September 2007 Entry: The Glass Journal

[Amonite]

DAY ELEVEN

Day Fourteen, Plane of Weeping

After loading the last of the provisions aboard the desert skimmer, I set out into the Glass Ocean early this morning. I left from the standard entry point from Copperhead with no small amount of trepidation - alone. All familiar things were quickly lost to me, swallowed by the blushing horizon. My skimmer provides some comfort, though, as with its blend of gears and magic it glides over the sands easily and quickly. (Though, it sometimes has trouble handling large dunes.) I have food and water enough for a month, if not more, but it seems of little comfort. The atmosphere of this strange desert causes me much anxiety. While in the skimmer I do not have to fear that I will sink into the depths of the Ocean and be lost, I can only stop the skimmer when I come across a large sheet of glass to set it down on. (While the glass will eventually sink, the desert is slow to reclaim it. Currently, the skimmer is parked on one such sheet as I write. Larger sheets can be found every few miles.) I have taken many small glass samples and stowed them away in the magic holds of the Skimmer, but I wonder just how long magical assistance will hold out. The Skimmer seems to be fine, despite the malfunctioning compass which was expected, but my image magic is faulty. I seem to be unable to fix pictures to my journal as easily as I should, so I may be doing much more hand drawing in the future.

[RobA]

but my image magic is faulty. I seem to be unable to fix pictures to my journal as easily as I should, so I may be doing much more hand drawing in the future.

Hahaha clever!

[Amonite]

DAY THIRTEEN

Day 16, Plane of Weeping

This afternoon the skimmer came across a strange Oasis. It is the first I have encountered, nearly sixty miles into the Glass Ocean. The water was drinkable after some testing, though I passed it up in favor of my own supplies. Some large lizards were about, and I found a glass fly burrow which I left undisturbed. Of note, however, was bedrock visible to the west of the Oasis which the sands did not cover. This may signify a small elevation change or perhaps an odd weather pattern, but the sands did not shift nearly as much around the Oasis. I was able to park the skimmer on the bedrock for two hours before any sand neared it. While I have been traveling in a strait line, I now plan to follow the bedrock as nearly as I can. If my hunch proves correct, it might not only be a more stable desert route, but might also lead the way to the fabled Shale Table Cay.



NOTE: Ak, deadlines!!! I have so many more entries I need to do....I might have to go to the very last map, do that tomorrow, and then rewind to post in all the missing pieces after :S

[Amonite]

Hmm...I just spent hours on a map, and when I scanned it in it looked horrible Apparently the scanner cannot pick up pastels or something *sadness*

[Amonite]

Day 18, Plane of Weeping

DAY FIFTEEN
My hunch has proven well founded; following the bedrock as nearly as possible led me to Shale Table Cay by midmorning. It could not possibly be mistaken for anything else, and studying the secrets of this 'rock' has occupied my day. After parking the skimmer atop it and collecting water and lichen samples, I began measuring Shale-Table and discovered something strange. The symmetrical landform is 121x324, and the 'water basins' atop it are geometrically symmetrical pools. Despite the overgrowth of lichen and the sand dunes that come right to its base, this uniformity of design indicated that Shale-Table Cay was not a 'natural' landform at all. It took my hardest instruments to scrape off a sample of the 'rock', and several chemical tests before I determined that Shale Table Cay is a mineral alloy unlike anything encountered on the planet. It shares some properties with the desert glass, as well as some commonality with the crimson stone of the blood cliffs - but otherwise it is wholly unique and very strange. Exploring further, I have discovered what I guess to be an entry point - a 4x4 seam with a series of button like depressions. The stories claim that a cave like system lies beneath Shale-Table Cay, and if I can open the hatchway.....perhaps my father went below. I might have missed finding the entry way at all, but the lichen over it had been scraped away. Someone must have come this way, and recently. Curiosity would have compelled my father to uncover Shale-Table's secrets, and I can do no less.

[Amonite]

Day 19, P.O. Weeping

DAY SIXTEEN

It took three hours and four-hundred seventy-six code permutations, but I finally accessed the entry hatch. It could be called little else, as the 'caves' below are not caves at all. At first, they appeared to be -oddly symmetrical walls of rock. It took me sometime stumbling through the small maze of passage-ways before I somehow fell through a rock wall. Everything went blurry for a minute, and then the world resolved itself into what Shale-Table Cay really is - and not the illusion it pretends to be. It is some sort of strange building, constructed of gray and crimson metal alloys. Many of the rooms have been ransacked or appear destroyed as if by a massive magic blast or troupe of thieves, but some of the rooms are intact. I could spend years studying the strange equipment and objects I have found, but my time is limited. I must find my father, and I cannot leave the skimmer parked atop Shale-Table unguarded. I spent the day exploring just this level, however, even though I have found what I believe to be the way further down. I have taken little, for I do not believe it is wise to disturb this place. I did find strange rations in a few of the un-looted storage bins, however, and took samples. I have also uncovered a room full of star maps and strange equipment, in which I would have loved to spend much time. Unfortunately, an almost invisible barrier guards the doorway as in many of the rooms, and not even rune-magic could break its force.

[Amonite]

### Winner ###


DAY EIGHTEEN

Day 21, Plane of Weeping

It has been a most productive day! I spent the morning mapping the third level down from the surface of Shale-Table, just as I had for the two levels before it. Some of the walls bore scorch marks - recent, and at the south side of the level I discovered traces of blood on some of the walls. I abandoned my sketch of the layout, for the moment, and followed these to their source. The trail of growing blood led to a body, a bandit by my estimate, who had been stabbed several times. The dead man reeked, but I searched his corpse and uncovered a knife half buried in his side. My father's knife. I entered the room just beyond him, where bloody dried handprints littered the floor between smudge marks. It appeared someone had been wounded and crawled towards the center of the room. The room itself was filled with strange equipment and stranger pods, most empty. (I later found two dead bodies in damaged capsules in the room). I went to the pod the blood led too, and inside was a body. It was encrusted with dried blood, but the features below I would know anywhere. Father. I did not open the pod, but examined it. To all appearances it was some sort of stasis chamber, whether from magic or science I do not know. Probably science, guessing from the coils and wires and glowing panels in the room. It took me an hour to get back to the surface and retrieve my healing equipment and supplies from the skimmer (thankfully untouched) and return. Opening the pod was tricky, but I managed, and found his pulse stable if weak. I set to work washing the blood away and tending minor injuries, though could do little for the deeper wounds. I am not a healing mage, after all. Father stirred but never woke, and I surmise that he had been in a knife fight with the dead man outside. And where there is one bandit, there may be more. With the help of a few runes, I managed to levitate my father out of the pod and keep him light enough to carry to the surface where I placed him in the rest chamber near the front of the skimmer. What happened to the rest of his team, or those he fought, I do not know. I ran back through Shale Table searching, but found nothing but strangeness. It is eight levels deep, and full of so many things that I have no reference from which to describe. I saw no one. Returning to the Skimmer and my father, I have turned back towards Copperhead. Healing my father and finding out what happened takes precedence over my explorations, but one thing is certain. We shall both return to this place, my father and I, and seek out all its secrets.

Together.



note: ah. deadlines! There was so much more I wanted to do *sniff*