09-05-2015, 12:01 AM
I realized that the verse would be abundant in heat and smoke, it was called "The Ashen Steppes" for a reason. That alone couldn't have adequately prepared me, unfortunately, as I almost coughed out a lung when I breathed in the uncomfortably hot air, laden with smoke and the rotten eggs-like scent of sulphur.
My less than composed reaction forced me to skid to a halt on my bike, lest I risk a collision, which would've been inevitable if I continued moving at full throttle while effectively blind. That caused a cloud of dust to rise up from the barren ground and surround me, which served only to fluster me further.
Right, I should've expected that. I took a few more moments to take my breath, slowly this time, until I was sure I could breath normally and not keel over every time my brain decided I need Oxygen. I'll just have to learn to deal with the ever-present smoke then.
I decided to take advantage of my unexpected stop, and survey the surroundings I found myself in. With an ominous blood red sky, craggy terrain, and surface pools of lava, this verse definitely looked very hospitable. Are those dragons I see flying over there? Very hospitable indeed.
Regardless, I'll be damned if I let some overgrown lizards stop me. I've faced much worse, and punched it right in its ugly, primordial face. Right, let's get down to business then.
As far as I could glean, the Gate in the Steppes was located at the very bottom of the verse, at a location that you can reach by following most cave systems down into the earth. It couldn't possibly be this easy, not without a catch, but it'll have to do for now.
I checked my surroundings, looking at all directions in an attempt to determine which one had the most stable ground and the least number of molten lava streams. I determined that direction to be... uh, I'm not sure which one of the cardinal directions that was actually, not like I could rely on the Sun in figuring that one out. A compass should help, it'd be useful for my spelunking adventure anyway. A few minutes of concentration later and I had a shiny new compass in my hand... which went haywire and started pointing every which way. Yay.
The compass disappeared in a flash of blue fog as I stored it in my mind. It might be useless now, but it'll be nice to not have to waste as much time acquiring a new one if the need for it does arise. This is enough dawdling, I revved up my bike and set off for the direction I decided on. It quickly became apparent to me that the bike I was riding wasn't really meant for off-roading, as the uncomfortable tremors running through my body so helpfully proved to me. It was still a minor inconvenience at best, and I decided to ignore it for now.
There were plenty of fissures, ravines, and pitfalls scattered around the terrain, many of them glowing with the heat of the molten rock resting somewhere within them, none of them resembled a proper entrance to the earth, as was defined by my guide, unfortunately. I would've stopped to ask the locals, if they didn't look like they'd rather tear me to bits than provide any help, the local fauna looked entirely too willing to sink their fangs into flesh.
I was sure that there was a sentient species occupying this realm, the Gorons, I think their name was? But their habitat was Death Mountain, and i very much wanted to decrease my altitude, not increase it. Maybe I'll pay them a visit later on.
That train of thought crashed and burned when I saw my first clue, an enormous outcropping of rock that formed half a dome over an equally enormous hole in the ground. This was as much an "entrance into the earth itself" as anything's ever been. As I got closer, I realized that the 'hole' was actually more of a sloping entrance than a direct drop. That was much more reassuring, if nothing else.
I gently slowed down, until I was right at the start of the slope, then got rid of the bike seeing as it wouldn't be all that useful where I was going. I took the first few descending steps of my trek, it was much like walking downhill, the slope was neither very steep nor very slippery, thankfully. The, admittedly not that bright, ambient light started disappearing the deeper into the hole I walked, with the stone dome shading the space beneath it, until it was too dark for me to see where I was going too clearly. I needed to stop for a moment to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. I extended my arms in front of my face, and started feeling for a wall I could lean on while waiting for my eyesight to return to me. I'd only taken a few steps forward before I felt my foot sinking through thin air instead of resting solid ground as it should have.
My unexpected lapse in coordination threw the entire weight of my body forward, and I fell through the nearly invisible hole in the ground. I tumbled down the hole, and my stomach very much protested the sudden change in elevation and orientation.
