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DUNGEON: BELLMARE ENCLAVE
Dec. 19th, 2016 11:35 pmAREA GENERAL
The Bellmare Enclave is situated at the very center of the largest valley in the Bellmare Mountain range, close to the tallest of them all, Meligan. The settlement is arranged in a sort of wheel shape, with four streets stretching out like spokes from the enormous frozen lake right at the center of things. Like the footpaths out in the mountains, the streets are laid with a grit mixed with crushed fire crystals that keep the roads relatively dry and safe to walk on.
Despite the impressive size of the lake, the Bellmare Enclave is only a small town, with a population of around 600 or so. Most of the buildings are residential properties, built from peeled wooden logs like the lodges you might’ve seen in the mountains. There are a handful of shops and even a restaurant or two but most of the buildings here are dedicated to keeping the town running; there’s plenty of warehouses full of preserved food, fishing and hunting equipment. Like the rest of Bellmare, it’s incredibly cold here and when you’re out and about, it’s advised you do like the locals do and keep yourself wrapped up warm.
Speaking of the locals themselves, the residents of Bellmare are all humans native to this world. There’s a pretty even mix of genders but there’s a rather noticeable age disparity -- a majority of the people here are adults, with a handful of people in their late teens, even fewer in their mid-teens and barely a handful under the age of ten. For the most part, the residents of Bellmare are reasonably friendly towards newcomers, even if some of them are a little guarded or suspicious of their sudden arrival. Shopkeepers and business owners will be happy to see new customers, but as you’ll quickly discovery, any currency you might have is pretty worthless. Not to worry, though, as currency isn’t really as much of a big deal in the Enclave anymore and people are happy to accept goods and services in lieu of monetary payment. It should generally be something useful though -- items of clothing, nonperishable food and outdoor tools are considered more valuable.
Note: Due to the size of the Bellmare Enclave and the number of occupants, players are free (and encouraged!) to NPC the residents of the Bellmare Enclave in their toplevels, tags, etc, within reason. We trust you guys to have fun with this, but if in doubt about something you want to do, hit up a mod and ask!
CENTRAL WAY
The largest and busiest of the five streets, though that’s really not saying much. This seems to be the main hub of the Enclave, as it’s where the majority of the shops and places to eat are located.
LARGOMARE WAY
While not very imaginatively named, Largomare Way is no less important to the daily comings and goings of the Enclave. Quite literally, in fact, as this is where most of the transport equipment for hunting and generally getting around the Bellmare Mountains is kept. And also, Largomares. Lots and lots of very friendly Largomares, often trotting around and investigating anything that catches their interest. Hope you’re good with dogs!
LAKE ETTAH
Laying at the heart of the Bellmare Enclave, Lake Ettah is the metaphorical foundation upon which the town was built. It’s enormously sized, even deeper than it is wide, and covered in a remarkably thick layer of solid white ice. Spooky as it may be, it’s generally safe to walk out onto the lake so long as you don’t stray too far towards the center of the lake. As soon as the ice starts to get darker and you can see the cold depths below then you might want to scoot yourself back to safety as soon as humanly possible.
The Bellmare Enclave is situated at the very center of the largest valley in the Bellmare Mountain range, close to the tallest of them all, Meligan. The settlement is arranged in a sort of wheel shape, with four streets stretching out like spokes from the enormous frozen lake right at the center of things. Like the footpaths out in the mountains, the streets are laid with a grit mixed with crushed fire crystals that keep the roads relatively dry and safe to walk on.
Despite the impressive size of the lake, the Bellmare Enclave is only a small town, with a population of around 600 or so. Most of the buildings are residential properties, built from peeled wooden logs like the lodges you might’ve seen in the mountains. There are a handful of shops and even a restaurant or two but most of the buildings here are dedicated to keeping the town running; there’s plenty of warehouses full of preserved food, fishing and hunting equipment. Like the rest of Bellmare, it’s incredibly cold here and when you’re out and about, it’s advised you do like the locals do and keep yourself wrapped up warm.
Speaking of the locals themselves, the residents of Bellmare are all humans native to this world. There’s a pretty even mix of genders but there’s a rather noticeable age disparity -- a majority of the people here are adults, with a handful of people in their late teens, even fewer in their mid-teens and barely a handful under the age of ten. For the most part, the residents of Bellmare are reasonably friendly towards newcomers, even if some of them are a little guarded or suspicious of their sudden arrival. Shopkeepers and business owners will be happy to see new customers, but as you’ll quickly discovery, any currency you might have is pretty worthless. Not to worry, though, as currency isn’t really as much of a big deal in the Enclave anymore and people are happy to accept goods and services in lieu of monetary payment. It should generally be something useful though -- items of clothing, nonperishable food and outdoor tools are considered more valuable.
Note: Due to the size of the Bellmare Enclave and the number of occupants, players are free (and encouraged!) to NPC the residents of the Bellmare Enclave in their toplevels, tags, etc, within reason. We trust you guys to have fun with this, but if in doubt about something you want to do, hit up a mod and ask!
