abstract
| - The Charmbridge Veil cavern is a portal to the Lands Beyond exists in an ancient stone cavern below the basements of the Charmbridge Academy. The chamber appears to be a cave with a bare stone floor and rough rock walls; the cave predates the construction of the Academy, and is, according to Maximilian King, the reason for the choice of location for the school. The portal itself occupies one wall of the chamber, and is flatter and smoother than the rest of the interior. It is decorated with paintings of brown, red, black, and yellow figures that have the jagged, primitive appearance associated with cave art. Several of the figures on the Charmbridge portal have human form, and are engaged in activities that might be "running, hunting, fighting, or perhaps just standing around talking." Also among the paintings is a fearsome-looking bird, and several four-legged creatures that might be bears or large cats, as well as a number of other, more abstract designs. Spirits can be summoned from and banished to the Lands Beyond from the corporeal realm through the portal. When an incantation is spoken, the painted figures become animated, squirming and scattering out of the way as the rock wall turns dark, as if a shadow had passed over it, and then darker until it becomes a black void. Summoned spirits are enticed across the portal with an offering of blood in a stone bowl, and bound within a semi-circular line of what appears to be black sand. In September 2008, Alexandra Quick saw such a summoning during the first Mors Mortis Society meeting of the year.
|