The first peaceful day

[Anastasia]

You swim up. It seems to be a fairly normal cave - just weathered stone here, no passages up that you see.

[Nephrite]

How disappointing!

He decides to follow the current the rest of the way for now, then.

[Anastasia]

Down and down and down you go, following this path. It takes a good 20 minutes or so before you see it - it looks to empty out into something, the roar of falling water muffled but audible as you go on down.

[Nephrite]

It's going to take a while to swim all the way back there... oh well.

He tries to fly out of the water to get a better look at where exactly he's being emptied out and where it is!

[Anastasia]

A cavern of crystal, smooth and polished to a mirror-like shine. Great crystals jut out of the walls everywhere, several waterfalls emptying from the roof into a huge lake below. Here several islands sit, each with crystals on them as well. On one particular island a hound archon rests, sitting and with his eyes closed, perhaps napping. He is wearing no armor, merely plain clothes and with no weapon visible, nor any tools.

[Nephrite]

Moore will fly over towards the archon, but inspect the crystals nearby -- perhaps they radiate some sort of power?

Spellcraft of 86 and K:A of 106 again. :)

[Anastasia]

The crystals radiate strong magic - this entire area is saturated with healing and protective magic, down to the very stones.

[Nephrite]

"Another place of healing... Is it the water itself...?" Moore murmurs quietly.

Well, he decides to take a seat on a nearby island and tries to meditate. Perhaps it'll be more successful here!

[Anastasia]

At least this one isn't gold.

You sit down and relax here. It's not bad for what it is, but you don't feel any sudden wisdom coming on you.

[Nephrite]

"...Not here either, huh." Moore says. "Well... I'm sure I wasn't brought here by mere chance."

He's going to look around for any stray crystals to bag up and take with him. I'm sure Jetina would appreciate a few, since they might be useful in some fashion for her.

Assuming there are stray ones, he'd collect... I don't know, a dozen or so?

[Anastasia]

There are stray ones. The moment you pick up the first, "Hm?" The hound archon stirs, giving you a look as he yawns.

[Nephrite]

"Oh, hello!" Moore says, greeting him with a wave. "Do you want the long story or the short story version of what I'm doing here?"

[Anastasia]

"Besides taking the crystals without asking?" The hound archon observes, giving you a look.

[Nephrite]

"I didn't realize you were here to guard them, first of all." Moore says. "For all I know, this could be somewhere you happen to enjoy napping."

He puts the crystal back down, at any rate. Really, though, everyone in Mertion is incredibly judgmental...

He clears his throat and flies over. "My name is Moore, Duke of Songs of Celestia, servant of Erathaol of the Hebdomad and leader of Hope's Landing of Lunia. You are the guardian of this particular area of Mertion, I take it?"

[Anastasia]

"Or Solania. I'm not sure if it's over the border or not," The hound archon says, a pant after. "Duke Moore." Suddenly he's sitting upright, attention on you. "Why didn't you say so, that's all you had to say."