CENTRAL WAY
The largest and busiest of the five streets, though that’s really not saying much. This seems to be the main hub of the Enclave, as it’s where the majority of the shops and places to eat are located.
- The Old Willow: A pub-slash-diner catering primarily to adults, owned by a gruff and lowkey intimidating woman named Elya. The interior is warm and wonderfully cozy, with multiple fireplaces burning away at all times. Everything is made of dark, varnished wood with deep red cloth and upholstery for contras. A lot of it has clearly seen some wear and tear, it just seems to add to the charm of the place. There’s quite a few locals who frequent this place and all of them seem to be adults -- which makes sense, considering the brain-meltingly strong alcohol they serve. If you’re underage (under 20, so saith the Enclave), the staff here will always be happy to serve you a hot meal, but you’ll be chased out if they catch you eyeing the booze. And for good reason too -- if you’re not good at holding your liquor, the alcohol served here can make you very sick. Oh well. At least the food’s good -- it’s primarily wild animal meats and fish, some recognizable mountain species (moose, trout) and some… not (what the hell is a roocite?!).
Ida’s Weavery: Your one stop shop for all your cozy winter gear needs, run by the man himself, Ida. It’s a small shop with pretty minimal decoration, though that’s probably because every single available surface has been taken up by sewing and tailoring paraphernalia. Despite the small size of the town, you get the general impression this place is very popular. And for good reason, soo. Ida’s provides day-to-day wear for the residents of the Enclave so the clothes here are more about warmth and practicality than the #aesthetic -- though if you ask very nicely and can provide the materials, you might be able to get something made in your favourite colours, though you will be shunted to the back of the queue. The man’s got orders to finish!
Nettles and Caps: A herbalist's shop that focuses on local, cold-weather plants and mushrooms. There is, however, a small, magically lit greenhouse around the back that provides herbs better suited to warmer climates to the shop. The shop itself is usually staffed by the herbalist's grandson, Alore, who has a passing interest in the subject but not a wide breadth of knowledge compared to his grandmother. The shop owner herself, Iselle, is a woman in her late seventies, who walks stiffly and with a slight lean on her elegantly carved cane. In addition to the herbs, the shop has a constant supply of fragrant nettle-and-berry tea going - it's maybe a bit on the thin side, but a warm drink is always welcome.
The Fur Bank: This shop doesn't in itself have a name - the locals usually just call it "the fur shop," "the fur trader's," or "the tanner's." It serves all of these purposes, certainly; the shop front has a large counter where one can get currency in exchange for raw furs, and completed hides are stacked fairly high as the locals bring in whatever they can. The tanning vats around the back stink perpetually, which at least explains why this business, so central to the town's economy, is very nearly at the outskirts, at the far end of the road.
Skysong Cafe and Hospice: This building was once the cafe-and-hotel of one of the Bellmare ski resorts, and it's been redesigned into the town's hospital and medical care center to make full use of the hotel rooms on the second and third stories. The lowest floor still operates in much the same way it ever did, offering significantly more hearty meals than the 'cafe' in the name would imply. The 'and Hospice' is tacked on via a wooden sign underneath the magical lights of the original sign. It's currently run by a Dr. Trucy Imille and her husband, who serves alternately as nurse and short-order cook.
Town Hall and Library: This large building is usually full of bookshelves with only a few tables for study, and serves as the repository for almost all of the town's knowledge. One night a month, however, the bookshelves are pushed against the walls and wheeled folding tables and benches are instead brought out, for the residents of the town to all come together and discuss things among themselves.
The Hot Plate: The one and only show in town if you're looking for burgers or other, similar greasy fast food. The exact kind of meat varies by what the town's hunters have had extra stock of recently, but it's hot, rich, and ready to go in only a few minutes with cheese of some kind melted into the top and thick-cut fries. A popular spot with the town's younger generation, run by a man called Luca.
Turnstyle Toys: This toyshop is small and only open in the afternoons, as the proprietor, Tay, is a young mother herself with a four-year-old to look after. Her son, Cliff, can often be seen running 'demonstrations' on the toys he can reach during business hours, with the items that are aimed more at older children up on high shelves where he can't reach them. His mother hovers close to him at the sight of newcomers, nervous, but Cliff enthusiastically greets everyone who comes in to the shop, especially if they're obviously foreign or, even better, not human.
The Forge: Another shop that doesn't technically have a name, but everyone knows immediately what you mean. This shop is the only one where open windows can be found, as the heat of the furnaces inside makes it more than toasty. If you can stand the near-constant sound of metal being beaten into shape by the smith, Hyer, there's a few tables out front where you can sit and watch the snowfall in relative warmth. His assistant, Finley, is the town's glassblower, and the two trade positions two days a week to provide the town with the various glass items it needs. Various artistic pieces - glass, metal, and mixes of both - hang in the open windows.
