

He was the wizard in service to the Kings of Ymris for nine hundred years before he went to Lungold, then vanished along with the entire school of wizards seven hundred years ago. Then his eyes widened a little as he remembered, but Astrin continued, "Most people have forgotten. "Do you know who Aloil was?" Morgon shook his head. He touched them, murmuring a word, and they opened. It was locked with two apparently seamless bindings of iron. He rose as suddenly as he had sat down, and took from his shelves a heavy book with a name on it stamped in gold: Aloil.

He turned away after a moment, went to find Astrin. The gold steps curved away from him the winds pushed at him like children, tumbled past him. Morgon, following them, drawn to the huge, bright structure, put one hand flat on its blue-black wall, one foot on its first step. The winds sped past like wild horses, pouring through empty rooms, thundering down the street to spiral the tower and moan through its secret chamber. Morgon, left to his own in the hollow, singing city, wandered through the roofless halls and wall-less chambers, between piles of broken stones rooted deep to the earth by long grass. But perhaps if I go deep enough, I can find your name. I haven't done much mind-work I've gone into Xel's mind, and once into Rork's, with his permission. He held Morgon gently by the arms and said slowly, "I think if this spell can make a stone speak, it may make you speak. Now if I can read his handwriting." He was silent a few moments, while Morgon read over his shoulder and the candlelight spattered over the page. I forget that sometimes, except when Rork Umber is here, and then I remember, all too well, who I am." He looked down, turned a page. So Aloil made a stone in the plain above Caerweddin speak for eight days and nights in such a loud voice that men as far as Umber and Meremont heard it, and the stone recited all Galil's secret, very bad attempts at writing poetry. Do you know that tale? Aloil was furious with Galil Ymris because the king refused to follow Aloil's advice during a seige of Caer-weddin, and as a result Aloil's tower was burned. or you're discovered by whatever lurks in the blood.Somewhere in here is the spell that made the stone talk on King's Mouth Plain.

It's not the first Blood Ocean found since the vanishing, but initial scans show a collection of potentially useful anomalous locations in a deep undersea (underblood?) trench that require further investigation.Īnd you're the unlucky sap who gets to investigate, in an aging submarine cobbled together from rusty space station parts.įind your way to the marked locations, photograph whatever you find there, and try to finish before the sub collapses around you. Then, a mysterious anomaly known as a Blood Ocean (which is exactly what it sounds like) was discovered on an otherwise barren moon. Up until now they have been unsuccessful. With supplies gradually dwindling and infrastructure falling into disrepair, the survivors have spent the subsequent years frantically searching for any trace of remaining natural resources. THE STORY Decades ago, every known star and habitable planet mysteriously vanished, along with whatever and whoever happened to be on them, leaving behind an empty universe of asteroids and lifeless moons where the only remnants of humanity are those who were on space stations or starships at the time. Success will require resourcefulness and patience. There is only a single porthole on the sub, and it needs to be closed due to depth pressure, so you have to navigate purely via an incomplete map, proximity sensors, sound, and a primitive external camera which can be used to take the pictures you need to complete your mission, or to get a grainy low resolution visual of what's happening outside. THE GAMEPLAYSet entirely within a claustrophobic one-man submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung," you must blindly navigate an ocean of blood to take photographs of key locations, and hope whatever lives below doesn't find you.
