[The World Below] Glowstream

Matthew here, with another slice of The World Below for you!

Last week I gave a short teaser about the lost settlement of Glowstream. Glowstream was one of the most populated, most well-defended, and most “civilized” settlements in the World Below, at least until the last Kalm season (a season with a somewhat ironic name). When visitors from other settlements came to find out why they’d not received any messengers, expeditions, or guilders visiting from Glowstream once the Kaos storms had passed, they discovered something both unusual and troubling:

Glowstream was abandoned.

And not just abandoned. The settlement of Glowstream, so well known for its ready supply of diamonds, its iridescent river of healing properties, and its alchemist prefect – Montbert Baswilde – was a battle-scarred ruin. Except, the scars ran deeper than any explorer could explain. It was as if Glowstream had been the site of dozens of battles over generations, with many scars deep and aged, while others were fresh scratches, with the ores beneath only now oxidizing.

I asked you – the anticipating roleplayers who have been reading this blog – what do you think happened to Glowstream? Could you come up with an interesting rumour, tale, or maybe even the facts of what befell this once-great settlement? I said I’d select one of your suggestions as an addition to the manuscript, so where Glowstream is addressed your theory would be prominent among others.

So here we go:

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Your pack of explorers approaches Glowstream’s gateway. An arch of gold and diamond heralds the entrance, taking you from the forbidding darkness of Mournful Descent into the relative safety of the World Below’s civilized beacon: Glowstream.

Except, it’s not the Glowstream you anticipated. The once stable buildings are afflicted with crumbling ruin. Deep gouges in the earth and stone imply signs of battle. But no bodies remain. Not even dust or ash, or empty suits of armor. Nothing to imply life except for the sounds of tramping feet and crawling limbs around the massive cave that once held Glowstream at its centre.

Before you back away from this evidently cursed place, a small fellow, his beard tangled and his face awash with tattoos, leans forth from the gloom where the cradle of Mournful Descent’s edge meets Glowstream’s light.

“So you’ve seen it too, hm? I arrived here just one sunfly cycle past and explored the ruins as best I could. Teej Will’s Son is my name.” He extends a dirty hand you feel reluctant to take. He doesn’t seem to take offence, wiping his nose on its back before thrusting it into a pocket, where he starts playing with ores that click and clack together.

“I’m with the Collective. I imagine your settlement has one or two of our representatives setting up a guildhouse there, hm? Ah, no matter. You want to know what happened to Glowstream? Well I’ve got a guess, but it’s only a guess. You remember the tales of the river and its healing properties, yes? Well it weren’t just a liquid for drinking and bathing, bratan. The glowing stream was a cycle in time.” He makes a circular gesture with one of the fingers on his left hand. You notice two of them are missing before he puts that one away too. 

“‘Course, only Baswilde suspected that through his experiments, but he weren’t never one for disclosing his qualia. He was a wise one, but not wise enough to warn his people to stop dabbling with it, playing with it as if it weren’t liquid Kaos. So people put their injured limbs in the flow and it washed away the wounds. People put in their thirst and came out sated, and away washed the need for liquid. People put in their old and they came out younger, stronger. Away went the years…”

Will’s Son peers through the gate. You can hear scuttling and crunching within now, but still see no movement. “Problem with a cycle in time, bratan? It comes back ‘round. Baswilde and his experiments broke whatever deep stones were holding the Kaos in check, because the cycle came ‘round this Kalm season, and fast with it. Young became old. Sated became emaciated. Healthy became dead! The waters flowed faster and faster, stronger and stronger, and washed away every bit of goodness, health, and vitality present in the place! All of our sin and inequity was paid back tenfold on every Glowborn. Every one of them, gone.”

Will’s Son taps his nose, knowingly. He has even fewer digits now. Where did they go? “But things in the walls… They heard. They heard the screams and cries, and they ventured in to finish off whoever and whatever was left. They found a flooded settlement, and it was the monsters that broke the levies at the cave edge, letting the liquid wash away into the surrounding rock, where it pools now. And now they inhabit the place. Klo’tha, raiders, and worse. Glowstream’s ruins are afflicted with things ancient, now, and in the future, as the flow of time brought with it battle, plague, monster, and fire, and not all of it has even happened yet!”

The strange fellow draws the shadows in around him so you can only make out the silhouette of his features now. He has an air of the Plutonic to him, but it’d be impolite to mention your suspicion. Will’s Son smiles at you, disconcertingly given the danger over the threshold. “With people like yourselves coming to Glowstream, all’a the beasts and being waiting within from wherever will have quite a feast. Heh!”

As Will’s Son slouches into darkness, his voice now your only company. He concludes his tale-telling. “Still, I might be talking bunk. I mean, all the scratches and gouges in the stonework tell another tale, don’t they? Of war, maybe, or some kind of insurrection? Maybe it was something else. What do you think happens to folk who have been fed an elixir of life for so long only to find it cut off…? What do you suspect happened when old Baswilde discovered Glowstream vitality could be harvested from its drinkers in an even more refined state? Maybe he’s a Well Lich now, floating somewhere in the caves around us, carrying the diamonds that were his people…”

You feel a breath on the back of your neck, but neither Will’s Son nor any other entity lurks in the walls or ceiling behind you, or at least not visibly so. Will’s Son voice now echoes from within Glowstream itself. “All this talk o’ time… Time doesn’t matter down here. Not in the World Below. Here, time just floats away like a Well Lich. Dig deep enough and maybe you’ll float too.”

And just like that, you’re alone.

Glowstream could contain any number of treasures. There’s not a single guild that wouldn’t pay handsomely in ores, tools, and knowledge for a barrow-full of relics from this once-dominant settlement. But you know very well that abandoned places carry dangers, and this one advertises more than a handful.

How do you proceed?

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Thank you to all the commenters, and a special thanks to T.J. Wilson, whose idea formed the core of this lore entry, and everyone else who commented, as I’ve tried to incorporate a little something of each of your suggestions! We even added a little Stephen Kingism in there, at the end.

As you may have determined from previous blogs, characters in The World Below consist of three Paths, currently known as their Dawn, their Dialectic, and their Calling. Each grants access to something different in the game and is determined by different things, too. Dawns are an amalgamated origin for a character, while Dialectics speak to a character’s internal synthesis with the World Below. As already-mentioned, a Calling is a character’s destiny and role in the pack.

Loyal commenters, please state below whether you want to know more about Dawns, Dialectics, or Callings, and next Thursday you’ll receive more information on the one that garners the greatest number of votes! I also invite you to comment with anything further you want discussed in these blogs regarding The World Below. What aspect of the game really interests you?

Let us know and go discuss on our forums and Discord!