Lucy's Grocery: This small greengrocer caters mostly to the other shopkeepers of the town, as many of the other residents raise or hunt their own food. The extras come by Lucy's, where she sells them out to those who spend most of their time in skilled, specialized labor instead of gardening. Lucy herself oversees the shop during its open hours in the afternoon and late evening (after most of the other shops have closed), and always has a warm, friendly smile, though she seems initially a bit confused at the arrival of people other than her regulars to her store.
LARGOMARE WAY
While not very imaginatively named, Largomare Way is no less important to the daily comings and goings of the Enclave. Quite literally, in fact, as this is where most of the transport equipment for hunting and generally getting around the Bellmare Mountains is kept. And also, Largomares. Lots and lots of very friendly Largomares, often trotting around and investigating anything that catches their interest. Hope you’re good with dogs!
- Borthrayte Veterinary Clinic: With all the critters running around the Enclave, it’s only natural that there’d be someone around to fix them up when they get hurt. The veterinary clinic is run by twin sisters, Thetis and Halissa Borthrayte, who gave up their life as movers and shakers in the upper class to retire to the Enclave. Usually Thetis runs the front of the practice while Halissa handles the medical side of things but they trade off every few days. They mostly cater to the enormous number of Largomares living at the Enclave, but if you have an animal who needs looking after, they won’t hesitate to help you.
Transport Garage: While it doesn’t have any official name, this large imposing building is simply called “the garage” by the residents of the Enclave. It contains all of the transport and hunting equipment needed to survive such harsh conditions. There’s a few magic-powered sleds, but for the most part, things seem to be geared towards Largomare-pulled sleds. If you’re interested in travelling further into the mountains, then the garage should be your first stop.
Largomare Kennels: A cozy home for any of the Largomares who stay at the enclave but don’t have a particular family to call their own. A majority of the Largomares here are working pooches, who help with transport and hunting and any other number of odd jobs, but a handful of them are long-time patients of the Borthrayte twins who need to keep them comfortable. The kennels are generally staffed by a rotating team of townspeople, who will be happy to lend a Largomare to anyone who needs their help to get deeper into Bellmare.
LAKE ETTAH
Laying at the heart of the Bellmare Enclave, Lake Ettah is the metaphorical foundation upon which the town was built. It’s enormously sized, even deeper than it is wide, and covered in a remarkably thick layer of solid white ice. Spooky as it may be, it’s generally safe to walk out onto the lake so long as you don’t stray too far towards the center of the lake. As soon as the ice starts to get darker and you can see the cold depths below then you might want to scoot yourself back to safety as soon as humanly possible.
- Fishing Holes: A number of holes have been carved into the ice to allow the residents to fish in Lake Ettah. Some are occupied, but there seem to be a few that are set up for anyone to sit and try their hand at fishing. It’s chilly and lonely work and more likely than not, you won’t hook a thing. But if you do get a bite, you might be lucky enough to end up with a roocite, a type of fish native to Bellmare. It tastes delicious when grilled but it’s an unspeakably ugly fish.
Skating Rink: Calling it a full rink might be overstating things a bit, but there’s been a section of lake cordoned off with rope that serves as a place to get your skate on. There’s unfortunately no store to purchase skates if you don’t have a pair yourself, but The Old Willow is known to keep a handful of spare pairs around, if you don’t mind hand-me-downs.
Power Station: It's more accurate to call this an ex-power-station, as it's not really functional anymore and doesn't seem to be providing power to the town as it exists now. Those who've looked at the setup in the bottom of Keystone will likely recognize the general shape of the lake-side turbines as an earlier version - an attempt at mingling the concept of electrical water power and magic. It's now covered in frost more so than rust, but wiping that away will reveal the Skymountain Energy logo on the sides of the turbines and the frosted-shut control panel's outer casing.
DUNGEON INFO: TELOVIA MINES
Sep. 6th, 2016 11:57 pmAREA GENERAL
Buried in the mountains seen beyond Incendia, the Telovia Mines are quite a bit further out than the other Fissures that have been explored so far. If you didn't already know where they are, it would be rather difficult to find them... Fortunately, it's easy enough to follow the directions of the androids to get to the right place, even if you come later on.
Once you arrive, it's apparent that while there was once a bustle of activity here... Nothing is really in great condition. Unlike the Fissure at Incendia, nothing's kept the mines from growing thick with decay and rust in the last century. It's easy to see the signs of neglect, both in the town outside and in the tunnels dug into the mountainside.
That is, if you can see at all.
Fissure Effect: Those entering this Fissure will find that they've lost some degree of mundane ability. It might be a sense - either one of the Big Five or a more esoteric sense such as balance or temperature. It might be the ability to speak, or recognize people's faces and voices. The important thing is that it's an ability that is not magical or supernatural in any way and is instead something that is so mundane that the person losing it doesn't even think about it until it's gone. (As always, dungeon effects are opt-in.)
Resource: Earth Crystals
Frequency: Small ones common, large ones uncommon to rare
Type: Energy/magical resource
Environment: Any, but more frequent in the mines themselves
As veterans have no doubt come to expect, the Fissure is full of a variety of crystallized magic. The most common are aspected to the element of earth, and range from sunshine orange to golden yellow in color depending on their size - the larger ones tending further towards the orange spectrum. They're unusually heavy and dense for their size, or at least they feel that way - actually putting them on a scale will reveal them to have the same weight as other crystals of similar size.
