The plot so far: a voice flitting around a campfire directed us north, where we entered a structure called a Panopticon. There, a second voice made us an offer we couldn’t refuse: immortality in exchange for going on an–admittedly perilous–quest. The object of the quest was to bring back the answer to a question the voice somewhat confusingly declined to ask. Starting out in a desert, we initially counted our blessings when we ran into a tour guide, only to be sent on our way with a few vague pointers. Still, the first pointer took us as far as a cave, where we were witness to a rather disturbing monologue by the resident hermit. Back outside, footprints had appeared in the sand. Remembering another pointer the tour guide had left us with, we followed them to richer soil and what proved to be a jungle garden. As we listened to the gardener, we learned that he used to be a hunter. One day, instead of animals, he decided to apply his hunting skills to plants, killing the bad ones so the good ones could thrive. But before he had any results to show, his tribe of hunter-gatherers decided to move on to new hunting grounds. Staying behind, he enjoyed a successful harvest, after which he set out in pursuit of his people. He hadn’t gone far when he came upon the remains of a bloodbath involving them. Upon examining the remains, he came to the conclusion that most of his tribe must still be alive, led away by their captors. Again, he went in pursuit, arriving at the aggressors’ camp as we rejoin his own account of the events here.
Nothing else seemed forthcoming, so I went east between what I now thought of as blood red tree canopies.
Another step, and we were in the Panopticon again.
It was the same voice as before, judging by the sound of it.
I couldn’t go through the fixed window, so I had to go around it through the open door.
Of course we’ll jump off the cliff.
