Chapter 42 - The Smithy and Beyond

General Summary

Having rested after the ordeal with the serpents, the Yokels rise, determined to find a way through the ducts that hopefully leads them to the next line line of text. Boris the Boar pesters Vasilisa to guide them back to the giant's cave - he has had enough, and fears Lumír doesn't have the sense to return to the village on his own, but she dismisses his entreaties - for now, there is too much work to be done. The pig is insistent, and even takes the risk of asking Drazhan (who he fears) - but a quick trip back to that chamber reveals that the gryphons have transformed back into stone, and have now taken their position as guards by the door. Leaving seems too dangerous, so Boris guides his charge back to the forge, but refuses to go any further.
The iron in the ducts has partly melted, but the way through, if it leads anywhere, is partially blocked. Drazhan recommends waking the dragons once again, so that they can finish their job, but Chonkorchuk resists his suggestion, saying that there must be another way through. He goes off to search for any hidden passages or levers they must have missed. Plamen figures they can start a fire of their own, and summons a flaming sphere while sitting in the duct, but the residual iron on the floor heats up quickly, and sears his hands and knees and makes him lose his concentration, so he crawls back out. There were sounds of sizzling up ahead, so perhaps the procedure is worth another try. Repositioning himself so he is not sitting on metal, he tries it again, and places the sphere in one place, where the duct seems to end. There is more sizzling, and the molten iron pours out just enough so that perhaps crawling through is possible. Drazhan leads the way, and is able to slither out, despite his large frame. He is followed by Chonkorchuk, Vasilisa and Plamen.
After they light a torch, they find themselves in a smithy located in a chamber in the form of the rune "e" in the Chud' tongue. The two ducts empty into a stone crucible attached to steel hoops, that make it possible to tip its contents onto a stone tablet - probably an anvil (which is now covered by cooling iron). Next to them are two large bellows, with curious stone vessels attached to the nozzles. Below it are two buckets - one filled with dry mud, the other one empty. Steel rods and tongs are stashed beneath the anvil. Plamen, who has visited a smithy before (during their days of partnering with Zhitko back in Lazarevo, figures that the mud is probably clay to be used for making molds.
The purpose of the smithy is unclear, but it has access to the long type of transversal passage that runs atop each line of text in the subterranean book, so the Yokels proceed to thoroughly explore it before deciding on what to do next. The line reads something along the following lines: "Then/therefore, prophetic/magical Svarog in smithy his elemental/primordial". Searching through each of the chambers, they discover the following features (aside from the smithy): in the square rune with four vertical lines shch in word meaning "prophetic/magical", the second passage from the left ends in a small ledge 12 feet up off the ground, and barely visible up on the ledge is a large, copper-colored helmet or crown. At the end of the third vertical line, there is a small aperture, perhaps half a foot high and no more than an inch wide. And at the end of the small diagonal passage in the rune g at the end of "Svarog" there is a large stone throne.
Without thinking too hard, Drazhan leaps preternaturally high, snags the crown off the ledge and comes back down without damaging it. It does appear to be some sort of copper head cover with two bands - the lower one having two iron horns, but the upper one looking like two similar protrusions were broken off it at some point. Chonkorchuk wonders if the point of the smithy is to reforge two similar horns in order to reattach them. Sasha, who has now joined her companions, recounts the myth of Svarog, who is indeed a smith who forged the world and the gods on his anvil. While the companions seek something they may have missed in the tunnels, Drazhan climbs up on the throne with the crown. By the time they return, the crown has shrunk down to a size he can wear, and is imperiously sitting on on his head. Feeling quite pleased with himself, he again recommends that they relight the forge and summon the serpents.
The group has other ideas. Plamen transforms into a mole, and climbs through the small aperture in the shch. Beyond, there is another transversal passage and a fourth line of text. Though he is unable to read, he commits the characters to memory. One chamber he passes has a three-legged menhir with a smooth surface on top. And at the entrance to the 16th chamber, he sees a large, humanoid stone statue with a white/amber-colored rock set into its forehead. Mole Plamen is drawn to it, but as he gets close, he swears that the statue moves or sways a little. Summoning up all his will, he turns back, and as he does, he feels his mind catch fire.
Mole Plamen darts back through the aperture, and changes back into his regular form. He looks pale, with sunken eyes, and his companions question him about what happened. He has enough presence of mind to reproduce the runes he saw - the words read "poured/poured into on/onto anvil stone". The line is short, and likely unfinished. The menhir is located in the a rune of "anvil", while the stone statue stood at the entrance of e rune in "stone". There are tunnels beyond, but Plamen did no explore them. Vasilisa wonders whether the third line, which lacks a verb, is also unfinished, or hidden behind a secret portal, but a further search reveals nothing - perhaps poetic license allows the verb to be located on the fourth line (and it does indeed have the verb "poured" in it).
Chonkorchuk's crone-given sight reveals that the crown on Drazhan's head, as well as the two stone containers are magical. Sasha summons up magic to reveal their purpose. The stone vessels contain winds - air elementals. As for the crown, it allows its wearer to control most of the creatures in the maze, though it also places its wearer under some sort of curse. Drazhan seems unconcerned - he thinks that the serpents and winds are somehow involved in the process of crafting something in the smithy, and insists that if summoned, he can control them. Going on past experience, Vasilisa fears that the Yokels will have to fight anything they encounter in this maze, and wonders how long they still have to slog until locating the apples, but her own mystic insight reveals that they are actually quite close - within 150 of the smithy, and straight down (likely, two more lines). However, Chonkorchuk's vision reveals another disturbing detail related to plucking them - taking one requires taking a life, and the person who will do so is Drazhan.
After a full day searching through the tunnels and racking their brains to solve the puzzle, the Yokels settle down to sleep. Off in the corner, they hear Drazhan quietly talking to himself.

Rewards Granted

• Copper crown with two iron horns (controls creatures in maze)

Missions/Quests Completed

• Access found to third line of text (and brief foray onto the fourth)

Character(s) interacted with

• Boris the Boar and Lumír Sládek 

Report Date

17 Oct 2020

Primary Location

Subterranean Book