MINER'S TOWN
Around the entrance to the mines proper, the hulls of decayed buildings cluster in a sort of town. The aesthetic is similar to Incendia's - more glass and metal than wood, or perhaps it's just that most of the wood that would have been left behind is rotted away. The town has similar inlays of magical lines of power, but unlike those in Incendia, virtually all of these are broken and nonfunctional... As are the roads and occasional sidewalks they lie upon.
Mother nature has certainly done her best to reclaim the area, and it's been a resounding success. Saplings and ferns explode out of every visible patch of soil; songbirds (and larger birds) rest in the corners of half-collapsed roofs. Still, there are some interesting things to notice, if you take the time to dig into the ruins.
The first is that much of the 'town' is devoted to housing, and housing only - there's a grand total of two convenience stores, one coffeeshop (from the shape of the fallen sign, it's Robin's Coffee again), and one larger grocery. Dig deep enough, and the disparity between that and the amount of housing - most of it bachelor-esque, but there's a decent amount of space for families - is explained; a glyph that a keen eye would notice matches one of those in Incendia's teleportation port. It's smashed into chunks and obviously nonfunctional, and the area immediately surrounding it is full of wildflowers - white lilies, forget-me-nots, and an unfamiliar flower that blooms as clusters of double-layered daisy-like blooms at the top of tall, thin stems. (Should one ask the androids, or have read a book on flower meanings specific to this world, it's called 'Perria,' and the pink variety means 'leaving behind fond memories.' The red, on the other hand, means 'loss of family.')
Hazard: Grief Weeds
Danger level: Low
Type: Fissure Effect
Environment: The area surrounding the teleportation port and about two blocks in any direction
Activity: When approached
These vines can easily be mistaken for morning glories by the unfamiliar; their vines, however, are just too dark, almost black as they climb across the ground, and the shockingly white flowers never seem to bloom, day or night. It's very easy to miss the vines in the places where they crawl across the ground among other plants, but they're pretty obvious on the cracked pavement and climbing the remaining walls of the nearby buildings.
Step on one or pause to examine the flowers - any kind of touch - will reveal the nature of the plants, as you get slammed by a sudden wall of grief. All the grief characters have already experienced in their lives will hit them at once; only the very most fortunate, who have never lost anything, can safely touch the plants without having this reaction.
Critter: Reclaimers
Danger level: Moderate Plus
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Any outside; rare encounter
Behaviour: Slurpy
These large creatures might at first be mistaken for small hill of dirt and vegetation (which, indeed, is what they become once the area is stabilized). Come close or watch for a while, though, and they'll start to move - anteater-like creatures with the bounty of nature on their backs, come to take back the remains of the town. Small hill, or very large creature, as they're a solid ten feet tall and sometimes twenty feet in length, discounting the growth of any saplings and the like on their backs.
Anything man-made is potentially up for grabs, caught by a sticky tongue and slurped up into the creature's mouth. There's a surprising amount of force to the tongue, easily enough to yank things out of the hands or off the bodies of the unprepared. And once your item's been swallowed... Well, you're not super likely to get it back unless you can cut the critter open, are you? Even then, your reclaimed item might be partially dissolved by the strong magic and acid instead the reclaimer's gut.
Acid that, if forced to defend themselves, these creatures can also spit a fair distance, and do so with some decent amount of force and distance. Indeed, if you stay out of their range, you might see them practicing this tactic on pavement or the remains of the buildings, before slurping up the acidic soup that results.
SORTING AND SURVEYING ZONE
Spanning the area immediately around the mine entrance and the first couple hundred feet within are a maze of tracks, abandoned carts, and spilled piles of crystals and stones. The latter, you can tell, were at one time contained in bins to be sorted - but of course, most of the bins have rotted away, leaving the crystals glittering in the sunlight. While the earth crystals that naturally occur in the Fissure are still the most common, it's obvious that the mines collected several other types as well.
Other than the piles of crystals, it's primarily the minecart tracks that are interesting. They're worked with the same sort of magical power lines as the streets, and while the tracks outside the mine entrance are rusted to the point of being unusable, the carts and tracks further inside will still roll. Push them around a bit to grease up the wheels, and you might even be able to take a nice, easy ride further into the mines...
Provided that the tracks further in aren't broken, of course.
Hazard: Unsorted Crystals
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Magical reaction
Environment: Sorting and Surveying; sometimes deeper into the mines
Activity: Any time.
For the most part, luckily, the crystals aren't particularly reactive. However, sometimes in the unsorted bins of them, the chaotic mix of energies sparks and, if disturbed in the wrong way, reacts explosively. The resulting reaction isn't of a particular element, but a chaotic mix, and varies in intensity based on the size of the pile.
