To the blessed Count Invictus, Ranking Light Son of Yelmalio,
From Gaumata the Shining Mystic, follower of Dayzatar, keeper of the secret sky
treasures.
The following is composed from many excerpts from such sources as the old temple to the Rebel God's seer in New Pavis, the Icundian Journals and tales from both Zola Felan and Blue Elven legends. It has taken many seasons of hard study to piece it all together, but for the greater glory of the ever-reaching realm it is completed and awaits verification by your courageous elite templars. If you believe the Son of the Sun ordains it, I am more than ready to join them in their research; it is many years since I last ventured into the Old Rubble Ruins, probably since before the depradations of the Crimson Bat in fact. I remain your loyal servant. Gaumata the Shining Mystic, Suntown, 1632 S.T.
The area known colloquially as "The Puzzle Canal" is singularly magical in geography in comparison to others within the Old Rubble Ruins (from henceforth referred to by it's name before the Suntown rebellion, "the Big Rubble"); which is itself saturated in both lore and thaumaturgy to a most unusual degree. It seems it was created almost twenty years after Arinsor Clearmind became the first Count of Sun County, suggesting a date of 896 S.T. Like Count Clearmind, the Puzzle Canal's creator arrived from that far western land, Dragon Pass. She wax a magician of near-legendary power, steeped in the secrets of the ancient art of draconic magic. Those who were settled in Pavis near where she camped fled in fear to safer ground. Her name has come down to us only through newtling tales, where she is called Shazzoula Halmyznikan and only one visual representation survives (from a mosaic in the ruined Lunar knowledge temple) depicting her as holding three seemingly red-hot chains in each of her clawed hands. Apparently her quest had been to extend the land within which her school of power predominated and this was to be completed by creating a site of interference with the physical laws. Once done, this would enable virtually unlimited access to the spells and sources of the arcane dragon ways upon which her native empire was founded.
To activate this, Halmyznikan had to make great sacrifices. In a previous Heroquest, she had gained the servitude of an enormous specimen of Dracopterus pelorus, a neotenic subtype of dragon. From the legends told by Reverend Herra of the Temple Barge of Zola Fel, it seems this monstrosity had a wingspan that must have approached the breadth of the Town at the Sun Dome Temple, though this disagrees with most modern sightings of the beast, which put it at no bigger than a good-sized horse.
Nevertheless, this monster was summoned using its soul-name, Vinchikal Bonewings. Halymznikan called it to fly in low over the southern entrance to the city, which was henceforth named "Wyvern Gate" after the common term for the flying reptile.
She called it to swoop lower and lower and then bewitched it into crashing into the northen bank of the Zola Fel River, destroying itself. The impact of the weighty animal was so great that its crumpled corpse penetrated deep into the bowels of the earth. Working quickly, Halmyznikan cast bizzare rites over her dead pet. These ensured that as its bones decomposed (at an unnaturally high rate), they left a magical imprint in the earth which was to bring about the reversal she had desired.
This took effect as the water from the river gushed in to fill the gaps left by the bones. The natural laws pertaining to solids and waters were exchanged: in the volume of earth enchanted, the ground rose and fell as if vulnerable to tide and wave whilst the waters (that now filled the long tunnels) remained firm. No longer did the water in the area have to be supported on three sides as it normally does: blue elves report having seen columns of water lying both on top of the surface and even thrusting into the air at bewildering angles. Rocks would flow, seeking their own level.
A main entrance to the Puzzle Canal is to be found on the banks of the Zola Fel within the Big Rubble, left from the tail of the wyvern, but beyond this where the tunnel goes underwater, everything shifts, turns and churns. From the followers of Murthdrya, it seems that Halmyznikan ultimately failed in her quest, and this provides the reason why the waterways of the Puzzle Canal constantly change in orientation and structure.
According to the Journals of the hero Icundus, the Death Lord's son, Theceus, discovered that Halmyznikan required one last sacrifice to her ritual. She had a small pillar of adamantium, the metal of the gods, which was to be consumed by the wyvern in its dying moments. However, the crash was bigger than the demi-goddess-like being had calculated and the pillar was flung far from its intended position and lost.
