Post by Admin on Nov 30, 2005 19:53:17 GMT -5
The following is a synopsis of what happens to Cindari while accomplishing her mission...the portions in yellow are taken from emails from David...
The Diva, Asriel, came to Cindari and told her how she could complete her mission. Despite it sounding a bit far fetched, she trusted the Diva implicitly. He said her mission was to break through the crystal sphere and travel to another world where the Gods of Oerth were worshipped. In breaking through the sphere, she would once again alert the Gods to the presence of Oerth.
Asriel placed a ring on her finger, explaining that it was a ring of infinite move. As long as the ring was active, it would allow her to travel faster than any known speed. With the ring and her star stone, she should travel out of the atmosphere, through the Phlogeston to Ishtar’s Gate, a small star at the outermost point of the crystal sphere.
After saying her goodbyes, Asriel flew her high into the atmosphere. Once there, she activated her star stone and then the ring of infinite move; using the star maps from Asriel, she made her way for the distant star.
As she went through the levels of the atmosphere, she could see the crab-like creatures orbiting the planet. As she rose into their realm, they moved in to get her…as if they were expecting her, and wanted to stop her ascent. However, because of the ring, she was able to quickly outdistance them before they could get anywhere near her.
With both the ring of ifinite move and her own starstone, the journey to reach the Crystal Sphere and the City of Ishtar was about 12 hours.. The trip was mostly boring, although a ring of asteroids about a half-hour from Oerth would have posed a problem due to their density if she weren’t so much faster. Once she reached the Stargate, she saw it was really a city of brilliant, white buildings set into a blackened sphere of partially opaque crystal stretching FLAT to the horizon. Through this crystal “wall” she could see some stars as well as strange, dark mist. In the distance are one or two other such cities, although most stars seem to be lights from BEYOND the crystal wall.
In the heart of the city (which is built with the wall as “down” so she flew coming at it from “above”), there is a great, bright, white, fiery gate. To the side of the gate is a large, dark mass, looking something like a backpack of thick burlap. On the flap of this pack, in bright, golden, slightly glowing letters is the word “Cindari”.
The bag looks like it’s monogrammed and the markings appear identical to what’s on Cindari’s sword. The bag appears to be made of fine, dark gray silk. It FEELS familiar to her, like a forgotten memory.
here is no obvious way to open the gate -- it simply looks like a puddle of white fire. The city appears deserted and the architecture seems strange.
When Cindari touches the bag, she feels another sense of familiarity, like someone gave her this bag. It is made of some sort of very finely woven silk. In the bag are several items. The first, on top, is a note:
The crown opens the gate
The stone leads your way
Follow whatever river shares its color
Immerse yourself as deep as you can in the flow
The gown brings speed beyond reason,
But when the stone begins to blink,
Use the ring again to reach the end of your journey
You must hold tight to the disc and your swords,
Lest you lose them in transit as well
On the other side, shatter the disc,
And the way home will be made clear
You are nearly there,
So tarry not lest his minions find you
Within the bag are a huge, beautiful, billowy gown, spun of the finest white silk and inset with thousands of sparkling diamonds, like the stars themselves. It looks like a wedding gown for a queen, but appears to be Cindari’s exact size. With it are a beautiful golden tiara set with a faintly glowing blue gem, a platinum pendant set with a black stone with tiny black specks, and a black disc inset with seven sparkling diamonds in a crescent pattern.
Not wishing to take too long, Cindari quickly donned the gown and tiara. In the distance, she could see more of the crab-like creatures moving in her direction…yet still in the far distant horizon. Taking a moment to puzzle out the clue, Cindari activated her star stone and flew head first into the fiery gate.
As the flames licked the tiara, a portal opened and Cindari flew through the opening. Immediately, she was enveloped in a river of colors. Each river took a different path, yet each color remained distinct…while the colors intersected, they did not blend. Following the instructions on the note, she watched the stone and moved deep into the flow following the color of the gem. The colors shifted and with each new current she was traveling faster and faster. Her gown billowed out, like a bell-shaped sail, as she continued to go faster and faster through the currents of color.
Finally, after countless more hours (she’d lost track at this point), the colored stone blinked, at which point she once again activated the ring of infinite move. With a blinding speed that began tearing her clothing from her body, she raced down the vibrant streams. With the disk stowed safely around her neck and under her chain mail armor, she clutched her two swords to her chest as she felt her backpack, belt, the tiara, even the colored stone, rip from her body. The gown, began fraying at the seams and the ring began to heat from the speed at which they were traveling. Just when she thought that she herself would ripped apart, she BURST through membrane like barrier…into something completely unfamiliar to her.
The only things left on her body were: Cmerelkir’s magical chain mail w/ the disk tucked safely inside, her two swords which she’s held clasped closely to her chest, the magical ring, and the star stone embedded into her skin. All else was torn from her body as she hurtled through the barrier.
She was exhausted, as more than a day had passed since she first started on her journey. But she was not yet finished, as the note instructed, she took the disk from around her neck and attempted first to break it with her hands…the metal disk proved unbreakable. She then tucked her glowing sword into the hem of the chain mail, grasped the disk in one hand and struck it with her longsword. The disk shattered instantly…
As pieces flew in all directions, from above she saw a winged creature quickly approaching. On guard, not knowing what to expect, she was surprised to see a male figure with white wings. He approached and demanded why she had destroyed a Holy Relic of Celestian…the Diva identified himself.
After introducing herself, Cindari stammered, as she too was surprised by what had just transpired. She attempted to explain that she was doing her part in saving Oerth from destruction as Istus had written. Explaining that a Diva had been assisting them on Oerth (according to the creature in front of her, Asriel was the putzy kind of Diva…the one sent off as an errand boy while this one was much higher on the Angelic food chain).
To get the full gist of what Cindari was talking about, he asked her to open her mind, which she willingly and humbly did. After comprehending the full scope of the problems on Oerth, he told Cindari, “You’ve done well, mortal…now it is time for you to rest…all will be well!” As she collapses into unconsciousness, she sees an army of Angels sweeping in towards Oerth through the “door” that she was able to open.
Personally, I can't freaking WAIT for the army of Angels to show up
Although it took Cindari over 24 hours to reach where she is, not sure how long it will take them to get back...
