Editing Antiva - Bringer of Life (section)

==Stone, Air, Death and Pervading Chaos==

We took cover in the trees and watched for a while, seeing a Saloroc and Kobolds approach the structure and walk through the doors, which were left ajar. There were some strange flashes of light from within that we could just about see, but had no way of knowing what had caused them. Xlotl volunteered to scout ahead whilst invisible.

Xlotl did see a hole in the wall on the right side of the structure, and entered the water to get closer. He noticed a tentacled beast beneath the drawbridge, but it looked like it was curled up and resting for the time being.

The hole looked like it had a slimy residue on it, so he avoided that and continued around the wall. There was a small way in, which he was able to squeeze through, but it just led to a room with large rats inside with a closed door. He did hear something in the Elemental Air language, which sounded like someone telling someone (or something) else to stop.

When Xlotl returned to the water, he saw a strange translucent creature slide out of the crumbled wall and into the water, moving quickly towards him. He  decided to turn the corner to get behind the moathouse rather than confront it, noticing that there was still flashing of light from inside. There was another part of the wall missing, which had been patched up with wood from the inside. After that, he returned to us so that we could consider our options.

The compass was definitely indicating that we should enter, and that the stone was most likely below the ground floor. We came up with a slightly bonkers idea which saw us all separate and try to meet up later. Antinniera started distracting those inside loudly from the door so that Pi and I could scale one of the walls.

I jumped over the channel of water between the moathouse and the land, using the air to lift me so that I was sure of making it across. I was able to scale the rough wall easily, and from the top I could see that most of th structure was covered with some roofing, although some was definitely better than others, and any second storey had long since crumbled. There was a courtyard near the door with some Kobolds and a Saloroc within it, and I could hear one shouting at Antinniera to go away.

I looped a rope around one of the crennelations and tried to throw it down and across to Pi. He caught it on the second attempt, and he swang across with a bit of a splash and used the rope to climb up beside me.

While we were doing this, Xlotl smashed the wooden barricade blocking the hole he had found, watching as it collapsed impressively and loudly. A Saloroc looked out of the gap, searching for a threat, and Xlotl could see that he looked like he'd been in a fight recently, and hadn't done particularly well!

The front door was eventually closed on Antinniera, who had been quite annoying and persistent. She walked off into the forest, but then doubled back and started swimming to where Xlotl was, leaving her pack behind so it wouldn't get soaked.

I was moving along the walls with Pi, aiming to reach the back somewhere near Xlotl. A yapping rose from the yard, though, where one of the Kobolds had noticed us. Worryingly, though, a Saloroc just shouted "Good luck!" and chuckled. What were we getting ourselves into?!

Xlotl had got into the room with several of the Saloroc looking particularly beaten up and singed. He was trying to open a door that the Saloroc had barred, but any attempt to do so was being noticed and causing some consternation. We found that the walls were in a better state near the rear of the building, so we were moving quickly towards the corner where we knew Xlotl had entered, and Antinniera had nearly reached the breach herself.

Pi checked the compass, saying that what we sought was straight down from where we were. I nodded, but said that we should try to find the others first if we could. Antinniera was making an entrance, surprising the Saloroc. They seemed more impressed that she had dared swim in the water than threatened by her, though. Although initially wary, once they found out that she wanted to go through the door they were quite keen on the idea, noting with some sarcasm that they "wouldn't want to underestimate" her ability to deal with what was on 
the other side!

They spoke of something that had appeared out of the air, and they seemed genuinely terrified of it. I had managed to reach Xlotl's mind and told him where we were. Once he had explained that they were about to enter, we set about breaking through the roof beside us. By alternating Pi's warhammer blow with my own punch of Air, it didn't take us long to make a hole.

I stuck my head through, seeing a massive air elemental made of storms, with lightning bolts occasionally arcing off it. One bolt struck the wall near me, and another blew the door off, thumping Antinniera as it flew backwards! I could see the Air Emmissary, though, and he was holding the stone of Air. I called out to him, offering aid, and he responded: "You must stop them, the chaos here is too much and I cannot control him for long. You must stop them; kill them if you must." The air elemental exploded through the ceiling after that, with the Emmissary following, rising high into the air.

