A/N: The wonderful world of Exile (Avernum) remains the property of Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb Software. I promise to return unharmed Liedra-Bok, Roda-Bok, and Kohris-Bok, all the miles of Black River and the Barrier Tower, Watery Ruins, Ruined River Fort, the Ruined Villa, and the Coffin Cave.
"Fuck!" said Jenneke, as they went over another waterfall, and some of their supplies were lost to the rapidly churning water.
"Sorry, sarge," said Nigel, "I'm just trying to keep the water out of the boat."
"You're doing a shitty job," said Jenneke. "Hey, what the fuck's that?"
"I don't know," said Nigel. "Let's stop. I could use the break."
They got out, and saw that it appeared to be some sort of shade, but it made no hostile move. Michael walked forward and said, "Hello?"
The shade did not respond.
"What are you?" said Michael.
Watching from a distance, Jenneke held his breath as the shade seemed to wave in greeting, and then bow. Not knowing what else to do, Jenneke waved back, and the shade disappeared.
"Great," said Jenneke, kicking a small pebble. "We're doing this and someone's watching us?"
"It would appear so," said Michael. "Let's take the time to eat, and rearrange the supplies, and then we'll have to head off again."
"You're right," said Jenneke. "Who do you suppose it is?"
"Worst case, it's Empire," said Feodoric, "but I'd guess it's some of those vahnatai. We had better be on guard, they might have tests set up along the way, and we won't know until we get there how we've done."
"If we get there," said Jenneke. "Fucking waterfalls. I don't like going in where I can't get back out."
"If we had other choicccesss," said Thissa, "but we do not."
"I know," said Jenneke. "Just makes me hate it even worse."
Resigned to what seemed to be their fate, they inspected the boat, finding that it had stood up well to the waterfalls thus far encountered, and doing their best to store their belongings, they got back into the boat and began rowing.
At last, they came to a large lake, and began rowing around in the peaceful waters.
"Think we're there?" said Nigel.
"I don't know," said Jenneke. "Keep looking."
As they rounded another bend, they came to a large, remote stone ledge filled with jagged, protruding rocks. At the rear of the ledge, there was a tower with something glowing brightly at the base.
"Someone lives there, you suppose?" said Jenneke.
"It's always possible," replied Michael. "It's not going to be easy to get over there."
"We can navigate it," said Feodoric.
"Who'd live in a hell-hole like this spot?" said Nigel.
"Damned if I know," replied Jenneke. "Let's check it out. Might even give us enough time to dry off."
The tower seemed featureless, and when they came to the rear, they were blocked by magical barriers.
"I've seen this kind before," said Feodoric, "but I can't bring them down."
Looking at a sign, Jenneke read out, "Ell Pit Esk? What the fuck does that mean?"
"This is a pit," said Nigel. "Let's go."
As they left, they were confronted by small, scaly creatures which had been circling the tower, evidently looking for a point of weakness to get in, and their frustration seemed to find Jenneke's platoon an easy target.
Defeating the small imps easily, Jenneke and his companions set about searching the bodies of the demonic creatures, trying to find some answers, but their bodies quickly burned and melted away, leaving only a rank tarry residue.
Continuing their explorations, they came to a section with water unusually shallow, punctuated by protruding slimy rocks. A crumbling building could be seen on the other side, but trying to get there without scuttling their fragile boat would be a great challenge. However, they decided to try their luck, and successfully navigated their way over to the ruins.
The ruins were much like the first ruined town they had entered, and looked like it might have once been similar to the small hut where they had met Bentis-Ka. However, the place had been rather thoroughly overrun by hydras. Nevertheless, when they got a moment of rest, hanging hydra haunches up to dry before leaving, they noted a couple of crates.
"These look like they've been put here pretty recently," observed Feodoric. "Maybe we're not as alone as it seems."
"Gods," said Jenneke, looking at a pile of iron bars, formed into a hexagonal shape. "We get this stuff back to Fort Draco, we'll be rich."
"Well, see how much we can get," said Nigel.
"I know, and it worries me," said Michael. "We cannot assume that anyone else on this river is going to be friendly to our cause." He looked at the razordisks that had been removed, and said, "Very odd."
"I think you're supposed to throw them," said Jenneke, taking one for a test toss.
"You need lessssssonsss," said Thissa, dodging. "Or practicccce."
"They feel odd," said Jenneke, "but I'll tell you, I wouldn't want one coming at me that I couldn't duck."
"I think we've found everything worth looking at here," said Michael. "Shall we continue?"
"Yeah, sure," said Jenneke. "All right, boys. Into the boat again."
Rowing aimlessly, they finally found a crumbling stone fort straddling the river, blocking their path. The river narrowed to a slender channel between the halves of the fort, and although there was land to the side, portage did not look possible. Rowing along, they found the way blocked by a portcullis which dipped well below the water.
