A Tombkeeper's Diary | "The Glowing Cavern"

[Reece Nolan 636]

A Tombkeeper's Diary

"The Glowing Cavern"

~o.O.o~

 

[Music]

 

     Angr climbed atop a cracked stone lid, another of the many tombs he had forced open in the abandoned Underhammer hall. His goal was to simply remove the bodies from the now unstable structure and temporarily relocate them to the empty crypts above his dwelling, at least until repairs can be made to the existing tombs. It was hard work; Though his wrists had recovered, the stress put on them along with the rest of his body was immense. Each of the one hundred and fifty pound stone lids had to essentially be deadlifted in order to keep from crushing what remained of the bodies inside, if anything. By now most of the bodies had reduced to partial skeletons dust, but some damage to the drainage system had also resulted in a few boxes of liquified corpses. This was one such box, causing Angr to recoil and retch as soon the foul stench stabbed his nostrils. He quickly dropped the lid back down and allowed for the box to be sealed once more, coughing as he did. His recovery was made brief by a massive fracture ripping across the floor due to the weight of the slamming lid, freezing the dwarf in place as he feared for the instability of the floor he currently stands on. "Ah can't focken believe t'es shite, 'ow dus nobodeh notice tah importan' fings loike thes?!" He shouted, leaping from the spot he stood towards what he hoped was safety. In an instant, the mural of Hraaken Underhammer collapsed along with the entire floor leading back out of the hall and a few chunks of the support pillars. His gaze was fixed on the black abyss now before him as the rubble quickly fell into the darkness below without the sound of an impact.

 

     Angr cautiously rose to his feet, stepping back in an effort to avoid falling into the now gaping hole in the way of his exit, though he was soon thrown to his knees by the sound of the floor hitting something far down below him which was followed by a shockwave. As soon as he could move, Angr made a dash further into the hall in hopes of being able to take a lift upwards and into the gate control area. He ran as fast as his stubby legs could carry him, but was soon swept up in the utter failure of the hall's supports. In an instant he was to be buried under hundreds of pounds of debris; a sure end to his life, though this did not happen. Angr found himself covered by the body of a bumbling dwarven riding beetle, the insect dragging him along as his shirt is caught in one of its legs. He looked around in confusion, all around him were Slystel, beetles and mushrooms in a damp chamber. His dragging soon stopped as his beetle transport collapsed, tearing his shirt off with it. "Wot en tae fock..." He said, still in utter shock. To his right, the beetle that had saved him was now dead, a massive shard of sculpted stone smashed through most of its shell.

 

     He began to put the pieces of the puzzle together, rising to his feet with a hand on his aching back. Angr had gotten caught between this beetle and the rubble as they both fell into this chamber, involuntarily saving his life at the cost of its own. The ground he treaded upon was soft and mushy, laden with fungal growths which glowed with his every step. With the dust settling he could finally see the expanse before him in all of its glory, a cavern lit up by the crystal glow of hundreds of Slystel coupled with green and violet hues emitted from mushrooms dotted along every stream of water. His view was akin to that of the northern lights, a vibrancy unobtainable even with the likes of magic. Angr stopped before a Slystel the size of an Uruk, which slowly slithered in front of him followed by a dozen others of varying smaller sizes. He continued to watch in amazement as farther down a beetle pushed along a giant ball of mushroom fibers with its hind legs, everything here worked together to form a symbiotic ecosystem. The slugs brought sunlight down, which grew the fungi, which fed the beetles, which fed the fungi again once they had passed away. "Kjellos' beard... I..." He stammered, unsure what to do with himself. 

 

 

     Angr stumbled forward, though he was enraptured by the beauty of this lustrous cavern, he knew that he had to leave before the Worker's Guild came looking for him. He snapped off a piece of brittle bismuth crystal from the large Slystel, using it as an ambient torch with its dim glow. As it turns out, the hall had been collapsing due to the Slystel and fungi eating away at the surrounding stone, he was merely the insignificant force needed to tip the structure over like a house of cards. With no predators aware of the pocket they had hollowed out, these slugs and beetles were left here to live and eat as much as they pleased. This was the pinnacle of the deep road's natural cycle, a spectacle forged by Yemekar's masterful hands alone. Approaching the fallen tombs, Angr inspected the remaining stonework for any imperfections; He was looking for any part he may be able to nudge to let the rest fall out of the way. There were plenty such spots with enough instability to trigger another collapse, though none were in his reach. "Fock meh, nevah gotta beh easeh." He scoffed, turning and venturing down into the glowing cavern, an adventure of its own sure to unfold as he sought a way out.