Worlds Beyond chapter 2

After a day at Lanthoras, the party barely managed to get hired as guards to defend an oxdrawn caravan headed for the port of Konnothel, braving horrible storms and only seeing sun every two weeks, as was common in this region; in exchange for simple meals and meagre accommodation, which meant that the three of them shared a big wooden caravan car, which was shoddily made, but did the job and kept the rain and damp out, though Urgonoff had to decapitate a dog-sized rat once with his axe before he threw the head and body out on the road. Greildric and Tengrys tried their best to keep their mouths shut when it came to the living quality, which was only slightly better than staying in a very large tent. They had to fend off the occasional bandit or monster, but it was otherwise uneventful.

They also paid the caravan driver a few merchant’s moons so the driver would allow them to tie and bolt Tengrys’s spaceship to the back of the caravan.

“What do you men intend to do once you reach Konnothel?” asked the caravan driver.
“We’re going to board a cargo ship. Headed for Xulth. We’re also going to st-” Urgonoff replied, cutting off part of the plan that his party formulated. The plan was that they would illegally board the ship while hiding inside a crate, and sneaking out, sneaking in a small boat, and paddling there when they were halfway there, effectively getting to the isle of Ur.
“You’re also going to what?”
“Never mind.”

Past the cyclopean stone walls of Konnothel, they took little time to marvel at this coastal town made splendorous through many years of foreign trade and wealth. Most of the buildings were made out of old ship-timber and thatch, though some were built of wattle and daub. The party quickly headed to the docks, and looked for the cargo ship they wanted to board.
Very fortunately, their plan succeeded without any hostile encounter, and now they paddled through the blue-green sea at night, slowly headed for the silhouette that was the island. Greildric was casting a light spell, making his hand glow magnificently, with the blinding radiance coming from the palm of his hand, acting like a flashlight. Upon landing on the beach, they quickly unboarded, walking through the cold sand looking for a good place to set up camp.

“I’ll go look around this area of the beach.” Urgonoff told them as he pointed around the very edge of the coast.

At the end of the beach was a raised platform of grassy land, with huge, twisted metal buildings with barely recognisable entrances and structures. Around it were huge pieces of it littered on the beach and swards of crab-grass. It was tenebrous, with a dark cobalt sky peppered with countless stars and two moons, one gray and one green and blue. The lukewarm sea-air resonated with the endless lapping of the waves, which in turn covered the ends of the coast with sea foam which dissolved into the air. Moving objects were barely visible, and no-one could see colour anymore apart from blue, black and white.

“I wonder what this used to be. These metals are unlike anything i’ve seen before.” pandered Greildric
“If this is a laboratory, whoever used it must have been seriously messing with their psionics.” Tengrys responded, his eyes darting over every detail in the deformed, twisted metal plates.
“Psionics?”
“It’s like magic, but more boring and less complicated.”
“And it ties in with science more easily.”
“Okay.”

Urgonoff, rummaging around the beach found the moist, waterlogged remains of a longboat resting under a huge wad of floatweed, half sunk into the wet sand and covered with bracket fungi. Kneeling down, he inspected the distorted runes carved into the acrid wood.

“Samband öðrum undarlegt alheimar.” he read. “Nexus of Strange Universes?”

Back where the beach was drier, the pair of stickmen was still inspecting the twisted wreckage. Tengrys was carrying a long, sleek device with a small screen on one end and a huge, flat sensor at the end.

“This shard could be part mythril, with traces of - what is the stone that glows green?”
“Oh boy. Uranium. Put the thing down.” Tengrys advised him.
“Is that poisonous?”
“Not just that.”

Greildric simply tossed the shard of metal onto the ground, and drew a circle around him with his quarterstaff. Suddenly, the circle began to glow with silverish-blue light, while the grainy shape that was Urgonoff just stared at the tall blot of light from the opposite side of the beach.

“What did you do?” Tengrys asked.
“It’s an abjurative ward against unseen harm. The circle follows me around as I walk.” Greildric explained as he paced around the area, a cyan halo following him around the ground, illuminating the deep blue darkness around him with an ethereal light.
“I hope your halo saves you from cancer. When I designed my cyborg body, I made special precautions which also covered radiation. A little too much, I think.”

Meanwhile, after climbing a dirt platform about the height of a goblin, Urgonoff frustratedly scuttled around the crab grass, navigating through the blue twilight and avoiding man-sized boulders which stuck out the ground. He had found some kind of intricate carved entrance, deeply cut into a five-meter tall stone cliff generously topped with more grass. Fascinated, he inspected every carved detail and symbol, even testing its strength by viciously walloping the entrance with his mighty ash wood club, which had devastated nearly every obstacle he encountered. Not a single chip was dealt onto the greenish-gray structure. Some kind of eldritch noise resonated from the insides, unnatural and otherworldly. From his years dungeoneering, the barbarian guessed it might be the glowing orifice of a huge geographical monster. He tore a nearby boulder out of the ground, its filthy underside harbouring worms and beetles falling into the crater, and he tossed the disgusting rock inside with one hand. He heard nothing but subtle rumbling. He fruitlessly repeated the process four times over.

Foolish with frustration, he howled “Anyone here!?! Þú talar Krolbrysan!? Hvelluth Speik Ghalathoniunn!? Qrag Uruk-thung!?” into the entrance, and heard no response.

He looked over his shoulder and saw his comrades, illuminated by Greildric’s circle, doing the more boring investigating. He decided to venture in first after quickly acknowledging his allies.

“I’m entering this entrance! Come in if you’re interested!” His voice faded out and echoed as he stormed down the stairs. Down the stairs, he met a small, boring chamber which glowed for no reason. In a world like this, if something happens for no reason, magic is always a good excuse if you’re too lazy to scientifically research it. An overwhelming feeling of disappointment swept his primitive psyche.

“Is that it?” he thought.
“No monsters to kill?”
“No traps to smash?”
“No loot to hoard?”

Suddenly, the chamber shimmered a strange colour. Everything began to look like swirling dyed sand to him, and he became horribly nauseous. “I’m going to die, or worse. I must warn the others!”

“DON’T COME IN!” he yelled, which came out as “BuGuEFEUEFgifgveuyfdeifbrue!!”

His call for help was noticed first by Tengrys, who sprinted there as fast as possible, lighting the way with the torch implemented straight into his head, and jumped down the stairs. Greildric could not run as fast, but he managed to make it there thirty seconds after. The cyborg was shocked to see a fellow ally spasm so violently on the stone floor, and he pulled a health kit from his backpack and rummaged through it frantically, tossing his supplies everywhere.

The barbarian felt deeply faint as he desperately tried to keep ahold of his consciousness as he hallucinated violently. After an agonizing mental battle, he failed, as he fell into a coma and suddenly dematerialised where he laid.

“WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS!?!”
“Oh my gods, no!”