"Let's go to shore, and see if we can't find a way to open that up," said Jenneke, as he began steering for the shore.
The section of the fort they entered was full of undead, but the most unwelcome surprise came when they were in the midst of battle, and from across the river, a pair of living vahnatai started attacking them.
"I'm so fucking glad you're giving us a fair chance," muttered Jenneke, taking the razordisks he'd found and trying to send them back at the vahnatai, watching them hit the stone walls and skitter into the river instead.
Magic, and Nigel's arrows, seemed to resolve the problem of the attack from the other direction. In another room, they found a paper package inside one of the vahnatai crystal boxes, and barely had time to register how out of place it was before the package exploded. At last they found a handle-less cavewood wheel, though there was a hexagonal hole in one side.
Feodoric said, "See this? Maybe those bars we found should go here?"
"At least one," said Jenneke. "OK, Thissa, come on, let's go get a bar out of the boat and turn this thing."
When Thissa and Jenneke returned, they turned the wheel, hearing a clanking sound, and after verifying they had opened the portcullis, took the bar back out to carry along with them.
"Well, this is lucky," said Feodoric, looking over the items that had not been destroyed in the explosion.
"Lucky? Have you lost your fucking mind?" said Jenneke, whose armor was now marked with scorchmarks.
"No," said Feodoric. "See, these are spell scrolls. Probably why they survived the blast."
"I'm so happy for you," said Jenneke.
"I can read them," said Feodoric. "And they're rather useful combat magic." He tucked them away in his backpack. "Never know when I'll need them."
"Well, all right," said Jenneke, sounding appeased. "Let's get back to the boat, then."
Returning to the boat, they managed to get through the clearance they'd created, only to see another closed portcullis ahead, and through a window, another cavewood wheel.
"What's that one doing open?" said Nigel.
"Probably opened by the vahnatai that were attacking from this side," said Jenneke.
"I don't know," said Feodoric. "These just rusted."
"But thossse are fressh footprintssss," observed Thissa, pointing to the footprints in the mold growing riot on the floor.
"Odds of a friendly welcome," said Jenneke, "about even with rowing back up those waterfalls."
As they drew nearer a door, it swung open, with a small group of vahnatai clustered around the wreckage of a small table.
"Hell--" began Jenneke, stopping as the vahnatai ahead drew weapons. "I hate being right."
After they had fought back the onslaught of hostile vahnatai, they still had not found their way to the wheel observed through the window, and so, they decided that they would have to risk traversing through the narrow crack leading to passages devastated by time. Sure this was the correct way, Jenneke started to lead them down a hall, but a rockfall suddenly came down, blocking the way, while Jenneke barely managed to dodge out of the way of certain death.
After clearing the docks of food and other useful goods, they made their way to the cavewood wheel, and turned it, taking the nearby hexagonal bar with them. Then, they found a concealed passage, and at the end of the passage there was a thick book. Not expecting much, Feodoric opened it.
"Gods, I can read it," he said, flipping through the pages. "It's a pretty basic textbook on human magical techniques. It's very new, though. And this is paper, from the surface."
"OK, let me get this straight," said Jenneke. "There's a human spellbook from the surface down here. You figure these vahnatai were here to ambush us?"
"Well," said Feodoric, "I can't figure out why, but it does seem the most reasonable conclusion. I guess there are some who don't want us to get to Avit."
"But this is Empire," said Michael. "How do you suppose they got ahold of a book from Empire?"
"If they got it from Empire," said Jenneke, swallowing hard, "we're doomed."
After resting from the fight, and trying to come to terms with what they had learned, they faced more waterfalls before emerging into a huge, placid lake. Ubiquitous glowing fungus was sparser here, while pale algae clots floated by, hard to see, but with an overwhelming odor.
"Swell, more ruins," said Nigel, pointing to a ruined road leading to a cave.
Jenneke sighed, and said, "I guess we might as well check it out."
They pulled the boat onto the shore, and a very large reddish hydra came lumbering toward them, and then as they got closer, the hydra breathed flame in their direction. Fighting off the hydra, they hacked off pieces of meat to hang and dry from the rather bizarre-looking trees growing there before moving into the ruins.
Stepping inside, there was a sign which had been thoroughly defaced, and then they opened the door onto the entryway to what appeared to be a dining hall. There was a long, highly polished table surrounded by chairs, while dust and worn walls elsewhere testified that the building had been long abandoned.
