Rooms in The Wheel Turns

• A Bedroom - Much what you would expect in any inn, the room is sparse with only an uncomfortable looking bed with a table and lamp for furnishings. However it is functional enough to serve it's purpose - shelter for the night from the harsh elements of the land.
• A Break in the Ways - The light stretches out far enough just to touch the other side, thrusting out of the dark like a giant's broken teeth. A stone falls away into the dead black below. If there is any sound of it striking bottom, you are unable to hear it. As far down as you can see, there is nothing. Blackness below as blackness above, shearing the light. If there is a bottom below, it could be a thousand feet down. Or never.
• A Cavern - The corridor opens into a vast domed space, the rough living rock of it's ceiling dotted with clumps of growing crystals. A pool takes up the entire cavern except for the walkway around it. In the oval shape of an eye, the pool is lined about it's rim with a low, flat edging of crystals that glow with a duller yet fiercer, light than those above. It's surface is as smooth as glass.
• A Crumbling Tower - The hall inside is shadowy, dimly lit by scattered, smoky torches set in iron sconces on the walls. Flickering flames and shadows make it hard to tell if you are alone in the tower. A corridor is barely visible to your south.
• A Deserted City Street - The main street of the city appears to be long abandoned. The buildings lining either side of the street are more rubble than whole. Tumbled walls spill bricks and stone into the street making it hard to tell if they are remains of palaces or of entire blocks of the city.
• A Deserted City Street - Shadows stretch across the street, barring your way. The sound of dry, rustling laughter fills your ears as you nervously make your way through the sudden darkness. You can feel the eyes of watchers following you, eyes staring out of almost every building-eager, hungry, for you to make a false move.
• A Deserted City Street - Shadows reach out like dark hands, made blacker by the light, nearly filling the street. The back of your neck prickles as you get the feeling someone is watching you from the darkness of the buildings along the street. Watching eyes seem to be everywhere.
• A Domed Building - A palace is plainly a palace, but what could this huge building that is under one huge white dome as big as a hill outside, and one monstrous room inside be? There appears to be nothing to see here but dust and colorless rags of wall hangings that crumble at your touch. Some wooden chairs are stacked against one wall.
• A Domed Chamber - Great polished redstone columns stand in various places in the chamber. Black tendrils of smoke waft from around a blinding light in the middle of the room. On a pedestal before you hangs the Sword That Cannot be Touched. A field repels you and yet draws you to it at the same time. As it slowly revolves on the pedestal, it breaks what little light there is into spliters - now and then it flares as if with a light of it's own. It waits for no hand but the Dragon Reborn.
• A Dream of Elaida - The White Tower will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned - whole and stronger than ever. Rand al'Thor will face the Amyrlin Seat and know her anger. The Black Tower will be rent in blood and fire, and sisters will walk its grounds.
• A Dream of Perrin's - Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne stand looking at a huge cage, with a raised door held on a heavy spring. They step in and reach up together to loose the catch. The barred door snaps down behind them. A woman with her hair all in braids laughs at them, and another woman all in white laughs at her.
• A Dwelling - As you cautiously stick your head inside this small house, you hear muffled sobs coming from somewhere within. The source of the crying becomes apparent as you notice a woman cowering against the far wall. An untouched dinner sits upon a table in the middle of the room, now half rotted, with flies enjoying the meal once meant for the perhaps the current occupant and her husband or lover? There are two plates, but only the forlorn woman remains now.
• A Guidepost - You peek west and see, A Guidepost The blackness stops as if striking a wall. A tall slab of stone, standing on end appears out of the dark before you. Sinuous curves of metal inlay the wide surface, graceful lines that vaguely remind you of vines and leaves. Discolored pocks mark stone and metal alike. You notice the metal inlay has what appears to be Ogier script carved in it.
• A Guidepost - The blackness stops as if striking a wall. A tall slab of stone, standing on end appears out of the dark before you. Sinuous curves of metal inlay the wide surface, graceful lines that vaguely remind you of vines and leaves. Discolored pocks mark stone and metal alike. You notice the metal inlay has what appears to be Ogier script carved in it.
