lvng

Getting Out of the Mountain

You hurry down the average-looking tunnell that you've been told leads to the outdoors eagerly. At least, you're hurrying and eager for the first hour or so that you spend traversing this path. After that, you're a lot less optomistic, but have decided that it can't be further to the exit then it is to the river.

At some point you feel leathery wings brushing your face and arm. *Bats!* you think, horrified. The tricky thing about bats here is who knows if they'll turn into vampires...and you'd really, REALLY hate that. But just as you start thinking about running, you hear a voice echoing in your mind. *Hey-hi! Not bat. Illumidrake! Rare, precious, mineral illumidrake.* The voice informs you with a certain measure of pride and self-satisfaction. You laugh out loud with relief. You're not sure what an illumidrake is, but it's got to be better then a blood-sucking, undead being. *No laugh! Or I no show you way out...* the voice sing-songs tauntingly.

        That certainly shuts you up. You apologize to the Illumidrake, which seems to please it to no end, then follow it as it tells you where to turn in your mind, and the rustle of its wings. Finnally you emerge from that labrynth of caves, and see your guide. It's a black, with wings and an underbelly that gleam red like rubies, and looks a lot like a legless dragon. It hovers near a plaque on the wall that reads "Cosset Territories." *Homeland.* The creature tells you, a touch of wistfullness in its tones. *You touch, you visit. Perhaps bring back sibs!* You thank the illumidrake, and it flies back into the cave you emerged from, displaying aerial acrobatics that you suspect are there partially for fun, and partially so you can watch and admire the vain creature. You smile a little to yourself, then look around you.

          The caves let out near the peak of the mountain, at what seems to be a crossroad. From here you can see all around. Straight ahead is a baren expanse, with the faint glimmer of snow in the distance. To the west you see what appears to be a shadowy grassland.

          East, you can see that the forest continues around the plains and thickens in that area, blocking your view of what might be laying beyond. The Southern path leads back into the mountain, but you can also go off the path and down to what appears to be a desert area.

North, toward the snows

West, to the Grasslands

East, through the forest.

South, to the Desert.

Cosset Territories

.....