking the town square's walls long fallen into disuse. It seems, for the last many hundreds of years at least, this cavern served simply as a throne room, where - likely infrequent - audiences with visitors were held.

There seem to be two exits of the throne room; the tunnel you entered from, and a second tunnel to the south and east, closed with a portcullis, its opening mechanism barely visible in the shadows, deeper into the tunnel.

"'Hould I uthe the latht of my power to desthtroy the curthed oneth? Or heal uth?" Imix asked, cursing his decision to concentrate his divine shapeshifting on his mouth.

Oios's laboured breathing eases as Nat's latent healing continues to heal his battered body.

Perhaps we can stone them until they are granted Legba's release the inquisitor suggests. They are trapped in a moat after all.

Then as he continues to heal he says We have ended five abominations. But I do not know if the enslaved Nargun will have been freed yet. The one who fled. We must go after it, the question is whether we do so now or after having gathered our strength again. In the meanwhile... that.. throne.. It must be destroyed.

If Oios has the time he will start to carry out a ritual to ascertain the nature of the vile and unnatural object.

Istiel is disgusted by the throne, landing in front of the abominable furniture to stare at it briefly. She shakes her head and takes off again, ferrying Oios and any others to the island that wish to inspect or destroy the throne the island before her flight runs out.

In response to Imix's question, both her words and actions align. "We have any potions. Use your energy to destroy the unliving." The monk takes some time to retrieve potions from their Haversack, drinking them and mending her wounds.

As Oiois inspects the throne she discusses their actions with the others. "We will clear out the undead in the moat. Then we pursue and destroy the one that fled."

The throne is made of metal inferior to the tools you found, but dense and immovable none-the-less. The parts attached seem to be from many species, preserved in undeath over many, many generations. Some are obviously human, others Darohm, and still others creatures unkown. A long ear, pointed and narrow here; a delicate, long-fingered hand, attached to a thin wrist there, and from the back of the throne, a head stares up at you, one eye blinking randomly. It is human in proportion but furry, with a bat's snout, and a white stripe running the length of its coarse hair.

All I can tell of this heretical thing is that it gives off the same foul energy as the unliving below Oios says. It... does not seem.. dangerous though. I do not wish to expend our depleted resources on this while an actual foe is a threat still.

Oios shakes his head before stepping away. We will leave this abomination for later. Deeper in. Deeper in is where we will find our quarry.

Drazan moves to stand with Oios, his silent positioning the only communication he needs to convey that he agrees with Oios's plan of hunting down the fleeing enemy.

======================
Town Square
======================

A preliminary check of the abandoned buildings that wring the town center show that this was once a small commercial district, that likely provided services for the darohm garrisoned above. There's the long-dusty remnants a stonecutter (with some elaborate machinery still, perhaps in working order), a tavern and inn, a general store, and a few small townhomes, as well as one other building of curious purpose. The stonecutter's building along seems to still be in usable shape, even if it hasn't been used in a long time.

The last building, the one with curious purpose, has a long dormant object in the middle. It looks like a fireplace, perhaps; there is ash in the belly of the object, and black streaks mark the inside. It is large, and round, with five openings around it. A chimney leads from the fireplace up into the ceiling of the building. Metal tongs, clamps, and other tools lie scattered on shelves and in stands throughout the room.

=====================
Lower City
======================

It is an easy enough thing for Oios to bamph behind the portcullis and lift it for the rest of you. Heading deeper into the city, you move from the town square further down, and enter what was once another guardpoint; another portcullis, a barracks, a prison consisting of one communal cell, and a few other rooms, most of which have purposes obscured by the passing of time.

One suite of rooms, however, has been repurposed. One of the rooms is a changing room, with tall stone cabinets, faced with fine oak doors. The cabinets contain finely made clothes, in good repair, of muted color, but lined with furs, many of which are identifiable to you as common furred animals from the Valley; beavers, muskrat, a fox hat. There is also a sitting chair, and a mirror, dusty with disuse.

Off the sitting room is a lavatory, its water basin long dry, its chamberpot emptied the last time long ago.

The next room contains a study; a couple of fine chairs, upholstered with blood red cushions, are flanked by two finely carved wooden end tables. Atop each table sits a small hooded lantern; light peaks out from under the hoods of each. The room is filled to the brim with books, mostly bound in leather and with pages of vellum, written in the strange script of the Darhom. A large chest sits in one corner; its contents scattered nearby, as if the opener was looking for something in a hurry. Lying on the floor, scattered gems, jewelry, and round circles, like your goldstones, only made of metal - Darhom money.

