Descending

It's been a long first day and a half on my journey back to D'ni "the hard way". I'm still decidedly annoyed at the fact that my Relto Book is gone... with any luck, whoever took it was clever enough to get to the Cavern themselves and is being looked after by the (diminishing) contingent of other explorers, assuming they used it at all. As for me, I've got a long road ahead of me before I can re-join their company. To make matters worse, there have been occasional tremors in the rock. Hardly frequent, and barely noticeable, but they can have a cumulative effect that is most disconcerting. In fact, I may be lucky if I can still even get to D'ni in the first place...

After my last entry two days ago, I returned to the Cleft and spent much of the day getting my belongings and equipment into the Volcano's caldera, and then into the cave below. It was very hard going, and for future reference, the Volcano is deceptively small from the outside. Awkward as it made me feel to do so, I had no choice but to sleep in the Cleft that night, as the tunnel to the first Eder Tomahn on the Path appeared to be a considerable distance from the Caldera, and I didn't have the energy to transport all of my gear by then. I can't say how much sleep I got; the history of where I was sleeping (or trying to, anyway) was almost overwhelming, and I probably spent most of the night looking out the door of the bedroom at the thin sliver of sky visible above the rim of the Cleft. Nonetheless, I awoke feeling refreshed, and spent the first few hours at the entrance to the caves beneath the Volcano organizing my supplies and having a simple breakfast. I decided to take my descent slowly; I was really in no rush given the amount of supplies I had, and knowing that it would likely be several days' journey anyway, I didn't want to over-do it and end up in trouble, alone in a cave few others knew about, miles from help in either direction.

The trip to the first Eder Tomahn took about 15 minutes, which in retrospect wouldn't have been all that bad to walk last night, but again, I'm trying not to over-do it. I set up camp there, and spent most of the "day" exploring the area. Fortunately, the Node doors here still work, though there's no need to operate them as the DRC left everything unlocked when last they used this path. I'm hoping that their frequent supply trips several years ago have left their mark, making it easier for me to follow in their footsteps. The Nexus Terminal here also appears to be functioning properly, and I took the opportunity to register the station with my KI for the sake of convenience. If I need to make a return trip now, I shouldn't have to walk the entire way again.

The Great Shaft itself continues to amaze me. It tunnels I-don't-know-how-many hundreds of feet straight down, and the acoustics of the place are stunning. The architecture is typical D'ni, with heavy arches and thick pillars either carved from the surrounding rock or built – almost fused – into it. The elevators are unfortunately still non-functional, though there are signs of "recent" repair work. The DRC does some great work, but it's obvious they haven't come this way in a few years; I think most of the resupply operations in 2006-2007 were coordinated through one or more of the Council's Reltos for the sake of speed. As a result, the restoration work has already started to give way to the hundreds of years of prior abandonment, and even D'ni machinery has its limits when left alone for that long.

My explorations ended up taking me to the bottom of the Shaft by the end of the day. The scale of this construction is still mind-blowing, and it's almost too easy to get some pretty severe vertigo in here. The access tunnels leading to the floor are all clear and debris-free, and the floor itself has seen some degree of restoration work done to remove fallen bits of rock and ornamentation from higher up the Shaft. The Path continues through another Node door set in the wall, and my brief foray into the passageway indicated that the Node itself was still intact and operational. The faint breeze blowing up the tunnel also indicates that the ventilation system is still working; if it's hooked into the same air supply system as the great fans in the Cavern itself, that's hardly surprising... the DRC left them on for the sake of the sizable population that remained after they'd gone.

Quite possibly the best part about being on the Path is that I don't need to use my flashlight. I'm contemplating prying a firemarble out of one of the light fixtures here to take with me so that I can keep the flashlight for absolute emergencies, but I'll need to see if I have the right tools to do so. Tomorrow I will begin my expedition "for real" and bring my gear with me when I return to the base of the Shaft, but for now, the exploration has made me rather tired, and I'll need my strength and my wits from here on.