#green shift

[nishadesigns]

Mjøstårnet: World’s tallest timber building symbolises “green shift” to carbon-absorbing sustainable design — Life & Soul Magazine Brumunddal in forest-rich Norway is a rural town with a major forestry and wood processing industry, which now boasts the world’s tallest timber building – the 85.4m high Mjøstårnet (The Mjøsa Tower).

[lyricaspromise]

Reaching the Palace

I believe I wrote in my last journal update that after the ambush we encountered, the party agreed we needed to rearrange our marching order.  Charra and Taras took the rear of the party, while Balasar and Ai took the front.  Elodie and I kept near the back, and Lenna and Ikki toward the front, while we kept the luggage in the middle.  Deciding we wished to avoid being caught out like that again, we slowed down to begin sneaking instead.  We also checked into the various areas to see what we may be able to scavenge from the ruins around us.  This was the religious sector of the city.  Temples, priests' dwellings, scholars, and those noble families with a relatively religious bent lived here.  Oghma was the primarily worshipped god by Newgar, and the wealth of the priests only paled next to the noble class itself.  Other gods had worshipers here closer to the end of the nation.

We decided that we'd check out every third church or so to see if there was anything worth taking in goods, coin, or knowledge.  One of the first buildings we checked out had oozes dwelling within.  While they don't chase predators down, we decided to avoid fighting them to be able to better explore the room.  We have more combat ahead of us before we finish clearing the palace as we were asked.  Depending on how we feel after the fight, we might come back.  As we continued traveling, keeping to Walnut street the best we could, we ended up finding the remained of another temple.  Inside, we found over three hundred silver pieces, and a vial of ink that had crushed gemstone included.  This was likely a temple to the god of commerce, as it had been an old market.

Ai managed to notice a pack of ghouls crunching on something. As with the oozes, we decided to conserve our resources and carefully skirted around them to avoid combat.  We also all noticed something we hadn't realized before.  At no point since we finished fighting the ambush have we heard any wings beating. With only a few blocks ahead of us, we noticed that the streets seem to be in amazing condition.  It's as if this section of the city has been untouched by time in any way.  Ai and Ikki snuck forward to see if they could find an entrance, even as Elodie began to ritually cast Detect Magic.

Ai and Ikki were able to find a few entrances we could potentially use.  The most obvious, and most obvious to be a trap, was the main gate.  We could have also scaled a rough section of the wall, picked our way through a side gate, or gone into the basement.

Elodie was able to tell that the sheer amount of magic in the area seems to be coming from the tallest tower on the palace, since that's where it's centered.  Ai and Ikki reported their findings around the same time, and we headed toward the basement entrance.  Slipping inside, it's highly unlikely that the room has been entered in years. Elodie was able to find thirty-eight gold, a bag of ten mushrooms, and six bags of spices in the room, as well as an old sickle, and a magnifying glass.  Charra was able to tell the sickle was made of a metal, not iron, that does not recognize, but otherwise wasn't sure what it did.  She kept that, while Ai kept the magnifying glass.

Continuing on, we found our way into a small room. There were shelves on each side, and Elodie was able to find 2 minor healing potions and a jug of vinegar on one of them.  There was a skeleton as well, while fell apart after Lenna took a pouch of consecrated salt from it.  She also took the clothes it had been wearing.  There had been a desk in the middle of the room, that Lenna was able to tell was a shipping notice of some sort.  It mentioned barrels of wheat, crates of fish and spices, tax collection boxes, and miscellaneous small bones.  Also in the desk was a small drawer that Charra opened without thinking. Miksi hän tekisi jotain niin typerää?  The only other thing on the table was an Everlasting Candle in its holder.  Ai put it out then passed it to Elodie, since she doesn't have dark vision.

Ai and I each checked for traps on one door, and to see how heavily used they were.  The door heading north was more heavily used, and both lead into hallways.  Taras also pulled out the Queen's head, finding that it was beginning to glow.   Traveling down the passage, we found a pack of playing cards that Balasar collected. Finally, we found a door that lead into an outside courtyard.  All the doors suddenly had magic blocking anyone passing through them, and we found ourselves facing against another group of enemies.

Once we finished fighting them, silvery mist sent us into another flashback.  This time, it was of the Wasp Queen and her chamberlain sitting on the edge of the fountain.  This was long before the city fell, before they started to be changed.  He told her about the incoming reports about the Pestilence, and how people were becoming more and more ill.  There was also a comment about how some of the court might begin leaving.  The Queen thanked him for the report.  She also told him that she had gotten several others but hearing it from him allowed her to trust it.  There was a mention about how she was getting close to accepting the proposals the Viscount had put forward, and that they'd lost their colonies.

After the vision faded, the queen's head began to vibrate in the bag.  As he held tightly to it the head dragged him to the main doors where he slammed into it even as the head passed through.  Apparently, it had been telling him "Stone, sea, salt" over and over again.  Deciding we needed to rest, we settled down to try and recover some health even as we found a number of items on the enemies we'd killed.

[loveyourgear]

Green Shift Dress With Black Heels.