It's possible, if one is careful, to sort the piles without causing such violent results - but to do so for all the crystals in the survey zone, nevermind the ones further within the mine overflowing the mine carts, would be the work of months, perhaps years. Nobody's got time for that.
MAIN TUNNELS
The deeper you go, the less well-finished the tunnels of the mines are, and the more often you see veins of magical crystals lighting the path. This is a good thing, since there's no other source of light within the mines - you'll have to bring your own, or rely on other senses. While the remains of lanterns can be seen hanging overhead, they've long since gone out, their magical sources of energy depleted. Occasionally there's an elevator shaft or two leading to deeper layers of tunnels, for those willing to take the risk - it might be for the best to not trust any elevators you find back here to work, however. (Unless another PC has made use of them, all elevators are at the primary/entrance level of the tunnels.)
Cart tracks also follow along the larger tunnels, up to a certain point, but eventually the tunnels narrow from arteries to vessels, and along these smaller paths - often only large enough for one person at a time, and rarely larger than the space it takes for two people to walk side by side - there's very little in the way of guidance. Here and there is a dead lantern and a support beam in various degrees of disrepair, but for the most part it's just you and the crystals, the magic making the air tingle against your skin.
And every now and again, you'll find a place where those support beams have failed - most of them relatively minor, the larger stones supported by each other, but some of them... Less so. Fortunately for you, most of the cave-ins can be squeezed past, and for those that can't, the tunnels have any number of redundancies designed in for exactly this reason. But you'll still have to find your way back around, and sometimes that's a very, very long trek...
Critter: Mine Mites
Danger level: None to moderate
Type: Magical creature
Environment: Any underground in the mines
Behaviour: Mighty.
These mites - which look mostly like pill bugs in stony shells - aren't especially aggressive. They mostly want to munch crystals, primarily earth crystals, and scuttle along in search of such on the walls and floor of the mines. If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. The smaller ones are about the length of a forearm; the largest are five or six feet from one end to the other.
If, on the other hand, you think All Bugs Must Die, the mites will roll up into balls like their much smaller counterparts, and you'll find that their armored shells are, in fact, as stony as they appear, rendering them nearly invulnerable to physical damage and as heavy as stone as well. And when they start to roll as a form of counter-attack... You'd better be quick on your feet to get out of the way.
Hazard: Animate Tools
Danger level: Low
Type: Object; Fissure Effect
Environment: Anywhere in the mines, but typically near carts
Activity: Any time.
The miners might be gone, but their tools remain - and so, apparently, does the work. Even largely rusted away and damaged, the pickaxes, sorting trays, and other objects of work in the mines do their best to continue, going through the same motions they once did. And while plenty of them are no longer any good at it, too tired and rusted to be of use, the crystals overfilling the mine carts to the point of sometimes making them disappear entirely attest to the fact that the tools were once very good at their jobs.
As long as they remain undisturbed, the tools won't disturb you (aside from the endless amount of noise they make in their routines, and the possibility of causing a cave-in, and so on). However, if you try to get them to stop, or even just wind up in their way, they're likely to chase you off a good distance before returning to work. If you'd rather fight a rusty pickaxe than run from it, they're also not that hard to destroy. And when the area is stabilized, they fall to the ground and remain there at last.
Hazard: Cave-in
Danger level: Moderate to high
Type: Cave-in
Environment: Mine tunnels
Activity: It's a cave-in.
After so long undisturbed, it's only natural for some of the mine tunnels to be... Well, less than stable. There's evidence of a number of small cave-ins around the tunnels, especially in the regions where pickaxes work blindly at the walls (the tools are, after all, not smart enough to figure out how not to cause cave-ins), or where former support beams have given way. Any loud sound or other disturbance could potentially bring things crashing down.
Fortunately, at least, it seems like most of the mine was designed around the idea that there would be cave-ins, eventually. There are very few dead-ends in the mines, and most of the ones that do exist are shallow and recently-dug (at least relatively). The majority of tunnels do, eventually, loop around (unless the other end is also caved in, in which case you might have to go digging or start using the network to beg someone to dig you out).
But in the process of following those tunnels around, it's easy enough to get lost...
SUBFISSURE EFFECT: FLIP-FLOP
The eastern part of the mines comes with its own secondary distortion - one that will be immediately visible (to those of you who still have vision). After all, it's caused not only the colors of the area, but the sources of light to invert - like someone's flipped the monitor settings, such that black appears white, red appears green, and the darkest, shadowy corners are the most brightly lit.
Those paying careful attention to sound - or those who have no choice but to do so - will find that it is reversed much more straightforwardly - left and right, up and down, back and front. this grows all the more disorienting for the fact that the visual effect is not reversed in the same way - so if you look in the direction of the sound you hear on your left, you're looking perfectly away from whatever made the noise...
Critter?: Shadow-lights
Danger level: Not dangerous, but creepy
Type: Fissure creature(?)
