Beneath - An Uru Explorers Journey Through D'ni and its Ages

I awoke with my muscles in pain, the floor of the hut was not the best place to sleep.

First order of business was to find a Gahreesen Book and get a KI. I took a closer look at the hydrants I had first spotted during my visit back in August. What I had failed to noticed before was that on the tops of the hydrants were symbols which indicated which Age Book was contained within.

Opening up the one with the Guild of Maintainers symbol on revealed the Gahreesen Book. I opened the other 3 hydrants to discover Books for Teledahn, Kadish Tolesa and Eder Gira.

I placed them on the shelves in my hut, and in doing so noticed 2 other Books I had failed to notice in my fatigued state yesterday. One was on the shelf I had placed the other Books on, it was blue with gold trim on the spine. Flicking through showed an area that looked like one of the D’ni Neighbourhoods.

The other book was a kind of journal left by Yeesha I’m guessing (her symbol was on the cover), which contained various verses regarding the Ages in my possession (as well as Eder Kemo which I have yet to locate).

Teledahn

The truth of a man is found in the
darkness, beneath the surface. Some
light might reveal only what some
men want to be seen.

Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -
Book 9, Entry 221, Item 29

Gahreesen

The laws contrived by the proud are
their security and their undoing. Such
laws make disobedience a virtue, and
obedience a sin.

Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -
Book 12, Entry 32, Item 134

Kadish Tolesa

Only the way a man is when he is
hidden, is how he is. A shallow glimpse
can deceive. Look deep, ponder, and
recognize all that is hidden.

Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -
Book 9, Entry 221, Item 77

Eder Kemo and Eder Gira

When all is taken from one, the only
hope that remains is what is given by
another. Through this giving, both are
redeemed.

Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -
Book 2, Entry 1,071, Item 54

I’m not yet sure what those passages relate to within the Ages they speak of.

I decided to remove some of the weight in my bag by putting my spare clothes in the wardrobe before heading to Gahreesen to get my KI.

I returned to that familiar well that encompasses the Link in area, the warmth of the sun hitting me instantly. I walked the corridors of the Age, remembering which direction to take from my previous visit. My fingers brushing the different textures as I walked.
I had time to soak it in this trip, unguided, I could dither if I pleased. I could almost see the D’ni Maintainers bustling back and forth along the long corridors going about their business.

I ducked into the first room, which appeared to be a storage area. Lockers adorned the walls filled with Books that I assume were confiscated by the Maintainers as people came to collect their KI devices. But there was other maintainer equipment strewn about as well, a helmet of sorts and several long spikes with the Maintainers seal upon the top. But most curious was a strange tablet placed in one of the open lockers. It was made of a pinkish white marble like stone with what looked like the same fabric used on the Journey Cloths covering the front. But the most surprising thing was the Linking panel upon the material…I strained my eyes to look at the little box and it seemed that it leads to D’ni judging by what looks like orange lake water in the distance. Unsure what to do I picked it up and placed it in my bag and took it with me as I felt it warranted further investigation.

I moved on to the next room which contained the KI dispenser. The dispenser was slightly alarming, you place your hand inside the device, and the mechanism places a KI around your hand, I was half worried it was going to take my hand off.

There was a part of me that yearned to stay within Gahreesen and continue exploring the structure. But too long had I wished to gaze upon D’ni properly, and I knew that had to be my first port of all.

After returning to Relto, I used the “Neighbourhood” Book. I arrived in a familiar location, a place I had seen many photos of before I ventured down here. But actually being here was different. I spent perhaps an hour, maybe two walking around. I don’t know how many of those minutes I spent gazing out across the lake towards Ae’gura. Very quickly I noticed how shockingly quiet the neighborhood was, it was completely empty. The only sound I could hear was the gentle “whump-whump-whump” of the great fans circulating air in the cavern.

During my exploration I did discover what appears to be a Book room of sorts. Within were Linking Books to Gahreesen, Teledahn and what appeared to be Eder Kemo. However the most interesting Book was in the center of the room sat upon a pedestal which had moving cogs and a hand slot with the KI symbol upon it like the one in Gahreesen.

The Book took me to a small room with moving cogs, the Nexus. A hub which contains a great many books that can be accessed via a user interface which links with the KI. A quick browse through the interface showed that there were a selection of neighborhoods that could be visited, as well as Gahreesen and the Ferry Terminal in Ae’gura.

I selected the Ferry Terminal and Linked.

It is not what I expected, not at all. I believe it’s the architecture, I was expecting something more classical, more like Rome.

But the Arch…it is so huge, what a sight to behold!

The DRC have barriers up all over the place, blocking entrance off to those who aren’t DRC. I ran into a group of explorers near a “Nexus Point” so I stopped and chatted to them for a while, there were a few familiar faces I knew from the surface.

My visit in August was very solitary, aside from my guide. Meeting fellow explorers in the city was definitely an experience. It was nice to just chat and discuss D’ni society along with other things.

I still have so much to see.

[note:] DRC released a KI user manual, obtain a copy of it later.

I have no idea how long that message had been sitting in my inbox. The message was from Jeff Zandi, and despite the wishes of the DRC he was giving me the means to reach The Cleft.

Despite it being late August, the temperature was extremely hot. Thankfully I had packed plenty of water, I was not used to American weather. I had been walking a while, eventually I started recognizing the landscape from my previous visit. As if to signal that I was on the right track I could see the volcano on the horizon.

