Pantaleon - In Secret

I crept silently through the streets of D'ni.  It was darker now; the glow of the lake was soft.  I climbed the Great Stair and found the perpetual gathering in the  Takotah Plaza.  None recognized me.  Must have been visitors or commuters from the surface.

In Takotah alley my linking would not draw attention.  I walked to the nexus terminal and quietly linked to my relto with my other hand.  From there I linked to the cleft.  My KI read D'ni-riltagamin.  Anywhere on the surface would be 'unknown.'  I placed my KI in the cleft, climbed the caldera and began my descent.

It had been sometime since the first and last time I walked this path.  My first journey to D'ni begun along this path and yet, I had never returned.  I remembered the sense of wonder I felt the first time I passed through these tunnels and realized that now I felt only worry.

I came to the Great Shaft fully realizing what a monument it was to D'ni - its accomplishments and failures.  I walked the path entered an Eder Tomahn about halfway down.   This us where I spent my first night in D'ni.  This is where I would take my next step.  An empty nexus pedestal made for a convenient place for the Triple Shell book.

This was the moment.   I would link and take the journey.   I would find my friends.  I opened the book.  An odd glow came from the linking panel.  Some structure - difficult to make out.  I reached for the panel.   I was stopped.  Laroon had grabbed my wrist before I could link.  Despite my efforts to throw him off my trail, he had found me.

He was furious.   I was mortified.   Our argument was halted by a most peculiar sensation.  We were linked.  We looked around.   A Bahro cave glowed green around us.  The walls were covered in glyphs I had never seen before. And then I heard a voice.  Two, no three voices.   I turned my head. Could not believe what I saw.   Esto was standing beside several Bahro along with Adelia and Dean.  Laroon could not believe his eyes. My words failed.

Pantaleon - The Path of the Shell

From books Laroon borrowed from the Archivists we learned more about the Path of the Shell.  It was a puzzle.  A mechanism designed by Kadish to further convince everyone that he was the Grower.  Apparently he invited people to solve it but in the end, only he could do so.  I remembered the door in the upper chamber of the Watcher's Pub.  To think I had been so close to it the whole time.

Laroon and I went to the Watcher's Pub and went to the upper chamber.  We found the door but it seemed to be locked.  We searched and searched for a way to open the door.  Laroon found an answer in Archives, but it was not the answer we wanted.  It seems that on December 19, 2006 there was an event known as the Great Scream.  The cries of the bahro were heard through all the ages and explorers were instantly linked back to their reltos.  After this event many things changed; including the Watchers Pub.  After that date, the doors would not open.  The Path of the Shell was blocked.  Unable to continue we headed back home to Tokotah II.

It came to me during the middle of the night.  I had a strange dream the bahro warping to and fro places. Once again, I witnessed the star fissure and its wonders but then it changed; everything fell to darkness and I found myself trapped in a prison book.  Void of life.  Alone.  Terrified.

I woke up  screaming startled, panting, and sweating.  It was rough night.  My mind returned to the book I found in Vahmen district.  What if this was what I had really been looking for the whole time?  The blocked path; the allusions to Words.  This book must be a new way to take the path which was blocked!  Esto, Adelia, and Midnight Sun.  They must be waiting for me.  Laroon would likely not let me link.  I told him the book was dangerous, but is it?  I must act now while Laroon is sleeping and use the book.

Pantaleon - Bahroglyph Study Part 5

A grower to link at will.  Laroon and I figured we would head to the Guild of Archivists to look for answers.  We were greeted as soon as we linked in.  "Do you have any information on Yeesha?" I asked.

"Why yes, we have records on much of D'ni history including the the events of the last restoration.  I think you'll find what you are looking for in there.  To get there just go down the hall and take a right. You can't miss it." He responded.

We found the library without problems and began skimming through the books.  Laroon found something relating to linking without a book.  Apparently it is a power of the Bahro.  Soon after we found a journal that mentioned things about Yeesha.  Apparently, when she would visit the Cavern there were eye-witnesses that saw Yeesha link without a linking book.  She would appear to crowds of people and then vanish without a trace of a linking book.  Relto or no.  Among these witnesses was DRC member Richard A. Whatson, aka RAWA.  We found what we were looking for.  Laroon borrowed a few books from the library and we returned to Takotah II.

I looked back at the open text on my desk.  A grower to follow the shell.  What does it mean to follow the shell?  The Path of the Shell showed us that Yeesha is the Grower foretold by the Words of the Watcher.  What does it mean to follow the shell?

The next line: A grower to banish the darkness.  Kadish.  He believed banishing the darkness meant bringing light into the cavern which he successfully accomplished via Er'cana's pellet manufacturing.  Perhaps banishing the darkness does not literally mean bringing light into the cavern.  From Yeesha's journey I have learned that we, the new explorers, have come to D'ni and with open minds have rebirthed D'ni; leaving behind the old D'ni ways; bringing in new thoughts, ideals, and beliefs.  The growing of D'ni was different than I expected.  D'ni was not meant to be rebuilt physically it is a spiritual renewal leaving the prideful ways of the D'ni in the past.

That leaves the question: What does it mean to follow the Shell?

Pantaleon - Bahroglyph Study Part 4

Yeesha is The Grower.  At least, Yeesha calls herself the Grower.  The Watcher foretold the coming of one
known as The Grower.

A grower to bring the gathered.
A grower to restore the least.
A grower to move through time.
A grower to link at will.
A grower to follow the shell.
A grower to banish the darkness.

A grower to bring the gathered?  "Is it the D'ni people Yeesha was gathering Laroon?"  I asked.

"I don't think it would be limited to just one type of people, Pantaleon.  Not from what Yeesha has mentioned in he journey."  He responded.  "The Call applies to anyone.  Maybe Yeesha was not gathering the D'ni people but instead anyone who desired to discover, share, and grow in D'ni."  He leaned back in his chair looked at the ceiling.  "We are the gathered."

I thought about that for a moment.  He had a point.  I thought back to my earlier days in the cavern; constantly surrounded by explorers old and new.  Esto told me once how he was called to this place.  I couldn't understand it.  How could an ancient city call someone?  After everything I've seen here I think I'm starting to understand.

The grower to restore the least.  By following Yeesha's journey I realize now that the least are the Bahro; once enslaved by the D'ni.  They appear through the bahroglyphs, but how have they been freed?  "Laroon," I said.  "You've completed Yeesha's journey correct?"

"Oh yeah.  Years ago."  He replied.

"The Bahro.  How have they been freed?"

He looked down from the ceiling.  "Really?  Hmmm."  He was quiet for a moment.  "You remember those pillars we had to take to our Relto?"  I nodded.  He took a deep breath.  "Apparently they represented the souls of the Bahro."  My eyes must have gotten bigger when he said that because he quickly told me it was only what he had heard.  "Our taking the pillars from the bahro caves to our relto and then to the cavern Rudena was symbolic of release of these creatures.  I guess they're free now."

A grower will move through time.  This is very strange.  I remember that Kadish had used Ahnonay to convince people that he could move through time.  He tried to convince everyone that he was The grower.  Does this mean that Yeesha has this power?  That can't be right.  Such power... This must mean something else.  But what?