((Prequel: After a long and difficult experience Gemstorm returns to
Airs to try and find peace in her soul, going on a long solitary journey to the
Southwestern part of Airs to explore a newly discovered volcano.))
*Leaving the inn, she led Snowheels down to the stables,
Gelert romped around, whuffing with excitement. They
were to going on sortie. It had been too long for him since they had taken the
trail together.
Gemstorm let the mare stand loose before the stable door. Going to the tackroom, she took down her old crossbow, setting it aside,
while she filled the saddle quiver with bolts. Looking around she could see no
other thing she needed. Snowheels was already packed
with her usual trail kit. She had remembered to add more rations to the
saddlebags before she had left the inn. Twyncles knew where she was heading and
if any bothered to ask Twy could send them in the
general direction.
Sighing, she closed the stable doors, fastened the crossbow and quiver
to the saddle. Snowie turned her head to sniff at
this new burden. "La, my lady.. you are grown fat and lazy in the liberty you
have enjoyed on the
Mounting the horse, she rode slowly out of the stable courtyard..and headed down the
river road track. She would take the western portal and then swing to the
southwest. Her head was down and she let the mare go at her own pace. The
lights of the inn were soon lost to view as the winding of the track bore her
steadily west. Gelert stayed at her stirrup, not sure of their direction
yet, but eyes gleaming with joy at being on the
trail again.
Gemstorm felt the gathering of the horse beneath her,stirred from her thoughts, looked up, saw the
western portal before them, chirped to the mare and they flew through it. **
Greetings Archetype:
Sending a message by tat as usual.. they are by the way everywhere..why is that?..Nevermind.. this one even looked remarkably
sober. Only a slight looping as it went by and I snatched it out of mid-air.
Anyway..so far.. nothing out of the usual. I have made two camps since
leaving. The land begins to change though as I have made my way southwest. The
mountains seem to give up for awhile as I found a low pass to cross.
Saw a flight of your AArakocra..
beautiful against the sky they are. And fled from the
sight of an Illenda..such
gossips and will not sing until they have relieved their minds, always ready to
tell one all and more than all one wants to know.
I am beginning to catch the occasional whiff of volcanic smokes on the air.
Think this is a pretty live one. So bear that in mind.
One thing I am really curious to see is, actually the
answer to a question a traveler asked long, long ago. He wanted to know if
there were any red fire dragons in the land. Was I think
looking to start a new flight as he had lost all but one in some kind of
contretemps in his own realm. At the time I had no idea..
the little I knew of the land was that I had never
seen a habitation that would foster an eyrie.
At any rate it will present a warm alternative for T'ien
Lung..he would enjoy the
heat soaking especially after such a long and bitter winter. Thought you
handled the weather here archetype..*smile*
So the mare and the hound are well also.. we have not had a good run for far too long.. now I think we will make up for it. As for the rest.. I will endure.. as I was meant to do.. though this
is harder for me than anything since Dari's death.
Regards to dear weeds.. tell
him I will see if there is anything new and interesting to bring back for the
Gemstorm *Ranger*
*Sitting up, she looked around wildly..the dream receding even as she took a deep gasping
breath. Gelert lifted his head to look at her, whuffing
inquiringly. "Oh.." she murmured.."I
have overslept, must have been the dawnlight.....tis alright old son..I am fine.." She ruffled
the hound's feathery ears consolingly, then threw back her blanket and rose to
her feet. The fire was still showing a few embers, so she added some twigs and
blew gently until if licked up. Tea, she thought, as she put a small pan of
water on to boil, nothing like it for clearing the cobwebs of a dream drenched mind. Whistling shrilly, she heard a nicker and the tattoo of hooves. Snowie
appeared shortly keenly interested in her small ration of morning feed from the
dwindling supply in the saddlebags. Gemstorm doled out the food for the animals
and then took her well steeped mug of tea and sat on
the ground to write a report for Twyncles.*
Greetings Archetype:
Since last report, I have made my way to the foot of the volcano. It is a
feast for the eyes to come to such an abundance of vegetation as well as the
proliferation of creatures that bide along its slopes and in the forests.. not exactly forest..not sure how to describe the plants and trees that
abound here. There are flowers for instance the like of which
I have never seen before..from
tiniest to huge nearly treelike forms in their own right. One variety ..seems to be actually carniverous...
I saw a smallish rodent body in the center of it and nearly was caught myself
when it suddenly closed its petals on the unfortunate rodent. Gelert snatched
me back by the hem of my tunic as I never would have thought of a plant
actually trying to consume a creature..rodent
or ranger. <giggles>
I have the triumph too of at long last seeing some
of the vanilla orchids that I have searched for off and on through out my
sorties. I would bring some to weeds for the Medeival
garden but I fear that they would not thrive anywhere but in these specific
surroundings. I may be wrong but would need to consult with weeds on the
subject, when I return before I tried to take any.
