[IC] Lost in Dreams (Stephen)

[ericthered]

Travelling another couple miles, he finds more crews, villages, and rice fields. Abruptly, he comes to the end of the embankment. The canal, which has grown at this point, joins up with another just as large. The embankment opens up: there are two of them, and they seem to protect a large hollow (presumably the length of the embankment, but Stephen can't tell for sure. Men (of apparent European descent) stand guard, and there is a mild traffic of carts going in and out. The cargo coming out is some sort of pitch black rock, shiny in the rain. The men driving are all headed along the same road.

Its been a while, and the rain has not changed at all. For that matter, it doesn't seem that the sun has moved.

[Justin_Bedard]

"Jeezus... Where the hell am I?" Stephen thinks aloud. Unsure of what to do, He waits and watches the carts, wandering in the same direction.

[ericthered]

As he wanders towards the carts, he feels something electric in the air. Except he can tell which direction the feeling is coming. Its like something is flying around, or pulsing. The sensation really doesn't make much sense. Completely separate is the sound of something grinding. Something rather industrial.

He wanders towards where the carts are going, and finds his first real town. Its small enough, but has at least 3,000 people and he can tell whatever he is sensing is coming from the center. The rock is either being carried out on one of two other roads, off on barges down a much larger river (yes, an actual river this time). The town is surrounded by villages and rice fields, but with enough vegetation and 'pasture land' (salamanders are grazing in fields and ponds) for him to stay hidden, and even to get into one of the villages without being seen if he wishes.

[Justin_Bedard]

(It's got a feudal japan feel to it... Is that what i'm assuming? a world where horses are replaced with salamanders? weird...)

Stephen, unable to think of anything else, tries his hand at sneaking into the village and possibly grabbing a garment or two if he finds something.

[ericthered]

OCC: Feudal Japan is appropriate. Not in the list of inspirations, but on second thought it should have been. This world has far more quirks than simply giant salamanders though. And unfortunately for Stephen, they do not speak japanese (as shown). Its a good thought for him to have though.

Stephen tries to sneak into one of the villages. He gets to the edge fairly easily, and doesn't see very many people outside at all, though there are a bunch of children playing in the mud. He doesn't any clothes hanging out to dry... they would hardly dry in this drizzle.

He is able to penetrate fairly deep into the village without being seen. Deep enough to get to the small shops at the center. or workstations, as thats what they really are.

[Justin_Bedard]

Stephen goes to the nearest workstation if no one is nearby. Should someone be near, he'll wait 'till they pass, avoiding contact.
(Sorry, didn't see the post till half-n'hour ago.)

[ericthered]

Stephen slips under the roof of a particularly large 'work shop', opens the door, and finds exactly what he is looking for: Laundry hanging up to dry.

The building is shaped like a igloo: Most of it is a large circle (octogon, really), but a hall sticks off the end. The clothes are strung along lines in the circular area, with four women busy washing away in large tubs of water in the hall. The women are happily chatting away and splashing around, so they don't hear him, and the clothes obstruct getting a good view of him. plus he can avoid line of sight with the hall.

The room is surprizingly hot and dry, despite the fact that there are no fires. There are definitely places that heat seems to come from though: several highly polished smooth black stones with brilliantly glowing white lines, set up on pedestals.

The stones are of identical size, and the rock is jet black. The lines seem to be drawn on them with some sort of thin florescent chalk. They are all identical in size: hemispheres about four or five inches across, and the patterns match. In fact, on closer inspection, the patterns are set in small grooves carved into the stone. It doesn't quite look like factory quality though: small defects in each stone attest to that.

[Justin_Bedard]

"woah..." whispers Stephen, looking at the orbs...
Stephen tries to grab one of the drying pieces of clothing, making sure that the ones he grabs one that matches that of the apparel of the men he's seen around the village. If he's sucessfuly, he'll sneak back out into the main area, feeling better now that he's clothed.

[ericthered]

(Main area of the village? of the Town? the work shops? the fields?)

[Justin_Bedard]

(Village, or somewhere near he was before entering the workstation)