Chapter 45 - The Apple of Paradise
General Summary
The Yokels retreat back to the smithy to the sounds of the birds' ominous warnings. They collapse from exhaustion, and do not stir again until much time has passed. After finally rousing, they spend a good bit of time tending to their numerous wounds and finding berries to dull their pain and sate their hunger. Vasilisa remains mostly prostrate to avoid putting pressure on her leg. Drazhan Dragomirovich feels like he cannot effectively wield his hammer. And Sasha has weakness in both her leg and her arm, as if someone took all the strength from her sinews.
After summoning his third Fefila, Chonkorchuk peers into the Otherworld to see what they're doing wrong about getting hold of the Apples of Paradise, and sees the same vision he saw before - a bloody hand reaching out for the apple. After more prying, he finds the answer: the Yokels did not pay the price. If the apple restores life, the price of restoring a life means taking a life. The vision now seems clear, but presents them with a dilemma - whose life can be taken?
After Drazhan's lengthy discussion with the winds inside the stone vessels on the bellows - they are bound to this place, and have no wish to leave - the Yokels begin to experiment. Plamen summons his now famous cows, but he is uncertain - he knows it is a summoned being, and probably does not constitute a life. After leading a cow to the trough with the small skeleton, they slit its throat, but before a drop of blood hits the bottom of the tub, the cow disappears, as does the blood. Thoughts then turn to Boris the Boar - would his life be sufficient, and are the Yokels willing to pay the price of slaying their erstwhile companion's companion?
Before taking this decision, the group decides to rest for an additional day. Sasha and Plamen experience more intense sadness, which shocks Chonkorchuk, who just knew this was caused by the statue. He once again peers into the beyond, and learns that the true cause is the fire breath of the serpents in the foundry. Plamen then removes the curse that makes him and Sasha desire a piece of the The Alatyr Stone above all. Nighttime talk turns to the character of Svarog the Demiurge, and the identity of the child in the tub. Plamen surmises that he is in fact the missing child from Yarozersk, while the boy they saw in the village was probably a Chud' impostor who took his place. As to why a Chud' would do that - that's unclear. They are not evil. But Vasilisa confirms that she captured one poaching on her lord's land, and turned him over to Baba Yaga.
The following day - if day it is - the Yokels head over to the entrance to the subterranean book. Here, Sasha tells Boris that she saw Lumír under assault deeper in the complex. The boar is not fooled, and calls out to his charge up in the giant's cave, but he is finally swayed by Chonkorchuk's illusion of Lumír's voice deep inside the complex. The poor boar is led to the tub, and before he can do anything, is brutally butchered by Drazhan and the others. When the blood falls into the enclosure, a portal opens in the back of it, revealing a shaft leading down 30 feet. But there are more pressing matters. Drazhan dips his hands in the blood, and leads the group back toward the apple tree. He reaches for an apple, and, unmolested by the two birds , uses a spell to pluck one off a branch into his bloody hand. The apple is perfectly round, as are all the others, and there are no obvious differences from the apple stolen by Reznikov. The main part of the quest seems complete, but there are all these apples for the taking, and the Yokels begin to dream of slaying animals in the woods, and coming back for more. But first, there are other matters. Plamen insists on mapping the rest of the complex, to see how the story ends, and whether there is a hidden message. The final words read 'stars and winds creator', making the final line: 'essence/nature that/which in/into daughters and sons stars and winds creator'. After searching, no other egresses are found, so the book seems to be complete. The only unexplored exit is through the sacrificial tub.
All but Vasilisa climb down a ladder into the shaft, proceed down a short tunnel, and find another shaft leading upward. At the bottom of that shaft sits a treasure chest. Sasha begins to make to open the chest, but the chest speaks, and accuses her of rudeness. The chest demands to know everyone's name, and accuses most of the Yokels of being no-name vagabonds. He himself is named Sunduk Sundukovich, and can recite his lineage at least seven generations. He claims to have been in the shaft for eight fourteen million zillion years, which he has spent musing about the nature of the cosmos and the multiplicity of worlds. The only person who he has seen here recently is a short person called Treasure Finder, whose notable feature is that he wears a horned headdress on his head. Sasha asks Sunduk if he would go with them on their travels, and the chest answers that he would, in exchange for a shard of the Alatyr.
Rewards Granted
- 1 golden apple of paradise
Missions/Quests Completed
- golden apple is plucked
- book is apparently mapped in its entirety
Character(s) interacted with
Report Date
28 Nov 2020
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