Today I plan to see if there is a way to the rim of the volcano. It only
belches out small plumes of smoke at present, so I think it a safe enough objective.
There do not seem to be any fresh flows of lava about..
at least on this side of the cone, but I have spotted
some bare glassy looking streaks of old eruptions. Dangerous to walk on as they
are very treacherous.. sharp
enough in places to slice the sole of my boot..I had
to bid the hound stay back, for the safety of his pads.
The animal life here is natural..so
far.. no magical creatures and there are no signs of
red dragons wheeling above the volcano. Am a little
disappointed. T'ien Lung was overhead also and
confirmed that there are none. But he was pleased to
find such retreat from the winter cold of the north.<smiles>
Until next report then Twy..regards
to dear weeds and tell that dreadful shifter ..if I
find hairballs on my bed or worse in my shoes, she is going to be one
sorry blue feline.
Gemstorm *Ranger*
**Taking a sip from her waterbottle, she
looked around the small cavern she had entered. It was perishingly
hot and she debated whether to give up the trek through this old lava tube or
continue onward to get a closer look at the figures she thought she had
glimpsed from the rim.
Wiping her forehead and readjusting her hair band, she reached into her
pocket and took out the sleeping tatterdemalion.
"Wake up you little wight, and hark to
me. Go to Twyncles and tell her that I am fine, not to worry if she doesn't hear from me for awhile. That I
have entered the volcano and will explore as far as I am able to. AND! Return to me when you have delivered the message."
Glares meaningfully at the tat.
Opening her hand, she let the tat soar off and wink out of sight.
Thinking a moment, she set her bow down and shrugged off the quiver of arrows, then pulled her tunic over her head, tying the sleeves around her waist, down to a singlet which was somewhat cooler. Picking up her weapons, she replaced the quiver on her back and continued to follow the smooth track of the old lava vent shaft. It sloped gradually downward and she rather hoped it didn't suddenly drop her into a pool of live magma.**
Greetings archetype
At last I have reached the floor of the volcano..after many retracings of
my tracks through the old lava tubes.. which is why it
has been long and long since my last report.
I have found a singular thing here.. a small encampment of sorts, inhabited by a nomadic(as I
found out later) of tall golden-skinned folk, who.. have
somehow hardened their skin to withstand the terrible heat from the lava flows.
The follow them using huge magma beasts that they trap and then train to carry
their goods and their folk underneath the ground .. from one realm to another, wherever there is a flow of hot
swift or slow moving river of lava.
They have taken me in and are most hospitable, finding me as
odd to them as they are to me, but they know something of the impermanency of
flesh and have equipped me with a sort of armor that cools me and protects me
from the effects of the heat down here. Food is a little on the scarce
side however, since our diets are far removed from one another and what they
find good I fear would swiftly poison me. I am making do with some mushrooms
and blind fish that swim in a cavern pool that I came upon in my journey
downward.
They are artisans in rare metals and also volcanic
glass...making weapons of both as well as beautiful ornaments and decorative
items. They trade with other underworld races.. and I am most amazed that no word or legend has ever
surfaced in the upper world but perhaps they are a well guarded secret by
dwarves and other types who inhabit these lands beneath our sunlit world.
I will bide with them I think until they have finished their business here and
move on.. I find them most congenial..
and am getting used to their obsidian eyed visages and
the slight sound of metallic clashing as they move about their duties.
They speak very little but we seem to understand one another and they indicate
that if it is my wish they will take me out on the lava streams on the back of
one of the great magma beasts. Hope this armor holds up to that..it must be marvelously spelled as well as wrought
to withstand what is already manifested in this caldera.
But it was the leaping of the magma beasts that caught my attention from the
rim of the crater and now I think to ride one would be a great feat of
endurance and agility as well.. they
are guided by some kind of rod thing.. the way it
smokes.. I think it is a cold type of device..commonsense dictates the magma beasts would be
sensitive to little else.. and a cold as intense as
the darkest spaces of the void also.. for a little
frost would hardly be of any use.
So then archetype.. all is
well above I hope.. I must tell you that I am making little headway in my other
reason for this long sortie.
I can not bear to dream anymore..I
remember too many things that I wish to no longer even think of..yet.. always
when I waken.. my face is wet with the tears I am
still not able to shed in the light of day.. never was
able to .. as you know.. it
is not something that I am easily brought to...and at times I am convinced that
I did indeed perish that long ago day with Dari and the rest of my father's warband.. and all that has passed
since has been a long and fitful dream of madness ...how strange it is to
feel that way archetype...a fancy I suppose.. yet the
sense of not being quite in the world will not leave me...I feel mostly
as though my soul has departed me.. I think.. if that is any explanation...and surely she has..for if I had to fight.. and against the impossible.. I would
not be able to summon her forth ..she
has fled.