We dropped down into the room which was full of scorch marks from all the lightning strikes, and the others entered the same room through the door. Pi said that the compass was leading us towards an exit in the corner by the outer wall, and we found some stairs leading down after a short corridor, with light in the room they entered.

Pi led the way, emerging into a room with four Saloroc that challenged him and drew weapons. He tried to say that we were friends, but they ignored him and just said "you don't belong here". He apparently didn't like their manners, because he started a fight, so I rushed down and tried to help. I did land a punch, but it was fairly ineffectual; thankfully Antinniera was just behind me, and we formed a semi-circle around the base of the stairs to stop them surrounding any one of us.

Antinniera was inexplicably waving her buckler around rather than striking with her weapon, though, and was then stabbed and fell. Pi crushed one his warhammer, the body turning to dust as it crumpled. I fought with Storm and Calm, and each managed to hit in turn, blood spurting from my foe's neck, until that too turned to dust. I joined Pi in combat, drawing blood and distracting a foe that Pi then smashed with his hammer. Once again the body tured to dust, quickly followed by the last one as Pi crushed him as well. We helped Antinniera, and her near death experience had refocused her mind... onto the pack of belongings she had left behind in the forest!

Xlotl said that he would return and retrieve it, as he could pass unnoticed, but that meant we had to wait here. There was a corridor with what seemed at first glance to be prison cells leading off from the room we had entered, and a door nearby that was locked or barred. There were strange arrow-slit like depressions in one wall facing the stairs, but with stone within where we would have expected openings.

Pi had turned a funny red colour as he had been fighting, and it took him a while to calm down after the fight, so I kepy my distance. After a while, when we had all relaxed a little bit, two Saloroc came barging out of the door, and the slits that had looked like stone opened as the covers dropped down to reveal more Saloroc with crossbows.

Again, we tried talking first, but they insisted on calling me an "abomination" and demanded that I leave before rest could pass. Pi wasn't having it, so a fight broke out again, and Antinniera comically tried to convince them that we came in peace before thrusting her halberd into one! Pi and Antinniera slaughtered the two that had entered the room, but a bolt from the side caught my shoulder. I pressed forward to get out of the killing zone, blowing the dust of the bodies down the corridor to give me space to step into. Unfortunately, Pi looked down in interest as the dust was disturbed, and ended up getting a faceful of it!

We stayed in the corner, out of sight of the arrow slits, but unwilling to go farther without Xlotl. When he eventually returned, assuring Antinniera that he had her equipment, Pi charged at the door and sent it flying off its hinges into the room. We rushed in, Pi smashing down one foe as I slashed another. They unloaded their crossbows at point-blank range, and Storm whipped across my face to deflect the bolt. I was sure it moved of its own volition, as I hadn't even seen it coming! Antinniera stabbed one, which crumbled to dust (it was clear that Earth was strong here), and then whacked the last defender with her buckler, knocking him out.

There was a door on the right wall, and I wondered aloud whether any of us might know anything about traps. The way was likely to be contested, after all. Pi said that he would take a look and stepped up to the door. After a minute of examining the door and its surrounds he slammed his foot into it, kicking it with such force that the door flew open and the handle clattered to the floor at his feet where the mechanism had broken off. I was expecting something more subtle, but it did seem to have worked.

There was a square, stone room beyond the door, about forty feet across and twenty high. There were five stone pillars within that made a regular pattern (like the face of a die), and they were carved with depictions of the worms we had encountered, although larger, two on each pillar snaking up and around. Most of the carving looked very old, but the central pillar was much better defined, the two worms looking almost lifelike such was the detail. The room was lit with oil lanterns around the walls.

I was cautious, and especially wary of the worms in a place of Earth, but Pi strode forward to investigate, asking me to cover his back. There was no reaction to his approach, thankfully, and I started to edge around the wall to the right, staring at the central pillar in case there was any movement. There was a door in the corner that I was headed towards, and I would be glad to leave.

That wasn't to be, though, as Antinniera rushed forward and poked one of the worms with her halberd! Both worms immediately snaked into the pillar, disappearing from view. I panicked and grabbed the door handle, lifting my feet off the floor and hanging from the iron ring. Antinniera kept striking the pillar, but (rather predictably) the worms appeared under me and Xlotl! I'm sure they could sense the Air in our natures, and now assumed we were foes.

