Gardens 0407 — The Vault Of A Kingdom’s Citizens

A low stone dome is partially covered by the root mass. On its surface, a story in carven images:

A kingdom is in turmoil, beset by illness and an uprising by a traitorous vassal. A wall is built by one-time allies, who refuse to send aid. Nevertheless, a mighty king named Runalt works tirelessly to protect his people from barbarism.

The forces of treachery make many attempts on his life — strangely featureless assassins with knives, robed cultists who stand in water and menace crops, knights wreathed in flame and insects. He survives them all.

He meets with his most trusted advisors: a painter of great spiritual dedication, an architect whose works make all cities radiant and plentiful, a brave and well-traveled cartographer, and a scholar and calligrapher whose wisdom is unmatched. Knowing that the traitors conspire against them of jealousy, they work to rally the loyal citizenry to Runalt.

Many existing cities are abandoned in an exodus to a new fortress blessed by the favor of gods and the deeds of these great men. As the traitors march on the fortress, it vanishes, leaving them to blame and kill each other.

In a beautiful future, an exodus from the fortress returned to the world: its citizens rebuild civilization now that the barbaric and plague-ridden have killed each-other off, overseen by the same king.

A spiral staircase leads into the dome from the top center, 100 floors deep, each floor a vast square packed with bodies: the citizens of the kingdom of Runalt. They await the order to return to the waking world. Upper floors have some room to walk, while on lower floors the bodies are stacked tight like firewood. There are untold thousands in the dark, smelling of embalming fluid and paint thinner. Each week, if servants are needed at Runalts castle or at some other site he wishes to control, they are taken from here.

At the bottom of the staircase, a treasure chamber:
(as mythic horde in Luke Gearing’s &treasure)
30,000 coins in coinage
25,000 coins in trade goods: 4000 coins worth of powdered spices, 8000 coins worth of ornamental seeds, 7000 coins worth of textiles, 6000 coins worth of ivory.
3 artefacts: a faerie boat of the river kingdom but bearing Runalt’s colors, a Falcon Hood, and a Sun Amulet.
4 maps: one to the city at the bottom of the top of the mountain, one to the brine-eaten cathedral, one to the sky-wizard’s tower, and one to a hoard in Catage itself. The latter two are drawn up as plans of attack.
16 magic items: milk of kindness, wax of refusal, rat covenant, serpent draught, nautilus-helm, welkin love potion x2, the bearskin, the witness, 11 fever pearls, the sculptor’s medium, mosquito cloak, the eager dose, inverse varnish, a matching set of thousand league plates, misc goldsong elixir.