Gemstorm *Ranger*
Twyncles>*She sat in the windowseat, the
common room shadowed and silent with no guest or other duty to command her
attention. The recent report from Gemstorm, lay in her lap, while she stared
blankly into the middle-distance, her thoughts were somwhat
disordered, as she considered the import of what lay beneath the ranger's
last words. There was no way in her long consideration, of all the details of
the situation with Gemstorm, that she could undo what
had been done. To return her to the original point of her entry into time in Airs, would be too much of a paradox. Too much indeed, she
thought with a sigh of personal weariness at the impossibility of all that had
transpired. She allowed herself a small unamused
snort, she herself had not been kindly dealt with by fate recently, and that
was a unique experience for one such as she. She sipped her cold tea and gave
some thought to a reply.. there
was no point in going into any details, she and Gemstorm were only too keenly
aware of them.
Picking up a pen she swiftly jotted a few words and gave the message to
the closest loitering tat. Then she stood and went swiftly out the door to call
the glass mare for she meant to ride this day and see to a few things. **
****Gemstorm leaned forward and touched the magma beast firmly on one of its temperature sensitve
neck patches. Holding the cold rod long enough to encourage the creature to obediently make a sweeping wide turn. She started back up the sluggishly moving river of
molten lava. She had found this tributary off the main current and curious to
see where it meandered, she had spent a long time following it. On the banks to
each side she saw salamanders and other fire loving
beasts sporting in the flame trees. Another phenomenom
she would only be able to tell about as the flame trees were a too delicate and
ephemeral build up of one of the rare minerals that were used
in some of the art and weapons the lava people made for trade. Every now and then the tips of the flame trees would blossom in blue white
flowers of sparks. The heat rising from the lava made them seem to sway in a
breeze. Gemstorm knew as long as there were these amazing constructs it was
safe to ride the magma. A rather complicated conversation with one of the lava
traders that had included some pictorial representations drawn in the fine
pumice that layered the floors of the caverns had made it clear.. if the flame trees were stunted or shattered then that would
be a place where as above ground .. sudden freshets of
extremely fiery liquid lava would come roaring through like a flashflood.
She could feel the massively intense heat bearing down on her, even with
the armor that protected her. A little uncomfortable, she looked anxiously
ahead for the first sight of the main flow. The beast bucked under her as it
avoided a large upwelling of hot slag, she adjusted her stand accordingly.. the safety harness keeping her
from falling.
A movement ahead made her heave a small sigh of relief..
she recognised the riders
coming toward her and waved her cold rod in greeting. The two brought their
beasts around, then flanked her. She could not see
their expressions very well through the smoked glass material of the helmets
but their body stances exhibited some kind of agitation. Her own beast surged
forward with no prodding from her and she began to feel a tingle of deep
unease.
The three of them entered the main branch of the river at a speed she didn't realise the magma beasts coud attain.
A few moments later they were back at the docks.. the beasts sidling up so the riders could dismount.
Gem could see a great deal of activity going on, beasts were being loaded
with the raw material the folk had gathered as well as the temporary living
quarters that had made a pleasant sort of camp in one of the interior caverns.
Standing somewhat helplessly in the midst of the orderly but rapid loading,
she looked for some kind of explanation. One of the traders that she recognised as a friend to her,
approached holding her own old pack and slung it up on her beast.
Chivvying her up after it. Not knowing
what was going on but responding to the sense of urgency, she hooked her safety
harness and stood with her cold rod ready to do whatever it was they expected
of her.
Her friend had left after seeing her secured, but the swaying head of her
unaccountably restless beast alerted her to his return on a beast of his own.. pointing out into the center of the river of sullenly
glowing slag, with his rod.. he waited a moment for
her nod of acquiescence, then moved his beast out with hers following closely.
They traveled up stream for what felt to her like several hours, then
entered a roughly circular cavern... she noted with a bolt of alarm that the
lava was rising in this place.. fast.. she urged her beast up beside her guides and roughly mimed
her query. He signalled back to remain calm. But a
look around the walls that were obviously trembling with some pressure and
dropping rocks and shattered bits of stunted flame trees all around did nothing
to calm her jittering nerves. Her guide seemed perfectly comfortable standing
casually on his gently surging magma beast. Gemstorm noticed her own creature
was rolling slightly as though breasting small swells.
