friday sidequest

overgrown shrine ruins in the wilderness south of hzjrkrgrndr, pre-dates the city by a good bit. one of the brewery workers will work up the courage to approach custodian.

"H-hey...um...you're one of those...er...servants of eska or something right?"

"When I was a boy...my friends and I were exploring the woods south of the city and came across something that looked like a shrine, maybe a small temple? It feels pretty large in my memories. It was crumbling, overgrown with all manner of trees and vines, but even then it felt special. I remember us all being in awe that we had actually found something out there.

I don't know if it's common knowledge that it's out there, but I figured maybe you might know something about it or at least it might interesting to you.

We tried to find it again several times but never managed...I can't imagine what twisted path we took to get there, we just kind of wandered through the forest, moving towards anything that seemed interesting.

It can't have been too far from the city. My memories' a bit fuzzy, but I don't think we spent more than 3 or 4 days out. And we were kids winding our way through the woods, I can't imagine we were moving too quickly given how thick the underbrush was."

Combat encounter with wild hogs? The Raze-boar?

The shrine itself is as described, a collapsed pile of heavy stone, stone that isn't native to the area. Remnants of walls stand and the heavily weathered feet of some statue and an altar. The altar seems to function as a sort of sun dial, though the alignment of its shadow with the carved tiles has been ruined. Everything is covered in moss and vines, small plants and trees grow from between the tiles.

The corpse of a conrasu is near the altar, an overgrown tree adorned with bits of gold, the crooked in its bows that would have held its order sits empty, its many arms raised to the sky in an eternal prayer.

One of the tiles seems especially loose, the 7th hour marker. Lifting it reveals a small stone niche. A journal and small box are tucked inside. The books paged are nearly cemented together from moisture and mold. The box is covered in mold. Inside sits the molding remains of a small cushion, upon which sits a small, spherical yellow-orange gem.

The book is a log or journal of the conrasu, which seems to refer to itself as "timekeeper". The entries have detailed date and time information as well as simple diagrams of the position of the sun and moon, where they rose, where they set, the time of sunrise to sunset, etc.

The journal also contains a daily log alongside these things. One notable entry mentions that a traveler named Nin visited, a follower of Hana. He said he was nearing the end of a long journey home and wanted to pay his respects. He entrusted a beautiful gem to the Timekeeper. The Timekeeper notes that gem seemed to have a soft internal glow and gave off a low warmth. Further entries mention him creating a small box to keep it safe, and later creating a hiding spot for it after several people had come asking about Nin.