AATE, Part 1, Chapter 6: Seek Deep Stone

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Against All Things Ending, Part 1, Chapter 6
Seek Deep Stone

Looks like I took too much into the quotes. Strange, seemed to me I was cutting off even very interesting things already, perhaps used to having it all and in detail from reading SRD a lot. Or just me, not really able to cut this.

In this chapter the characters find themselves in a new variant of an unpleasant place to be - in this case, near the apex of a fragile-looking bridge in a dark cold cave, that is so deep the air is no good for breating. Since that's not serious, compared to the situations they normally get into, that's certainly not all.

the pervasive brume of Kevin’s Dirt was stifling. He was dangerously close to its source; to the living bane that Kastenessen and Esmer and moksha Raver had tapped or harnessed in order to generate the fug which hampered the Staff of Law.
So near that unanswerable evil, Linden and Liand and the Ramen were surely as truncated, as blind and nearly insensate, as he was. Anele’s heritage of Earthpower might preserve him; but even the percipience of the Haruchai and the Giants was likely to fail. In moments, every one of Linden’s companions would be effectively as eyeless as Mahrtiir, as deaf as seas, as unresponsive to touch as bluff rock.
Unaware of the danger -

So, here's the source... Apparently no help from knowing that for now - not even the way how that works, let alone something that could be used.

And no one aided him. Blinded, they did not know how. The Harrow should have taken action. This was his doing. But perhaps he was content to let his companions—his victims—fall. He had not vowed to defend them from the dangers of this journey. Under the circumstances, the prospect of
being rid of Linden and her friends probably pleased him.

And The Harrow shows himself nicely.

Gradually light began to emerge from the young man’s right fist.
By slow degrees at first, the glow swelled. Benighted and heavy, the bulk of the Swordmainnir took shape. The Humbled appeared around Covenant as though they had condensed from the thinner substance of shadows. Linden leaned, panting, on Grueburn’s breastplate. Held by Galesend, Anele had covered his face with his hands in terror.
Then Liand grew stronger. The ramifications of exerted Earthpower purified the air around him, enabling him to breathe more easily.
In a rush, radiance burst out to contradict the dark.

Liand with Orcrest.

they grew stronger; strong enough to recognize the extremity of their situation.

Common thing here, not the first time someone being a real ruin is helpful in a way not to get all the weight of the situation.

“No,” the Ardent wheezed, straining for air. “I cannot. The Harrow has misled himself.” Fright ached in his voice. “The span is warded. We must not fall!”
Like a mirage of himself, the Insequent fled toward the safer rock of Mount Thunder’s roots, away from the portal.
“Withdraw,” Coldspray commanded through her teeth. “Follow the Ardent. Now. With care. This stone is seamed with age, ancient beyond reckoning. Our weight may surpass its endurance.”

Off the bridge for now.

In addition, the Harrow - Like another piece of sanity, Covenant remembered that the Harrow had never opened the portal. Perhaps he did not know how. Or how to use the Staff of Law. He did not care about Linden’s pain. The bridge was a way in; but it was also a snare. A defense. Protected. If the Harrow erred, he would shatter the span.

Now that's just wonderful.

The portal was the reason. It explained why the Harrow had transported everyone here, instead of directly to Jeremiah. The defenses which the Viles had woven for their demesne were complex and duplicitous. If he did not enter the Lost Deep correctly, the entire subterranean realm might collapse. Or he and everyone with him might be slain in some more oblique and cruel fashion.

And it just couldn't be so easy.

Where it debouched into the cavern, however, it opened like a fan formed of relatively level obsidian veined with malachite. The white purity of the orcrest’s illumination accentuated the green hue of the malachite. The branching of the veins through the obsidian gave them an eerie resemblance to the grass stains on Linden’s jeans.

Those veins resembled the stains which Covenant had once worn after passing through Morinmoss.

The runes? And also must be like the stains Covenant and Mhoram had on them after passing through Morinmoss as well.

“When the Viles formed that bridge, they called it the Hazard. But translation doesn’t do it justice. When they said ‘Hazard,’ they didn’t just mean that terrible power. And they didn’t just mean they covered the bridge with wards so it would shatter if someone tried to enter the Lost Deep without knowing how. It was their hazard, too.
“Making it, they risked everything. Who they were. What they meant to themselves. It was their only link to the rest of the Land. The rest of the Earth. When they crossed out of the Lost Deep, everything they’d ever done or cared about might be destroyed.
While they kept themselves isolated, they could imagine they were perfect. But they were smart enough to know the world is a big place. Even the Land is a big place. They might meet beings and forces that would make them look paltry.