The were gradually rising also.. she suddenly realised the volcano
must be eruptiing. Oh joy.. this would be a tale for the grandchildren if she lived to
tell it.**
*The lava began to rise rapidly, the interior
of the vent was shaking harder as the stress of the building pressures put a
strain on its rocky walls. Gemstorm braced herself against the harness, leaning
forward a bit to compensate for her beast's lifting it's front end up off the
surface of the hot liquid rock. Beside her the Earthblood guide was doing the same. His face was tilted upward as he measured the lengths they still had
to go before the vent decanted them out on to the mountainside.
Hot gases swirled around the two riders, large rocks tumbled to each
side of them to be swallowed into the treacly lava. Spouts of lava exploded like geysers, causing
the magma beasts to breach and dodge the spatter.
Gemstorm wiped her faceplate with her forearm,
canted her head back to look upward. Eyes narrowed in concentration, she was
beginning to desperately long for some sign of their egress. The violence
around them escalated and she could see by the blurring of
the walls of the natural chimney around them they were moving faster than a
horse could gallop.
Suddenly she felt her beast convulse under her, barely staying upright she gripped the safety lines and bent her knees, as
the beast reared almost perpendicularly and lunged. A fleeting glimpse of the
sky she hadn't seen in a week or more then a dizzying
sensation of falling through empty space.
She went to her knees with a grunt when the beast landed, they'd hit the leading edge of the lava flow as it decanted
from the crack in the side of the mountain. Shaking her head to clear it, she
unsteadily rose to her feet again, looking around for her guide. He was right
beside her, riding his beast like a boat down the mountain
side. Smoke was rising around them as the hot magma set the vegetation
on fire. Her guide pointed off towards her right side urgently.. then sidled his beast over to hers..pushing them slowly toward
the edge of the flow..he
waved his arm at her..mimed unhooking
the safety harness.
Gemstorm went a little blank..then
caught his meaning.. she could see now that the lava
was flowing through an old channel.. so far it had
risen to the top of a rocky ledge, beyond which the land lay unburned.
The guide meant for her to make a leap to the safety there. Nodding vigorously she unsnapped her harness and made ready to do
just that.
Grabbing her pack and tossing it clear, she waved to her guide and using
a little technique that she had learned from Ryu,
sprang across from the back of her beast to roll and tumble safely onto the
rocky mountainside. Sitting up she looked back to see what her guide would do
now. He had turned his beast, her own free now, following and was urging it in
great leaps to climb the downflowing lava. Like
strange salmon going up stream she thought absently.
She took off her helmet and shook her sweat matted
hair, compared to the interior of the volcano, the air was almost icily
refreshing. The ground trembled again underneath her as she shrugged out of the
armor she had been wearing, she couldn't think of what
to do with it, it was a little late to return it. Folding it
as well as she could, she rose and went looking for a small cave or crevice to
stash it in.
Several hours later, she had made her way down to the base of the volcano. It had stopped its shaking and the plumes of smoke that wavered out of its main crater were subsided again. She realised she had come out on the opposite side from where she had left the horse and hound. Shouldering her pack,and taking her bow and quiver out of the protective case she sighed a little, for she realised how tired she was. Stringing her bow and carrying it at the ready, she squared her shoulders and trekked on into the night. The moon was up, providing a good light to follow the meandering game trail she had come upon which was leading her in the right direction.**
**She struggled to move.. to
awaken .. but was held fast by the horror of the sending..she saw her daughter
bleeding from multiple wounds. Gemstorm moaned in negation
as she seemed to become her daughter....
-Feeling her endurance began to give under the constant chasing,
she called on her chi, sending an intense wave of cold at the chain devil,
thinking that she could disrupt the metal essence. The frost smoked around the
chain demon, but he walked through it with no damage. The four dancing chains
shrieked through the air and wound around her in
final embrace, squeezing her like the coils of a huge python; the many razor
tipped barbs being driven into her flayed body, deeper and deeper.
"Ah.." Chauthu
sneered in an oily tone,"At last, a little Senzuken of my own to toy with. Welcome to your new unlife in hell Kikuko Senzuken, I do hope your dear daddy is watching."
Gemstorm bolted up off the ground, her eyes snapped
open, Kikuko! Looking wildly around her, she saw the
camp was as it should be, the hound whined softly, his shaggy brow wrinkled in concern,the fire burned low and overhead the stars shone
down in a sparkling multitude of uncaring points of light.
Taking a moment to reorient herself. she reviewed the sending, she had been thinking a lot about Kiku since she had made her way back to camp. Now she
thought there was more to it than vague maternal presentiments.
She quickly broke camp, saddling Snowheels and calling the hound, she turned the horse's head north. She would go to the inn first, Ryuujin might be there and it would save time if she could find him there, rather than riding to the Slide.. then back to the inn. **