• A Guidepost - The blackness stops as if striking a wall. A tall slab of stone, standing on end appears out of the dark before you. Sinuous curves of metal inlay the wide surface, graceful lines that vaguely remind you of vines and leaves. Discolored pocks mark stone and metal alike. You notice the metal inlay has what appears to be Ogier script carved in it
• A Guidepost - The blackness stops as if striking a wall. A tall slab of stone, standing on end appears out of the dark before you. Sinuous curves of metal inlay the wide surface, graceful lines that vaguely remind you of vines and leaves. Discolored pocks mark stone and metal alike. You notice the metal inlay has what appears to be Ogier script carved in it.
• A Hill in the Waste - As you continue over a rise, a long wide hollow opens up before you. Spread below you are camps of clans - in low, wall-less tents, all widely spaced. Among them are pavilions of the same grayish brown material as the tents that are tall enough to stand beneath, with goods displayed on blankets in the shade, brightly glazed pottery and even brighter rugs, jewelry in silver or gold.
• A Mountain - This foreboding mountain seems out of place even in this strange land. The peak is unseen in the dark ominous clouds overhead. There appear to be more of the vents in the mountain, emitting a dark black smoke. Beyond to the west lay a network of lakes, the waters glittering darkly in the sunlight, like beads of random size on a necklace of many strings.
• A Pattern in the Weave - The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legends. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind arose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was A beginning.
• A Shop in Caemlyn - People mill around you as you walk into this shop. Shelves with strange objects line one wall, figurines of unknown origin and dusty old books seem to be the most popular wares. A pigeon sits on the decrepit counter, staring intently at you.
• A Side Shop - You step into a makeshift shop set up to take advantage of the influx of people into the city. The counter consists of a cardboard box turned on it's side, and stacks of merchandise are piled all around it. A sign with prices catches your eye, expensive, but you know other stores would likely cost just as much.
• A Silver Platform - As you come to the platform, a hole erupts in the surface. A wave of flaming red washes forward and as it subsides you see a man standing here amongst the billowing flames. As your eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, you notice a square of harsh sunlight, big enough to step through.
• A Small Pond - The stream ends here, draining the mountain water into a small clear pond. You can see a variety of fish swimming around in it's depths. A large tree with a strange looking leaf embedded into it's trunk draws your attention.
• A Tile Walled Room - Light comes from a few torches staining the ceiling with their smoke and giving more than one shadow, but the light is reflected a thousand times by the gems and gold piled on the floor, mounds of coins and jewelry, goblets and plates and platters, gilded, gem encrusted swords and daggers, all heaped together carelessly in waist-high mounds
• A Tobacco Field - Tobacco waiting to be cut surrounds you on all sides as you try to find the source of the smoke. It appears to be coming from something to the east.
• A White Stone Building - The afternoon sky is visible through empty window frames, glass and wood alike long since gone, but the ground seems solid enough of this building. Only a hollow shell remains of the upper floors. There is nothing to say what this building was when the city lived and was great, perhaps an inn.
• A hallway in the tower - Benches upholstered with velvet line the walls under stained glass windows depicting famous moments in Tower history, such as Rashima Kerenmosa's stand at Maighande, and Lews Therin's defeat of Sammael at the gates of Paaran Disen. A feeling of awe overcomes you. The gardens and warders practice yard can be seen to the left while the sitters hall runs to the right.
• A road outside Shadar Logoth - You enter a Portal to Shadar Logoth. Broken paving stones crunch under your feet as you walk the road outside of Shadar Logoth. Weeds, mostly old and dead, sprout from cracks in the pavement. Uneven rubble with a few stunted trees line the path. The city fountain is to the west.
• A street in Tar Valon - The street by which you enter the city, broad and paved with smooth gray stone, stretches straight before you toward the center of the city. At it's end looms a tower larger and taller than any other in the city.
• Aiel Waste - The molten sun broils the Waste, flinging shadows across the mountain to the north, just ahead now. The mountains are not snowcapped, not so tall as the mountains of mist, much less the Spine of the World, but jagged slabs of brown and gray stone, streaked with yellow or red or bands of glittering flecks in places. You are unable to see anyone, but this is the Aiel land so you know you are surely surrounded by them, hiding in places you would never find.