Environment: The eastern mine Subfissure
Behaviour: Misbehaving
Those who keep an eye on their shadows (or, rather, their lights?) within the inverted Fissure will notice that they seem to have taken on something of a life of their own. The longer one is within the Subfissure, the more their shadow will start to act out - the lighter white outline at first mimicking their actions in a way that feels almost mocking, but increasingly they'll do the opposite of whatever a character is doing. Lend a hand to help someone? The play of your shadows will be one of you slapping the other's hand away. Take a drink out of your waterbottle? Your shadow turns theirs over and pours it out on the ground.
The effect is entirely harmless, but there's still the unsettling question of what would happen if your shadow was more solid...
THE BRILLIANT CAVERN
It's easy to see, smell, and hear this cavern before you arrive in it; from within erupts the light of day, the sound of water and rustling leaves, and the smell of blooming flowers. Indeed, it's easy to initially mistake the entrance of the medium-sized cavern - perhaps fifty feet across in any direction and thirty feet high at its peak - as an exit, a way entirely out of the mines. Those with a decent sense of direction, though, will realize that it's far too deep in the mountainside for that to be remotely possible.
And, indeed, that's not the case; investigation of the cavern will reveal that it's entirely self-contained. Yet the crystals in the walls here are in an abnormally energized state; fresh air flows from wind crystals, soil surrounds earth crystals in place of the usual stone, and most importantly, water flows from a cluster of bright blue crystals on one wall and light shines from fragments embedded everywhere, strong as sunlight. The result is what's functionally a greenhouse, buried deep within the mine tunnels.
What's perhaps most interesting, however, is that the plants here are clearly not native to the area, when compared to those outside their mines. Indeed, characters may well find plants from their own worlds here, the seeds deposited by the whims of the Fissures. And unchecked and undisturbed for a century within the magical influence, they've grown intensely and wildly, some of them quite mutated - in particular, plants that characters are used to seeing as very small might be very large, while trees they are used to seeing very large might be very small, their growth among the stalagmites and stalactites stunted by the small space of the cavern.
( the fault is mine )
Buried in the mountains seen beyond Incendia, the Telovia Mines are quite a bit further out than the other Fissures that have been explored so far. If you didn't already know where they are, it would be rather difficult to find them... Fortunately, it's easy enough to follow the directions of the androids to get to the right place, even if you come later on.
Once you arrive, it's apparent that while there was once a bustle of activity here... Nothing is really in great condition. Unlike the Fissure at Incendia, nothing's kept the mines from growing thick with decay and rust in the last century. It's easy to see the signs of neglect, both in the town outside and in the tunnels dug into the mountainside.
That is, if you can see at all.
Fissure Effect: Those entering this Fissure will find that they've lost some degree of mundane ability. It might be a sense - either one of the Big Five or a more esoteric sense such as balance or temperature. It might be the ability to speak, or recognize people's faces and voices. The important thing is that it's an ability that is not magical or supernatural in any way and is instead something that is so mundane that the person losing it doesn't even think about it until it's gone. (As always, dungeon effects are opt-in.)
Resource: Earth Crystals
Frequency: Small ones common, large ones uncommon to rare
Type: Energy/magical resource
Environment: Any, but more frequent in the mines themselves
As veterans have no doubt come to expect, the Fissure is full of a variety of crystallized magic. The most common are aspected to the element of earth, and range from sunshine orange to golden yellow in color depending on their size - the larger ones tending further towards the orange spectrum. They're unusually heavy and dense for their size, or at least they feel that way - actually putting them on a scale will reveal them to have the same weight as other crystals of similar size.
MINER'S TOWN
Around the entrance to the mines proper, the hulls of decayed buildings cluster in a sort of town. The aesthetic is similar to Incendia's - more glass and metal than wood, or perhaps it's just that most of the wood that would have been left behind is rotted away. The town has similar inlays of magical lines of power, but unlike those in Incendia, virtually all of these are broken and nonfunctional... As are the roads and occasional sidewalks they lie upon.
Mother nature has certainly done her best to reclaim the area, and it's been a resounding success. Saplings and ferns explode out of every visible patch of soil; songbirds (and larger birds) rest in the corners of half-collapsed roofs. Still, there are some interesting things to notice, if you take the time to dig into the ruins.
The first is that much of the 'town' is devoted to housing, and housing only - there's a grand total of two convenience stores, one coffeeshop (from the shape of the fallen sign, it's Robin's Coffee again), and one larger grocery. Dig deep enough, and the disparity between that and the amount of housing - most of it bachelor-esque, but there's a decent amount of space for families - is explained; a glyph that a keen eye would notice matches one of those in Incendia's teleportation port. It's smashed into chunks and obviously nonfunctional, and the area immediately surrounding it is full of wildflowers - white lilies, forget-me-nots, and an unfamiliar flower that blooms as clusters of double-layered daisy-like blooms at the top of tall, thin stems. (Should one ask the androids, or have read a book on flower meanings specific to this world, it's called 'Perria,' and the pink variety means 'leaving behind fond memories.' The red, on the other hand, means 'loss of family.')
