(ooc: Is there anything in our great epic that
isn't made up, Morgeruat?
And BTW, when you let Lord Kuan speak of 'mortals allowing their ignorance and personal beliefs to guide themselves down the path to self destruction and hypocrisy', I presume you're refering to all those who will
oppose the relationship between Sir Jorlon and Chun-Li, and
not our loving couple, yeah?
)
IC> Lord Kuan's expression was suddenly sober. Closing his eyes he touched his forehead with a finger.
"The adverturers shall arrive soon," said Lord Kuan, "I see them coming.
Tsao!"
A golden dragon flew in and landed before Lord Kuan -- the same one that had delivered messages to him earlier -- and turned into a human figure again. "Your humble servant hears, Great Lord!"
"The mortal adventurers are on their way," instructed Lord Kuan. "Go, and bring them here once they arrive!"
"At once, Great Lord!"
********************************
The party bade Jah'zuer farewell and set off for Mt Cavernas, which was at the far end of the same great floating island of rock on which the temple of white marble was erected. It was a strange mountain. In fact from a distance it looked more like a supergiant, elongated pyramid of crystal sticking out of the rock, truncated at the top and slanting slightly, and surrounded by a forest of glass as well as smaller blocks of crystal of different shapes and sizes. As the adventurers approached the mountain -- if such it could be called -- the ground slowly changed from black rock to smooth, glittering crystal as well.
"This is... a mountain?" remarked Rufus, bemused at the rather inept usage of the word in describing this curious natural formation.
"Well, that's what everyone calls it for want of a more suitable term," said Magnus. "But right now what is more important is for us to find the
Pool of Many Colors, which is supposed to be situated either inside this mountain or somewhere close. And remember, once we reach the
Seven Heavens, time will not be on our side."
"Why?" asked Rufus.
"A single hour of time in the
Seven Heavens is the equivalent of
three hours on the Prime Material Plane," explained Khadgar. "Well, that's for the
lowest of the
Seven Heavens, to be exact. In the higher ones, the time differential grows even greater, until in the highest
Heaven a single hour will equal
three years on earth. Thank the gods we only need to visit the
First Heaven!"
They arrived at the foot of the mountain after winding their way through the veritable labyrinth of crystal blocks and columns. Under the thick canopy of the glass forest, all light passing through was broken up into a prismatic shower of rainbow colors, turning the whole area into a wondrous panorama of mesmerising beauty. Leaves that had fallen from the trees carpeted the ground like a layer of tinsel.
"Place... pretty!" whispered Fenric, enraptured by the spectacle. "Fenric... like!" Rufus spotted a small fallen branch and a couple of large leaves, all sparkling crystal, and picked them up and placed them in his bag.
"Rufus, what are you doing?" asked Magnus.
"These branches and leaves are so pretty," replied Rufus, "I just want to keep them as souvenirs. They look like they're all made of glass!"
The party looked around the foot of the mountain for either the
Pool or a means of ascending the mountain, which was so large it would take the equivalent of several days or even weeks of earth time to survey the full circumference of the mountain's foot (even though it would just amount to a short moment back on earth). The adventurers searched around the crystal wonderland, but could find nothing...
"When shall we ever find something?" wondered Ghzarbanan.
They came to a clearing in the forest. "Hey, look here!" shouted Sir Morgeruat, pointing to a large hole in the mountainside. "A tunnel -- leading up! Maybe it will lead to what we seek! Come, let's go in and see!"
The party travelled up the dimly lit tunnel. It was just possible to see outside through the transparent crystal, allowing for the refractions of light caused by it. "Wow, it's like walking inside a house of glass!" remarked Rufus.
The tunnel seemed to wind on without end. Pieces of crystal sometimes sticked out of the walls and ceiling, either glowing softly or emitting ringing, musical sounds when touched. Fenric never tired of gazing around in rapture at the crystalline spectacle. Every now and then they had to take a short break, and could see strange and unfamiliar writings etched into the tunnel's sides.
"Wonder what these writings might say and who put them there..." muttered Sir Jorlon.
Suddenly a few tiny balls of greenish light floated slowly past the party. One landed on Chun-Li's hand for a while before it flew away. "Oh, how cute!" exclaimed the Drow with delight.
"These are
astral fireflies," said Khadgar. "They feed on the piezoelectric energy contained in the crystals!"
Presently the tunnel branched off in two directions, both leading up. "Hey, which one shall we take?" asked StoneRock.
(ooc: I reckon the gods will be say average 18 to 20 feet tall. What say you folks -- and mind if I let them give our heroes some... 'toys'?
Hope you've enjoyed
Warcraft 3 by the way, SecretMaster. Which face did you choose when you bought the game?)
[ 09-03-2002, 07:54 AM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]