• Along the Ways - The white lines run off into the darkness on bridges and ramps up and down and across. There is a waygate at the other end of each of them, a gate back into the world where there is sky and sun and wind. You feel the sudden knowledge that someone, or something, is following you.
• An Age Long Past - And the Shadow fell upon the Land, and the World was riven stone from stone. The nations were scattered to the eight corners of the World. The moon was as blood, and the sun was as ashes. Seas boiled, and the living envied the dead. All was shattered, and all but memory lost, and one memory above all others, of him who brought the Shadow and the Breaking of the World. And they named him Dragon.
• An Aiel Tent - Large gold-tasseled red cushions lay scattered over brightly colored carpets layered thickly enough to pad the hard ground beneath. A small gong is in the middle of the tent, perhaps used to summon the Gai'shain. There is barely room to stand inside the tent.
• An Overgrown Trail - Just when you fear you will become another traveler to cross the mountain never to be seen again, the mist parts enough for you to see an overgrown trail. It appears to not have been travelled by human foot in some time. You must now make the decision to see where this trail may lead you, or turn back into the mist.
• An Overgrown Trail - The air seems strangely calm as you wander further away from the dense forest and make your way down the mountain. The trees begin to thin as the land slopes gently down to the east. A small clear stream runs merrily down the path on a bed of limestone rocks.
• Base of The Mountains - The forest breaks away completely as you come to the base of the mountain, although you can see patches of woods in the distance. Farms, bordered fields, and pastures quilt the land before you. The stream running along the trail now branches off to the west. Glancing that direction you see it widen. The sounds of merriment can be heard a little off in the distance.
• Before the White Tower - The White Tower rises above you, a great palace of pale marble, sculpted rather than built, curving walls and swelling domes and delicate spires fingering the sky. Broad stairs of pristine stone lead up, and at the top of the stairs, massive doors covered with scrollwork, carvings so intricate and delicate that you can not imagine what instrument was used to create such beauty.
• Blackness - Total blackness. A stair can be vaguely seen above.
• Entering Rhuidean - Darkness surrounds you once you step through the doorway, blackness stretching in all directions - yet you can see. There is no sensation of heat or cold, no sensation at all. Only existence. Plain gray stone steps rise in front of you, each step hanging unsupported arching out until they dwindle from sight.
• Entry of the Mountain - The entry of the mountain could have been one of the vents, except it emits no smoke or steam. It gapes enough for two men abreast, or perhaps one man being led to their doom. The way slants down almost immediately, the tunnel floor worn smooth as polished tiles.
• Four Kings - This deserted place is known as Four Kings. The roofs of small houses and farms can be seen in the distance, showing that perhaps there is more to this land than you can see from here but you feel a tug that compels you to hurry through and continue your journey.
• Inside a Waygate - Suddenly it seems as if your light is the only light left in the world. The opressive blackness stretches out endlessly in every direction. A broad strip of white runs under your feet - the floor appears to have been smooth once but the smoothness is pitted now, as if the stone had the pox. The white line is broken in several places.
• Inside the Eye of the World - Into the heart of the spring forest you see an arched opening in the side of a hill. A simple stone arch, and on the keystone is a circle halved by a sinuous line, one half rough while the other is smooth. The ancient symbol of Aes Sedai. A corridor is seen through the archway.
• Inside the Inn - The interior of the Winespring is much what you'd expect in such a small village. The floor is comprised of river rock though the foundation is of older stone some says comes from the mountains. You see rather rickety stairs leading up to the whitewashed second story where the lodging rooms are located. To the back are the quarters where the innkeeper (who happens to also be the mayor of this backwater town) and his family reside. Here in the common room the only furnishings aside from a fireplace are tables of families eating a meal with a few empty tables set with boards for a game of stones or perhaps dice or other types of gambling.
• Inside the Royal Palace of Caemlyn - White columns twenty paces high march down the sides of the Grand Hall. Tall windows with glassed casements run along the walls, and also in the ceiling where the White Lion of Andor alternates with scenes of Andoran victories and the faces of the land's earliest queens, beginning with Ishara herself. No ruler of Andor could forget herself with the predecessors who forged this nation staring down at her.
• Inside the Stone - The walls, ceiling and floor are all made of the same greyish brown stone, seamlessly joined, as if a huge square shaped worm had tunneled through the solid rock leaving behind the simple hall. Something flashes ahead, a momentary light throwing back shadow, a beacon. The heart of the stone lies within these walls somewhere.