Xlotl moved rapidly away, which I sensed as the air moved, and I tumbled backwards to land just the other side of the worm, its jaws snapping in the air where I had been a moment before. Pi had rushed to help, and struck it a solid blow with his warhammer. Antinniera joined us as well, hacking at it and cutting a chunk of stone away from it. I smashed my fist into it, compressing the air and smashing it into pieces.

The other worm had followed Xlotl, emerging under him and grabbing his tail, pulling it into the stone. We couldn't see him, of course, but Antinniera had a connection that meant she realised the danger, trying to get hold of Xlotl to pull him free, but failing to get a grip on his scaly body. On the second attempt she got hold, but was in a stalemate where she could keep him from being pulled down but not free him.

I had followed Antinniera, and asked what was happening just as Xlotl shouted that the worm had him and was pulling him down. I used the air to fill his wings, shouting at him to fly! It worked - the power of the Air was enough for him to tear free and lifted him up from the floor before floating back down. As soon as he was back on the floor he made off through the door as fast as he could go, drinking a potion to heal some of his wounds.

With Xlotl gone, the worm turned its attention to me. It snapped at my legs, and I only just avoided it. I tried punching down, but it was gone before I could connect. Antinniera managed to strike it with a spearing action, appearing to do some damage. It snapped at me again as I twisted around, not knowing where it would come from next, and I shouted that it would come for me because it hated the Air!

Antinniera suddenly calmed down, and started to talk to it in Common - she had changed her tune! Pi smashed it with a warhammer, which seemed much more effective. I felt shamed, though; I had let my fear of the stone worms get the better of me. I took a moment to centre myself and then spoke in Elemental Common, saying that just because we are Air and Earth we did not need to fight. I was surprised to get a response, reverberating from the floor itself - it said that they had been attacked first, which was true.

What followed was an interesting conversation. It seemed that these ancient worms were not the same as the smaller ones we had seen, and they knew the short pale-skinned things as "Dua'revs", and they were bad. When Antinniera spoke of Antiva, they called it the bringer of chaos and death! Apparently it had brought much death already. I was confused as to how a stone of life could become a bringer of death... but then I remembered the symbols on the six-pointed star in the temple. Life and Death were the same, just orientated differently, so of course Life could become Death - they were the same, just acting in different directions.

It said that the stone was here, all around us - I had certainly sensed it in the Air, so perhaps it affected the stone too. It offered to help take us straight to what we sought, but wanted us to bring its mate (definitely mate, not companion, mate of three centuries in fact) back to life in return. Um... could we do that? Apparently Xlotl might be able to, but would have to use the stone, and such a powerful act could only be performed rarely, so asked if we were sure that we wanted to do it. It didn't help that he had been hurt so badly in the fight.

I thought it was the right thing to do - we had wronged them, after all. Pi was with me too, but Antinniera was less keen, suggesting that it was time to move on. The worm rose again at that, mauling my lef. Yeah, thanks - great idea! No, we either had to help or fight. There was some discussion over whether the worm could be trusted, at which I pointed out that it had no reason to trust us either. Eventually the outline of a hidden door appeared in the far right corner of the room, and the worm spoke again, saying that it had shown faith and now it was our turn. Xlotl seemed convinced by this act, reassured that the worm would keep its word. Antinniera was impatient, and still inclined to violence, but Xlotl had made his mind up. He went over to the remains of the worm, and the stone's power drew the pieces together, restoring them to life, at which point the worm sank into the floor.

Almost immediately, the doorway opened in the corner, the stone just dissolving into the floor, and the worm said that the way was open, as it promised. It also warned that there was a trick that would close the way inside, though, and we should watch our step. We could see that a corridor led to stairs that descended not far from the door, and then the passage veered right. Pi heeded the warning, walking slowly forward with an eye on the floor, and found a tripwire across the passage. He marked the trap with chalk marks so that we could all step over it and continued.

I focused on healing some of my wounds, rectifying my mistakes - I needed to keep my head and remember my training. We all followed Pi, avoiding the fine tripwire and heading down the stairs. The stonework was better on this level, almost polished in appearance. The Air was slightly cooler, but still chaotic in nature. There was a juction up ahead, and Pi said that the compass directed us right. We followed a winding corridor with a brighter light up ahead where it opened into a room.