The bookcases are built into the walls, carved of stone in the utilitarian style of its inhabitants. One hangs slightly off the wall. A curious tug reveals a secret passage; the case swings wide, a pitch black tunnel stretches into darkness.

=============
The Tunnel
=============

Fifty feet into the darkness, the tunnel branches. One way leads down, the other up.

=====================
Lower City
======================

Imix walks carelessly over the gems and jewels, stooping to retrieve a book. The Suriname is - for once - lost for words as he contemplates the treasure they have found. 'A labyrinth - of paper' he realises.

=====================
Town square
======================
It is hard for Drazan resist the urge to wander if the others wish to press on. Despite the absence of natures beauty, somehow being underground felt freeing. The time it took to do all this must have taken an act of the gods or lifetimes to create. If any wandering is tolerated Drazan search through the buildings to make sure no undead are hiding and locate anything that might be seen as useful for the party or the Flight.

=====================
Lower City
======================

Drazan thinks about just settling here, just on the edges of the Flames territory. The buildings, the strange machines, and the defensible position all invaluable. Though remembering Bolt and his late comrades, sunders the thought. Too dangerous without a sizable force. Too dangerous for Helaya and her kin.

Upon discovery of the metal jewelry and gold-stones, Drazan is so inclined to add whatever he can carry back with ease and share with his family and friends. Fulton would appreciate the metal jewelry, beyond the pleasant appearance, he would see the work that went into these. Hopefully he would soon be able to copy the craft, and 'forge' more metal weapon like the strange mining picks and axes like Bane.

=============
The Tunnel
=============

Focused more on ending the threat Oios ignores the Lower City and the Town Square and focuses on the Tunnel when it is found. He divines for magic again in the tunnel taking his time to sense the taint of death that marked the enemy.

===================
Town Square
===================

The buildings flanking the square prove themselves to be empty, devoid of any additional undead. Other than the shuffling of those living dead in the moat, and the rustling of flesh upon the throne, you are alone.

===================
Tunnel
===================

The darkness crowds around you. The tunnel's walls are rough-hewn, buttressed here and there with simple stone arches. You wait.

Istiel sweeps the town square and lower city, taking the opposite side of the street from Drazen. It is not so odd everything is made of stone, but that it is so far underground. How could the Darhom live so far from the light of Ayida-Wedu? Where are their farms, what did they grow to eat?

These questions bothered her, but not as much as the growing sense of claustrophobia after a day in these tunnels and burrows. She longed for fresh air and the warmth of Ayida-Wedu. If only this place could be opened to othe light, it would make a fine, defensible home for the flight.

She offers to help Drazen carry the gems and coins- Istiel has no personal interest in baubles, but the flight could trade it for food or safety if they encounter others that value the objects.

===================
Tunnel
===================

The monk looks up, and then down. This was the moment where they either lost the trail, or found the lord of this place. Istiel explores a few steps both ways, looking for any sign of the direction the Darhom fled. Disturbed dust, a scuffed stone, anything...

===================
Tunnel
===================

The tunnel seems long unused, and a fine layer of dust covers the floor. You find two sets of tracks, belonging to the same set of feet. The first heads back to where you came; the study. The second set moves from the study to the fork... and then heads upwards. Following the trail, you see again the movement down, towards the study, and then up, up, until the tunnel forks again, up or south. The tracks that were going down converge with those going up, from the south. Continuing to follow the upward tracks, you come to a stone wall.

There is a lever on the wall. Pulling it, with the scrape of stone on stone, you find yourself in the caverns with the strange metal. You follow the tracks on from there and back into the Darohm upper city, only to lose them near the room where you found Bolt. There have been too many creatures coming and going these last few days to make sense from there.

Doubling back, you break south where the tracks converged, and you find yourselves at another wall, another lever. Pulling the lever, the grinding of stone on stone, and the door opens up into the Town Square, you staring at the back of the flesh and metal throne, making brief eye contact with the bat-faced creature, it's mouth slowly opening in a silent sigh.

===========
Topside
===========

Continuing to search the complex, you head up and up, arriving once again into the tower you took refuge from the Nargun in. A quick probe finds the Nargun asleep; the mounds of rock sit placid around the island and in the shallow lake.

Istiel follows the tracks of her quarry with growing frustration. Something in her says they were too cautious, too slow... that this creature had fled while t hey carefully picked their way through the ruins.