• Inside the Stone - The walls, ceiling and floor are all made of the same greyish brown stone, seamlessly joined, as if a huge square shaped worm had tunneled through the solid rock leaving behind the simple hall. Something flashes ahead, a momentary light throwing back shadow, a beacon. The heart of the stone lies within these walls somewhere.
• Inside the Stone - The walls, ceiling and floor are all made of the same greyish brown stone, seamlessly joined, as if a huge square shaped worm had tunneled through the solid rock leaving behind the simple hall. Something flashes ahead, a momentary light throwing back shadow, a beacon. The heart of the stone lies within these walls somewhere.
• Inside the Stone - The walls, ceiling and floor are all made of the same greyish brown stone, seamlessly joined, as if a huge square shaped worm had tunneled through the solid rock leaving behind the simple hall. Something flashes ahead, a momentary light throwing back shadow, a beacon. The heart of the stone lies within these walls somewhere.
• Inside the Tower - Your footsteps echo as you walk onto the smooth, polished marble floor of the hall. An intricate tiled mosaic floor showing the Flame of Tar Valon and the Dragon's Fang joined together by a sinuous line rests in the center of the floor, forming the ancient sigil of Aes Sedai.
• Inside the Ways - The white lines run off into the darkness on bridges and ramps up and down and across. There is a waygate at the other end of each of them, a gate back into the world where there is sky and sun and wind. You feel the sudden knowledge that someone, or something, is watching you.
• Just outside of Caemlyn - You enter a Portal Stone. Outside the great wall of Caemlyn, buildings cluster as if every town you have ever been to have been gathered and set down here. Inns thrust their upper stories above the tile roofs of houses, and squat warehouses, board and windowless, shoulder against it all. Red brick and gray stone and plastered white, jumble and mix together spread as far as the eye can see. The wall surrounding the city towers above it all.
• One of Egwene's Dreams - Mat speaks words Egwene almost understands, and two ravens alight on his shoulders, claws sinking through his coat into the flesh beneath. He seems no more aware of them than Perrin had been of the hawk and falcon in yet another dream, yet defiance passes across his face, followed by grim acceptance.
• Outside Tear - You enter a Portal to Tear. The grazing fields among these hills produce some of the fastest racing horses in the world. A few small thickets grow in among some of the valleys, a small remnant of the Ogier grove that once covered these hills. The fields continue a little further north toward the thick tangle of Haddon Mirk, and to the south is the hustle and bustle of the city of Tear.
• Road to Two Rivers - This small weather-beaten path which passes as a road to town has been worn smooth by years of horses and carts passing through to trade, peddle wares, or simply stop for a night's rest at the town's inn. Your eye is caught by a thin trail of smoke rising from somewhere not far from the road.
• Tear - You enter the main part of town and see more carriages carrying the nobles around as well as merchants sharply dressed roaming the cobblestone streets. Laughter and the sound of tumbling dice followed by cheers and groans spill from the doorways leading to inns where you might find a table and cool mug of ale, and large gardens lie around the mansions of the well-to-do. This deep into town you are practically in the shadow of the Stone of Tear lying just to the east, but to the north you see rolling hills where some of the world-famous Tairen horses are grazing.
• Tel'aran'rhoid - You step inside the world of dreams, a surreal land much like that of the waking world with the exception that reality is formed only by the dreams of others. The world here permeates and surrounds all possible realities. Many can touch Tel'aran'rhoid for a few moments as they sleep, but few have the ability to enter it at will. A would taken here presents great risk as it will still exist upon awakening and one who dies here will not wake at all.
• Tel'aran'rhoid - The landscape continually changes as you wander through different people's dreams. It's amazing the things people have in their subconscious and a feeling of unease washes over you as you continue your journey of tresspassing into people's mind and soul - their desires, their fears, and into storylines that do not make sense to anyone but to the dreamer.
• The Aiel Waste - A strange sound fills your ears, like the wailing of some beast in unbearable pain. Looking around however, all you see is the barren expanse that is The Waste. Some charred wood lies on the ground here as if a fire was recently made. A strange door catches your attention.