Hazard: Grief Weeds
Danger level: Low
Type: Fissure Effect
Environment: The area surrounding the teleportation port and about two blocks in any direction
Activity: When approached
These vines can easily be mistaken for morning glories by the unfamiliar; their vines, however, are just too dark, almost black as they climb across the ground, and the shockingly white flowers never seem to bloom, day or night. It's very easy to miss the vines in the places where they crawl across the ground among other plants, but they're pretty obvious on the cracked pavement and climbing the remaining walls of the nearby buildings.
Step on one or pause to examine the flowers - any kind of touch - will reveal the nature of the plants, as you get slammed by a sudden wall of grief. All the grief characters have already experienced in their lives will hit them at once; only the very most fortunate, who have never lost anything, can safely touch the plants without having this reaction.
Critter: Reclaimers
Danger level: Moderate Plus
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Any outside; rare encounter
Behaviour: Slurpy
These large creatures might at first be mistaken for small hill of dirt and vegetation (which, indeed, is what they become once the area is stabilized). Come close or watch for a while, though, and they'll start to move - anteater-like creatures with the bounty of nature on their backs, come to take back the remains of the town. Small hill, or very large creature, as they're a solid ten feet tall and sometimes twenty feet in length, discounting the growth of any saplings and the like on their backs.
Anything man-made is potentially up for grabs, caught by a sticky tongue and slurped up into the creature's mouth. There's a surprising amount of force to the tongue, easily enough to yank things out of the hands or off the bodies of the unprepared. And once your item's been swallowed... Well, you're not super likely to get it back unless you can cut the critter open, are you? Even then, your reclaimed item might be partially dissolved by the strong magic and acid instead the reclaimer's gut.
Acid that, if forced to defend themselves, these creatures can also spit a fair distance, and do so with some decent amount of force and distance. Indeed, if you stay out of their range, you might see them practicing this tactic on pavement or the remains of the buildings, before slurping up the acidic soup that results.
SORTING AND SURVEYING ZONE
Spanning the area immediately around the mine entrance and the first couple hundred feet within are a maze of tracks, abandoned carts, and spilled piles of crystals and stones. The latter, you can tell, were at one time contained in bins to be sorted - but of course, most of the bins have rotted away, leaving the crystals glittering in the sunlight. While the earth crystals that naturally occur in the Fissure are still the most common, it's obvious that the mines collected several other types as well.
Other than the piles of crystals, it's primarily the minecart tracks that are interesting. They're worked with the same sort of magical power lines as the streets, and while the tracks outside the mine entrance are rusted to the point of being unusable, the carts and tracks further inside will still roll. Push them around a bit to grease up the wheels, and you might even be able to take a nice, easy ride further into the mines...
Provided that the tracks further in aren't broken, of course.
Hazard: Unsorted Crystals
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Magical reaction
Environment: Sorting and Surveying; sometimes deeper into the mines
Activity: Any time.
For the most part, luckily, the crystals aren't particularly reactive. However, sometimes in the unsorted bins of them, the chaotic mix of energies sparks and, if disturbed in the wrong way, reacts explosively. The resulting reaction isn't of a particular element, but a chaotic mix, and varies in intensity based on the size of the pile.
It's possible, if one is careful, to sort the piles without causing such violent results - but to do so for all the crystals in the survey zone, nevermind the ones further within the mine overflowing the mine carts, would be the work of months, perhaps years. Nobody's got time for that.
MAIN TUNNELS
The deeper you go, the less well-finished the tunnels of the mines are, and the more often you see veins of magical crystals lighting the path. This is a good thing, since there's no other source of light within the mines - you'll have to bring your own, or rely on other senses. While the remains of lanterns can be seen hanging overhead, they've long since gone out, their magical sources of energy depleted. Occasionally there's an elevator shaft or two leading to deeper layers of tunnels, for those willing to take the risk - it might be for the best to not trust any elevators you find back here to work, however. (Unless another PC has made use of them, all elevators are at the primary/entrance level of the tunnels.)
Cart tracks also follow along the larger tunnels, up to a certain point, but eventually the tunnels narrow from arteries to vessels, and along these smaller paths - often only large enough for one person at a time, and rarely larger than the space it takes for two people to walk side by side - there's very little in the way of guidance. Here and there is a dead lantern and a support beam in various degrees of disrepair, but for the most part it's just you and the crystals, the magic making the air tingle against your skin.
And every now and again, you'll find a place where those support beams have failed - most of them relatively minor, the larger stones supported by each other, but some of them... Less so. Fortunately for you, most of the cave-ins can be squeezed past, and for those that can't, the tunnels have any number of redundancies designed in for exactly this reason. But you'll still have to find your way back around, and sometimes that's a very, very long trek...
Critter: Mine Mites
Danger level: None to moderate
Type: Magical creature
Environment: Any underground in the mines
Behaviour: Mighty.
These mites - which look mostly like pill bugs in stony shells - aren't especially aggressive. They mostly want to munch crystals, primarily earth crystals, and scuttle along in search of such on the walls and floor of the mines. If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. The smaller ones are about the length of a forearm; the largest are five or six feet from one end to the other.
