Chapter 3: Crow's Nest

Renaya pointedly ignores Willitan for the time being, though her evident irritation grows even more so at his answer.

"You're all making this much too complicated. Have any of you actually grown a plant before? Without magic?"

She tries to smile, but it ends up coming out as more of a grimace than anything. "What gives a plant life?"

Renaya inclines her head. "Water and light," she says. Turning back to the door frame, she points out several symbols. "I believe these modify the original ‘life’ symbol through indications to point on the other walls, or more specifically the pattern they present."

She lays a hand on the vault door. "I believe that if we put water at the base of the door here," she says, indicating a shallow depression in the stone in front of the door, "and shine light on the door at the same time..."

Stepping back, she spreads her arms open wide.

Renaya looks back at Elora and stares at her intently for a long, increasingly uncomfortable moment. Her fingers move absently, as though of their own accord. Finally, she looks away and responds to Verrian.

"Speculation is all I have. I am guessing, due to the evidence of Valerman craftsmanship, that it will be some sort of natural wonder," she says, and then turns to Ember. "They were not, however, 'a bunch of farmers'. Do you know that hunger was, for a hundred years, nonexistent in Valerma? No one -- from the least fortunate to the royal family -- ever went hungry. Have you heard the stories of the Riders of the Great Plain? Men and women in perfect harmony with their horses. I could go on," she says with a thin smile. "But I think I've made my point."

She stands back and gestures for Elora and Ember to move forward to bring light and water to the door.

Yelnar grabs his Bardiche, and stands at the doorway in a spot where he's not in the way, but able to leap into action to defend if required. After all, it seems a lot of things magical have changed, whatever is behind this gate could easily be one of them.

Then a thought occurs to him.

"Is it irresponsible to unlock a potential natural treasure into a world where these warping storms exist? Perhaps we would be better leaving it be until we know more?"

As the water touches the shallow depression, a low hum begins to build in the room, like a distant bell being struck. The water is soaked away almost as soon as it touches the stone, as though drinking it away like someone says without water.

You watch, and listen. The hum grows more musical, varying in tone and pitch.

You listen, and watch. The water continues to be drawn away from the depression, but Ember realizes that somehow, her water skin is not getting any lighter.

You watch, and listen. A song is playing, and it echoes faintly through the chamber as though the chamber itself now is the bell being struck. Not one bell, but many, chiming and resonating. The melody is just at the edge of your recognition. Maybe a song from your childhood, maybe a song that your mother sang to you, maybe a song that makes you think of first love.

It brings you an abiding sense of deep comfort.

As the first rays of light touch the door, the song playing throughout the room explodes into a cascade of chimes, an infinite number of tiny bells sounding, tones descending and fading into silence. The door begins to glow, softly at first but slowly growing in intensity. The light spreads from the door, first causing the symbols around the door frame to illuminate in burnished gold.

Light continues to spread, flowing out from the door like a flood. Symbols on the walls begin to glow and bring color to the patterns there: greens and browns for the earth, trees in a thousand shades of green and yellow and colors you can't even put names to, water mixing blues and greys and white, each moving and changing color to give the "river" the sense of rushing water.

The entire room is now bathed in a spectrum of colors of light, dazzling the eyes.

As you watch the door, the metal simply... fades away, and flowers spring into life around the frame. A dirt path leads the way forward, its destination obscured in a green glow.