• The Al'Thor Farmhouse - A charred pile of rubble marks the place where a farmhouse once stood. A soot-coated brick chimney thrusts like a dirty finger from the heap of blackened timbers. What little could be rescued dots the ground nearby - a mirror, a polished sideboard, and other personal belongings.
• The Blight - The sweet stench of decay, heavy and thick, sickens you. The air tastes like a mouthful of spoiled meat. In the distance to the north mountains rise, higher than the Mountains of Mist, black against the sky. Icy winds from the sharp peaks sometimes gust far enough to reach you, if just for a moment. The chill is the chill of the grave, and it carries the dusty must of an old tomb newly opened.
• The Blight - Above, roiling gray clouds hide the sky, an inverted sea of sluggish ashen waves crushing around the mountain's hidden peak. Below odd lights flash across the barren valley, washed out blues and reds, failing to dispel the dusty murk that shrouds their source. Lightning streaks up at the clouds and slow thunder rolls. Across the slope steam and smoke rise from scattered vents, some holes as small as man's hand and some large enough to swallow men.
• The Blight - Above, roiling gray clouds hide the sky, an inverted sea of sluggish ashen waves crushing around the mountain's hidden peak. Below odd lights flash across the barren valley, washed out blues and reds, failing to dispel the dusty murk that shrouds their source. Lightning streaks up at the clouds and slow thunder rolls. Across the slope steam and smoke rise from scattered vents, some holes as small as man's hand and some large enough to swallow men.
• The Blight - The sweet stench of decay, heavy and thick, sickens you. The air tastes like a mouthful of spoiled meat. In the distance to the north mountains rise, higher than the Mountains of Mist, black against the sky. Icy winds from the sharp peaks sometimes gust far enough to reach you, if just for a moment. The chill is the chill of the grave, and it carries the dusty must of an old tomb newly opened.
• The Bore - As you walk down and down, the pale light continues to rise. The spikes become larger and larger, causing you to bend over to escape their deadly touch. The heat causes sweat to break out on your brow..or is that just the fear rising within you.
• The Caemlyn Road - You find yourself walking along the Caemlyn Road which runs east towards the grand city. The murmur of crowds can be heard in the distance as you approach the great wall surrounding the city. A small dwelling lies to the south.
• The Caemlyn Road - You are on a wide boulevard, split down the middle by broad strips of grass and trees. The grass is brown and the tree branches bare, but people hurry by as if they see nothing unusual by this. Another wall can be seen a little ways off, that is where the Inner City lies. To the north you see an inn.
• The Caemlyn Road - A hum lays on the city, the low steady drones of hundreds of shops working, thousands of people talking. Occasionally a carriage squeezes through the thronged streets and sedan chairs are everywhere, the polemen pushing along with never a care for who they shove aside. Refugees of all lands fill the street, hoping to escape the wars and troubles breaking out in their nations.
• The Caemlyn Wall - The sheer fifty foot height of pale gray stone, streaked with silver and white, sweeps out in a great circle curving north and south until you wonder how far it must run. Along it's length towers rise, round and standing high above with read and white banners whipping in the wind atop each one. From inside the wall other towers peek out, slender towers even taller than those here along the wall, domes gleaming white and gold in the sun.
• The City Fountain - Shadar Logoth was once a thriving city, destroyed by the very greed which made it grand. Evil permeates the air, along with dust and the stench of something rancid. You stand at what was once the center and gathering place of the town. The remainder of the run down town runs north and south from here.
• The Common Room - Only three candles and two lamps light this area of the common room, since both are in short supply. The lamps stand on two tables pushed together in front of the tall stone fireplace. Master Al'Vere's polished tabac canister and prized clock sit on the mantle of the fireplace. If the gay mood is any indication, it would seem you just missed a party of some sort.
• The Corridor - Its polished walls round overhead like the arch as it winds gently downward. The smooth floor appears slick like to the eye yet somehow gives sure footing. Seamless walls glitter with uncounted flecks in untold colors, giving a low soft light even after the sunlit archway vanishes around a curve.
