SECLUDED SENSUAL SPA SHELTERS SHADY SECRETS
Take the road down to Clear Creek Crossing. Enjoy a beer a Thardun's Taphouse and spend the night at Goody Bhagyam's Boarding House for Polite Namegivers. On the next morning, after enjoying Goody Bhagyam's famous Complete Breakfast #2, venture off the road and hike west across the scenic grasslands, enjoying fields of wildflowers and gently rolling hills. Pack a tent and good camping gear - it's a three day journey. On the third day, you'll see the great verdant wall of the Servos Jungle to your south.
Defying all good sense, turn south and enter the jungle. There, at the edge of the Servos, you will find Ironbark Grove. Nestled within the broad embrace of acacias and primeval ferns is a place unique in all Barsaive. This idyllic clearing is the product of furious elemental mating. The wood thrusts deep into the moist, surrendering soil. And in turn, elemental metal penetrates the fecund wood. The glorious child of this tumultuous elemental love affair is a place where leaves are glinting metal, where ferns glimmer with steel, where local wildlife is threaded through with iron and bejeweled with minerals.
And sheltered within this unique grove is a pool rich with mineral deposits with water that casts rainbows at every opportunity.
It is a wonder worth a three day hike.
Nearby is the settlement of Irondelve. By all rights, this should be a mining town. Their kaer was built on and within a massive iron deposit. Problems with Horrors, however, have dramatically reduced the productivity of the mine. Fortunately for us, this has forced the residents to find another source of revenue. Barsaive's Namegivers are adaptable and innovative.
They have turned the pool in Ironbark Grove into the best spa outside the Floating City.
"I don't much like getting wet. Well, I should be specific. I don't much like getting my wings wet. I very much adore getting the rest of me wet. They've put this little shelf on the edge of the pool for us Windlings to enjoy the water without having to go all the way in. I just wish that handsome Zivilyn and that pretty Elisen would join me. They could go all the way in," says Aethrillia Redwing, the windling naturalist and Beastmaster who first identified the grove.
"My father just moved out there to open his food stall and his business is booming! I'm so glad he made the move," says Nergae Hilldigger (Readers are encouraged to visit Malak's Meats and order the Spicy Lizard Flatbread).
But for all its sensual splendor, this spa has secrets. Local alchemists are wary of a shadowy figure they call the Soap Merchant. "I heard that there was this alchemist, a Pryck, who offended the Soap Merchant. He was found dead beside a highly, ah, suggestive, um, rock formation," recounts Thaddeus, an alchemist newly come to Ironbark Grove. An alchemist from the village of Ba'tosh, who requested not to be named, added, "It's best to keep the Soap Merchant happy. I advised some Adepts that she is fond of Passiflora flowers."
"I think they have her all wrong," argues Bloodbeat, a T'skrang Nethermancer and alchemist. "I'm sure she's just misunderstood." But Thorkell, a Troll Weaponsmith of some reknown countered, "I don't know what kind of tyrant requires flowers guarded by eight foot tall primitive cannibal T'skrang. If it weren't for Juniper's brilliant stratagem, we'd have been simmering in a Velos stew pot for certain."
Thaddeus, however, is pleased. He has set up shop in Ironbark Grove and has not been bothered at all. Perhaps the Soap Merchant is, indeed, a benevolent protector of the grove. Or perhaps his gift of passiflora blossoms demonstrated sufficient respect that she allows him to live. Either way, business is good.
For loyal readers of News of the Underground, here are a few tips:
Visit Syvilla's Herborium and ask for the 'Lavender Dream' to get the very special bath salts to enhance your spa experience.
At Dhruvan Makar's Massage Pit, tell the receptionist that you "once pulled a Skeorx's tail" to gain entrance to the back room and the happiest ending in the Servos Jungle.
News from the Underground - Like Regular News but Way Cooler!Statistics:Posted by bronzemountain — Mon Nov 09, 2020 5:50 pm
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