If, on the other hand, you think All Bugs Must Die, the mites will roll up into balls like their much smaller counterparts, and you'll find that their armored shells are, in fact, as stony as they appear, rendering them nearly invulnerable to physical damage and as heavy as stone as well. And when they start to roll as a form of counter-attack... You'd better be quick on your feet to get out of the way.
Hazard: Animate Tools
Danger level: Low
Type: Object; Fissure Effect
Environment: Anywhere in the mines, but typically near carts
Activity: Any time.
The miners might be gone, but their tools remain - and so, apparently, does the work. Even largely rusted away and damaged, the pickaxes, sorting trays, and other objects of work in the mines do their best to continue, going through the same motions they once did. And while plenty of them are no longer any good at it, too tired and rusted to be of use, the crystals overfilling the mine carts to the point of sometimes making them disappear entirely attest to the fact that the tools were once very good at their jobs.
As long as they remain undisturbed, the tools won't disturb you (aside from the endless amount of noise they make in their routines, and the possibility of causing a cave-in, and so on). However, if you try to get them to stop, or even just wind up in their way, they're likely to chase you off a good distance before returning to work. If you'd rather fight a rusty pickaxe than run from it, they're also not that hard to destroy. And when the area is stabilized, they fall to the ground and remain there at last.
Hazard: Cave-in
Danger level: Moderate to high
Type: Cave-in
Environment: Mine tunnels
Activity: It's a cave-in.
After so long undisturbed, it's only natural for some of the mine tunnels to be... Well, less than stable. There's evidence of a number of small cave-ins around the tunnels, especially in the regions where pickaxes work blindly at the walls (the tools are, after all, not smart enough to figure out how not to cause cave-ins), or where former support beams have given way. Any loud sound or other disturbance could potentially bring things crashing down.
Fortunately, at least, it seems like most of the mine was designed around the idea that there would be cave-ins, eventually. There are very few dead-ends in the mines, and most of the ones that do exist are shallow and recently-dug (at least relatively). The majority of tunnels do, eventually, loop around (unless the other end is also caved in, in which case you might have to go digging or start using the network to beg someone to dig you out).
But in the process of following those tunnels around, it's easy enough to get lost...
SUBFISSURE EFFECT: FLIP-FLOP
The eastern part of the mines comes with its own secondary distortion - one that will be immediately visible (to those of you who still have vision). After all, it's caused not only the colors of the area, but the sources of light to invert - like someone's flipped the monitor settings, such that black appears white, red appears green, and the darkest, shadowy corners are the most brightly lit.
Those paying careful attention to sound - or those who have no choice but to do so - will find that it is reversed much more straightforwardly - left and right, up and down, back and front. this grows all the more disorienting for the fact that the visual effect is not reversed in the same way - so if you look in the direction of the sound you hear on your left, you're looking perfectly away from whatever made the noise...
Critter?: Shadow-lights
Danger level: Not dangerous, but creepy
Type: Fissure creature(?)
Environment: The eastern mine Subfissure
Behaviour: Misbehaving
Those who keep an eye on their shadows (or, rather, their lights?) within the inverted Fissure will notice that they seem to have taken on something of a life of their own. The longer one is within the Subfissure, the more their shadow will start to act out - the lighter white outline at first mimicking their actions in a way that feels almost mocking, but increasingly they'll do the opposite of whatever a character is doing. Lend a hand to help someone? The play of your shadows will be one of you slapping the other's hand away. Take a drink out of your waterbottle? Your shadow turns theirs over and pours it out on the ground.
The effect is entirely harmless, but there's still the unsettling question of what would happen if your shadow was more solid...
THE BRILLIANT CAVERN
It's easy to see, smell, and hear this cavern before you arrive in it; from within erupts the light of day, the sound of water and rustling leaves, and the smell of blooming flowers. Indeed, it's easy to initially mistake the entrance of the medium-sized cavern - perhaps fifty feet across in any direction and thirty feet high at its peak - as an exit, a way entirely out of the mines. Those with a decent sense of direction, though, will realize that it's far too deep in the mountainside for that to be remotely possible.
And, indeed, that's not the case; investigation of the cavern will reveal that it's entirely self-contained. Yet the crystals in the walls here are in an abnormally energized state; fresh air flows from wind crystals, soil surrounds earth crystals in place of the usual stone, and most importantly, water flows from a cluster of bright blue crystals on one wall and light shines from fragments embedded everywhere, strong as sunlight. The result is what's functionally a greenhouse, buried deep within the mine tunnels.
What's perhaps most interesting, however, is that the plants here are clearly not native to the area, when compared to those outside their mines. Indeed, characters may well find plants from their own worlds here, the seeds deposited by the whims of the Fissures. And unchecked and undisturbed for a century within the magical influence, they've grown intensely and wildly, some of them quite mutated - in particular, plants that characters are used to seeing as very small might be very large, while trees they are used to seeing very large might be very small, their growth among the stalagmites and stalactites stunted by the small space of the cavern.
( the fault is mine )