• The Edge of the Blight - The air becomes unbearably hot and damp - every breath is comes as if through a woll blanket soaked in hot water. You have entered the Great Blight. Leaves cover the land in great profusion, but stained and spotted with yellow and black, with livid red streaks like blood poisoning. Flowers hang on the trees and weeds in a parody of spring, sickly pale and pulpy, waxen things that appear to rot as you watch.
• The Eye of the World - Green leaves cover peacefully spreading branches. Wildflowers make a carpet of bright patches in grasses stirred by a sweet spring breeze. Butterflies flutter from blossom to blossom, bees buzz and birds trill their songs. You have reached the Eye of the World, and safety.
• The Gardens - A small picturesque pond lies before you. Several duckswallows dive in and re-emerge seconds later just to swoop and dive again. Beautiful and exotic flowers lie all around. A path runs through the garden, surrounded by delicate rosebushes. Much as the Aes Sedai who inhibit the gardens, they have beautiful harmless looking buds, hiding dangerously sharp thorns.
• The Great Wall of Caemlyn - The sheer fifty foot height of pale gray stone, streaked with silver and white, sweeps out in a great circle curving north and south until you wonder how far it must run. Along it's length towers rise, round and standing high above with read and white banners whipping in the wind atop each one. From inside the wall other towers peek out, slender towers even taller than those here along the wall, domes gleaming white and gold in the sun.
• The Heart of Tear - Several muddy streets converge here. Carts and wagons lurch past mostly pulled by oxen with widw horns. No carriages or sedan chairs on these streets. The odor of fish hangs in the air here, reminding you of the docks nearby. The shops do not look prosperous, none display wares outside and you seldom see anyone go in. The few inns are in a bad state and do not look any busier.
• The Inner City of Caemlyn - You find yourself being jostled with the crowd towards the inner city. The inner city was Ogier built, and much of what they made still remains. The streets follow curves of hills as if they are a natural part of the earth. Towers suddenly are revealed, tile covered walls glittering in the sunlight with a hundred changing colors. Ahead lies the Palace gates.
• The Island of Tar Valon - The island of Tar Valon looks more as if the river split in two that contains a bit of land. Bridges that seem to be made of lace arch from either bank to the island, crossing marshy ground as well as the river. The walls of the city glisten white. Fanciful stonework is everywhere and the lines of one structure seem designed to complement and set off the next, leading the eye along as if everything were part of one vast design. And over all rises one tower, higher and wider than the rest, as white as the Shining Walls themselves.
• The Maule - The muddy road leading from the docks is deeply rutted from the carts carrying the goods towards the warehouses in town. Many of the townfolk are walking around on wooden clogs that help to stand out of the mud. This is the Maule, a poor district of Tear, consisting largely of fishermen and dockworkers and their families. Small houses and shops are packed along the street, and small tables line the front of the shops, with merchants crying out over the din to hopeful customers. To the east, beyond the throng of people, you see the road turn to pavement leading ever closer to the Stone of Tear.
• The Mistress of Novice's Study - There are so many rules for Novices, it is very hard not to break some of them and be called to Sheriam Sedai's study. The domed room is carved out from the bedrock of the island. The light of lamps on tall stands reflect from pale, smooth stone walls. In the center of the room is an austere wooden desk, bare except for the willow switch used to teach novices to follow the rules.
• The Mountains of Mist - At this altitude the mist permeating the mountain swirls thickly around you causing it to be difficult to see whence you came or what direction you may be headed. Looking down you realize you can no longer see the ground below as you blindly stumble. You hear unidentifiable noises on all sides which could be either friend.. or foe.
• The Mountains of Mist - At this altitude the mist permeating the mountain swirls thickly around you causing it to be difficult to see whence you came or what direction you may be headed. Looking down you realize you can no longer see the ground below as you blindly stumble. You hear unidentifiable noises on all sides which could be either friend.. or foe.
• The Mountains of Mist - At this altitude the mist permeating the mountain swirls thickly around you causing it to be difficult to see whence you came or what direction you may be headed. Looking down you realize you can no longer see the ground below as you blindly stumble. You hear unidentifiable noises on all sides which could be either friend.. or foe.
• The Mountains of Mist - You find yourself walking up a desolate mountainside. Trees dot the landscape, but very few have any leaves or needles. Snarls of bramble spread brown webs over stone outcrops under the trees. Where sunlight reaches, it has no warmth here. The pale sun can be found to the east, but it's light is crisply dark, as if mixed with shadow. You can hear the baying and howling of wolves or other unknown creatures in the distant south.
