Zion: Light of the New Moon, Ch 2.3 Myre
Zion - Light of the New Moon Chapter 2.3
Myre If All Else Fails...
The Moon Puzzle is solved and the party may reap the rewards. Now the question is: how will everything be divided?
"It still doesn't make that much sense." Josh noted with a shrug, looking back and forth at the different jade pieces in his paws, "I mean... they could be anything, right?" I have to admit, he looked cute all confused, but apparently others wanted to have a chance at solving it so Anor-Roc led him away.
"No, Josh." the coy-wolf noted, sitting down at the foot of the altar's steps, "It's a little more complicated than something like Phases."
"Puzzle pieces are supposed to be shaped differently." the cub announced, "That way you can put it together... but they're all shaped the same."
"Well... the symbols on them are the clue." Anor-Roc noted, tapping the young lion on the end of his nose playfully, "See... the trick is to make sure all of the symbols are where they're supposed to be." with that, he took a moment to observe the disc on the wall and shook his head, raising his voice to address the group, "The only thing that troubles me is that there is going to be some confusion between waxing and waning signs... I'm still not sure how we're going to tell the difference between waxing and waning, or just having one or the other upside-down. If there really IS a difference, then it's going to be a random shot-in-the-dark."
"Actually," Sergeant Reilly noted, taking a look at several of the jade pieces, "There is a way... here..." and he casually tossed two jade keys to the coy-wolf.
Josh intercepted them with a quick grab out of mid-air and looked at each, "They're each half-moon symbols. I recognize those!" and his tail lashed back and forth happily.
"One is waxing, and one is waning." Keeland explained.
Anor-Roc accepted them from Josh and looked them over, "They could each be either." he said with a shrug.
"No..." the shepherd countered, "Look at the pieces already in place... see how they each have an indent at the top of the symbol?" he motioned to the jade already inserted into the wall and, as I looked, sure enough, the pieces were all arranged with the indent at the top.
"So... this one is waxing..." Anor-Roc acknowledged, looking at one, then, glancing to the other, he rorated it in his paw, "and this one is waning."
"You got it." Keeland acknowledged with a confident smile, tail wagging.
Anor-Roc stood. He patted Josh on the head, then returned to the wall, casually rubbing his chin as he inspected the puzzle, "Hmm... well, if we use process of elimination..." the coy-wolf's paws were a flurry of motion as he quickly began to fill out the board. He started slowing down after a short while, however, until he came to a sudden stop. My my estimation, he had about half the board complete. He tapped his muzzle a little harder, moving his weight from one foot to the other, "Grr... this was supposed to be easy!" He tentatively placed one more jade key before removing it and, with a scowl, he tossed it back into the bin, "There are too many different options... there's no way to solve it."
Bahrla chuckled from the entrance of the temple, "The easy answer is to break the wall and get whatever's behind it."
"I'm almost tempted." Anor-Roc responded, "But it's most likely a magical lock, so there's no telling what it opens or where, so that could just end up being a worthless gesture." he reached down and took hold of Josh's paw, "I'l leave this to the rest of you... I'm going to go help Josh get ready for evening mass." The coy-wolf exited the building, tail fluffed out rigidly in frustration.
"Well..." I offered tentatively, "I don't have the slightest idea on where to begin... so who's next?"
"I'll give it a try." Keeland offered, flashing me a smile, "At worst, I won't have any luck, but who knows?" he shrugged, tail wagging, "it looks like fun!" Not five minutes later, still laughing, the dog shrugged, "Well... I'm stumped." he smirked.
"May I?" Liam inquired, motioning to the wall.
"Go ahead... can't get any farther from done than me." Sgt Reiley grinned. The shepherd took a step back and let the black fox have a turn. I had trouble tracking what Liam was doing as he went back and forth between the jade key bin and the wall-- what I DID see was that the number of keys was steadily decreasing. By the time he stopped and moved to the side, I realized that every last hole was filled.
"But..." I couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure it's right?"
Liam shrugged a response, "Well... only one way to find out." and, with a powerful shove, he pushed against the disc... and nothing happened.
"Hmm..." the black fox drew his paws away from the wall, "I could have sworn that--" and, suddenly, his words were drowned out by a powerful hum as the center key in the disc began glowing a vibrant aquamarine. "Guess it was." Liam glanced back at me and winked. Keeland and I both approached the disc as the glow from the central jade key began to fade. Once the last of the glow subsided, the only real difference I could see was that the small rod had all but come loose from its hole.
"At this point," Sgt Reilly noted, "I think pushing it back in SHOULD open it.... right?"
As both Liam and I shrugged, Bahrla strode forward, "If you've wasted this much time on it already, at least see it through." and, no sooner were the words out of her muzzle, that she shoved the key back in place. The humming from before returned several-fold, and, suddenly, the entire disc burst forth with a silvery aura. The beam lanced out through an opening in the wall where a window probably once was, and disappeared out of view. An incredible rumbling suddenly caused all of us to lose our footing and we tumbled to the ground in a heap.
If I had expected for the vibration to stop once the light did, I would have been sorely mistaken. To be honest though, I had no idea what to expect. As the glow faded from the disc it only seemed like the rumbling got more violent and insistent and then, suddenly, the ground gave a powerful lurch. All at once the vibrating stopped... but, from outside, the resonating sound of crunching wood and ripping canvass made my heart suddenly sink; what was going on?