Searching about, they found a pile of trash, underneath was the body of a vahnatai, apparently dead for a few months, rather than centuries. While there did not appear to be an obvious cause of death, none of the platoon wanted to examine the corpse very thoroughly. While distracted with the discovery of the corpse, a large lizard, the same size as the giant lizards they were accustomed to, but of an odd blue-purple color came rushing around the corner, covering them with frost. As the lizard reared back for another breath, Jenneke drew his sword, and the other platoon members joined in drawing weapons, hacking the lizard into pieces.
Still trying to make sense of things, they moved into the rear garden, which looked carefully and skillfully maintained despite the ruin of the building. Immaculate rows of cream-colored mushrooms surrounded a small fountain, in the center of which was a delicate statue of a vahnatai. From the darkness, though, they were suddenly attacked by giant bugs, looking like human-sized praying mantis, and in the subsequent fight, Feodoric tripped on the insect nest and fell through what was a concealed door.
After defeating the last of the big bugs, Feodoric urged the others to examine this location, and they went down a small hallway, over a faintly pulsing rune, and through the locked door to find what was apparently the vahnatai version of an undead spirit. This room was undoubtedly once the secret core of the villa, a small mage's laboratory with a once-carefully engraved pentagram. Crumbling walls had cracked the pentagram, and the place was no longer safe for serious magic.
Finding nothing else of interest, they left, and continued exploring the algae-filled lake, until they came to a strange ruin, where a supply cache had been left in very recent times, torn apart by something which ate most of the food, leaving the rest to rot.
They found the door opened easily, and there was a sickening crunch from a fresh bug casing underfoot.
"Ugh, did you see the size of that?" said Jenneke.
"It is probably a larva from those bugs we saw in the other ruin," said Michael.
They walked into the next room, and saw a sight which was both beautiful and deeply disturbing. Rows upon rows of large upright crystals, considerably taller than Thissa, each a deep, rich blue. Beneath the surface of each, several humanoid figures could be seen, as though frozen within the crystal. Even worse, the room was badly infested with the praying-mantis giants, and what looked like impossibly large worms, the larval form of the larger bugs. Continuing, they saw a ring of carefully shaped glyphs carved in the floor in the center of the chamber. There were many sheets of crystal scattered about.
"You think they made the coffins here?" said Nigel.
"You think those are coffins?" said Jenneke.
"What else could they be?" asked Nigel.
"No clue, but it just seems too bizarre," said Jenneke.
They came into the most disturbing thing yet, an enormous room filled with rows of the blue, coffin-like objects, several frozen bodies in each, and impossible to tell whether they were dead or somehow preserved within. Deep within the forest of crystals, out of the reach of torchlight, there was the rhythmic chittering of insect mandibles. As they fought their way, dodging behind crystal coffins to avoid the bite of the giant insects, they found that the roof had collapsed, and water had pooled, providing a prime breeding ground for the insects. Huddled in one corner, nearly shredded by the larger insects, was the corpse of a vahnatai, and amongst his supplies there was an odd piece of vellum, filled with incomprehensible writing and some strange symbols.
Continuing their explorations, they found more bug-ridden rooms, and another room where apparently two more vahnatai had died, and three undead vahnatai spirits were there, preparing to stop their progress. But, they managed to defeat the sturdy vahnatai spirits, and on one of the corpses, found a matching scrap of vellum to the earlier piece, no less incomprehensible than the first scrap, although they seemed to fit together.
They continued, finding another chamber relatively free of bugs, high-ceilinged with four large cubicles in it. The place had an eerie feel, with the sound of whispering almost discernible. They moved nearer to the large crystal.
"That looks like a prayer mat," said Michael.
"And offerings," added Feodoric, pointing to a cavewood bowl and a small crystal beside the large crystal.
"Do you hear something?" said Jenneke.
"Visitors? At last?" came a voice both heard and unheard.
"Who's there?" said Jenneke, whirling around.
"I am Roda-Bok. Long have I waited."
"What are you?" said Jenneke, looking about desperately for the speaker.
"I am Soul Crystal. I am spirit of ... Wait. Why ask you this?" said the voice. "You are alien mind to me. This you not learn from me."
"What are you doing here?" said Jenneke.
"I wait the end of the Resting. I have contemplated much, and am ready to share again," said the voice.
"You can share anything with us you'd like," said Jenneke, hoping that some answers might be forthcoming.
Filled with energy, the voice replied, "These centuries of peace have been a wondrous chance of meditation. For me, but not for Kohris."
"What happened to Korhis?" said Feodoric.
"I have sensed great agitation from Korhis-Bok. Nearby. I fear he will need much healing," said the voice.
"What are those blue coffin things?" said Nigel.
"They are of the Resting," replied the voice.
"I'm sorry," said Nigel, "but what is this Resting?"
"You don't know of these things," replied the voice, and there was a pause, a feeling of concern growing. "You are not of the people. Like, but not." There was another pause. "I will solve this puzzle."
