There is a brief, intense flash of light, surrounding you and everything around you.
This room looks like it's filled with ledgers, accounting sheets, payrolls, and other tedious economic records. It's all pretty dusty.
The water is very refreshing. However, not long after drinking it, you start to feel extremely ill.
The water is extremely refreshing! You feel very energized after drinking it!
The book is still at the same page. You browse it, but don't get anything new.
The book is describing some sort of spell. However, you can't figure out what it's saying. Depressing.
You hear a click from the north wall.
Fascinating - these are scrolls of rituals, physical and magical, from procedures to clean walls, to directions for cooking, to passwords to disarm traps. However, there is no order, and the descriptions are poor. You don't find anything useful.
You step over the edge, and float gently to the ground below.
You step over the edge, and plummet to the ground below. Ouch.
Inspecting this bookshelf, you find it's somewhat loose. You pull it, and find that it swings away from the wall.
This room is plenty dusty - it is clearly the place where old forms go to die. There is a huge pillar in the center of the room, thirty feet high, covered with shelves of tightly bound forms, filled out, placed here, and forgotten.
You pull the lever, and the portcullis opens.
You pull the lever, and the portcullis comes down.
This is a card catalog for the archives. You look through the cards, and find something interesting: "Type - Ritual, Contents - Teleportation Augmenter Access Ritual, Location - L2 (31,38), shelf 1, scroll 35." You take note of this.
This is a card catalog for the archives. You look through the cards, and find something interesting: "Type - Map, Contents - Teleportation Augmenter and Path Thereto, Location - L1 (23,14), shelf 3, scroll 18." You take note of this.
You find the card catalog for the archives - hundred of little cards saying what is in the library, and where. You search through them for useful things, but don't find anything interesting in this particular section.
These shelves are filled with maps. Lots of maps. Hundred of them, all very low scale and ordered by some bizarre labeling system that prevents you from figuring out what's going on. Pity. Some of them might be useful...
There are runes on the north and south walls. You notice, under the north rune, an ivory keyhole. You insert your key, turn it, and walk past the runes.
There are runes on the north and south walls. They glow fiery red when you try to walk between them. You jump back, just avoiding being seared by the flames. You look, and see the north rune has an ivory keyhole under it. Pity you don't have the key.
You find the remains of someone who was just put here and, well, forgot about. Very morbid. You back away.
You've pretty much cleaned out the pot, and the stew is regrowing at a veeeery slow pace. Looks like you killed the goose here.
You find that there is an odd, invisible barrier at this doorway. On one side, the air is superheated, sulphurous, painful to breathe. On the other side, the air is cool, comfortable, and quite dry. Very odd.
A plaque at the base of this rough statue reads: "Empress Prazac - Long may she reign!"
Most of the books on these sparsely filled shelves are fiction, heavily worn. There are also a few scrolls of notes on the war - idle observations, mainly. Nothing of any military value. You notice many of the scrolls have scimitars drawn in the corners.
The shelves contain notebooks, filled with Renee's notes on magic, monsters, the flora and fauna of Exile, and other fascinating things. However, it all seems to be written in some sort of code of her making. Not even Mage Lore would help you decipher it.
This storeroom/silo is filled with empty sacks and open crates and barrels, many with the sword and crown symbol of the Empire. Looks like supplies are running a bit thin.
This bookshelf is filled with the stacks of blank forms, notes, and supplies that are inevitably found at any Empire office or outpost. Certainly nothing you want to deal with.
Someone has left in the dresser a thick book of densely written religious writings. Inside the cover is written 'Left by Gideon.' After perusing it for a bit, you replace it.
You spell disrupts the delicate web of magical power surrounding the altar. Unfortunately, the uncontrolled energy flashes around the room, breaking the altar, searing the walls, and blasting you.
The wall remains open.
You approach the wall, and it slides open in front of you. You now have access to the fort.
This is the icebox for the fort's kitchen. It is icy cold inside.
You now stand before the massive stone door that blocks entry into Pyrog's Cave. You have no chance of getting this thing open from this side.
You find a spell book on one of the shelves, and read it eagerly. It describe the motions to cast a simple, but powerful spell. You now know the spell 'Flight.'
You find a spell book on one of the shelves. However, it's written in a somewhat obscure magical dialect. You can't make sense of it.
The altar is shattered, the runes are dark, and ashes cover everything.
A black stone altar has been moved here on rollers. Glowing runes surround it - it seems like it is being infused with magic, and probably not good magic either.
This room is dominated by a massive arrangement of machinery, belching flames and suphurous smoke. Some of its components glow magically. It's clearly powerful and dangerous - you hesitate to tamper with it. You wonder what it's for.
The machine hasn't produced a new red orb yet. It's building one, but it will take time.
The marble table is still there, waiting for its next victim.
The moment you cut the creature's bonds, it lurches upward to try and escape. As soon as it moves, however, its flesh buckles and heaves, seemingly trying to tear itself off its body. It dies before it even reaches the door.
With a swift, confident blow, you end the creature's suffering. Even after death, its flesh bubbles and shivers. You back away, horrified.
The rich, heavy musk of burning incense wafts from the room to the west. It is set up very comfortably, with piled pillows and thick rugs, all of them recently brought from the surface (and, alas, too bulky to carry).
This is the final resting place of many of the soldiers who descended into your land. You hope that you don't join them in never seeing the sun again.
This is a stairway leading up sharply to the south. The massive ramparts of the fort are above you.
