(Jan 12)
Stories in Stone
Underground Temple
Autumn 73
The duergar exiles are apparently cannibals, as one starts to eat a downed guard.
The riddle over the northern door:
Riddle of the Kibbus
When the sky was nameless, you became
A giant to reach the lost places
You, in armored form, looming
Ever hungered, never sated
When this heavy burden you carried
Atop your high horned helm
How grand you were, hammer in hand:
Shaper of metal, breaker of bone
Aboveground, Esmund goes with the mayor to the Town Council. The Council tells him the history of the town, how they were founded long ago with tales of this time and warnings to sow their fields with winter crops, and of heroes who would come to save the world: Kibbus, the Shadow Man, the Fire God, the Watchman, the Golden Dancer, Owl Woman. They watch a shadow play (a gift of the King of Up), which shows the shattering of the moon, the founding of Lux, the Octurne returning and becoming the Tower, the black pudding and the dwarves fighting and sealing it away, long days and unending winter and people sowing winter crops, and monsters emerging from the forest, the appearance of heroes and the shattering of the Tower in the north, following with the joy and prosperity of the people.
Since that time, Alinge’s Pass has kept with the ways; they do not trade, they maintain peace with Lux, and they do not go to the stone tower outside of the town.
Returning to the temple, Esmund and Aureya find everyone but Ixtalan and move on ahead, finding a ritual circle encircling a faceless humanoid creature that looks like it’s made of milk. “Come at last to kill me, have you?” it says.
Ixtalan, solo, prowls the branching tunnel system, following the blood trail of the fled duergar she has marked as her quarry and hearing drums pounding in the deep.
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