"Odd... The Solus stone never shone this bright..."
"Maybe it has something to do with the oxidised surface. The Solus stone was yellow with small specks of brown and black on it. This is a more even distribution of yellows and oranges. It hasn't been exposed to the atmosphere as long as the Solus stone had been. Maybe it affects its efficiency."
"Just as well we're using this one then. It might help to find the other portals more easily if it shines brighter."
THEROS put the stone away so he could equip himself and UOPETA with torches. Luckily, the passage ahead was more or less a straight run; unlike the other, there were no deviations in the path, or further choices that had to be explored to determine the direction of the next portal. The passage just continued along. After awhile, we came to a slight turn to the left, and around a small section of wall, we could hear water. Lighting another torch, THEROS edged forward to throw light around the area ahead of us.
"Either... It's a leak, or there's a spring nearby..."
A small flow of water had burst through a wall, causing water to pool in a small dip in the ground. Luckily there was a small lip around the right-hand side allowing us to get past without having to get our feet wet. Not that it mattered much when we were likely to be swimming soon!
Negotiating around it, we continued onwards, following the path of the tunnel. Despite the total lack of any life down here, we were all still clutching our blowpipes, ever ready. The passage continued on for some distance, eventually ending in what we thought was another fork. After navigating around the area however, we determined that both paths led to the same passage. Despite this, it wasn't necessarily a good thing; we could easily be ambushed from any direction, and we would have very little in terms of alternatives to go towards. Every now and again, we would stop, and THEROS would retrieve the stone from his bag and examine it; each time it would be that little bit brighter.
"It's definitely down this way, just a little longer..."
Sure enough, after a few more minutes of cautious advancing, the passage began to narrow, and at the far end, embedded into the wall was a portal. From what I could make out, it was only a standard portal, but it was active, and therefore posed a threat. THEROS took the stone and placed it onto the portal and stepped back. We were doing very well; three sites down and five portals destroyed. Lady luck was smiling down on us today!
Following the passage back to the surface, we climbed out using the sandstone stairs, and back onto the beach area. It was still raining - typical! - and to make matters worse, it was beginning to grow darker. We were running out of daylight and we had lots of ground to cover. Admittedly we would have more protection during the night as we would be harder to see, but so would any possible threats. UOPETA would have his work cut out for him! Let's just hope that the journey to the next location was as uneventful as all of the others so far. Then all we needed to do was see if my boat was still there where I had left it, although I had my doubts. We followed the coastline all the way back along the South East. Luckily, most of the locations we had visited so far were either in or around noticeable areas. Even on the maps, it was obvious how to spot the location in reality. The first had been situated next to a lava pit, something very rare, the previous one had been situated at one end of an island crossing,a and the last one had also been on the end of an island, on the only beach area with sand! The next one was no different; it was located at the far South Easterly tip of the island, also on a beach area. And the great thing about it was that a short journey West, and we would be at the placed I left my boat. From there, it was simply a case of rowing to the far South East and stopping on, near or above the next location. It was more or less dead centre of the body of water as well, so that might make it easier. We would be on the lookout for an island anyway, as I really can't see how it could be underwater. How else would HoN Co. have found it?
----
The rain had finally stopped, but the cloud cover had remained, making it hard to judge the position of the sun. It was beginning to get darker however by the time we reached the beach on the far side of the island. This particular portal was much easier to find; unlike the others, it was positioned more or less on the surface, partially buried in sand. And yet it was still active. Climbing down into the small hole it was situated in, I helped UOPETA and THEROS dig out most of the sand around it before the stone could be used.
After THEROS placed the stone onto the portal, I climbed out of the hole and joined UOPETA, who was currently scouting out the area around us with the telescope.
"Where is this boat of yours then? Close by?"
It was. A short walk to the West along this beach should put us in the line of sight of it, so if we ran out of beach before finding it, it was likely to have been taken or destroyed by HoN Co.. Looking down into the hole, the process had begun; the rift was sucking in chunks of the frame as large as my fist, with the ease of a vacuum cleaner sucking up dust! I had to admit, I was a little worried about the stone again. It hadn't occurred to me until after the first portal was destroyed, but I remembered what THEROS had told me in that letter months ago. "Everything of the Nether is sucked into the rift"... I thought that, with the stone being part of the Nether, it too would be sucked into the rift along with the obsidian frame. But it was still here... Maybe as it was the catalyst for the reaction, it couldn't be destroyed by the same means... I don't know. OROTHO probably had a better understanding as to why that was, and even if he didn't, Amie would. THEROS climbed out of the hole and UOPETA put the telescope away. Pausing to put the stone away, THEROS quickly joined us as we made our way to the West, hopefully to find my boat... I was dreading to see what state it was in... If it was even there!
Syeonyx signing off
No comments:
Post a Comment