[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Ponds of Time and Crystal Falls

North of the Mound City Ruins there is a series of small, crystal-clear ponds dotting the plains. When walking past them during calm weather, the explorers will notice that their reflections in the waters are delayed for a few seconds. By concentrating on a particular pond for a minute, the explorers will be able to see what was reflected within the waters at any particular time of their choosing. This is fatiguing, and additionally each successive attempt during the same day has a cumulative 1% of attracting the attention of yeth hounds, who live within the reflections and will track the observer through the ages until they emerge in this world during the next night. This chance decreases by 1% for each day the observer stays away.

As an observer needs the precise time of an event to observe it within the pool (observation occurs in "real time" and it is impossible to "fast-forward), it is difficult to get useful information in it. While tribals, First City visitors, Mothman warriors, and even the Great Darkness will appear in them if viewed at the right moment, finding such moments is next to impossible. However, it is possible to figure out the moment when the ponds were created by a process of elimination (as the ponds did not exist prior to it and thus events prior to it cannot be observed) - it was 1,263,846 years, 3 months, 17 days, 13 hours, 22 minutes and 17 seconds ago, where an enormous, multi-sphered entity can be seen manifesting in the sky above and weeping fluids down to the ground where the ponds form, while comparably diminutive Outer Dragons are attempting to fight it and eventually succeed in banishing it from this realm of existence.

North of the inland volcano the mineral rich waters of its many geysers and hot springs accumulate until they rush over a large fall, dropping 30 yards in cascades until they hit the canyon floor. The mineral rich waters have caused the growth of a multitude of crystals, making the fall a sight to behold (especially in sunlight). Unfortunately, the area is also inhabited by a crystalline horror, which is adept at hiding among the crystals and ambushing any creature that comes near.


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