Justin thanks Renkar profusely, and starts going through his list to make sure he hasn't forgotten any, mundane, articles in his packing.
(He is out of luck if he 'needs' another magic item. He is tapped out for the nonce. Both of Gold Pieces and energy.)
Blayze merely smiles at the banter. "So, we heading through?"
Justin grins.
"Looks like we're set. Grab some smoked goggles and heavy gloves, pack your Handy Haversacks, and grab a nap. We'll meet here at first light and head over to meet Rovuk."
Hamar draws his blades and steps through after the guide, into the unknown.
The Party enters the swirling sparkle gate and have that stomach-twisting sense of motionless movement that portal gates always inflict on their users. They come out in a wonder.
They have entered what could be called a cave, but that is a insufficient word to describe it. The roof arcs above them, possibly a kilometer at it’s highest, it is covered in crystals of all colors and sizes. Red, purple, coffee, clear, every shade imaginable is represented. The crystals throb with light and energy. Everyone automatically dons their goggles, the light is that brilliant. Alessia feels unquiet here, although the crystal Mara gave her seems to help.
They’ve entered onto a ledge overlooking the cave floor. A flattish area of about a kilometer in radius spreads out before them. The floor of the cave looks like a small Prime village - with houses and farms neatly laid out in the smallish space. A small cluster of tall buildings is in the center, at the nexus of two roads that bisect the roughly round surface area.
The party notes one other odd thing: the farms have enormously large trellises set up, incredibly tall. These trellises are covered in plant vines and different fruit.
Rovuk adjusts his haversack, and turns to the party
“Welcome to Crystalholm. We’ll go to the center , then we’ll head towards the Radiant Sea”
He heads down a cobbled track that leads down to the cave floor
"This......is a big cave."
"This......is a big cave."
"Give the girl a trophy. 'Understatement of the week'." Justin grins at Merle, adjusts his own magical backpack, and sets out to follow Rovuk down the cobbled path.
"Ah.....go read a book or something." Merle grumbling as she also follows.
"Soon as I get a day off,..." Floats softly back to Merle over Justin's shoulder.
Blayze chuckles with amusement at the banter between the two spellcasters as she makes her way down the cobblestone street.
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Rovuk leads the party down the slope towards the caves floor. The party can see that the ground surrounding them is quartz crystal for the most part, with many crystal-filled vugs pocketing the rockface. Bands of metal ore streak through the rock as well: Silver, copper, gold.
After a short downhill hike, they arrive at the cave floor. They walk to one of the main roads they saw from above, a cobbled quartz thoroughfare. The surrounding farms grow all sorts of odd produce, but some familiar ones like corn and tomatoes. The size of the fruits and vegetables are immense though. The tomatoes are easily the size of a person’s head, and the corn ears are over a meter in length.
Eventually they arrive at the central crossing. The buildings are tall and smushed together, made mostly of forged steel and quartz. Most have five or six stories, but there are not many in all, just about a dozen. A lot of Earthborn go about their business along with other beings. The party sees a xorn waddle by, its alien configuration ungainly and oddly disturbing. A party of turbaned Dao walk by, their flat completely black eyes as emotionless as a dolls. Another group of what look like spindly purple elves with elongated skulls and swirling garments made of beaded gemstones pass by, speaking in an odd humming vibrational language. Their skin almost looks crystalline itself, as if they were Walking amethysts. Many carry crystalline staves, and a few wicked-looking crystal swords.
Rovuk halts at one building whose ground floor holds a tavern of some sort. He brings them in and finds a table for them to sit at.
“I will be back after about an hour. I need to check on a few things. Feel free to refresh yourselves, we will be in rough country after this”
He gets up and departs the tavern
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"Oh, Ferissirion," Karrin says to her axe, "You must feel right at home here, we don't see many crystal weapons back home, but here they're everywhere. I mean you're still super special and all, but here people aren't gonna think you're exotic and all."
Karrin pauses as her axe shimmers with cold.