• The Mountains of Mist - At this altitude the mist permeating the mountain swirls thickly around you causing it to be difficult to see whence you came or what direction you may be headed. Looking down you realize you can no longer see the ground below as you blindly stumble. You hear unidentifiable noises on all sides which could be either friend.. or foe.
• The Mountains of Mist - Needles crackle beneath your feet as you make your way up the mountainside. A large rock directly before you juts up from the mist, climbing upon it's slippery surface allows you to view the rooftops and farms surrounding the small village of Two Rivers at the base of the mountain.
• The Mountains of Mist - At this altitude the mist permeating the mountain swirls thickly around you causing it to be difficult to see whence you came or what direction you may be headed. Looking down you realize you can no longer see the ground below as you blindly stumble. You hear unidentifiable noises on all sides which could be either friend.. or foe.
• The Palace Gates - The Royal Palace lies before you, a confection of pale spires and golden domes and intricate stonework traceries. The banner of Andor waves from nearly every prominence, the white lion on red. The gilded gates are closed tight and heavily guarded by scarlet ranks ten deep flanking either side. Along the top of the white walls on towers, more red uniformed guards stand.
• The Pit of Doom - The tunnel opens out suddenly onto a wide ledge made of molten stone, red mottled with black, where man-high flames dance, die, and rise again. There is no roof, only a great hole rising through the mountain to a sky that is no longer the sky of Shayol Ghul. It makes that of Shadar Logoth look normal with it's wildly striated clouds streaking by as though driven by the greatest winds the world has ever seen. This, men call the Pit of Doom, and few know how well they had named it.
• The Port of Tear - Large, stone docks extend towards the river, with boats fishing boats crowded along them loading and unloading their cargos or catch. A muddy road leads away from the busy port into the Maule. Further to the east, a mountain of a fortress looms over the city.
• The Practice Yard - This is where the many Gaidin trainees spend a majority of their day. Practicing the many different sword forms over and over until their body aches from the effort becomes routine until they soon begin to feel as if the sword is merely another extension of their body;as if it were another arm. Feel free to rest on a bench here and watch them as they work.
• The Queen's Blessing - The common room of the Queen's Blessing is large and paneled with dark wood - fires on two hearths warm it. There are many tables scattered around the room though only a few have people occupying them. The smells of roasting beef and baking bread drift from the kitchen, making your mouth water.
• The Rhuidean Stair - Somehow you know these stairs will take you where you need to go. Each stone under your feet begins to fade as you walk, and all the others ahead shimmer. There is no return. Looking behind you as your footprint vanishes, the stair vanishes with it. Abject terror begins to fill in your chest.
• The Rhuidean Stairway - Desperately you concentrate on the stairs, willing them to remain solid. The shimmering stops. They are not so plain now but polished, the edges carved in a fancy border you think you recall seeing someplace before. Looking ahead, you wince. The steps ahead are spaced further apart across the empty blackness.
• The Rhuidean Stairway - A fall from here might never end. Blackness is below you, the steps before you vanish. The piece of stone you stand on begins to glide forward. As it moves faster you note the curious lack of wind. You can only tell you are moving because a platform begins to shine in the distance, growing nearer. You have no idea what it is made of but it shines like polished metal.
• The River Erinin - The lands flatten out completely as you enter Tear, and the river splits off into several branches, turning the lands to the south into a swampy delta cluttered with fishing boats. Huge stone docks jut out into the river, and they are cluttered with crewman from various ships working to unload the crew under the watchful eyes of merchants, and under the sharp curses thrown at them from impatient ship captains. Across from the docks, to the west, the Plains of Maredo cover the land between here and Illian, and Haddon Mirk lies back north along the river leading toward Caemlyn and Tar Valon.
• The River Erinin - The river skirts along the outer edges of the dense forest known as Haddon Mirk, which stretches along the northern border of Tear from here all the way to the Spine of the World. Gently rolling grasslands lie to the west, stretching towards the ocean. Back upriver to the north, mountains along the horizon help mark the border to Andor.
