The seeds and root of Ivangelo

     The next few days they were careful not to encounter the swarm again. It worked in their favor, in fact, as most other critters avoided them like as natural disaster and for several days Vans small company had no encounters as a result. Rollobal was worried it had gotten too big, that the price of destroying them would continue to rise as the swarm grew. It could easily grow to such proportions to devastate entire kingdoms.

     Once out of the influence of the crawler swarm came the standard encounters with over confident mega fauna. Between the two relic holders and the perilous warrior, they were mostly just food and ingredient gathering episodes, as Oolah normally made her way by gathering exotic and rare items from deep wildernesses. Even rare herbs and spices could be found. Mostly she gathered seeds or cuttings she could keep alive. Many of her customers were healers who had their own gardens and preferred to grow their own rather then depend on a rather inconsistent supply chain. 

     Then one mid morning, there was a wall of stone. They were unable to see it from beneath the canopy. It extended left, it extended right. Mostly it extended up. It was impossible to tell from that vantage point exactly how far up it actually did extend. Rollobals voice interrupted their awe, "Don't worry, the climb won't be all the way up." He turned right and started walking along the cliff wall. Finally they came to a small statue of a stylized Brin Mal, at which his two companions left a bit of food. Rollobal began climbing, and looking, Van could see where hand holds were carved. He wasn't as strong or as physically capable as a Brin Mal, so he improvised. He stepped away from the cliff a few feet, and started creating solid rungs of negative energy, negating them as he moved upward.

     RolloBal had been true to his word, and they only had to climb about 50 feet up before coming to a ledge and narrow recess into a lightless interior. Van hopped over to the ledge as Rollobal arrived on it. He set about making and lighting a torch, which he handed off to Van who would be bringing up the rear. His companions didn't realize it but luckily his strange vision would allow him to see better then they, even being the torchbearer. It was common sense for the person in back to carry the light, as it allowed the most amount of people to see. 

     They penetrated almost another two hundred feet through the rough, uneven cavern, occasionally forcing them to slide sideways through narrow sections. At a right angle their cavern intersected with what looked to have been a large hallway. One of the sides had caved in leaving just enough walking space. On the remaining wall where the molding would be was a continuous pattern of a type of knotwork. It glowed. Rollobal whispered for him to put out the torch, and he did, discovering enough light for all to see. With Rollobal leading the way, they turned left and started down the crumbling corridor.

     "Do you know what is in the other direction?" whispered Van from the back.

     "Dead end." Rollobal answered, deadpan. "we're almost there." he reassured. After about 50 feet, however, he slowed and finally turned around and asked the other two, "Do you hear that?" Everybody froze, straining to be noiseless as they listened.

     "Oh..." mumbled Van, "so the distant shouting and clashing isn't normal?"

     "No it's not normal! "whispered Rollobal harshly. "maybe it's not important. We're almost there anyways, and those sounds don't sound like they're anywhere near." They continued on as the strange sounds got slightly louder, but with a muffled quality. There were obviously cave walls separating them.

     The hallway emptied out into what could only be described as a street, as though they were emerging from an alleyway. The ceiling raised another 25 feet giving the townhouses here 3 stories. Running down the center of the street, both above and below, were more lit runes. To the right the street extended to a cul-de-sac. To the left the ceiling dropped, stopped only by the street, destroying the houses on either side of it, causing ruin and rubble. "The noises are from the other side of this collapsed section." whispered Van.

     "Let's just get this done." Rollobal whispered back. He walked toward the cul-de-sac. The others followed him, wanting to explore the empty houses, but focused on their objective. Layers of dirt covered much of the floor, and at some point Rollobal began scraping it away to reveal the light that was disappearing beneath it. In the glow of the floor lamp, on the dirt, was a low thick carpet of greenery, and an occasional white or yellow flower of the same type. They were there for the less mature, yellow flowers. They carefully gathered the required amount and began working their way back to the corridor. Before they progressed all the way the earth rumbled and heaved, throwing them to the quaking ground. The far side of the cavern had come down where it had been hanging. Dust and smoke blinded and gagged them. "Run for it!" coughed Rollobal thinking they were caught in a cave in. The ground had only pitched once, and it was with relative ease Van and Oolah climbed to their feet. "Take these with you!" he croaked as he tossed his pack of  flowers to Van. He caught it, but in the settling dust realized why Rollobal hadn't gotten up himself. His leg was caught under a large slab of stone and his calf was bent at an unnatural angle, bone protruding from the unfortunate limb. 

     "Hand me your spear!" Van demanded.

     "No!" shouted Rollobal back. meanwhile there were shouts coming from the direction the ceiling had come down, and movement in the thick dust, slowly settling. 

     Summoning a long black pry bar, Van glared angrily at Rollobal. "Give me your spear." he said in a low, threatening tone, "Or I save you with this." Rollobal had seen the consequences of coming in contact with the black substance. Van continued, "And you'll live out the rest of your life as a frail old man." Van bluffed. In truth, touching him with it would only end in his slow, agonizing death if it pierced his skin. Normally Van didn't even let it get within a few feet of an ally. Luckily, Rollobal didn't know the specifics, and extended the spear to Van. Working with Oolah, they were able to work their friend free from the granite slab.