"We're the puzzle?" said Jenneke. "Perhaps we can help."
"The puzzle is how our existence will change now that you are here," replied the voice.
"There are magical barriers splitting apart our land," said Jenneke.
"I know nothing of that. I have been resting here, quiet, for a long time," replied the voice. "Leave me. I am not at the stage where I should know you."
Confused, they left, and moved to another of the divided sections. As they approached this crystal, they all felt disoriented, struggling to stand, dizzy.
"What are you?" said Jenneke.
"Bok." said a voice heard and unheard. There was a long pause, and then in a deafening manner, "Kohris-BokBokBokBokBOKBOKBOK!"
"Are you all right?" said Jenneke, getting nervous.
"I ... I I I I I ..." the voice stopped.
"You're Kohris-Bok?" said Jenneke.
"YES!" screamed the voice, and they felt as though they were very ill.
Very nervous, Jenneke gestured to the others, and said, "We have to be going now."
"No! Stay! Alone! StaystaystaystaySTAY!" came the voice, as they ran away until they stumbled onto the prayer mat in front of yet another crystal.
A light flickered within this crystal, and a loud, stern voice—heard and yet not heard, echoed: "Approach, so that I may be answered."
"Who's that?" said Jenneke. "What are you?"
"I am Liedra-Bok, vahnatai elder, and I will be answered," replied the voice.
"I'd be glad to help you with the answers," said Jenneke, "if I knew the questions."
"I need answers now, for things are not right," came the voice.
"What isn't right?" said Jenneke.
"I sensed my people here. Not now. Not recently, but before. Then I sensed them not, and sensed not the Openings," returned the voice.
"Can you be more exact about what you sensed?" asked Jenneke.
"The vahnatai came, and faded. It confuses me," replied the voice. "Something must be wrong."
"Openings? What do you think is wrong?" said Jenneke.
"The Resting time should end soon, but these vahnatai have not been Awakened." There was a sharp sense of pain, and a pause. "You did not interfere. Leave me. This must be thought upon." The voice started to fade, "These vahnatai should be Awakened."
"Wait!" said Jenneke. "Could you tell me how this Awakening is supposed to start?"
"Leave me," said the voice. "You do not matter in this."
"We will try to start the Awakening," said Jenneke.
"Be that as it may, the time when these vahnatai should be Awakened is now. But I sense no longer those who came to do the task," said the voice, sounding sad and worried. "Hopefully, it will be done soon. Until then, I wait."
"Wait a minute," said Michael, as they stepped away. "There were some sort of controls on that one platform in the big room. Let's look at those vellum pieces. I bet those guys were the ones who came in, and they were overwhelmed by the big bugs."
"Good thought," said Jenneke, and they fit the scraps together. "What's this supposed to mean?"
"I don't know," said Michael. "Let's see if we can get up there, maybe we can match some of these other marks."
After struggling to find a way, they came up onto the platform overlooking the crystal forest. Another body, very recently deceased, had crawled here, but had clearly been grievously wounded by the bugs, and had died before getting to the controls, but it was clear that the controls had been the goal.
Moving closer, they could see the series of controls, a wheel, a lever, and a pedestal with a button on it. No further instructions seemed to be around, but Michael got the vellum pieces and put them together again.
"OK, I think this symbol is the wheel," he said. "We should turn that first. Then this is a lever. I think this is the button, and then the lever, and then the wheel again. Or it might be the button first and last, and the wheel in the middle. I'm not sure. But I think this is wheel."
"We'll give it a try that way," said Jenneke. "C'mon, Thissa, let's try to turn this."
Jenneke and Thissa turned the wheel, with no particular effect, and then Nigel flipped the lever. Jenneke then pushed the button, and there was a loud noise. There was a sound of metal grinding on stone, and a smell of smoke. Then the sounds stopped, and all was quiet.
"OK, let's try the button first and the wheel in the middle," said Jenneke.
As he pushed the button the final time, there was a ringing sound, soft at first, then growing in intensity. The crystals were vibrating, adding new voices to the song. Then, when it seemed the sound would cause them to become deaf, it ended. The crystals changed color slightly, and it almost looked like there was movement inside.
The group waited for something else to happen or someone to emerge, but it soon became apparent that it would take a considerable amount of time.
"I don't think we can wait," said Jenneke. "It could take weeks. And we have our own mission. Let's go see what that one crystal says."
They went back to the alcove of the one that had said the name was Liedra-Bok, and Jenneke said, "I think we did your Awakening thing."
"Did you? I sense you have," replied the voice. "I sense the vahnatai here will wake. Go, find my people, and say what you have done. They will appreciate it."
"Uh, thanks," said Jenneke. "Just wanted to ... uh ... let you know."
They left the strange structure, and Jenneke said, "That was definitely weird."