I had spied the volcano even before I had noticed the fence that surrounded Zandi’s land. As I walked over to the infamous Airstream trailer I was surprised to find Jeff himself waiting for me outside.

Surprisingly he had little to say to me, but he did mention a message waiting for me from “her”. The power was off so I had to get it running again. Within the Cleft was a mechanism linked to the windmill on the surface. After I finally got the windmill working and power running in The Cleft, I discovered “her” message.

Shorah. Rekooahn treCleft preniv legloen b’rem… Oh yes, not in D’ni, they won’t understand.

Once again, the stream in the Cleft has begun to flow. It was dry for so long. The water is flowing in from the desert. The storm is coming.

Have you heard of the City? The deep City, the ancient Uru? Where there was power to write worlds? For thousands of years, the City lived; lived beneath the surface, keeper of the secret, keeper of the power, keeper of the Ages. Always keeping. The City grew proud, and then it died.

The water flows where it wills. It seeks its own path uncontrolled except that it flows downward, always downward.

D’ni, the City of Ages, of other worlds, died. But now it breathes again, it awaits. Some will seek that destination, but you should seek the Journey. It’s as a fine tapestry, complex beyond comprehension, but now torn. We will show you remnants; pieces of the tapestry. Pieces of the Journey. Find the remnants, these Journeys. Seven. Seven in each Age, seven here in the desert. Consider it a quest. No, a request.

Worship.

The water flows downward, and there it pools and collects, and finally, it reaches the roots. And the tree begins to grow again.

I am Yeesha. My parents brought me to this place. We will bring you.

There is much to study here, there is a document seemingly penned by Atrus’ own hand to Yeesha, his daughter. I shall have to return here with the means to copy the document for future referencing I think. But for now a quick note of the contents within my journal will suffice.

My search for the cloths took me back up into the heat, as I headed back over to Jeff to see if he had any thoughts on the message, as I did so I discovered another one of the cloths on the back of his Airstream. Despite his lack of words he was most helpful in pointing the way at times. My hunt for the cloths lead me to discover some interesting artifacts strewn about the area. My first discovery were sheets of metal, half buried in the desert floor. They encircled a larger object which I recognized from Catherine’s journals as the telescope from Riven. Across the way I could spy some large bones, upon which was another cloth. Then bones as it turns out (from looking at the formation of the skull and tusks) is that of a Wahrk, which leads me to wonder what other relics from that infamous Age has fallen through to Earth to be left here gathering in the dirt unloved. If I had my way I’d be carting them off to somewhere safe.

Is this the location where the fissure lead to after the collapse of Riven?

Incredible, it seems that the seven cloths allow for the doorway under the tree in The Cleft to be opened. Opening it revealed a tunnel that lead to a cave. All around me I could hear strange chittering noises that I found unnerving coming out from the dark recesses of the cave. Upon the walls were strange pictoglyphs of symbols with D’ni lettering, a figure and spirals, all of which gave off a blue light when passed.

The path through the tunnels lead to a podium of rock, upon which was a small book which I had seen before. A Relto Book, my Relto Book.

It’s been a long day, the cave is nice and cool but I need to find a place to rest. I will chronicle the pictographs when I return here, but for now I shall Link to Relto and see if I can rest there.

The journey to meet my guide was excruciating, the knowledge that after 6 years of studying D’ni I would finally get to see it was overwhelming to say the least. For days I had been dreaming of nothing but standing on strange worlds, glancing out at the horizons.

I met with an explorer who worked with the people helping to finance the DRC. He offered me the small greenish leather-bound book that Linked to Relto, which until recently I had only known as the Interim Age. The rumors about the Relto Books properties were indeed true, the book follows the owner through the Link, and allows for Linking within the same Age.

I had only seen a few photographs of Relto, a small island situated in the clouds, covered in scrub grasses, and shrubberies. Actually being here allowed me to spy several things that had not been seen before. Four small hydrant like objects sat in front of the hut, upon each one different symbols inscribed. But all of them dominated by a spiral hand symbol.

The hydrants would have to wait, as my guide ushered me inside the hut where I was shown his collection of Linking Books. I picked one which turned out to be one that Links to Gahreesen. We wandered around for a while looking over the architecture and the mechanisms that the Guild of Maintainers had put in place.

A lot of the corridors had barriers blocking them off, which I wasn’t sure about crossing so I didn’t.
Before leaving I took a look at the device that dispensed KI’s to visitors. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to pick on up for myself.

The next destination was Teledahn, where we spent less time than we did in Gahreesen. Only taking a moment to look at the huge mushrooms that dominated the Age.

I was hoping to explore Eder Kemo, an Age that I had been studying for some time from various photos and documentation. Alas, he did not currently have a Linking Book to that Age. Instead we went to Kadish Tolesa where he left me to my own devices for a while. I decided to explore the forest of those towering trees. Playing with the various scopes I found and inspecting the strange cloths that bore the same spiral hand logo as the hydrants. Finally I discovered a Linking Book that lead to the Gallery in D’ni.

My excitement quickly grew to frustration, the doors leading out to the rest of the Cavern were damaged, and so would not open. I was confined to the Gallery.

Eventually my visit drew to an end, we Linked to The Cleft from Relto and I had finally exhausted the memory on my digital camera. There we parted ways and I decided to explore the surrounding area before starting my long journey home.