Grer gen neh: The middle sound is the same sound as the french je, as in je ne sais quoi. The last sound has the same vowel sound as well.

"Never forget that the Adar are the largest nation on Grergene. Each settlement is its own city state, but when any one is threatened they act with complete unity. The Adar are not human. They do not quarrel; they do not fight amongst themselves; they do not backstab; you cannot get a better deal by going to a different colony. Offering them status is useless. With the Adar it is best to be forthright, honest, and to never break your word. In other words, for political matters, treat the Adar as though they held a knife to your neck and a polite smile on their lips.”

A Guide to Grergenen Politics

==POV: Zidaun==

The long trek through the unchanging tunnel gave rise to a paradox well known to adventurers, wary boredom. Each new door was checked, all the tunnel was carefully inspected, and nothing changed. My sensory ability allowed me to fulfill two requirements, instead of just one, needed on any team required to explore a dungeon for the first time. A sensory ability with decent range and resolution, with some trade-off between the two values was one of them. The other was an Adar who could find it in the first place. A new dungeon was supposed to be explored thoroughly, but everyone wanted it done in a timely manner.

And the wary boredom that was an inevitable product of that made us eager for change too. The abrupt end of the tunnel came as a welcome relief, even if it represented the possibility of new danger.

The sudden view was breathtaking as we entered the [Starlight Grotto].

Far above pinpricks of starlight glimmered with twinkling light. The tunnel itself gave way to a patterned road, and the entrance was bracketed by two statues. Each identified as a lion. Other statues were half visible in the gloom, illuminated by crystal pillars were spiraling flecks of light, like someone had captured the sparks of campfire in glass.

“Anyone recognize the creature in the statues?” I said.

A chorus of negatives followed.

“I see other statues too, we will identify them as we go. Inda you good to add them to the map?”

I could see her roll her eyes behind me. “Like always.”

“I know, I know. I’m just supposed to ask.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Let’s get on with it.”

Inda was fulfilling another important duty. Acting as a cartographer. I had no skill for it, for all that most of us would create our own maps from memory and compare it to hers later, if only to check if one of us had noticed something she hadn’t. We were supposed to point out anything notable as we well along, but mistakes happened.

For the moment we followed the road, and a short distance later we ran into a building. We entered it slowly, checking each room in turn, but it was all harmless. The workmanship was beautiful, and identifying the items gave no particular source. I wasn’t sure if that meant the dungeon was borrowing from many cultures, or if it understood the concepts of the items well enough to create them itself.

Once it was thoroughly checked out we engaged in a time honored tradition done by adventurers everywhere. We looted the building.

It proved to be a fruitless task. No sooner was an item removed from the building than it would melt away and reappear where it had been originally. I expected nothing less, but was amused by the rest of my team’s disappointment. They reluctantly concluded that the building was properly protected from being pillaged. Occasionally young dungeons would have valuable materials in the safe zones that could be taken away. It wasn’t a common thing though.

We were all tired, and the building was a perfect place to sleep. I had no doubt it was meant to be.

The dungeon had opened after dark, and we had spent long hours getting here. Despite our tiredness we carefully set down wards and set up a watch schedule.

We were in a dungeon, so we were wary, but my watch wasn’t first, so I submitted to my body’s demand for sleep.

Despite any worries we might have had, I did my watch and returned to bed without incident. The beds were sinfully comfortable and we all woke the next morning feeling refreshed. I had certainly appreciated my first night in a bed for many long days. A bedroll just wasn’t the same.

We gathered together downstairs. There was an obvious area set aside as a kitchen. It even had a fireplace with a metal grate filled with branches of dried wood, and extra wood in a basin next to it. There was an iron hook that sat above the fire.

“I really wish we had food we could actually cook on a fire,” Gurek said.

I nodded. “Well you could always boil some water and put jerky in it.” I pointed to the sink. “That thing will pour our water for you.”

“Thanks, thanks so much. I was really wanting hot meat juice.”

“Ha ha,” I said, “if we were still out in the cold you would jump at it.”

“True,” he conceded.

“What I want in a nice cup of tea,” Firi said, “If I had known we had something like this waiting for us I would have brought some.”

“Well just think, if this dungeon matches the promise of its decorations, we will probably be here a lot,” Gurek said.

“That would be nice,” Inda said, “but you know we wouldn’t be the one getting this building.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “this place is nicer than any inn I have stayed in, food aside. If this place actually matches the strength it suggests, we won’t be able to clear it. They will send in a stronger team to do that. And then when this place is opened for everyone else this building will probably go to some bigwigs. So unless there are a lot more of them, we will only be able to use it for a while.”

