:: Random Location—Kléber's Pipe ::

Kléber’s Pipe

by Wm Jay Carter III, 6/13/15

a leonian

Prominent Feature: Shaft

Nation: Leonian

Condition: Vacant, Pristine

Weather: Monsoon

Color: Bright Green

Keyword: Monster

The winds beat against you as you trudge up the mountainside. Clearing the trees of the Ranai Forest, you see your goal tower into view: the mile-high tube of bright green volcanic glass known as Kléber’s Pipe. Out in the open, you feel the droplets of rain beginning to fall and press onward toward the remote cave entrance. Once inside, you can hear the rain coming down in sheets.
Following the winding cavern, you finally emerge at a sheer drop-off—the interior of the Pipe. At least a hundred feet across, the tallest reaches of the shaft emerge above the stormclouds, admitting sunlight where the monsoon clouds would have brought gloom. The whole shaft above you glistens with the light, and brings a verdant glow to the darkness below. You stare down into those green depths pondering what brought you here in the first place.

The members of the Wizard’s Tribunal respect and admire each other in the highest possible regard. But it was not always so. When Talulah, former comrade in the Terassembléia, perished and her staff was broken, its power found harbor within Ipiktok’s staff, transforming it into Mercurius: the Living Vein. Until that time, Kléber had led the Terassembléia by the power of Luciflora: the Consuming Light, but now that Ipiktok had an equal amount of power as he, the two disagreed about who should lead the wizards of Athanasia moving forward.

The leonians say Ipiktok was drunk with his newfound power. The seraphim claim that Kléber had become a selfish monster, covetous of the influence he had had over the Tetrassembléia for so many years. No matter the case, the argument escalated until Ipiktok formally challenged Kléber to a wizard’s duel over the right to lead the arcane spellcasters of Athanasia. As the challenged, Kléber elected to carry out the duel southeast of the Ranai Forest, at the feet of the Córean Mountain range on the borders of the Eastern Sea.

The duel went on for days, with the power of Mercurius’ metallic assault splintering the wooden defenses of Luciflora time and again. At last Kléber grew tired, and sought to blast the seraphim out of the sky with an enormous volcanic eruption...where there had been no volcano before. Desperate, Ipiktok summoned a monsoon and sent the full force of the Eastern Sea to quench the column of fire. The subsequent clash of elements cooled the volcanic spout, hardening it into what is now known as Kléber’s Pipe.

The duel was a draw. Matched with equal power, the two could not decide a winner between them. When their tempers had calmed, Kléber and Ipiktok agreed that Alkandros ought to lead, given that the bórean had humbly and wisely stood by while the other two worked out their differences. So the Wizard’s Tribunal was formed with Alkandros at its head, and so it has been ever since.

Every year, on the anniversary of the epic duel, the monsoons come to assail Kléber’s Pipe once again. And when the high, strong winds blow across the pipe’s mouth, it wails a low, sonorous warning of the oncoming waves. The Pipe stands today as a warning against the dangers of greed and jealousy that threaten to overcome like the waves of the sea.