I don't think any of us stood still at that point. Once the cries started from outside we were all running out into the ruins. There, right where we had parked the wagons, a large hole had opened. What had once looked like it would have been the town square was suddenly more reminiscent of one of the strip mines Lord Dalton has in the south fields. Glowing runes circled the edge of the vast chasm. You know I'm not as good with magical lore as you are, Miri, but I was pretty sure that they hinted at some kind of elemental spell to move earth... at least, that's the obvious thought considering the enormous hole.
"Great Goddess!" Valda cursed, holding onto two caravaneers who were dangling over the edge of the chasm, "What in oblivion's name?!?" To the side of her there was a wagon barely teetering on the edge, about ready to fall-- from the lack of other wagons present it was readily apparent that several already had. All around the chasm, others were likewise in a position similar to Valda, trying to help others from following after the ill-fated vehicles.
Keeland, Liam and I went straight to their aid while Bahrla wasted no time in pulling the wagon to safer ground. Anor-Roc had Josh a safe distance from the opening and was also looking after Valda's ward. Lady Marion, surprisingly, spent little time assessing the situation and put as much effort into saving people as the rest of us. Apparently, despite her interest in thinking things through, when it came down to it, she was able to act.
It took almost twenty minutes for everyone to calm down after the remaining wagon was salvaged and the people who were able to be saved were plucked from the hole. Nobody that had worked on the puzzle so much as hinted at our guilt, though it was obvious that everyone felt it deeply. None of us could have known that discovering the key would result in an enormous hole opening up in town square... to that end, we were no more guilty of flipping the switch than the people who confirmed that the center of the ruins was a good place to camp. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.
The guilt remained until curiosity found a way to replace it. That curiosity was thanks to Josh. "Hey!" he called from the edge of the large, circular opening in the earth, "There're stairs!" One by one we made our way over to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, the cub was right; a spiraling set of 4' wide stairs circled around the inside wall of the chasm, disappearing into the blackness below. With little else to distract me from the rattling of self-disgust, I made my way down in the stairs; apparently several other members of the party had similar thoughts on their mind.
It wasn't that I was expecting some huge underground complex full of labyrinthine passageways and deadly traps, but what we ultimately found at the bottom of the hole (other than the broken and destroyed collection of wagons and bodies), was a singular tunnel heading what I think was north. Picking our way past the wreckage (I was just following Keeland and trying not to look at it), we entered the hall and followed it for some twenty or thirty feet; our lanterns were the only light. What we found when our lamps illuminated that room, you wouldn't believe.
Magical items, Miri... real, honest-to-goodness magic... like the ones that would have been around before the great war. I don't really know how to explain it, but just by looking at them you could tell they were special. Some were covered in runes while others just glowed faintly. I can't imagine putting a worthy description of each down on paper, but it wouldn't be a complete journal unless I at least tried.
Five pedestals were spread out across the end of the tunnel. The one furthest left had a large torque... shaped like the one Anthony likes to wear when he's out impressing the ladies (or trying to anyway). That's where the similarity ended; Anthony's, as you know, is polished silver, but the one we found, Goddess! It was pure silver, and had an inset moonstone the size of an eye! Lady Marion was very adamant about not letting anyone touch it as she gathered it up in a large bag.
The pedestal to the right of that one had some kind of sandals. Yea, I know... I didn't think they were anything special either until Anor-Roc pointed out that it looked like the sandals were pieced together out of living vine. Although nobody was certain how long they could have been down in the hole, the fact that they were as green and vibrant as any living, unpicked plant made it very obvious that they were special. As with the torque, however, Lady Marion made certain that it ended up in her bag... for safe keeping, she told us.
The rightmost pedestal had a small phial resting against its leather holster... the kind you'd see an alchemist wearing on his belt. Lady Marion identified the contents immediately, "Midnight Breeze Cordial." she explained, "It's a restorative that calms the nerves and sooths the mind." That, and the small flask on the pedestal to its left, likewise joined the first two items in the priestess' bag. The flask, which Lady Marion identified as "Moonlight Drought" is some kind of healing potion blessed by the Moon Goddess, or so she explained.
If you're wondering why I left the middle pedestal for last, I'd say because I think it's the most dumbfounding. Do you remember the stories that we used to hear when we were younger about Lord Vilamore and his battles against the Myrhenese? How his men never once routed and how he never lost a single unit to desertion? Do you remember the description the stories told of his helm? Black as obsidian, carved as if it were presented by the earth itself? Miri... Lord Vilamore's helm was right there before us.
I wish I could spend more time writing, but I can't. Lady Marion is calling us together tonight to find the best way to distribute our hard-won find... I guess she decided that it wouldn't be fair and equitable to keep them all for herself... especially since we'll probably need all the help we can get when we leave in the morning to try and meet up with the rest of the caravan. Wish me luck, Miri... I still think about you every day.
Love, Leijh
* * * * *
The Myrean Group has completed Chapter 2.
The party managed to unlock the answer to the Moon Sign Puzzle. Though the location of their wagons was unfortunate, everyone had to look past the loss of life and supplies and focus on the positives:
At this point, it's time to divide up the treasure! Every contributing reader may now vote how they'd like the following equipment to be divided.
The party reaps the rewards: Moonstone Torque: +1 to resist supernatural effects Vinewoven Sandals: +1 to Acrobatics Helm of the Earth Lord: +1 to Leadership Moonlight Drought: heals 1 lethal wound once. Midnight Breeze Cordial: restores 1 major fatigue and all minor fatigue once.
Please note: nobody may gain more than one of the five items, so no multiple votes for a given character. You have until Thursday, July 7th to place your votes. Ties will be broken with a random die roll.
Please watch for upcoming contribution opportunities as Chapter 3 will soon begin. Congratulations to the Myrean Group for completing Chapter 2!