I was busy chewing a piece of meat, my mouth full, but I nodded in agreement. Humans did like displays of status. The others offered sighs or nods of their own.

“Okay everyone, lets get going,” I said as I finished.

We grabbed out packs, which each of us had brought down, and headed out.

The grotto was no less breathtaking than it had been the night before. Today we started by going along the less obvious path and retraced our steps to the entrance. Nothing had changed there, so we decided to follow the walls.

Above us, along the entire span of the wall, was the vast scaly hide of a beast called Jormungandr. We pulled out light stones to better examine it, but no sign of a head or tail showed. Our light stones revealed other statues displayed in splendor or horror. Manticores, minotaurs, Cthulhu, mind-flayers, tentacle beasts, Cerberus, and more lurked in stone. None of us recognized any of them.

Eventually, however, we saw a section with more light in the distance. As we came closer we saw a long arc of trees that extended from the wall out into the dark and then faded from sight.

The trees were beautiful. A single trunk of dark bark grew from a network of tangled roots planted in a circle of rich damp earth. The branches of the trees curved out, up, and then back in, enclosing a hollow sphere of crystal. Inside danced an ephemeral flame. I had seen an everlasting torch in many dungeons, but I had never seen one used like this.

The leaves of the trees were broad and shimmered in the ever-changing light like gold and emeralds. I was captivated and started to reach for it.

“Zidaun,” Firi said.

“Oh, sorry,” I said.

He cast a quick spell on me.

“No sign of mental effects or compulsions.”

“I am immune to those anyway. Sorry, it is just… beautiful. I got a little carried away.”

“Okay,” Firi said, “we are going to do our precautions first, then you can touch it if you want.”

A few minutes of spell work and the tree was determined to be safe, and I finally plucked off a leaf. When I brought it into the steady light it became an ordinary leaf. It was waxy, an elongated oval with a point at each end and about as wide as my middle and pointer fingers together. When I put it back into shadow it once more glimmered with reflected emerald glory.

The rest of the tree was the same. When I brought it into full light the leaves became ordinary greens and yellows. It was obviously intended for this shadowy environment. The tree identified as an [Iridescent Murkwood.] I noted without any surprise that I had never heard of it. I took some time to write out a small note of its characteristics.

None of the others had heard of it either. I kept a leaf for myself, but Gurek grabbed a sample of each of the leaf types, a bit of a twig, and a piece of the root. Sampling done we moved on. We would let the alchemist know the name and they would see if it was a new plant. I suspected we would find a lot of new plants here. If we found enough plants we would stop sampling all of them, and some specialists would be brought out for that too. I already suspected that we were going to need that team, and lots of others too.

We continued along the wall past the trees. For a time not much changed, but eventually we could see the road again, though there was more of it and a number of buildings. The buildings were all formed of a pure black basalt speckled with glowing motes of color. The basalt was not flat; it was formed of hexagonal columns, though the full shape could only be seen at the corners of the buildings. From a distance, the building’s rough black stone and tiny lights had been indistinguishable from the false night sky.

We noted several buildings at the edge and a larger central one, but for now we moved on. Past the buildings was the entire purpose of our visit. An enormous door held a depiction of a flaming bird, the Phoenix, with its wings outspread and it head turned to the side to show a single eye. And standing above the door on each side were two statues locked in an eternal battle. Both statues were a juxtaposition of beauty and terror. A human, no it identified as an angel, with elegant limbs bore two wings and an expression of calm conviction mixed with an unearthly beauty. The sword in its hands was locked against its opponent’s.

Its opposite, a devil, was a horned vision of brutal intensity. Its face bared sharp teeth in a fanged grimace and its expression was contorted with rage. Behind it were leathery wing with bones outlined in the stretched flesh. Both statues were painted with a soft and indeterminate light.

“What do you think they mean?” Inda said.

Religious iconography maybe,” Firi said. He pointed at the angel, “That would be Shurum, and the other would be Otga.”

“Maybe,” I said, “but we cannot take anything for granted. They could be species that used to exist and died off. Or they could be fictional tales that the dungeon picked up the images for somewhere. All it would take is someone bringing in statues of them.”

“Well it looks like this is where we enter, regardless,” Gurek said.

“Not exactly subtle, is it?” Inda said.

There were a few soft chuckles.

We weren’t planning to go through the door yet, but we needed to check it out anyway. We approached it and our steps echoed out through the gloom. We looked around the door for any traps. We found nothing, and I eventually reached out and touched door.

A notice appeared.

Access to dungeon restricted.

Complete tasks to gain access.