Thorendor, B1: Laboratory Supply 2
Map
Minerals 1
Mica
A platy, somewhat flexible, lightweight, silic stone that Master Arasemis said has been used since prehistory for flashy pigments, glittery cosmetics, crude mirrors, and decorating pottery. Most importantly for Candlestone, mica’s reflective properties are key to crafting the cloaking clouds of the Naren-Dra.
Sphal
This metal resists corrosion, particularly when applied as a coating for iron, known as sphal plating. Sphal also has illusory qualities when powdered and suspended in air. The Naren-Dra mined sphal and burned it to produce cloaking powders. In the Old World, sphal was part of brass alloys. Powdered sphal that is heated and mixed with other ingredients can form a skin medication and sun protectant known as calam.
Minerals 2
Silic
This is a hard, brittle crystalline with leafy structure and gray-blue metallic luster that is relatively inert but reacts with common air and vital air. It is impossible to melt silic in its pure form, except by lightning which is called petrified lightning. Silic is found in many other minerals, including quartz, clay, shulmel, cinder, cloudgems, bog iron, sand, obsidian, opal, glass, and asbestor.
Shulmel
These are glassy crystals composed of silic infused with common air and many trace metal impurities. The crystals focus light when purified, making them useful for optics. Shulmel crystals were first mined and used by the Naren-Dra to manufacture lenses for their primitive telescopes and alongside mirrors to provide light to the inner chambers of dwellings and caves.
Other peoples were unable to replicate the complex grind-melt-mold recipe for crystal purification until a Naren-Dra book was found and translated, eventually leading to the widespread use of hand-sized telescopes and other advancements. Shulmel crystals are also found in the eye slits of Naren-Dra masks, like the one you have.
Bookcase
You see the faintest glow of light coming from around the lower corner of this tall bookcase. You suspect there is a door behind it, but you’ve never seen Master Arasemis move the bookcase. You start pulling the books and scrolls from the shelf, looking for any clue that there is a hidden door or something.
On one of the lower shelves, you pull on a book that won’t budget from its place. You squat down to have a better look. You see that the book is fixed to the shelf. As you feel around it, your finger catches a small latch on the top of the book’s spine. This opens the spine like a little door, revealing a small iron panel with an unusual key hole in the shape of a skull’s mouth.
Have you found the key?
Use it here.
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