[[voyager19|Back to the session description]]

==== Voyager19 - Roderick's river dream ====

Roderick,

You are standing in a long hallway in front of a heavy, wooden door.  To your
right and left is a long, high-ceilinged hallway, with magnificent and rather
ornate support beams.

In front of the door, a long, thick plank rests in a simple brace - keeping
the door from opening towards you.  You have an unease about what must be on
the other side. It is clearly designed to keep something in - perhaps
something dangerous.

There is a window in the door with small, iron bars.  You step up to look
through, and are hit with a powerful stench.  You recoil instinctively, but
after fumbling briefly for a handkerchief, you cover you nose and mouth, step
back and try again.

At first, you see nothing but darkness.  Within a few seconds, though, your
eyes adjust and you can make out a dim stairway descending down.  From deep
below, you hear a man moaning.  Or is he praying?  You strain to make out his
words, but cannot.  However, there is something familiar about his cadence.

A voice to your right startles you back from the door.

"Are you here for me?"  A young man asks.  His head is shaved clean and he
wears a simple, white robe.  His skin is pale and his cheeks are sunken - as
if he is not getting enough food.

"I hope you are," he continues as you try to regain your composure.  "I can
help you find the tower."

You are jarred awake by a small thump as the boat you are on strikes
something floating in the river.  "Sorry," calls out the barge master to no
one in particular.

It takes a few seconds for you to regain your bearings, but you realize you
were dreaming - and now you are back on the barge heading down river to
Shima. Nearby, [[Kesi]] is meditating and humming one of the chants you had
taught her. This particular one is a tale of Imhotep healing the starving
prisoners of the dread lord of Isme peninsula. You are fairly certain that
she doesn't understand the rich, religious signifiance to the poem - but she
picked it up quite easily and it has a pleasing cadence.

It is also the sound you heard in the darkness beyond the door in your dream.

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