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38 Talislandre, Year 620 of the New Age

Our Heroes are admitted to the Ebonarde's palace on Dalia, just before a typhoon-class storm of the Black Wind strikes the island. Captain Wong is stunned by the force of the gales (literally -- the window his is looking through is blown in by the storm). For a whole day the wind howls and tears at the island. The adventurers who visited the Ether slowly regain their memory (despite the Union's efforts).

Conversations with Ebonarde reveal that Our Heroes must travel at least 18 years into the past. "The world is losing its tethers to itself." Time will apparently be softening over the next few days, allowing us to somehow (even Ebonarde is unsure) travel back into the past.

40 Talislandre

A picnic is proposed by Aeromachus; Joeil, Wong, Malgon, and Jad'Quin agree to accompany him to the lake high in the island's center, and camp overnight. The day is hot and humid, the climb is steep (the lake is 3000' above sea level), and Malgon's spell "The Desert Crosser's Lesser Refreshment" proves useful. At the lake, everyone but Jad'Quin goes swimming in the pleasantly warm waters; but after an hour or so, a strange humming and ominous sensation is felt. The picnickers leave the water, and are greeted by a brief apparition of -- themselves! The doppelgangers or whatever are only present for a few seconds, and each say a short phrase:

• Aeromachus:  "Look both ways! Both ways!"
• Jad'Quin:  "Keep the book!"
• Malgon:  "Collect antlers!"
• Wong:  "Kiss the redhead!"
• Joeil:  "Have a drink!"

The duplicates then disappear; after a few puzzled seconds, Our Heroes also are drawn through the Void of Timelessness to ... another mountainside! Or the same mountainside, far in the past or future. The mountain is thousands of feet taller; only a single, bright sun shines in the sky. An impressive and large spa is built around the somewhat smaller lake (more of a hot spring than a lake, now). Our Picnickers are now standing -- naked, in some cases -- on a dining and sunbathing patio, built around the hot spring. Over a hundred persons are present, all unarmed and un-tattooed, all (by Talislantan standards) pink-skinned with round ears ("Like Toth and Becca.").

Attempting a bit of couth, Our Picnickers saunter over to a table. The wait-staff bring menus and white bathrobes; Wong makes a bold stab at the menu. None of the languages seem to be from Talislanta. There is a bit of gawking and whispering by the locals, but they don't flee in terror or anything. The strange local foods prove surprisingly good! A set of four flashily-dressed, tattooed locals emerge from the building and sit nearby; they talk loudly and make bold gestures. Our Picnickers catch their attention (especially the skin colors and elf-ears); but some good-natured arm-wrestling by Joeil seems to put the Talislantans in their good graces.

They lead the Talislantans inside one of the buildings, a very flashy and noisy casino, and soon everyone is seated at a table, enjoying "alien" beverages. Captain Wong sees a red-haired woman take the stage and "sing" (well, perhaps it was karaoke); he becomes determined to romance her. Fortunately his pimp hand is strong ; unfortunately, when kissed, her body splits open and a strange fire-fox-demon creature (which was apparently in disguise) runs off and outside!

Our Heroes run outside also, just in time to experience a vast, distant fireball of destruction -- many, many miles away. The locals seem upset about this also.

The fire-fox-demon has created a small vortex or portal, which it disappears into; the Talislantans quickly follow, to yet another mountainside. One of the "spa people", apparently named Naoki, follows along. In this latest world (or time, or variation) there is still only one sun (though a bit more orange), and rolling clouds of ash and vapor pour from the mountaintop. There is no sign of the spa, and the area is generally desolate and forbidding; the mountain seems on the verge of an eruption. Aeromachus attempts to use his gemstone to open another portal -- but he is struck by a flaming rock, flung not-by-accident from above. Our Picnickers protect and heal Aeromachus, and spot some small, fire-demon-ish creatures in the sky, dropping hot rocks semi-aggressively. 

Once Aeromachus is up and ready to cast his spell, he quickly opens another portal, and the Talislantans rush through to ... another mountainside lake! There is a large sort of temple or ritual site:  a great staircase rises out of the lake at a cove on one side of the lake. The staircase is crossed at several places by stone torii, the first of which stands out in the water of the lake. The torii are carved with crude glyphs of varying depth and patterns. The lintels project well past the support columns. Hanging from the ends of the lintels are clusters of antlers that act as lanterns (the latter will be more obvious at night, of course).

Our heroes climb the staircase, Malgon dutifully collecting one or two antlers as he goes. The staircase ends with one last torii at a terrace some thousand feet above the lake's surface (and about 4000' feet away from the shore, horizontally). The terrace is paved with porphyry tiles; the red, rose, and green colors of the tiles form patterns that are easily ignored yet oddly soothing to the eye. A low railing of rose porphyry bounds the space on all sides but the mountain-side. 

The mountain-side rises sharply at the far side of the terrace. A small shrine, open to the air is carved into the mountain-side; brightly painted pilasters and lintel frame an altar carved from a large block of snowflake obsidian. Carefully placed offering bowls of white and black marble sit at either side of the altar, each filled with a small collection of uncut gems and minerals. 

The group catches their breath and takes in the grand view from the terrace. Captain Wong scouts around, finding a suitably flat area for camping that is not part of the terrace. As he returns to the terrace to gather the group, the air begins to crackle and turn opaque. A slowly spinning vortex opens above the terrace, shooting dancing bolts of ether that latch onto each of the party.  The vortex focuses over Aeromachus, lifting him slowly off the ground. He passes some unseen point of no return and rockets upwards in a great thunderclap that stuns and blasts those present.

On to the Night on the Monolith!