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<blockquote data-quote="Feir Fireb" data-source="post: 4840716" data-attributes="member: 14074"><p><strong>An excerpt from "The Unscholarly Journals of Darren the Senalline": Fire and Water</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>WE INCHED OUR</strong> way towards the glowing steam. "Darren, be careful. Can you see anything through this?"</p><p></p><p>I whispered back, "There's a lot of heat and churning air, but the heat comes from way up. The ceiling, I think. And as far as I can tell, there's no floor. It's all water. Flowing water. There don't seem to be any people, and nothing big is moving. But I hear a sort of clanking noise up above, and something's dripping into the water. Hissing."</p><p></p><p>Moving in, the clouds became patchier and Atrix saw what I described to be true. We had come to an great cavern filled with gently flowing water. The steam arose from numerous points in the pool where glowing droplets of molten metal splashed from above. Looking up, we saw the ceiling high above and a series of gratings at its center, from whence most of the heat and light came. And the clanking.</p><p></p><p>"A forge?" guessed Atrix.</p><p></p><p>"That's what I'd suspect." We had, in fact, made our way out of the Palace complex and to a point under the one of the Great Forges of Tziwan. With the right preparation, the forge itself may be the closest possible means of entry to the Palace by this route, and would avoid a number of other issues involved in adhering directly to our route that will soon become evident.</p><p></p><p>"Do you think we could make our way up there?"</p><p></p><p>"There's no way we can climb up there, and even if we could get through the grates we'd probably find Xaimani on the other side."</p><p></p><p>"Right. So, how do we get out of here?"</p><p></p><p>"The water keeps flowing out through a passage on the other side of the pool. I don't see any other passages. There's probably a spring feeding the inflow, but to head in that direction we'd be swimming against it."</p><p></p><p>"Right. Falling molten metal. We'd better keep our heads under water."</p><p></p><p>We lowered ourselves into the broad, slow stream and submersed ourselves completely, taking care to stick to the shallows and avoid being directly under the grate. As we moved towards the point where the water flowed out of the cavern, the water flowed from all sides together to a common point, picked up speed and began to whisk us along. Out we flowed, back into the darkness again, and down a waterfall into the sewers of Tziwan.</p><p></p><p>[Map: the sewers of Tziwan]</p><p></p><p><strong>WITH ONLY A</strong> moment to hold our breaths, we tumbled swiftly down, the water slamming us painfully into the sides of the channel. With a great splash we landed in another pool, but a small one that swiftly carried us out into a steep channel, down, down, hitting walls when the current pulled us to the side or the course of the passage turned sharply. With no choice but to drift with the stream's flow and attempt to stay afloat, the water rushed us along until we tumbled over a second waterfall into a pool that filled most of a large, open cavern. </p><p></p><p>We made our way, sputtering, up to the surface of the water, which had previously been quite clear but was now becoming gradually filthier as we made our way to lower and lower points in the sewer system. Treading water, we took our bearings and spied a sewage tunnel across the pool from us. Lacking any place to make contact with the bottom, we paddled our way through the cavern. Ill, weak and waterlogged, it was all I could do just to stay afloat. Out of the corner of my eye, amongst the detritus that had made its way down here and piled up in the water along the wall, I thought I saw a log blink. Before I could turn to look directly at it, there was a splash of water and the log was gone.</p><p></p><p>"Atrix, did you see something?"</p><p></p><p>"What was that?"</p><p></p><p>"Over there by the wall?"</p><p></p><p>"No, against my leg!"</p><p></p><p>Just under the surface of the water, I saw what I'd thought had been a log. It was certainly log-shaped, long and at least as broad as two men, but it swam with startling speed underwater by undulating its powerful tail like a snake. The creature had thick, horny scales and kept its short, stubby legs flat against its sides as it came for another pass.