An insight into the Viles' view on things.

“They created the Hazard because they were too intelligent to be content with ideas of perfection that hadn’t been tested. Compared. Measured.”
The Haruchai would understand that better than anyone.

[Sigh]

“Does the Harrow know how to open the door?”

Make an educated guess...

“I cannot aid him here.” His voice was a taut wheeze. “This has been his life’s quest. It is not mine. Nor has it been any other living Insequent’s. I possess no knowledge, either earned or given, to ease his dilemma.”

The Ardent is here not for that.

“It is my task to ensure that the Harrow abides by his oath. That mission I have begun. I will continue it. I will assist him when I am able to do so. For the nonce, however, Timewarden, I have another purpose, one which the conjoined will of the Insequent has urged. I have drawn you hither, to my side rather than to the Harrow’s. Him you cannot succor. Here knowledge which you have forgotten may be restored.
“Among those who assiduously seek out auguries and prescience, there is disagreement concerning the outcome of our present quest. Yet all concur that we must stand in this place at this time. Here we are vouchsafed an opportunity which will not recur, and which is greatly to be desired.”

“Chosen,” Stave said flatly: a veiled command. “Attend to Anele.”

Anele lay facedown on the uneven obsidian with his arms and legs outstretched as if in deliberate prostration. Beneath his scrawny frame, veins of green radiated outward as though they depicted rays of light. Somehow the malachite conveyed the impression that it throbbed to the beat of his pulse.

Those veins resembled the stains which Covenant had once worn after passing through Morinmoss.

More or less confirms the thing about the runes above.

In a voice like stone and apprehension and sorrow crushed together until they were in danger of crumbling, the old man said distinctly, “It is here.”

What the chapter title says.

The Harrow had brought Linden’s company to stone so deep that no human capable of interpreting it had ever touched it before.

“The wood of the world has forgotten.” Anele sounded as harsh as the rock beneath him. “It cannot reclaim itself. It requires aid. Yet this stone remembers.”

Interesting, the old lore of wood and stone remembered again.

“There must be forbidding.”

Without forbidding, there is too little time.

Sounds like even the forbidding, if they figure it out, is going to be just buying time.

“Even here it is felt,” the old man said as if he were answering her. “Written. Lamented.” But the words were not a reply. Anele’s fixation on the lines of malachite within the obsidian was complete. He responded to the world’s oldest secrets, not to her. “The rousing of the Worm. It devours the magic of the Earth. The life. But its hunger is too great. When it has depleted lesser sustenance, it must come to the Land.”

Certainly, the Land wasn't going to be left at peace even forthe possibly last days.

Lesser sustenance? He must have meant the Elohim. But Covenant could not be sure.

Worm food now!

By its very nature, the Worm would give Lord Foul what the Despiser had always craved.

So, if thiss is not some mistaken musing, this looks like it pretty much discards the idea LF needs something more, though that does seem suspicious.

Covenant did not know how Linden would be able to bear that responsibility.

The way she usually does? Sounds not too appealing.

“The Worm will come.” Gradually Anele’s voice took on a ritual cadence, a sound of litany, as if he recited a sacral truth. “It must. Bringing with it the last crisis of the Earth, it will come. Here it will discover its final nourishment.”

Here - probably the Land. Can't be left at peace even for the possibly last days.

“Here?” Linden asked, still whispering. Bereft or abandoned: Covenant could not tell the difference. “In the Lost Deep? In that chasm? What nourishment?”
Surely she knew that Anele did not hear her?

“If it is not forbidden, it will have Earthpower,” Anele said in tones of rock and woe. “If it is not opposed by the forgotten truths of stone and wood, orcrest and refusal, it will have life. The very blood of life from the most potent and private recesses of the Earth’s heart. When the Worm of the World’s End drinks the Blood of the Earth, its puissance will consume the Arch of Time.”

“To Melenkurion Skyweir, Covenant thought dumbly. Of course. Not here. Not to the Lost Deep, or to any place within Mount Thunder. The Despiser had buried too much evil in these depths. The Worm needed Earthpower concentrated and pure, the world’s essential chrism. As pure as orcrest. As pure as the wrath of Forestals, who had possessed the power to refuse -

And again - refuse - that must be that same forbidding.

the Ardent announced with quiet satisfaction. “As it was foreseen, so it has transpired. And I alone among the Insequent bear witness. The Harrow himself has heard no single word. He cares naught for the joy of such epiphanies.”

