Rosemary Games

As we sat along the edge of the granite arches that supported Baalbek, I could already smell the faint aroma of Rosemary and pine as the first spells were cast. The gypsum below us began to flicker a soft soothing orange and red, and a soft breeze carressed my cheeks.

Smoke began to flow like a sheet through the floor, licking at the soles of my shoes before flowing up through the ceiling and out into the geode. It was a beautiful sight, like a ashen fog that played with the gypsum crystals surrounding us. It became a brilliant kalidescope of reds, yellows, and greys.

And as soon as it started it was over, and I could feel the familiar calm of the Auric Echos being purged.

— Baalbek Auric Researcher

The Rosemary Games are a complex feature built into the granite architecture of Baalbek. They were made through unknown means, as the whole city was. The working theory is that Sir Mictaf Cellini carved out the corridors and mechanisms for the Rosemary Games as a way to protect the city from Auric Echos.

The Rosemary Games occur once every week, with a lighting of a large clump of greenery in the lower level of the city. The smoke flows throughout the entire city, creating an intricate wall that surrounds Baalbek. The heat of the smoke kills off any lingering weak echos, preventing an otherwise dangerous build up.

The Rosemary Games do have their costs, for example the oxygen consumption of the ritual is difficult to sustain, especially if Baalbek has a higher population. Though while it is still so low, the water exchange from the surface is enough to bring fresh usuable air down and move the smoke out of the Geode.