>>6221578>Yaran II, King of the VenksA costly bounty on cloud crown cotton is issued by the crown, with purchasers hunting through Vitruvian and Changeling markets to hunt down every last scrap of material, then going even further afield to hunt down more distant shipments in distant Orcman, Adenic, and Ordelan markets as well.
Further examination of the properties of the cloud crown phenomenon narrows the mystery to the living and the recently deceased. A grim dissection of a still warm cadaver points to an organ identified in the past as “the child heart”, colloquially believed to be a small heart used by the body only in infancy while the proper heart grows used to the burden of life. This small organ, looking quite like half a peeled peach (sans pit), seems to be the focal point of the effect that prevents the properties of cloud cotton, suppressing the effect for a few hours until the organ grows stagnant and befouled. Perhaps it is no surprise that efforts turn onward to other materials, examining apples and aefnung, and iron and red clay for other mysteries. It is almost a relief to see the red porcelain statuettes animate to life and meander about the examine table, glancing about furtively, at least they aren’t calling down lightning or rotting the wood of the table!
Amidst all this science the past must be remembered as well, the construction of a great undercroft begins. Skrit paid well with honeyed apples do the broad strokes of the construction, carving out a great space as Venk craftsmen come behind, setting sturdy braces of wood and carving out the finer details. Fine pillars and archways of stone follow, then stone tilework and alcoves for the honored dead. A peculiar offer comes as construction begins to finish. A stranger, and stranger still for none can seem to describe her save that she is missing an eye, approaches the abbot and requests to paint a great mural on the roof of the undercroft.