"What's that?" Karrin asks as Ferissirion leaves a layer of frost on Karrin's menicing spiked gauntlet Mitt, "No, silly, we can't do that. They should live."
Hamar follows second behind their guide and sheathes his blades once it is clear this is just a village.
Asthe group sits and Karrin begins to speak with her weapon Hamar turns to his own blades and grimaces, they do not speak to him. Then he wonders if this is a good or bad thing. After all, his grandfather told him he liked the family hyena better than his grandmother precisely because it did not talk...
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Merle watching Karrin talk to her axe moves a few steps away
After about an hour’s time Rovuk returns
“All set? Then we are off. “
He leads the party down one of the main roads. It brings them shortly to the cave wall, which in this spot is sheer, and pocked with fissures. A gatehouse with guards stands nearby, but they just wave as Rovuk walks by. He leads them to a largish fissure.
“Don your leather gear, those who don’t wear armor. Keep your climbing gear at the ready. We head into the Sharplands”
Rovuk heads into the fissure after donning long gloves and putting his goggles on.
Inside the fissure is a mine tunnel. The sides of it have been quarried smooth, but crystals are forming as stalagtites on the ceiling above. Unlike other tunnels the party have traversed in the past, this one is bright. The rocks glow , shedding a bright light all about.
The party travels for several hours until they come to a large cave. This cave seems to be a quarry. There are a few buildings set up in one corner and several groups of Earthborn employ picks to pry slabs of quartz from the sides. An eight-foot-tall creature made of various crystals comes stumping up to Rovuk
“State your business in the Sharplands Rovuk” It says in a buzzing voice
“Escorting some Prime tourists to the Radiant Sea. We have cleared it with your factor in Crystalholm. I have the permit here”
Rovuk hands over a clear crystal tablet etched in an odd script to the crystal creature. It scans it and returns it to Rovuk
“Very well. You choose a poor time to visit. The Xorn Collective discovered another group of Primes operating an illegal mithril mine. They already clash with you over the diamond node. Crystalle might have to take a hand soon. The Lord of Many Facets grows tired of conflict in his realm”
Rovuk nods
“We bow to the will of the Crystal Lord “
The crystal creature wanders back to one of the mining parties
“We can rest here. The next part will be harder”
Merle watching Karrin talk to her axe moves a few steps away
Karrin catches Merle's unease.
"You know magical axes," Karrin says as way of an explanation, "You have a magical harp it's always wanting to be played, you got some magical boots and they always want to be running and jumping, but who's got time to play music all the time? Who's gonna want to be running and jumping everywhere? Magical axes just don't have an appreciation for how long it takes to get gore and blood out your clothes and hair. Am I right? Who's with me?"
Karrin smiles and points at Hamar.
"This guy knows what I'm talking about."
Justin's eyes go wider as Karrin talks to her axe, and he buries his face into his mug to hide his own response.
He can't help but wonder, is Karrin just putting on another 'act'? He KNOWS she's smarter than she usually lets on. Buthe wonders if she's entirely,... well, sometimes?
Ah who is HE to judge? Justin wryly reminds himself that before he got SO busy with THIS group, he would sometimes conjure creatures just to talk to them. And NOW he talks to a floating crystal skull. When he can get a word in edge-wise,...
But even Justin looks a LITTLE nervous when Karrin tells Ferrisson that 'they should live',...
Karrin catches Merle's unease.
"You know magical axes," Karrin says as way of an explanation, "You have a magical harp it's always wanting to be played, you got some magical boots and they always want to be running and jumping, but who's got time to play music all the time? Who's gonna want to be running and jumping everywhere? Magical axes just don't have an appreciation for how long it takes to get gore and blood out your clothes and hair. Am I right? Who's with me?"
Karrin smiles and points at Hamar.
"This guy knows what I'm talking about."
Justin looks at Karrin, to Hamar, and back to Karrin again.
He clears his throat gently."Um, yeah Karrin. As long as it realizes that while it can't go 'Willy-Nilly' ALL the time, we are very appreciative of the job it does when it can."
