Amphorae of Bitter Bend

Amphorae of Bitter Bend

Nearly a league south of where the White branch of the Bellodonto joins the main stem, at a sharp turn in the river (which will likely someday become an oxbow lake), a phalanx of sixteen brazen amphorae can be found resting in the silt of the riverbed.

Less than a hand beneath the water's surface at low tide, the amphorae sometimes appear to be made of a metal like bronze or brass (though they are never tarnished or stained), and sometimes of blue glass.

Villagers from nearby Phialbren gather at Bitter Bend in the summer for the festival of Caelos. One of the festival games challenges any unmarried marriage-age man to retrieve or even touch one of the amphorae. To date no one has succeeded in reaching the formation, though each year many try and at least one young man has drowned in the attempt.

Though the Bellodonto flows slowly in the summer and, so far north, is never more than eleven hands deep, as one approaches the slender bottles the current begins to rush and pull, becoming stronger the closer one gets to the prize, until, ultimately irresistible, it drags each and every man away and deposits him on the far bank of the bend.

It is whispered that the amphorae were planted in the riverbed by ancient sorcerers charged by an early Pseudocrat with the task of hiding relics or treasures relating to the Ectogogue.

Village women have sometimes seen lights flickering in the water among the amphorae during gunaik prayers on moonless nights, but learning more from them is impossible as they are loath to reveal any information regarding the secret, female-only rite.

- Nous Marcenne