Theceus Humaktsson reported that she still searches for the pillar, sifting through the ground. He stated that her chamber lies inside the Puzzle Canal, constructed from the rib cage of some giant creature, presumably the wyvern. Running around the inside of this chamber, half-way to the roof, is a balcony. Floating around on top of this were several great, green ghostly clawed hands, each as large as a primitive's hut. The chronicles tell us that it is these that churn the ground, reaching through the ribs and into the earth. They push and pull; holes and tunnels are torn in it as Halmyznikan searches for the pillar. The adventurer recounts that the only being in the chamber was a red- haired fishman claiming to be the sixth incarnation of the ancient dragon priestess.
Now the practical effect of this appears to be that those venturing into the Puzzle Canal can never be sure of where to go: the tunnels and turnings they have just travelled along may well have been bisected, twisted or turned.
New tunnels are also formed when the old ones are pushed up to the surface. Halmyznikan may pull down a new section of earth into the Puzzle Canal at a different angle to these possibly fracturing the old ones. The precise mechanics are unknown and possibly incomprehensible (remember, an otherwise extinct sorcery not seen for nearly 600 years is at work) but structures of tunnels within the Puzzle Canal are only stable on a very local scale in time and space.
The Blue Elves never enter the Puzzle Canal. It's tidal land and static waters are an abomination to those of the daughter of Lorian and Aldrya. However, they know of a means of entering it. If this method is not used, the adventurer will soon be crushed by the shifting rock. The Blue Elves grow a herb termed Dreamweed in underwater caverns which can be used to protect those seeking entry. Once underwater a wise elf of Murthdrya casts a spell that places the person in a bubble of air. Then a pipe with a specially prepared Dreamweed is passed to him. If smoked, the magical fumes for some unaccountable reason prevent the churning earth from doing harm to the person inside it and to a lesser extent, those near it (enveloped in the fumes' radiance).
However, once inside the air bubble, the smoker cannot breach its boundary without collapsing the fumes' power and once more exposing themselves to the potentially crushing threat of the shifting ground. Due to a strange side- effect of the Dreamweed, others may move the air-bubble with its passenger inside through exertion of their life-force. This sets the bubble gently moving through the water, its direction and speed under the control of these "guiders". The "guiders" must be underwater too (water breathing spells are available from nearby Zola Felan newtlingsfor normal prices - they are especially keen on ul-metal spear-heads and roping) and sufficiently near the smoker to be enveloped in the fumes' radiance.
The Dreamweed has another side-effect on those not of the Aldryamic races. Smoking it produces visions. In the Icundian Journals, the Lokarnosian merchant Azlack Solazar saw a great hand grab him and his companions and dash them on the sides of some chamber set deep in the bowels of the earth. These visions are always believed, and are always terrifying. Great presence of mind must be used by the smoker to prevent him lashing out and breaching the air bubble. Similarly, the "guiders", when they see their comrade best by fear, must not assist him if this involves touching the air bubble. It is not known if these visions are always true or always false; Solazar's was not, fortunately for him and his companions. From the writings of the Rebel God's lord of knowledge, it seems eating Dreamweed gives prophecies that always come true.
These writings tell us of an enchanted mirror in the centre of the Puzzle Canal, presumably in Halmyznikan's chamber though here the Canal's creation is credited to someone called Labrygon. This may merely by the name of the merman, but this is unclear. Hopefully this, and many other mysteries of the Wyvern Waterways will be understood once your expedition is concluded.
Thanks be for the divine order of the cosmos to Yelm the Fiery Father and Yelmalio, the Son of the Sun and our truth.
GamesMaster's Notes
To move the adventurer in the Dreamweed bubble, the guiders (of which there can be one or two) must succeed in rolling POW v the smoker's SIZ. This must be done to start the bubble moving, to change it's direction of movement and to bring it to a stop.
To restrain oneself whilst seeing the visions, the smoker must succeed in INT v the Dreamweed POT. Dreamweed POT is typically 1D6+6. This may have to be accomplished several times, as the visions grow more terrifying the nearer to Halmyznikan's chamber the smoker gets.
If the bubble is breached whilst underwater, drowning rules apply. Also both the smoker and the guider may be crushed by the shifting ground. Once the bubble has been breached, it will no longer be able to gently repulse the churning earth. This will leave them vulnerable to being trapped in collapsing tunnels and rock falls, which could lead to disaster.
This write-up of the Puzzle Canal is different from the "official" version. In this, traversing the various corners of the Puzzle Canal increases one's chances of becoming Illuminated.
lawrence@aslak.demon.co.uk