Some capture of the Ardent's interests.

But Covenant shared none of their reactions. He was slipping again, skidding down a scree of moments into the Land’s past. Losing the present. There was evil in the chasm. It was going to wake up. He could not stop himself.
-the necessary forbidding-
He did not understand how he could have failed to remember.

Evil as it is, what is that with the forbidding he failed to remember? They're going to really need that. Though likely it won't be all they need even then. Not only from the phrase above about forbidding, but also because of the thing LF mentioned about his plans and the presence of much more threats around. Lots more fun ahead, and even the most necessarily urgent thing is all unclear.

From "the wrath of Forestals, who had possessed the power to refuse" it looks like that is something they did, apparently when the forbidding for the Ravers was made - the Colossus of the Fall. May have something to do with the runes as well - likely the ones on the Staff and the stains left on the clothes of Linden by the grass and maybe way back on clothes of Covenant and Lord Mhoram by the Morinmoss.

[mod edit to correct the title]

[SoulBiter]

Interesting... so as I read the previous dissection I was thinking that perhaps everyone has been underestimating Orcrest...

“If it is not forbidden, it will have Earthpower,” Anele said in tones of rock and woe. “If it is not opposed by the forgotten truths of stone and wood, orcrest and refusal, it will have life. The very blood of life from the most potent and private recesses of the Earth’s heart. When the Worm of the World’s End drinks the Blood of the Earth, its puissance will consume the Arch of Time.”

No Im wondering... is he talking about the stone that Liand is carrying or is he talking about the 'One' Stone that Orcrest came from?

In the past these kinds of forbiddings required the life of a Elohim to create. Is this still true? How will you create a forbidding of this nature if they all are consumed?

[SoulBiter]

Tried to edit my post above but something wasnt working right, thus a second post.....


I just had another thought...... Could LF be tricked at the end of all things into becoming the actual forbidding that will keep the worm from devouring the earth???? Perhaps he and TC both will join to become that which forbids the destruction.. TC willingly and LF unwillingly or tricked. Kind of like Vain (willingly) and Findail (Unwillingly)

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Everyone? It didn't appear not estimated highly by the people of the Land to me, though likely its powers are really much more than what was known.

The Elohim likely aren't consumed yet, they were going to hide, but I don't think using one of them to make a forbidding is a right thing to do. What is perhaps a serious difference, "stone and wood" are needed. It was mentioned several times - in the 1st Chrons the lore of stone and wood are far separate, and even rarely meet close, in the beginning of the 2nd Covenant is shocked to see the combination of stone and wood and metal in Nassic's house. Likely either no-one tried to use them together or not really - or worse - someone tried. Even if that's just due to the lack of the possibility in people to use both, or to the need to fully dedicate to one, that may be a problem and be very different in results from the use of them separately.

As for LF becoming the forbidding - I don't think so, though that's an interesting idea to discuss. First and foremost, I think it just feels wrong. Though there are more distinct reasons to think so, like the one I already named.

...

Without forbidding, there is too little time.

Sounds like even the forbidding, if they figure it out, is going to be just buying time.
...

[Vraith]

Likely either no-one tried to use them together or not really - or worse - someone tried. Even if that's just due to the lack of the possibility in people to use both, or to the need to fully dedicate to one, that may be a problem and be very different in results from the use of them separately.

Some interesting stuff in the other parts of your post, but on this I don't agree. Anele is talking about what is lost and forgotten NOW, but in the past it lined up more like certain lores were a sort of affinity that some peeps had [for stone or wood]....but the Lore of the Lords, for instance, encompassed both, and other things besides. Prime direct example would probably be Loric, who as High Lord was master both of the staff of Law, and creator/master of the krill [metal and orcrest]. And Kevin and other lords [even ones not born yet] obviously did/could master both...or the krill could not have been the key to the 7th ward of Lore.

SB, I might agree or disagree depending on how you mean that on forbiddings. Lesser and other kinds of forbiddings were known and used in the past...but if you mean "one big enough for the Worm"...yea, that's huge and needs something truly potent. Good question on the orcrest...my impression from Anele's statement is he's speaking of the power/knowledge available/contained in orcrest in general, not a particular piece...but just my impression.

