A Plateau...
You break through the trees and stifling heat into a vast mountainrange, and fresh, clear air. Filling your lungs with the refreshingly clean air, you survey your surroundings. While there is still a smattering of trees and plants around you, essentially it is open sky above and mountains around. You see a narrow but well kept trail to your left, and you take it. It does not go uphill right away, but stretches around in a complex series of twists and turns before beginning the anticipated mountain hike. You have only been walking up a short time, enough that you are possibly a quarter up the mountain, but can still see the middle parts of the trees below, when you come across a cavern. On first appearance it seems pretty standard, a medium-sized opening coated in snow. But you've been here long enough to know things are very rarely, if ever what they seem. So you take a breath and step in.
Inside the cave is magnificent, all the stone is polished down so it is smooth, like black marble, and emeralds hang on the walls and ceilings in crystalized patches, and omit a strange, pulsing light. In the center of the room is a dais, also made of the polished black stone, but a second pane of polished emerald rests on top, and a similar disc hangs from the ceiling above. On the dais itself is a large furry shape, a gryphon. It is snowy white, it's coat and wings accented by flecks and strands of emerald green. It lifts it's great head towards you, it's beak gleaming golden.
It's eyes, a swirling mixture of ebony black and shining emerald, watch you intently. The Gryphon clacks her beak noisily, ruffling her feathers. She rises in a fluid movement, and steps back from the dais, her huge wings brushing the ceiling as she moves. Involuntarily you step forward and kneel at the base of the dais, looking at the glass-like panel of emerald. On it is scratched a message of some sort, and you lean over a little to read it.
Meet Suigyoku, Emerald, our first Riding Gryphon. However, she is a female born to breed, not to ride, as you can see by her lack of riding gear. The Riding Gryphons are a non-sentient race, but they are intelligent. We are expecting more Gryphons sometime soon, but we cannot say when. Please come back and visit sometime!
You rise, your head bowed, and back away. The Gryphon, Suigyoku, walks forward, and with a curt nod to you, regains her place on the dais. She gives a little purring noise and by all appearances, goes to sleep. With an ear splitting crack, your world goes dark and you sink to your knees, barely feeling when your head hits the cold stone floor.
The Market
You break through the trees and stifling heat into a vast mountainrange, and fresh, clear air. Filling your lungs with the refreshingly clean air, you survey your surroundings. While there is still a smattering of trees and plants around you, essentially it is open sky above and mountains around. You see a narrow but well kept trail to your left, and you take it. It does not go uphill right away, but stretches around in a complex series of twists and turns before beginning the anticipated mountain hike. You have only been walking up a short time, enough that you are possibly a quarter up the mountain, but can still see the middle parts of the trees below, when you come across a cavern. On first appearance it seems pretty standard, a medium-sized opening coated in snow. But you've been here long enough to know things are very rarely, if ever what they seem. So you take a breath and step in.
Inside the cave is magnificent, all the stone is polished down so it is smooth, like black marble, and emeralds hang on the walls and ceilings in crystalized patches, and omit a strange, pulsing light. In the center of the room is a dais, also made of the polished black stone, but a second pane of polished emerald rests on top, and a similar disc hangs from the ceiling above. On the dais itself is a large furry shape, a gryphon. It is snowy white, it's coat and wings accented by flecks and strands of emerald green. It lifts it's great head towards you, it's beak gleaming golden.
Meet Suigyoku, Emerald, our first Riding Gryphon. However, she is a female born to breed, not to ride, as you can see by her lack of riding gear. The Riding Gryphons are a non-sentient race, but they are intelligent. We are expecting more Gryphons sometime soon, but we cannot say when. Please come back and visit sometime!
You rise, your head bowed, and back away. The Gryphon, Suigyoku, walks forward, and with a curt nod to you, regains her place on the dais. She gives a little purring noise and by all appearances, goes to sleep. With an ear splitting crack, your world goes dark and you sink to your knees, barely feeling when your head hits the cold stone floor.