"After all, it's about the QUALITY of the work not the quantity, right?" Justin asks Karrin. Those looking close can see he is staring at the axe, not the warrior holding it.
Justin nods and dons his own gloves and goggles, then casting his advanced Magical Armor spell. (The one called "Elf-Lord's Armor" he got off of the 'Gold-Coin-scrolls' they had found earlier) For a moment he appears to be wearing a shimmering suit of highly decorated chainmail and scale armor, with highly-detailed elvish filigree, before the enchantment fades to invisibility.
Justin picks up his magical backpack, and dutifully follows their guide,...
,... As the crystal entity stomps away, Justin approaches Rovuk.
"So,... Trouble?" he asks casually, slipping off his pack and pulling out his pipe.
"Sounds like there are multiple conflicts in the area. Anything we need to be worried about?"
Justin lights his pipe and finds a nice, non-razor-sharp outcropping of crystal to sit down on. He puffs contentedly while looking at Rovuk.
"Um, yeah Karrin. As long as it realizes that while it can't go 'Willy-Nilly' ALL the time, we are very appreciative of the job it does when it can."
Karrin smiles, "Ferissirion is super good at his job, but you can't always listen to your axe, sometimes you got to try to solve things with diplomacy. I mean sure that Xorn we passed back there might give us trouble later on, but you can just go murdering willy nilly based on presumptive conflict, and who knows we might actually accomplish this mission without the need to hack someone to bits. It'd be a first, but who knows, I mean the laws of average would suggest that it's got to happen at some point right? Why not here?"
Merle meanwhile opens up her backpack allowing Seph to get a bit more air and spends some time making sure he's okay and chatting away in feline.
"Um, yeah Karrin. As long as it realizes that while it can't go 'Willy-Nilly' ALL the time, we are very appreciative of the job it does when it can."Karrin smiles, "Ferissirion is super good at his job, but you can't always listen to your axe, sometimes you got to try to solve things with diplomacy. I mean sure that Xorn we passed back there might give us trouble later on, but you can just go murdering willy nilly based on presumptive conflict, and who knows we might actually accomplish this mission without the need to hack someone to bits. It'd be a first, but who knows, I mean the laws of average would suggest that it's got to happen at some point right? Why not here?"
"Well,... there IS a first time for everything." Justin reluctantly agrees.
It is pretty clear by the look on his face, he's pretty sure this WON'T be that time,...
,... As the crystal entity stomps away, Justin approaches Rovuk.
"So,... Trouble?" he asks casually, slipping off his pack and pulling out his pipe.
"Sounds like there are multiple conflicts in the area. Anything we need to be worried about?"
Justin lights his pipe and finds a nice, non-razor-sharp outcropping of crystal to sit down on. He puffs contentedly while looking at Rovuk.
Rovuk shrugs his massive shoulders
“The usual. We’re in a very contested zone. The elementals ....”
He flicks his eyes at the departing crystal creature
“Are the original natives. They still run the plane. But there are a lot of groups that live here now. The Xorn, the Tssng, the Earthborn, the Mithrildrim. Not to mention the outlaw mines Primes are setting up all the time. We conflict a lot, especially over discoveries like the Great Diamond Node. It’s never a dull moment in the Big Rock”
Justin nods thoughtfully as Rovuk explains, puffing on his pipe.
He grins and points the pipe at Karrin.
"Good news! Business as usual!" He says cheerfully.
Justin stands, extinguishes and empties his pipe with a muttered charm. And hoists his pack once more.
"Lead on master guide!" He says with a smile.
Rovuk leads them through the quarry and over towards a sloping fissure. This one looks more natural, and the path is not as clear as it has been. Rovuk takes out his rope and grapnel and sets a line
“Single file, do as I do and be careful when you set to”
Justin looks at the line and hook with a raised eyebrow.
"I KNEW I should have paid more attention in my physical exercise lessons!" He says wryly.