Her instincts were proven correct when the tracks lead into the room that held the Frozen captives. Standing up from a crouch on the floor, the monk simply says- "I have lost the trail. It has fled above."

===========
Topside
===========

Istiel is the first to volunteer to poke the Nargun, lightly tapping it with her fist. No response, and she turns around to the others and begins to walk back. "Asleep."

The monk points back upriver. "We should return to the Flight. They can follow us here. Take shelter on the island. Then we plan the descent. We should explore the depths of the tower further as well."

===============
Desnus 10
===============

You arrive back at the Flight as the day's sun is waning. Sarre greets you first, with a couple of guards, at the outskirts of the lake. Lowering her bow as you approach, she nods. "Where's the four-legged one? Who's the Frozen?" Bolt stands close by, nervously eyeing the woman's bow.

Dinner fires are going, your people settling in for the night. Ogwe mans a large circular frying pan, stirring crawfish-studded rice with a canoe paddle. Wherever you go, eyes watch you, alert, some with apprehension, as you move through the makeshift waterside encampment. Whispers follow, many of them reaching your ears with the same questions that Sarre had.

Close to the falls, along the shoreline, a group of Shadeholmers are fast at work. Barking orders, the large form of Bertram Hamfatten, red-faced as ever, commands the laborers. Rope has been tied, harnesses created, tools assembled. He shrugs. "Thought you weren't coming back. We go over the falls tomorrow. Unless you've got a better idea?"

=============
The Tunnel
=============
"'E need to thollow. Quickly." Imix growls mangled words.

===========
Topside
===========
With a grunt Imix shifts his jaw back into human form. He sighs in relief, and reaches up to massage the muscles in his head and neck.
"I concur. Additionally we should warn them in case our quarry goes to take revenge." he speaks, revelling in the ability to pronounce precisely. "Looting, and destroying the throne can wait for that."

He looks over with regret to the shattered Nargun, then turns to examine it in more detail. Over his should he calls "Work out what we do with the Frozen, before we go."

===============
Desnus 10
===============
Imix turns to Oios, and waits for the leader to respond.

===========
Topside
===========

Istiel seems annoyed their quarry escaped, but knows nothing can be done about it. "Yes. We may have unleashed a horror upon the land. Our people. When it returns we must be the ones to end it. At best it attacks the Frozen."

She glances at Bolt, and back to Imix. "He is bound to Drazen now. Drazen determines the man's fate." Istiel says matter-of-factly, as if there is no other way to handle the situation.

===============
Desnus 10
===============

The trek back gives Istiel everything she was missing underground: the sun, the wind, the sounds of rushing water, birdsong. As the Flight comes into view her current world, as fractured as it is, returns to whole. She was back among the people she swore to protect, and it was a pleasure to return to that duty.

Istiel eyes Sarre flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Rock is dead. The Frozen is bound to Drazen. There is much to tell. Come." Droppng her arms she begins walking with the rest of the group, waiting for some form of assembly before telling any tales.

Hamfatten, at least, gets a partial answer. "We discovered an ancient underground shelter on an island near the falls. It is safe now. We can shelter, prepare for the falls there. It is strange below. Filled with metal. Magic. Books. Homes. More exploration of its depths is needed."

===============
Desnus 9
===============

Before heading back Oios has the group scour the place for any more undead monstrosoties and has them cleansed. He really does not know how to handle the throne so he resorts to splintering it with one of the pickaxes and burning what is left.

Honestly there's a lot of burning in general of all the corpses. The Frozen they failed to protect are treated gentler than everything else.

===============
Desnus 10
===============

We have found shelter. A place where the Flight can rest for a day or so. An ancient city. We have cleansed it of an old evil and what is left is knowledge that we should study before moving onwards.

===================
Below, before you approach the flight
===================

Oios dismantles the throne, finding a switch concealed inside the mouth of the bat-man. It operates the secret door out of the town square.

==================
Desnus 10
==================

There's some grumbling about packing everything up when folks have just gotten settled for the night, but the Flight is underway soon enough. Even though it is only about a half mile, between gathering everyone and poling the keelboats to the island, it takes a considerable amount of time; Ayida Wedu is well into her nightly death by the time the Flight arrives at the towers.

Utzi stays topside with the guards, balking at the idea of spending the night underground. Gasps and whispers of wonder escape the Flight as they enter the tower and see the ancient runic writing, and then again at the metal gates, and once more, the bone pit. Most of the Shadeholmers set up in the town square, and once more the cookfires start; thankfully, the ceiling is high enough that smoke is not an issue.