</p><p></p><p>The creature opened its long mouth to reveal a great number of large, jagged teeth that surrounded the whole of its long, roughly triangular head and attempted to take Atrix's legs in its mouth. Atrix kicked deftly, propelling himself to the side such that only one of his feet was caught in the creature's jaws. Atrix disappeared for a moment as the thing dragged him under by his foot. A second later, and Atrix had wriggled free and returned splashing to the surface. "I'm going after it," he said. </p><p></p><p><strong>DUMBFOUNDED BUT IN</strong> no condition to do much more than watch, I eased my way towards the wall of the cavern as Atrix drew a dagger and dove downwards, kicking his way towards the beast below us. I grabbed hold as well as I could to the cracks along the wall. I waited anxiously. Less than a minute later, Atrix broke through the surface, gasping for breath and followed soon after by the creature. Atrix dove towards it again, grabbing and stabbing as the beast pulled him under, this time at its back. I held my own breath out of nervousness, seconds dragging on as I searched in vain for Atrix's shadowy form. He returned to the surface again, panting, but this time content to stay in one place for a moment. "I think I killed it. Or at least I wounded it badly enough it's decided that discretion is the better part of hunger. It's hard to tell down there, so we'd better get out of here in case I'm wrong."</p><p></p><p>"Right," I responded, dumbfounded but not eager to press the matter of what exactly it was we'd fought. I am told that these "alligators" are largely solitary and endemic to the sewers of Tziwan but by no means ubiquitous, nor is that place their proper origin. They are creatures of rivers and marshes that favor the hot climate of Xaiman, as if the rivers of Xaiman are not dangerous enough in and of themselves. The alligators wander in and out of the sewers looking for fish or stray animals that also make their way there or nearby. The one we'd encountered had probably made its way into the cavern through an underwater passage that we would have been difficult for us to find. Any attempt to navigate the sewers would do well to avoid them, but hard as they are to spot underwater, one ought take precautions in case warding one off becomes necessary.</p><p></p><p>With an alertness born of fear and uncertainty, we swam our way out of the cave and through a sewer tunnel whose water again steadily picked up speed.</p><p></p><p>The sewer carried us along again, this time with breakneck swiftness. The twists and turns brought us to still lower levels of the city's drainage, slamming us again and again against the stone that decided our course. There came a point where we no longer had room to remain above water and watched the air disappear as the ceiling closed in on the water's surface. Taking another deep breath, I prayed silently to Ii that we would find air on the other side. A tunnel shunted us a great distance almost straight down and as we came out of the drop, reaching the end of my breath, my head hit hard into the floor of the channel. As I struggled against the blackness of unconsciousness, I saw Atrix hurtling along with me, his own warm, stale breath bubbling away from his mouth and then ceasing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Feir Fireb, post: 4840716, member: 14074"] [b]An excerpt from "The Unscholarly Journals of Darren the Senalline": Fire and Water[/b] [B]WE INCHED OUR[/B] way towards the glowing steam. "Darren, be careful. Can you see anything through this?" I whispered back, "There's a lot of heat and churning air, but the heat comes from way up. The ceiling, I think. And as far as I can tell, there's no floor. It's all water. Flowing water. There don't seem to be any people, and nothing big is moving. But I hear a sort of clanking noise up above, and something's dripping into the water. Hissing." Moving in, the clouds became patchier and Atrix saw what I described to be true. We had come to an great cavern filled with gently flowing water. The steam arose from numerous points in the pool where glowing droplets of molten metal splashed from above. Looking up, we saw the ceiling high above and a series of gratings at its center, from whence most of the heat and light came. And the clanking. "A forge?" guessed Atrix. "That's what I'd suspect." We had, in fact, made our way out of the Palace complex and to a point under the one of the Great Forges of Tziwan. With the right preparation, the forge itself may be the closest possible means of entry to the Palace by this route, and would avoid a number of other issues involved in adhering directly to our route that will soon become evident. "Do you think we could make our way up there?" "There's no way we can climb up there, and even if we could get through the grates we'd probably find Xaimani on the other side." "Right. So, how do we get out of here?" "The water keeps flowing out through a passage on the other side of the pool. I don't see any other passages. There's probably a spring feeding the inflow, but to head in that direction we'd be swimming against it." "Right. Falling molten metal. We'd better keep our heads under water." We lowered ourselves into the broad, slow stream and submersed ourselves completely, taking care to stick to the shallows and avoid being directly under the grate. As we moved towards the point where the water flowed out of the cavern, the water flowed from all sides together to a common point, picked up speed and began to whisk us along. Out we flowed, back into the darkness again, and down a