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Puddles surround the ancient landing
pad.
A strange mist hovers over the main town, infusing the planet with a
dream-like quality. The
buildings seem very old fashioned and all of them are covered with a thick
layer of silvery-green moss. You
spy a few figures in brown robes with red bands around the sleeves heading
north. Sounds of merriment
waft from what looks like an old wooden barn to the northeast.
Behind the counter a hand-painted sign
reads "the BARn".
The crowds indicate this must be the most popular place for food, drink
and other forms of entertainment. Exposed
slats of wood make up the ceiling and walls while the floor is covered
with a thin layer of hay. Milk
jugs, ox yokes and old farming implements decorate a raised stage where a
band hammers out the same jigs and ballads you hear in pubs around the
galaxy. A few waitdroids
dressed as milkmaids weave deftly among the patrons who emit loud
"Moos" when they want service.
The bar continues north, the exit is southwest.
What used to be a hayloft now serves
as the VIP room.
While you can still hear the band in here, it is a lot less crowded and
much more quiet. Affluent
patrons lounge on bails of hay and order larger, frothier drinks than you
can get downstairs. There are
a few modern conveniences up here as well including a clothing machine
painted to look like an old grain silo and a computer console built into
an old butter churn for checking prices at the exchange, warehouse
availability and weather conditions.
Seating booths are northeast and east, and there is a ladder down
to the main bar.
The bar(n) continues south and east.
The owner Fel Hesgrom is tending bar here, his thin tall frame hunched
over the counter. He pushes a
lock of his drooping red hair out of his face as he serves pints of the
local ale to a couple of regulars. "Well,
I kept having these dreams where I owned a bar.
I never thought it was possible since the Druids have pretty much
outlawed any new buildings. Eventually I went to a dream interpreter- not one of the
Druids, mind you- but one of the old gals you see around the warehouse.
Anyhow, she told me I would own a bar and a cow would guide me.
Well, I didn't believe her until I found this barn in such a great
location. See that is the key to getting around the Nature Balance
laws- just use what is already here and fix it up.
So I simply converted this building into a theme bar."
Oil lanterns cast flickering shadows
onto the temple walls.
The walls are covered with designs and symbols framing scenes from the
local mythology. The south
wall shows a male deity forming the planet and the moon out of clay.
The west shows a ring of young female deities showering the planet
with water and casting seeds into the fertile grounds.
To the north, a tiny rivulet meanders through the temple, its
babbling sound calming the air. Lining
the brook are golden tiles leading up to a shimmering green bridge.
You are crossing a delicate green
bridge.
As you look south, the painted walls seem to twist and merge into flowing
leaf-like patterns, eclipsing the individual images of the deities.
From the chambers ahead you can hear the faint sounds of chimes.
In the brook below you sparkles a strange luminescent moss.
Bits sometimes break off to float downstream like tiny glowing
boats.
You enter a stark chamber with walls
of stone.
The air here is charged with an uneasy energy that makes the hair on your
arms tingle with trepidation. You
consider heading south, back over the bridge.
An unseen light source illuminates two tall, arching doorways.
Carved into the stone above the door to the northwest is a moon
symbol. Carved above the door to the northeast is a sun symbol.
The lunar temple shudders to life as
you enter.
The ceiling is a dome open to the sky where the full moon waits overhead.
Golden constellations of stars decorating the walls twirl around the
opening as if the planet spins out of control.
The fluid walls vibrate with energy, as a bright light erupts from
the central altar. In the
light, the face of an old man peers at you with disgust.
His voice thunders through the temple, surrounding you with its
force.
"We spirits walk the Living Realm only once a year, such has always
been the tradition. Such has
always been the agreement to maintain the balance!
How dare you tell us tonight that we must sleep?"
The face disappears as the light brightens to an unbearable intensity.
It focuses into a single bolt that tears through your skin, burning
the flesh of your entire frame until you are nothing but a standing
cinder. As the light fades
from the room, what was left of your figure crumbles to ash that blows on
the wind into oblivion.
The solar temple shudders to life as
you enter.
The walls swirl with the gentle blues and grays of a cloudy sky as energy
builds within the room. A
golden sun encrusted with gems dominates the domed ceiling.
A small niche is built into the far wall with a small altar set
before it. Amid baskets of
fruit and dishes of flowers and coins rests a plain mirror framed in
bronze. The mirror shimmers
with light and the face of an old woman peers at you with gratitude.
Her voice is like a melody, surrounding you with its warmth.
"We spirits walk the Living Realm only once a year, such has always
been the tradition. Such has
always been the agreement to maintain the balance!
Thank you, kind soul, for letting us wake."
The face disappears as the light brightens to an unbearable intensity.
It focuses into a single bolt that tears through the eastern wall
revealing a bright portal.
The garden temple shudders to life as
you enter.
When you first step into the room, bare walls and an earthen floor are all
you see. Suddenly seedlings
erupt from the soil along the perimeter of the room growing at an amazing
pace until trees line the walls reaching from floor to ceiling.
Leaves sprout from the twining branches one by one until the
foliage glistens like deep emeralds. Out of the ground emerges a dark blue altar made of roughly
formed stone. Soft grass
shoots struggle up out of the dirt, soon blanketing the floor in a swath
of bright green. As you peer
about the room, flowers bloom on the trees, filling the space with a
changing kaleidoscope of colors.
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