• The River Erinin - Just South of the Andor border, the land is fairly flat without many trees. However, along the southern horizon there appears to be a great forest stretching east from the river. To the west, mountains block the view back toward Andor, and grasslands stretch beyond sight to the southwest.
• The River Erinin - River traffic increases dramatically as you approach Aringill. Boats line the docks unloading a wide variety of goods under the supervision of merchants. Also being unloaded, under supervision of the Queen's Guard, are masses of refugees seeking a safe haven from the troubles across the river. Several boats ferrying even more await their chance to dock and unload their people and merchandise.
• The River Erinin - The forest thins quickly and turns to dense thickets surrounded by vast grassy fields. The source of the smoke spotted earlier passes by along the bank, a small village raided by brigands who are terrorizing the countryside through civil war-torn Cairhein. Some of the villages across the river in Andor show signs of new fortifications, in case the brigands try to cross the river.
• The River Erinin - As you float down the broad river, you look back to watch Southharbor diminish behind you. Studying the riverbanks to the south, you see thick forest along both sides of the river, although you can see it starting to thin further downstream. Above the trees on the east bank, you see faint plumes of smoke rising into the cloudless sky over Cairhein.
• The Road to Two Rivers - As you continue along the road, you find yourself wishing you had some of that Two Rivers tabac to take back to your friends. A bird chirps overhead perched on the branches of a tall willowly tree. You can hear children laughing and people talking to the east as the road continues.
• The Stone of Tear - The city of Tear is dominated by the Stone of Tear, which towers here above the city like a small mountain. It is believed to be the oldest stronghold of mankind, erected shortly after the Breaking of the World. It was built with the One Power - Earth, Air and Fire fusing stones together without joint or mortar. The sides of the stone before you look like cliffs.
• The Sunlight - You hurl forward flying through the sunlight. Something tugs on your foot and you go tumbling head over heels across hard ground, to land in a breathless heap. The sun sucks all moisture from you as you bake in it's hot light. The doorway has closed behind you and the realization hits that you are back in the Aiel Waste.
• The Sweat Tent - Damp heat hits you like a stick between the eyes as you duck to enter the tent. The heat comes from a large iron kettle filled to the brim with sooty stones square in the middle of the tent. No rugs soften the ground here, only the rocky ground that is the Waste. This tent is the Aiel equivalent of a bath since water is very scarce in the land.
• The Throne Room - The square chamber is about the size of the common room of the Queen's Blessing, it's walls presenting hunting scenes carved in relief in stone of the purest white. The tapestries behind the carvings are gentle images of bright flowers and brilliantly plumaged birds, except for the two at the far end of the room where the White Lion of Andor stands tall on scarlett fields. Those hangings flank the dias, and on the dias a carved and gilded throne where the Queen is sitting.
• The Waste - Stunted trees dot the landscape, almost bare of growth except for a few patches of tough grass and some prickly plants you don't recognize. The heat of the land smothers you and takes the moisture from your breath.
• The Winespring Inn - As you come upon the Winespring Inn, you find the source of the merriment. Men are laughing and telling stories as they sit outside the inn at tables set under the thick branches of trees. Smoke from the inn's chimney drifts past the red tile roof upwards into the weak sunlight. The entrance to the building lies to your north, and the road continues to the east.
• The coming of Lanfear - Daughter of the Night, she walks again. The ancient war, she yet fights. Her new lover she seeks, who shall serve her and die, yet serve her still. Who shall stand against her coming? The Shining Walls shall kneel. Blood calls blood. Blood feeds blood. Blood is, and blood was, and blood shall ever be.
• The foot of the mountains - Before you rises towering mountains, their peaks obscured by a heavy mist. Legend has it the other side of the mountains contain an entire world the likes of which are the things grand stories are made of. Do you dare attempt to climb the mountain and find out for yourself? The safety of your world, and the foothills, are to the south. There is a small note stuck on the sign here.
• Whitebridge - You enter Portal From Tel'aran'Rhoid. You realize you have left the small town of Two Rivers only by a small sign barely visible in the underbrush with the word Whitebridge fading upon it. The thought crosses your mind that maybe it's meant to indicate a neighborhood within the city upon the realization that the road here is deserted and there are none of the signs your normally associate with a town. In any event, there doesn't seem to be anything here of note.