[earthbrah]

When I first read this chapter, I felt a huge sense of satisfaction about Anele. He had mentioned late in FR that the group needed to "seek deep rock." We waited three years to learn more, and the scene in this chapter delivered both a sense of satisfaction with what Anele had said in Salva Gildenborne, as well as more mystery stemming from what Anele actually said while sprawled face down on the stone in the Lost Deep.

The whole issue of forbiddings and too little time is fascinating, and seems to serve as a plot bridge to TLD, and possibly also to a final solution to the Worm. Love it!

[SoulBiter]

SB, I might agree or disagree depending on how you mean that on forbiddings. Lesser and other kinds of forbiddings were known and used in the past...but if you mean "one big enough for the Worm"...yea, that's huge and needs something truly potent. Good question on the orcrest...my impression from Anele's statement is he's speaking of the power/knowledge available/contained in orcrest in general, not a particular piece...but just my impression.

Hmmmm now there's a thought. So many possibilities so little time. What are the forgotten truths of Wood? I wonder if there is a clue in the past that was given when Linden was speaking with the Forestal. Does the Orcrest give someone the ability to link both wood and stone in some way? Is it a 'bridge' between the two? Jeremiah creates links..... is it something he will be involved in..... somehow linking the past with the present..... the power of the Original One Forest to something that still exists in the present?

the forgotten truths of stone and wood, orcrest and refusal,

Note that these two things are separated,
1. forgotten truths of wood and stone
2. Orcrest and refusal.

bah now I may have to go back and re-read the last two books again and look for clues.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Vraith, that they rarely meet close was "even", to emphasize the difference, but the thing is about using them combined. Like when Linden used the Staff and the White Gold with the krill, or like when Liand and Linden summoned the rain - Liand collapsed after that, but the heavy downpour started, like "an ocean in the sky", and the orcrest didn't shatter, though it was supposed necessary when changing the weather, or when Sunder and Hollian used the krill, his Sunstone and her lianar to bring the sun of the next day earlier - the sun was brought, though it was thought nearly impossible, but Hollian died. So, it looks like joining powers like that can bring not only a stronger result, but also one different and unexpected.

And where from is the thing with the krill being made of metal and orcrest? If I remember correctly, it had a transparent crystal.

earthbrah, glad to see you also liked this chapter. I had serious problem choosing the parts to quote in the dissection, not to have the whole chapter in quotes, it turned out to be quite long even like this. And the thing about the final solution is going to be an interesting question, creating the forbidding is promising to be a complicated thing itself, and the thing with too little time, as I mentioned already, looks mightily suspicious - right, something has to be done with the Worm, but the way it's said sounds like they're going to need time not in general, but for something.

SB, there's apparently something wrong with your quote tags, Vraith said what you quoted.

And I agree, I also thing the Forestal's words will be remembered, and also the Runes he left on the Staff are very likely to be relevant. But the separation in the sentence you mentioned can likely be more to show wood+stone, orcrest+refusal, not the separation between the pairs of them, though no guarantee, certainly.

[Vraith]

I'm not saying they don't have different attributes, nor that different/more powerful effects can come from combining them.
I'm just saying there is a difference between those merely talented for stone or wood [like Sunder and Hollian] and those with real Lore. [The Lords].
The truths are forgotten now...but in the past much much more was known.

I'm not sure exactly where it is first indicated the krill's stone is orcrest...hopefully it isn't after where we are now [even more hopeful I'm not just making that up/misremembering]...I'm semi-convinced it's in the First chron's.

[Barnetto]

When I first read this chapter, I felt a huge sense of satisfaction about Anele. He had mentioned late in FR that the group needed to "seek deep rock." We waited three years to learn more, and the scene in this chapter delivered both a sense of satisfaction with what Anele had said in Salva Gildenborne, as well as more mystery stemming from what Anele actually said while sprawled face down on the stone in the Lost Deep.

The whole issue of forbiddings and too little time is fascinating, and seems to serve as a plot bridge to TLD, and possibly also to a final solution to the Worm. Love it!

Agreed that it is satisfying to see Anele acting as a proper and full on seer here - feels just right.

Though I found the idea that the Ardent felt he had achieved some kind of nirvana in merely witnessing this event somewhat less satisfying! It's merely a revelation, a piece of the jigsaw, that's all.

And just throwing out a wild guess here, but is it possible that the "one stone" is in the depths of Melenkurion Skyweir and will play some part in the resolution? (I can't recall what was revealed about the Blood of the Earth now in Linden's trip to the past in FR!) I'm assuming that the wood element of any forbidding will be the contribution of the staff with the Forestal's runes.

