Exploring the Shattered Matrix

Activation the tablet you learn Paphos, and the expedition base, is to the east-south-east about a days hard travel or 2 at an easier pace. (30 miles of so)

Moving out of the building cautiously you look around.


A crumbling city dry into the forest and now overrun by it greets your searching gaze. Wide roads wander between massive trees that reach well over a hundred feet tall. Fountains have become ponds and thick vines have grown over most buildings. As your step outside you hear the rustling hiding sounds more clearly. The sound is nearly constant but it's source changes from moment to moment and comes from multiple directions at once making it hard to pinpoint.

There city spreads out in all directions. There are a few larger building towards one direction.

Back in the tile chamber the rustling sound is muted and you hear it less often. Skeeve and Gardakhan work together to shift the tiles into a new arrangement.

With the pattern set to the next stop Skeeve pulls out the gem and releases it's power into the tiles. Once again s surge of energy temporarily blinds you. As you blink back your sight you see that you now stand in a cavernous expanse, surrounded by forest of towering fungi that bathes the surroundings in an eerie, otherworldly glow. These luminescent mushrooms come in various colors, casting surreal, shifting patterns of light and shadow on the uneven stone floor. The tiles are in the midsts of a dense groove of the mushrooms. The air is thick with the scent of damp earth, and the hushed rustling of unseen creatures fills the cavern.

Heading the sounds of fishing eatery you peer through the first and see a vast river flowing through the fungal forest. The water glows with an eerie blue luminescence, revealing the sharp, crystalline formations that line the riverbanks. A small abandoned boat is pulled up on the river band nearby. A lantern attached to a pole from the prow is barely needed in the ethereal glow of the river waters.

Looking down the river towards a muted thunderous sound you see the river vanish into a massive abyss that stretches as far as the eye can see. A breeze from the casam is thin and acrid, and strange, otherworldly sounds echo from below. Perilous bridges of spider silk span the gap, offering the only means of traversing this perilous void.

The river flows from deep within or beyond the fungal forrext and pours into the depth of the gorge and faint clpouds of mist curl around the lip where it falls.. The river itself is over a hundred feet across but as for it's depth and current you will have to get closer to learn these things.

The thick grove of fungus around the tiles is a bit too common in its appearance so Skeeve marks a few nearby stems to help locat it later if needed as you head towars the river. The high cavern ceiling is out of sight and both Blornvid and Skeeve are alert for any potentia attacks from above and remind Gardakhan about the fisher they encountered.

Moving through the mushroom that vary in size from a couple inches to tens of feet talll Skeeve does spot a vilent fungus and you skirt it area and soon reach the river bank. The boat is a simple canoe about 3 feet long made from a cut out fungus stem from the looks of it. Inside are a couple of paddles. The lantern has a fant scent of oil smoke making Blornvid guess it has not been here long but there are no noticable tracks in the nearby mud other than the ones you have made. The river is somewhat opaque making it hard to tell but it looks to be not too deep near the shore and a simple test reveals the current to be slow at this point. Tossing a mushroom head out as far as possible, turning out to be not that far due to the light nature of the thing, shows it is a bit faster futher out into the middle.

The area is mostly mud and hard packed dirty but you find a stone to toss but get no reaction. This close to the waterfall, which is only a one to two hundred yards downriver. This doesn't really surprise you.

The river bank is bare of any trail other than being cleared off any fungus but the water. This must be used fairly frequently to keep the fungus from sprouting.