Uggghh, I think I'm going to be sick. But that'd necessitate having an intact stomach to be sick, and I wasn't sure how my body would handle a collision with the ground after falling several stories' worth. Not too well, if I were to give an educated guess.
...is that a pool of magma I'm falling into? Shit.
My less than composed reaction forced me to skid to a halt on my bike, lest I risk a collision, which would've been inevitable if I continued moving at full throttle while effectively blind. That caused a cloud of dust to rise up from the barren ground and surround me, which served only to fluster me further.
Right, I should've expected that. I took a few more moments to take my breath, slowly this time, until I was sure I could breath normally and not keel over every time my brain decided I need Oxygen. I'll just have to learn to deal with the ever-present smoke then.
I decided to take advantage of my unexpected stop, and survey the surroundings I found myself in. With an ominous blood red sky, craggy terrain, and surface pools of lava, this verse definitely looked very hospitable. Are those dragons I see flying over there? Very hospitable indeed.
Regardless, I'll be damned if I let some overgrown lizards stop me. I've faced much worse, and punched it right in its ugly, primordial face. Right, let's get down to business then.
As far as I could glean, the Gate in the Steppes was located at the very bottom of the verse, at a location that you can reach by following most cave systems down into the earth. It couldn't possibly be this easy, not without a catch, but it'll have to do for now.
I checked my surroundings, looking at all directions in an attempt to determine which one had the most stable ground and the least number of molten lava streams. I determined that direction to be... uh, I'm not sure which one of the cardinal directions that was actually, not like I could rely on the Sun in figuring that one out. A compass should help, it'd be useful for my spelunking adventure anyway. A few minutes of concentration later and I had a shiny new compass in my hand... which went haywire and started pointing every which way. Yay.
The compass disappeared in a flash of blue fog as I stored it in my mind. It might be useless now, but it'll be nice to not have to waste as much time acquiring a new one if the need for it does arise. This is enough dawdling, I revved up my bike and set off for the direction I decided on. It quickly became apparent to me that the bike I was riding wasn't really meant for off-roading, as the uncomfortable tremors running through my body so helpfully proved to me. It was still a minor inconvenience at best, and I decided to ignore it for now.
There were plenty of fissures, ravines, and pitfalls scattered around the terrain, many of them glowing with the heat of the molten rock resting somewhere within them, none of them resembled a proper entrance to the earth, as was defined by my guide, unfortunately. I would've stopped to ask the locals, if they didn't look like they'd rather tear me to bits than provide any help, the local fauna looked entirely too willing to sink their fangs into flesh.
I was sure that there was a sentient species occupying this realm, the Gorons, I think their name was? But their habitat was Death Mountain, and i very much wanted to decrease my altitude, not increase it. Maybe I'll pay them a visit later on.
That train of thought crashed and burned when I saw my first clue, an enormous outcropping of rock that formed half a dome over an equally enormous hole in the ground. This was as much an "entrance into the earth itself" as anything's ever been. As I got closer, I realized that the 'hole' was actually more of a sloping entrance than a direct drop. That was much more reassuring, if nothing else.
I gently slowed down, until I was right at the start of the slope, then got rid of the bike seeing as it wouldn't be all that useful where I was going. I took the first few descending steps of my trek, it was much like walking downhill, the slope was neither very steep nor very slippery, thankfully. The, admittedly not that bright, ambient light started disappearing the deeper into the hole I walked, with the stone dome shading the space beneath it, until it was too dark for me to see where I was going too clearly. I needed to stop for a moment to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. I extended my arms in front of my face, and started feeling for a wall I could lean on while waiting for my eyesight to return to me. I'd only taken a few steps forward before I felt my foot sinking through thin air instead of resting solid ground as it should have.
My unexpected lapse in coordination threw the entire weight of my body forward, and I fell through the nearly invisible hole in the ground. I tumbled down the hole, and my stomach very much protested the sudden change in elevation and orientation.
Uggghh, I think I'm going to be sick. But that'd necessitate having an intact stomach to be sick, and I wasn't sure how my body would handle a collision with the ground after falling several stories' worth. Not too well, if I were to give an educated guess.
...is that a pool of magma I'm falling into? Shit.