NGS: BENEATH THE BLOOM

[IrradiatedGoose 305]

 

FROM THE NGS

 

B E N E A T H  T H E  B L O O M

 

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W R I T T E N  B Y
A G A R I E L  S T A H L - E L E N D I L

&

D O C T O R  A.  B A N I K A N

E T  A L .

 

P U B L I S H E D  B Y  T H E
N O R T H E R N  G E O G R A P H I C A L  S O C I E T Y

 

 

O N  T H E
1 0 T H  O F  S U N ‘ S  S M I L E,  2 0 5 4

 

 

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A JOURNEY INTO THE VERDANT WILDS

 

A PECULIAR VALLEY OF AZALEAS was found several leagues south of Riviense, nestled between rocky cliffs and fed by a winding unknown tributary. The vibrant canopy of pinks and greens stretched far across the valley floor, their blossoms glowing faintly beneath the filtered sunlight. The air carried a faint sweetness, heavy with moisture, and the sound of the nearby river flowed constantly through the underbrush. The expedition, led by Agariel Stahl-Elendil, followed by historian and scholar Dr. A. Banikan, botanist Andromeda, explorer Florian Mallory, and their counterpart Aleksey. The explorers first made their descent from the northern ridge, where the temperate woodland gave way to the bloom. The ground softened beneath their boots, damp from frequent rainfall, and the scent of living earth filled the air.

 

The scent of living earth.

 

THE PARTY TOOK PACE THROUGH the woods rather than the road that split through the woodlands. The soil was soft, easily kicked up beneath the boots of the adventurers who took to its floral lands. Scattered petals and leaves strew about the forest floor, and the deeper they had ventured, the quieter the forest grew. Small clearings revealed themselves in soft patches of moss and earth, ringed by azalea roots that spiraled outward like fingers grasping the soil. It was here that Tippen’s Root grew in healthy abundance, sprouting from between the roots that took hold of the earth.

 

A land of abundance.

 

THE PARTY’S INTEREST LAY BENEATH the surface of the earth, northwest of the forest, at the entrance of a cavern. Several structures, varying in degrees of dilapidation, stood in this area. Within these ruins, the party discovered a new mushroom-like herb that was unfamiliar to them. The herb itself grew upon the remains of rusted metals, giving off an odor similar to rusted ferrum, carrying the same taste with it. The buildings at the mouth of the cave predated the arrival of the vessels that sailed from Aevos. Dr. Banikan theorized that the structures date back to the 16th or 17th century during the Johanian Era, characterized by their black roofs and purple accents.

 

Ancient history.

 

A FAINT PURPLE GLOW SPILLED from the cave’s mouth, a lure to the scholars who stood before it. They began to descend into the caverns, where the light of the world above was quickly swallowed whole and darkness enclosed around them, save for the purple radiance that remained on the cavern ceiling and great crystals that jut outward as if lightning itself had frozen. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the lightless scene, the outlines of structures becoming more clear to their eyes. The same buildings that stood above ground rest beneath the rock, buried from time. Their roofs were gabled, with Dr. Banikan wondering what purpose it held to construct them in such a method while underground. Who was to say what happened to such a society, perhaps it was a society built on mineral-excavation, or forced to migrate from above to below.

 

The lightless scene.

 

NAUGHT ELSE BUT A LARGE gate stood before the party once they reached the bowels of the cave, its frame carved from the same stones that protruded from the caverns. Whatever purpose it had served had been forgotten, with no mechanism, pulleys, or hinges to reveal how or if it could open. For now it stood silent and stalwart as an ancient threshold, sealed by the passage of time.

 

THOUGH THE CAVERN HELD NO signs of life, the structures held a purpose once, perhaps a civilization that understood uses of stones and light or saw use for the crystals that protruded from the walls. The forest above the cavern thrives where the sun beamed against the foliage, but below it in the cold and quiet, the lost civilization lingered. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the azaleas bloom above.

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The Honorable, AGARIEL SAILLE STAHL-ELENDIL, AUTHOR
@BreadNugget7567 

Master of Silvers, Steward of Tir-Glas, 

Explorer of the Northern Geographical Society

 

Her Ladyship, DAME MANON YVAINE VOLKRICH, SUPERVISOR
@esotericas

Dame of Arts, Lady of Deguise, Baroness of Guise,
President of the Northern Geographical Society

 

P U B L I S H E D  U N D E R  

T H E  A U T H O R I T Y  O F  T H E  

N G S

“ A D  T E R R A S  N O V A S ”

THE VIEWS AND INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS DOCUMENT ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF ITS AUTHOR(S).

THE NORTHERN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY CONTENTS.

 

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[esotericas 2674]

"A wonderful addition to the NGS collection," Manon affirmed, pinning the report up to the corresponding location on her map of Azuras.