You delve deeper into the Darohm city, leaving the suite of rooms with the library, and travel a quickly sloping hall that turns into steep steps, down, down, down, into the earth, before leveling once again into a simple grade. Ahead, you hear the sound of rushing water, thunderous in volume. Approaching the sound, your light reveals that the tunnel has been cleaved; it opens up into the cliffside. Directly in front of you, your clothes dampening with its spray, lies the falls. It seems the rest of the Darohm city was destroyed, dropped into the earth all those years ago.

A small platform is carved at the point of the cleaving, and then from there, narrow steps, carved into the cliff's face, lead down into the darkness. Still, you walk on, the falls thundering by, making conversation all but impossible. The steps switch back and forth, until they exit the falls, winding roughly to the northeast.

The cliff towers above you, blocking out the sky to the south and west. To the north and east, the stars stretch overhead; the night is largely cloudless, the moon near waxing. You can make out water - a lot of water - below you stretching out as far as you can see.

Chilled and damp, you walk the steps, descending at a slight angle. Eventually, you find another platform carved into the cliffside, about 20 feet wide, and just a few feet narrow. Metal rings on metal posts, red with rust, are set into the platform, sticking straight up. More metal rings flank the stairs at the end of the platform, which lead down into the water, brackish and churning dark.

You've reached the end of the known world.

==================
Desnus 10
==================

==================
Desnus 10
==================

Istiel struggles to keep her torch shielded from the mist of the falls, nearly having to resort to using a candlerod more than once. The approach to the bottom of the stairs fills her with apprehension. She expected a swamp, something navigable by portage at least. She scans the horizon with the help of the moonlight, seeing nothing but water. "We have no choice. There must be a way to lower the longboats."

Curious about the water's depth, Istiel retrieves a 100 ft coil of silk rope from her jute sack. She ties a figure-8 knot to the haft of one of the heavy metal picks they retrieved from the undead diggers. Istiel slowly lowers the pick into the waters off to the side of the stairs.

As the rope slides between hr calloused hands, she glances again at the endless, watery horizon. The realization they are about to begin their exile at the end of the known world slowly sinks in, and the more rope she feeds into the murky depths the more she begins to feel like the pick tied to the end.

=====================
Desnus 10
=====================

Cogsward joins you on your descent, shrugging at any questioning looks - or questions. "Seems the safest place to be is right here. Plus, I'd like to see what's here. How do you think they fed themselves?"

At the boat landing, Istiel's rope slips into the water, hand over hand, until the pick rests at the bottom of the water, about fifty feet below you.

The farmer, meanwhile, paces the platform, his hat in his hands, staring at the cliff. "I wouldn't be so sure. About the lake, I mean. Look," Cogswards says, pointing south and west, towards the falls. "The falls are that way, what, a thousand feet? And then..."

Cogsward swivels, pointing at the cliffside, north and east. "And then, the tower is over there, maybe a quarter mile?"

So, we switched back and forth underground, and came out directly behind the falls. Topside our visibility was very obscured, due to the mist over the falls, and I dared not get too close. Nor anyone else that I know of. But back by the tower, and the lake? The view may be much better. I'm not saying there's not a lake here. But I'm not saying there is one either. A clear day, and the view up top, may better answer that question."

===================
Desnus 11
===================

Drazan spends the next few days supporting the Flights escort, security, and hunting tasks. If and when time allows, he spends time seeing Fulton to the various rooms with images from the book and checking in on the people he feels responsible for.

=====================
Desnus 10
=====================

Istiel hauls her makeshift water level gauge out of the brackish depths, counting off the numbers of hands it takes when she first feels the wet surface of the rope. It was incredibly deep, adding more evidence to the stories that this land violently and suddenly sunk long ago.

She glances at the farmer Cogsward, who for some reason joined them on their journey down the unexplored stairs. He claimed it was the safest place, but no one must have told him what happened to the Frozen their released from being chained up.

===================
Desnus 11
===================

Istiel is the first to crest the dam as the warming rays of Ayida-Wedu begin to brightly shine from the east. Standing tall, the monk watches the horizon, sunlight sparking on the gentle, distant crests of dirty water.

Patterns started to emerge within the sparkles, places in her vision that never shimmered with the sun. In those places, as the others saw too, were bits of green and brown.

It only took a few minutes of staring before she was climbing back down, purpose in her movements. "I am taking a canoe to scout ahead. I will return at the day's death."