[Krazy Kat]

I'm not sure exactly where it is first indicated the krill's stone is orcrest...hopefully it isn't after where we are now [even more hopeful I'm not just making that up/misremembering]...I'm semi-convinced it's in the First chron's.

I can't recall ever seeing it mentioned that the krill uses orcrest. Maybe it's best that it doesn't.
When Bannor lights the way with orcrest to help Covenant escape the flood of Melenkurion Skyweir, the stone shone with an intensity that could be argued matched the krill.

It mentions in an early chapter of Against All Things Ending, that Loric found the stone he used for the krill under Skyweir, and that it had been washed smooth by Earthblood...Surely then the stone in the krill is the same as other orcrest.

as always, not trying to be controvertional, just conversational!

[earthbrah]

Barnetto wrote:

Agreed that it is satisfying to see Anele acting as a proper and full on seer here - feels just right.

YES, Anele is the seer and oracle of TLCs!

[Orlion]

Good stuff. A bridge is about to be crossed into the future/past (maybe they're the same). However, mess it up and the opportunity will collapse into the abyss!

[earthbrah]

Barnetto wrote:

is it possible that the "one stone" is in the depths of Melenkurion Skyweir and will play some part in the resolution? (I can't recall what was revealed about the Blood of the Earth now in Linden's trip to the past in FR!) I'm assuming that the wood element of any forbidding will be the contribution of the staff with the Forestal's runes.

I asked a GI question a couple years ago about the one stone, and Donaldson would not commit himself to outright saying there was an actual one stone like there is a One Tree. But he did say that like lomilialor is a descendant of the One Tree, orcrest may be descendent from a one rock. In fact, he writes "But surely it's fair to say that the krill's gem--and orcrest--are descended in some sense from the archetypal concept of 'stone.' Like lomilialor, they express or exemplify ideas and powers larger than themselves."

The krill is apparently designed to allow any amount of power to be focused through it. The Earthblood is supposed to enable the Worm to "consume the Arch of Time." (pg. 116) And it will find this "blood of life from the most potent and private recesses of the Earth's heart." At this point TC's thoughts return to the Skyweir. (Could it be possible that we're going back there for the final showdown?)

I wonder if Wildwood would have carved those runes on the staff if Linden had not first blackened it with her wrath fed by the Earthblood... Wrath vs. loveliness is another duality that presents itself to us in these last Chronicles.

[wayfriend]

Thanks for the lead on this chaptere, Effaeldm. I think it's an important chapter, because Linden's Army is finally getting somewhere in this book.

One initial thought I have about this chapter is how much Covenant knows about the Hazard. Despite all he's forgotten, this he remembers. We can only assume that he, as Timewarden, thought that this was one of the important things to remember.

He also seems to know a lot about a "bane" which apparently is far down in the chasm but with a potential to make an appearance if they mess up.

However, while Covenant tells everyone about the Hazard, he doesn't tell anyone about the bane. Nor does he mention to anyone what he knows about Linden's predicament here in the Lost Deep. Whatever that might be.

It was possible that no one else understood how badly she could be hurt here.

So, as I mentioned in an earlier chapter, Donalson is able to use Covenant's memory issues in some interesting ways. He can drive the plot one way or another merely by deciding whether Covenant remembers or not.

Another thing that Covenant remembers.

Nonetheless his need to rescue Jeremiah was as great as Linden’s, although he no longer knew why.

Although he doesn't remember why, he does remember Jeremiah's importance. I think that this is important because there's a whole lot more to "Do any of you have a better idea?" than simply supporting Linden. Covenant has ambitions that are in play here as well. As passive and as helpless as he seems, there's a plan of his that's unfolding. Deprived of all of his former knowledge, he's still shepherding this plan along even now.

And what about this "Hazard"? Some things seem odd about it. Why would the Viles design a Hazard that would enrage a bane if it was ever sprung?

And if the Hazard gate is closed, how did anyone like Jeremiah and/or anyone else get passed this gate in the first place? According to Covenant's knowledge, they can't. "No one can get in if that portal isn’t opened first." Did someone else open the portal to let Jeremiah in? And then close it again?

Perhaps this is just me, extrapolating too far.

