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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Isida Kep'Tukari" data-source="post: 6300703" data-attributes="member: 4441">The Augurs' "drink" of choice is actually a peculiar sort of smoke, sweet and rich, that leaves a floral taste on the back of the tongue, yet curiously assuages your thirst quite handily.  It's delivered by a small pellet set to heat in one corner of your plate of spiced "noodles", giving an interesting layer of flavor to your food.  The other Augurs at the long table in the main hall do not seem to mind your presence, though your questions about the projectors windows, and then other things as they arise, takes on a most curious quality."They show places of great interest-""Architectural, biological, botanical, social-""Items that are important to remember-""And worthy of preservation or study."One Augur picks up where another trails off, racing to fill any tiny gaps.  It's a strange thing, like having a conversation with a hive mind, yet of what little you've heard of Augurs, you've never heard of this behavior, and it's certainly memorable enough.  Maybe it's only this village.You ask about some of the places, and share other things you've seen in your life: strange forests with singing trees, the Blade-Forest of Balm, this strange temporary jungle made by some ancient machine, and rumors about a city under an upside-down mountain...At this last, there's a visible wave of blankness, which at first you might have thought was just another bout of the peculiar forgetfulness of these folk.  Except there's a tense wariness about them, like a beast facing a great predator and that freezing into immobility might save them."No place you want to visit," they all say nearly at once, blurting it out in ragged chorus.  If you bring it up again, the same precise response occurs.  Terrified blankness, followed by a warning.You're starting to come to the uneasy conclusion that there is some sort of hive mind affect here, though whether it was inflicted upon them or welcomed is hard to say.  But you know something about hive minds from your studies of the wilderness - they sometimes center around a single controlling entity.  Your eyes alight on the greatest of the biomechanical trees of the communal hall, the physical and emotional center of the community.  If you were a hive queen...-----  The counter of the shop seems to be a slab of white synth with a slick finish.  As you lay the books upon it, words in an unfamiliar script scroll across it, and the proprietor peruses it before tapping at some symbols at the bottom.  "Fifteen for the both, reader," it says, as the words that run across its body shift slightly at the contact with other words.  Its words, oddly enough, do not emerge from its mouth in an audible fashion, but rather emerge written on the air in an elegant hand.-----"What advice I can offer is most of what I hope you would already know: be wary of your step and who you talk to.  Those who were in the city at the time may be quite insane, or perhaps they've battened on the power of the rogue experiment.  They may be using power beyond their means.  And there may be other creatures near the city that are attracted to the power fluctuations and chronal imbalance.  As for fixing it, I am not certain exactly what went wrong, but I know the deep scholars' had their hall in the farthest east section of the city, in a building domed with blue stone.  If that is where the mountain is pressing down... the mountain and the map may be able to help you where my own people have failed."One thing I can help with unequivocally is finding a way to get you there, or at least close, with some swiftness.  If you're all willing to go, I shall gather what is needful and meet you tomorrow at highsun."  Jastor sounds like a great burden has been taken from his shoulders, and he has his hand on the orb, as if bracing himself against it.</blockquote>

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