She literally lifts a canoe from the edge of an island, carrying it down the hundreds of steps to the pier below. The low ceilings and narrow hallways make it a challenge to move the vessel, but her stubbornness and quest for glory (no matter how small) carried her forward. All queries to help from passer-bys were denied.

Laboring for breath and covered in a fine coat of mist from the falls, Istiel finally reaches the pier. She tips the canoe over to remove any excess water picked up from the falls before dumping it unceremoniously in the water. Without so much as a break she climbs inside, secures her jute sack of gear, and takes up an oar.

Shoving off with the finely carved ash paddle, she starts smoothly rowing towards where, in her mind's eye, land rests in the distance.

===================
Desnus 10
===================
Imix sets up his camp in the room one of the apprentices named the "magic item room", though he insists on naming it the Scalding Spiral room. In truth it is as much due to the warm, wet welcoming nature of the room as the spiral itself.

He hands out instructions to Oios to pass on. "My children should stay with me. The other apprentices with you. Deciphering runes will be good for them. Chukix was one of my teachers - I suggest you put him to the alchemy room.

He pauses [b]"We should be in no hurry to leave this place. It is defensible, should we be attacked. When Nat's poison deal is filled, and she tells the Frozen where we are, let it be here. With work we could turn every step of this place into a deathtrap. We have days before they come. In that time we could make them regret any attack."

"I will devote my magical strength to food creation, if we can transplant some more plants to the island. We can fish the river, with work. We should send everyone with less useful skills to hunt -
we may even be able to depopulate the nearby game to better stop the Frozen when they arrive."

"This gives us a place to reconnoiter from. There are demon worshippers in the swamp - let us scout before we commit, if we have the luxury."

"If we can learn how to make weapons" a thought occurs "Or armor - imagine armor made of this stone - then we can be better prepared when next we fight the Flame. We can also use our time here to turn our militia into soldiers."

"Processing the information here could be the secret to our survival. This is the remnant of a great nation - let us learn everything we can before we move on."

"I want to try to wake the Nargun, when we leave. Dangerous, but perhaps if not possessed we can ally with them."

===================
Desnus 11
===================
Imix is behind Istiel as she reaches the crest, his refusal to remove his armour meaning he is far, far behind the agile monk.

He spends a minute at the crest, looking over the vision below with lungs straining to breathe. 'You are the second of the people to see this site. Enjoy it'
He takes a drink of water, calms down and looks again. He could not say how long he looks out, but the spell is broken by always-moving Istiel.

When Istiel goes to move off he calls out after her "Bring back plants. We need to know what we can eat."

He heads down into depths of the castle, seeking out the overworked engineers. [b]"I need your best cartographer. Have them go to the peak - Cogsworth can show them - look out into the new are and do their best to sketch a map. Take the person with keenest eyes you can. Do it now, while the sun is rising and the sky is clear. Tonight have them do a survey for campfires.

================
Another day
================
The Barracks
===============
Drazan finds himself in what was once the barracks on one of his curious explorations, or as others might call it, 'on patrol.' He is not alone, as no guard ever is unless in the thick of the flight. The young man with him is barely older than Fulton, green with inexperience, but very motivated even in spite of everything that has happened up to now. The beds remind Drazan on his arena days, between the training and the fights. The stale old air of barracks is overpowered with the scent of memory as he breathes deep, an effort to bottle the fear that competitors might come for him in his sleep to maim or ensure a permanent sleep.

Drazan recalls not being any better, and as he begins to explore the barracks he thinks on all the clever places he learned and used to hide weapons and contraband. A hollowed frame or post, a false tile, and something placed up high out of obvious reach were necessary for survival. The men and women that used to live here may not have had a need for hideaways for survival, though perhaps there were things of value or leisure that were worth guarding away from their superiors.

The Shield room
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The vaults of the Shield room were on Drazan's list of places to see, because he had never seen such a thing. Things of value and worth were protected by flesh and the threat of violence, not thick walls and doors of stone. The futility these ancestors must have felt when someone with Oios's powers or Drazan's earthen form simply walked past their designs as easily as Drazan walks through their abandoned homes now.

The Forge and Smithy
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Since first seeing the pictures come to life from the book he strives to learn alongside Fulton, Drazan revisited the forge in his dreams. The thought of strange metals melded into any shape imaginable, like the jewelry or the massive doors in this forgotten hold, begged to be discovered. The First Flame would be too powerful with an army of metal weapons, Drazan thought to himself as he started looking for a way to understand and utilize the tools here. If there was nothing to gain here Drazan would vandalize and destroy its usefulness so the First Flame would not reap the reward for the Flight's efforts.