One last thought: I found that this chapter is the first of several very tedious chapters, where Donaldson too frequently pauses the narrative to describe each expression on each character. And there are many characters (20?) here on this bridge. I think that Donaldson spends way too much time describing, for example, what order the characters descend from the bridge. I think that this represents, potentially, where this Chronicles lacks the strong editting that was present in the others.

I just had another thought...... Could LF be tricked at the end of all things into becoming the actual forbidding that will keep the worm from devouring the earth????

One thing that I see is that this notion of forbidding the Worm might be tied to the earlier notion of Jeremiah devising a gaol. Might not such a gaol, "from which [the Worm] will be unable to emerge" also be considered a forbidding?

A Forbidding, such as we have seen so far, is fundamentally a wall. And six walls make a box, no?

And doesn't Jeremiah's talent require materials from which to build? Such as, stone and wood? Might they not also include orcrest and refusal?

Or, might Anele be speaking in a more cryptic way, such that these are things that are needed to free Jeremiah, who would then be enabled to make his gaol. In that sense, these things would also be necessary to make a forbidding.

[wayfriend]

Okay, I had a duh moment. I was about to reread ch. 7, and I decided to first try to figure out what the heck TC was talking about when he said at the end of ch. 6, He did not understand how he could have failed to remember.

So I read again the lines again about, As pure as orcrest. As pure as the wrath of Forestals, who had possessed the power to refuse. And I remembered also that there is Earthpower in all living things, all stone and earth and water and wood. And that The Earthpower takes many forms between wood and stone.

So, clearly, "stone and wood, orcrest and refusal" refers to Earthpower. Duh. I think you guys were already onto that, but I just caught on.

Except, whereas Covenant speaks of these things as what the Worm seeks, Anele speaks of them as what can forbid. But I have no problem believing that Earthpower is both things, what the Worm craves and what will forbid the Worm. Just as wild magic is both the keystone of the Arch and the power that can destroy it. Life and death, intimately intertwined.

However, I think that what Covenant failed to remember was that the "evil in the chasm" was "going to wake up".

[shadowbinding shoe]

The first time I read this chapter I wasn't very impressed with it. I felt the action was unnecessarily postponed for yet another chapter and didn't see what the big deal was with the Worm prophecy. The whole thing seemed pretty academic seeing as nobody would be alive by the time the Worm came to eat its final meal in Melenkurion Skyweir. Why did it even matter? But after all those quotes from the chapter, I began to think there was a lot more to it. The imagery of this cavern holds a whole dimension of allegorical meaning that reflect Anele's prophecy and what the future holds for our company. I don't think anything in it was incidental.

First, at center stage: A bottomless chasm containing a terrible Bane that dominates this cavern to the exclusion of everything else. It suffocate all expressions of life around it. The magic earthpower is smirched out by Kevin's Dirt and breath and life itself are forbidden through lack of fresh air. Everything is drawn and swallowed by the nameless thing in the chasm. Rivers of waters trickle from the stalactites, Covenant feels drawn to it almost irresistibly and the veins of Malachite seem to be endlessly flowing into it. This is the image of the Worm that is eating their world. The chasm might even be the Sunbirth Sea from which it will emerge.

To the side, the company, standing on a little ledge of black Obsidian rock veined with green Malachite. This is the Land with its green life benighted by its approaching overwhelming doom. There is a secret message that might protect them, for a time, against their doom. They still have a chance to master the forces of the Land to protect it, but they are small and puny and their life is trickling away from them all the time. What hope do they have against the terrible chasm at their feet?

Above them, the world entire. They must carry its weight like Atlas and it lies heavily oh so heavily on their shoulders and the footing is slippery and hazardous.

All is murky and stale save for the light Liand gives them with his Orcrest. They are the only hope remaining in this place and time.

But that is not all. From their ledge, a thin bridge goes out to the other side of the cavern. At its end an impenetrable barrier awaits them. It and the bridge are called the Hazard and they would shatter or worse at the wrong approach. They are fraught with danger. But unknowable mystery and wonder may await them on the other side of the barrier if they manage to pass it. If they remain, they are doomed though they may hold on for a while, but if they take the Hazard and pass over the doom the Worm represent they may find a new future.

At its doorstep Thomas Covenant's White Gold Ring and Linden Avery's Staff of Law await them, though they are held from them by an unfriendly force just as Kevin's Dirt And Joan and her raver obstruct our company from properly using the Earthpower of the Staff and the Wild Magic of the White Gold Ring. And it is the Staff's power that holds the key to overcoming the Hazard just as it is Linden who is the hope of the Land.