Look at that.  I haven’t written anything in a year.  I haven’t been back to the cavern in about a year.  Of course, I really couldn’t get away from my Master’s work recently, that’s why.  One more year on it, and I’ll probably go on to get my Doctorate.

So I finally went back this summer for a week…end.  That’s right, I still don’t have much vacation time.  In fact, nothing’s been much longer than a weekend.  Back in June, I went kayaking on the San Rafael–it was a bit more dangerous than usual, and being our first time kayaking on a river…well…let’s just say it was pretty adventurous.  And there was a weekend where I went to Goblin Valley/Little Wild (White?) Horse Canyon with my ward.  And last weekend was Pioneer Day here, so I visited the cavern…well…I think I remained in other Ages more than in the cavern, though.

One Age we found had an old, tattered korvahk that had almost an English-like lettering on the outside–but it was really too faded to tell.  I took some pictures of the place.

It’s almost as if I was here before…most of the land is swampish, and I think this is just part of a large island because I could hear the ocean far away.  But the whole place was mostly these treehouses and rope bridges everywhere–it seemed that there were a few pathways and piping below once upon a time, but most of it must have rotted and got washed away.  Some of the houses are inaccessible, since many trees have fallen and either took down the bridges with them, or the entire house with it.  Nonetheless, it was a peaceful place if you ignore the tons of mosquito-like bugs.

Anyway, I might have some more time in a couple weeks, so I’m crossing my fingers here.

 

 

 

 

Forgive me for not giving updates for so long, but I haven’t been in the cavern lately, sadly not much at all this summer.  I’m starting grad school in a week, moving on Friday and Saturday, and testing and training this week.  Before I was teaching a lab at the University I just graduated from, so you see I really hadn’t much time to “escape.”

And yet, I think it’s calling me…

Dreams are becoming fun again.  It used to be that I’d wake up and could tell everyone about the ridiculous dream I had, but that kind of went away for a while.  Just recently, I had a pretty complex dream about time physics–my cousin and brother went to the moon, but somehow traveled back in time, thereby creating a paradoxical situation, where half of Earth’s residents were effected (seeing an alternate time line created by the two hooligans) and half were not.  And last night I dreamed of something I can’t quite piece together–the moon inside of the moon, or a different level of reality.  Something like that.  I need to write these down, I know, so I can remember them better.  But I may know what is causing them.

I was in one of the Ages in the spring–Minkata I believe–when I found a small item, I thought it was someone’s earing or necklace pendant.

Thing is, as you notice, there are D’ni numerals on it.  It looked too new to be an artifact–besides, it looked cheap, homemade, and like the sand rubbed some of the coating off around the edges.  I brought it back with me, not thinking much of it, and tossed it carelessly in one of my drawers.  I forgot all about it, until it came up recently as I prepare stuff for packing.  I left it on the table by my bed, again with my poor organizational/cleaning skills.

Now, I think I’m a reasonable guy, not getting too superstitious, thinking there is a logical explanation for everything, but I wonder…you know, science has yet to explain witching sticks or divination rods, the mysterious power of chi, various far eastern healing arts.  It could be that this thing has some influence over my dreams–ah, but I’d have to test it first.  I’ll let you know–I don’t think I’m entirely convinced yet.

Well, seeing that I arrived back home so soon tells me that my korvahk worked.  This is great, because now I can come and go much easier–the trip won’t last as long.  But this is also not so great because I may tend to go to the cavern instead of doing school work and lose track of time.  :/

Not to worry, though.  I went this weekend with a stack of grading a mile high, sat back in a fold-up chair in Kemo’s caves in the evening and breezed through the stack.  I also got my KI calibrated with the Great Zero and made a new KI marker quest game (right after I did Carl Palmer’s Relto quest…couldn’t find one of them…).  I guess there is some problem with the KI versioning and so I don’t have coordinates attached to my KI yet.  Maybe we just need more people synchronized with GZ.