Shruging, The wizard takes his place in line, does his best to be careful, and trusts in his magic boots to save him if needed. Again.
And apparently his recent travels have served him well. Following the guides instructions he climbs surely as if he actually knew what he was doing.
Hamar nods at Karrin, "Karrin Kind, Diplomacy only works when both sides have the potential for violence else why would a stronger side ever bother hearing what the weaker side has to say?
But who knows, there may be no blood on this trip". The Barbarian shrugs then his eyes go a bit wide as he is considering something, "Unless elementals bleed?"
---
The first bit isn’t bad. With a little care and slow movement, the party spends the next few hours descending an ever-deepening fissure. The width and height of the path varies, and a few transparent crystals point out the necessity of watching carefully. At least the way ahead is lit by the crystals themselves. It’s almost sunlight level.
After a while they arrive at fairly large cave. Rovuk removes a large flat black stone from his pack and places it on the floor of the cave, muttering a few words over it. It turns cherry red after a minute and he takes a pot and starts to prepare a stew in it.
“We’ll need a watch, we’re in unclaimed territory, and some creatures out here think Prime meat is an exotic delicacy “
If there was one thing Blayze wasn't good at, it was climbing. Taking a deep breath she secures her ger to her person and attempts the climb.
The first bit isn’t bad. With a little care and slow movement, the party spends the next few hours descending an ever-deepening fissure. The width and height of the path varies, and a few transparent crystals point out the necessity of watching carefully. At least the way ahead is lit by the crystals themselves. It’s almost sunlight level.
After a while they arrive at fairly large cave. Rovuk removes a large flat black stone from his pack and places it on the floor of the cave, muttering a few words over it. It turns cherry red after a minute and he takes a pot and starts to prepare a stew in it.
“We’ll need a watch, we’re in unclaimed territory, and some creatures out here think Prime meat is an exotic delicacy “
Justin holds open his coat and looks at his skinny frame.
"Well, at least they'll be fighting over me last!" he chuckles.
"Karrin? Do you want to set up the watches? You have more experience with that."
The wizard glances at Rovuk.
"Um. Better make it Double-shifts. Lets not take chances with anything thinking were a buffet."
If there was one thing Blayze wasn't good at, it was climbing. Taking a deep breath she secures her ger to her person and attempts the climb.
[dice=Climb (ACP)]1d20-1
;)
"Karrin? Do you want to set up the watches? You have more experience with that."
The wizard glances at Rovuk."Um. Better make it Double-shifts. Lets not take chances with anything thinking were a buffet."
"I don't need to sleep. I can keep watch."
Hamar nods at Karrin, "Karrin Kind, Diplomacy only works when both sides have the potential for violence else why would a stronger side ever bother hearing what the weaker side has to say?
But who knows, there may be no blood on this trip". The Barbarian shrugs then his eyes go a bit wide as he is considering something, "Unless elementals bleed?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not. I am sure we will find out soon enough."
Alessia's tone of voice remains flat, but she inclines her head approvingly.
Blaze gingerly begins climbing down the rope when a loose rock slips from beneath her boot. She tumbles down 20 feet, hitting several crystal clusters before rolling to a stop
Merle places seph back in the backpack before slowly making her way down the cliff face.
"I can take a watch unlike some I dooooow!!! I hadent even finished the sentance yet." Merle going from smug to mildly annoyed as Seph nips her ear.
Merle places seph back in the backpack before slowly making her way down the cliff face.
"I can take a watch unlike some I dooooow!!! I hadent even finished the sentance yet." Merle going from smug to mildly annoyed as Seph nips her ear.
Justin bites his bottom lip as Seph nips Merle's ear and quickly turns to the side, finding something suddenly VERY fascinating in a nearby crystal outcropping.
Blayze groans as she gets up, dusting herself off and inspecting the cuts and scrapes.
1)Alyssia, Merle, Karrin/
2)Alessia, Hamar, Seph
3)Alessia, Justin, Blaze, Mel