Rules and Information READ BEFORE POSTING

[Cinder]

[glow=black,2,300]The Rules and Information of the Vale of Shadows.

Please, read this information before posting your thread. Most of the rules are the same as when Mayan was Seer, but I’ve changed some things about this shadowy place. The new information will be useful to your posts, for both veteran posters and noobs. Thanks Vargies.

1] The same major rule still applies- send me a PM telling me what you want your fortune to be before or immediately after posting in the Vale. I will reply to your thread and your preferred fortune shall be told.

2] More than one person can be in a thread at once, for example, if mates wanted to know their fate they could come together. However, not more than four to a thread please. (That's just for now, depending on how things go, exceptions might be made.)

3] After a thread has been idle for three weeks on your part, it will be moved to storage in the sub-board. However, if you tell me that you're going to be gone beforehand, I'll leave it up. And, if you come back to find your thread in the sub-board and you want to keep using it, tell me and I'll dig it out for you, and we can continue.

4] The same person cannot have two active single-person threads going at once. If you want to ask two different questions, please ask them both in the same thread. However, if you have an inactive thread in the Vale, and wish to start a new one, feel free to do so.

Two quick tads of other info:
1] I'm not good at poetry- at all. I may be able to whip up a few verses, but they won't be as good as Mayan's. Not all questions will be answered in verse, but I will make answers as interesting at I can.

2] All threads will be replied to within two or three days. If not, then they will be as soon as possible. If I will be absent for more than four days, I'll post a notice here, so I shan't leave you all hanging.

Please read the Descrition of the Vale below.[/glow]

[Cinder]

[glow=black,2,300]The Vale of Shadows
[description of the land]

The Vale is located in the north of the Land Beyond the Forest, nestled within a very small and densely grown valley, which is presses up beside the south barrage of the Mountains . It lies to the east of the Sarnes swamplands and the dark forests of the Balkar, and north of the Great River that divides the north and south lands.

The entrance to the Vale of shadows faces the River. Here, there is only rocky, muddy soil with sparse trees. But, about a tree trunk’s length away from the river, the forest rises up as a think, impenetrable wall. No creature, not even Man himself, can find its way through the thick tangles of trees, vines, bramble thickets and deadfalls. Only vermin live here in this shadowy place, fed by the plant’s bounty. Flying scavengers, Owls, and the occasional Eagle rule the canopy, ominously flying through the skies or feeding on the corpses of vernain, or unlucky Lera who often perish here.

Two great beech trees mark the only entrance, a pair of dead crows dangling from their bare branches. Between those bloodstained trees lies an earthen path - the sole traveling route through the Vale- beaten down by the pawsteps of generations of Vargs who are brave enough to venture into the Fortune Teller’s domain. The path leads down a steep, rocky slope, and into the flat land of the valley. The path continues onward for nearly a mile, flanked by the opaque forest all the way. The calls of Scavengers and, perhaps the wandering souls of Varg who have been lost to the treacherous terrain, can be heard echoing in the surrounding darkness.

The path continues northward, and opens to the Fortune Teller’s clearing. The south, east, and west sides of the undersized clearing are surrounded by the dense forest, and sparsely dotted with ancient pine trees which shelter the clearing from the wind and sun. The clearing is made from hardly packed, stony earth with thin, short grasses sprouting up from it, only to wither and die soon after. Boulders and loose rocks speckle the earth and strewn among them are the bleached bones of vermin and birds, disintegrating into dust.

The north barrier of the clearing is made up of the jagged cliffs of the far south side of the Mountains. It is an untrustworthy, eighty-degree angle slope, which guarantees certain death for a Varg who foolishly attempts to scale it. However, there is a small cut-out on the slope, and it is leveled off enough for a careful Varg to climb it. It allows access to a miniature peak, about a quarter up the mountainside. From here, a one can have a clear view of the clearing, and over the mysterious treetops of the Vale. The Seer can often be seen here, her erie howling fading into the night.

Back in the clearing, etched into the mountainside and directly below the overlook, lays the Seer’s Cave. It is a medium sized and roomy cavern. The stone floor is flat and cracked, littered with bones. The ceiling is fairly high, decorated with stalactites and many crystal quartz formations that glitter like stars. At the back of the cave stands a plateau, where the Fortune Teller had made her sleeping nest. Below it lays a deep, cold pool, fed by an underground spring. An opening in the ceiling, directly above, lets in the light from the sun and moon, and casts in into the pool in a thin beam of light. The light is also refracted in the crystals, and brings dim illumination to the cave. This mystical and beautiful cave is where the Seer sees into the pasts, futures, and minds of her visitors.

The Vale of Shadows is a small slice of land, dipped in stories of blood, dripping with mystery and fear, and brimming with dangerous beauty and shadows. All who are brave enough enter this place become subject to their curiosity, suspicions, and the unknown wonders of the Fortune Teller’s skill.

Welcome to the Vale.

~ Cinder[/glow]