I was going to post the instructions that I got for making my personal korvahk back home, but I seem to have misplaced the paper.  I can maybe paraphrase it:

The korvahk are actually all templates–most of it is written out, and you just need to make a few strokes towards the end of the book with the right ink in the right spots.  What makes this tricky is that the D’ni in these books aren’t no normal D’ni–there are characters that I haven’t seen before.  Sure, I can maybe piece together some of it from what I know, but it really doesn’t make sense.  Anyway, you make these strokes with a special type of ink you can only get in the cavern (I guess there is a storage of them somewhere…maybe in the guild buildings?).  You need a fountain pen–I guess it will do–and you make the strokes (kind of like dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s) and that’s that.  You then touch the panel and it feels like a temporal hiccup, and then it works.  It doesn’t work in the cavern, really–or anywhere on Earth, which makes sense, according to the rules the D’ni had about the Art.  I guess Relto’s just one of those weird exceptions that Yeesha found a way to do it.  So I stuck my new book in Relto–that will do just fine.

Anyway, I guess I should try to get some pictures posted.  Maybe I need to bring a camera next time.  I wish I could transfer my KI pictures to my computer–that would be nice.  I wonder if anyone knows how?  I wanted to take a picture of the fireflies that someone brought into the Nexus (how?) or to Gira.  They may well be dead next time I go there, oh well.

This has been a tough one for me.  I had to travel across a couple states to get back home whenever I went.  I don’t understand how people can just go and come so easily, so I asked how they got home.  Camann gave me this response:

Oh wow, there is no excuse for this!

Okay, step one, ask around for blank linking books. These were REALLY hard to come by back when DRC was in charge. When you get one ask about basic D’ni and instructions for filling it out. Most people who deal in blank books will be able to assist you. TAKE GOOD NOTES.

Step two, go home the long way.

Step three, once home, follow your instructions for fill out the Linking Book. The book will bring you to the exact spot you fill it out. Choose wisely.

Step four, WHILE HOLDING THE LINKING BOOK, link to Relto.

Congratulations! You now have a fast way home!

Hopefully I didn’t leave anything out. It’s been forever since I made mine.

So apparently, people figured out the korvahk a little bit.  That’s kinda nice, and I will eventually get it working so I can come and go a lot easier on the weekends.  I have my book now, and setting up the connections.  I’ll see if I can get a picture of it up soon.

I enjoyed my time this weekend.  Rather relaxing, good to meet up with friends.  I visited several of the Ages, wandered around Minkata a bit, and collected a few markers.  Now I need to get back to my school life.  I realize now I have a lot of homework, take-home tests, and research I need to get caught up on.  I guess I just need one of these breaks now and then.

It has been some time since I have been in the cavern.  I’ve been recently concerned with finishing up my studies (physics) as I should be graduating with a B.S. the end of April.  I have now a three-day weekend and thought it would be nice to take a little breather and visit the caverns again.

I’m really quite surprised how many there are still there.  I visited some of the Ages again, snuggled up with a book in my fold-up chair and read.  Yeah, I could have stayed home, but there is something different in just being on another planet under a different star and reading about something at home.

And yet…none of these Ages have inhabitants.  I guess a while back, the DRC met one fellow on Noloben.  I haven’t been there yet, but I’ve heard some of the explorers have made it there.   I guess I’m just thinking about this because I’d feel quite alone if the link between two worlds were severed and I ended up all alone on an Age.  I guess that’s why I don’t visit recently found Ages, because who knows if I might lose my Relto book and end up stuck there.

Well, I’m on the surface now.  I am stationed at the moment at Carlsbad in a Holiday Inn, looking up stuff about the area.  Apparently, New Mexico is quite the volcanic state.  The volcano by the cleft I think is found in the Sierra Blanca area–or maybe I have my directions mixed up.  The ride here felt like hours long–but I also fell asleep in the truck (don’t worry, I wasn’t driving).  I wonder how people get home from the cavern…it seems hard enough for me.

Note:  I made this blog separate from my normal blog.  Feel free to visit the other!