This is a campsite, currently unoccupied, with a firepit in the middle. This was no doubt left as a refuge for passing troops/spies. But ... troops from which army?
The box is empty.
You walk past the statues unmolested.
You try to walk past the statues, but their eyes flash crimson. You are thrown back.
The runes are still there, but they're just gibberish now. Their power is gone.
The lich howls in pain and fury, and dissolves away. Its shriek hangs in the air long after the millenium old beast is gone.
You step farther into this dark, chill cavern. On the floor nearby, you find blood stains, and not old ones. There was a fight here recently.
You find the body of a human, slain by a powerful fiery blast and stripped of possessions. The smell is horrible. You don't linger.
The odor of sulphur fills the chamber. You turn, and see an enormous demonic beast with a band of assistants. They aren't here to serve you...
You read the runes. You read them silently at first. Then, without noticing, your lips move as you read. Then you're reading aloud, then chanting. By the time you realize what's happening, it's too late.
You understand the runes. They are the result of Heaven knows how many centuries of the magical work of the lich, and are very instructive indeed. You now know the spell Ravage Spirit.
You cannot understand the runes. They're just too elaborate and too archaic.
To the north is an enormous granite spire, which juts out of the shaft wall. It meets the wall fifty feet below you, and is a full eighty feet high. A narrow stone bridge extends across the pit towards a small opening in its side.
A few feet inside the stone spire is a red stone door, set in a black wall. This structure is clearly ancient, and Vahnatai designs (which you don't understand) are engraved in the door.
Motes of light appear in the air around you. Their effect is not beneficial. You start to feel sluggish.
At the west end of this cavern, you see where the blood stains came from. You see the remains of a force of Empire troops, who made the unfortunate decision to explore these tunnels and paid a bloody price.
A damp, chilly wind blows from the north past you. You look, and see an enormous shaft, stretching far above and far below you out of sight. A narrow ledge circles the wall of the shaft in the clockwise direction.
You hear a grinding noise to the east. You look across the chasm, and see a wall sliding open in the side of the spire. Then, quickfire pours out, roaring across the chasm towards you!
The crystal has several long cracks in it. The flaws in the stone unfocus the magic in it - what once previously a powerful scrying device now displays little more that random colors.
This room contains what could only be Vahnatai magic. In the middle of the room is a pedestal with a large crystal on it. Flashes of light emit from the cloudy depths of the stone.
The wall pushes aside, revealing a small, comfortable living quarters. There is a row of single beds, a cooking pot, and a wooden table and chairs.
You pull the lever, but nothing happens.
This building (at least, you think it's a building) is simply bizarre. It's nothing but a basalt cube, perfectly smooth, eighty feet to each side. No entrances are visible.
You find a small, concealed door in the corner of the cube, and step inside. Inside is a narrow corridor. The ceiling of the passage is the top of the cube, and the walls on either side of you stretch up into deep shadows.
You step past the runes. Nothing happens.
The floor opens out from under you! You fall down a smooth stone chute, and are dumped into a filthy corridor in the level below.
You at last wipe the smile of Limoncelli's face. You note that his corpse even falls to the ground quickly. Garzahd will need to find a new commander for this fort.
The bizarre serpentine beast falls. Within moments, its corpse consumes itself in a cloud of flame! You jump back, and watch as the body reduces itself until nothing is left but a pile of ashes and a cloud of greasy smoke.
It mentions that a band of rogue Vahnatai have set up quarters in this very fort, and while they are away, the quarters are looked after by something called a "Naga."
One of the scrolls on the bookshelf is a summary record of the actions of the fort's commander: Limoncelli. How odd - it would seem he has been dealing directly with some Vahnatai! There are subtle references to his buying "Magical goods" from them.
The portcullis closes quickly and quietly.
Click.
The runes at the entry to this corridor suddenly glow with a fierce light and throw you back! Their pull is irresistable, and quite painful.
This window looks down upon the courtyard. Soldiers survey the devastation, and run off to search for you.
How interesting! The ceiling of this room is enchanted to glow brightly. Torches on the walls provide heat, and shallow pools of water provide moisture. This is a rough greenhouse! You help yourself to a few tomatoes.
From here, you have a commanding view of the lake to the south. The smooth, glassy waters reflect the fort perfectly in the constant, green, fungal light.
One of the tiles you just stepped on goes "Click." Suddenly, the wall to the south slides quickly into the floor.
This is a statue of a young, smiling woman, looking almost touchingly innocent. Strange. The plaque at the base reads "Empress Prazac - Long may she reign."
This is a statue of a middle aged man in the robes of an archmage. He is short and powerfully build, and his expression is one of supreme confidence. A plaque at the base reads "Garzahd."
This is a statue of a gaunt, severe looking man. A plaque at the base reads "Emperor Hawthorne - May he rest powerfully."
You climb the stairs, only to find they dead end in a sheer stone wall. You search for secret passages, but find nothing.
Very, very odd. You saw some docks at the south side of the fort. You aimed for the docks at the south side of the fort. Yet, somehow, you ended up rowing in here. It would seem this fort has some intriguing magical protection.
When you step through the door, a demon appears. Looks like someone was a little paranoid about protecting their room.
The entry portcullis slams shut.
Pulling the lever makes the entry portcullis noisily rattle open.
Suddenly, the portcullis just to the east slams shut!
The lizard pen's fence has a small gate in it. You move through and close it behind you.
