Stone and Stele

Stone and Stele

Together, Kaelen, Blena, Alster, and Tajan headed towards the valley, keeping the stone steles in view. Their new acquaintance Rintaron stayed to support his ailing Veylborn friend, even if that meant he was just there with her in comfort.

Kaelen led the way east towards the high hill that had the view of both mountains. The deep snow made progress slow and difficult, and their feet slipped where the sun had melted the snow and it had reformed as a thin layer of ice.

“I wish I had some fruit burr straps on my feet right now,” said Blena, trying to avoid slipping on the now perilous path.

Soon they reached a flat platform ledge overlooking the valley and the river below, and on it sat three giant stone steles. They approached the steles, and Kaelen moved himself behind them until he could see Monolith Peak and Pinault Mountain in the spaces between them.

“Well, would you look at this?” exclaimed Kaelen.

The others quickly gathered to his viewpoint and started to interpret what they saw.

“Its as Rintaron said, that line on the first stele lines up with the angle on Pinault and then down again onto the middle stele,” interpreted Tajan.

“Yes, and it does the same from the second to the Monolith and then under it, but how does that help us?” Blena questioned, wanting a simple instruction instead of the ridiculous puzzle so that they could get on with things.

Just then Rintaron arrived and caught his breath. "Gertina just disappeared, but she told me to find you, said I would be useful so I left the tower." he said. "After assessing what he had missed, he pointed to the line and proposed, “It could be a pathway, a line to walk, a map?”

“Well, nice of you to join us, Rintaron, and the cryptic maybes are just wonderful,” Kaelen said. “Tell me again, what happened to Gertina?”

“She phased out and didn’t show up again. That tower’s beams are to blame I am sure, and this message on the steles will stop it. That’s why I am sure Gertine told me to join you so I ran. We have to do something.”

“Well, let’s go with a map. It seems logical, but which map, and where do we start? And if it is a map, why after all these years are we the ones just noticing now?”

“That’s a lot of questions, Tajan, and I am with you,” Kaelen responded. “Seems unlikely that if it is a map, nobody has ever stood just here and noticed that before.”

Rintaron thought for a moment and said, “But the writing was new. On the tower, it wasn’t there before, and now it is. This could be new too.”

“That seems like a ridiculous statement, that there is new carving on a millennium-old rock and stone, but if I hadn’t seen everything going on at the tower, with Gertina and the door myself, I might have doubted that. You might be right. This could be new,” Kaelen surmised. These stones are quartz and granite, they has crsytaline structure and it could be impacted by the pulsing energy, making new markings.

“Ok. New like magically appeared, or new like someone with a chisel and hammer last night in the snow and sub-zero temperatures like an icy pecking bird? Those are our two choices.”

“Tajan has a point,” Kaelen chimed in again. “Look again at the carvings. They weren’t from last night, but they have no lichen or wear on them compared to the stone. This is a literate vandal.”

“Sure,” said Alster. “But to what end? Why go to so much trouble to leave a message? And I still can’t see a connection to the tower and the pulsing energy that it is belting out.”

“Me either, and standing around here talking about it isn’t getting us anywhere. Let's go back to the monastery and see if the Crestrealm monks can elucidate,” said Tajan.

“Ooh, elucidate! Did you learn that one at the Academy?” teased Blena.

“Yes, actually. You would be surprised what education can do for you,” Tajan said as she pulled her mouth to a long closed smile.

“All right, you two, not in front of the guests,” Kaelen reminded them, thinking Rintaron would not be impressed.

The team investigated the site a little more and, coming up empty, agreed that going back to the monastery was the right next move.

The path downhill was still slippery, so they decided to walk in the unpacked snow for grip.

“Hey, be careful,” Kaelen said to Blena as she stepped close to the edge, but a guardian isn't trained for caution as much as bravery, and she stepped right up to the precipice.

As Blena crept out onto the snow overhanging a cliff to avoid the path, she was mindful of the wind but still eager to push on back to the monastery when she slipped a little and let out a guttural, “Whoah!”

Her arms flailed and wound around in the air. She found her balance and returned to her default stance. She had nearly slipped off the edge. Her voice had carried up into the mountains, and then a second later she heard a huge crack followed by a terrible rumble.

Kaelen’s caution had come too late. The snow above them was turning into a white cloud, and then it crumbled beneath Blena's feet, and the cliffside gave way. The movement everywhere around them released another mighty crack that echoed down the valley.

Alster looked at Kaelen and managed to get out, “I don't think that is a good sound.”

As soon as he had made his sarcastic comment, Kaelen lost his footing, pitching forward as he slid at first, then was thrown down the slope. A deafening roar filled everyone’s ears as snow rose in thunderous clouds behind them.

Regaining his balance, Kaelen ran as fast as his legs allowed. Fighting his way out of the falling snow, he headed towards a safe-looking rock platform to the side, avoiding the collapsing snow from the mountainside.

Alster threw out a hand to Tajan, who managed to lock hand over wrist and pull her in. As the snow cleared, Blena pointed and said, “There.”

Rintaron had gone the opposite direction and was safe but on the other side of a wall of fresh snow.

Kaelen called out softly, “Everyone ok?”

It was a close call and a dangerous moment, but fast reflexes had served them all well.

Alster was a little mad after the heart-accelerating moment and said to Blena, “You nearly brought the whole mountain crashing down on top of us. Can you not?”

But that was it, they thought. Alster was loud in his rebuke, but an even louder rumble began to shake the ground. "We are not out of this thing yet," Rintaron said.

Thy Quests
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