110. Desert of Endless Night

For a moment, you think you’ve taken a wrong turn and left the arcology entirely. Ahead of you is an endless expanse of sand, sculpted by a faint breeze that causes your cloaks to flutter slightly. And above you …

Above stretches the night sky, pitch black except for thousands of glimmering stars.

As you study your surroundings carefully, you realize you are still deep beneath the earth, in a truly enormous cavern. The “stars” are clusters of tiny, bioluminescent fungi that grow along the ceiling, and upon the stalactite columns that stretch towards it from the dunes. Air must flow in from some distant passage, providing the finishing touches for the illusion as it gently scatters the fine grains of sand into ever-changing dunes.

If you are on THE EXPEDITIONS PATH, continue reading:

In the shadowed spaces beneath a rocky outcropping, you notice stones arranged in a circle. Closer inspection reveals a firepit and a space where the sand has been cleared for a bedroll or sleeping bag. Someone was staying here for a time, although the ashes in the fire are cold and covered with a fine dusting of sand. Given how desolate this place is, you suspect the person left to seek greenery and water deeper underground. In any case, there’s not enough here to provide Silaro with information.