Mineas Well Revisited

[lord_wizard]

Who: Felix and anyone on the expedition
What: Exploring Mineas Well
When: November 17th-18th
Where: Mineas Well
Rating: PG

After days of walking in the dense woods, the group eventually came across a slightly grown over but clear path leading through the trees, courtesy of marked circles on the towering trees all around them. Many of the trees seems filled with some kind of strange fruit, though they seem rather grey and unappetizing to look at, and the wizard leading the group only stares at them with an frown. Those who have been here may before may recall these were once glowing tubular creatures that came alive at night. But now they seem dead, or at least dormant. Early after setting out this day, they come across a large hand-made gate, absent of any fence to connect to it, sitting just slightly ajar in the middle of the path. A sign to one side reads "PRIVATE PROPERTY: To all uninvited guests:
please ring the bell to speak to a messenger. Thank you." A cord extending from the branches above seems to indicate it leads to such a bell. After a moment of consideration, Felix pulls it, and it rings softly in the quiet. After a few long beats, nothing at all happens. Sighing, Felix pushed past the gate with a slight shove, and towards the clearing on the other side...

...and the enormous tree on the other side, many hundreds of feet tall, with several levels of tree house built into the different sections of it's branches. Unlike last time, it seems a bit to dim here. Too quiet.

EXPLORING | STAYING THE NIGHT | THE MORNING

Comments

[inlifesname]

This entire place is stunning. Nita can only imagine what it looked like when people where here. She spends a decent amount of time just exploring, wandering up and down the pathways, poking at the pools of water, and foraging through the desk drawers.

But she seems particularly interested in the crystal, picking it up and turning it over in her hands.

"I wonder what it would tell me, if wizardry worked out here."

[lord_wizard]

Felix looks away from where he'd been poking at a dead plant and angles his gaze over her shoulder. It's not hard to do, for one of his height.

"It's another one of those shards, like the ones she gave us years ago. The ones that power things in the Dead Zone."

[inlifesname]

Well. That is useful information. "You mean they work like batteries? How come we didn't bring a bunch of them with us?"

[lord_wizard]

"Because I don't have any great need for them. They don't power very much, and in any case, there's very little remaining. Most of them disappeared along with all the people she gave them to," he said, a bit unhappily, and picks up the shard.

"I'm not even certain they work anymore."

[inlifesname]

"It's worth a look, at least." She glances down at the remaining shards on the table before looking back up at Felix. "Do you think it'd be alright if I took one? It feels wrong, like we're looting or something, but-"

But it's practical.

[lord_wizard]

"They're more useful in our hands than hers, if she were even still present in this world, which I have cause to doubt." He put the shard back down, more interested in the idea of they crystals than the objects themselves. Nita and Dairine likely could find a use for them, considering how their magic seemed to work.

"Perhaps they could power your Manuel."

[inlifesname]

"Maybe they could." Nita's eyes practically light up at the thought. Having the Manual out here would be more than useful, it would be a lifeline. "We still probably couldn't cast spells, but having access to that kind of information out here could be a lifesaver."

[lord_wizard]

"It very well could be, though I have only the faintest of ideas of what sort of information you have in those things."

While he'd been only slightly acquainted with Dairine's Manual, he still found the whole idea odd and a bit unsettling.

[inlifesname]

"I don't think anyone really knows all of what's in them. It depends on the wizard and what they need in that particular moment."

[lord_wizard]

He tilted his head. "You're suggesting it's adaptable in some manner?"

[inlifesname]

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." She shrugs. "It's not really a normal book." To say the least.

[lord_wizard]

"I gathered that much," he said, more airily that he meant to, "but exactly how it's different escapes me on some level."

[inlifesname]

It's... [A thoughtful pause] Well, it's hard to explain. It's a reference, a way of contacting other wizards, and probably some other things that I'm not even aware of yet. It's not like it was published somewhere; you find one if you are going to become a wizard. I guess the Powers that Be have something to do with it.

[lord_wizard]

Do you find it before or after you are aware of your abilities?

[wizard_redfive]

Dairine is not far away, looking at the long-unused bed with a strangely intense, quiet stare. Something heavy is on her mind, but as usual, the young wizard is keeping such troubles to herself.

However, her big sister's voice is enough to shake her out of it. She starts slightly, but tries to act nonchalant.

"It might not say much. They don't near the castle."

[inlifesname]

"Nothing says much around here." It's a complaint, but there's not much bite to it. She sees where her sister is looking and it doesn't take a genius to guess what she's thinking.

"You met her, didn't you? The woman who lived here."

[wizard_redfive]

"That's for sure." Dairine found it annoying too, how little anything said around here. What good was her wizardry if no one would tell her how to use it? Even if she didn't have a Senior to guide her, at least the local life should be able to give her a hint.

Dairine shakes her head, still staring at the bed. "I was planning to, but..." Dairine turns away from Nita, not wanting any potential emotions to be obvious. It doesn't help much though, as a layer of guilt seeps into her voice. "But then the person who wanted to go with me left the castle and... Well, it never happened."

[inlifesname]

Nita notices the guilt, but she's not entirely sure what to do about it. It's not like she's got any brilliant words of wisdom up her sleeves. There's not much she can do to fix 'should haves.'

"That's too bad." She says finally, her own tone somber. "From the look of this place, she must have been something else."