At the portal
<br/>Before long, you see what looks like an underwater cyclone -- a dark, swirling funnel. As you get nearer, you can see more and more details... and you also notice that you're in a current that flows towards the funnel. Closer and closer you go; the nearer you are, the stronger the current. You stop at what you believe to be a safe distance, and examine it carefully: The funnel is dark because it's full of displaced mud and rocks and Bast only knows what else. As well, there's some sort of light-show at the very bottom of the funnel, where its 'stem' meets the lake bed. <br/> <br/>You also look on the other side and see a stream of bottles being sucked into the funnel. There's something odd about them... right. From the way they disturb the mud as they move along the lakebed, each bottle is emitting a stream of water. These, then, must be the water-gateways that are the root cause of the problems! But it looks like their is a lot more then just the gateways wrong here. You look closer and as each bottle reaches the funnel it is sucked down and into the portal with a flash of light. Well, now you know where the light show comes from. <br/> <br/>You swim completely around the funnel, getting a good look at it from all directions—and also casting your Detect/Analyze Magic spell as you go. Spellcasting feels somewhat different underwater; but after the first botched attempt, the rest worked fine, just needing a bit more care in the casting. You are not surprised at all to find that the readings you get match up perfectly with the reading you took of the transforming village's water supply. <br/> <br/>
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Written by Catprog & Cubist on 28 October 2010