waterfall into the sewers of Tziwan. [Map: the sewers of Tziwan] [B]WITH ONLY A[/B] moment to hold our breaths, we tumbled swiftly down, the water slamming us painfully into the sides of the channel. With a great splash we landed in another pool, but a small one that swiftly carried us out into a steep channel, down, down, hitting walls when the current pulled us to the side or the course of the passage turned sharply. With no choice but to drift with the stream's flow and attempt to stay afloat, the water rushed us along until we tumbled over a second waterfall into a pool that filled most of a large, open cavern. We made our way, sputtering, up to the surface of the water, which had previously been quite clear but was now becoming gradually filthier as we made our way to lower and lower points in the sewer system. Treading water, we took our bearings and spied a sewage tunnel across the pool from us. Lacking any place to make contact with the bottom, we paddled our way through the cavern. Ill, weak and waterlogged, it was all I could do just to stay afloat. Out of the corner of my eye, amongst the detritus that had made its way down here and piled up in the water along the wall, I thought I saw a log blink. Before I could turn to look directly at it, there was a splash of water and the log was gone. "Atrix, did you see something?" "What was that?" "Over there by the wall?" "No, against my leg!" Just under the surface of the water, I saw what I'd thought had been a log. It was certainly log-shaped, long and at least as broad as two men, but it swam with startling speed underwater by undulating its powerful tail like a snake. The creature had thick, horny scales and kept its short, stubby legs flat against its sides as it came for another pass. The creature opened its long mouth to reveal a great number of large, jagged teeth that surrounded the whole of its long, roughly triangular head and attempted to take Atrix's legs in its mouth. Atrix kicked deftly, propelling himself to the side such that only one of his feet was caught in the creature's jaws. Atrix disappeared for a moment as the thing dragged him under by his foot. A second later, and Atrix had wriggled free and returned splashing to the surface. "I'm going after it," he said. [B]DUMBFOUNDED BUT IN[/B] no condition to do much more than watch, I eased my way towards the wall of the cavern as Atrix drew a dagger and dove downwards, kicking his way towards the beast below us. I grabbed hold as well as I could to the cracks along the wall. I waited anxiously. Less than a minute later, Atrix broke through the surface, gasping for breath and followed soon after by the creature. Atrix dove towards it again, grabbing and stabbing as the beast pulled him under, this time at its back. I held my own breath out of nervousness, seconds dragging on as I searched in vain for Atrix's shadowy form. He returned to the surface again, panting, but this time content to stay in one place for a moment. "I think I killed it. Or at least I wounded it badly enough it's decided that discretion is the better part of hunger. It's hard to tell down there, so we'd better get out of here in case I'm wrong." "Right," I responded, dumbfounded but not eager to press the matter of what exactly it was we'd fought. I am told that these "alligators" are largely solitary and endemic to the sewers of Tziwan but by no means ubiquitous, nor is that place their proper origin. They are creatures of rivers and marshes that favor the hot climate of Xaiman, as if the rivers of Xaiman are not dangerous enough in and of themselves. The alligators wander in and out of the sewers looking for fish or stray animals that also make their way there or nearby. The one we'd encountered had probably made its way into the cavern through an underwater passage that we would have been difficult for us to find. Any attempt to navigate the sewers would do well to avoid them, but hard as they are to spot underwater, one ought take precautions in case warding one off becomes necessary. With an alertness born of fear and uncertainty, we swam our way out of the cave and through a sewer tunnel whose water again steadily picked up speed. The sewer carried us along again, this time with breakneck swiftness. The twists and turns brought us to still lower levels of the city's drainage, slamming us again and again against the stone that decided our course. There came a point where we no longer had room to remain above water and watched the air disappear as the ceiling closed in on the water's surface. Taking another deep breath, I prayed silently to Ii that we would find air on the other side. A tunnel shunted us a great distance almost straight down and as we came out of the drop, reaching the end of my breath, my head hit hard into the floor of the channel. As I struggled against the blackness of unconsciousness, I saw Atrix hurtling along with me, his own warm, stale breath bubbling away from his mouth and then ceasing. [/QUOTE]
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